View source for James Jesus Angleton

{{short description|Central Intelligence Agency officer (1917–1987)}}
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{{Infobox spy
| name = James Angleton
| image = James Jesus Angleton.jpg
| caption = Angleton c. 1960
| allegiance = {{USA}}
| service = [[Central Intelligence Agency]]<br/>[[United States Army]]
| serviceyears = 1943–1947 (U.S. Army)<br/>1947–1975 (CIA)
| rank = Counterintelligence (CI) Chief (1954–1975)
| operation = [[Operation CHAOS]]
| awards = [[Distinguished Intelligence Medal]]
| birth_name = James Jesus Angleton
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|12|9}}
| birth_place = [[Boise, Idaho]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|5|11|1917|12|9}}
| death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| education = {{ubl |[[Yale University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) |[[Harvard University]]}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Cicely d'Autremont|July 1943}}
| children = 3
}}
'''James Jesus Angleton''' (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987)<ref name="EncColdWar">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social, and Military History |year=2007 |volume=1 |pages=79–80}}</ref> was an American [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) officer who served as chief of [[CIA Counterintelligence|the counterintelligence department]] of the CIA from 1954 to 1975. According to [[Director of Central Intelligence|director of central intelligence]] [[Richard Helms]], Angleton was "recognized as the dominant counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Helms |first=Richard |title=A Look over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency |publisher=Random House |year=2003 |location=New York |page=275}}</ref>

Angleton served in the [[Office of Strategic Services]], a wartime predecessor to the CIA, in Italy and London during [[World War II]]. After the war, he returned to Washington, D.C. to become one of the founding officers of the CIA. He was initially responsible for the collection of foreign intelligence and liaison with counterpart organizations in allied countries. In 1954, [[Allen Dulles]] promoted Angleton to chief of the Counterintelligence Staff. As chief, Angleton was significantly involved in the defection of Soviet KGB agents [[Anatoliy Golitsyn]] and [[Yuri Nosenko]]. Through Golitsyn, Angleton became convinced the CIA harbored a high-ranking Soviet [[Mole (espionage)|mole]] and engaged in an intensive search. Whether this was a highly destructive witch hunt or appropriate caution remains a subject of intense historical debate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=John M. |title=Uncovering Popov's Mole |year=2022 |isbn=9798355050771 |pages=2–3 |language=en}}{{self-published source|date=August 2025}}</ref>

Investigative journalist [[Edward Jay Epstein]] agrees with the high regard in which Angleton was held by his colleagues in the intelligence business, and adds that Angleton earned the "trust of six CIA directors—including Gen. [[Walter Bedell Smith]], [[Allen W. Dulles]] and Richard Helms. They kept Angleton in key positions and valued his work."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Epstein |first=Edward Jay |date=2007-07-14 |title=Opening Up the CIA |url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB118436115647966211 |access-date=28 March 2014 |work=The Wall Street Journal |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223053518/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118436115647966211 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Early and personal life==
James Jesus Angleton was born December 9, 1917, in [[Boise, Idaho]], the eldest of four children of James Hugh Angleton (1888–1973) and Carmen Mercedes Moreno (1898–1985).<ref name="EncColdWar" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morley |first=Jefferson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udw1DwAAQBAJ |title=The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton |date=2017-10-24 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-08061-5 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref> His parents met in [[Nogales, Arizona]], while his father was a [[United States Army]] [[cavalry]] officer serving under [[John J. Pershing|General John Pershing]]. Carmen Moreno was born in [[Mexico]], but was already a [[Naturalization|naturalized American citizen]] before she married James H. Angleton in December 1916.<ref name=":0" />

James Hugh Angleton joined the [[NCR Voyix|National Cash Register Corporation]], rising through its ranks until in the early 1930s he purchased the NCR franchise in Italy. In Italy, he became head of the American Chamber of Commerce.<ref name="EncColdWar" /> Despite holding "ultra-conservative" views, according to OSS officer Max Corvo, James Hugh informed the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] on fascist activities, and would later work for the OSS during the Second World War.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Kimsey |first=John |date=2017 |title=“The Ends of a State”: James Angleton, Counterintelligence and the New Criticism |url=https://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-space-between-literature-and-culture-1914-1945/vol13_2017_kimsey |journal=The Space Between: Literature and Culture 1914-1945 |volume=13}}</ref> Because of his father's work, Angleton's boyhood was spent in [[Milan]], Italy. He studied as a boarder at [[Malvern College]] in England before attending [[Yale University]].

{{anchor|FuriosoAnchor}}As a Yale undergraduate and amateur poet, Angleton edited the Yale literary magazine ''Furioso'' with [[Reed Whittemore]]. ''Furioso'' published many of the best-known poets of the [[interwar period]], including [[William Carlos Williams]], [[E. E. Cummings]] and [[Ezra Pound]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1778 |title=Furioso Papers |website=Archives at Yale}}</ref> Angleton carried on an extensive correspondence with Pound, Cummings and [[T. S. Eliot]], among others, and was particularly influenced by [[William Empson]], author of ''[[Seven Types of Ambiguity]]''.<ref>{{cite news |first=Terence |last=Hawkes |title=William Empson's influence on the CIA |work=[[Times Literary Supplement]] |date=June 12, 2009 |pages=3–5}}</ref> He also visited Pound at his home in [[Rapallo]], and arranged for a 1939 American tour by him, the only such tour in Pound's "fascist period".<ref name=":3" /> Angleton was trained in the [[New Criticism]] at Yale by [[Maynard Mack]] and others, chiefly [[Norman Holmes Pearson]], a founder of American Studies.<ref>{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Holzman |title=James Jesus Angleton, the CIA and the Craft of Counterintelligence |publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Press]] |year=2008 |pages=7–30}}</ref> 

