vault backup: 2026-10-08 20:09:21

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Anastasio Somoza.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases:
   - Anastasio Somoza Debayle
   - Tachito
 created: 2026-05-17
-updated: 2026-05-17
+updated: 2026-10-08
 category: "Political Figure"
 tags:
   - KeyFigure
@@ -27,9 +27,15 @@ Anastasio Somoza Debayle was the dictator of [[Nicaragua]] whose family ruled th
 
 For the forty-six years the Somoza family ruled Nicaragua, they did nearly everything the [[United States|U.S.]] government asked.[^1] Somoza personally participated in the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s overthrow of a liberal Guatemalan government in 1954. He provided the secret base for the [[Bay of Pigs|Bay of Pigs]] operation against [[Cuba]] in 1961. He sent troops into the [[Dominican Republic]] in 1965 to help the U.S. quell a leftist uprising, and sent Nicaraguans to fight in [[Vietnam]].
 
+### Ambassador Theberge and the human rights dispute, 1976 to 1977
+
+The United States ambassador in Managua from 1975 to June 1977 was [[James D. Theberge]]. In an August 12, 1976 telegram titled "Ambassador Discusses Human Rights Situation with President Somoza" he reported a lunch alone with Somoza on August 10, at Somoza's request. Theberge wrote that Somoza did not "seem to fully grasp the importance of creating the friendly American public opinion so essential to our good relations," and, in a further passage, that Somoza "is not being completely frank with us."[^2] In a September 20, 1976 telegram he reported that Assistant Secretary [[Harry Shlaudeman]] met Somoza on September 18 and that Somoza expressed concern about reports that [[State Department]] officers in Washington and at the embassy were hostile to him.[^3]
+
+On January 25, 1977 Theberge reported to [[Cyrus Vance]] that he had explained the concern of President [[Jimmy Carter]] for human rights to Somoza. In the telegram's summary Somoza "doubted that governments would bend to public criticism or when strong self-interest was at stake," and reaffirmed friendship for the United States and the new administration.[^4] On March 3, 1977 Theberge reported a March 2 meeting at which he raised new charges by American Capuchin priests of [[Nicaraguan National Guard|National Guard]] massacres of 86 campesinos. Somoza categorically denied the accusations and claimed that false information was being given to the Capuchins as part of an FSLN and Communist effort to discredit the government, and he admitted that innocent bystanders, including women and children, sometimes had been killed in crossfire between the National Guard and FSLN guerrillas, especially in early 1976.[^5]
+
 ### Fall from Power
 
-In July 1979, as Sandinista forces closed in on [[Managua]], Somoza met with U.S. ambassador [[Lawrence Pezzullo]] in his mountainside bunker and recorded the conversation.[^1] Somoza reminded Pezzullo of his family's decades of service to American interests and argued that the [[Nicaraguan National Guard]], which the U.S. had created in the 1930s and trained at [[Fort Gulick]], [[Fort Benning]], and [[Fort Leavenworth|Leavenworth]], should not be abandoned. Of approximately nine hundred National Guard officers, "eight hundred or so belong to your schools," Somoza told Pezzullo.
+In July 1979, as Sandinista forces closed in on [[Managua]], Somoza met with U.S. ambassador [[Lawrence Pezzullo]] in his mountainside bunker and recorded the conversation.[^1] Somoza reminded Pezzullo of his family's decades of service to American interests and argued that the Nicaraguan National Guard, which the U.S. had created in the 1930s and trained at [[Fort Gulick]], [[Fort Benning]], and [[Fort Leavenworth|Leavenworth]], should not be abandoned. Of approximately nine hundred National Guard officers, "eight hundred or so belong to your schools," Somoza told Pezzullo.
 
 Pezzullo assured Somoza the U.S. was "willing to do what we can to preserve the Guard" but insisted Somoza and his top generals needed to step down to give the Guardia "a clean break."[^1]
 
@@ -44,3 +50,7 @@ The dispersed National Guard officers became the founding cadre of the [[Contras
 ### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 1: "A Pretty secret kind of thing"
+[^2]: Telegram 3798, Embassy in Nicaragua to Department of State, Managua, August 12, 1976, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. E-11, part 1, doc. 266. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve11p1/d266
+[^3]: Telegram 4395, Embassy in Nicaragua to Department of State, Managua, September 20, 1976, *FRUS 1969-1976*, vol. E-11, part 1, doc. 268. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve11p1/d268
+[^4]: Telegram 377, Theberge to Secretary Vance, Managua, January 25, 1977, *FRUS 1977-1980*, vol. XV, doc. 59. The quoted phrase is from the telegram's summary. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v15/d59
+[^5]: Telegram 1032, Embassy in Nicaragua to Department of State, Managua, March 3, 1977, *FRUS 1977-1980*, vol. XV, doc. 60. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v15/d60

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ariel Sharon.md

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ---
+updated: 2026-10-08
 aliases:
   - Ariel Sharon
   - General Ariel Sharon
@@ -16,13 +17,18 @@ location: "Kfar Malal, British Mandate Palestine"
 ---
 Ariel Sharon was an Israeli General. In the summer of 1970, he was photographed at a function speaking with [[Uri Geller]] (Jacobsen, Chapter Six). This occurred during a period when Geller's popularity was rising in [[Israel]], and he was also seen having lunch with [[Moshe Dayan]] at the White Elephant Restaurant in Zahala (Jacobsen, Chapter Six).[^1]
 
-In August 1981, [[Ariel Sharon]] was named defense minister by the newly reelected [[Menachem Begin]] government. In September of the same year, he was in [[Washington, D.C.]] with Begin to lobby the [[White House]] in support of a far-reaching Israeli plan for [[United States]]-Israeli strategic cooperation against the [[Soviet Union]]. Sharon pushed for a downlink for [[KH-11]] satellite imagery to be located in [[Tel Aviv]], insisting it be "dedicated" so that only [[Israel]] could read the encoded signals. This suggestion was deemed preposterous by [[Richard V. Allen]], then National Security Advisor, who privately told Sharon so.[^2]
+In August 1981, [[Ariel Sharon]] was named defense minister by the newly reelected [[Menachem Begin]] government. In September of the same year, he was in [[Washington, D.C.]] with Begin to lobby the [[White House]] in support of a far-reaching Israeli plan for [[United States]]-Israeli strategic cooperation against the [[Soviet Union]]. Sharon pushed for a downlink for [[KH-11]] satellite imagery to be located in [[Tel Aviv]], insisting it be "dedicated" so that only Israel could read the encoded signals. This suggestion was deemed preposterous by [[Richard V. Allen]], then National Security Advisor, who privately told Sharon so.[^2]
 
-The bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981, which [[Ariel Sharon]] had supported, led him to conclude that the [[United States]] was not a reliable strategic ally. Following this, he turned to a clandestine Israeli intelligence agency under his defense ministry, which then intercepted intelligence on the [[Middle East]] and [[Soviet Union]] from sensitive American agencies. This included intelligence that [[Israel]] had been told it would no longer receive. An American Jew working in the U.S. intelligence community had volunteered his services to this agency years prior and would soon be tasked with spying on his country for [[Israel]].[^2]
+The bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981, which Ariel Sharon had supported, led him to conclude that the United States was not a reliable strategic ally. Following this, he turned to a clandestine Israeli intelligence agency under his defense ministry, which then intercepted intelligence on the [[Middle East]] and Soviet Union from sensitive American agencies. This included intelligence that Israel had been told it would no longer receive. An American Jew working in the U.S. intelligence community had volunteered his services to this agency years prior and would soon be tasked with spying on his country for Israel.[^2]
+
+### GeoMiliTech and the contras
+
+In December 1991 [[Christopher Byron]] reported that an unnamed former top official of [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]] said that the company, and [[Barbara Studley]] personally, had attempted to export arms to Iran, and that the effort was aided by Sharon, then Israel's defense minister.[^3] Byron presented this as the claim of that former official. The same article reports that Studley denied in her August 1991 deposition that she had shipped weapons to Iran, and that Studley's lawyer, Frank Koszorus, denied that either Studley or the company had any involvement with Iran.[^3]
 
 ---
 
 ### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
-[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
+[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
+[^3]: Christopher Byron, "Did Convict Arif Durrani Help Set the Stage for Iran/Contra?," *New York*, December 16, 1991, p. 42. Sole source for the passage on Sharon's alleged aid; the source is an unnamed former GeoMiliTech official quoted by Byron. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Augusto Pinochet.md

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ relations:
     with: "[[Riggs Bank]]"
     start: 1985
     role: "customer whose accounts the 2004 Senate subcommittee report found the bank helped conceal from regulators and courts"
-    fn: 20
+    fn: 25
   - type: subject_of
     with: "[[House of Lords]]"
     start: 1998-10-16
@@ -134,29 +134,33 @@ In April 2016 the then German Foreign Minister, [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]], sta
 
