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---
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category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
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tags:
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- Person
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- CarolineEllison
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- AlamedaResearch
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- FTX
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- SamBankmanFried
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- JaneStreet
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- EffectiveAltruism
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- FTXFoundation
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- Anthropic
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- CooperatingWitness
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- Forfeiture
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alias:
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- Caroline Ellison
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- Caroline Ellison (Alameda Research)
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summary: "Jane Street trader turned Alameda Research chief executive who pleaded guilty in December 2022, testified against Sam Bankman-Fried, forfeited Anthropic shares and was released from federal custody in January 2026."
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born: 1994-11
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location: "Boston, Massachusetts (born)"
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relations:
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Jane Street Capital]]"
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start: 2016
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end: 2018-03
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role: "assistant quantitative trader on the equities desk, after summer internships in 2015 and 2016"
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fn: 4
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Alameda Research]]"
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start: 2018-03
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role: "cryptocurrency trader"
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fn: 4
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- type: head_of
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with: "[[Alameda Research]]"
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end: 2022-11-18
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role: "co-CEO, then sole CEO from about August or September 2022"
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fn: 6
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- type: director_of
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with: "[[Alameda Research]]"
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start: 2022-09-06
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end: 2022-11-11
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role: "director, per the FTX debtors' complaint"
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fn: 7
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- type: director_of
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with: "[[FTX Foundation]]"
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role: "director of the Delaware nonprofit whose sole member was Bankman-Fried"
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fn: 8
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- type: partner_of
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with: "[[Sam Bankman-Fried]]"
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role: "former girlfriend, per the government's sentencing letter"
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fn: 1
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- type: subject_of
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with: "[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]"
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start: 2022-12-21
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end: 2025-12-23
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role: "defendant in SEC v. Ellison, No. 22-cv-10794; consent judgments of 2022 and 2025"
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fn: 12
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- type: subject_of
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with: "[[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]]"
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start: 2022-12-23
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role: "consent judgment in CFTC v. Bankman-Fried, No. 22-cv-10503"
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fn: 4
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- type: informant_for
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with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
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start: 2022-12-08
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role: "cooperating witness under a cooperation agreement"
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fn: 1
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- type: prosecuted
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with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 2022-12-19
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end: 2024-09-24
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role: "guilty plea to seven counts; sentenced to 24 months"
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fn: 2
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- type: represented
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with: "[[WilmerHale]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "defense counsel"
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fn: 4
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created: 2026-10-01
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updated: 2026-10-01
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---
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Caroline Ellison (born November 1994 in [[Boston]]) was a trader at [[Jane Street Capital|Jane Street]] and then at [[Alameda Research]], the cryptocurrency trading firm of [[Sam Bankman-Fried]], which she ran as co-chief executive and chief executive until her employment ended on or about November 18, 2022. She pleaded guilty on December 19, 2022 to seven counts in the Southern District of New York under a cooperation agreement, testified for about three days at Bankman-Fried's trial in October 2023,[^1] and was sentenced on September 24, 2024 by Judge [[Lewis A. Kaplan]] to 24 months in prison (Bureau of Prisons register number 36854-510).[^2] The [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] records her actual release date as January 21, 2026, from the residential reentry management office in New York.[^3]
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### Family and education
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Her counsel's sentencing memorandum, citing the presentence report, states that she was born in Boston to Glenn and Sara Ellison, both professors of economics at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], and grew up in the Boston suburbs; that she captained her middle and high school math teams and won an award at the 2011 International Olympiad in Linguistics; and that she studied mathematics at [[Stanford University]], where she was the fifth member of a newly formed [[Effective Altruism]] group, came to the movement through online communities devoted to rationalism as she moved away from the Catholic faith of her youth, and started a blog on which she wrote about effective altruism topics. The memorandum states that she adopted the precept of "earning to give," gave first to global health and animal welfare charities, and later devoted much of her giving to artificial intelligence safety; a college friend's letter quoted in it describes her concern that artificial intelligence "would take over the world and cause humanity's extinction."[^4]
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### Jane Street
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According to the memorandum, she applied in her junior year for paid internships in order to earn money to donate, received three offers from financial companies, and in June 2015 moved to New York as a summer trading intern at Jane Street, where she first met Bankman-Fried, then a full-time trader of about a year's standing who was coaching a mock trading exercise; they became acquainted at a Jane Street-sponsored dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. Her counsel wrote that Jane Street trained interns to maximize the expected value of a trading strategy rather than to focus on potential losses, through mock trading and a culture of constant small wagers, and that she did not recall structuring her thinking around expected value before Jane Street. She arranged a fifth year at Stanford in order to qualify for a second internship in the summer of 2016, was asked within weeks to forgo the master's program, and worked from the fall of 2016 for about a year and a half as an assistant quantitative trader on the equities desk, giving away most of her salary, with a social circle made up mainly of Jane Street employees, Bankman-Fried among them.[^4]
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### Alameda Research
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The memorandum states that in February 2018 Jane Street sent her on a recruiting trip to the Bay Area, that she met Bankman-Fried for coffee in [[Berkeley]], where he described Alameda as having an effective altruism ethos and as largely funded by wealthy people he knew through the movement, and that she began there as a cryptocurrency trader in March 2018, aged 23. Shortly afterward, her counsel wrote, she learned that Alameda had suffered large losses before she arrived; four managers who had pressed Bankman-Fried to disclose the losses to the wealthy investors who had lent Alameda its trading capital told the lenders against his directive, the lenders recalled much of their money, and the four managers left with many other employees. Bankman-Fried later told her he had known of the crisis when he offered her the job.[^4] A 2025 filing of the [[FTX Recovery Trust]] states that Bankman-Fried had founded Alameda in November 2017 with [[Tara Mac Aulay|Tara MacAulay]], the former chief executive of the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], and that in April 2018 MacAulay and other employees resigned after he refused their offer to buy him out.[^5]
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The memorandum describes overnight shifts from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. from the fall of 2018, moves to [[Hong Kong]] and then [[Bahamas|the Bahamas]] at Bankman-Fried's direction, and an "on-again-off-again, sometimes-secret relationship" with him; it states that she received no equity in Alameda and held less than 1 percent of [[FTX]].[^4] The government's letter of September 17, 2024, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Danielle Sassoon|Danielle R. Sassoon]], states that Bankman-Fried appointed her and [[Sam Trabucco]] co-chief executives of Alameda in the summer of 2021, explaining that he wanted to separate Alameda and FTX "more optically," that her salary did not change, that he retained 90 percent of Alameda, and that she continued to report to him.[^1] The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]'s complaint gives her tenure as co-chief executive from about October 2021 to about August 2022, when she became the sole chief executive, and records that she lived in Hong Kong and the Bahamas;[^6] the FTX debtors' complaint against the insiders gives it as August 2021 to September 2022 and states that she was also a director of Alameda from September 6, 2022 until the bankruptcy petition.[^7]
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The debtors' complaint in the [[Latona Biosciences Group|Latona]] proceeding states that the directors of the [[FTX Foundation]], a Delaware nonprofit whose sole member was Bankman-Fried, included Bankman-Fried, [[Nishad Singh]], [[Gary Wang]], Ellison and [[Nick Beckstead]];[^8] a later complaint by the FTX Recovery Trust describes the same five as its directors and officers.[^9] A December 30, 2021 document in which Bankman-Fried set out proposed terms for hiring [[Ross Rheingans-Yoo]], a former Jane Street colleague, lists the manager as "likely Caroline [Ellison] + SBF [Bankman-Fried] + Nick [Beckstead] depending on the task," and the revised and final terms place his Alameda position "reporting to CE [Ellison]." On April 11, 2022 Ellison signed his employment agreement with Alameda Research (Bahamas) Ltd. by DocuSign on behalf of Alameda; the debtors and Rheingans-Yoo stipulated that he did not perform the duties of a trader or investment associate there, was not employed by the FTX Foundation, and was paid from the bank accounts of FTX Digital Markets Ltd.[^10]
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### Conduct described by prosecutors
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The government's letter described Ellison as "Alameda's nominal CEO and Bankman-Fried's former girlfriend." Prosecutors wrote that she never worked at FTX and had no role in designing the code that gave Alameda special treatment there, that she had no knowledge of Bankman-Fried's campaign finance scheme, and that once she learned of the features she used them at his direction to misappropriate customer funds. The letter recounts, citing trial testimony and exhibits, the mid-2021 repurchase of [[Binance]]'s stake in FTX, then worth about 2 billion dollars, with a mix of FTX funds and customer deposits; an analysis she prepared in the fall of 2021 showing Alameda's net asset value at negative 2.7 billion dollars without FTT, Solana and Serum, after which she told Bankman-Fried that further venture investments were too risky and he proceeded with billions of dollars of them; and the May 2022 collapse of Terra and Luna, after which Alameda's lenders recalled nearly all their loans and Alameda repaid more than 6 billion dollars on demand. A spreadsheet prepared at Bankman-Fried's request showed Alameda with a negative 11 billion dollar balance on FTX and 13 billion dollars borrowed in customer funds; of the 6.5 billion dollars repaid to lenders, almost 70 percent was customer money. She prepared seven alternative balance sheets for lenders such as [[Genesis Global Capital|Genesis]], and Bankman-Fried chose "alternative 7," which hid Alameda's borrowing from FTX and about 5 billion dollars of related-party loans to FTX executives.[^1]
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The government wrote that in November 2022 she posted tweets meant to reassure FTX customers after Bankman-Fried told her, "I can't be the one to tweet because I don't want to be associated with Alameda"; that at an all-hands meeting on November 9, 2022, which she did not know was being recorded, she told Alameda employees that customer funds had been used to repay recalled loans and that she, Bankman-Fried, Wang and Singh had been involved; and that, unlike [[Ryan Salame]], she did not try to withdraw large sums from her FTX accounts before the bankruptcy. It quotes her testimony that Bankman-Fried's attitude toward lying and stealing "made me more willing to do things like lie and steal over time." She disclosed to prosecutors a payment of about 140 million dollars in cryptocurrency to unfreeze Alameda's accounts in China by bribing a Chinese official; the government charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to violate the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]] on that basis but, "without the Bahamas consent," did not proceed on the count at trial.[^1]
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The SEC's complaint alleged that from at least May 2019 through November 2022 Ellison, Wang and Bankman-Fried defrauded the equity investors who put more than 1.8 billion dollars into FTX, and that Ellison, at Bankman-Fried's direction, caused Alameda to borrow from third-party lenders against holdings of FTT, a token FTX issued to Alameda at no cost, and engaged in automated purchases of FTT in order to increase its price and the value of Alameda's collateral.[^6]
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### The debtors' claims and her FTX holdings
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On July 20, 2023 FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda and other debtors sued Bankman-Fried, Wang, Singh and Ellison in the Delaware bankruptcy court for breach of fiduciary duty, waste, conversion and fraudulent transfers. As to Ellison, the debtors alleged that on February 22, 2022 she caused 22.5 million dollars to move from an Alameda account on FTX named "off_market_ftt" to an Alameda payroll account, then to an account of Salameda Limited, an FTX group entity, and then to her own FTX account; that on March 29, 2022 she transferred 10 million dollars from that account to her personal bank account; and that this money funded her 10 million dollar investment, through an M-SAFE agreement in late March 2022, in an unnamed "artificial intelligence safety and research company." They also alleged that she received 2,000,000 FTX call options on December 29, 2020 and a further 750,000 less than three months later without paying for them, and cash bonuses of 6,262,529.89 dollars on July 23, 2021 and September 14, 2022. The complaint quotes her private notes of March 2022 estimating a cash deficit at FTX.com of more than 10 billion dollars, and records that she responded with a "claps" emoji to a developer's warning about Alameda's borrowing on FTX US.[^7]
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The equity holder lists filed by the debtors on March 13, 2023 record Caroline Ellison as the holder of 38,160,000 shares of Class A common stock of West Realm Shires Inc., the parent of FTX US, and of 2,750,000 shares of common stock of FTX Trading Ltd.[^11]
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### Plea and cooperation
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According to the government's letter, federal agents executed a search warrant at her residence on November 16, 2022 and seized her phone; her attorneys relayed her interest in assisting the government the same day, gave an attorney proffer on December 7, and she began proffering on December 8. A grand jury indicted Bankman-Fried on December 9, 2022. On December 19, 2022 she pleaded guilty before Judge [[Ronnie Abrams]] to a superseding information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers (18 U.S.C. section 1349), wire fraud on customers (section 1343), conspiracy to commit and commission of wire fraud on lenders, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and securities fraud (section 371), and conspiracy to commit money laundering (section 1956(h)). The pleas of Ellison and Wang were unsealed after Bankman-Fried consented to extradition and arrived in the [[United States]] on December 21, 2022. She met the government about 20 times after her plea and testified for about three days at the October 2023 trial, at which Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven counts.[^1] Prosecutors wrote that she reviewed hundreds of documents and spreadsheets in discovery to identify evidence in an investigation hampered by Bankman-Fried's destruction of evidence, located the seven-tab balance sheet spreadsheet whose metadata showed his review before one version went to a lender, flagged chats concerning the use of Alameda trading to raise the price of FTT, and continued despite public scrutiny and Bankman-Fried's efforts to "weaponize her personal writings."[^1]
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The SEC filed its action against Ellison and Wang on December 21, 2022 (No. 22-cv-10794, [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]]), and judgments on consent were entered as to each on December 23, 2022.[^12] Her counsel wrote in 2024 that under the consent judgments with the SEC and with the [[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]] (in *CFTC v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22-cv-10503) she had accepted lifetime bans from working in the securities or commodities industries, from trading for others, and from serving as an officer or director of a public company.[^4] On December 19, 2025 the SEC filed her consent and moved for final judgment, and on December 23, 2025 Judge [[P. Kevin Castel]] entered a final judgment permanently enjoining her from violating section 10(b), Rule 10b-5 and section 17(a), barring her for 10 years from the date of the initial judgment from acting as an officer or director of an issuer with registered securities, and enjoining her for five years from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer or sale of securities other than for her own account. The final judgment entered as to Wang the same day carries an eight-year officer and director bar.[^12]