Despite his intellectual activities, Angleton graduated from Yale in the bottom quarter of his class.<ref name=":2" /> After his first application to study law at [[Harvard University|Harvard]] was rejected, he was let in on the recommendation of Pearson, but did not graduate.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Holzman |first=Michael |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vk7ng |title=James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence |date=2008 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-55849-649-1 |pages=18-20, 30-32 |chapter=2: Yale English}}</ref>

==World War II==
In 1943, Angleton joined the U.S. Army. During [[World War II]], Angleton was recruited into the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) by Norman Holmes Pearson, first being posted to London in the OSS's [[X-2 Counter Espionage Branch]].<ref name=EncColdWar/> By February 1944, he was chief of the Italy desk for X-2 in London. While in London, Angleton became acquainted with [[Kim Philby]], his liaison contact with [[MI6]].

By the end of the war, Angleton was head of X-2 for all of Italy. Angleton was not well-liked, and was thought of by some officers as "arrogant"; nonetheless, he went about his work with vigor. Initially, X-2 still reported to MI6, but it had begun to assert itself against the British. The OSS's goals in Italy included re-establishing the Italian intelligence services, undermining pro-monarchist British influence, and supporting non-communist centrist parties, especially the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Holzman |first=Michael |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vk7ng |title=James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence |date=2008 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-55849-649-1 |pages=59 |chapter=4: Italy: Eavesdropping on the Pope}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The OSS's anti-British, anti-communist objectives led Angleton to make personal liaisons with Italian Mafia figures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shadows of Rome: James Angleton and the Evolution of Allied Counterintelligence  |url=https://intelligencegeopolitica.it/shadows-of-rome-james-angleton-and-the-evolution-of-allied-counterintelligence/ |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=intelligencegeopolitica.it}}</ref>

Angleton also helped prevent the execution of Italian naval commander [[Junio Valerio Borghese]], whose elite unit [[Decima MAS]] had collaborated with the [[Schutzstaffel]] during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tunander |first=Ola |title=The Secret War Against Sweden: US and British Submarine Deception in the 1980s |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |page=275}}</ref> Angleton was interested in the defense of installations such as ports and bridges and offered Borghese a fair trial in return for his collaboration.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jack |last1=Greene |first2=Alessandro |last2=Massignani |title=The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The Story of Valerio Borghese and the Elite Units of the Decima Mas |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2009 |pages=183 ff}}</ref> He dressed him up in an American uniform and drove him from Milan to Rome for interrogation by the Allies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1976 |title=INTERVIEW WITH JAMES ANGLETON |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/BORGHESE%2C%20JUNIO%20VALERIO_0040.pdf}}</ref>

==Central Intelligence Agency==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2013}}
Upon his return to Washington after World War II, Angleton was employed by the various successor organizations to the OSS and eventually became one of the founding officers of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in 1947.<ref name="EncColdWar" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |title=James J. Angleton, Anatoliy Golitsyn, and the "Monster Plot": Their Impact on CIA Personnel and Operations |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB431/docs/intell_ebb_019.PDF |journal=Studies in Intelligence |volume= |issue=4 |pages=39–55 |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |access-date=September 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228023549/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB431/docs/intell_ebb_019.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 1949, he was made head of Staff A of the [[Office of Special Operations]], where he was responsible for the collection of foreign intelligence and liaising with counterpart intelligence organizations in foreign countries.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Beginning in 1951, Angleton was responsible for "the Israel desk" as liaison with [[Israel]]'s [[Mossad]] and [[Shin Bet]] agencies.<ref name=":0" /> Angleton retained an active interest in Israeli intelligence and maintained connections there throughout his career, believing that émigrés to Israel from the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Warsaw Pact]] nations could be a valuable source of information on their countries of origin. He also believed that Israeli foreign intelligence services could be used for proxy operations in third countries. For instance, Shin Bet was crucial in obtaining a transcript of [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s [[On the Personality Cult and its Consequences|1956 speech]] to the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] [[20th Congress of the CPSU|Congress]] that denounced [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref>''Haaretz'', 11/3/2006</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2025}} Author Samuel Katz has claimed that Angleton directed CIA assistance to the [[Israel and weapons of mass destruction|Israeli nuclear weapons program]].<ref>See Samuel Katz, ''Soldier Spies'', 1992.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2025}}
[[File:JimEngeltonAmit1966 (retouched).jpg|thumb|Angleton (right) with head of [[Mossad]] Global Operations [[Meir Amit]] (1966).]]
As head of Staff A, Angleton worked particularly closely with Kim Philby, the apparent future head of [[MI6]], who was also in Washington.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Gladwell |first=Malcolm |date=2014-07-20 |title=The Hazards of Mistrust |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/28/philby |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=July 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723190902/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/28/philby |url-status=live }}</ref> The Israeli intelligence officer [[Teddy Kollek]] claimed years later that in 1950 he warned Angleton that Philby had been a Soviet agent in the 30s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morley |first=Jefferson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwCXDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton |date=2017-10-24 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-13910-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=David C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmaCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT76 |title=Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War's Most Important Agents |date=2018-09-15 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-5107-2219-4 |language=en}}</ref> In 1951, Philby's colleagues [[Guy Burgess]] and [[Donald Maclean (spy)|Donald Maclean]] defected to [[Moscow]]. Philby was expelled from Washington, suspected of having tipped them off based on decoded Soviet communications from the [[Venona project]]. Philby was confirmed to be a Soviet mole but eluded those sent to arrest him. He defected to Moscow in 1963. Philby called Angleton "a brilliant opponent" and a "fascinating" friend who seemed to be "catching on" before his defection. CIA employee [[William King Harvey]], a former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent, had voiced his suspicions regarding Philby and others Angleton suspected were Soviet agents.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Steve |date=2019-11-10 |title=The Hick From Indiana Who Nailed Master Spy Kim Philby |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hick-from-indiana-who-nailed-master-spy-kim-philby |access-date=2023-09-13 |archive-date=September 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925175430/https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hick-from-indiana-who-nailed-master-spy-kim-philby |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1953, [[Allen Dulles]] became [[Director of Central Intelligence]]. He soon named Angleton chief of the Counterintelligence Staff, in which position Angleton served  for the remainder of his career.<ref name="EncColdWar" />

