The Central Intelligence Agency’s approach to Black History Month could charitably be described as somewhat cynical, often using it as an opportunity to recruit minorities and expand the Agency’s contacts.

Before Virginia Military Institute cadets were photographed in blackface in yearbooks, they fought to preserve slavery during the Civil War in the Battle of New Market. The 2015 film Field of Lost Shoes - produced with $1 million in Virginia public funds - chronicles that battle.

In response to a FOIA appeal by Emma Best, the Central Intelligence Agency has released in full a copy of “Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare,” a manual on “Armed Propaganda” written for the Nicaraguan Contras during the civil war of the mid-’80s.

Back when it was still just Women’s History Week, the CIA decided to commemorate the occasion with a day-long symposium on “the role of women in intelligence,” including a brief history lesson on pivotal female spies. Harriet Tubman made top billing.