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### Settlements and civil cooperation
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The sentencing memorandum states that she had settled with the plaintiffs' steering committee in the FTX multidistrict litigation in the [[Southern District of Florida]] by a stipulation dated January 23, 2024, and, subject to the approval of the United States Attorney's Office, gave it documents and a declaration, filed February 16, 2024, describing how the Bahamian bank [[Deltec Bank and Trust]] provided Alameda a "clandestine line of credit of approximately $2 billion." It states that she sat for multiple interviews with the [[FTX bankruptcy examiner]] about Alameda and its relationship to FTX US, provided information to the [[New York Attorney General]]'s Investor Protection Bureau for a cryptocurrency investigation, and assisted the SEC and CFTC on market manipulation and FTX US compliance. Her counsel wrote that she had lived largely in hiding since December 4, 2022, and that friends declined to submit sentencing letters for fear of being identified.[^4] On September 23, 2024 her counsel, [[Anjan Sahni]] of [[WilmerHale]], informed the court that the settlements anticipated in the sentencing submission had been finalized: a consent preliminary order of forfeiture with the government, and a settlement with the FTX debtors resolving all their claims against her and setting a framework for her continuing cooperation. The letter was copied to [[Christopher Dunne]] of [[Sullivan & Cromwell]], counsel to the debtors.[^13]
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### Sentence, forfeiture and the Anthropic shares
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The presentence report put the guideline sentence at life, capped at 1,320 months, on an offense level of 43 driven by a loss above 10 billion dollars, and the probation office recommended time served. The government moved under section 5K1.1 of the [[Federal Sentencing Guidelines|Sentencing Guidelines]] on account of what it called her "extraordinary cooperation."[^1][^4] Her memorandum was filed by WilmerHale lawyers Sahni, [[Stephanie Avakian]], [[Peter Neiman]] and [[Nicholas Werle]].[^4] On September 24, 2024 Judge Kaplan imposed 24 months on each of the seven counts, to run concurrently, recommended a minimum security facility as close to Boston as possible, set surrender no earlier than November 7, 2024, and imposed three years of supervised release, with a special condition that throughout that term she continue to cooperate with the government, the SEC, the CFTC and, if requested, the FTX bankruptcy estate. All open counts were dismissed on the government's motion.[^2] The government later asked the court to correct the judgment to reflect that the court had declined to order restitution, as it had for Bankman-Fried, in favor of a remission process for forfeited assets.[^14]
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The consent preliminary order of forfeiture, filed September 25, 2024, provides for a money judgment of 11,020,000,000 dollars, for which she is jointly and severally liable with Bankman-Fried, Wang and Singh. It forfeits "the shares of Series B Preferred Stock in Anthropic PBC, acquired by the defendant on or about May 13, 2022, through the Simple Agreement for Future Equity the defendant purchased in exchange for $10,000,000 on or about March 31, 2022," recites a financial affidavit she swore on or about May 9, 2024, requires her to liquidate a Vanguard brokerage account and pay the proceeds to the United States before October 8, 2024, and records her admission that the property involved in the offenses, other than the [[Anthropic]] shares, "cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence." The United States agreed not to pursue substitute assets if she made the payment and the forfeiture was completed.[^15] Her counsel wrote that the Anthropic shares, which she viewed as an investment in the safe development of artificial intelligence, were the only significant purchase she made while at Alameda and supplied the bulk of the value of her settlements.[^4] The FTX estate agreed in March 2024 to sell the majority of its own Anthropic stake for 884 million dollars, with Jane Street the second-largest buyer at almost 100 million dollars.[^16]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Letter of the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle R. Sassoon, *United States v. Ellison*, 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 17, 2024), ECF No. 502, pp. 1-10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.502.0.pdf
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[^2]: Amended Judgment in a Criminal Case as to Caroline Ellison, *United States v. Ellison*, (S2) 22 Cr. 673-03 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y.; date of imposition Sept. 24, 2024; signed Oct. 9, 2024; filed Oct. 10, 2024), ECF No. 520, pp. 1-4. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.520.0.pdf
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[^3]: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Locator, Caroline Ellison, register number 36854-510, facility "New York" (residential reentry management office), actual release date 01/21/2026, queried October 1, 2026. https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/
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[^4]: Defendant Caroline Ellison's Sentencing Memorandum (redacted public filing), *United States v. Ellison*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 10, 2024), ECF No. 497, memorandum pp. 1-17, 26-27, 41, 46-48 and signature page (ECF pp. 4-21, 30-31, 44, 49-51). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.497.0.pdf
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[^5]: FTX Recovery Trust's Motion for Reconsideration or to Modify Order Allowing Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 31846, paras. 8-9. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.31846.0.pdf
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[^6]: Complaint, *Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ellison*, No. 22-cv-10794 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 21, 2022), ECF No. 1, paras. 1-5, 13-17. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591453/gov.uscourts.nysd.591453.1.0.pdf
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[^7]: Complaint, *FTX Trading Ltd. v. Bankman-Fried* (Bankr. D. Del. filed July 20, 2023), filed as D.I. 1886 in *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD), parties, pp. 18-19, 25 and 30-31. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.1886.0.pdf
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[^8]: Complaint, *Alameda Research Ltd. v. Platform Life Sciences Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. July 19, 2023), filed as D.I. 1881 in No. 22-11068, para. 17. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.1881.0.pdf
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[^9]: First Amended Complaint, *FTX Recovery Trust v. Manifold Markets, Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 24-50214 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 38, para. 10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.194811/gov.uscourts.deb.194811.38.0.pdf
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[^10]: Stipulation of Undisputed Facts Relating to Ross Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. Jan. 15, 2025), D.I. 29218, paras. 3-6, 13, 21-25, 44-46. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.29218.0.pdf
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[^11]: Notice of Filing of Lists of Equity Holders, Exhibit A (WRS Equity Holders List) p. 8 and Exhibit B (FTX Trading Equity Holders List) p. 25 of 69, filed Mar. 13, 2023 in *In re Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd.*, No. 23-10149 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.), D.I. 76-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.189054/gov.uscourts.deb.189054.76.1.pdf
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[^12]: Docket, *Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ellison*, No. 22-cv-10794-PKC (S.D.N.Y.), judgments of Dec. 23, 2022, consents and motions of Dec. 19, 2025, and final judgments as to Caroline Ellison and Zixiao ("Gary") Wang signed by Judge P. Kevin Castel on Dec. 23, 2025 (docket text); CourtListener docket 66676576. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66676576/securities-and-exchange-commission-v-ellison/
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[^13]: Letter of Anjan Sahni, *United States v. Ellison*, No. 1:22-cr-673-LAK (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2024), ECF No. 505. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.505.0.pdf
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[^14]: Letter of the United States re amendment of judgment, *United States v. Ellison*, S2 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 7, 2024), ECF No. 517. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.517.0.pdf
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[^15]: Consent Preliminary Order of Forfeiture as to Specific Property/Money Judgment, *United States v. Ellison*, S2 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. filed Sept. 25, 2024), ECF No. 510, pp. 3-4, 8. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.510.0.pdf
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[^16]: MacKenzie Sigalos, "FTX estate selling majority stake in AI startup Anthropic for $884 million, with bulk going to UAE," *CNBC*, March 25, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/ftx-estate-sells-majority-stake-in-startup-anthropic-for-884-million.html
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---
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category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
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tags:
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- Person
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- CarterCornick
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- FBI
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- Chilbom
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- OrlandoLetelier
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- DINA
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- CubanNationalistMovement
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- PuertoRico
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- Counterterrorism
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- CounterTerrorismConsultants
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- PrivateSecurity
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alias:
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- Carter Cornick
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- C. Carter Cornick
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- L. Carter Cornick
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- L. Carter Cornick Jr.
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- L. Carter Cornick, Jr.
|
||||
summary: "FBI agent who received informant reports on Puerto Rican independence groups, ran the Chilbom investigation of the 1976 Letelier and Moffitt murders, and in 1988 founded Counter Terrorism Consultants with the case's prosecutor."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1988
|
||||
role: "special agent; supervisor, counterterrorism section, FBI headquarters"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño]]"
|
||||
start: 1972-11
|
||||
end: 1973-10
|
||||
role: "agent receiving informant reports, San Juan file 100-4014"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[DINA]]"
|
||||
start: 1976-09
|
||||
role: "case agent, Letelier and Moffitt murders (Chilbom)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Cuban Nationalist Movement]]"
|
||||
start: 1976-09
|
||||
role: "case agent, Letelier and Moffitt murders (Chilbom)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Townley]]"
|
||||
start: 1979-02
|
||||
end: 1979-02
|
||||
role: "co-interviewer with Robert Scherrer, FD-302 interviews of February 6, 8 and 9, 1979"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 1984-11
|
||||
end: 1985-03
|
||||
role: "FBI member, Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Hostage Locating Task Force]]"
|
||||
role: "FBI representative (as stated in the CTC resume packet)"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]"
|
||||
start: 1988-08
|
||||
role: "co-founder"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]"
|
||||
start: 1988-08
|
||||
role: "president; chief executive officer by 1990"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Eugene Propper]]"
|
||||
start: 1988-08
|
||||
role: "co-founder of Counter Terrorism Consultants"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
L. Carter Cornick Jr. was a special agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] from 1967 to 1988.[^1] He was a former Marine,[^2] described in 1978 as "descended from several generations of Virginians,"[^3] and held a bachelor's degree in Asian history from the [[University of Virginia]].[^4] He spent sixteen of his twenty-one bureau years on terrorism.[^5] In San Juan in 1972 and 1973 he received informant reports for the bureau's file on the [[Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño]]; from September 1976 he was case agent of the investigation code-named Chilbom into the murders of [[Orlando Letelier]] and [[Ronni Moffitt]]; in the 1980s he worked in the counterterrorism section at FBI headquarters; and in August 1988 he and the case's prosecutor, [[Eugene Propper]], formed [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]][^1][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### San Juan, 1972 to 1976
|
||||
|
||||
The FBI's [[San Juan]] field office kept the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño under file 100-4014. Cover sheets for informant reports (form FD-306) in that file record Cornick as the receiving agent on at least eight occasions between November 1972 and October 1973. A report of November 1972 described planned activity of the [[Puerto Rican Socialist Party]], a planned demonstration in [[Washington, D.C.]], and a party meeting set for November 24, 1972, and was routed to a further file on the Committee for the Defense of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners. A report of July 24, 1973 consisted of a "mailing-membership list" of the [[Casa de la Amistad]]. One of September 28, 1973 covered activities of the group the cover sheet abbreviates as NPPR, including the September 12 celebration of the birth of [[Pedro Albizu Campos]] and of the [[Grito de Lares]]. Each cover sheet carried the printed notations that persons marked with an asterisk "only attended a meeting and did not actively participate" and that "violence or revolutionary activities were not discussed," and each instructed that information from the source, when disseminated, be paraphrased and classified to protect the source's identity.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick also served as the San Juan office's media coordinator and completed the FBI's first media in-service training, at which the columnist [[Jack Anderson]] was the keynote speaker.[^1] He investigated bombings in [[Puerto Rico]] and, by the account of the journalist [[Zach Dorfman]], armed robbery cases.[^2][^3] He was transferred to the Washington field office several weeks before September 21, 1976, and placed on a newly formed criminal squad that handled bombing matters.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sheridan Circle
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick reached [[Sheridan Circle]] about ten minutes after the bomb under Letelier's car exploded on the morning of September 21, 1976. [[Michael Moffitt]], who had been in the back seat, was shouting about DINA, a name that meant nothing to Cornick.[^2] His first questions were whether further devices remained and whether the FBI had jurisdiction. The jurisdiction rested on the Protection of Foreign Officials statute, whose coverage of former ambassadors had been added at the suggestion of a junior [[State Department]] attorney; without it the case would have gone to the homicide squad of the [[Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia|Metropolitan Police Department]].[^1] The special agent in charge, [[Nick F. Stames]], assigned Cornick because of his availability, his Spanish and his experience with the Puerto Rico bombings.[^3] "It's your case. Do it," Stames told him at the scene.[^7] [[Stuart Case]], chief of the FBI explosives unit, directed the forensic search, which extended to the roofs of neighboring embassies and wire mesh over the storm drains. When another official moved to reopen part of the circle to traffic, Cornick refused: "The crime scene is here once."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Letelier had worked at the [[Institute for Policy Studies]], which, Cornick wrote, had been "formerly investigated by the FBI"; the [[Washington Post]] reported in 1978 that the institute had been "infiltrated and spied upon by informants for the FBI" during the [[Vietnam War]]. Its staff resisted the evacuation and search of their building, which was ordered after a dog reacted to a car parked in front; Cornick wrote that he learned thirty years later that the dog had reacted to marijuana residue.[^1][^3] [[Saul Landau]] wrote that he met Cornick at [[Isabel Letelier]]'s house on the night of the murder, that the institute's staff accused Cornick personally of having tapped their telephones, opened their mail and gone through their garbage, and that Cornick answered: "I don't know anything about that, but I'll tell you one thing. We're on the same side in this one."[^7] [[John Dinges]] and Landau wrote that some senior FBI officials referred to Letelier and the institute as "pinkos" and "commie perverts" and suggested that Cornick direct the investigation at the American left and Chilean exiles, and that Cornick, "a staunch anticommunist," resisted.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The United States Attorney, [[Earl Silbert]], assigned a prosecutor from his major crimes unit at once, which Cornick attributed to the loss of evidence in the early "Watergate" investigation.[^1] The prosecutor was Eugene Propper. Cornick recalled telling Stames the next morning: "I have no intention of working with the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]. I don't want some assistant U.S. attorney telling me how to run a case."[^2] The two had never met; they worked together for the next eighteen months before arrests were made in April 1978.[^3] The bureau designated the case a special, with major case status and the code name Chilbom.[^1] Cornick's plan was to rule out every motive other than the obvious one, including a Venezuelan mistress, a disgruntled colleague and a personal enemy abroad. His first report, written after three weeks, ran to more than 1,300 pages with a 50-page administrative section asking every receiving office and legal attaché for comment.[^1] He had the FBI interview every person in Letelier's address book, and some agents, by the account of Dinges and Landau, probed for leftist activity and suggested that the left had a motive.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Caracas and the Cuban exiles, 1976 to 1977
|
||||
|
||||
Because the Cuban exile side of the investigation would involve intelligence information, Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[J. Stanley Pottinger|Stanley Pottinger]] and the director of central intelligence, [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush]], met to determine to what extent the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] could help.[^3] Within two days of the bombing [[Ricardo Morales Navarrete|Ricardo Morales]], an informant for the CIA, the FBI, the [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] and the [[Miami]] police who was also an officer of the Venezuelan intelligence service [[DISIP]], told the FBI that the Novo brothers of [[Union City, New Jersey]], had done it, citing [[Orlando Bosch]].[^2] On November 5, 1976, Assistant Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]] asked the State Department to arrange interviews of four men then held in [[Caracas]] in connection with the bombing of [[Cubana Flight 455 bombing|Cubana Flight 455]]: Bosch, [[Luis Posada Carriles]], [[Freddy Lugo]] and [[Hernán Ricardo Lozano]]. Thornburgh named the investigators to be sent: Propper and FBI special agents Carter Cornick and Raul Salinas. [[Harry Shlaudeman]] relayed the request to the embassy in Caracas on November 11 in a cable sent under [[Henry Kissinger]]'s name.[^8] Venezuelan officials kept Propper from Bosch for months.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick later said that the CIA had placed Cuban exiles "recruited by the agency to fight the good war against Castro" in DISIP. "The agency put them down there!" he told Dorfman in 2015. Dorfman put the claim to [[Jack Devine]], a retired CIA officer stationed in Chile from 1971 to 1974, who answered: "Go show me. Prove it."[^2] Cornick repeated the claim in 2016: "the CIA inserted many anti-Castro Cubans into its intelligence service (DISIP) while still on friendly terms."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Propper brought [[Guillermo Novo]] and [[Ignacio Novo]] of the [[Cuban Nationalist Movement]] before the grand jury.[^2][^3] The State Department gave Propper and Cornick photographs and background on two Chileans, Juan Williams and Alejandro Romeral, who had entered the [[United States]] through Miami in August 1976 on official Chilean passports. In July 1977 the informant [[Ricardo Canete]] and the jailed militant [[Rolando Otero]] identified the Williams photograph, Otero in Cornick's presence. In December 1977 Cornick and a team of agents found immigration forms showing that both men had entered in August and left on September 2, 1976.[^2] An investigative clerk of the Washington field office found them after more than six weeks of searching forms by hand in a warehouse in [[Suitland, Maryland]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Santiago, 1978