As chief of Counterintelligence, Angleton oversaw a ring of informants organized by [[Jay Lovestone]], a trade union leader and former head of the Communist Party of the United States. It was informally called the "Lovestone Empire". Lovestone worked with foreign unions and used covert funds to establish a global system of anti-communist union organizers.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ted |last=Morgan |title=A Covert Life: Jay Lovestone, Communist, Anti-Communist, and Spymaster |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=1999}}</ref>{{pages needed|date=August 2025}}

During the [[Vietnam War]] and Soviet-American [[détente]], Angleton remained convinced of the necessity of the war. During this period, Angleton's counter-intelligence staff undertook a most comprehensive domestic covert surveillance project (called [[Operation CHAOS]]) under the direction of President [[Lyndon Johnson]]. The prevailing belief at the time was that the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s had foreign funding and support. None was found by them, although the Soviet Union did [[Soviet influence on the peace movement|influence the movements]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |url=http://archive.org/details/CIA-International-Connection-Peace-Groups |title=International Connections of U.S. Peace Groups |date=1967-11-15 |language=en}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Angleton also believed that the strategic calculations underlying the [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|resumption of relations]] with [[China]] were flawed based on a deceptive KGB staging of the Sino-Soviet split. He went so far as to speculate that [[Henry Kissinger]] might be under KGB influence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heer |first=Jeet |date=9 July 2010 |title=Espionage is sublime onscreen, but hardly ever changes history |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/espionage-is-sublime-onscreen-but-hardly-ever-changes-history/article1635023/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195559/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/espionage-is-sublime-onscreen-but-hardly-ever-changes-history/article1635023/ |archive-date=3 March 2016 |website=The Globe and Mail}}</ref>

===Suspicion of infiltration===
Angleton's view was influenced by his direct experience with the manipulation of German intelligence during World War II, the [[Cambridge Five]], and the success of American infiltration efforts in the Third World. In particular, Angleton's close association with Philby heightened Angleton's suspicions and led him to double-check "potential problems".{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} Angleton's position in the CIA and his close relationship with Director [[Richard Helms]] in particular expanded his influence, and as it grew, the CIA split between Angletonians and anti-Angletonians.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} This conflict rose in particular regard to [[Anatoliy Golitsyn]] and [[Yuri Nosenko]], who defected from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1961 and 1964, respectively.

Golitsyn defected via [[Helsinki]] on December 15, 1961. He and his family flew with a CIA escort to Sweden and then to the United States, where he was interviewed by Angleton personally.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=NARA Record Number: 104-10169-10125 |url=https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=23302#relPageId=7 |access-date=28 June 2021 |website=Mary Ferrell Foundation |publisher= }}</ref><ref name="Mitrokhin2">{{cite book |author-link1=Christopher Andrew (historian)|first1=Christopher |last1=Andrew |author-link2=Vasili Mitrokhin |first2=Vasili |last2=Mitrokhin |year=2000 |title=The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West |publisher=Gardners Books |isbn=0-14-028487-7}}</ref> Golitsyn limited his initial debriefing to a review of photographs to identify KGB officers and refused to discuss KGB strategy. After Golitsyn raised the possibility of serious infiltration with MI5 in a subsequent debriefing, MI5 shared the concern with Angleton. He responded by asking Helms to allow him to take responsibility for Golitsyn and his further debriefing. Golitsyn ultimately informed on many famous Soviet agents, including the [[Cambridge Five]], which led to their apprehension.<ref name="Mitrokhin2" /> Angleton identified Golitsyn as "the most valuable defector ever to reach the West".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Herron |first1=Caroline Rand |last2=Wright |first2=Michael |date=2 February 1986 |title=THE NATION; A K.G.B. Defector Who May Not Be |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50710FE3B5C0C718CDDAB0894DE484D81&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/K/KGB |work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Nosenko2">{{cite news |author-link=Walter Pincus |first=Walter |last=Pincus |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=August 27, 2008 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603493.html |title=Yuri I. Nosenko, 81; KGB Agent Who Defected to the U.S. |archive-date=September 10, 2019 |access-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910160255/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603493.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, other allegations Golitsyn made, including that Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [[Harold Wilson]] was a Soviet agent and that the [[Sino-Soviet split]] was a "charade," were ultimately found to be false.<ref name="Mitrokhin2" />  Golitsyn also claimed that a mole who had been stationed in West Germany, was of Slavic descent, had a last name that might end in "sky" and definitely began with a "K", and operated under the KGB codename "[[Sasha (espionage)|Sasha]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=U.S. Central Intelligence Agency |date=2013 |title=James J. Angleton, Anatoliy Golitsyn, and the "Monster Plot": Their Impact on CIA Personnel and Operations |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB431/docs/intell_ebb_019.PDF |journal=Studies in Intelligence |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=45 |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |access-date=September 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228023549/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB431/docs/intell_ebb_019.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref> Angleton believed this claim, with the result that anyone who approximated this description fell under his suspicion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ignatius |first=David |date=March 8, 1992 |title=Desperately Seeking Sasha |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1992/03/08/desperately-seeking-sasha/01e18014-0b4f-437d-aa21-4443079cda0c/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |access-date=September 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607125249/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1992/03/08/desperately-seeking-sasha/01e18014-0b4f-437d-aa21-4443079cda0c/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Angleton became increasingly convinced that the CIA was compromised by the KGB.<ref name="BeardenRisen2003">{{cite book |last1=Bearden |first1=Milton |url=https://archive.org/details/mainenemyinsides00bear |title=The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB |last2=Risen |first2=James |date=2003 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1588363060 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mainenemyinsides00bear/page/38 38] |access-date=15 November 2013 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Golitsyn convinced Angleton that the KGB had reorganized in 1958 and 1959 to consist mostly of a shell, incorporating only those agents whom the CIA and the FBI were recruiting, directed by a small cabal of puppet masters who doubled those agents to manipulate their Western counterparts. Although Golitsyn was a questionable source, Angleton accepted significant information obtained from his debriefing by the CIA.<ref name=":2" />

