Editing Thomas G. Clines (section)

==CIA Career==
Clines joined the CIA in the early 1950s, rising through the ranks of the Directorate of Operations (clandestine service) to become a key figure in covert operations. His career closely aligned with [[Ted Shackley]], earning them reputations as part of the CIA’s “hardliner” faction.

	1	Early Assignments (1950s–1961):
	◦	Clines worked as a case officer in Europe and Asia, focusing on anti-communist operations. His early roles involved recruiting agents and managing covert logistics, leveraging his military counterintelligence background.
	◦	By the late 1950s, he was assigned to the CIA’s Berlin Operations Base under Shackley and William K. Harvey, handling espionage against the Soviet Union.

	2	Bay of Pigs and [[JM/WAVE]] (1961–1965):
	◦	Clines served as a key operative in the CIA’s Miami station (JM/WAVE), led by Shackley, to overthrow Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. He was involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion (1961), training Cuban exiles and coordinating sabotage operations under Operation Mongoose.
	◦	As deputy to David Atlee Phillips and later Shackley, Clines managed logistics for anti-Castro raids, earning a reputation for operational efficiency despite the invasion’s failure.

	3	Southeast Asia and Air America (1966–1972):
	◦	Clines joined Shackley in Laos (1966–1968), serving as a senior operative in the CIA’s “Secret War” against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese. He coordinated logistics with Air America, the CIA’s covert airline, which airlifted supplies, troops, and operatives for Hmong forces under General Vang Pao.
	▪	Connection to Air America: Clines directly oversaw Air America’s operations in Laos, including supply drops and search-and-rescue missions. Allegations of drug trafficking, particularly opium transport, surfaced, with historians like Alfred W. McCoy suggesting complicity by CIA operatives, though Clines and Shackley denied involvement.
	◦	In Saigon (1968–1972), Clines worked under Shackley on the Phoenix Program, targeting Viet Cong infrastructure through intelligence and assassination. Air America supported these operations, transporting CIA teams and prisoners.

	4	Western Hemisphere Division (1972–1976):
	◦	Clines served as deputy chief of the CIA’s Western Hemisphere Division under Shackley, overseeing operations like the 1973 Chilean coup against Salvador Allende. He managed covert support for anti-communist forces, with Air America providing logistics in Latin America.

	5	Retirement (1978):
	◦	Clines retired from the CIA in 1978, frustrated by reforms under Director Stansfield Turner. His departure coincided with Shackley’s, marking a shift to private intelligence and arms dealing.