The CIA released secret Cold War documents today showing how US analysts overestimated Soviet power and disagreed over how close the world came to a nuclear war over the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
The 859 documents, declassified to coincide with a Central Intelligence Agency conference at Princeton University on US analysis of the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1991, included a conclusion that the Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991, had backed revolutionary groups that used "terrorism."
A 1981 intelligence report said there was "conclusive evidence" that the Soviet Union supported revolutionary groups that used "terrorism," specifically mentioning El Salvador.
Lloyd Salvetti, director of the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence, described the release as "a treasure trove of great material." The documents will be available on the CIA's Web site www.foia.ucia.gov.
