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Anderson Cooper has long traded on his biography, carving a niche for himself as the most human of news anchors. But there's one aspect of his past that the silver-haired CNN star has never made public: the months he spent training for a career with the Central Intelligence Agency. <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Following his sophomore and junior years at Yale—a well-known recruiting ground for the CIA—Cooper spent his summers interning at the agency's monolithic headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in a program for students interested in intelligence work.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> His involvement with the agency ended there, and he chose not to pursue a job with the agency after graduation, according to a CNN spokeswoman, who confirms details of Cooper's CIA involvement to Radar.<br><br>"Whatever summer jobs or internships our anchors had in college couldn't be less consequential," she adds. He has kept the experience a secret, sources say, out of concern that, if widely known, it might compromise his ability to travel in foreign countries and even possibly put him at greater risk from terrorists.<br><br>"He doesn't want to be any more of a target than he already is," says one Anderson confidante. On the other hand, as Bob Woodruff and others have learned, American journalists are already prime targets in the world's conflict zones, and are typically accused of having CIA ties even where none exist. And by not disclosing his training before now, Cooper has arguably made it into a potential issue. "It creates the appearance of something smelly there," says a former CNN official who knows Cooper. (Particularly in light of the period Anderson spent studying Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi after college. Soon after, Cooper apparently gave up his Bond fantasy to pursue a career in journalism—except for a brief period when he starred as host of ABC's reality show, The Mole.)<br><br>According to the spokeswoman, Cooper told his bosses at CNN about his time with the agency. But even if he hadn't, says <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Walter Isaacson, who headed the network from 2001 to 2003 and is now president of the Aspen Institute, it's not the sort of thing that would automatically require disclosure, since the stint was brief and far in the past. "I think what he did was probably fine and cool, and I've got no problems with it," he adds. </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2006/09/anderson-coopers-cia-secret.php">www.radaronline.com</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

Is Cooper being thrown out of the biz for 'going off the reservation' and is this a likely trend?<br><br>Could this be a warning to others to watch it or they will get tossed out of the club, too?<br><br>Back when the (Frank) Church Senate sub-committee hearings on CIA abuses revealed that hundreds of CIA ops were in the media back in 1976, it started with CIA Director William Colby admitting first that a few journalists were doing CIA work. Then Colby warned that this path of inquiry was best left alone.<br><br>So it seems that the CIA threw a few of its own to the wolves as a warning to the others that 'it could happen to them so quit messing with NSC policies with leaks.'<br><br>This leads me to wonder if this could be a warning shot over the bow of all CIA media operatives for election season.<br><br>on edit: No names are used as sources here. Also, with the president of the Aspen Institute being quoted as describing Cooper's past in TeenSpeak as <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"fine and cool"</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> along with the "fine and cool" 007 graphic this now looks to me to be back-to-college season recruiting for CIA.<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/images/2006/09/andersoncooper_007_2.png" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=hughmanateewins>Hugh Manatee Wins</A> at: 9/6/06 10:59 am<br></i>

Didn't Richard Armitage speak Vietnamese, too? I wonder if they ever met in language class? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/6/06 11:42 am<br></i>

CIA, CNN in turn. <br><br>Our dashing human field anchor would be an asset to any organization. <br><br>CIA, CNN - why, look what it has done for Christiane Amanpour.<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/amanpour.answers/story.amanpour.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br>Got a question for the independent media? <br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Q: What are the chances bin Laden will be betrayed by a woman leading to his capture?<br>Mike Fulcher, San Antonio, Texas<br><br>AMANPOUR: There is zero chance of him being betrayed by a woman. <br><br>****<br><br>Q: Do you think Western people will ever understand the true motivations as well as cultural and religious differences between the West and Muslims?<br>Jonathan Stern, San Rafael, California<br><br>AMANPOUR: I hope so, and I will be working on that in the future. But in order to understand, American and Western media need to be committed to serious reporting of these issues, and viewers and readers need to be committed to reading, watching and learning.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/amanpour.answers/index.html">edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/amanpour.answers/index.html</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

All YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>

I agree with Hugh, this seems to be a bitch slap to keep the other presstitutes in line. They maybe tightening their links for an upcoming repeat 9/11 performance from their superiors. <p></p><i></i>

Mmmmmmm, Cooper is such a hottie that I don't care what he was when he was young and dumb. Shoot, I suppose you'll hold it against me now that I voted for Nixon. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/7/06 12:03 am<br></i>

This is so funny, the very first time I saw this guy I said out loud, he's CIA.<br><br>Of course I had no way of knowing, but I wasn't the only one with that opinion. His performance during Katrina was surprising, as it displayed a touch of conscience at work, or maybe that was the real false assumption on my part.<br><br>Anyway, it's nice to get a little validation to one of those "gut reactions" one occasionally gets.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Heck, almost every single one of the majors are CIA. I say, sit back in the easy chair and enjoy. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/7/06 1:08 am<br></i>

Now, I'm not so sure you can say that about the female ones. Do you suppose the CIA was so chauvenistic that they didn't go after the females in that timeframe? Not that the spooks don't have their methods of dealing with them-wine and dine, bed a and wed them. (Thinking of Campbell and Katie, for instance.) <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 9/7/06 12:43 am<br></i>

Just for the record, and "not that it matters"... <br><br>Anderson Cooper is gay.<br><br>So now he's outed as a former CIA as well.<br><br>And in case you don't know, his mother is the the well known Gloria Vanderbilt... <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Vanderbilt">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Vanderbilt</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Oh, no, I am so disappointed. Oh, well, I still like him, even if he is CIA and a Vanderbilt offspring. ~sigh~ <p></p><i></i>

You couldn't tell? I guess growing up with a gay brother endowed me with an accurate gadar system. I knew it as soon as I saw him on World News Now years ago. Now that Greek chick, damn she was hot. Probably a lesbian spook, though, if Cooper is any indication.<br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

This is interesting. Cooper's brother committed suicide by leaping from a high story of a hotel(?). Anderson spent a good deal of his professional life in war-torn areas. Among his writings?<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>In October 2005 it was announced that he signed a US $1 million contract to write a memoir for HarperCollins detailing his "life as a journalist and human being in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana/Mississippi" over the previous year. It is entitled<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong> Dispatches from the Edge</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and was released May 23, 2006. Some of Cooper's proceeds are being donated to charity.</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>There is something about the symbology of his "<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>living</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> on the edge" and the way his brother committed suicide by "jumping from the edge".<br><br>I see that I have something in common with him, afterall--his interest in why some people survive and some don't I call it survivorability. Some seek death, some quietly accept it, and some fight it tooth-and-nail. I don't quite understand who is the bravest, but I really, really admire the ones who fight. <p></p><i></i>

The story of his brother's suicide is awful. He and his mother (Vanderbilt) were interviewed on Oprah about it. His mother tried to stop him, then saw him jump off the balcony. She said that he jumped just as a plane passed by, as if it were a cue.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/16/brother/">www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/16/brother/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Cooper also has two half-brothers whose father is the conductor from Disney's <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Fantasia</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>BTW, at Yale, Cooper belonged to the Manuscript Society.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript_Society">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript_Society</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>