CIA agent down! Gloria Steinem worked for the Independent Research Service (IRS), a front organization funded by the CIA, from 1958 to 1962. Steinem was recruited by CIA officers to lead the IRS, which sent American students to Soviet-backed World Youth Festivals in Vienna and Helsinki to counter communist influence. She has publicly acknowledged this work, stating in a 1967 New York Times interview. uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/feminist-was-spy