 ### Carlos Cardoen and Iraq
 
-[[Carlos Cardoen]], a Chilean arms manufacturer who returned to Santiago after the 1973 coup to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]], is described by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] as selling cluster bombs to [[Iraq]] by 1985 with the help of individuals connected to the CIA, and as having been charged in Miami in April 1992 by the US Customs Service.[^16] A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned a twenty-one count indictment against Cardoen and [[Industrias Cardoen]] on May 26, 1993.[^23] [[Alan Friedman]] reports that Cardoen's plant at [[Iquique]] produced about a thousand cluster bombs a month, with a first shipment worth 21 million dollars reaching Iraq early in 1984 during the [[Iran-Iraq War]]; a former CIA contractor described Cardoen to Friedman as "an all-purpose asset, designed to be one of those offshore stockpilers of military equipment who could be used by the CIA to ship arms to the Afghan rebels, to the boys in Angola, or anywhere the U.S. needed some help." The White House said in July 1991 that there "never were any sales, overt or covert, to Iraq or Iran through a third country." The British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who was inquiring into Cardoen's helicopter project, was found dead in a Santiago hotel on March 31, 1990.[^17]
+[[Carlos Cardoen]], a Chilean arms manufacturer who returned to Santiago after the 1973 coup to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]], is described by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] as selling cluster bombs to [[Iraq]] by 1985 with the help of individuals connected to the CIA, and as having been charged in Miami in April 1992 by the US Customs Service.[^16] A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned a twenty-one count indictment against Cardoen and [[Industrias Cardoen]] on May 26, 1993.[^17] [[Alan Friedman]] reports that Cardoen's plant at [[Iquique]] produced about a thousand cluster bombs a month, with a first shipment worth 21 million dollars reaching Iraq early in 1984 during the [[Iran-Iraq War]]; a former CIA contractor described Cardoen to Friedman as "an all-purpose asset, designed to be one of those offshore stockpilers of military equipment who could be used by the CIA to ship arms to the Afghan rebels, to the boys in Angola, or anywhere the U.S. needed some help." The White House said in July 1991 that there "never were any sales, overt or covert, to Iraq or Iran through a third country." The British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who was inquiring into Cardoen's helicopter project, was found dead in a Santiago hotel on March 31, 1990.[^18]
+
+### Reagan administration reassessment, 1984 to 1985
+
+The United States ambassador in Santiago from March 1982 to August 2, 1985 was [[James D. Theberge]], a political appointee who had succeeded [[George Landau|George W. Landau]].[^19] A Central Intelligence Agency talking-points memorandum prepared for a January 28, 1985 meeting with Theberge, dated January 23, 1985, describes the visit as "primarily a personal visit." It lists as a point Theberge might raise the continuation in office of Pinochet, with a ninety-day state of siege that the memorandum records as "declared 6 November 1984" to assist the military government in combating a wave of terrorist incidents.[^20] The New York Times of December 16, 1984 also gives the state of siege as imposed on November 6; the same article reports that Theberge was present at a meeting of Representative [[Bill Richardson]] and two other members of the House Hispanic Caucus with Pinochet, which Richardson called "brutally frank and heated."[^21] An Associated Press dispatch from January 1985 by George Gedda, citing unnamed officials, reports that "Pinochet believes the CIA is out to overthrow him," in the words of one senior official, and that the Reagan administration planned to replace Theberge with [[Harry Barnes]], then ambassador in India, as the first step in a reassessment of its policy. The same dispatch dates the imposition of the state of siege to "Nov. 4."[^22]
 
 ### London arrest and the House of Lords
 
-Pinochet landed at Heathrow on September 22, 1998, and underwent back surgery in [[London]]. On October 16, 1998 a Spanish warrant was issued by judge [[Baltasar Garzon]] and a London magistrate issued a provisional warrant the same day. The Lords judgment states that Pinochet was arrested in a London hospital on October 17, 1998; Home Secretary [[Jack Straw]] told the House of Commons that he was arrested "that evening" after the Bow Street warrant was issued on October 16.[^1][^18] On October 28, 1998 the Divisional Court quashed both provisional warrants, on the ground for the second that Pinochet was entitled to state immunity as former head of state.[^1]
+Pinochet landed at Heathrow on September 22, 1998, and underwent back surgery in [[London]]. On October 16, 1998 a Spanish warrant was issued by judge [[Baltasar Garzon]] and a London magistrate issued a provisional warrant the same day. The Lords judgment states that Pinochet was arrested in a London hospital on October 17, 1998; Home Secretary [[Jack Straw]] told the House of Commons that he was arrested "that evening" after the Bow Street warrant was issued on October 16.[^1][^23] On October 28, 1998 the Divisional Court quashed both provisional warrants, on the ground for the second that Pinochet was entitled to state immunity as former head of state.[^1]
 
-The House of Lords first ruled on November 25, 1998, by majority that Pinochet was not immune for crimes under international law. That judgment was set aside on January 15, 1999, because the committee that heard it was not properly constituted, and the appeal was reheard from January 18, 1999.[^1] In the judgment of March 24, 1999, [[Lord Browne-Wilkinson]] wrote: "I do not consider that torture committed outside the United Kingdom before 29 September 1988 was a crime under U.K. law." He would allow the appeal "so as to permit the extradition proceedings to proceed on the allegation that torture in pursuance of a conspiracy to commit torture, including the single act of torture which is alleged in charge 30, was being committed by Senator Pinochet after 8 December 1988 when he lost his immunity."[^1] Straw described the key majority finding of the second Lords hearing as being that torture was an international crime over which parties to the torture convention had universal jurisdiction and that a former head of state did not have immunity from such crimes.[^18]
+The House of Lords first ruled on November 25, 1998, by majority that Pinochet was not immune for crimes under international law. That judgment was set aside on January 15, 1999, because the committee that heard it was not properly constituted, and the appeal was reheard from January 18, 1999.[^1] In the judgment of March 24, 1999, [[Lord Browne-Wilkinson]] wrote: "I do not consider that torture committed outside the United Kingdom before 29 September 1988 was a crime under U.K. law." He would allow the appeal "so as to permit the extradition proceedings to proceed on the allegation that torture in pursuance of a conspiracy to commit torture, including the single act of torture which is alleged in charge 30, was being committed by Senator Pinochet after 8 December 1988 when he lost his immunity."[^1] Straw described the key majority finding of the second Lords hearing as being that torture was an international crime over which parties to the torture convention had universal jurisdiction and that a former head of state did not have immunity from such crimes.[^23]
 
-Straw issued a second authority to proceed on April 14, 1999; on October 8, 1999 a Bow Street magistrate committed Pinochet to await the Home Secretary's decision. On October 14, 1999 the Chilean embassy made representations supported by medical reports, and Straw commissioned an examination by Professor Sir John Grimley Evans, Professor Andrew Lees and Dr. Michael Denham, joined by the neuropsychologist Dr. Maria Wyke. Straw informed the interested parties on January 11, 2000 that he was minded to conclude that no purpose would be served by continuing the Spanish extradition request, and on January 25, 2000 Belgium and [[Amnesty International]] applied for judicial review of the refusal to disclose the medical report.[^18]
+Straw issued a second authority to proceed on April 14, 1999; on October 8, 1999 a Bow Street magistrate committed Pinochet to await the Home Secretary's decision. On October 14, 1999 the Chilean embassy made representations supported by medical reports, and Straw commissioned an examination by Professor Sir John Grimley Evans, Professor Andrew Lees and Dr. Michael Denham, joined by the neuropsychologist Dr. Maria Wyke. Straw informed the interested parties on January 11, 2000 that he was minded to conclude that no purpose would be served by continuing the Spanish extradition request, and on January 25, 2000 Belgium and [[Amnesty International]] applied for judicial review of the refusal to disclose the medical report.[^23]
 
-On March 2, 2000, Straw told the Commons that he had discharged Pinochet from the Spanish request "on the grounds that he was unfit to stand trial and that no significant improvement in his condition could be expected," and that he would not issue an authority to proceed on the Belgian, French and Swiss requests because none disclosed an extradition crime. He stated: "All the decisions which I have taken have been mine alone, and have not been decisions of Her Majesty's Government." A plane provided by the Chilean government carrying Pinochet left RAF Waddington at about 1.10 pm that day.[^18] The Solicitor-General stated in a written answer of the same date, on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, that there was no realistic prospect of convicting Pinochet in England and Wales and that no court there would allow a trial of Pinochet to take place.[^18] A 35-page Home Office statement handed out in London set out reasons for the conclusion that Pinochet was not mentally or physically fit to stand trial in Britain or anywhere else.[^19] He returned to Chile, where he faced numerous criminal and civil charges until his death.
+On March 2, 2000, Straw told the Commons that he had discharged Pinochet from the Spanish request "on the grounds that he was unfit to stand trial and that no significant improvement in his condition could be expected," and that he would not issue an authority to proceed on the Belgian, French and Swiss requests because none disclosed an extradition crime. He stated: "All the decisions which I have taken have been mine alone, and have not been decisions of Her Majesty's Government." A plane provided by the Chilean government carrying Pinochet left RAF Waddington at about 1.10 pm that day.[^23] The Solicitor-General stated in a written answer of the same date, on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, that there was no realistic prospect of convicting Pinochet in England and Wales and that no court there would allow a trial of Pinochet to take place.[^23] A 35-page Home Office statement handed out in London set out reasons for the conclusion that Pinochet was not mentally or physically fit to stand trial in Britain or anywhere else.[^24] He returned to Chile, where he faced numerous criminal and civil charges until his death.
 