In 1964, Yuri Nosenko, a KGB officer based in [[Geneva]], insisted he needed to defect to the United States because his role as a double agent had been discovered, and he was being recalled to Moscow.<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Mangold|1991}}</ref>{{pages needed|date=August 2025}} Nosenko was allowed to defect, although the CIA was unable to verify a KGB recall order. Golitsyn had said from the beginning that the KGB would try to plant defectors in an effort to discredit him. Under great duress, Nosenko failed two highly questionable [[Polygraph|lie detector]] tests but passed a third test monitored by several Agency departments.{{sfn|Posner|1993|pp=40-42}} Judging his claim (as well as additional claims regarding [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]) to be improbable, Angleton permitted David Murphy, head of the Soviet Russia Division, to hold Nosenko in solitary confinement for over three years. This confinement included 16 months in a small attic with no windows, furniture, heat or air conditioning. Human contact was completely banned. Nosenko was given a shower once a week and had no television, reading material, radio, exercise, or toothbrush. Interrogations were frequent and intensive. Nosenko spent an additional four months in a ten-foot by ten-foot concrete bunker in [[Camp Peary]].<ref name="Nosenko2" /> He was told that this condition would continue for 25 years unless he confessed to being a Soviet spy.{{sfn|Posner|1993|p=39}} Nosenko did not appear to have shaken Angleton's faith in Golitsyn, although Helms and [[J. Edgar Hoover]] thought otherwise. Hoover's objections are said to have been so vehement as to severely curtail counterintelligence cooperation between the FBI and CIA for the remainder of Hoover's service as FBI director. Nosenko was found to be a legitimate defector, a lieutenant colonel. He became a consultant to the CIA.<ref name="Nosenko2" /> Golitsyn, who had defected years before, was unable to provide concrete support for his views of the KGB.

Angleton came into increasing conflict with the rest of the Agency, particularly the [[Directorate of Operations (CIA)|Directorate of Operations]], over the efficacy of their intelligence-gathering efforts. He questioned this without explaining his broader views on KGB strategy and organization.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In his 2022 book, ''Uncovering Popov's Mole'', researcher [[John M. Newman]] argues that Bruce Solie of the Office of Security was very probably the mole and that he misled Angleton, his protégé, into believing the traitor was in the Soviet Russia Division.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=John M. |title=Uncovering Popov's Mole: The Assassination of President Kennedy |pages=44–49 |year=2022 |isbn=979-8355050771 |language=EN}}</ref>

=== Suspicion of foreign leaders ===
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Angleton privately accused various foreign leaders of being Soviet spies. He twice informed the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] that he believed [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Lester B. Pearson|Lester Pearson]] and his successor [[Pierre Trudeau]] were agents of the Soviet Union. Angleton accused Swedish [[Prime Minister of Sweden|Prime Minister]] [[Olof Palme]], [[West Germany|West German]] [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]], and British Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] of being assets for the Soviet Union.<ref name=":1" />

