In February 1986 I was serving as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council (NIC). I suppose in time spent, I worked harder and longer on the Philippines in the NIC than any other issue. It was a time of the New People’s Army (NPA) insurgency, Ferdinand Marcos, and Cory Aquino. Producing anything on the Philippines was more complicated than usual by the fact that both the President and Director Casey considered Marcos a swell guy, maybe even a friend. My travels from one end of the archipelago to the other and back again during my time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee helped me sort through all the information coming out of the Philippines.
I was one of the DI analysts that covered the Philippine election in 1986. And it never would have occurred to me then that the United States itself would one day face a comparable crisis of democracy.
I was one of the DI analysts that covered the Philippine election in 1986. And it never would have occurred to me then that the United States itself would one day face a comparable crisis of democracy.