The Intelligence Community lost a bona fide hero last month with the death of David C. MacMichael, 93, a former contract CIA analyst who resigned from the Agency in 1983 to go public with information that the Reagan Administration was planning a coup d’état against the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega.
MacMichael’s revelations led in part to what is now known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
MacMichael was a little before my time at the CIA. He left seven years before I began working there. But even after seven years, his name was spoken often and admiringly.
MacMichael was not some malcontent who wanted to make a name for himself in the media or on Capitol Hill. He was a brilliant and well-regarded analyst who took his oath to “uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic” seriously.
He recognized illegality when he saw it and he knew that his choices boiled down to two: He could pretend that what the Reagan Administration was doing in Nicaragua was fine or right or none of his business, or he could blow the whistle. He did what was right.
MacMichael’s decision was not an easy one. The America of 1983 had Ronald Reagan as its new president. Known for his virulent (and in many cases irrational) anti-communism, Reagan had convinced the American people of an impending “domino effect” where one Central American country after another, beginning with Nicaragua, would fall in communist revolutions, ultimately bringing the threat of revolution to the United States itself.
It was supposedly initiated by the Soviet Union, supported by Cuba, and implemented by Nicaragua. Nicaragua had already “fallen,” and El Salvador was next!
This was a ridiculous foreign policy, of course, but Reagan had a popular electoral mandate, a Republican Senate for the first time in 30 years, and a working majority in the House. There weren’t many people in the country with the guts to stand up to him.
MacMichael was a contract analyst in the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence. With clearance access two levels above Top Secret, his job was to go through all-source intelligence from the State Department, CIA officers working abroad, NSA intercepts, Defense Department reporting, and even the media, to find the truth about what was happening in Central America.
He used his expertise to provide analysis to the President, the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, and the Secretaries of State and Defense. It was his expertise that was supposed to allow those senior policymakers to create the best-informed policy possible. But those policymakers, our leaders, weren’t interested in the truth or in MacMichael’s expertise.
The crux of the issue was this: Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas had taken power in Nicaragua in 1980 after dictator Anastasio Somoza fled to Miami. For a brief period, President Jimmy Carter provided aid to the Sandinistas. But he cut off that aid when it became clear that the Sandinistas were sending Soviet weapons to rebels in El Salvador. Carter then began a policy of pressuring the Sandinistas (and the Soviets and Cubans) to slow or stop the flow of weapons.
Reagan took office in January 1981 with the Carter policy still in place. MacMichael, meanwhile, was analyzing the data and he realized that the policy was working. The flow of weapons to El Salvador had slowed to a trickle.
But the Reagan Administration insisted publicly that the flow was a tidal wave, not a trickle. CIA Director William Casey ordered him to report Casey’s contrived version. MacMichael knew it was a lie, and he refused to remain silent.
He resigned from his position at the CIA in 1983 and he went to Nicaragua at his own expense to investigate. He then briefed members of Congress on his findings. And in 1984, he gave his findings and evidence to the Washington Post and the New York Times.
The effect was immediate. Secretary of State George Schultz said that MacMichael “must be living in some other world.”
But Congress believed him, and it refused to appropriate aid for the CIA backed anti-Sandinista Contra rebels who were slaughtering peasants, teachers and doctors with abandon.
The Reagan Administration then made an error of historic proportions. It illegally sold arms to Iran through a Saudi middleman and used the profits to buy weapons for the Contras, an event known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
As the Reagan Administration slowly fell apart thanks to Iran-Contra, and the fall guys were convicted of a myriad of crimes, MacMichael took his place in the pantheon of truthtellers.
He became the key witness in Nicaragua v. United States, a case heard in 1986 before the International Court of Justice. It ruled that the U.S. had violated international law by supporting and supplying the Contras and by mining Nicaragua’s harbors. He also testified multiple times before Congress into the 2000s.
David MacMichael was not a young man when he passed away. But up until the end he continued to be a role model for young people employed in all aspects of national security.
He demonstrated that their loyalties must always be to the law, to the Constitution, and to the truth. The country is a lesser place without him.
CovertAction Magazine is made possible by subscriptions, orders and donations from readers like you.
Blow the Whistle on U.S. Imperialism
Click the whistle and donate
When you donate to CovertAction Magazine, you are supporting investigative journalism. Your contributions go directly to supporting the development, production, editing, and dissemination of the Magazine.
