Thank goodness we have the impeccable authority of Parade magazine (you know, that goofy-but-charming Sunday newspaper supplement) and “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade” to tell us here that J.D. Salinger was NOT in the C.I.A.:
"Q. Wasn't J.D. Salinger secretly in the C.I.A.?--A. Harris, Omaha, Neb.
"A. While some conspiracy theorists have speculated about a sinister, government-related connection between the late reclusive author and John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman--who was obsessed with Salinger's Catcher in the Rye--the idea, like most conspiracy theories, is full of holes. Salinger, who as a World War II infantryman helped Army Intelligence interrogate German prisoners, left the military behind once the war was over."