Monday, August 31, 2009

John Prados on the CIA and Vietnam


On the August 31, 2009 edition of Subversity, a KUCI public affairs program, we talk with National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados, about his research into declassified CIA documents from the Vietnam War. He has just compiled the National Security Archive's new analysis, The CIA's Vietnam Histories which shows the extent of CIA intervention in Vietnam. He is also the author of numerous intelligence-related books, including the latest, Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War,
1945-1975
from the University Press of Kansas.

In the massive book, Prados weaves together U.S., South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese perspectives, as well as those from the anti-war movement. UCI is included in the book: Surveillance of UCI students protesting the war in the 1960s at the El Toro Marine base gets a paragraph, relying on Naval Intelligence surveillance files declassified to Subversity's host Dan Tsang which Tsang wrote up as: The Few, the Proud, the Spies: Spying on civilians was part of El Toro's mission, OC Weekly, 15 July 1999.

Prados was last on Subversity talking about then-CIA Director Robert Gates, George W. Bush's nominee as Defense Secretary in 2006.

To listen to that 13 November 2006 show, click here: .

Prados' bio:

John Prados is an analyst of national security based in Washington, DC. Prados holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and focuses on presidential power, international relations, intelligence and military affairs. He is a senior fellow and project director with the National Security Archive, leading both the Archive's Iraq Documentation Project and its parallel effort on Vietnam. His current book is Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975 (University of Kansas Press). Now out in paperback is Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA (Ivan Dee Publisher). In addition Prados is author or editor of sixteen other books, with titles on national security, the American presidency, intelligence matters, diplomatic history and military affairs, including Iraq, Vietnam, and World War II. Among them are Hoodwinked: The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War; Inside the Pentagon Papers (edited with Margaret Pratt-Porter); Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of U.S. Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II; Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby; White House Tapes: Eavesdropping on the President (written and edited); Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanh (with Ray Stubbe); America Responds to Terrorism (edited); The Hidden History of the Vietnam War; Operation Vulture; The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War; Presidents' Secret Wars: CIA and Pentagon Covert Operations from World War II Through the Persian Gulf; Keepers of the Keys: A History of the National Security Council from Truman to Bush; and The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Intelligence and Soviet Strategic Forces. The works Keepers of the Keys and Combined Fleet Decoded were nominated by their publishers for the Pulitzer Prize. Combined Fleet Decoded was the winner of the annual book award of the New York Military Affairs Symposium and a 'notable naval book of the year' for the U.S. Naval Institute. The Soviet Estimate was the winner of the annual book prize of the Consortium for the Study of Intelligence. Valley of Decision became a 'notable naval book of the year' for the U.S. Naval Institute. Prados has chapters in thirty-two other books, and entries in six reference works. He is also an award-winning designer of board strategy games for many publishers. Prados is a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, and a former contributing writer to The VVA Veteran. His articles and op-ed pieces have appeared widely, including Vanity Fair, The Washington Post Outlook, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Naval History, The American Prospect, Scientific American, and elsewhere. His internet articles have appeared at NeimanWatchdog.com, Tompaine.com, TNR.com, American Prospect Online, and elsewhere. His book reviews have also appeared widely.

To listen to the 31 August 2009 show, click here: .

Monday, August 24, 2009

Lincoln Cushing on American Labor Posters


Lincoln Cushing returns as a guest on KUCI's Subversity show Monday 24 August 2009 to talk about a new book of labor posters he has co-compiled, Agitate! Educate! Organize! American Labor Posters from Cornell University Press.

His bio:

Lincoln Cushing, born 1953, Havana, Cuba.

Lincoln Cushing is an artist, librarian, archivist, and author. At U.C. Berkeley he was the Cataloging and Electronic Outreach Librarian at Bancroft Library and the Electronic Outreach Librarian at the Institute of Industrial Relations (now Institute for Research on Labor and Employment).

He is involved in several projects to document, catalog, and disseminate oppositional political culture of the late 20th century. He is the author of Revolucion! Cuban Poster Art, Chronicle Books, 2003; editor of Visions of Peace & Justice: 30 years of political posters from the archives of Inkworks Press,, 2007; co-author of Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chronicle Books, 2007; and co-author of Agitate! Educate! Organize! American Labor Posters, Cornell University Press, 2009. His research and publishing projects can be seen at his website http://www.docspopuli.org.

To listen to the show, click here: .

Monday, August 17, 2009

Mark LeVine on UC's Future

On our 17 August 2009 show, Subversity looks at the future of the University of California with UCI History Prof. Mark LeVine. Prof. LeVine has been active in efforts to look beyond the current crisis at what the future bodes. An ad hoc group he has helped organize meets regularly; for more information contact Prof. LeVine at mlevine@uci.edu.

For latest updates on how this crisis affects faculty in the UCs and elsewhere, check out this blog, Remaking the University.

