Larry Jackson, who was with the CIA from 1946 to 1978, was the first club member to give a re-classification talk, and to tell of his years with “the Agency” while being careful to confine it to declassified portions.

It all began when he was drafted into the Army and sent to Germany assigned to the Third Division and G-2 intelligence. There followed a succession of assignments starting with using PT boats to launch balloons over Russian barracks where they would be housed.. It worked in the face of skepticism, In the early 1950s he was sent to Berlin to take charge of German scientists returning from the States. His duties included writing orders, some assignments more dangerous, all potentially so.

At the close of his talk, Larry expressed his current view of intelligence as follows: “We should abolish the apparatus and save $15 billion a year. We do not have a clandestine service. The CIA has become a political punching bag.”