CovertAction Magazine does not receive corporate or government sponsorship. Yet, we hold a steadfast commitment to providing compensation for writers, editorial and technical support. Your support helps facilitate this compensation as well as increase the caliber of this work.
Please make a donation by clicking on the donate logo above and enter the amount and your credit or debit card information.
CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your gift is tax-deductible for federal income purposes. CAI’s tax-exempt ID number is 87-2461683.
We sincerely thank you for your support.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author(s). CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI), including its Board of Directors (BD), Editorial Board (EB), Advisory Board (AB), staff, volunteers and its projects (including CovertAction Magazine) are not responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. This article also does not necessarily represent the views the BD, the EB, the AB, staff, volunteers, or any members of its projects.
Differing viewpoints: CAM publishes articles with differing viewpoints in an effort to nurture vibrant debate and thoughtful critical analysis. Feel free to comment on the articles in the comment section and/or send your letters to the Editors, which we will publish in the Letters column.
Copyrighted Material: This web site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. As a not-for-profit charitable organization incorporated in the State of New York, we are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of humanity’s problems and hopefully to help find solutions for those problems. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. You can read more about ‘fair use’ and US Copyright Law at the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Republishing: CovertAction Magazine (CAM) grants permission to cross-post CAM articles on not-for-profit community internet sites as long as the source is acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original CovertAction Magazine article. Also, kindly let us know at info@CovertActionMagazine.com. For publication of CAM articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: info@CovertActionMagazine.com.
By using this site, you agree to these terms above.
About the Author
John Kiriakou was a CIA analyst and case officer from 1990 to 2004.
In December 2007, John was the first U.S. government official to confirm that waterboarding was used to interrogate al-Qaeda prisoners, a practice he described as torture.
Kiriakou was a former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former counter-terrorism consultant. While employed with the CIA, he was involved in critical counter-terrorism missions following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but refused to be trained in so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” nor did he ever authorize or engage in such crimes.
After leaving the CIA, Kiriakou appeared on ABC News in an interview with Brian Ross, during which he became the first former CIA officer to confirm the existence of the CIA’s torture program. Kiriakou’s interview revealed that this practice was not just the result of a few rogue agents, but was official U.S. policy approved at the highest levels of the government.
Kiriakou is the sole CIA agent to go to jail in connection with the U.S. torture program, despite the fact that he never tortured anyone. Rather, he blew the whistle on this horrific wrongdoing.
John can be reached at: jkiriakou@mac.com.
A true American hero who did the right thing and resigned his great job at the CIA. He told the truth to power and kept his soul alive while others sold theirs to the US government and their secret wars. Let’s hope more people follow his role model rather than the leaders of our government programs who violated international laws.
[…] CIA Whistleblower, David C. MacMichael, Who Helped Ignite Iran-Contra Affair Dies at 95, by John Kir… […]
Understanding of internet and basic typing skill… It’s been an amazing experience working with them and i wanted to share this with you, because they are looking for new people to join their team now and i highly recommend to everyone to apply… Visit following page for more information… https://extrasavingshere1.blogspot.com/
Hello Guys, I realize you read numerous news remarks and presents on bring in cash online positions. Certain individuals don’t have any idea how to bring in cash and are saying to counterfeit it. sws You trust me. I just began this a month prior. I have my FIRST really look at complete of $850, lovely cool. I want to believe that you attempted it. You don’t have to contribute anything. Simply snap and open the page to tap the main assertion and really look at occupations….. https://tinyurl.com/Make-Dollar
Hello Guys, I realize you read numerous news remarks and presents on bring in cash online positions. Certain individuals don’t have any idea how to bring in cash and are saying to counterfeit it. sws You trust me. I just began this a month prior. I have my FIRST really look at complete of $850, lovely cool. I want to believe that you attempted it. You don’t have to contribute anything. Simply snap and open the page to tap the main assertion and really look at occupations… https://tinyurl.com/Make-Dollar
In reference to David MacMichael the great man who died on May 16, since he was born on June 6, 1926 this means that he died at age 95 and was almost 96. The Washington Post also posted a headline saying that he died at age 93, but other news outlets correctly said he died at age 95.
Thanks John for your thorough report of David MacMichael’s brave contributions to truth and humanity. We became acquainted through writings about Cuba and wars. He looked favorably on what the Cuban revolution was trying to do as with Nicaraguan Sandinistas, and realized the US was impeding any progress.
Long live whistleblowers!
Ron