|
||||
|
||||
The Chilean foreign ministry announced that it would answer only formal letters rogatory. The letters were sent with only the questions sealed, and Propper told courthouse reporters that they might find something in the clerk's office; the next day's front pages reported that the investigation was focused on members of the Chilean government. Cornick wrote that within several days the Chilean press identified "the individual with blond hair" as an American, [[Michael Townley]], "who also worked for the CIA," and the second man as a DINA captain, [[Armando Fernandez Larios]].[^1] Propper and Cornick arrived in [[Santiago]] on March 19, 1978.[^2] At the headquarters of DINA's successor, the [[Central Nacional de Informaciones|CNI]], Cornick saw two soldiers feeding books into a fire in an oil drum; inside, the general in charge admitted for the first time that Townley had worked for DINA.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Propper, Cornick and the legal attaché [[Robert Scherrer]] questioned two Chilean army captains that month about their roles. One said under questioning on March 24 that the purpose of their August 1976 mission to the United States had been to see [[Vernon Walters]]. Walters gave the FBI a deposition in June 1978 denying any knowledge of the case or contact with the officers.[^9] One evening members of the [[Carabineros de Chile|Chilean National Police]] told Cornick and Scherrer that a warrant required them to appear before a magistrate; Cornick wrote that both held diplomatic passports accrediting them to Chile, cited immunity, and that the police backed down.[^1] Chile expelled Townley on April 8, 1978, and Cornick escorted him to the United States; the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] ordered the plane to land at [[Baltimore]] short of New York.[^1][^10] On May 9 Ambassador [[George Landau]] cabled from Santiago that Chilean courts were investigating the expulsion, that the press had named Scherrer and Cornick as Townley's escorts, and that lawyers for Townley and his wife wanted them called before the investigating judge. Scherrer held a diplomatic passport; "in order to preserve same option with respect to Carter Cornick," Landau recommended "strongly" that Cornick be issued one for future visits, and likewise Propper.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Townley's plea agreement, signed on April 18, 1978, capped his sentence at ten years. "We did not have, in my opinion, a prosecutable case," Cornick told Dorfman. "So what we did was we made a deal with the worst possible guy."[^1][^2] Townley implicated DINA's commander, [[Manuel Contreras]], its chief of operations, [[Pedro Espinoza]], and Fernandez Larios, and told the investigators that President [[Augusto Pinochet]] began every working day with a briefing from Contreras.[^1] A CIA report dated April 28, 1978, while Cornick was working in Santiago, stated that "Contreras told a confidant he authorized the assassination of Letelier on orders from Pinochet." Shown that report and others in 2015 by John Dinges, Cornick said: "As you may suspect, none of this was new to us at the time." He called the information hearsay from people who would never testify, and said that "the interests of the U.S., according to [the Department of] State, were that Chile was a non-Communist country in [[Latin America]] and therefore no further punitive action against them was warranted."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The test bomb
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick proposed a replication test: a second car of the same model, a bomb built by Townley from the same components, and a comparison of the damage. The prosecutors feared that a failed test would reach the defense in discovery, and the request went for approval to the bureau's deputy director.[^1][^2] An agent in [[Detroit]] obtained the car from [[General Motors]]. Townley, escorted by deputy marshals, was taken to each place where he had bought parts, including a Radio Shack on E Street behind FBI headquarters, and built the device with Stuart Case.[^1][^2] On July 20, in the summer of 1978 by Cornick's account, the bomb was detonated at the FBI explosives range; the electronics expert [[Bill Koopman]] wired the modified Fanon-Courier transmitter to the car's cigarette lighter. A search of the test site turned up a brass spacer post that matched one recovered at Sheridan Circle.[^1] A photograph Cornick supplied to Dorfman is captioned "Aftermath of controlled FBI bombing, 1979."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Indictment and trial, 1978 to 1979
|
||||
|
||||
On August 1, 1978, three Chilean officers and four Cuban exiles were charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official and with murder.[^1] On October 17 the prosecutors stated in a court filing that Townley had made "two unrelated contacts" with the CIA in Florida "a number of years ago," one of them in 1970 or 1971.[^9] That fall a bomb exploded at the home of the Chilean Supreme Court judge considering the American extradition request, and eleven days later another at the home of the judge investigating the first.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
After a [[New York Times]] magazine feature that summer, the producers of the [[CBS]] program "60 Minutes" asked for a segment with [[Mike Wallace]]. Cornick favored it as a platform to describe the Cuban Nationalist Movement as "a group of criminals, not super patriots, who regularly extorted the anti-Cuban exile community for personal gain"; CBS agreed to let a prosecutor censor any question that could affect the trial. Afterward, Cornick wrote, "according to public, police and FBI sources, CNM funding sustained a major blow," and the program entered the curriculum for FBI media coordinators at [[FBI Academy|Quantico]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The trial opened on January 9, 1979. The lead defense attorney, [[Paul Goldberger]], told the jury that the murder "was carried out by Michael Townley . . . working as an agent of the CIA." Propper concluded that the defense had taken on DINA's case because DINA was funding the defendants, "which turned out to be the case," Cornick wrote, and the CIA's chief personnel officer testified that Townley had never worked for the agency.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
During the trial Townley was held in the offices of the Major Crimes Unit of the [[United States Attorney for the District of Columbia|United States Attorney]], and with the knowledge of Propper and Barcella he telephoned people in Chile, including his Chilean lawyer and [[Gustavo Etchepare]], to gather information on the extradition case. Etchepare was a former member of [[Patria y Libertad]] with connections to DINA. On January 30, 1979, locked alone in Propper's office, Townley called Etchepare without authorization. Defense attorneys and relatives of the Cuban defendants told reporters that Contreras's Chilean lawyer, [[Sergio Miranda Carrington]], had brought from Chile a cassette on which Townley threatened to kill the trial judge, [[Barrington Parker]]; according to Miranda Carrington, Etchepare had recorded the call and given it to him, and he had passed it to the Cuban defendants' lawyers. A transcript was distributed to reporters at the courthouse by people connected with the defendants.[^12] The FBI's translation of the cassette has Townley saying: "the fact is that this was one of the things which were discussed like so, among friends, with people from the FBI, that is, have as many friends as we all have call . . . make threatening calls to the Judge for him to withdraw from the case."[^12] Scherrer and Cornick interviewed Townley about it on February 6, 8 and 9, 1979. On February 8 Townley denied asking anyone to threaten the judge and denied that any FBI agent or federal official had ever suggested or implied it. In a later interview with the same agents he said the remarks were a deliberately provocative "diatribe" meant to persuade Etchepare that the FBI was not taping their calls, that the transcript had been altered, and that DINA's electronics section had doctored recordings of Contreras's enemies when he worked for it.[^12] The FBI Laboratory reported on March 30, 1979, in a report captioned Chilbom, that the cassette showed six bursts of noise consistent with the recorder being stopped and restarted and "characteristics indicating that segments of one or more previously recorded conversations were copied onto" it.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The jury asked for two exhibits, the photographs of the two cars and the telephone records linking Townley to Guillermo Novo, and convicted Guillermo Novo and [[Alvin Ross]] on all counts; Ignacio Novo received eight years on lesser charges.[^1][^2] Dorfman reported that in May 1979 Pinochet's former press secretary, [[Federico Willoughby]], traveled secretly to Washington with a message that Pinochet would hand over Contreras if the charges against Fernandez Larios and Espinoza were dropped.[^2] About three months after the verdict Chile denied extradition, ruled the Townley evidence inadmissible, and sent the remaining evidence to a military tribunal. At the end of November 1979 the United States announced diplomatic sanctions without trade or commercial measures.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leaks and the Director of Central Intelligence, 1979 to 1980
|
||||
|
||||
In early December 1979 Cornick met the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] on leaks. A memorandum to the director of March 10, 1980 states: "I have scheduled Carter Cornick (FBI) to call on you at the EOB tomorrow (Tues) at 1500. This is a follow-up to his meeting with you in early Dec on leaks."[^13] The director's schedule for Thursday, March 13, 1980 lists, at 1500, "Carter Cornick (FBI), re Leaks."[^14] Cornick later wrote that "capricious media leaks by both Field and Bureau officials were harmful, but not fatal to the case," and that the intervention of Deputy Associate Director [[Jim Adams]] prevented "stove piping" between the bureau's intelligence and criminal divisions.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In September 1980 the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|Court of Appeals]] reversed the convictions on the authority of *[[United States v. Henry]]*, and the Solicitor General's office declined to seek review.[^1] On May 30, 1981 a second jury acquitted Guillermo Novo and Ross of the murder counts.[^1] A week later [[Joe Trento]] reported that Canete, then in the witness protection program, said he had deliberately made his testimony less convincing for fear of anti-Castro Cubans, and that Barcella said Townley "understood that the politics of the situation had changed. The Reagan people had a lot of support in the Cuban community." Trento quoted an unnamed high Justice Department official who expected an order to put the case "on the shelf," and an unnamed CIA official who had helped train the Cubans: "when you implicate the Chilean secret police, you implicate our own CIA." The same official said that Contreras had "recently participated in security exercises with U.S. intelligence." Barcella and Cornick, whom Trento described as the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, told him that the most humiliating part of the case was having to go to the CIA "hat in hand" to ask how large a role American intelligence had played in training the Cubans and the Chileans. "It is very possible the CIA lied to me and withheld information from me on these cases," Barcella said.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Headquarters, 1980 to 1988
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick became a supervisor in the terrorism section at FBI headquarters, where, he wrote, he found reports from the Letelier case that had been marked for dissemination to the legal attaché in Argentina still in a file cabinet.[^1] On November 27, 1984 the executive secretary of the [[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]] of the Director of Central Intelligence sent "FBI/L. Carter Cornick" and the other members of its Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee a draft of standards for video disc maps, to be produced under a [[Defense Mapping Agency]] contract.[^16] A memorandum of March 11, 1985 called the subcommittee to a meeting on March 22 to discuss the contracts; its membership list gives Cornick's office as Room 4445 of the J. Edgar Hoover Building.[^17] In April 1985 he attended, as a supervisory special agent, the tenth annual symposium on the role of behavioral science in physical security, "Outthinking the Terrorist," at Springfield, Virginia.[^18] Townley was paroled in May 1983 after 62 months, and Fernandez Larios, who in early 1986 had approached the American government through Willoughby and the embassy's Chilean lawyer, [[Alfredo Etcheberry]], met State Department, United States Attorney and FBI representatives in Santiago on January 14, 1987; because of fears that he would be recognized there, Cornick worked with a secondary team in [[Buenos Aires]].[^2] Cornick wrote that Fernandez Larios agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder; Dorfman wrote that he pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact and served seven months.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A resume packet that Counter Terrorism Consultants circulated in 1990 describes Cornick's last years in the bureau. It states that he spent sixteen of his twenty-one FBI years in the counterterrorism program, the last eight at headquarters; that he had headed the FBI's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center and, at his retirement, the section's computer center; that he had supervised the investigations of the 1983 bombings of the American embassy and the Marine compound in [[Beirut]] and of the 1984 seizure of American hostages in Lebanon, and in 1985 had supported the investigations of the [[TWA Flight 847]] hijacking and the [[Achille Lauro]] case; that he had created the FBI's crisis management protocol for special events and held posts in security for the 1980 Winter Olympics, the 1984 Summer Olympics, the 1984 party conventions, the 1986 rededication of the Statue of Liberty and the 1987 Pan American and World Games; and that he had helped create logistical, operational and computer support for the [[Hostage Rescue Team]]. It also states that he "was the FBI representative to the [[Hostage Locating Task Force]] at the [[White House]], the inter-agency group coordinating American policy on U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and to the State Department's Persian Gulf Threat Working Group," and that he received the FBI Director's Award in 1986.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Counter Terrorism Consultants
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick retired in May 1988 by his own account, and on June 1, 1988 according to the company's resume packet.[^1][^4] In early August 1988 he and Propper, then with the Washington law firm [[Lane and Edson]], announced Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc., to sell foreign "democratic" governments, airlines, shipping companies and sponsors of events such as the Olympic Games "pro-active" strategies against terrorism and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Cornick was president; Propper said he was a full partner without a title. Scherrer, recently retired as the FBI's records chief, joined as a consultant, and Barcella, then with [[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]], was to advise on extradition. The company's services included "amassing in-depth intelligence files for a client," "liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies," hostage negotiation and "media leak investigations." It was seeded with about $500,000 from "a lot" of investors whom the founders declined to name, and they said their success would not depend on classified information. Cornick said he would draw on fifteen to twenty part-time consultants retired from the [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]], the State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI and the [[Defense Investigative Service]], and had developed "artificial intelligence" computer models of terrorist behavior. "This is the first time anyone has retired from the FBI's terrorism section" to sell such services, he said. [[Jeff Stein]] of [[United Press International]] reported that the four men had also worked together on the investigation of [[Edwin Wilson]], and listed Cornick's direction of the FBI investigations of the Beirut bombings, the TWA 847 hijacking and the Achille Lauro seizure and his management of security at the [[1980 Winter Olympics|Lake Placid]] Games.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
By 1990 the firm was CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., at 2300 M Street NW in Washington, with Cornick as co-founder and chief executive officer. A copy of its resume packet, bearing a fax header of 1990, is among the papers of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]. Besides Cornick, Propper and Barcella, the associates listed were an unnamed former senior CIA operations officer described as a former chief of counterterrorism for the agency and its representative on White House, State Department and [[National Security Council]] counterterrorism committees, who had retired in 1987 and had earlier been chief of the agency's air and maritime elements from 1974 to 1977; [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], ambassador to [[Costa Rica]] from 1980 to 1983 and later senior deputy for intelligence and research at the State Department; [[James B. Motley]], vice president for national security studies and programs at [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation since September 1987, who had appeared before the [[Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism]] in 1985; and a former foreign service officer, Nudell, who had served in [[Nicaragua]] and in the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### After the bureau
|
||||
|
||||
After Pinochet's arrest in [[London]] in October 1998, the Justice Department approved Cornick's testimony before the Spanish judge [[Baltasar Garzón]] at the federal courthouse in Washington, and he was deputized as a deputy United States marshal so that he could review the case files, then still on manual index cards.[^1] On September 19, 2001, in Washington, he gave a statement to United States judicial authorities in the presence of the Italian prosecutor [[Giancarlo Capaldo]] for the Rome investigation of [[Operation Condor]]; he described Scherrer's contacts with the Argentine [[Secretaría de Inteligencia|SIDE]] and with DINA, said that Scherrer had received his information on Condor from an Argentine SIDE officer, and said that Contreras was known as "Condor One."[^19] A letter of May 18, 2005 from twenty members of the House of Representatives to President [[George W. Bush]], placed in the [[Congressional Record]] by [[Dennis Kucinich]], quoted Cornick as having said in an interview that the Cubana bombing and the Letelier bombing were both planned at a June 1976 meeting in [[Santo Domingo]] attended by Posada, who was involved "up to his eyeballs."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
Cornick wrote in 2016 that the Letelier case, more than the assassination of the Swedish prime minister [[Olof Palme]], the Beirut embassy and Marine bombings, or the kidnapping and murder of the CIA station chief in Beirut, [[William Buckley]], was the culmination of his career as an investigator.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: L. Carter Cornick Jr., "Chilbom," *The Grapevine* (Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI), August 2016, pp. 11 to 16, https://fbistudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FBI-Grapevine-Chilbom.pdf.
