Claim:
The late feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem once collaborated with the CIA.
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<p class="fact_check_info_description">Steinem headed a CIA-supported initiative tasked with sending young Americans abroad to counter Soviet-backed youth festivals and promote democratic perspectives. Throughout her life, she maintained that her connection to the agency was benign, stating in a 1967 New York Times interview that she was never directed to spy on American citizens or foreign nationals.</p>
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<p>Following the passing of American feminist icon and journalist Gloria Steinem at the age of 92 on September 3, 2026, speculation resurfaced online regarding her historical ties to the CIA.</p>
<p>Users across platforms like X, TikTok, and Reddit labeled her a "cop," "operative," or CIA "asset," with some asserting that her former organization served as a front for intelligence operations.</p>
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<p>Steinem openly acknowledged her association with the agency on multiple occasions. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she directed the Independent Research Service—a CIA-financed entity that mobilized young Americans to challenge communist-backed events and offer alternative viewpoints.</p>
<p>Because of this confirmed history, the claim has been rated as true.</p>
<p>Whether she engaged in actual espionage remains a subject of nuance. In interviews from 1967, Steinem maintained that she was never asked to transmit intelligence back to the agency.</p>
<h2>Steinem Addresses the Exposure of Her CIA Ties</h2>
<p>In early 1967, the now-defunct <em>Ramparts</em> magazine published an exposé revealing that the CIA had funneled $180,000 into "an interesting operation known as the Independent Research Service."</p>
<p>The article noted that the group effectively countered communist-aligned world youth gatherings in Vienna (1959) and Helsinki (1962) by organizing delegations of young Americans to push back against communist narratives.</p>
<p>Following the report, Steinem addressed the public in outlets including <em>The New York Times</em> and <em>The Washington Post</em>, confirming the agency's financial backing of the Independent Research Service.</p>
<p>While the <em>Times</em> framed the group as a recipient of financial assistance, the <em>Post</em> reported that Steinem "worked closely with the Central Intelligence Agency" and expressed admiration for the agents she worked alongside.</p>
<p>"I found them liberal and farsighted and open to an exchange of ideas," Steinem remarked to the <em>Post</em>, adding, "I never felt I was being dictated to at all." She also noted that very few participants within the organization were aware of the CIA's financial involvement.</p>
<p>Dennis Shaul, another director of the Independent Research Service, told the <em>Post</em> regarding the Helsinki event, "It was a disaster from their [the Communist world's] point of view, and I think we can take a good deal of credit for that."</p>
<p>By March 1967, Steinem appeared on a CBS documentary titled <em>"In the Pay of the CIA: An American Dilemma"</em> to discuss her experience utilizing secret government funding.</p>
<p>Archived footage shows her reiterating that the agency did not compromise her independence or viewpoints. "I had the conventional liberal's view of the CIA as a right-wing incendiary group, and I was amazed to discover that this was far from the case, that they were enlightened, liberal nonpartisan activists," she stated.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HRUEqyZ7p8"></iframe></p>
<h2>Feminist Backlash and Steinem's Defense</h2>
<p>In 1975, the radical feminist collective Redstockings launched a sharp critique against Steinem's past intelligence connections, labeling her assertion that she never gathered intelligence as a "serious lie."</p>
<p>The group pointed to a published report from the Vienna Youth Festival bearing her name as director, which included 13 pages of detailed biographies and political analyses of international attendees.</p>
<p>Redstockings also questioned her motives and rapid rise within the women's liberation movement, noting that unlike contemporaries, she had not previously been active in feminist organizations or authored related literature.</p>
<p>Reflecting on the controversy in a 2016 interview with <em>The New York Times</em>, Steinem admitted that the criticism from fellow feminists "hurt more than anything." She added, "They never called to ask me what I did."</p>
<p>In that same interview, Steinem reiterated that her ties to the agency were straightforward and non-malicious.</p>
<p>"It's so interesting now, because the initials C.I.A. will make people believe anything," she reflected. "It just wasn't like that. It just was so uncontrolled. As I remember saying at the time, if this was our grandmother's money we'd be doing the same thing."</p>