 ### Riggs Bank accounts
 
-The minority staff of the Senate [[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] released its report on [[Riggs Bank]] with a hearing on July 15, 2004. The report's title is "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank." Its first finding states that Riggs "assisted Augusto Pinochet, former president of Chile, to evade legal proceedings related to his Riggs bank accounts and resisted OCC oversight of these accounts."[^20]
+The minority staff of the Senate [[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] released its report on [[Riggs Bank]] with a hearing on July 15, 2004. The report's title is "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank." Its first finding states that Riggs "assisted Augusto Pinochet, former president of Chile, to evade legal proceedings related to his Riggs bank accounts and resisted OCC oversight of these accounts."[^25]
 
-The report finds that Pinochet was a Riggs customer for at least eight years, with total deposits that varied from about $4 million to $8 million. In July 1996 a Spanish indictment charged him with crimes against humanity. In 1996 and again in 1998, Riggs helped him set up two Bahamian shell companies, Ashburton Company Ltd. and Althorp Investment Co., Ltd., listed as nominal owners of accounts and certificates of deposit benefiting him and his family.[^20] The report also states that the bank delivered over $1.9 million in cashier's checks to Pinochet in Chile.[^20]
+The report finds that Pinochet was a Riggs customer for at least eight years, with total deposits that varied from about $4 million to $8 million. In July 1996 a Spanish indictment charged him with crimes against humanity. In 1996 and again in 1998, Riggs helped him set up two Bahamian shell companies, Ashburton Company Ltd. and Althorp Investment Co., Ltd., listed as nominal owners of accounts and certificates of deposit benefiting him and his family.[^25] The report also states that the bank delivered over $1.9 million in cashier's checks to Pinochet in Chile.[^25]
 
 ### Carlos Prats and Enrique Arancibia Clavel
 
-On September 30, 1974, a car bomb in Buenos Aires killed the exiled Chilean general [[Carlos Prats]] and his wife, [[Sofía Cuthbert]].[^21] Kornbluh's 2024 compilation states that Pinochet met Contreras in June 1974 and ordered him to eliminate Prats. The task first went to the DINA station chief in Argentina, [[Enrique Arancibia Clavel]], and then to DINA deputy director [[Pedro Espinoza]], who gave it to Townley, who constructed, placed and detonated the bomb.[^21]
+On September 30, 1974, a car bomb in Buenos Aires killed the exiled Chilean general [[Carlos Prats]] and his wife, [[Sofía Cuthbert]].[^26] Kornbluh's 2024 compilation states that Pinochet met Contreras in June 1974 and ordered him to eliminate Prats. The task first went to the DINA station chief in Argentina, [[Enrique Arancibia Clavel]], and then to DINA deputy director [[Pedro Espinoza]], who gave it to Townley, who constructed, placed and detonated the bomb.[^26]
 
-On August 24, 2004, the [[Supreme Court of Argentina]] upheld the life sentence that a federal tribunal had imposed on Arancibia Clavel for association and necessary participation in the double aggravated homicide of Prats and Cuthbert. The court held that the crimes could not be time-barred, because crimes against humanity are imprescriptible.[^22]
+On August 24, 2004, the [[Supreme Court of Argentina]] upheld the life sentence that a federal tribunal had imposed on Arancibia Clavel for association and necessary participation in the double aggravated homicide of Prats and Cuthbert. The court held that the crimes could not be time-barred, because crimes against humanity are imprescriptible.[^27]
 
 [^1]: *Regina v. Evans and Another and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Others, Ex Parte Pinochet (No. 3)* [1999] UKHL 17 (24 March 1999), speech of Lord Browne-Wilkinson, paras. 7-12 (facts, warrants of October 16, 17, 18 and 22, 1998, Divisional Court of October 28, 1998, Lords judgments of November 25, 1998, set aside January 15, 1999, rehearing January 18, 1999) and conclusion. https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1999/17.html
 [^2]: National Security Archive, "Pinochet: A Declassified Documentary Obit," Electronic Briefing Book No. 212, Peter Kornbluh and Yvette White, posted December 12, 2006, with descriptions of documents including the September 13, 1973 State Department cable, the November 1973 "Chilean Executions" memorandum, the October 27, 1973 CIA report, the October 6, 1976 CIA cable, and the June 23, 1978 CIA report. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB212/index.htm
@@ -174,10 +178,14 @@ On August 24, 2004, the [[Supreme Court of Argentina]] upheld the life sentence
 [^14]: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 11/1409 (1987), minor interpellation of the Green Party group on Colonia Dignidad (German; paraphrased). https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/11/014/1101409.pdf
 [^15]: Auswärtiges Amt, "'Colonia Dignidad': Bilanzbericht der Gemeinsamen Kommission," September 21, 2021 (German; paraphrased), including the account of Steinmeier's April 2016 statement. https://auswaertiges-amt.de/de/aussenpolitik/laender/chile-node/bilanzbericht-colonia-dignidad/2483426
 [^16]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. Sole source for the passages so cited.
-[^17]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 46-54, 64. Sole source for the passages so cited.
-[^18]: UK House of Commons, *Hansard*, "Senator Pinochet," HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc571-88 (statement of the Home Secretary, Jack Straw), and written answer of the Solicitor-General, HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc336-7W. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet and https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet
-[^19]: CNN, transcript of March 2, 2000 (report on Home Secretary Jack Straw's decision and the 35-page statement). https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/02/nd.03.html
-[^20]: United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff, "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank" (report released with the July 15, 2004 hearing), Finding 1 (p. 7) and Section B (p. 18). https://archive.org/details/SenateSubcommitteeReportOnMoneyLaunderingAndRiggsBank
-[^21]: National Security Archive, "The Pinochet Regime at 50: The Assassination of General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert," Electronic Briefing Book, Peter Kornbluh, October 1, 2024, narrative and CIA and DINA documents. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-10-01/pinochet-regime-50-assassination-general-carlos-prats-and-sofia
-[^22]: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nacion (Argentina), *Arancibia Clavel, Enrique Lautaro s/ homicidio calificado y asociacion ilicita y otros*, recurso de hecho, Buenos Aires, August 24, 2004. https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/userfiles/ut/fallo_arancibia_clavel_2004_01.pdf
-[^23]: *United States v. Cardoen*, 898 F. Supp. 1563 (S.D. Fla. 1995), No. 93-241-CR, https://static.case.law/f-supp/898/cases/1563-01.json.
+[^17]: *United States v. Cardoen*, 898 F. Supp. 1563 (S.D. Fla. 1995), No. 93-241-CR, https://static.case.law/f-supp/898/cases/1563-01.json.
+[^18]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 46-54, 64. Sole source for the passages so cited.
+[^19]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "James Daniel Theberge (1930-1988)," https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/theberge-james-daniel; "Nomination of James Daniel Theberge To Be United States Ambassador to Chile," Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, November 6, 1981, https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/research/speeches/11681a
+[^20]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Talking points for 28 January 1985 meeting with James D. Theberge, United States Ambassador to Chile," January 23, 1985, CREST document CIA-RDP87M00539R000801050046-5. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp87m00539r000801050046-5
+[^21]: Lydia Chavez, "Congressman Reports Tough Talk From Pinochet," *The New York Times*, December 16, 1984, section 1, page 20. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/16/world/congressman-reports-tough-talk-from-pinochet.html
+[^22]: George Gedda, Associated Press, "Pinochet fears CIA coup, officials say," January 1985, CREST document CIA-RDP90-00965R000302230009-6. Attributed to unnamed officials; sole source for the replacement plan as reported. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000302230009-6
+[^23]: UK House of Commons, *Hansard*, "Senator Pinochet," HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc571-88 (statement of the Home Secretary, Jack Straw), and written answer of the Solicitor-General, HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc336-7W. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet and https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet
+[^24]: CNN, transcript of March 2, 2000 (report on Home Secretary Jack Straw's decision and the 35-page statement). https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/02/nd.03.html
+[^25]: United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff, "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank" (report released with the July 15, 2004 hearing), Finding 1 (p. 7) and Section B (p. 18). https://archive.org/details/SenateSubcommitteeReportOnMoneyLaunderingAndRiggsBank
+[^26]: National Security Archive, "The Pinochet Regime at 50: The Assassination of General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert," Electronic Briefing Book, Peter Kornbluh, October 1, 2024, narrative and CIA and DINA documents. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-10-01/pinochet-regime-50-assassination-general-carlos-prats-and-sofia
+[^27]: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nacion (Argentina), *Arancibia Clavel, Enrique Lautaro s/ homicidio calificado y asociacion ilicita y otros*, recurso de hecho, Buenos Aires, August 24, 2004. https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/userfiles/ut/fallo_arancibia_clavel_2004_01.pdf