|
||||
[^2]: Zach Dorfman, "Codename: Chilbom," *The Atavist Magazine*, no. 59, June 21, 2016, https://magazine.atavist.com/2016/codename-chilbom.
|
||||
[^3]: Timothy S. Robinson, "The Letelier Case," *The Washington Post*, May 21, 1978, p. A4, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP99-00498R000100050048-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp99-00498r000100050048-7.
|
||||
[^4]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents the Resumes of its Associates," fax copy (header 1990), pp. 141 P01 to P12, in the Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks.
|
||||
[^5]: Jeff Stein, "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/.
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Juan field office, file 100-4014 (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño), FD-306 cover sheets for informant reports received by SA L. Carter Cornick Jr., dated between November 22, 1972 and October 10, 1973, released to Representative José Serrano and posted by the project "The FBI Files on Puerto Ricans," file parts SJ-100-4014 33 and 34, https://archive.org/details/PartidoIndependentistaPuertorriqueno.
|
||||
[^7]: John Dinges and Saul Landau, *Assassination on Embassy Row* (New York: Pantheon, 1980; McGraw-Hill paperback, 1981), pp. 211, 229 to 236, https://archive.org/details/assassination-on-embassy-row.
|
||||
[^8]: Secretary of State to American Embassy Caracas, "Interrogation of Bosch," telegram 1976STATE277225, November 11, 1976 (drafted and approved by Harry W. Shlaudeman, quoting Richard L. Thornburgh's letter of November 5, 1976), Department of State, released 2006, https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1976-272754.
|
||||
[^9]: Jeremiah O'Leary, "Chileans Inject CIA Into Letelier Slaying Probe," *Washington Star*, October 18, 1978, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060103-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00901r000700060103-4.
|
||||
[^10]: American Embassy Santiago (George Landau) to Secretary of State, "Letelier/Moffitt Assassination Investigation," telegram 1978SANTIA03456, May 9, 1978, Department of State, released 2014, https://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1978-117178.
|
||||
[^11]: John Dinges, "A Bombshell on Pinochet's Guilt, Delivered Too Late," *Newsweek*, October 14, 2015 (issue of October 30, 2015), https://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/30/bombshell-pinochets-guilt-delivered-too-late-383121.html.
|
||||
[^12]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington field office file WF 185-425 (Chilbom): FD-302 reports of interviews of Michael Vernon Townley by SAs Robert W. Scherrer and L. Carter Cornick Jr., February 6, 8 and 9, 1979, and a later undated interview; FD-302 of interview at FBI headquarters, March 28, 1979; FBI Laboratory report to SAC WFO, re Chilbom, Lab. No. 90313098 E TV, March 30, 1979; FBI translation of cassette Q188, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-townley-phone.pdf.
|
||||
[^13]: Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, March 10, 1980, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP05T00644R000401190032-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp05t00644r000401190032-5.
|
||||
[^14]: "DCI's Schedule for Thursday 13 March 1980," CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP05T00644R000401230043-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp05t00644r000401230043-8.
|
||||
[^15]: Joe Trento, untitled article, *Wilmington Sunday News Journal*, June 7, 1981, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680027-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403680027-3.
|
||||
[^16]: Executive Secretary, Intelligence Information Handling Committee, to GISS Members, "Proposed Video Disc Standards," memorandum IHC/MM 84-92, November 27, 1984, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP86M00017R000400310007-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86m00017r000400310007-4.
|
||||
[^17]: Acting Chairman, Intelligence Information Handling Committee, to GISS Members, "GISS Meeting," memorandum IHC/MM 85-50, March 11, 1985, with Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee membership list, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP87M00220R000500530039-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp87m00220r000500530039-7.
|
||||
[^18]: *Supplemental Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security (10th): Outthinking the Terrorist, an International Challenge*, Springfield, Virginia, April 23 to 24, 1985, attendee list, Defense Technical Information Center ADA161669, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA161669.
|
||||
[^19]: Operation Condor proceeding (Rome), ordinanza di custodia cautelare, part 2, note 1731 and a later note, citing C. Cornick, statement before United States judicial authorities in the presence of PM G. Capaldo, Washington, September 19, 2001, Rogatoria USA, fd. 1, fll. 941 to 975, DocumentCloud 6165069, https://archive.org/details/6165069-Condor-Ordinanza-custodia-cautelare-2.
|
||||
[^20]: Dennis J. Kucinich, "Letter to President Bush Regarding Luis Posada Carriles," extension of remarks, May 18, 2005, *Congressional Record* (bound edition) 151, pt. 8, p. 10512, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2005-pt8/pdf/CRECB-2005-pt8-Pg10512.pdf.
|
||||
105
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Edward Jay Epstein.md
Normal file
105
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Edward Jay Epstein.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- JFKAssassination
|
||||
- Angleton
|
||||
- Nosenko
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- ReadersDigest
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Edward Jay Epstein
|
||||
- Edward J. Epstein
|
||||
- Edward Epstein
|
||||
summary: "American investigative journalist whose books on the Warren Commission and Soviet defectors drew on classified information from James Angleton and other CIA officers, and who kept an acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein from 1987 to 2019."
|
||||
born: 1935-12-06
|
||||
died: 2024-01-09
|
||||
location: "New York, New York (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Reader's Digest]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "research sponsor for Legend"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "named target of a January 1967 dispatch on critics of the Warren Report"
|
||||
start: 1967-01
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Edward Jay Epstein (December 6, 1935, to January 9, 2024) was an American investigative journalist and the author of more than twenty books, among them [[Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth|Inquest]] (1966), [[Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald|Legend]] (1978), [[Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB and the CIA|Deception]] (1989), [[Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer|Dossier]] (1996) and [[How America Lost Its Secrets]] (2017). He took his bachelor's and master's degrees in government at [[Cornell University]] and a doctorate at [[Harvard University]]; the obituary placed by his family gives the doctoral field as Urban Studies. He died at home in [[New York City]] after a brief struggle with Covid.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Inquest and the CIA dispatch of January 1967
|
||||
|
||||
Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth was published by [[Viking Press]] in 1966. It was his master's thesis at Cornell.[^1][^2] In the December 1966 issue of [[Esquire]] he published a further article that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] later described as explaining away objections to the book.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA dispatch to chiefs of certain stations and bases, titled "Countering Criticism of the Warren Report" and dated January 1967, stated that the trend of opinion about the [[Warren Commission]] "is a matter of concern to the [[U.S. government]], including our organization." Its sixth paragraph stated that "another kind of criticism has recently emerged, represented by Edward Jay Epstein's Inquest," that he "adopts a scholarly tone, and to the casual reader, he presents what appears to be a more coherent, reasoned case than the writers described above," and that [[Richard Rovere]] and [[Lord Devlin]], "previously backers of the Commission's Report," had changed their minds. The seventh paragraph stated that "Epstein's competence in research has been greatly exaggerated," giving as examples the date on which the CIA passed a [[Mexico City]] photograph to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (November 22, 1963, not November 18 as Inquest had it) and a Secret Service interview report that Inquest said had been withheld from the National Archives; the dispatch stated that an Archives staff member told a CIA officer that Epstein asked for the document, was told it was classified, and ended a two-day visit before the Secret Service declassified it. The eighth paragraph compared Epstein and other "intellectual critics" with [[Richard H. Popkin]], the author of The Second Oswald, whom it described as showing "love of theorizing and lack of common sense and experience." The action paragraph directed that "a useful strategy may be to single out Epstein's theory for attack, using the attached [[Fletcher Knebel]] article and Spectator piece for background."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reader's Digest, Angleton and Legend
|
||||
|
||||
Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald was published in 1978 by [[Reader's Digest]] Press.[^2] A Reader's Digest condensation stated that the magazine's editors had asked Epstein to examine the world through which [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] moved, that over two years he had studied "more than 10,000 pages of previously classified documents pertaining to Oswald" and had conducted, "with a staff of assistants, more than 400 interviews."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Cleveland Cram]], a CIA officer, reviewed the book in a 1993 monograph for the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence. Cram wrote that Epstein learned of the case of the Soviet defector [[Yuri Nosenko]] through Reader's Digest, that this led to his acquaintance with [[James Jesus Angleton]], that Angleton became his major source on Nosenko, and that Reader's Digest sponsored his research "to the tune of $500,000." Cram wrote that Epstein's articles and the book "publicized for the first time" the clashes inside the Agency between the Counterintelligence Staff and the Soviet Division over Nosenko, that Epstein "stated that he had spoken occasionally with James Angleton" without acknowledging him as the source, and that in Deception, which Cram placed in the year after Angleton's death on May 11, 1987 (the catalog record gives 1989), Epstein admitted that from 1977 onward he had obtained large amounts of highly classified information from Angleton, [[Newton Miler]], [[Tennent Bagley]] and others in the CIA who shared Angleton's views. In his review of Deception Cram wrote that Epstein described Angleton as his major source since 1976, when they first met, and that Angleton had referred him to Miler and [[Raymond Rocca]], to the retired CIA officer [[William Hood]], to the FBI officers [[William Sullivan]] and [[Sam Papich]], to the former [[MI6]] officer [[Stephen de Mowbray]] in England and to Bagley in Belgium. Cram listed from Epstein's source notes for Legend [[Gordon Stewart]], [[Stansfield Turner]], [[Richard Helms]], Angleton and members of his staff, Sullivan and Papich.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Cram also wrote that [[Henry Hurt]], a Reader's Digest writer, helped with the research for Legend and was introduced by Epstein to Angleton, and that "nothing was officially done" to caution Angleton about leaking classified information, whereas when the CIA found that [[Clare E. Petty]] had leaked classified material to the press "he received an official warning letter." He described Legend as having given "enormous stimulus" to the thesis that Nosenko had been sent by the [[KGB]] as a cover story for Oswald, wrote that Deception, which Epstein published after Angleton's death, "like Legend, is propaganda for Angleton and essentially dishonest," and described the book as having "the smell of attic dust" and as Epstein's "last hurrah" in the world of intelligence, adding that "with glasnost, he apparently sensed that the days of the conspiracists were numbered. It was time to take the money and run." Cram also wrote that in an interview with Vanity Fair in May 1989 Epstein admitted that Golitsyn shaped Angleton's views and possibly was a liar, and ended the interview with the remark "Actually, I don't know whether to believe Angleton at all!"[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In a letter published in the [[New York Times]] on September 27, 1981, answering a column of [[William Safire]] on the source "Fedora," [[G. Robert Blakey]], chief counsel of the [[House Select Committee on Assassinations]] in 1977 to 1979, wrote that he had directed an investigation of Nosenko and had concluded, with a unanimous committee, that Nosenko had lied to the FBI and the CIA in 1963 and 1964 and to the committee in 1978. He wrote that the committee had reviewed Epstein's allegations about a relationship between Fedora and Nosenko and concluded, "contrary to Epstein's assertion," that the bona fides of Nosenko were not inextricably intertwined with those of any other defector.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Office of Security file
|
||||
|
||||
A [[CIA Office of Security]] memorandum for the record of July 18, 1978, by [[Bruce Solie|Bruce L. Solie]], Chief of the Security Analysis Group, bears the subject "EPSTEIN, Edward Jay #488 768" and the record number 104-10113-10396. It states that it identifies the Office of Security files reviewed by staff members of the [[HSCA|House Select Committee on Assassinations]]; that certain items were not reviewed, were placed in sealed envelopes, and were returned to the security file; and that material placed in the file at the time of the review is marked with a green dot. A review sheet naming the Committee's reviewers and the dates of review is described as attached and is not part of the copy released.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### George de Mohrenschildt, March 29, 1977
|
||||
|
||||
On March 29, 1977, [[George de Mohrenschildt]] was found dead of a gunshot wound in the Manalapan, Florida, house where he was a guest. A [[Washington Star]] account filed under March 30, 1977, in CIA files, reported that Sheriff Richard Wille said, "We're 99 percent certain he killed himself," and that Wille and State Attorney David Bludworth questioned witnesses until shortly before midnight, among them "free lance writer Ed Epstein, who had told the [[West Palm Beach Post]] Monday night that he had been interviewing de Mohrenschildt in connection with a book he was doing about Lee Harvey Oswald." The AP account stated that de Mohrenschildt was traced by a House Assassinations Committee investigator to the Florida address and returned to the house at about 2:45 p.m., and that about an hour later he apparently shot himself. The sheriff said that a call to the house was believed to have been placed from Miami by the House investigator [[Gaeton Fonzi]]. After the questioning Epstein said, "the police told me not to talk."[^9] A memorandum from the CIA's Dallas office over the name of [[J. Walton Moore]] records that on March 31, 1977, a Dallas Morning News reporter telephoned to ask about the Agency's relationship with de Mohrenschildt, and that Moore told him the relationship was documented in the Warren Commission Report and that he had nothing further to add.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later articles and books
