#114 Making the Government Talk: US Covert Operations and Freedom of Information w/ Peter Kornbluh
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 629 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2018
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Peter Kornbluh has spent his life working to shed light on US covert operations abroad. Along with his colleagues at the National Security Archive, Peter has helped to declassify documents related to the Bay of Pigs (1961) and Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the coup against Chile's democratically elected government (1973) and the Iran-Contra Scandal (1980s). As it turns out, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives and many prominent politicians have a lot to hide.
In this episode, Bob and Ben speak with Peter Kornbluh about the National Security Archive and how he and others have used the Freedom of Information Act to ensure that citizens have access to information about their government. Peter also explains the impact that these documents have had on modern politics at home and abroad, the difference between his work and that of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange (Wikileaks), and why he believes that access to government documents is essential to a strong democracy. He also shares one of the greatest "how I got here" stories we've ever heard on The Road to Now!
Peter Kornbluh has worked at the Archive since April 1986. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. He is the author of multiple books, the most recent of which, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (w/ William M. LeoGrande; UNC Press, 2014), received multiple honors and was a Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year.
You can get Back Channel to Cuba on audiobook through libro.fm! Click here and use promo code RTN to get three audiobooks for just $15 as a new libro.fm member. You can support The Road to Now, our guest, and your local bookstore, all while you learn more about the past!
The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this and all other episodes, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Oh, Cyrus. |
| 0:03.1 | Hey, this is Brendan from Umphreys McGee. This podcast is part of the Osiris Podcast family. |
| 0:08.7 | Osiris is a growing community of music and culture podcasts connecting music fans with |
| 0:13.6 | conversation, commentary, and of course lots of music. Osiris works in partnership with Relics |
| 0:19.4 | Magazine. |
| 0:21.1 | We are here with Dolph Ramsor, who you may know is the sponsor of our podcast, the original sponsor of our podcast, the godfather of North Carolina music. |
| 0:31.1 | Doff being a sponsor of our show literally helps us keep the lights on, keeps batteries in the zoom recorder, keeps the |
| 0:40.1 | microphone cables working. Dolf, we appreciate all your support over the past year. |
| 0:44.7 | Well, thank you. I'm glad to be a part of it. We've been running an ad for the Ruin Brothers, |
| 0:49.2 | which is one of the new albums that came out that you guys put out but was produced by Rick Rubin, |
| 0:54.3 | correct? Correct. Correct. I texted Doff after like the second time we ran it and told him that I've never seen a more effective advertisement because it had worked on my entire family because after I heard that ad on my own podcast a couple times when I was editing it, my wife listens to the ruin brothers all the time now and I've listened to that album several times. It worked on us, man. |
| 1:11.7 | Well, that's great to know. |
| 1:12.8 | That's great. |
| 1:13.2 | And they're such talented guys. My wife listens to the room brothers all the time now, and I've listened to that album several times. It worked on us, man. |
| 1:11.7 | Well, that's great to know. That's great. And they're such talented guys, and they're sweet fellows as well. They're from the north of England, Scunthorke, which is a very working class area, but they're really good guys. So, yeah, so we're grateful we had you as sponsors. And as I said, the first time we had |
| 1:28.3 | you on the introduction, maybe over a year ago. And I said that I've known Dolf like over a decade, and he's only ever sponsored really good things and put his name behind really good things. And I didn't know if this was going to be the one that broke him. And I didn't want to be a part of it, but a year later we're still going and we're thankful for it. |
| 1:43.4 | Well, again, glad to be a part of it. |
| 1:45.3 | And y'all keep rocking. |
| 1:47.2 | I'll keep rocking. didn't want to be a part of it, but a year later we're still going and we're thankful for it. Well, again, glad to be a part of it. |
| 2:02.2 | And y'all keep rocking. I'll keep rocking and having some fun doing it. Big team, little me. Yes. That's right. So check out the Ruin Brothers album and all the other albums and the bands on Ramser Records. You can go to ramsar Records. and you can, if you're interested in any of the albums there, |
| 2:01.7 | you can enter the promo code history and get 10% off. So go do it. Show Dawson |
| 2:07.5 | love and we're thankful for him. All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you. I'm Ben Sawyer, and this is the road to now. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Benjamin Sawyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Benjamin Sawyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.