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Barbara Studley.md

@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+---
+title: Barbara Studley
+aliases:
+  - Barbara Studley
+  - Barbara F. Studley
+  - B. F. Studley
+  - Mrs. Studley
+  - Ms. Studley
+created: 2026-10-08
+updated: 2026-10-08
+category: "Arms Dealers & Brokers"
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - IranContra
+  - Contras
+  - GeoMiliTech
+  - JohnSinglaub
+  - ArifDurrani
+  - ArmsTrade
+  - RadioHost
+summary: "Former Miami radio talk-show host who founded and ran GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp., a Washington arms broker that handled a 1985 Soviet-bloc shipment for the Nicaraguan contras with John Singlaub."
+location: "Washington, D.C."
+relations:
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]]"
+    start: 1983
+    fn: 1
+  - type: head_of
+    with: "[[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]]"
+    role: "president"
+    fn: 9
+  - type: represented
+    with: "[[Frank Koszorus Jr.]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1991
+    fn: 1
+  - type: represented
+    with: "[[Paul L. Perito]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1987
+    fn: 2
+  - type: participant_in
+    with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
+    start: 1985
+    end: 1987
+    fn: 1
+---
+
+Barbara F. Studley was a former conservative radio talk-show host in [[Miami]] who moved to [[Washington, D.C.]] and ran [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], an arms-brokering company. The company handled a Soviet-bloc arms shipment to the [[Contras]] in 1985 that she arranged with [[John Singlaub]], and it appears in the records of the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].[^1]
+
+### Radio career in Miami and Washington
+
+[[Daniel O. Graham]], a retired Army lieutenant general and head of the [[High Frontier]] campaign, testified in a 1987 Senate deposition that he first met Studley around 1977, when she was a broadcaster in Miami and invited him to be a guest on her radio talk show. He said he appeared on her program two or three times to talk about military affairs, that he had never lived in Miami, and that she later came to Washington, where she hosted a short radio run and he appeared again on her show.[^2] Committee counsel dated her move to Washington to about June 1984.[^2]
+
+[[Ken Silverstein]] and [[Daniel Burton-Rose]] describe Studley as a right-wing radio show host in Miami who forged close ties with conservative military and political figures and set up a Washington arms company.[^3] The [[Miami Herald]] reported in June 1987 that the company was run by a former Miami radio talk-show host, Studley, and [[United Press International]] carried the report.[^4] The United States Attorney's office in Miami described her in 1995 as an acquaintance of [[Louis Petrillo]] from her days as a conservative radio talk-show host in Miami in the 1970s.[^5] Christopher Byron wrote in [[New York Magazine]] in December 1991 that she was a onetime Florida beauty queen and radio talk-show hostess.[^6] The company's "board of advisers" in the mid-1980s, Byron wrote, included Singlaub and retired Lt. Gen. Dan Graham, whom he described as onetime deputy director of the CIA and former director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]].[^6]
+
+### Formation of GeoMiliTech
+
+The Delaware Division of Corporations lists GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp. under file number 2015058, with a formation date of August 15, 1983, and a registered agent in Wilmington.[^7] Byron cites court records for a July 1983 incorporation.[^6] [[Mark Phythian]] gives August 15, 1983 as the date an ostensibly private company was formed in Delaware to sell or exchange weapons.[^8]
+
+The [[Hartford Courant]] reported in May 1992 that Studley created the company "to break into the arms business."[^1] Graham was asked whether he had taken part in forming her firm and answered no. He said all he knew of it was that she ran it and that it was "an international trading firm in high-tech items," and that he had no function with the company.[^2] The 1987 *Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Contras* chronology from the [[National Security Archive]] lists her as president of the company.[^9] A 1986 letter to [[William J. Casey]] on the company's letterhead gives its office as 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300.[^10]
+
+Byron's advisers list places Graham on the company's board of advisers. Graham testified that he was never listed as an adviser or director of the company and had no function with it.[^2][^6] Byron names retired Lt. Gen. [[Robert Schweitzer]] as the executive vice president, and describes him as having served for a time as senior military official in the White House during the early Reagan years. Asked in her August 1991 deposition why she had hired Schweitzer, Studley answered that he seemed "literally to know everybody" in the military, in the Pentagon, in the White House, in the [[National Security Council]] and in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], according to Byron.[^6] Byron also describes a consultant, [[John E. Carbaugh Jr.]], a member of the transition team after the 1980 election and a former staff aide to [[Jesse Helms]], whom a company brochure described as having direct contact with the political and military structure of foreign governments.[^6]
+
+### South Korea and the 1984 company documents
+
+Byron reported a July 29, 1984 memorandum from Carbaugh to Studley about a cannon-shell export order from [[South Korea]]. In Byron's account, a South Korean official involved seemed to suspect the shipment was destined for [[Iran]], and the memorandum suggested that the company's representative in [[Israel]] could approach the South Koreans directly, since they would be "more than willing to cooperate" if the client were not Iranian.[^6] Byron also cites a court-appointed investigator working on Durrani's case who had found what appeared to be internal 1984 company documents and telex traffic showing negotiations with South Korean military officials in July 1984 for 6,000 tons of explosives and 300,000 M107/155mm cannon shells and projectiles, and a further telex about F-4 Phantom jet parts, one of which, a QK410B oscillator assembly, the investigator said is a component of certain [[Raytheon]]-made [[Hawk]] surface-to-air missile systems. Durrani claimed that by the summer of 1984 the company was shipping large amounts of weapons to Iran and that the only Hawk systems then operating that used the part were those installed in Iran.[^6]
+
+### The 1985 shipment and the Barcella opinion
+
+In 1985 Studley and Singlaub arranged a private shipment of Soviet-bloc rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers to the contras, which the Courant put at $5 million and which ran from [[Poland]] to [[Honduras]], with the money moved through Swiss banks, according to Singlaub's 1987 testimony.[^1] Graham recommended the arms broker [[Werner Glatt]], whom he described as a sheep farmer and arms trader with farms in Virginia and Scotland, to Studley as an honest broker. Counsel put the arms transaction in May 1985 with delivery in July, and Graham agreed it was early in 1985.[^2]
+
+The Courant reported that the legal opinion clearing the shipment was given by [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]], then an assistant United States attorney in Washington. Barcella said that "somebody in the government came to me," that he checked with the Office of Munitions Control at the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] and the Justice Department's office of internal security, that he "orally passed that back to the person that had made the request of me," that he did not know Studley at the time, and that he did not remember signing anything. The United States attorney, [[Joseph diGenova]], said he never authorized any such opinion.[^1] In her 1991 deposition, as the Courant quotes it, Studley answered "Larry Barcella signed it" when asked who in the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] approved the shipment.[^1] She also said the shipment was "approved in writing by the justice department before we shipped it" and called it "Absolutely legitimate."[^1] Her lawyer, [[Frank Koszorus Jr.]], said he was "not at all certain that she was ever issued a written opinion."[^1] The Courant reported that Barcella left the United States attorney's office in June 1986 and went into private practice in Washington "initially at the same firm where Koszorus, Studley's lawyer, worked," and that he said he did not know Koszorus before joining it. The April 28, 1987 letter to the House committee on Studley's matter, on the letterhead of [[Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey|Finley, Kumble]], closes with Koszorus's name above the enclosure notation.[^1][^11]
+
+On October 30, 1985, Studley sent a memorandum to Lt. Col. [[Oliver North]] reporting a telephone call from a source identified only as "W." The memorandum stated that a man named [[Mario Dellamico]], described as working for an arms dealer named [[Ron Martin]], had asked for the company's help in selling Martin's arms to the Contras and had been refused, since it would be against "their law." It closed with the sentence "General John K. Singlaub has been advised of this information."[^12]
+
+### The conduit memorandum and the meeting with Casey
+
+A memorandum from Studley found in North's safe proposed a "conduit" for "a continuous flow of Soviet weapons and technology" to support freedom fighters in [[Nicaragua]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Angola]], [[Cambodia]] and [[Ethiopia]].[^1] The congressional report calls the proposal the "Singlaub-Studley plan," records that the plan was not implemented, and states that in the fall of 1985 Singlaub arranged for North and Casey to meet with Studley to present another plan to aid the contras.[^13] Courant reports that Singlaub testified in 1987 that Studley had shown him the memorandum, that he thought it was for the most part a good plan, and that he set up a December 1985 meeting with Casey at which she presented it.[^1]
+
+Graham gave a different account. He testified that after the ship arrived Studley told him that people not party to the deal had appeared, and that he told her to inform Casey and arranged a meeting at Langley toward the end of 1985 among himself, Studley and Casey, at which Studley left documents including the bill of lading. Committee counsel suggested December 20, 1985 as the date. Graham said he never introduced Glatt to Singlaub.[^2]
+
+### The Miami bank transfers, 1986 and 1987
+
+The Miami Herald reported in June 1987 that the president of [[Bayshore Bank of Florida]], Petrillo, had resigned, that the bank was being sold, and that he had transferred a total of $2 million of bank funds on behalf of GeoMiliTech during 1986. The debts were unsecured, were supposed to be repaid within weeks, and remained outstanding, and the sum was nearly all of the bank's net worth that year. The newspaper reported that Petrillo left just as federal authorities, including Iran-Contra independent counsel [[Lawrence Walsh]], began investigating the transactions, and that the company acknowledged helping arrange arms supplies for the rebels. A bank director, Dr. Matthew Bradley, said the board was told of the questionable transfers about three weeks earlier. Studley told the Herald that the case involved private banking matters and refused to discuss the details. Petrillo said he had no knowledge of any arms deals, that he had left the bank solely because it was changing hands, and "There is no money missing."[^4]