Australian journalist Brian Toohey claimed that Angleton considered Australian Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]] a "serious threat" to the US. Angleton was concerned after the Commonwealth police [[1973 Murphy raids|raided]] [[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation|ASIO]] headquarters in Melbourne in 1973 at the direction of [[Attorney general#Australia|Attorney General]] [[Lionel Murphy]]. In 1974, Angleton sought to instigate the removal of Whitlam from office by having CIA station chief in Canberra, John Walker, ask [[Peter Barbour]], then head of ASIO, to make a false declaration that Whitlam had lied about the raid in Parliament. Barbour refused to make the statement.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Snow |first1=Deborah |title=Tantalising secrets of Australia's intelligence world revealed |url=https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/tantalising-secrets-of-australia-s-intelligence-world-revealed-20190826-p52ku9.html |access-date=1 October 2019 |publisher=The Age |date=31 August 2019 |archive-date=October 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001133423/https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/tantalising-secrets-of-australia-s-intelligence-world-revealed-20190826-p52ku9.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Church Committee and resignation===
In 1973, [[William Colby]] was named Director of Central Intelligence by [[Richard Nixon]]. Colby reorganized the CIA in an effort to curb Angleton's influence and weaken the Counterintelligence branch, beginning by stripping him of control over the Israel desk. Colby demanded Angleton's resignation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Loch K. |date=2013 |title=James Angleton and the Church Committee |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26924366 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=132 |doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00397 |jstor=26924366 |s2cid=57571672 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Angleton came to public attention when the [[Church Committee]] (formally the [[Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities]]) probed the CIA for information on domestic surveillance, specifically the operation known as [[HTLINGUAL|HT Lingual]], as well as assassination plots and the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|death of John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{Cite news |first=John M. |last=Crewdson |date=1975-09-25 |title=C.I.A. Men Opened 3 Senators' Mail and Note to Nixon |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/25/archives/cia-men-opened-3-senators-mail-and-note-to-nixon-panel-says-aides.html |access-date=2023-09-17 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126000622/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/25/archives/cia-men-opened-3-senators-mail-and-note-to-nixon-panel-says-aides.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Lloyd |date=2023-05-07 |title=The Last Honest Man: Frank Church and the fight to restrain US power |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/07/last-honest-man-frank-church-book-james-risen-review |access-date=2023-09-17 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In December 1974, [[Seymour Hersh]] published a story in ''[[The New York Times]]'' about domestic counter-intelligence activities against anti-war protesters and other domestic dissidents. Angleton's resignation was announced on Christmas Eve 1974, just as President [[Gerald Ford]] demanded Director Colby report on the allegations and various congressional committees announced that they would launch their own inquiries. Angleton told reporters from [[United Press International]] that he was resigning because "my usefulness has ended" and the CIA was getting involved in "[[police state]] activities".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Deseret News|date= 25 December 1974|page= 1A |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19741225&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=President gets report on CIA spying}}</ref> Three of Angleton's senior aides retired within a week after it was made clear that they would be transferred elsewhere in the Agency rather than promoted. The counterintelligence staff was reduced from 300 to 80 people.

In 1975, Angleton was awarded the CIA's [[Distinguished Intelligence Medal]].<ref name="The New York Times; May 12, 1987">{{cite news |last=Engelberg |first=Stephen |date=May 12, 1987 |title=James Angleton, Counterintelligence Figure, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/12/obituaries/james-angleton-counterintelligence-figure-dies.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 8, 2017 |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904095137/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/12/obituaries/james-angleton-counterintelligence-figure-dies.html |url-status=live }}</ref> By this time, Angleton had been quietly rehired by the CIA at his old salary through a secret contract. Until September 1975, "operational issues remained solely the preserve of Angleton".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/oct/19/angleton-return/|title=The mystery of disgraced CIA spymaster James Angleton's "retirement"|website=MuckRock|date=19 October 2017 }}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
The late 1970s were generally a period of upheaval for the CIA. During [[George H. W. Bush]]'s tenure as Director, President Ford authorized the creation of [[Team B]], a project concluding that the Agency and the intelligence community had seriously underestimated Soviet strategic nuclear strength in [[Central Europe]]. Admiral [[Stansfield Turner]], on his appointment as DCI by President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977, used Angleton as an example of the excesses in the Agency that he hoped to curb. He referred to this during his service and in his memoirs.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Secrecy and Democracy: The CIA in Transition |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim250050055 |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=The SHAFR Guide Online|doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim250050055 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Because of their suspicions, Angleton and his staff ultimately impeded the career advancement of numerous CIA employees. Forty employees are said to have been investigated and fourteen were considered serious suspects by Angleton's staff. The CIA paid compensation to three under what Agency employees termed the "Mole Relief Act".{{sfn|Mangold|1991|p=246}}

With Golitsyn, Angleton continued to seek out moles. They sought the assistance of [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]] (himself a former CIA asset) to write ''New Lies for Old'', which argued that the Soviet Union planned to fake a collapse to lull its enemies into a false sense of victory, but Buckley refused. In his 1994 book ''[[Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA|Wedge: The Secret War between the FBI and CIA]]'', author Mark Riebling claimed that of 194 predictions made in ''New Lies For Old'', 139 had been fulfilled by 1993, nine seemed "clearly wrong", and the other 46 were "not soon [[Falsifiability|falsifiable]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riebling |first=Mark |title=Wedge: The Secret War between the FBI and CIA |date=October 18, 1994 |publisher=[[Knopf]] |isbn=978-0679414711 |edition=1st |language=EN}}</ref>

== Personal life and death ==
Angleton met Cicely Harriet d'Autremont, a [[Vassar College|Vassar]] alumna from [[Tucson, Arizona]] and granddaughter of [[Chester Adgate Congdon]], at Harvard in 1941.<ref name=":1" /> They married on 17 July 1943, shortly after he enlisted in the Army. Together, they had three children:
* James C. Angleton;<ref name="washpostpoet"/>
* Guru Sangat Kaur Khalsa (formerly Truffy Angleton);<ref>{{cite news |date=4 June 1979 |title=The Sikhs of Washington |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/04/archives/the-sikhs-of-washington-family-life-and-prosperity-in-the-us-for.html |access-date=2018-04-21}}</ref> and
* Siri Hari Kaur Angleton-Khalsa (formerly Lucy d'Autremont Angleton)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reck |first=Peter Haldeman, Robert |date=April 2009 |title=Outside Time and Place {{!}} Architectural Digest |url=http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/edith-katz-article |access-date=2016-02-29 |website=Architectural Digest}}</ref>

