Documents reveal CIA recruited five of Eichmann's associates

Folks, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, but we'll never know for sure.

According to recently declassified intelligence documents, five of Adolph Eichmann's assistants were recruited and employed by the Central Intelligence Agency after World War II.

The information came to light after a lengthy battle waged by the non-profit group, The National Security Archive, whose goal is to expose government documents under the framework of the Freedom of Information Act.

The newly-revealed documents are based on internal investigations in the CIA's history department. The agency has steadfastly refused to make the documents public for fear they would cause embarrassment.

The revelations cast a negative light not only on American intelligence activity but also the U.S. Army's conduct in Germany at the conclusion of the war. The military made efforts to recruit members of the SS and the Gestapo into its ranks despite simultaneously waging a campaign of denazification over vanquished Germany, a process which included arresting and trying Nazi war criminals.

The documents also reveal in great detail CIA efforts to recruit Reinhard Gehlan, who was the Wermacht's chief intelligence officer for the eastern front during the war.

The recruitment evolved into a new intelligence sub-organization known as "Gehlan's Organization," which served as the basis for what would later become West Germany's foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).

According to the new findings, Gehlan's Organization employed a number of Gestapo and SS officials, and that Gehlan and his senior associates secretly operated out of a building with the knowledge of the American occupation forces.

Documents reveal CIA recruited five of Eichmann's associates