Smokejumpers and the CIA

Download or read book Smokejumpers and the CIA written by Stanley Collins and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smokejumpers worked for the CIA (Agency) over a 25-plus year period. Beginning in the spring of 1951, the CIA sent two agents to the Smokejumper base at Nine Mile, Montana, to be trained to parachute into mountainous and isolated terrain. The agents apparently reported back that there was a cadre of men already trained and willing to take on whatever the Agency wanted done. Ten Smokejumpers were recruited and went to work for the Agency that year. Seven of those Smokejumpers went to Taiwan where they trained National Chinese paratroopers and were involved in cargo drops deep into the mainland. In later years, jumpers moved on to Tibet to drop men and equipment to local forces fighting against Chinese occupation. Besides operations in Guatemala and the Bay of Pigs, Smokejumpers also took part in the Congo, India, and the 15-year "Secret War" in Laos. The CIA had realized in Smokejumpers men who were problem solvers and could get the job done under the most difficult circumstances.