The CIA conducted a series of covert operations in the Congo from 1960 to 1968 to stabilize the government and minimize communist influence. The program included regime change, political action, propaganda, air and marine operations, and arms interdiction, as well as support to a hostage rescue mission. The program cost nearly $12 million and aimed to establish a pro-Western leadership in the Congo. President Joseph Mobutu became a reliable and staunchly anticommunist ally of Washington’s until his overthrow in 1997. Some elements of the program, including the assassination plot against Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, have been described in open sources.