Too Little, Too Late: The CIA and US Counteraction of the Soviet Initiative in the Six-Day War, 1967

Too Little, Too Late: The CIA and US Counteraction of the Soviet Initiative in the Six-Day War, 1967

The authors' previous research has established that the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War resulted from a deliberate Soviet plan to provoke Israel into a pre-emptive strike, which would legitimize and trigger a massive Soviet military intervention to aid an Egyptian-Syrian counteroffensive. However...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Intelligence and national security 2011-04, Vol.26 (2-3), p.291-312
Main Authors: Ginor, Isabella, Remez, Gideon
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Arab Israeli Relations
Arab-Israeli conflict
CIA
Classified information
Cold War
Documentary research
Egypt
Freedom of information
History
Intelligence
Intelligence gathering
Israel
Leadership
Military aggression
Military aid
Military air strikes
Military Intervention
Political leadership
Propaganda
Soviet studies
Syria
U.S.A
U.S.S.R
United States of America
War
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Summary:The authors' previous research has established that the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War resulted from a deliberate Soviet plan to provoke Israel into a pre-emptive strike, which would legitimize and trigger a massive Soviet military intervention to aid an Egyptian-Syrian counteroffensive. However, US documents released until recently provided no evidence that the American intelligence community, and particularly the CIA, detected this threat or informed the political leadership about it - even though some indications were picked up at the field level. A newly declassified, retrospective report appears for the first time to show that there was awareness of major components of the Soviet operation (preparations for a naval landing and parachute drop). But closer scrutiny finds that this report reflects Soviet propaganda more than factual intelligence - thus further tarnishing what has hitherto been held as an outstanding achievement for the Agency and its chief.
ISSN:0268-4527
1743-9019