CIA and MI6 Covert Action in Communist Albania at the Dawn of the Cold War (459)

About this episode

The episode discusses the covert actions of the CIA and MI6 in Albania during the early Cold War, focusing on their attempts to undermine the communist regime.

In June 1949, the US and British governments secretly agreed to mount a joint covert action operation to overthrow the communist government in Albania. The top-secret plan would use exiled dissidents to conduct subversive intelligence, paramilitary and propaganda operations to foment an uprising against Albania's authoritarian ruler Enver Hoxha. I speak with Stephen Long, the author of A Rich Harvest of Bitter Fruit: CIA and MI6 Covert Action in Communist Albania at the Dawn of the Cold War. He describes how the Albanian operation is a vital but misunderstood part of Cold War history and the West’s first secret attempt to subvert a communist state behind the Iron Curtain. While the West ultimately backed away from trying to bring down Hoxha's regime, Albania was the test case of anti-communist covert action where the West served its apprenticeship before rolling out this capability on a global scale. It’s a tale of subterfuge, secrecy, and skulduggery that is a fascinating examination of one of the most important and least examined major flashpoints of the Cold War. Buy the book and support the podcast https://amzn.to/43cBbXJ Episode extras…

People in this episode

Host: Ian Sanders

Guest: Stephen Long

Topics covered

• covert action
• Cold War
• Albania
• CIA
• MI6
• communism
• subversion

Keywords

• CIA
• MI6
• Albania
• Cold War
• covert operations
• Enver Hoxha
• subversion
• intelligence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, MI6

Books & works: A Rich Harvest of Bitter Fruit: CIA and MI6 Covert Action in Communist Albania at the Dawn of the Cold War

Places: Albania

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