What did the declassified documents reveal?

The record I am reading is a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence report on the People’s Liberation Army and the Cultural Revolution, dated October twenty‑eighth, nineteen sixty‑seven. It is notable because it offers a contemporary U.S. analysis of the Chinese military purges and the role of the PLA in the political upheaval of that period. The document is hosted at archive.org and can be found under the Black Vault’s collection of declassified CIA files. This report was approved for public release in May two thousand seven, under Executive Order twelve ninety‑eight, classification exemption six point two of paragraph two, and was declassified by the CIA’s Director of Central Intelligence. The release appears in the agency’s public archive and was made available through The Black Vault on the date of its declassification. The report begins: “Approved for release date: May two thousand seven. This is a working paper of the Directorate of Intelligence Special Research Staff. It is a successor to the writer’s study of February nineteen sixty‑seven (POLO‑XXII, ‘Mao’s Cultural Revolution: Its Leadership, Its Strategy, Its Instruments, and Its Casualties’), and is a companion‑piece to a recent study by another analyst of the staff (POLO‑XXIV, ‘Mao’s Cultural Revolution: Origin and Development’). The February study offered, inter alia, the propositions that Mao had taken the initiative at each stage, that changes in the Chinese leadership represented primarily purge rather than a power struggle, and that Mao was methodically and, in general, successfully carrying out a scheme for the reorganization of the apparatus of power in China. The February study further offered the view that the prospect for nineteen sixty‑seven was for the continued dominance of Mao and his team, and for their continued progress—at various speeds at various points—toward that reorganization. The present study, carrying the story to October first, nineteen sixty‑seven, deals mainly with Mao’s conduct of the ‘revolution’ in the PLA—that is, the purge and reorganization of the military apparatus—Mao’s use of the PLA as an instrument for conducting the ‘revolution’ as a whole, and the relationship between these two concerns, in particular the way in which Mao has relieved pressure on the PLA in periods of urgent need for the PLA’s cooperation in restoring and maintaining order. In surveying developments since April, the writer places great importance on the directives of April through August which forbade the PLA to open fire on mass organizations, and on the change of policy in early September which finally authorized the PLA to open fire—a change of policy which was followed by a dramatic reduction in disorder throughout China. The study concludes with a brief discussion of the scale of the purge of the PLA leadership—one in four military commanders, one in two political officers—and of the prospects for further purge and reorganization of the PLA and for the PLA as a factor…

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.

Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence Report On The People’s Liberation Army

◆ BLUF — The short version

The record I am reading is a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence report on the People’s Liberation Army and the Cultural Revolution, dated October twenty‑eighth, nineteen sixty‑seven. S. analysis of the Chinese military purges and the role of the PLA in the political upheaval of that period.

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

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Episode notes

The record I am reading is a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence report on the People’s Liberation Army and the Cultural Revolution, dated October twenty‑eighth, nineteen sixty‑seven. It is notable because it offers a contemporary U.S. analysis of the Chinese military purges and the role of…

View the primary source document

Questions about this case

What was Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence Report On The People’s Liberation Army about?: The record I am reading is a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence report on the People’s Liberation Army and the Cultural Revolution, dated October twenty‑eighth, nineteen sixty‑seven. S. analysis of the Chinese military purges and the role of the PLA in the political upheaval of that period.
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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Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence Report On The People’s Liberation Army

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