Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of Americas Secret Government

Journalist and founder David Talbot interviewed by on his book The Devil s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America s Secret Government (published by Harper Perennial) Allen Welch Dulles, the distinguished Wall Street lawyer and son of a prominent family, rose to the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency at a very young age. With the help of John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State and Allen Dulles brother, the longestserving chief of the CIA molded the secretive organization in a way that often led to secret wars, overthrowing of foreign governments and occasional spying on its own people, all with the support of the U. S. Congress and mostly behind the backs of three presidents. David Talbot, nonfiction book author and founder of the San Franciscobased web magazine Salon, combs through various government archives and draws from numerous firsthand interviews and sources to build a vivid portrayal of Dulles and the CIA under his leadershi