What did the declassified documents reveal?

Intelligence cooperation between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Far East Command, letter dated March eighth, nineteen fifty‑two, declassified CIA record. This document was released through a Freedom of Information Act request, approved for public release in two thousand three. The declassification authority authorized its dissemination on October twenty‑second, two thousand three. The full text is available from The Black Vault at the URL archive dot org slash download slash us‑china‑intel‑CI00883 slash CI00883djvu dot txt. The document opens with a cover sheet indicating top‑secret control. It reads: “ATTENTION: This form will be attached to each Top Secret document received by the Central Intelligence Agency or classified Top Secret material within the CIA and will remain attached to the document until such time as it is downgraded, destroyed, or transmitted outside of CIA. Access to Top Secret material is limited to those individuals whose official duties relate to the material. Each alternate or assistant Top Secret Control Officer who receives and/or releases the attached Top Secret material will sign this form and indicate period of custody in the left‑hand columns provided. The name of each individual who has seen the Top Secret document and the date of handling should be indicated in the right‑hand columns, REFERRED TO, RELEASED, SEEN BY.” The signature record follows, noting that the top‑secret material was attached to the document and that the form will be detached and transmitted to Central Top Secret Control when the material is downgraded, destroyed, or dispatched outside the agency. The substantive portion of the record is a letter addressed to Colonel Bedell, dated March eighth, nineteen fifty‑two, from General M. B. Ridgway, United States Army, and copied to General Walter B. Smith of the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D. C. The letter reads: “Dear Bedell: I shall be genuinely distressed if my letter has seemed to you in the slightest degree destructively critical of the Central Intelligence Agency, or has reflected in the slightest degree on your own great personal contribution. I shall feel likewise if I have added in any way to your great burden. The purpose was and remains to find ways of achieving greater success in a very complex and difficult undertaking of fundamental importance to our people. I have not the slightest desire to minimize the shortcomings, past and present, of this theatre. Above all, I want to assure you there is not here the slightest intention to enlarge the responsibilities and functions of the Far East Command by encroachment on responsibilities and functions already assigned to the Central Intelligence Agency. I deplore that any responsible individual here should allege otherwise, for the allegation is completely without foundation in fact. The action of the individual whose report you were kind enough to pass to me is all the more regrettable since he had personally assured me…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

Intelligence Cooperation Between The Central Intelligence Agency And The Far

◆ BLUF — The short version

Intelligence cooperation between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Far East Command, letter dated March eighth, nineteen fifty‑two, declassified CIA record. This document was released through a Freedom of Information Act request, approved for public release in two thousand three.

Date: OCT 13 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was Intelligence Cooperation Between The Central Intelligence Agency And The Far about?: Intelligence cooperation between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Far East Command, letter dated March eighth, nineteen fifty‑two, declassified CIA record. This document was released through a Freedom of Information Act request, approved for public release in two thousand three.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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