Майлз Копланд: Американдық тыңшы, музыкант және кәсіпкер

American espionage agent, musician, and businessman (1916–1991)

Miles Axe Copeland Jr. (July 16, 1916 – January 14, 1991) was an American musician, businessman, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) founding member best known for his relationship with Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and his public commentary on intelligence matters. Copeland participated in numerous covert operations, including the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état and the 1953 Iranian coup d'état. A conservative influenced by the ideas of James Burnham, Copeland was associated with the American political magazine National Review.

The son of a doctor, Copeland was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He did not graduate from college. According to history professor Hugh Wilford, there is nothing in Copeland's CIA files to suggest he was a professional musician, but "several relatives and friends have testified to his musical ability." Copeland's books contain "several impressive statements about his days as a jazz musician," including that "he spent a week playing fourth trumpet in the Glenn Miller orchestra," although this claim has been discredited. Copeland was married to archaeologist Lorraine Adie. He was the father of music manager Miles Copeland III, booking agent Ian Copeland, film producer Lorraine (Lennie) Copeland, and drummer Stewart Copeland, a founding member of the rock band The Police. Copeland was stationed in London and reportedly gained the top secret "Bigot" clearance and took part in discussions about Operation Overlord. Serving in London, he became a lifelong Anglophile. He married Lorraine Adie, a Scot he had met during the war when she was serving in the Special Operations Executive.

After the end of World War II and the creation of the CIA, Copeland was asked to organize the agency’s information gathering unit in the Middle East. He was stationed in Damascus, Syria, as a CIA case officer under the cover title "cultural attaché," Working with Kim Roosevelt, he was instrumental in arranging Operation Ajax, the 1953 coup against Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh. In 1953, Copeland returned to private life at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton while remaining a non official cover operative for the CIA. He traveled to Cairo to meet Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had overthrown King Farouk and taken power in Egypt, advising Nasser on the development of the Mukhabarat and becoming a close advisor to Nasser. Along with Richard P. Mitchell, Copeland also conducted espionage activities on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In 1957 while in Beirut he was friends with Kim Philby and Nicholas Elliott and keeping an eye on Philby for James Jesus Angleton, Counterintelligence Chief for the CIA. Copeland opposed major paramilitary CIA operations such as the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961 on the grounds that they were impossible to keep secret due to their size. Copeland's memoirs have a strong literary quality and contain many embellishments, making it difficult to gauge the historical accuracy of the covert operations he describes. He was active in 1970s political efforts to defend the CIA against critics, including the Church Committee.