+
+Bayshore Bank of Florida, with total assets of $40.4 million, was closed on August 7, 1987 by Florida State Comptroller [[Gerald Lewis]], and the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] was named receiver; the FDIC transferred its insured deposits to [[Eagle National Bank of Miami]], which paid a $625,000 premium and bought $10.8 million of its assets.[^14] Petrillo pleaded guilty in September 1994 to misapplication of funds and bank fraud and was sentenced in March 1995 to one year in prison, five years' probation and $2 million in restitution. American Banker reported that he had issued letters of credit totaling more than $2 million in 1986 and 1987 to GeoMiliTech without his bank's knowledge, that he asserted in court that his actions were taken in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency, and that the United States attorney's office in Miami said the claims were "discounted in court."[^5]
+
+[[Frank Bovenkerk]] and [[Michael Levi]] write that the $2 million covered two bad checks written by Studley, that Petrillo gave her a $1.5 million cashier's check from the bank, and that she tried but failed to sell about 20 percent of the company's stock to raise the $2 million.[^15] The Wall Street Journal Index for 1987 lists state regulators closing Bayshore Bank of Florida, with an overdue GeoMiliTech loan among the bank's problems.[^16] In December 1991 Byron wrote that, according to published reports, federal prosecutors in Miami had recently opened an investigation into Studley's involvement in the bank matter.[^6]
+
+### The torpedo broker and Israeli-origin arms, 1985 to 1987
+
+The congressional report states that during the summer of 1985 Singlaub worked without success through GeoMiliTech Consultants, "owned by Barbara Studley," on diverting part of a $75 million proposed sale of torpedoes to a buyer the report calls "Country 3," in connection with his early-1985 solicitation of that country's officials. The report's majority says the Singlaub-Studley plan was not implemented, and the minority views respond that the first diverted funds, from Israeli arms sales to Iran, arrived before the plan was tabled in December 1985.[^17][^18]
+
+[[Benjamin Weiser]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] in March 1987 that, of the two governments Singlaub approached in late 1984, he had a specific weapons deal in mind in the case of [[Taiwan]]: a Washington-based consulting company, for which Singlaub said he served as an unpaid adviser, was trying to broker the sale of 40 American-built MK 37 torpedoes from Israel to Taiwan, at a price Israel set at $72 million to $75 million. Weiser wrote that Singlaub envisioned Taiwan paying about $10 million above Israel's price, with the surplus going to the contras after the broker's commission, and that Singlaub said neither the Israeli government nor the broker was told of the diversion idea. Sources familiar with the deal told the Post that Israel had authorized the broker and had notified the United States government, and Israeli sources said the United States government would not allow the sale.[^19]
+
+The Post article does not name the consulting company. The torpedo sale in the report ($75 million, summer 1985, brokered through GeoMiliTech, with Singlaub working the diversion) and the sale in the Post (40 MK 37 torpedoes, $72 million to $75 million, a broker on which Singlaub served as unpaid adviser) concern the same subject and price range, and GeoMiliTech listed Singlaub as an adviser in 1987. The report does not name Taiwan as Country 3 and the Post does not name the company, so the two accounts are joined here only by that match.[^4][^17][^19]
+
+### The Durrani depositions and later reporting
+
+[[Arif Durrani]], a Pakistani arms dealer convicted in 1987 of exporting Hawk missile parts to Iran without a license, petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in 1990 to vacate his conviction and amended the petition in August 1991. He said he had acted for [[Manuel Pires]], whom he said was working for North. In its September 9, 1991 objection to Durrani's requests for documents, the United States Attorney's Office in Bridgeport said defense counsel had taken the depositions of Studley and Singlaub in Washington in August 1991, and stated: "Neither witness had any knowledge of Arif Durrani or his claims; neither has any known involvement in or knowledge of the 'Iran' portion of the Iran-Contra affair." The filing adds that both had met Pires only within the last two years, and that defense counsel's proposed deposition of former CIA official [[George Cave]] offered, in the government's words, no greater prospect of usefulness than the Studley-Singlaub examinations.[^20]
+
+Byron reported that Studley denied in the August 1991 deposition that she knew Durrani and denied that she had shipped weapons to Iran, and that she declined several requests for interviews for his article. Byron also reports that Holly B. Fitzsimmons, the assistant United States attorney in the Durrani case, said she herself had seen nothing to indicate Studley was not telling the truth.[^6] Koszorus denied that either Studley or the company had any involvement with Iran, and declined to identify the company's place of business, a spokesman, or the nature of its work.[^6] The Courant placed the deposition in the fall of 1991.[^1] The filing's certification names the defense counsel as William B. Bloss of New Haven; the Courant names him as William M. Bloss.[^1][^20]
+
+In the Graham deposition, counsel asked whether Graham had met "her attorney, Mr. Perito," and Graham answered that the one he knew was Perito.[^2] A letter of April 28, 1987, on the letterhead of Finley, Kumble in Washington, to the House committee's assistant counsel [[Kenneth Ballen]], captioned "Re: Barbara F. Studley/GMT," refers to a telephone conference between Ballen and [[Paul L. Perito]] and encloses a memorandum from Studley's file regarding North.[^11]
+
+Byron wrote in December 1991 that GeoMiliTech was still doing business but was not listed in the Washington, D.C. telephone directory.[^6] The Courant reported in May 1992 that Studley was not called to testify before Congress and that attempts to reach her through Koszorus had been unsuccessful.[^1] American Banker's March 1995 account of the Petrillo sentencing describes her as the head of GeoMiliTech.[^5]
+
+### The Ora Group account and Ben-Menashe
+
+The former Israeli intelligence officer [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] writes that a 1985 contra arms deal brokered through GeoMiliTech was itemized at $3,242,000 paid to the [[Ora Group]], against $5 million that the company's own books showed received from the American side, a gap of about $1.76 million that Ben-Menashe says was never explained to him.[^21] Byron reported that a former top official of the company, whom he did not name, said that Studley and the company had tried to export arms to Iran and that the effort was aided by [[Ariel Sharon]], then Israel's defense minister.[^6]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Lyn Bixby, "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal," *Hartford Courant*, May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/
+[^2]: Deposition of Daniel O. Graham, May 26, 1987, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12, Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152840_0234
+[^3]: Ken Silverstein and Daniel Burton-Rose, *Private Warriors* (2000), p. 88.
+[^4]: "Newspaper says banker involved in loans for Contra arms," United Press International, June 10, 1987, reporting the Miami Herald. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/06/10/Newspaper-says-banker-involved-in-loans-for-Contra-arms/9700550296000/
+[^5]: "Former Miami Banker Gets Prison Term for Diverting Funds to Contras," *American Banker*, March 31, 1995. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-miami-banker-gets-prison-term-for-diverting-funds-to-contras
+[^6]: Christopher Byron, "Did Convict Arif Durrani Help Set the Stage for Iran/Contra?," *New York*, December 16, 1991 (table of contents heading "Arms and the Man"), pp. 39, 42, 44. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42
+[^7]: State of Delaware, Division of Corporations, Entity Details, GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp., File Number 2015058, formation date 8/15/1983. https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx
+[^8]: Mark Phythian, ed., *Under the Counter and Over the Border: Aspects of the Contemporary Trade in Illicit Arms* (Springer, 2013), p. 65.
+[^9]: *Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Contras* (National Security Archive, 1987), p. 444.
+[^10]: Graham Exhibit 2, letter from John K. Singlaub to William J. Casey on GeoMiliTech letterhead, 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300, Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234). Committee counsel dates the letter to August 1986.
+[^11]: Letter from Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, Washington, to Kenneth Ballen, Assistant Counsel, House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, April 28, 1987, Re: Barbara F. Studley/GMT, Memorandum re Oliver North, Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234). The signature block, as indexed in the 1988 published volume of the report (p. 1040), reads "Koszorus, Enclosure cc: Charles M. Kerr, Esq."
+[^12]: Memorandum from B. F. Studley to Lt. Col. Oliver North, October 30, 1985 (Graham Exhibit 1), Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234).
+[^13]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 15, "The Diversion," p. 269 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ssd?id=txu.059173017837367;seq=293).
+[^14]: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "FDIC Transfers Insured Deposits of Bayshore Bank of Florida, Miami, Florida," news release PR-139-87, August 7, 1987. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/press-releases-federal-deposit-insurance-corporation-7031/fdic-transfers-insured-deposits-bayshore-bank-florida-miami-florida-641646
+[^15]: Frank Bovenkerk and Michael Levi, eds., *The Organized Crime Community: Essays in Honor of Alan A. Block* (Springer, 2007), p. 22.
+[^16]: *The Wall Street Journal Index*, vol. 1, 1987, p. 370, entries for GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp. and Bayshore Bank of Florida.
+[^17]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 3, p. 64 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ssd?id=txu.059173017837367;seq=88).
+[^18]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, minority views, p. 550 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ssd?id=txu.059173017837367;seq=574).
+[^19]: Benjamin Weiser, "Singlaub Suggested an Earlier Fund Diversion," *Washington Post*, March 20, 1987. CIA CREST document CIA-RDP90-00965R000707040014-2, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00965r000707040014-2
+[^20]: Government's Objection to Arif Durrani's Second Request for Production of Documents, *United States v. Arif Durrani*, D. Conn., B-90-090 (TFGD) and B-86-59 (TFGD), September 9, 1991, pp. 7, 12. CIA CREST document 0001474388. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001474388
+[^21]: Ari Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network* (Sheridan Square, 1992). Index entry "GMT" at p. 155. Sole source for the itemization of $3,242,000 and the $5 million figure.

