Project FF or Fat Fucker was a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) project aimed at pressuring King Farouk of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

to make political reforms that would lessen the likelihood of violent political change in the country contrary to American interests. The government of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

was concerned that the ever-increasing political instability in Egypt, much of it linked to the perceived corruption and incompetence of both the royal court and the traditional political establishment, would inevitably result in the toppling of the Egyptian government if not remedied. In particular, they feared the prospect of a partial or full communist takeover. The project was masterminded by CIA Director Allen Dulles, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, CIA operative Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr., and CIA Station Chief in Cairo Miles Copeland, Jr. The historian Matthew F. Holland wrote, "Kim's idea was to orchestrate 'peaceful revolution' in Egypt to replace the corrupt political system in Egypt with a progressive dictatorship under the king that would be more amenable to American control. Copeland had unofficially named the operation 'Project FF', the 'FF' unflatteringly standing for 'fat Fucker'." However, the unwillingness of Farouk to change eventually caused the project to move to support his overthrow. Roosevelt secretly met with the Free Officers Movement, a group of nationalist revolutionaries in the army of Egypt and Sudan that was opposed to the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

and to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's continuing military presence in the country. The Free Officers, led by Mohamed Naguib and

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, had already been planning to overthrow Farouk, and launched their

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

with a coup d'etat against the King on 23 July 1952. Miles Copeland stated that the US provided support for the revolutionary government to be "coup proof" and helped in establishing the new General Intelligence Agency (Al-Mukhabarat el Aam), modelled after the American

, as well as German advisors who had served in Nazi Germany military intelligence, including the

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

, to help with the rebuilding of security apparatus. Project FF was used as a blueprint for the following year's Operation Ajax, the CIA role in the coup backed by the Americans and the British in Iran against the democratically-elected Prime Minister

Mohammad Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 1950 Iranian legislative election, 16th Majlis. He was a membe ...

References

{{Reflist Central Intelligence Agency operations CIA activities in Africa 20th century in Egypt Egypt–United States relations 1950s coups d'état and coup attempts

See also

References