Victor Marchetti
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Marchetti |
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1979 |
Victor Leo Marchetti Jr. (23 December 1929 – 19 October 2018) was an American CIA officer who became a prominent critic of the agency. The CIA went to court to censor his book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence (1974) before publication, and in 1979 he wrote an article on how the CIA viewed UFOs.[1][2]
CIA career
Marchetti was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. After a few months as an analyst at the National Security Agency, he joined the CIA in October 1955, working in research and national estimates and from 1966 in planning and budgeting. In 1968–1969 he was special assistant to Deputy Director Rufus Taylor. He resigned in September 1969, disillusioned with the agency.[1]
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence
In 1972 the CIA obtained an injunction against Marchetti over a planned article, citing his secrecy agreement. For the book he wrote with John D. Marks, the CIA demanded 339 deletions; it later withdrew 171 of them, and the courts upheld the remaining 168. The book, published by Knopf in 1974, appeared with blank spaces where passages had been cut and with the restored passages in bold type.[1][2]
UFO article
In May 1979 Marchetti published "How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon" in the magazine Second Look.[1]
Later associations
In later years Marchetti was associated with the far right: he spoke at a 1989 conference of the Institute for Historical Review, whose journal republished his work, and wrote for The Spotlight, published by the antisemitic Liberty Lobby. He died at his home in Ashburn, Virginia, in 2018.[1][2]
On the UAP Timeline
- Victor Marchetti's Second Look article (May 1979) — Former CIA official Victor Marchetti writes that the government is hiding alien contact.
References
- Victor Marchetti — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Victor Marchetti, disillusioned CIA officer who challenged secrecy rules, dies at 88", The Washington Post (27 Oct 2018) · washingtonpost.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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