impairment of access to Mobutu, and that if it were to occur, it would be carried over to the contacts throughout the Congolese Government. The CIA Board of National Estimates echoed that view soon after Mobutu's departure: "If it is sudden, it will probably result in a prolonged turmoil and a sharp decline in internal security." This would also likely cause a significant loss of CIA access and influence in the Congolese government. The CIA believed that Mobutu was the key to stability in the Congo, but was also a useful pawn for the U.S. They collected intelligence and took covert action in order to prop up his leadership against internal and external threats. For example, Congo faced the external threat from the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FLNC), a guerrilla force based in Angola. In a CIA memorandum from 1984, the capabilities and threats posed by the FLNC were discussed. The document mentions that, while the FLNC was ineffective, it could be rallied into a disruptive force in the future. The CIA worried that terrorist attacks carried out by the FLNC were so damaging to Mobutu's reputation that the "[election] was moved forward to July by Mobutu in an effort to shorten the time available for opposition mischief-making." Without Mobutu, the CIA believed the Congo would fall into chaos, and thus were inclined to do everything they could to keep him in power. The memorandum ends stating, "We concur with the [American] Embassy's judgement that continued control of Kinshasa is the key to Mobutu's remaining in power and that disturbances in the hinterland pose a threat to Mobutu only if sustained". Mobutu remained a beneficiary of U.S. support throughout the Cold War despite the corruption and profligacy that were evident near the end of the Agency's covert operations. He was a reliable anticommunist ally of Washington's until his overthrow in 1997. Over the years, Mobutu proved to be an important geopolitical friend of the United States. He also turned into one of the world's worst leaders, driving the country into economic ruin and political chaos. Covert operations 1960–1968 In August 1960, the U.S. Government launched a covert political program in the Congo lasting almost 7 years, initially aimed at eliminating Lumumba from power and replacing him with a more moderate, pro-western leader. The United States was not comfortable with the idea of the Congo being helped