CIA - Peace Corps connection

[Elendil_s_Heir]

JFK started the Peace Corps, and was emphatic that the CIA not to use the Corps as a cover for intelligence-gathering, for all the good reasons already stated. Listen here: Telephone Recordings: Dictation Belt 17B.1. Keeping CIA out of the Peace Corps (Item 17A.4 Continued) | JFK Library. That has remained, I believe, official U.S. Government policy.

[celwic8891]

@JillGat

CIA regulations ban the use of journalists, clergy and U.S. Peace Corps volunteers overseas as undercover operatives. Peace Corps regulations prohibit anyone who has worked for the CIA or the U.S. military (in the last five years, or for some such period of time) from serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.

And yet the rumor persists, particularly outside of the U.S., that the Peace Corps is a front for the CIA and that PC volunteers are working as spies. I served in the Peace Corps myself and have never seen any evidence of this. I think it’s a dangerous myth and I argue with people who say it (for many people in the developing world, this can be the only reasonable explanation for why Americans would voluntarily give up a life of luxury to live and work without running water, electricity or use of a car).

But now I’m curious. Is there any evidence anywhere of Peace Corps having been infiltrated by the CIA or anyone having been used as an undercover agent by the CIA while serving in the Peace Corps?

I also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We used to joke about it. The part of the world I served in was in unrest. During my time in country the Iran-Contra affair had been exposed and indirectly affected my Peace Corps experience. I was a small town girl who had minimal political experience. I was raised in a Family that taught me to worship God (I have since realized I am Wiccan), to be patriotic, ( I have since become aware of some truly deplorable things done in the name of patriotism) and strong educational and work ethics. My time served in the Peace Corps remains my greatest achievement other than raising my children. I believed in the goals set out for me and did my best to achieve those goals, and I believe I was successful. Now, looking back I believe it was a strong possibility that perhaps one or more of my fellow volunteers could have been other than what I believed at the time. I know this is an old post but having seen it I had to respond. I wouldn’t like to think it was true but in light of what I now know our country to be capable of, I no longer doubt the veracity of the statement that Peace Corps could possibly be a front for the CIA or some other high powered “initial” group.