|
||||
|
||||
*The Rise and Fall of Diamonds* was published by [[Simon & Schuster]] in 1982.[^2] In [[The Atlantic]] for March 1983 Epstein published "The Cartel That Never Was," with the subtitle "[[Saudi Arabia]] finds in the perceived unity and power of OPEC a convenient illusion."[^11] A 1982 clipping in CIA files carries an article by Epstein titled "Disinformation," on the verification of arms-control agreements, from a periodical not named in the copy.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1985 [[The New Republic]] carried Epstein's article "The Spy Who Came In to Be Sold," circulated in galley by June 26, asserting that the memoir *Breaking with Moscow* by the Soviet defector [[Arkady Shevchenko]], published by [[Alfred A. Knopf]], had invented the "supermole" account of Shevchenko's work for the CIA. The Associated Press reported that Epstein wrote, "What is fabricated here are not just car-chases, meetings, conversations, reports, dates, motives and espionage activities, but a spy who never was." The editor of the book, [[Ashbel Green]], said his own contacts in the intelligence community "have always confirmed Shevchenko's role" and described Epstein as "a well-known conspiracy theorist." The Associated Press reported that the memoir, published by Knopf, had sold 180,000 copies and been serialized in Time magazine.[^12] [[William A. Reuben]], writing in The Nation, quoted Epstein's conclusion that "Shevchenko's book is a fraud on the same level as Clifford Irving's fake about [[Howard Hughes]]."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Deception (Simon & Schuster, 1989), The Assassination Chronicles (Carroll & Graf, 1992) and Dossier (Random House, 1996) followed.[^2] In a review of Dossier in the [[Baltimore Sun]], [[Scott Shane]] wrote that Epstein, drawing on Soviet archives, FBI files and secret tapes Hammer made of himself arranging bribes, described [[Armand Hammer]] as having used his business at the direction of Soviet intelligence to move money to operatives abroad, having moved millions from [[Occidental Petroleum]] to a Swiss account, and having had a woman on his payroll change her name legally; Shane wrote that Hammer died in 1990.[^14] In *Commentary*, Daniel Silver wrote that Epstein concluded Hammer "was more of an agent than an opportunist," basing the conclusion on interviews, Soviet archival material and tape recordings Hammer made secretly of his own transactions, including acts of bribery; Silver wrote that Epstein described a Libyan oil concession obtained through kickbacks to Libyan officials, illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign that led to Hammer's only criminal conviction, and a personal estate at his death valued at no more than $40 million, and that Epstein left open how long Hammer was an active Soviet agent and whether he acted under orders from Moscow.[^15] The Big Picture (Random House, 2005) and How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), about [[Edward Snowden]], appear in the library catalog records.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
In September 2019, after [[Jeffrey Epstein]] died in custody, [[Air Mail]], the online magazine of [[Graydon Carter]], published Epstein's "My Tea with Jeffrey Epstein," which he told [[The Daily Beast]] was Chapter 46 of an unpublished memoir.[^16] The opening paragraphs of the article, which are public, state that he met Jeffrey Epstein in 1987 at the annual Halloween party of the film producer [[Coco Brown]], where he was standing with [[Isabel Goldsmith]] when Jeffrey Epstein and his brother [[Mark Epstein]] joined them, and that at a tea the following Thursday Jeffrey Epstein asked whether he would write about his business for his monthly "Wall Street Babylon" column in [[Manhattan, inc.]] magazine.[^17] According to the Daily Beast's report of its interview with him, on later occasions Jeffrey Epstein arranged first-class airline upgrades that proved to be bogus, and he accepted lodging in a Santa Monica apartment rented for [[Eva Andersson]]. He told the Daily Beast that a Simon & Schuster executive he had introduced to Jeffrey Epstein at his birthday dinner on December 6, 1988, later said he had given Jeffrey Epstein $70,000 to invest in a takeover of [[Pennwalt]] and had received no papers; the Daily Beast reported that it could not confirm the executive's identity. He said he used a computer program Jeffrey Epstein gave him to read financial records, found "dozens of demands for the return of investment money" and a twice-bounced check, and wrote a 1989 column describing Jeffrey Epstein without naming him, after which Jeffrey Epstein stopped speaking to him; the Daily Beast reported that the column brought attention from the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]. According to the same report, contact resumed in 2013 after Epstein published an essay on [[Vladimir Nabokov]] in the [[New York Review of Books]], and continued with visits to the East 71st Street house, walks in Central Park and emails until 2019.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein told the Daily Beast that he "hung around with Jeffrey because I was fascinated with him," that "Everything about Jeffrey was a con," that Jeffrey Epstein had claimed to him to be a private detective and to fly monthly to Moscow to meet [[Vladimir Putin]], that he never discussed the allegations about underage girls with him, never flew on his plane, never visited his homes other than the East 71st Street townhouse, and was never offered a massage. He called Jeffrey Epstein "the poster boy for rehabilitation" after his 2008 plea and suggested that the July 2019 federal charges were an act of bad faith on the part of the government.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Correspondence in the Jeffrey Epstein estate documents
|
||||
|
||||
Documents released by the [[Department of Justice]] in its [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] include emails between the two men dated 2012 and 2013. On March 8, 2012, Epstein wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, "My book in dsk is just about finished. My title is 3 DAYS IN MAY:the DSK THRILLER. When in ny it would be great to see you"; Jeffrey Epstein answered "next week??" and Epstein replied "Next week is good for me."[^18] On April 14, 2012, Jeffrey Epstein sent Epstein a message about a scandal involving [[United States Secret Service]] agents in Colombia; Epstein answered that he had just landed at Kennedy airport and had "Spent day with dsk yesterday" (the book concerned [[Dominique Strauss-Kahn]]); Jeffrey Epstein wrote "Come by at 645 if you are free," and Epstein replied "I can't tonight."[^19] In an exchange of April 16 and 17, 2012, an assistant of Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein, who signed himself Ed Epstein, arranged his arrival at Jeffrey Epstein's home at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17.[^20] On February 9, 2013, Jeffrey Epstein forwarded to an assistant an invitation from the author [[Michael Wolff]] to a party on March 5, 2013, in honor of Epstein's book The Annals of Unsolved Crime, with the note "and remind me to call him on the 19th."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein died on January 9, 2024, at his home in New York City, aged 88. The family obituary states that he had "built an astounding network of dear friends."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Edward Jay Epstein," obituary placed by the family, Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, Dignity Memorial, January 2024. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/new-york-ny/edward-epstein-11625388
|
||||
[^2]: Internet Archive catalog records for Epstein's books: *Inquest* (New York: Viking Press, 1966), https://archive.org/details/inquestwarrencom00epst; *Legend* ([New York]: Reader's Digest Press, 1978), https://archive.org/details/legendsecretworl00epst; *The Rise and Fall of Diamonds* (Simon and Schuster, 1982), https://archive.org/details/risefallofdiamon0000epst; *Deception* (Simon and Schuster, 1989), https://archive.org/details/deceptioninvisib00epst; *The Assassination Chronicles* (Carroll & Graf, 1992), https://archive.org/details/assassinationchr0000epst; *Dossier* (Random House, 1996), https://archive.org/details/dossiersecrethis00edwa; *The Big Picture* (Random House, 2005), https://archive.org/details/bigpicturenewlog00epst; *How America Lost Its Secrets* (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), https://archive.org/details/howamericalostit0000epst. Metadata only; the texts of Inquest, Legend, Deception and Dossier are lending-restricted and were not read.
|
||||
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency dispatch, "Countering Criticism of the Warren Report," January 1967, paragraph 6 (reference to Epstein's article in the December 1966 issue of Esquire), CIA document C00352448. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00352448
|
||||
[^4]: Central Intelligence Agency dispatch, "Countering Criticism of the Warren Report," January 1967, to Chiefs, Certain Stations and Bases, paragraphs 2, 3, 6 and 7, CIA document C00352448 (released 2025). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00352448
|
||||
[^5]: Epstein, Edward Jay. "Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald," *Reader's Digest* condensation, 1978, editors' introduction, JFK record 104-10404-10388 (CIA copy 00364632). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00364632
|
||||
[^6]: Cram, Cleveland C. *Of Moles and Molehunters: A Review of Counterintelligence Literature, 1977 to 92*. Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1993, essay section "A Turning Point" and reviews of Epstein, *Legend* (pp. 24 to 26) and *Deception* (pp. 58 to 59), and of Henry Hurt, *Shadrin*. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/books-monographs/of-moles-and-molehunters-a-review-of-counterintelligence-literature-1977-92/
|
||||
[^7]: Blakey, G. Robert. "Unpersuasive Case Against 'Fedora,'" letter to the editor, *New York Times*, September 27, 1981 (letter dated September 17, 1981), CIA-RDP90-00552R000100590002-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000100590002-6
|
||||
[^8]: Solie, Bruce L., Chief, Security Analysis Group, CIA Office of Security. Memorandum for the Record, "EPSTEIN, Edward Jay #488 768," July 18, 1978, JFK record 104-10113-10396 (CIA document 00412727). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00412727
|
||||
[^9]: "George de Mohrenschildt," *Washington Star* (Associated Press), March 30, 1977, in CIA files (document 00543522; text also in 00551716 and 00503961). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00543522
|
||||
[^10]: Memorandum from Chief, Dallas Office (J. Walton Moore) to Chief, Domestic Collection Division, "Call from Dan Watson of Dallas Morning News re George de Mohrenschildt," JFK record 104-10244-10157 (CIA document 00469125). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00469125
|
||||
[^11]: Epstein, Edward Jay. "The Cartel That Never Was," *The Atlantic Monthly*, March 1983, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200870004-0; Epstein, Edward Jay. "Disinformation: Or, Why the ... Verify an Arms-Control Agreement" (title partly illegible in the copy), 1982, CIA-RDP90-00552R000606540019-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000606540019-2 https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200870004-0
|
||||
[^12]: "Writer says 'mole' invented tale," Associated Press, *Chicago Tribune*, June 28, 1985, CIA-RDP90-00965R000100370008-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000100370008-6 The article text is in Epstein, "The Invention of Arkady Shevchenko, Supermole: The Spy Who Came In to Be Sold," 1985, CIA-RDP90-00965R000301860011-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000301860011-5
|
||||
[^13]: Reuben, William A. "The Documents That Weren't There," *The Nation*, 1985, quoting Epstein in *The New Republic*, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605300023-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605300023-6
|
||||
[^14]: Shane, Scott. "Nailing Hammer: Epstein's 'Dossier,'" *Baltimore Sun*, September 8, 1996. https://www.baltimoresun.com/1996/09/08/nailing-hammer-epsteins-dossier/
|
||||
[^15]: Silver, Daniel. "Reprobate" (review of Epstein, *Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer*, Random House, 418 pp.), *Commentary*. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-silver/dossier-by-edward-jay-epstein/
|
||||
[^16]: Grove, Lloyd. "Edward Jay Epstein, Yet Another Journalist Who Accepted Favors From Jeffrey Epstein," *The Daily Beast*, September 14, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/edward-jay-epstein-yet-another-journalist-who-accepted-favors-from-jeffrey-epstein/ Epstein's own article, "My Tea with Jeffrey Epstein," *Air Mail*, September 14, 2019, is paywalled and was read only to its first paragraphs. https://airmail.news/issues/2019-9-14/my-tea-with-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^17]: Epstein, Edward Jay. "My Tea with Jeffrey Epstein," *Air Mail*, September 14, 2019, opening paragraphs (the remainder is behind a subscription wall and was not read). https://airmail.news/issues/2019-9-14/my-tea-with-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^18]: Email chain "Re: Dsk," March 8, 2012, EFTA02012785. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02012785.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Email chain, April 14, 2012, EFTA01767728. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01767728.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: Email chain "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," April 16 to 17, 2012, EFTA00415113. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00415113.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Email, Jeffrey Epstein to an assistant, "Fwd: INVITATION: EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN 'THE ANNALS OF UNSOLVED CRIME,'" February 9, 2013, EFTA02018963. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02018963.pdf
|
||||
194
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Griffin Bell.md
Normal file
194
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Griffin Bell.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- GriffinBell
|
||||
- AttorneyGeneral
|
||||
- DepartmentOfJustice
|
||||
- KingAndSpalding
|
||||
- FISA
|
||||
- JimmyCarter
|
||||
- FBI
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- IranContra
|
||||
- Georgia
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Griffin Bell
|
||||
- Griffin B. Bell
|
||||
- Griffin Boyette Bell
|
||||
- Judge Bell
|
||||
summary: "Georgia lawyer and Fifth Circuit judge who, as Carter's Attorney General, testified for the FISA bill, countersigned Liddy's commutation, and headed the department that charged FBI officials Felt and Miller and two ITT executives."