The Angletons lived in the Rock Spring neighborhood of [[Arlington, Virginia]] until Angleton's death.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Kim |author-link1=Kim Roberts (poet) |last2=Vera |first2=Dan |author-link2=Dan Vera |title=Cicely Angleton |url=http://dcwriters.poetrymutual.org/Pages/angletonc.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425143154/http://dcwriters.poetrymutual.org/Pages/angletonc.html |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |access-date=September 20, 2014 |publisher=DC Writers' Homes}}</ref><ref name="washpostpoet">{{cite news |date=September 25, 2011 |title=Cicely Angleton, poet and CIA official's spouse |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/cicely-angleton-poet-and-cia-officials-spouse/2011/09/24/gIQA5GHDvK_story.html |access-date=July 5, 2015 |archive-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707200958/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/cicely-angleton-poet-and-cia-officials-spouse/2011/09/24/gIQA5GHDvK_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Angletons had a tumultuous marriage at times,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burleigh |first=Nina |title=A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer |publisher=[[Penguin Random House]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0553380514 |language=en}}</ref> nearly divorcing in 1946,<ref name=":5" /> but developed a varied social set in Washington, including professional acquaintances in intelligence, poets, painters and journalists.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Holzman |first=Michael |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vk7ng |title=James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence |date=2008 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-55849-649-1 |chapter=7: The Business of Counterespionage}}</ref> The Angletons maintained a friendship with E.E. Cummings and his wife, [[Marion Cummings|Marion]], until the Cummings' deaths,<ref name=":4" /> and Angleton was a regular golf partner of [[James Laughlin]].<ref name=":3" /> Angleton's hobbies included [[orchid]] cultivation (he built a [[Greenhouse|hothouse]] in his backyard, and developed a hybrid named after his wife), [[fly fishing]], and [[gemology]].<ref name=":6" /> Angleton also wrote poetry and was an amateur photographer.<ref name=":4" />

Angleton's wife and his daughters explored [[Sikhism]],<ref name="washpostpoet"/> and both of Angleton's daughters became followers of [[Harbhajan Singh Khalsa]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-03-31 |title=Look Inside an Earthy Paradise in New Mexico |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/edith-katz-article |access-date=2021-08-07 |website=Architectural Digest |language=en-US |archive-date=August 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807102423/https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/edith-katz-article |url-status=live }}</ref>

Angleton died from cancer in Washington, D.C., on 11 May 1987.<ref name="EncColdWar" />

==Legacy==
Angleton's responsibilities as chief of Counterintelligence have given rise to a considerable literature focused on his efforts to identify Soviet or [[Eastern Bloc]] agents working in American secret intelligence agencies.

In time, Angleton's zeal and suspicions came to be regarded as counterproductive, if not destructive. In the wake of his departure, counterintelligence efforts were undertaken with far less enthusiasm. Some{{Who|date=July 2023}} believe this overcompensation was responsible for oversights which allowed [[Aldrich Ames]], [[Robert Hanssen]] and others to compromise American intelligence agencies after Angleton's resignation. Although the American intelligence community quickly recovered from the [[Church Committee]], it found itself uncharacteristically incapable of policing itself after Angleton's departure. [[Edward Jay Epstein]] has argued that the positions of Ames and Hanssen—both well-placed Soviet counter-intelligence agents, in the CIA and FBI respectively—would enable the KGB to deceive the American intelligence community, in the manner that Angleton hypothesized.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/question_angleton.htm|title= Was Angleton Right?|last=Epstein|first=Edward Jay|date=30 December 2004 <!-- OR 2001 -->|work=Question of the Week|access-date=2 December 2010}}</ref>

Despite misgivings over his uncompromising and often obsessive approach to his profession, Angleton is highly regarded by a number of his peers in the intelligence business. Former Shin Bet chief [[Amos Manor]], in an interview in ''[[Ha'aretz]]'', revealed his fascination with the man during Angleton's work to forge the U.S.–Israel liaison in the early 1950s. Manor described Angleton as "fanatic about everything", with a "tendency towards mystification". Manor discovered decades later that the real reason for Angleton's visit was to investigate Manor, being an Eastern European Jewish immigrant, for Angleton thought that it would be prudent to "sanitize" the U.S.–Israeli bridge before a more formal intelligence relationship was established.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melman |first=Yossi |date=March 11, 2006 |title=History of CIA-Israel collaboration |work=[[Ha'aretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/692298.html |url-status=dead |access-date=October 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909000000/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/692298.html |archive-date=September 9, 2006 }} [https://aldeilis.net/english/history-of-cia-israel-collaboration/ Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921115157/https://aldeilis.net/english/history-of-cia-israel-collaboration/ |date=September 21, 2023 }}</ref>

Three books dealing with Angleton take foreign intelligence activities, counterintelligence and domestic intelligence activities as their central theme: [[Tom Mangold]]'s ''Cold Warrior'', David C. Martin's ''Wilderness of Mirrors'', and [[David Wise (journalist)|David Wise]]'s ''Molehunt''. [[Tim Weiner]]'s ''Legacy of Ashes'' paints Angleton as an incompetent alcoholic.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim010200093 |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=The SHAFR Guide Online|doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim010200093 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

These views have been challenged by [[Tennent H. Bagley]] in his 2007 book, ''Spy Wars'', and [[Mark Riebling]] in his 1994 book, ''Wedge''. John M. Newman, in his 2022 book, ''Uncovering Popov's Mole'', characterizes Angleton as a man lacking self-confidence and who required a father figure. Newman claims that Angleton was duped by at least two KGB moles: [[Kim Philby]] in [[MI6]] and Bruce Solie in the Office of Security. Newman also suggests that Leonard V. McCoy in the Soviet Russia Division's Reports & Requirements section may have been a mole.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=John M. |title=Uncovering Popov's Mole |publisher=Independently published |year=2022 |isbn=979-8355050771}}</ref>

