CIA joins Twitter, and opens with charm offensive
Irony of 'following' the intelligence service was not lost on the Twitterverse
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The CIA has made a surprisingly light-hearted foray into social media with a new Twitter account.
The unexpected move led many to suspect that @CIA was yet another parody account, especially after its post reading: “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.”
But it seems that spies have a covert sense of humour after all and will be sharing “unclassified” content.
Within hours, it had been re-tweeted nearly 200,000 times and the account had more than 330,000 followers.
Ironically, the CIA was initially only “following” 25 other accounts.
“You guys have been following me before Twitter,” one tweet joked.
The US global intelligence agency confirmed its presence on Friday.
“By expanding to these platforms, CIA will be able to more directly engage with the public and provide information on CIA’s mission, history, and other developments,” said the director, John Brennan.
“We have important insights to share, and we want to make sure that unclassified information about the Agency is more accessible to the American public that we serve, consistent with our national security mission.”
News, statements and career information will be published alongside historical nuggets from the CIA’s museum and facts.
The CIA’s cryptic Twitter bio reads: “We are the Nation's first line of defence. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go.”
It had to contact Twitter to get the coveted @CIA handle, which was being used by someone impersonating the agency.
It also opened a Facebook account on 1 June, which has so far set a more sombre tone with posts about memorials for the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
The UK’s own secret service, MI5 and MI6, have not made any move to mirror their counterparts across the pond.
Maybe that’s because of comments like these…
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments