Biting the Hand That Feeds You: Why the "Intelligence Function" of American Foundation Support for Area Studies Remains Hidden in Plain Sight

This article argues that in the early Cold War period a symbiotic relationship existed between the Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations, the Central Intelligence Agency and other American security agencies, and various universities and academics. The information on this relationship is now abundant, but the article argues that most academics do not want to probe into these ties, or even acknowledge them. Part of the reason is the price one pays for openly discussing this history. As a result we still lack grounded histories of these relationships.