=== CIA Family Jewels ===
{{main|Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)}}
A set of highly sensitive Agency documents, referred to as the "Family Jewels," was publicly released on June 25, 2007, after more than three decades of secrecy.<ref name="WaPoJun27">{{cite news |first=Karen |last=DeYoung |author-link=Karen DeYoung |author2=Walter Pincus |title=CIA Releases Files on Past Misdeeds |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062600861.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=2007-06-27 |access-date=2017-10-26 |archive-date=April 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409150725/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062600861.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYTJun26">{{cite news |title=C.I.A. Releases Files on Misdeeds From the Past|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-CIA-Family-Jewels.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2007-06-26 |access-date=2007-06-26}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}.</ref> The release was prompted by an internal CIA investigation of the 1970s [[Church Committee]] which verified the far-ranging power and influence that Angleton wielded during his long tenure as counter-intelligence czar. The exposé revealed that Angleton-planned infiltration of law enforcement and military organizations in other countries was used to increase the influence of the United States. It also confirmed past rumors that it was Angleton who was in charge of the domestic spying activities of the CIA under [[Operation CHAOS]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://washington.blogs.nytimes.com/|title=Perspective on the Jewels From the C.I.A.'s Chief Historian|work=Washington — [[New York Times]] Blog|access-date=2 December 2010|first1=Mark|last1=Mazzetti|archive-date=October 16, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016115309/http://washington.blogs.nytimes.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 2025 JFK document release ===
Angleton's heavily-redacted testimony before the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities in 1975 was finally released on March 18, 2025. The 50-year-old Top Secret report covers several topics, particularly clandestine, intelligence-sharing agreements with Israel, nuclear secrets, [[Yuri Nosenko]], [[George Blake]], [[signals intelligence]], [[Anatoliy Golitsyn]], the Warren Commission, and Lee Harvey Oswald. The 113-page fully unredacted document discloses several matters, including leaks to newsmen [[Seymour Hersh]] and [[Tad Szulc]] and their information about Watergate, Cuba, [[Project Azorian]], and [[Sidney Gottlieb]].<ref name=JFK157>{{Cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/157-10014-10005.pdf |title=JFK Record Number 157-10014-10005 |access-date=March 19, 2025 |archive-date=March 19, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250319081037/https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/157-10014-10005.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the previously-redacted sections, the document is full of ''NBR'' markings from the [[Assassination Records Review Board]], meaning ''Not Believed Relevant''.

