Victor Marchetti used the expression "cult of intelligence" to denounce what he viewed as a counterproductive mindset and culture of secrecy, elitism, amorality and lawlessness within and surrounding the Central Intelligence Agency in the service of American imperialism: There exists in our nation today a powerful and dangerous secret cult --
the cult of intelligence. Its holy men are the clandestine
professionals of the Central Intelligence Agency. Its patrons and
protectors are the highest officials of the federal government. Its
membership, extending far beyond governmental circles, reaches into the
power centers of industry, commerce, finance, and labor. Its friends are
many in the areas of important public influence -- the academic world
and the communications media. The cult of intelligence is a secret
fraternity of the American political aristocracy. The purpose of the
cult is to further the foreign policies of the U.S. government by covert
and usually illegal means, while at the same time containing the spread
of its avowed enemy, communism. Traditionally, the cult's hope has been
to foster a world order in which America would reign supreme, the
unchallenged international leader. Today, however, that dream stands
tarnished by time and frequent failures. Thus, the cult's objectives are
now less grandiose, but no less disturbing. It seeks largely to advance
America's self-appointed role as the dominant arbiter of social,
economic, and political change in the awakening regions of Asia, Africa,
and Latin America. And its worldwide war against communism has to some
extent been reduced to a covert struggle to maintain a self-serving
stability in the Third World, using whatever clandestine methods are
available.
(secrets of the c.i.a.)