In the second half of the show, we aired a program from National Radio Project's Making Contact on Breaking through the Blue Wall of Silence about civilian review boards.

The show airs from 9-10 a.m. on 17 August 2009 on KUCI, 88.9 fm in Orange County, Calif., and is simulcast via kuci.org.

To listen to the first half of the show featuring our interview with Mark LeVine, click here: .

Monday, August 10, 2009

UCI Students & Alumni Organize to Save SAAS!

Photo credit: Daniel C. Tsang © 2009
Irvine -- Citing budget woes, the University of Calfiornia, Irvine has moved to eliminate a key federally funded student services resource, effective August 31, 2009. After three decades of its existence, UCI administrators plan to eliminate the Student Academic Advancement Services Student Academic Advancement Services and lay off its entire staff. The office serves first-generation, low-income and disabled students, and runs the well-known Summer Bridge Program for incoming UCI first-year and transfer students meeting program criteria. The planned closure and layoffs were announced by Undergraduate Education Dean Sharon Salinger 30 July 2009.

As a result, students and alumni have organized to oppose this drastic move by the UCI administrators. We talk with recent UCI graduates Debbie Lee, who started a Facebook page, Save SAAS at UCI Now! and Luz Colin, about what one can do to reverse this retrograde act.

The show airs from 9-10 a.m. 10 August 2009 on KUCI, 88.9 fm in Orange County, California, and is simulcast via kuci.org.

Bios of our guests:

Deborah Lee

As a first generation college student and product of the Student Academic Advancement Services (SAAS), Deborah Lee (left in photo) recently graduated Magna Cum Laude with a major in Criminology, Law and Society in the School of Social Ecology. In addition to graduating with honors, as a junior, Deborah was also nominated by the UCI Faculty and administration into UCI's National Honors Society, Phi Beta Kappa. Only 1% of juniors are nominated each year. She has also been awarded the President's Service Award for Outstanding Community Service. Deborah's involvement on campus also include: UCI Cheer Squad, Middle Earth Community Service Committee, Alpha Phi Omega (Community Service Fraternity), UCDC, Travel Study, Social Ecology's Mentor-Mentee Program, Criminology Outreach Program, SAAS, and much more. Within SAAS, she has been a peer advisor for three years and her involvement with Summer Bridge includes being a Resident Assistant and also the Head Resident Advisor. She plans on attending a tier-one law school in Fall 2010 with the academic and personal support she has received from SAAS, including a scholarship they have provided with the Princeton Review.

Luz Colin

Luz Colin (right in photo) is a 2008 graduate from UCI with a B.A. in political science and Chicano/Latino studies. This past June, she completed a Masters in Arts in Higher Education and Organizational Change (HEOC) at UCLA's Graduate School of Education. Luz currently works as a research analyst for the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) also at UCLA. Luz believes that her success is a result of the support she received from SAAS beginning with Summer Bridge and her entire time as an undergraduate at UCI. SAAS gave her the confidence to get involved and was a Peer Advisor for 2 years and was a Summer Bridge Assistant Head Resident Advisor for three years. She was also actively involved with Alpha Phi Omega (a service fraternity). She still comes back to SAAS as an alum to talk about her experiences with the new SAAS students. Her research focuses on first generation/low-income students like herself and hopes to one day return to UCI and work with this population.

To listen to the 10 August 2009 show, click here: .

Monday, August 3, 2009

Director Susan Morgan Cooper on "An Unlikely Weapon" about Vietnam War photographer Eddie Adams

Irvine -- On the 3 August 2009 edition of Subversity, a KUCI public affairs program, we talked with a documentary filmmaker about her latest film, a profile of Pulitizer-Prize winning photographer Eddie Adams.

"An Unlikely Weapon," directed by Susan Morgan Cooper, profiles the life of Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams, who shot the iconic photograph of national police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting to death a captured Viet Cong prisoner, Nguyen Van Lem on a Saigon street in 1968.

The photograph, capturing the shooting at the exact moment of impact, won Adams a Pulitzer Prize. The photograph was credited with turning the American public against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Adams, after the war, also documented the plight of Vietnamese refugees leaving their homeland.

An Unlikely Weapon won the Best Documentary award at the Avignon Film Festival in 2008 and was shown earlier this year at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Cooper, born in Wales, has also made another documentary, one focusing on the Balkan War. She made it after she met a young Croatian girl. The result was "Mirjana: One Girl's Journey." She is currently developing a film on street children in Rio and the death squads that routinely murder them.

Resources

An Unlikely Weapon web site

Wikipedia entry on Eddie Adams

To listen to the 3 August 2009 show with the Susan Morgan Cooper interview, click here: .

We also aired a Making Contact program on the Single-Payer Health Plan, something now rejected by the Obama Administration even as many health activists continue to clamor for it: Many Voices for a Single-Payer System.