Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Peter Kornbluh
“‘How could I have been so stupid as to let them proceed?’ President John Kennedy asked his advisers following the CIA’s infamous fiasco at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. Beyond the fact that the U.S. invasion of Cuba was an egregious act of aggression — violating international law and Cuba’s sovereignty — its failure was a catastrophic embarrassment for JFK, only weeks into his White House tenure. … Kennedy vented his desire to ‘splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.’ That concept was more than angry rhetoric; the president actually set in motion a secret set of deliberations on breaking up the intelligence, espionage and covert action functions of the CIA and subordinating its operations to the State Department.” (03/27/25)