|
||||
born: 1918-10-31
|
||||
died: 2009-01-05
|
||||
location: "Americus, Georgia (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[King & Spalding]]"
|
||||
role: "partner"
|
||||
start: 1953
|
||||
end: 1961
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ernest Vandiver]]"
|
||||
role: "chief of staff (honorary)"
|
||||
start: 1959-01-13
|
||||
end: 1961-10
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]]"
|
||||
role: "circuit judge"
|
||||
start: 1961-10-06
|
||||
end: 1976-03-01
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "circuit judge"
|
||||
start: 1961
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general"
|
||||
start: 1977-01-26
|
||||
end: 1979-08-16
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Jimmy Carter]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "attorney general"
|
||||
start: 1977
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Edward Gerrity]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general at the filing of charges"
|
||||
start: 1978-03-20
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Robert Berrellez]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general at the filing of charges"
|
||||
start: 1978-03-20
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[W. Mark Felt]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general at the indictment"
|
||||
start: 1978-04
|
||||
fn: 28
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Edward S. Miller]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general at the indictment"
|
||||
start: 1978-04
|
||||
fn: 28
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[E.F. Hutton]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel for internal investigation"
|
||||
end: 1985-09-05
|
||||
fn: 33
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[President's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform]]"
|
||||
role: "vice chairman"
|
||||
start: 1989
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[George H.W. Bush]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel on release of Iran-Contra deposition"
|
||||
start: 1992-12-30
|
||||
fn: 34
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Griffin Boyette Bell (October 31, 1918 to January 5, 2009) was a Georgia lawyer, a partner of the [[Atlanta]] firm [[King & Spalding]], a judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] from 1961 to 1976, and [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] of the [[United States]] under President [[Jimmy Carter]] from January 26, 1977 to August 16, 1979.[^1] As Attorney General he testified in support of the bill that became the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]], countersigned the commutation of [[G. Gordon Liddy]]'s sentence, and headed the Department of Justice when former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] officials [[W. Mark Felt]] and [[Edward S. Miller]] and two [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] executives were charged. After leaving office he conducted an internal investigation for the brokerage [[E.F. Hutton]] and in 1992 was asked by President [[George H.W. Bush]] to assist in seeking release of Bush's [[MOC - Iran-Contra|Iran-Contra]] deposition.
|
||||
|
||||
### Georgia Practice, the Vandiver Administration and the Fifth Circuit
|
||||
|
||||
Bell was born in [[Americus, Georgia]], served in the Army from 1941 to 1946, attaining the rank of major, and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1947. He practiced in [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] and Rome and joined King & Spalding in Atlanta in 1953.[^1] A biographical sketch placed in the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] record in January 1977 lists him as chief of staff to Georgia Governor [[Ernest Vandiver]], an honorary position, from January 13, 1959 to October 1961, and as a judge of the Fifth Circuit from October 6, 1961 to March 1, 1976.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Scripps-Howard News Service]] report that was placed in the record of his 1977 confirmation hearings stated that in January 1961, when a federal judge ordered two Black students admitted to the [[University of Georgia]], Bell was instrumental in drafting legislation that gave local communities the option of closing schools rather than integrating, assured students the right to refuse to attend desegregated classes, and provided state grants for students who left public schools for private academies. The report quoted Vandiver as saying of Bell, "He was very helpful to us," and stated that Bell served as John F. Kennedy's Georgia campaign chairman in 1960.[^3] Bell testified that the moderation in his role lay in the fact that "we did not close the schools" and that Georgia had "no violence" and "no disruption of any sort in the educational process."[^4] A newspaper article that Bell introduced into the record stated that Bell, then Vandiver's chief of staff, had asked the banker [[John A. Sibley]] to head the study commission on the state's school systems.[^5] Warren Cochran of Atlanta, a YMCA worker who testified on Bell's behalf, said that Bell asked Black leaders to meet with him, told them he was doing so voluntarily so that they would know what was happening, and said he was trying to convince Vandiver to change his position, which Vandiver did not do; Cochran said the meetings took place at night in the King & Spalding offices in the [[Trust Company of Georgia]] building, and, asked by Senator [[John Chafee]] whether Bell had asked them to hold off on lawsuits, answered, "We were not ready to file the suits anyway."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1961 [[Leon Jaworski]], the Houston lawyer who became the [[Watergate]] special prosecutor in 1973, investigated Bell's background for the [[American Bar Association]]'s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary at the request of the committee's chairman, [[Bernard G. Segal]], who had been told that Deputy Attorney General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], on behalf of Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert Kennedy]], had asked for the investigation and that President Kennedy intended to appoint Bell if he was found qualified. Jaworski filed his report on July 25, 1961 and testified in support of Bell at the 1977 hearing.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1977 Confirmation Hearings
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on Bell's nomination on January 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 19, 1977 under Chairman [[James Eastland]], who told Bell on the first day, "I will vote to confirm you."[^8] The Scripps-Howard report in the record described Bell as "a law partner of Carter intimate [[Charles Kirbo]]."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Questioned by Senator [[Donald Riegle]] about private clubs, Bell testified that he joined the [[Capital City Club]] in Atlanta in 1955 and the [[Piedmont Driving Club]] in 1956, that he was made an honorary member of both when he was appointed to the court, that he joined the [[Oglethorpe Club]] in Savannah as a nonresident member, and that he became a dues-paying member of the Atlanta clubs again when he resigned from the bench. He said the clubs had no restrictive covenants and that the judges of the Fifth Circuit had debated at a court meeting whether to continue in private clubs and "stayed in."[^9] [[Clarence Mitchell Jr.|Clarence Mitchell]], director of the Washington bureau of the [[NAACP]], testified that a judge who belonged to a private club that denied membership on the basis of race had a duty to inform the litigants of the membership, and that, as far as the NAACP knew, Bell had not done so in a case he tried.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Bell testified that he had withdrawn from King & Spalding as a senior partner on December 31, 1976, would retain no equity and be paid nothing, and had made a written statement disqualifying himself from any matter in which King & Spalding or his son's Savannah firm [[Lee & Clarke]] represented a party, from matters involving parties that paid the firm a regular monetary retainer, and from matters involving a "regular client," defined as one that had made "a substantial financial contribution to the gross fees of King & Spalding on a regular basis over a significant number of years."[^11] [[David Cohen]], president of [[Common Cause]], asked that Bell provide the committee with a list of all corporate, business and other institutional clients of King & Spalding and a gross-dollar figure for the "substantial" threshold; a representative of the [[National Organization for Women]] told the committee that, according to information from attorneys, the firm had no women or Black partners.[^12][^13] The Justice Department's official biography records that Bell was sworn in on January 26, 1977.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Liddy Commutation, April 12, 1977
|
||||
|
||||
On April 12, 1977 President Carter signed an order commuting Liddy's sentence from 20 years to eight years; the order bore the countersignature "Attorney General: Griffin B. Bell." [[White House|The White House]] announcement stated that the action was taken "in the interest of equity and fairness based on a comparison of Mr. Liddy's sentence with those of all others convicted in Watergate related prosecutions."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Warrantless Wiretaps and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
|
||||
|
||||
On August 22, 1973, in [[United States v. Brown]], Bell wrote for a Fifth Circuit panel affirming the conviction of [[H. Rap Brown|Hubert Geroid Brown]] on a federal firearms charge, and held that warrantless wiretaps authorized by the then Attorney General for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence, in which Brown's involvement was "happenstance at the most," were lawful. The opinion stated that the President "may constitutionally authorize warrantless wiretaps for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence" and cited as accord the district court decision in [[Zweibon v. Mitchell]], which had sustained a wiretap authorized by Attorney General [[John N. Mitchell]].[^15] At the 1977 hearing Senator [[Charles Mathias]] read the passage to Bell, who answered that it was written "before we knew of the abuses that we now know of, in foreign intelligence gathering" and was "too broad in today's context perhaps." Senator [[James Abourezk]] asked whether the President had the power to wiretap American citizens without a warrant in the foreign security field, and Bell answered: "I have some doubt that he does," adding that "as long as I am Attorney General, if I have any thing to do with it, that will not happen."[^16][^17]
|
||||
|
||||
Bell testified on July 19, 1977 before the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]'s Subcommittee on Intelligence and the Rights of Americans, accompanied by [[John M. Harmon]] of the [[Office of Legal Counsel]], Frederick D. Baron and William Funke, in support of S. 1566, a bill to authorize applications for a court order approving electronic surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence information within the United States. He adopted the prepared statement he had given to the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, which described a procedure in which applications for warrants would be made to one of seven district judges publicly designated by the Chief Justice, with appeal to a three-judge court of review, on a finding that the target was a "foreign power" or an "agent of a foreign power," with certification by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs or a similar official.[^18] Carter signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 on October 25, 1978 and stated that it required "for the first time, a prior judicial warrant for all electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purposes in the United States in which communications of U.S. persons might be intercepted."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Correspondence with the Central Intelligence Agency
|
||||
|
||||
[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] records from the Bell years show the Attorney General and [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Stansfield Turner]] writing to each other by first name ("Dear Griffin," "Dear Stan"). On May 9, 1977 Bell answered a request from Deputy Director [[E. H. Knoche]] for legislation on unauthorized disclosure of classified information by saying he would wait for the study of a Presidential Review Memorandum working group chaired by the Office of Legal Counsel and including the CIA general counsel.[^20] On June 1, 1977 Bell asked the CIA for any documents of the preceding five years containing significant analysis of competition in energy markets, to support a Justice Department antitrust policy statement on the energy sector; Turner's reply, catalogued as July 1977, stated that the agency had published none directed at the competitive practices of United States energy firms.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 25, 1978 the [[Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] wrote to Bell about the delay in the FBI investigation of its staff member [[Stephen Bryen]], begun after [[Michael Saba|Michael P. Saba]] filed an affidavit with the Department of Justice on March 13, 1978.[^22] On August 24, 1978 Bell wrote to Turner about the prosecution of [[William Kampiles|William Peter Kampiles]], a former CIA employee charged with passing a classified manual to the [[Soviet Union]], assuring him that the Department would take protective measures and stating that "prosecutive judgments and decisions" were "solely the responsibility of this Department"; he told Turner that the case would go to a grand jury in [[Hammond, Indiana]] on Friday, August 25.[^23] On August 17 and November 13, 1978 Turner wrote to Bell seeking support for legislation to protect the identities of CIA officers and agents.[^24] On February 6, 1979 Turner invited Bell to speak to CIA employees in the headquarters auditorium on "Intelligence and the Legal System," and on May 10, 1979 thanked him for his discussion of "Foreign Intelligence and the Legal System."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### The ITT Charges, March 1978
|
||||
|
||||
