Project FF orFat Fucker was aCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) project aimed at pressuringKing Farouk ofEgypt to make political reforms that would lessen the likelihood of political change in the country contrary to American interests. The government of theUnited States was concerned that the ever-increasing political instability in Egypt, much of it linked to the perceived corruption and incompetence of both the royal court and the traditional political establishment, would inevitably result in the toppling of the Egyptian government if not remedied. In particular, they feared the prospect of a partial or full communist takeover. The project was masterminded by CIA DirectorAllen Dulles, Secretary of StateDean Acheson, CIA operativeKermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr., and CIA Station Chief in CairoMiles Copeland, Jr.[1][2][page needed][3]
The historian Matthew F. Holland wrote, "Kim's idea was to orchestrate 'peaceful revolution' in Egypt to replace the corrupt political system in Egypt with a progressive dictatorship under the king that would be more amenable to American control. Copeland had unofficially named the operation 'Project FF', the 'FF' unflatteringly standing for 'fat Fucker'."[4]
However, the unwillingness of Farouk to change eventually caused the project to move to support his overthrow. Roosevelt secretly met with theFree Officers Movement,[4] a group of nationalist revolutionaries in the army of Egypt and Sudan that was opposed to themonarchy and to theUnited Kingdom's continuing military presence in the country.[5] The Free Officers, led byMohamed Naguib andGamal Abdel Nasser, had already been planning to overthrow Farouk, and launched theirrevolution with a coup d'etat against the King on 23 July 1952.[6][7] Miles Copeland stated that the US[8] provided support for the revolutionary government to be "coup proof" and helped in establishing the newGeneral Intelligence Agency (Al-Mukhabarat el Aam), modelled after the AmericanCentral Intelligence Agency, as well as German advisors who had served in Nazi Germany military intelligence, including theAbwehr, to help with the rebuilding ofsecurity apparatus.[9]
Project FF was used as a blueprint for the following year'sOperation Ajax, the CIA role in the coup backed by the Americans and the British in Iran against the democratically-elected Prime MinisterMohammad Mosaddegh.[10]