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John Singlaub.md

@@ -61,16 +61,16 @@ relations:
     with: "[[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]]"
     role: "consultant"
     start: 1986
-    fn: 20
+    fn: 21
   - type: partner_of
     with: "[[Barbara Studley]]"
     start: 1985
-    fn: 18
+    fn: 19
   - type: participant_in
     with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
     start: 1985
     end: 1987
-    fn: 15
+    fn: 16
   - type: participant_in
     with: "[[Christic Institute]]"
     role: "defendant in the La Penca civil suit"
@@ -113,37 +113,43 @@ On December 4, 1984, North wrote [[Robert McFarlane]] in a memorandum titled "As
 
 North's February 6, 1985 memorandum to McFarlane stated that "as a consequence of GEN Singlaub's recent trip, both the Taiwanese and the South Koreans have indicated [to CIA field personnel] that they want to help in a 'big way,'" and that George had withheld dissemination of the offers and contacted North privately.[^10] A second memorandum of the same date from North to McFarlane, on a cable to Honduran President [[Roberto Suazo Cordova]], states that the FDN needed approximately $2 million in near-term financing for rifles, ammunition and boots for new volunteers, notes that Singlaub would see North the next day, and recommends that McFarlane authorize North to proceed as indicated with Singlaub.[^11] The Independent Counsel's report states that North arranged for Singlaub to meet South Korean officials in the United States.[^12] In an October 7, 1985 written response to questions from Representative [[Lee Hamilton]], McFarlane wrote that there was no official or unofficial relationship between the NSC staff and fund raising for the Nicaraguan opposition, "This includes the alleged relationship with General Singlaub"; the Independent Counsel's report lists the response among McFarlane's withholdings of information from Congress.[^9]
 
-In March 1987 Singlaub told the Washington Post that in late 1984 he had asked two foreign governments for $10 million each, had offered three options (a direct contribution, money for him to buy weapons, or a diversion through an overcharged arms deal), and had discussed the diversion idea with North in early 1985. Informed sources named the two governments as Taiwan and South Korea, and officials of both denied contributing or knowing of any solicitation. Singlaub described a planned Taiwanese purchase of 40 MK 37 torpedoes from [[Israel]] through a Washington consulting company for which he was an unpaid adviser, with Taiwan to pay about $10 million above Israel's price of $72 million to $75 million, and said he left each government an index card with the number of the contras' Panamanian bank account.[^13] An investigator told the Post that Taiwan's contribution came as surplus light arms, with the CIA station chief in Taiwan acting as a facilitator.[^13]
+In March 1987 Singlaub told the Washington Post that in late 1984 he had asked two foreign governments for $10 million each, had offered three options (a direct contribution, money for him to buy weapons, or a diversion through an overcharged arms deal), and had discussed the diversion idea with North in early 1985. Informed sources named the two governments as Taiwan and South Korea, and officials of both denied contributing or knowing of any solicitation. Singlaub described a planned Taiwanese purchase of 40 MK 37 torpedoes from [[Israel]] through a Washington consulting company for which he was an unpaid adviser, with Taiwan to pay about $10 million above Israel's price of $72 million to $75 million, and said he left each government an index card with the number of the contras' Panamanian bank account.[^13] An investigator told the Post that Taiwan's contribution came as surplus light arms, with the CIA station chief in Taiwan acting as a facilitator.[^13] The congressional report states that in early 1985, in connection with his solicitation of "Country 3," Singlaub suggested to that country's officials and to North that a portion of his proposed arms sales to it be diverted to the contras, and that during the summer of 1985 he worked without success through GeoMiliTech Consultants, "owned by Barbara Studley," on diverting part of a $75 million proposed sale of torpedoes to Country 3.[^14] The Post's account of the 40 MK 37 torpedoes does not name the consulting company, and the report does not name Taiwan as Country 3; the two accounts concern the same subject and price range.[^13]
 
-In May 1986 Singlaub travelled to the Far East again, to countries that the congressional report designates only by number, after telling [[Elliott Abrams]] that he wanted to know how the United States would send a "signal"; Singlaub testified that Abrams said he would send it, Abrams testified that he never agreed to, and Richard Melton, who was present at their conversations, supported Abrams. Before Singlaub met his contact in one country, Abrams told him to stop.[^14]
+In May 1986 Singlaub travelled to the Far East again, to countries that the congressional report designates only by number, after telling [[Elliott Abrams]] that he wanted to know how the United States would send a "signal"; Singlaub testified that Abrams said he would send it, Abrams testified that he never agreed to, and Richard Melton, who was present at their conversations, supported Abrams. Before Singlaub met his contact in one country, Abrams told him to stop.[^15]
 
 ### The 1985 weapons purchase for the FDN
 
-In March 1985 Singlaub met the FDN military commander, [[Enrique Bermudez]], at FDN base camps, drew up a weapons list (AK-47 rifles, RPG-7 launchers, light machine guns and SA-7 missiles), and took it to North, who made "some additions and subtractions"; later that month Singlaub introduced [[Adolfo Calero]] to a European arms dealer whose AK-47 price Calero described as about half of what the FDN had been paying, a difference the congressional report partly attributes to Singlaub taking no commission.[^15] In early May Calero and Singlaub met [[Richard Secord]] in North's office about SA-7 missiles, and Secord was chosen for them because he would supply training; in mid-May Calero ordered other weapons through Singlaub's dealer. North's notes of May 17, 1985 list a "Singlaub deal" and 10,000 AK-47s and record an unsuccessful effort to dissuade Calero; North attributed to Casey a warning against a five-to-six-million-dollar transaction with a broker suspected of reverse technology transfer to the Eastern Bloc, and the dealer denied this to the committees. The arms arrived in Central America on July 8, 1985, and were the last order Calero placed with any dealer other than Secord.[^15]
+In March 1985 Singlaub met the FDN military commander, [[Enrique Bermudez]], at FDN base camps, drew up a weapons list (AK-47 rifles, RPG-7 launchers, light machine guns and SA-7 missiles), and took it to North, who made "some additions and subtractions"; later that month Singlaub introduced [[Adolfo Calero]] to a European arms dealer whose AK-47 price Calero described as about half of what the FDN had been paying, a difference the congressional report partly attributes to Singlaub taking no commission.[^16] In early May Calero and Singlaub met [[Richard Secord]] in North's office about SA-7 missiles, and Secord was chosen for them because he would supply training; in mid-May Calero ordered other weapons through Singlaub's dealer. North's notes of May 17, 1985 list a "Singlaub deal" and 10,000 AK-47s and record an unsuccessful effort to dissuade Calero; North attributed to Casey a warning against a five-to-six-million-dollar transaction with a broker suspected of reverse technology transfer to the Eastern Bloc, and the dealer denied this to the committees. The arms arrived in Central America on July 8, 1985, and were the last order Calero placed with any dealer other than Secord.[^16]
 
-Calero testified in deposition that his three main sources were Ron Martin, Secord and Singlaub, that he felt best with Singlaub and had "blind trust" in him, and that Singlaub told him North had said to stay away because of his high profile. Committee counsel put the first payments for shipments arranged by Singlaub at $2 million on April 26, 1985 and $3.3 million in May.[^16] The Washington Post reported in 1987 that Singlaub helped the contras buy $5.3 million of East Bloc weapons shipped through [[Honduras]].[^13] A letter from the Washington lawyer [[Thomas Green]] to the committees compared the Singlaub and Secord shipments, giving Singlaub's as 348 tons with about $300,000 charged for shipping.[^17] Singlaub testified in 1987 that the delivery went from [[Poland]] to Honduras, that Swiss banks handled the transfers, and that North had cleared the items and given him rules after checking with "someone in the Justice Department," who was not identified.[^18]
+Calero testified in deposition that his three main sources were Ron Martin, Secord and Singlaub, that he felt best with Singlaub and had "blind trust" in him, and that Singlaub told him North had said to stay away because of his high profile. Committee counsel put the first payments for shipments arranged by Singlaub at $2 million on April 26, 1985 and $3.3 million in May.[^17] The Washington Post reported in 1987 that Singlaub helped the contras buy $5.3 million of East Bloc weapons shipped through [[Honduras]].[^13] A letter from the Washington lawyer [[Thomas Green]] to the committees compared the Singlaub and Secord shipments, giving Singlaub's as 348 tons with about $300,000 charged for shipping.[^18] Singlaub testified in 1987 that the delivery went from [[Poland]] to Honduras, that Swiss banks handled the transfers, and that North had cleared the items and given him rules after checking with "someone in the Justice Department," who was not identified.[^19]
 
 ### Eden Pastora, 1986
 
-In March 1986 Singlaub travelled to [[Costa Rica]], met [[Eden Pastora]] and negotiated an agreement with him, purportedly on behalf of the United States. The Independent Counsel's report states that word of the agreement briefly gave Pastora the advantage in the competition among the Newly Aligned Commanders; Fiers cabled that Singlaub's actions did not reflect a new posture toward Pastora, and a UNO/FARN commander and two other commanders threatened to march back to the Costa Rican border if the arms they had been promised did not arrive.[^19] A Miami Herald clipping in Singlaub's FBI file reports him announcing in Costa Rica that he had come to persuade Pastora to visit Washington and saying that United States officials wanted Pastora to play a role like that of Charles de Gaulle in the French resistance.[^6] Calero testified that people in Washington were upset about Singlaub's involvement in the Pastora matter, so the FDN sent nothing to Pastora, and that Singlaub had also gone to a meeting with a group of former national guardsmen.[^16]
+In March 1986 Singlaub travelled to [[Costa Rica]], met [[Eden Pastora]] and negotiated an agreement with him, purportedly on behalf of the United States. The Independent Counsel's report states that word of the agreement briefly gave Pastora the advantage in the competition among the Newly Aligned Commanders; Fiers cabled that Singlaub's actions did not reflect a new posture toward Pastora, and a UNO/FARN commander and two other commanders threatened to march back to the Costa Rican border if the arms they had been promised did not arrive.[^20] A Miami Herald clipping in Singlaub's FBI file reports him announcing in Costa Rica that he had come to persuade Pastora to visit Washington and saying that United States officials wanted Pastora to play a role like that of Charles de Gaulle in the French resistance.[^6] Calero testified that people in Washington were upset about Singlaub's involvement in the Pastora matter, so the FDN sent nothing to Pastora, and that Singlaub had also gone to a meeting with a group of former national guardsmen.[^17]
 
 ### GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.
 
-Singlaub signed correspondence as "Consultant" of [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], the Washington company of [[Barbara Studley]], at 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Among the exhibits to the deposition of [[Daniel O. Graham]] is a letter on the company's letterhead addressed "Dear Bill" to Casey at the CIA and signed by Singlaub as "Major General, U.S. Army (RET)" and "Consultant," which committee counsel dated to August 1986. It encloses a list of hardware quoted July 28, 1986, including 10,000 AKMS rifles at 185 each, 60 12.7mm machine guns and 20 twin-mount 14.5mm machine guns, and the list is marked "NO EUC REQUIRED." The letter states that the list was developed in conjunction with a member of the NSC, that funds from Congress would not be available until after September, and that a bank in Switzerland would accept a letter of credit from Casey's bank and lend for six to twelve months.[^20] Committee counsel stated in the Graham deposition that [[Robert Schweitzer]], a lieutenant general, was hired by the company in late August or early September 1986, was interviewed by Singlaub, and met North with Singlaub on or about December 2, 1986.[^20]
+Singlaub signed correspondence as "Consultant" of [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], the Washington company of [[Barbara Studley]], at 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Among the exhibits to the deposition of [[Daniel O. Graham]] is a letter on the company's letterhead addressed "Dear Bill" to Casey at the CIA and signed by Singlaub as "Major General, U.S. Army (RET)" and "Consultant," which committee counsel dated to August 1986. It encloses a list of hardware quoted July 28, 1986, including 10,000 AKMS rifles at 185 each, 60 12.7mm machine guns and 20 twin-mount 14.5mm machine guns, and the list is marked "NO EUC REQUIRED." The letter states that the list was developed in conjunction with a member of the NSC, that funds from Congress would not be available until after September, and that a bank in Switzerland would accept a letter of credit from Casey's bank and lend for six to twelve months.[^21] Committee counsel stated in the Graham deposition that [[Robert Schweitzer]], a lieutenant general, was hired by the company in late August or early September 1986, was interviewed by Singlaub, and met North with Singlaub on or about December 2, 1986.[^21]
 
-A memorandum prepared by Studley, found in North's safe, proposed a "conduit" through which Soviet weapons and technology would be supplied to "Freedom Fighters" without "the consent or awareness of the Department of State or Congress." The congressional report calls it the Singlaub-Studley plan, states that Singlaub presented it to North and Casey in 1985 and that North acknowledged receiving it and dismissed its significance, and quotes [[George Shultz]] saying at the hearings that it was "a piece of junk."[^21] Singlaub told the 1987 hearings that Studley showed him the memorandum and that he thought it a good plan; Senator [[Paul Sarbanes]] called it a "plan to get around the constitutional system," and Singlaub testified that he set up a December 1985 meeting between Casey and Studley.[^18] Graham testified that he arranged a meeting at Langley between Studley and Casey toward the end of 1985, with only the three of them present.[^20]
+A memorandum prepared by Studley, found in North's safe, proposed a "conduit" through which Soviet weapons and technology would be supplied to "Freedom Fighters" without "the consent or awareness of the Department of State or Congress." The congressional report calls it the Singlaub-Studley plan, states that Singlaub presented it to North and Casey in 1985 and that North acknowledged receiving it and dismissed its significance, and quotes [[George Shultz]] saying at the hearings that it was "a piece of junk."[^22] Singlaub told the 1987 hearings that Studley showed him the memorandum and that he thought it a good plan; Senator [[Paul Sarbanes]] called it a "plan to get around the constitutional system," and Singlaub testified that he set up a December 1985 meeting between Casey and Studley.[^19] Graham testified that he arranged a meeting at Langley between Studley and Casey toward the end of 1985, with only the three of them present.[^21]
 
-A memorandum from Studley to North dated October 30, 1985 reports the questioning of an arms agent identified as "W" about a shipment that left on June 20, 1985, and a visit by a man named Mario Dellamico, described as working for the arms dealer Ron Martin, who offered Martin's arms for the contras and handed over a copy of Studley's packing list; it ends: "General John K. Singlaub has been advised of this information."[^20]
+A memorandum from Studley to North dated October 30, 1985 reports the questioning of an arms agent identified as "W" about a shipment that left on June 20, 1985, and a visit by a man named Mario Dellamico, described as working for the arms dealer Ron Martin, who offered Martin's arms for the contras and handed over a copy of Studley's packing list; it ends: "General John K. Singlaub has been advised of this information."[^21]
+
+The [[Miami Herald]] reported in June 1987 that GeoMiliTech listed Singlaub as an adviser.[^23] Byron wrote that the company's "board of advisers" in the mid-1980s included Singlaub and retired Lt. Gen. Dan Graham; Graham testified in 1987 that he was never an adviser or director of the company.[^21][^24]
 
 ### Hearings and the Christic Institute suit
 
 Singlaub was one of about 30 defendants in the civil suit brought by two journalists injured in the May 30, 1984 La Penca bombing at a press conference held by Pastora in Costa Rica.[^5] An FBI report of an interview in Miami on May 23, 1989, with the interviewee's name withheld, summarizes the amended complaint as accusing Singlaub and others of conspiring to supply money for explosives and arms through businesses including the Orca Supply Company and CSF Investments Ltd., of a December 1984 plan to kill Pastora, and of smuggling cocaine into the United States between September 1983 and the date of the complaint. The report also states that Judge James L. King ordered summary judgment for the defendants on June 23, 1988, finding the plaintiffs' allegations "based upon unsubstantiated rumor and speculation from unidentified sources with no first hand knowledge," and that Singlaub had told Congress he arranged for weapons from an Eastern bloc country to reach the contras through an intermediary, an act the report calls not a violation of the [[Boland Amendment]].[^6] The Washington Post obituary states that the suit, brought by the [[Christic Institute]], was resolved in Singlaub's favor in 1992 and that Singlaub was never the subject of a criminal investigation.[^1] An FBI agent, an assistant United States attorney and a Customs agent interviewed Singlaub on June 12, 1987 at the Miami Airport Marriott; the content is withheld in the released file.[^6]
 
-[[Robert Gates]] told the Senate intelligence committee on October 8, 1986 that CIA officials had tried to avoid learning about private funding: "Somebody will say something about Singlaub or something like, we will say I don't want to hear anything about it." The Independent Counsel wrote that, to the extent Gates spoke for others in the CIA, this was wrong, and recorded Gates's grand jury testimony that he had heard rumors that North had put contra leaders in touch with Secord and Singlaub.[^22]
+[[Robert Gates]] told the Senate intelligence committee on October 8, 1986 that CIA officials had tried to avoid learning about private funding: "Somebody will say something about Singlaub or something like, we will say I don't want to hear anything about it." The Independent Counsel wrote that, to the extent Gates spoke for others in the CIA, this was wrong, and recorded Gates's grand jury testimony that he had heard rumors that North had put contra leaders in touch with Secord and Singlaub.[^25]
+
+### Durrani-case deposition, 1991
+
+In August 1991 defense counsel for [[Arif Durrani]] took the depositions of Studley and Singlaub in Washington. The United States Attorney's Office in Bridgeport wrote on September 9, 1991 that neither witness had any knowledge of Durrani or his claims or any known involvement in or knowledge of the "Iran" portion of the Iran-Contra affair, and that both had met [[Manuel Pires]] only within the last two years.[^26] [[Christopher Byron]] wrote in December 1991 that Studley denied in her deposition that she knew Durrani.[^24]
 
 ### The Philippines, 1987
 
-Singlaub opened an office in the [[Philippines]] to search for a treasure of gold bullion, telling the [[Los Angeles Times]] he intended to use the gold to finance anti-communist insurgencies in Southeast Asia; he abandoned the effort after local newspaper reports described it as a cover for mercenary training.[^1] On September 17, 1987 the FBI's Honolulu office sent a teletype to headquarters captioned "Neutrality Matter, Philippines," from a source whose reliability had not been established, and asked headquarters to contact the Independent Counsel or the Front Door Task Force and to obtain background on the National Defense Council Foundation and the United States Council for World Freedom; the released file withholds the source and the body of the report.[^6] Graham testified in 1987 that his last conversation with Singlaub, in February, concerned "his problems with his activities in the Philippines."[^20]
+Singlaub opened an office in the [[Philippines]] to search for a treasure of gold bullion, telling the [[Los Angeles Times]] he intended to use the gold to finance anti-communist insurgencies in Southeast Asia; he abandoned the effort after local newspaper reports described it as a cover for mercenary training.[^1] On September 17, 1987 the FBI's Honolulu office sent a teletype to headquarters captioned "Neutrality Matter, Philippines," from a source whose reliability had not been established, and asked headquarters to contact the Independent Counsel or the Front Door Task Force and to obtain background on the National Defense Council Foundation and the United States Council for World Freedom; the released file withholds the source and the body of the report.[^6] Graham testified in 1987 that his last conversation with Singlaub, in February, concerned "his problems with his activities in the Philippines."[^21]
 
 ### Later years
 
@@ -151,7 +157,7 @@ Singlaub's memoir, Hazardous Duty, written with Malcolm McConnell, appeared in 1
 
