The book focuses on Operation Mongoose. What was that?
Don Bohning: It was a post-Bay of Pigs covert program to get rid of Castro, officially approved by President Kennedy Nov. 3, 1961. It was not an exclusive CIA operation, and included the Departments of Defense, Justice and Treasury and the U.S. Information Agency. Its nominal chief was Gen. Edward Lansdale, but Bobby Kennedy was the real director. Mongoose effectively ended a year later with the Cuban missile crisis. Herald: Why was that an important period? DB: First, the atmospherics that accompanied Mongoose contributed to the Soviet decision to install missiles in Cuba, fearing another U.S. invasion. And second, because in order to resolve the missile crisis, Kennedy gave Moscow a no-invasion-of-Cuba pledge. Herald: What impact did it have on Miami? DB: Several, among them a considerable economic impact. The CIA station at the UM South Campus at the time grew to be the largest in the world, outside the agency’s Langley headquarters. Herald: What impact did it have on Cuba? DB: Ther