A newspaper account of March 21, 1978, preserved in the CIA Reading Room, stated that the Justice Department had charged [[Edward Gerrity]] and [[Robert Berrellez]] of ITT with perjury and obstruction of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on multinational corporations, over testimony about the company's cooperation with the CIA in [[Chile]]; that the department had decided not to prosecute ITT chairman [[Harold Geneen]]; that "Attorney General Griffin Bell decided to go ahead with the prosecution of Gerrity and Berrellez despite fears in the intelligence community a perjury trial would disclose national security secrets"; and that "CIA director Stansfield Turner met with Bell last Thursday to express his concern." The article stated that the statute of limitations was about to expire for all three officials. A *[[The Washington Star|Washington Star]]* report of August 1978, also preserved in the CIA Reading Room, stated that the Justice Department had announced that "to safeguard national security and U.S. foreign intelligence interests" it would not pursue three of the six counts against Gerrity.[^26][^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### The FBI Surveillance Prosecutions
|
||||
|
||||
According to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Justice Department began in April 1976, before Bell took office, an investigation of FBI break-ins against relatives and acquaintances of [[Weather Underground]] suspects, and in April 1978 a grand jury indicted [[L. Patrick Gray|L. Patrick Gray III]], Felt and Miller for conspiring to deprive them of their rights under 18 U.S.C. 241. Gray's trial was severed on March 5, 1979. Felt and Miller were convicted on November 6, 1980. The government filed a nolle prosequi as to Gray on December 10, 1980, acknowledging that the charges were "unconvincing." Gray sued Bell and Justice Department attorneys on April 9, 1981; the district court dismissed the suit on immunity grounds in July 1982 and the court of appeals affirmed on June 21, 1983.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
In discovery proceedings in 1979, Chief Judge [[William B. Bryant]] ruled that Felt and Miller could assert the "Barker-Martinez defense" of reasonable reliance on the authority of superiors, a defense drawn from the 1976 appeal of the Fielding break-in defendants, in which Liddy was a co-defendant.[^29] Mark D. Cummings, who was assigned to Felt's defense, wrote that former Attorneys General John N. Mitchell and [[Richard Kleindienst]] testified at the trial, and that [[Richard Nixon]] testified for the defense, citing trial transcript pages 5909 to 5936.[^30] The *[[The Christian Science Monitor|Christian Science Monitor]]* reported on April 16, 1981 that President [[Ronald Reagan]] had granted "full and unconditional" pardons to Felt and Miller, who had been fined a total of $8,500.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
The Liddy commutation bears Bell's countersignature on April 12, 1977; the charges against Gerrity and Berrellez were filed on March 20, 1978; and the indictment of Gray, Felt and Miller was returned in April 1978.[^14][^26][^28]
|
||||
|
||||
### After the Justice Department
|
||||
|
||||
Bell resigned as Attorney General on August 16, 1979 and returned to practice in Atlanta. In 1980 he headed the United States delegation to the [[Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe|Madrid Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe]], and in 1982 he was a co-chair of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Violent Crime.[^1] He served on the Secretary of State's advisory committee on [[South Africa]] from 1985 to 1987.[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 5, 1985 Bell held a press conference to release his report on E.F. Hutton, which the company had commissioned after pleading guilty earlier in 1985 to 2,000 counts of mail and wire fraud over a check-overdrafting scheme operated from mid-1980 to mid-1982. The *Christian Science Monitor* reported that Bell said he tried to link top officers to the conduct but was "never able to do that from a standpoint of criminality," found "excessive or abusive" overdrafts, and recommended reorganization of the board of directors; the report cleared former president [[George L. Ball]] and others in the top circle of improper activity in connection with the overdrafting. The same report stated that a House subcommittee on crime was investigating the case, in particular the Justice Department's failure to seek criminal penalties against any individuals.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1989 Bell became vice chairman of President Bush's [[President's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform|Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform]].[^1] On December 30, 1992, White House Press Secretary [[Marlin Fitzwater]] announced that Bush had asked Bell to assist him in seeking a copy of his deposition of January 11, 1988 in the Iran-Contra investigation, which the [[Independent Counsel]] had decided not to provide, and that Bell would assume full responsibility for advising the President should the Independent Counsel fail to complete the investigation during Bush's term.[^34] In a statement prepared for the 1999 debate over reauthorizing the independent counsel statute, Bell wrote that he had experience under the statute "as Attorney General and later as counsel for President Bush in the Iran-Contra investigation," that he was opposed to renewal, and that he had been co-chair, with Senator [[Howard Baker]], of the [[Miller Center]] commission that unanimously recommended that the statute be allowed to expire.[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
Bell died on January 5, 2009 at [[Piedmont Hospital]] in Atlanta, at the age of 90; the [[Associated Press]] reported the cause as kidney failure, with pancreatic cancer and kidney disease.[^36]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Griffin Boyette Bell," Attorneys General biographies (born Americus, Georgia, October 31, 1918; Army 1941 to 1946; admitted to the Georgia bar 1947; King & Spalding 1953; appointed to the Fifth Circuit by President Kennedy in 1961; sworn in as Attorney General January 26, 1977; resigned August 16, 1979; Madrid delegation 1980; Task Force on Violent Crime 1982; Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform 1989; died Atlanta, January 5, 2009). https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/bell-griffin-boyette
|
||||
[^2]: *Griffin B. Bell: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session, on the Prospective Nomination of Griffin B. Bell, of Georgia, to Be Attorney General*, January 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 19, 1977 (Government Printing Office, 1977), biographical sketch, pp. 7-8. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^3]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), Scripps-Howard News Service report placed in the record, pp. 60-62. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^4]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Griffin B. Bell, resumed, p. 460. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^5]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), article "Lifelong Friend of Education, He Made Possible Peaceful School Integration in Georgia," *Buckhead* (Atlanta), January 24, 1977, introduced by Bell, p. 461. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^6]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Warren Cochran, pp. 278-280, 293-294. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^7]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Leon Jaworski, pp. 221-222. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^8]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), title page, and testimony of Griffin B. Bell, opening exchange with Chairman Eastland, p. 8. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^9]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Griffin B. Bell, pp. 120-122. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^10]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Clarence Mitchell, director, Washington Bureau, NAACP, pp. 159-161. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^11]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Griffin B. Bell, pp. 35-36 (disqualification statement) and p. 133 (severance). https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^12]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony and statement of David Cohen, president of Common Cause, pp. 353, 358-359. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^13]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), testimony of Melissa Thompson, National Organization for Women, pp. 427-428. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^14]: Jimmy Carter, "Commutation of G. Gordon Liddy's Prison Sentence: Announcement of the Commutation, With the Text of the Order," April 12, 1977, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commutation-g-gordon-liddys-prison-sentence-announcement-the-commutation-with-the-text-the
|
||||
[^15]: *United States v. Brown*, 484 F.2d 418 (5th Cir. 1973) (No. 72-2181) (Bell, J.), decided August 22, 1973, Parts I and V. https://static.case.law/f2d/484/cases/0418-01.json
|
||||
[^16]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), exchange of Senator Charles Mathias and Griffin B. Bell, pp. 12-13. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^17]: Bell nomination hearings (1977), exchange of Senator James Abourezk and Griffin B. Bell, resumed testimony, p. 80. https://archive.org/details/griffinbbellhear00unit
|
||||
[^18]: *Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Intelligence and the Rights of Americans of the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, on S. 1566*, July 19 and 21, 1977 and February 8, 24 and 27, 1978, testimony of Griffin B. Bell, July 19, 1977, pp. 11-12 and following (CIA Reading Room copy CIA-RDP80S01268A000400010006-3). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80s01268a000400010006-3
|
||||
[^19]: Jimmy Carter, "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Statement on Signing S. 1566 Into Law," October 25, 1978, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act-1978-statement-signing-s-1566-into-law
|
||||
[^20]: Letter, Griffin B. Bell to E. H. Knoche, May 9, 1977, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP94B00280R001200100002-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp94b00280r001200100002-3
|
||||
[^21]: Letter, Stansfield Turner to Griffin B. Bell, July 1977 (catalog date July 26, 1977), CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP80M00165A001900150002-7. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80M00165A001900150002-7
|
||||
[^22]: Letter, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to Griffin B. Bell, May 25, 1978, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP81M00980R001400080081-0. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP81M00980R001400080081-0
|
||||
[^23]: Letter, Griffin B. Bell to Stansfield Turner, August 24, 1978, re *United States v. William Peter Kampiles*, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP86B00963R000200100024-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00963r000200100024-8
|
||||
[^24]: Letters, Stansfield Turner to Griffin B. Bell, August 17 and November 13, 1978, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP81M00980R000700080035-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81m00980r000700080035-9
|
||||
[^25]: Letters, Stansfield Turner to Griffin B. Bell, February 6, 1979 (CIA-RDP83-00156R001000100046-6) and May 10, 1979 (CIA-RDP80B01554R003300260033-6), CIA Reading Room. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP83-00156R001000100046-6 and https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01554r003300260033-6
|
||||
[^26]: "2 ITT Men Charged with Senate Lies," March 21, 1978, newspaper clipping in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030069-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp09t00207r001000030069-7
|
||||
[^27]: "3 Charges Dropped Against ITT Executive," *Washington Star*, August 1978, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030079-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp09t00207r001000030079-6
|
||||
[^28]: *Gray v. Bell*, 712 F.2d 490, 493-494 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (No. 82-1838), decided June 21, 1983. https://static.case.law/f2d/712/cases/0490-01.json
|
||||
[^29]: *United States v. Felt*, 491 F. Supp. 179 (D.D.C. 1979) (Crim. No. 78-00179) (Bryant, C.J.), decided December 21, 1979; *United States v. Barker*, 546 F.2d 940 (D.C. Cir. 1976). https://static.case.law/f-supp/491/cases/0179-01.json
|
||||
[^30]: Mark D. Cummings, "Presidential 'Warrants,'" 7 *National Security Law Journal* 142, 148-151 nn.49, 62 (2020). Cummings states that he was assigned to the defense of W. Mark Felt. https://www.nslj.org/wp-content/uploads/Cummings_Presidential-22Warrants22-Final.pdf
|
||||
[^31]: "2 former top FBI men pardoned by Reagan," *Christian Science Monitor*, April 16, 1981. https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0416/041631.html
|
||||
[^32]: "Griffin Bell (1977-1979)," Miller Center, University of Virginia. https://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/bell-1977-attorney-general
|
||||
[^33]: David T. Cook and John Yemma, "Bell probe of E. F. Hutton check scam finds conduct unethical," *Christian Science Monitor*, September 6, 1985. https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0906/ahutton.html
|
||||
[^34]: George Bush, "Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the Iran-Contra Investigation," December 30, 1992, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-press-secretary-fitzwater-the-iran-contra-investigation
|
||||
[^35]: Griffin B. Bell, "Independent Counsel Statute," statement (undated; prepared for the 1999 reauthorization debate), Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs archive. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/bell.pdf
|
||||
[^36]: "Griffin Bell, former attorney general, dies at 90," Associated Press, via NBC News, January 5, 2009. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28505758
|
||||
264
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hillary Clinton.md
Normal file
264
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hillary Clinton.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Politician
|
||||
- HillaryClinton
|
||||
- BillClinton
|
||||
- Arkansas
|
||||
- RoseLawFirm
|
||||
- Whitewater
|
||||
- MadisonGuaranty
|
||||
- IndependentCounsel
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- ClintonFoundation
|
||||
- UraniumOne
|
||||
- PrivateEmailServer
|
||||
- PerkinsCoie
|
||||
- FusionGPS
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Hillary Clinton
|
||||
- Hillary Rodham Clinton
|
||||
- Hillary Rodham
|
||||
- Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
|
||||
- Hillary Diane Rodham
|
||||
- Mrs. Clinton
|
||||
- Secretary Clinton
|
||||
- HRC
|
||||
summary: "Lawyer, First Lady, New York senator and Secretary of State whose Madison Guaranty work, White House testimony, private email server and 2016 campaign spending were examined by independent counsel, inspectors general and the FEC."