 ### Claims from Ari Ben-Menashe
 
-[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] describes a 1985 contra deal brokered through GeoMiliTech and itemized at $3,242,000 paid to the [[Ora Group]], against $5 million that he says GeoMiliTech's books showed received from the American side.[^23] The Hartford Courant reported in 1992 a private $5 million shipment of Soviet-bloc arms arranged by Singlaub and Studley in the summer of 1985, and did not mention Ora.[^18]
+[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] describes a 1985 contra deal brokered through GeoMiliTech and itemized at $3,242,000 paid to the [[Ora Group]], against $5 million that he says GeoMiliTech's books showed received from the American side.[^27] The Hartford Courant reported in 1992 a private $5 million shipment of Soviet-bloc arms arranged by Singlaub and Studley in the summer of 1985, and did not mention Ora.[^19]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
@@ -168,13 +174,17 @@ Singlaub's memoir, Hazardous Duty, written with Malcolm McConnell, appeared in 1
 [^11]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216), Appendix A, vol. 2, Source Documents: memorandum from North to McFarlane, February 6, 1985, "Cable to President Suazo of Honduras," pp. 1056-1058 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0229; the scan is partly illegible).
 [^12]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, Part I, "The Underlying Facts." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_i.htm
 [^13]: Benjamin Weiser, "Singlaub Suggested an Earlier Fund Diversion," Washington Post, March 20, 1987 (date as printed on the clipping); CIA CREST CIA-RDP90-00965R000707040014-2, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00965r000707040014-2
-[^14]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 3, pp. 69-70 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=93).
-[^15]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216), ch. 2, pp. 50-51 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=74).
-[^16]: Deposition of Adolfo Calero, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 3 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0235), including transcript pp. 84-85, 94-95, 165-166 and 178-179.
-[^17]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix A, vol. 2, Source Documents: letter from Thomas C. Green to committee counsel on the prices and shipments of the Singlaub and Secord purchases (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0229; the scan is partly illegible).
-[^18]: Hartford Courant, "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal," May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/
-[^19]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 19 (U.S. v. Alan D. Fiers, Jr.), citing DIRECTOR 772442 (March 11, 1986) and DIRECTOR 799822 (March 28, 1986). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_19.htm
-[^20]: Deposition of Daniel O. Graham, with Graham Exhibits 1 to 4, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234).
-[^21]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 15, "The Diversion," p. 269 and note (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=293).
-[^22]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 16 (Robert M. Gates): Gates, SSCI testimony, October 8, 1986, p. 9; Gates, grand jury, May 1, 1991. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm
-[^23]: Ari Ben-Menashe, Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network (Sheridan Square, 1992). Sole source for the itemization; the figures are as reported on the Ora Group page of this vault.
+[^14]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 3, p. 64. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ssd?id=txu.059173017837367;seq=88
+[^15]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 3, pp. 69-70 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=93).
+[^16]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216), ch. 2, pp. 50-51 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=74).
+[^17]: Deposition of Adolfo Calero, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 3 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0235), including transcript pp. 84-85, 94-95, 165-166 and 178-179.
+[^18]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix A, vol. 2, Source Documents: letter from Thomas C. Green to committee counsel on the prices and shipments of the Singlaub and Secord purchases (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0229; the scan is partly illegible).
+[^19]: Hartford Courant, "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal," May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/
+[^20]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 19 (U.S. v. Alan D. Fiers, Jr.), citing DIRECTOR 772442 (March 11, 1986) and DIRECTOR 799822 (March 28, 1986). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_19.htm
+[^21]: Deposition of Daniel O. Graham, with Graham Exhibits 1 to 4, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234).
+[^22]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 15, "The Diversion," p. 269 and note (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=293).
+[^23]: "Newspaper says banker involved in loans for Contra arms," United Press International, June 10, 1987, reporting the Miami Herald. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/06/10/Newspaper-says-banker-involved-in-loans-for-Contra-arms/9700550296000/
+[^24]: Christopher Byron, "Did Convict Arif Durrani Help Set the Stage for Iran/Contra?," *New York*, December 16, 1991, p. 42. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42
+[^25]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 16 (Robert M. Gates): Gates, SSCI testimony, October 8, 1986, p. 9; Gates, grand jury, May 1, 1991. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm
+[^26]: Government's Objection to Arif Durrani's Second Request for Production of Documents, *United States v. Durrani*, D. Conn., B-90-090 (TFGD) and B-86-59 (TFGD), September 9, 1991, p. 7. CIA CREST document 0001474388. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001474388
+[^27]: Ari Ben-Menashe, Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network (Sheridan Square, 1992). Sole source for the itemization; the figures are as reported on the Ora Group page of this vault.

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Riconosciuto.md

@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ Riconosciuto claimed to have been in direct communication with [[Michael Hand]],
 
 Beyond PROMIS, Riconosciuto was involved in advanced technological projects, including theoretical work on railguns for the U.S. Army, and research into "energy transfer phenomena" with [[William Frash]] and [[Patrick Moriarty]] (his father's business partner), aiming to develop technology that would "supercede all existing world patents in the field."[^1]
 
+### Remarks on Clearances and the Aquino Question
+
+In an undated transcript of an interview with [[Ted Gunderson]] (the interviewer is initialed "T.G."), the speaker, initialed "M.R.," discusses members of the Church of Set and of [[Michael Aquino]]'s circle. He says that the reaction to Aquino he received from "Dr. Malkin" was "Well, his clearance isn't all that high."[^7] In the same passage the speaker says that nearly everyone in Aquino's group was psy-ops or intelligence related.[^7] The transcript's cover line begins with the name "Michael," and the first notes in the file are headed "NOTES OF PHONE CONV. 12/29/87." The initials are the only identifier in the body of the transcript. Records found do not establish whether "Dr. Malkin" is [[Myron S. Malkin]], the former NASA Space Shuttle director and former Defense Department official, whose name appears in an undated (year not printed) Cabazon Arms letter.[^8]
+
 ### Legal Troubles and Witness Protection Attempts
 
 Following his arrest, Riconosciuto attempted multiple times to trade information with federal authorities, including the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|BATF]], in exchange for entry into a [[Witness Protection Program]]. He offered to expose high-level corruption, drug trafficking, and money laundering operations, including those involving Robert Booth Nichols, [[Michael Abbell]], and the Cali Drug Cartel. However, these attempts were largely unsuccessful, with authorities often expressing skepticism or facing internal resistance to his claims.[^1]
@@ -61,3 +65,5 @@ Danny Casolaro began interviewing Riconosciuto prior to his arrest in March 1991
 [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
 [^5]: John Connolly, "Inside the Shadow CIA," *Spy,* September 1992, pp. 46-54. Sole source for the Las Vegas account in this form; the bracketed description of Ammarell is the magazine's. https://www.prop1.org/legal/prisons/92wack.htm
 [^6]: Unsigned, undated letter, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Correspondence," beginning "The cooperation I have received from the Wackenhut Corporation." The spelling "Amarell" is as printed in the letter. https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks.
+[^7]: Ted Gunderson and Michael Riconosciuto interview notes, file "Folder 7 Acc5516" (archive.org casolaro-notebooks item, file "Folder 7 Acc5516.pdf", text layer). Undated passage. Sole source for the passages so cited. https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks
+[^8]: Letter over the name of Arthur Welmas, Cabazon Arms letterhead, Indio, California, dated "May 1" (year not printed), Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Correspondence." https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks

10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ted Shackley.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ aliases:
   - Theodore Shackley
   - The Blond Ghost
 created: 2026-05-14
-updated: 2026-05-17
+updated: 2026-10-08
 category: "Intelligence & Government"
 tags:
   - Person
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ Shackley’s network intersected with the Iran-Contra Affair through multiple ch
 
 Shackley was also connected through Michael Hand to the Nugan Hand Bank (Sydney, founded 1973, collapsed 1980), an Australian merchant bank that multiple sources identified as a CIA financial conduit. The bank’s board and senior advisers included former CIA Director William Colby (in a legal advisory role) and a number of Shackley-connected U.S. military and intelligence veterans. Its collapse after co-founder Frank Nugan’s death in January 1980 and Hand’s subsequent disappearance generated significant Australian investigative journalism about CIA connections to the bank.[^2]
 
+[[David Corn]] writes that [[Barbara Studley]], a former Miami talk-show host, and [[John Singlaub]], who had worked with Shackley in Laos, had created [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], a weapons firm, and that Studley came to Shackley for advice on the arms market in Latin America.[^3]
+
 ### Publications
 
 Shackley authored *The Third Option: An American View of Counterinsurgency Operations* (Reader’s Digest Press, 1981), which argued for covert operations as an intermediate tool between diplomacy and conventional military force - the analytical framework that had characterized his career. He died December 9, 2002.[^1]
@@ -72,4 +74,5 @@ Shackley authored *The Third Option: An American View of Counterinsurgency Opera
 ### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: Corn, David, and Jeff Goldberg. "The Old Boy Network." *Mother Jones*, October 1994 (on Shackley’s post-CIA network). Shackley, Theodore G. *The Third Option: An American View of Counterinsurgency Operations*. Reader’s Digest Press, 1981. Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA*. Doubleday, 2007, pp. 316-320, 361-368.
-[^2]: Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America’s Private Intelligence Network*. Carroll & Graf, 2005, pp. 55-85. Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. TrineDay, 2010.
+[^2]: Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America’s Private Intelligence Network*. Carroll & Graf, 2005, pp. 55-85. Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. TrineDay, 2010.
+[^3]: David Corn, *Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades* (Simon & Schuster, 1994).