=== In popular culture ===
* The 2006 film ''[[The Good Shepherd (film)|The Good Shepherd]]'' is loosely based on Angleton's life and his role in the formation of the CIA.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 December 2007 |title=The Good Shepherd, Matt Damon |url=http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/out/ent/cinema_thegoodshepherd_damon.php |access-date=October 24, 2009 |archive-date=December 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211101421/http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/out/ent/cinema_thegoodshepherd_damon.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[The Laundry Files]]'' by [[Charles Stross]] features a senior Laundry agent whose ''[[nom de guerre]]'' is James Angleton.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stross |first=Charles |date=20 July 2008 |title=Down on the Farm |url=http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/07/down-on-the-farm |access-date=2013-11-10 |archive-date=March 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318190559/http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/07/down-on-the-farm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The 2002 novel ''[[The Company (Littell novel)|The Company]]'' by [[Robert Littell (author)|Robert Littell]]—and the 2007 television mini-series ''[[The Company (TV miniseries)|The Company]]'' based on it, with Angleton portrayed by [[Michael Keaton]]—is focused on Angleton's efforts to find a Soviet mole.
* Angleton was portrayed by [[John Light (actor)|John Light]] in the 2003 BBC TV mini-series ''[[Cambridge Spies]]''.
* The song "Angleton" by Russian indie rock band [[Biting Elbows]] is about Angleton's life and career.<ref>{{cite web |date=29 September 2017 |title=Angleton Lyrics |url=http://www.releaselyrics.com/355a/biting-elbows-angleton/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724224351/http://www.releaselyrics.com/355a/biting-elbows-angleton/ |archive-date=24 July 2014 |access-date=5 June 2014 |publisher=Release Lyrics}}</ref>
* In the television series ''[[Granite Flats]]'' the actor [[Cary Elwes]] plays Hugh Ashmead, the name "Ashmead" being the cover name for Angleton.
* [[William F. Buckley]]'s 2000 novel ''Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton'' is a fictionalized treatment of Angleton's career, a storyline being placed upon, between and within actual historic facts and events.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buckley |first1=William F. |url=https://archive.org/details/spytimeundoingo000buck |title=Spytime: the undoing of James Jesus Angleton |date=2000 |publisher=Harcourt |isbn=0-15-100513-3}}</ref>
* [[Mike Doughty]] released a song entitled "James Jesus Angleton" on Apple Music in December 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Listen to "James Jesus Angleton" |url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/post/sa.e5bd7050-ecb6-11e7-8d66-938abd566b37 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128021215/https://itunes.apple.com/us/post/sa.e5bd7050-ecb6-11e7-8d66-938abd566b37 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 28, 2018 |access-date=August 14, 2019 |website=Apple Music}}</ref>
* [[The Fatima Mansions]] track "Brunceling's song" mentions Angleton by name, in a narrative involving spies adapting to regular life.
* In the 1991 [[Norman Mailer]] novel ''[[Harlot's Ghost]]'', Tremont Montague (Harlot) is based on Angleton.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Morley |first1=Jefferson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwCXDgAAQBAJ&q=Tremont+Montague+angleton&pg=PA267 |title=The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton |date=24 October 2017 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=9781250080615 |page=267}}</ref>
* The fourth season of the television series ''[[The Bureau (TV series)|Le Bureau des Légendes]]'' introduces a character from the French external security service [[General Directorate for External Security|(DGSE)]] with the nickname of "JJA" - James Jesus Angleton. There is a short discussion of Angleton's career and its connection to this character.
* Angleton was portrayed by [[Stephen Kunken]] in the 2022 [[ITVX]] mini-series ''[[A Spy Among Friends]]'' about the defection of [[Kim Philby]].
* In 2016, he was portrayed by [[Anthony Brophy]] in [[The Crown (TV series)|The Crown]].
* In the [[Max (streaming service)|HBO Max]] miniseries ''[[White House Plumbers (miniseries)|White House Plumbers]]'', Angleton is portrayed by [[David Pasquesi]].
* In season 2, episode 5 of the [[Netflix]] series ''[[The Recruit (American TV series)|The Recruit]]'', the CIA's general counsel states that a CIA lawyer should "run the Angleton playbook."<ref>{{cite web |last=Dean |first=Grace |date=30 January 2025 |title=The Recruit season 2 episode 5 recap: a new plan and an escape from Korea |url=https://www.whattowatch.com/features/the-recruit-season-2-episode-5-recap-a-new-plan-and-an-escape-from-korea |access-date=2025-01-30 |archive-date=January 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250131034837/https://www.whattowatch.com/features/the-recruit-season-2-episode-5-recap-a-new-plan-and-an-escape-from-korea |url-status=live }}</ref>
* In 1976, Angleton was interviewed for the British television political programme, [[This Week (1956 TV programme)|This Week]], in which he gave a wide ranging opinion on his thoughts and conclusions of the ongoing Western fight against the Soviet Bloc.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTgneJQxCts |via=YouTube |title= CIA {{!}} Intelligence service {{!}} Cold War {{!}} James Angelton interview {{!}} This Week {{!}} 1976 |publisher=[[Thames TV]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[David Blee]]
* [[Aleksander Kopatzky]]
* [[Joseph McCarthy]]
* [[Martel affair]]
* [[Jim Skardon]]
* [[Spymaster]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
===Nonfiction===
* {{Cite news |last=Engelberg |first=Stephen |date=May 12, 1987 |title=James Angleton, Counterintelligence Figure, Dies |work=[[New York Times]] |page=D31}}
* {{Cite book |last=Epstein |first=Edward Jay |author-link=Edward Jay Epstein |title=Deception: The Invisible War between the CIA and the KGB |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1989 |isbn=0-671-41543-3 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite news |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=December 22, 1974 |title=Huge C.I.A. Operation Reported in US against Antiwar Forces, Other Dissidents During Nixon Years |work=[[New York Times]] |page=1}}
* {{Cite news |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=December 24, 1974 |title=President Tells Colby to Speed Report on CIA |work=[[New York Times]] |page=43}}
* {{Cite news |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=December 30, 1974 |title=3 More Aides Quit in CIA Shake-Up |work=[[New York Times]] |page=51}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=June 25, 1978 |title=The Angleton Story |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/A%20Disk/Angleton%20James/Item%2015.pdf |magazine=[[New York Times Magazine]] |pages=SM4 ff}}
* {{Cite book |last=Holzman |first=Michael |title=James Jesus Angleton, The CIA and the Craft of Counter Intelligence |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-55849-650-7 |location=Amherst}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mangold |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Mangold |title=[[Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton: The CIA's Master Spy Hunter]] |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1991 |isbn=0-671-66273-2 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=David C. |title=Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War's Most Important Agents |publisher=The Lyons Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-58574-824-2 |location=Boston |orig-date=1980, Harper & Row}}
* {{Cite book |last=Posner |first=Gerald |author-link=Gerald Posner |title=Case Closed |publisher=Random House |year=1993 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Robarge |first=David |date=2003 |title=Moles, Defectors, and Deceptions: James Angleton and CIA Counterintelligence |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol53no4/pdf/JIH-Angleton-Robarge-2003.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Intelligence History |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=21–49 |doi=10.1080/16161262.2003.10555085 |s2cid=159176794 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927212259/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol53no4/pdf/JIH-Angleton-Robarge-2003.pdf |archive-date=2012-09-27 |access-date=27 February 2018}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wise |first=David |title=Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA |publisher=Random House |year=1992 |isbn=0-394-58514-3 |location=New York}}

===Fiction===
* {{Cite book |last=Latham |first=Aaron |author-link=Aaron Latham |title=Orchids for Mother: A Novel |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1985 |isbn=0-553-25407-3 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Littell |first=Robert |title=The Company: A Novel of the CIA |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2003 |isbn=0-14-200262-3 |location=New York}}{{snd}}fictional history of the CIA during the Cold War in which Angleton is a major supporting character
* {{Cite book |last=Petit |first=Chris |title=The Passenger |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2006 |isbn=0-7432-0946-X |location=London}}{{snd}}a thriller/spy-novel which involves Angleton as a central character

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Bagley |first=Tennent H. |title=Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-300-12198-8}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Loch K. |year=2013 |title=James Angleton and the Church Committee |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=128–147 |doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00397 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morley |first=Jefferson |title=The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1250080615 |location=New York}}{{snd}}full biography

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category-inline}}
* {{Find a Grave|6379756|James Jesus Angleton}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/919.html ''Frontline'' – "The Spy Hunter" May 14, 1991] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503131905/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/919.html |date=May 3, 2016 }} by Tom Mangold for the PBS program

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angleton, James Jesus}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:American Cold War spymasters]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American people of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:American spies]]
[[Category:Central Intelligence Agency founding member]]
[[Category:Cold War CIA chiefs]]
[[Category:Counterintelligence analysts]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Knights of Malta]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Idaho]]
[[Category:People educated at Malvern College]]
[[Category:People from Boise, Idaho]]
[[Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency]]
[[Category:People of the Office of Strategic Services]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:World War II espionage]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]