Letters

Interventionism Again

EDITOR:

In his comment on discussions concerning the CIA (“Anti-Communism and the CIA,” May–June, 1967), Michael Walzer maintains that if one opposes secret CIA interference in Indian anti-Maoist politics, one must argue that a Maoist victory is either not imminent or would not be morally catastrophic.

The implication is that CIA interference in domestic affairs anywhere in the world is justified if a Communist victory is imminent and if, in someone’s judgment, such a victory will be “morally catastrophic.” Walzer reinforces this implication by arguing that the trouble with recently exposed CIA activities was that “they served political and material interest...