From this perennial-on-HN article (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.independent.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;world&#x2F;modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.independent.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;world&#x2F;modern-art-was-cia-w...</a>):<p>&gt; At this time [the CIA], staffed mainly by Yale and Harvard graduates, many of whom collected art and wrote novels in their spare time, was a haven of liberalism when compared with a political world dominated by McCarthy or with J Edgar Hoover&#x27;s FBI. If any official institution was in a position to celebrate the collection of Leninists, Trotskyites and heavy drinkers that made up the New York School, it was the CIA.<p>If that culture has persisted to any degree, then the CIA is probably the most &quot;geeky&quot; government department we&#x27;ve got, second only to perhaps NASA.