|
||||
born: 1947-10-26
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Bill Clinton]]"
|
||||
role: "wife"
|
||||
start: 1975
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[House Committee on the Judiciary]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel, impeachment inquiry staff"
|
||||
start: 1974
|
||||
end: 1974
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Legal Services Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "board member, later chair"
|
||||
start: 1977
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Systematics]]"
|
||||
role: "lawyer in the Financial General Bankshares litigation"
|
||||
start: 1978
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[James McDougal]]"
|
||||
role: "co-owner of the Whitewater land and company"
|
||||
start: 1978
|
||||
end: 1992
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Rose Law Firm]]"
|
||||
role: "partner"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association]]"
|
||||
role: "billing partner"
|
||||
start: 1985-04
|
||||
end: 1986-07
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
start: 1993-01-25
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Robert B. Fiske Jr.]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "regulatory independent counsel"
|
||||
start: 1994-01-20
|
||||
end: 1994-08-05
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Kenneth Starr]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "independent counsel"
|
||||
start: 1994-08-05
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Robert W. Ray]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "independent counsel"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[David Kendall]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "personal lawyer"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Senate]]"
|
||||
role: "senator from New York"
|
||||
start: 2001-01-03
|
||||
end: 2009-01-21
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[State Department]]"
|
||||
role: "Secretary of State"
|
||||
start: 2009-01-21
|
||||
end: 2013-02-01
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
role: "Midyear Exam email investigation"
|
||||
end: 2016-07-06
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Perkins Coie]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "counsel to the 2016 campaign"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]]"
|
||||
role: "Epstein inquiry subpoena and deposition"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-05
|
||||
end: 2026-02-26
|
||||
fn: 31
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Hillary Diane Rodham was born in [[Chicago]] on October 26, 1947, to Dorothy and Hugh Rodham and grew up in [[Park Ridge, Illinois]]. She graduated from [[Wellesley College]] in 1969 and enrolled at [[Yale Law School]], where she met [[Bill Clinton]], and she married him in 1975.[^1] She took her law degree in 1973 and in 1974 served as counsel on the impeachment inquiry staff of the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]].[^2] The same year she moved to [[Arkansas]], where she taught as an assistant professor at the [[University of Arkansas School of Law]]. In 1977 President [[Jimmy Carter]] appointed her to the board of the [[Legal Services Corporation]], which she later chaired.[^3] During the twelve years her husband was Governor of Arkansas she practiced law in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Systematics and the BCCI Takeover of Financial General
|
||||
|
||||
In 1978 [[Financial General Bankshares]] sued the Little Rock investment banker [[Jackson Stephens]], his firm [[Stephens Inc.]] and the bank data processor [[Systematics]] over the accumulation of its stock for clients of [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]], a campaign that ended with BCCI's secret control of the bank, renamed [[First American Bankshares]]. Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin, then reporters for the [[Wall Street Journal]], wrote in 1992 that Stephens's firm had given "substantial legal work" to the [[Rose Law Firm]], that "Mrs. Clinton even represented one of Stephens's companies in a case related to BCCI," and that "in 1978, she did legal work for Systematics Inc. when it was sued for its role in Abedi's scheme to collect stock in First American." They based the statement on a court filing and noted that she then practiced under the name Hillary Rodham. The same writers recorded that Stephens backed [[George H.W. Bush]] in 1992 while employees of Stephens Inc. gave more money to the Clinton campaign than the employees of all but two other firms in the country.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Whitewater
|
||||
|
||||
In 1978 Attorney General Bill Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, and [[James McDougal|Jim]] and [[Susan McDougal]] bought land near the White River in [[Marion County, Arkansas|Marion County]] as equal partners, and in 1979 they transferred it to the [[Whitewater Development Company]]. The Clintons contributed about 36,862 dollars and the McDougals about 80,076 dollars; the company lost more than 80,000 dollars, and in 1992 McDougal bought the Clintons' share for 1,000 dollars. McDougal bought the [[Bank of Kingston]] in October 1980 and renamed it [[Madison Bank & Trust]]; on December 16, 1980, it lent Mrs. Clinton 30,000 dollars at 20 percent interest, secured by Lot 13, of which she was the record owner. When bank regulators objected to her construction loan and to a Whitewater loan, the first was replaced by a loan to Governor Clinton from the Security Bank of Paragould and the second by a [[Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association|Madison Guaranty]] loan in his name, which was later retired through a nominee loan to [[Chris Wade]] and a chain of transfers that ran through a McDougal company's loan at [[Stephens Security Bank]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The independent counsel found that the McDougals held substantially all managerial control until 1986 and that Mrs. Clinton took a more active part afterward. Madison Guaranty failed in 1986 at a cost to taxpayers of 73 million dollars. On September 1, 1992, in the presidential campaign, the [[Resolution Trust Corporation]] office in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] sent Criminal Referral No. C-0004 on Madison Guaranty to the United States Attorney in Little Rock and the local office of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. Jim and Susan McDougal were convicted of felonies in May 1996, and Wade pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud in March 1995. The office concluded that "insufficient evidence exists to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in the criminal financial transactions Jim McDougal engaged in to benefit Whitewater Development."[^5] The matter passed from the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Criminal Division to the regulatory independent counsel [[Robert B. Fiske Jr.]], who served from January 20 to August 5, 1994, and then to [[Kenneth Starr]].[^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Madison Guaranty and the Securities Department
|
||||
|
||||
Madison Guaranty's principal counsel was [[Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard]], the firm of McDougal's business partner [[Jim Guy Tucker]]. The Arkansas Securities Commissioner, nominated by the Governor, also served as Arkansas Savings and Loan Supervisor and regulated state-chartered thrifts. In January 1985 Governor Clinton appointed [[Beverly Bassett]], who had worked on Madison Guaranty matters as an associate at the Mitchell Williams firm. McDougal told investigators that at the request of the former commissioner [[John Selig]] he recommended Bassett to the Governor, and a message slip records that he telephoned Clinton on December 22, 1984, to do so. Bassett testified that she did not know McDougal had recommended her and would not have asked him to; President Clinton said he did not remember whether McDougal had.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Rose's representation began on April 23, 1985, with two matters before the [[Arkansas Securities Department]]: a plan for Madison Guaranty to raise its net worth by issuing preferred stock, which no state-chartered Arkansas thrift had done, and a broker-dealer subsidiary. The Rose associate [[Rick Massey]] billed the most hours, and Mrs. Clinton billed more than any other Rose partner. On April 29 and 30 she billed one hour for a "telephone conference with B. Bassett, Securities Commissioner" and one with Massey. The next day Rose sent the department supervisor [[Charles Handley]], who had told Madison Guaranty that Arkansas law did not permit the stock, a two-page opinion letter arguing that it did; the letter closed, "Should you require further information or assistance, please advise Hillary Rodham Clinton or Richard Massey of this firm." Massey testified that he drafted it and named her because she was the billing partner. Handley maintained his position, and the staff attorney Bill Brady advised Bassett to refer the question to the Arkansas Attorney General; Bassett did not.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 14, 1985, Bassett wrote, "Dear Hillary: I agree with your analysis and conclusion," and that "as the Savings and Loan Supervisor, I concur in your opinion that Madison's proposed capitalization plan is not inconsistent with Arkansas law." On May 23 Mrs. Clinton forwarded the letter to McDougal: "We appreciate the opportunity to work for you and look forward to continuing success in resolving whatever questions arise as you continue your plan for growth." McDougal wrote on Bassett's letter, "John: Be sure we keep their $2,000 a month retainer paid. Jim." The independent counsel agreed that Bassett's analysis appeared consistent with Arkansas law. Madison Guaranty never met the net worth conditions for issuing the stock; by December 1985 it had acquired the property known as IDC, and the independent counsel found that the fraudulent Castle Grande sales to insiders "achieved the same result the stock offering was intended to achieve." The retainer checks drawn on Madison Guaranty's account were made out to "Rose Law Firm, Attn: Hillary Clinton," in amounts from 2,000 to 2,018 dollars between May 1985 and October 1986.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Retention Dispute
|
||||
|
||||
How Rose was hired was disputed. McDougal said Governor Clinton jogged into his office early one morning in August or September 1984, complained about his wife's earnings, and that McDougal then put Rose on a retainer of 2,000 dollars a month. Mrs. Clinton said Massey brought the client in and that her own role was to collect an old bill owed by Madison Bank & Trust; she stated that on April 23, 1985, she arranged for the bill to be paid so that Massey could take the new client. President Clinton said he could not remember asking McDougal to give his wife business but did not say McDougal's recollection was false. Massey did not remember bringing Madison Guaranty to Rose.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The independent counsel "conclusively established that the old bill had been settled in October 1984, six months before Mrs. Clinton's supposedly having arranged for it to be paid," when Madison Bank & Trust paid 5,000 dollars of a 5,893 dollar balance and Rose never pursued the rest. The independent counsel found the statement "factually incorrect" but not shown to have been knowingly false. "On balance, the weight of evidence supports McDougal's version of events," it concluded, but the evidence was insufficient to warrant prosecution, and McDougal, "the most important percipient witness," had died in March 1998.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Castle Grande and the Billing Changes
|
||||
|
||||
Before Rose's billing records surfaced, Mrs. Clinton testified in April 1995 that she was to be the billing partner with no substantive role and that she did not remember what the IDC matter was. A 1993 Rose fee recap showed her receiving 2,731.25 dollars for "Madison Guaranty/Stock Offering and IDC" in January 1986, several times her largest allocation on any Madison Guaranty matter. On January 30, 1986, Rose sent five bills under her name as billing partner. The computerized memorandum for the IDC matter showed 912.50 dollars of her work; she raised it by hand to 2,731.25 dollars, adding 14.5 hours of work with no indication of what it was, and no supporting entry was ever made in the Rose billing computer. Her time sheets for 1985 and 1986 were never found. In 1992, during the presidential campaign, her secretary requested those time sheets from Rose storage; no investigation located them afterward.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The records show twelve unspecified conferences with the landowner [[Seth Ward]], the father-in-law of the Rose partner [[Webster Hubbell]] and a Madison Financial employee, between November 14, 1985, and January 7, 1986. On November 20, 1985, McDougal sent Ward a memorandum about a brewery and tasting room on the property: "I have spoken with the Governor on this matter and expect that it will be approved. We must be very careful to not mention that there will be a 'tavern' in the location." On April 7, 1986, the day Madison Guaranty and Ward executed two "cross notes" on Ward's commissions, she billed the IDC matter for a telephone conference with a Madison Guaranty officer; the independent counsel found that significant evidence corroborated the officer's account that they discussed the notes, while she said the call concerned another matter. She also billed for drafting a May 1, 1986, option agreement between Ward and Madison Guaranty's subsidiary, which federal examiners concluded had misled them about sham loans between Ward and the thrift.[^11][^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Billing Records
|
||||
|
||||
The billing records for 1985 and 1986 were produced to the Office of the Independent Counsel on Friday, January 5, 1996, by her personal lawyer [[David Kendall]], with a cover letter to the associate independent counsel [[John D. Bates|John Bates]]; they had been subpoenaed eighteen months earlier.[^7] The [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] inspector general reopened the Rose investigation and on September 20, 1996, issued a supplemental report. Its counsel [[Patricia Black]], who had told the House that Rose's involvement was "minor and brief," testified before the grand jury in 1998: "As evidenced by the billing records, it was neither. My testimony, in short, was wrong." The independent counsel found that the regulators had given Congress materially incomplete testimony about her role and that "partially as a result of Hubbell's actions, the United States Congress was misled." Hubbell, her former partner and then Associate Attorney General, resigned in March 1994 and pleaded guilty in December 1994 to mail fraud and tax evasion for defrauding Rose and its clients of at least 394,000 dollars; the independent counsel later prosecuted him for concealing Rose's Madison Guaranty conflicts, and he pleaded guilty to one further felony.[^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The independent counsel's table of contents for the part on the records lists sections titled "Huber Testified She Found the Records in Room 319A," "Evidence Relating to Mrs. Clinton's Conduct in July 1995," "Fingerprint Analysis Disclosed Mrs. Clinton's and Vince Foster's Prints," "Webb Hubbell and Vince Foster Had the Billing Records in 1992," "Attempts to Locate Mrs. Clinton's Time Sheets," and "Billing Records Found in Foster's Attic, July 1997," the last a second set of Madison Guaranty and Madison Bank & Trust records. The body of that part is not among the published volumes on the Government Publishing Office site.[^14] The analysis in the published volume records that an FBI laboratory report of March 21, 1996, found her fingerprints on the copy produced from the [[White House]], that she testified she may have handled the records during the 1992 campaign but not after they were subpoenaed, and that Hubbell reviewed the records in 1992 and discussed with her "her numerous conferences with Seth Ward."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The independent counsel found "substantial evidence" that she did "more than an insubstantial amount of legal work on the IDC matter," "significant evidence" that her testimony about it was "incomplete and factually inaccurate," and three motives to minimize her role: political embarrassment over work "representing the thrift before state agencies regulated under her husband's authority as Governor," possible civil claims against Rose, and possible criminal exposure. It concluded that there was "no substantial evidence to support the conclusion that Mrs. Clinton was a knowing participant in the criminal conduct of McDougal or others," that her statements could not be proven knowingly false beyond a reasonable doubt, and that prosecution was declined.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Foster's Office
|
||||
|
||||
On the evening of July 20, 1993, after the death of Deputy White House Counsel [[Vince Foster]], White House Counsel [[Bernard Nussbaum]], the First Lady's chief of staff [[Maggie Williams]] and [[Patsy Thomasson]] entered Foster's office; before going to the White House Williams spoke by telephone with Mrs. Clinton. A uniformed [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] officer later said he thought he saw Williams leave with documents; Williams passed a polygraph on the question. On July 22 Nussbaum reviewed Foster's files himself and told the Justice Department attorneys [[David Margolis]] and Roger Adams that he would turn over only what investigators were entitled to have; they and Deputy Attorney General [[Philip Heymann]] said he broke an agreement, which Nussbaum denied. There was a series of calls that morning among Mrs. Clinton, [[Susan Thomases]] and Williams, and between Thomases and Nussbaum, all of whose participants denied trying to influence the search.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
After the search, Williams collected the Clintons' personal files and, she testified, called Mrs. Clinton to ask where to put them in the residence; she said Mrs. Clinton told her, "I think Carolyn has a closet up on the third floor that you could use to store them. You should call Carolyn." Williams and a White House Counsel's office intern entered the residence at 7:25 p.m., and [[Carolyn Huber]] put the box in a locked closet in Room 323, the room in which she and Mrs. Clinton stored the family's personal papers. The files went to [[Williams & Connolly]] on July 27; the firm's index shows that one file in the box was titled "Whitewater Development." On July 26 an associate counsel found a torn note in Foster's briefcase; Nussbaum showed it to Mrs. Clinton, and it was not reported to investigators for about thirty hours, until Attorney General [[Janet Reno]] told Nussbaum to hand it over. No complete index of Foster's office was made, and the independent counsel found the evidence insufficient to establish that anyone obstructed justice or that the Clintons withheld documents from the grand jury.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Health Care Task Force
|
||||
|
||||
On January 25, 1993, President Clinton established the [[President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform]] with his wife as chairman and as members the Secretaries of the Treasury, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Labor and Commerce, the budget director and the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. A separate working group of about 300 permanent federal employees, about 40 "special government employees" and an unknown number of consultants was headed by the presidential adviser [[Ira Magaziner]], the only Task Force member who attended its meetings. The Task Force held one public hearing and met behind closed doors at least 20 times in April and May 1993. In [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons v. Clinton]], decided June 22, 1993, the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit]] held that the Task Force was exempt from the [[Federal Advisory Committee Act]] because 3 U.S.C. 105(e) could be read as treating the President's spouse as "a de facto officer or employee," so that the panel was composed wholly of full-time government officials; it remanded the question of the working group. The district court had held that she was not an officer or employee "merely by virtue of her status as 'First Lady.'"[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Travel Office and the FBI Files
|
||||
|
||||
On May 19, 1993, the seven employees of the [[White House Travel Office]] were dismissed; its director, [[Billy Dale]], was later prosecuted and acquitted. On January 4, 1996, the White House produced a 1993 draft memorandum by the management chief [[David Watkins]] stating that "Foster regularly informed me that the First Lady was concerned and desired action, the action desired was the firing of the Travel Office staff." Watkins's notes record her telling him on May 14, 1993: "We need those people out. We need our people in. We need the slots." The independent counsel found that the Clintons' friend [[Harry Thomason]] was "the impetus for Mrs. Clinton's concerns," and that [[Mack McLarty]], Watkins, Foster and Thomason met on at least three occasions to discuss them. The confidential FBI background report of Billy Dale was requested by White House officials on December 20, 1993, seven months after his dismissal.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In the final report, filed June 22, 2000, and released October 18, 2000, Independent Counsel [[Robert W. Ray]] wrote that "the evidence is overwhelming that she in fact did have a role in the decision to fire the employees," that her sworn testimony that she had no input or role "is factually inaccurate," and that the evidence was nevertheless "insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mrs. Clinton knowingly made a false statement." The independent counsel "fully and completely" discharged Watkins and Mrs. Clinton "from all criminal liability." Kendall, in a letter of September 28, 2000, appended to the final report, called the "factually inaccurate" finding "highly unfair and misleading."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
When the report on the White House acquisition of about 900 FBI background files of former Reagan and Bush administration staff was unsealed on July 28, 2000, Ray stated that "there was no substantial and credible evidence that any senior White House official, or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, was involved in seeking confidential Federal Bureau of Investigation background reports." He found no personal relationship between her and [[Craig Livingstone]], the director of the White House personnel security office, and no corroboration for an FBI document recording that Nussbaum had told agents Livingstone came highly recommended by her and that she knew his mother. She and Livingstone had denied any such relationship under oath.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senate
|
||||
|
||||
She served as a senator from [[New York]] from January 3, 2001, until her resignation on January 21, 2009, and sat on the [[Senate Armed Services Committee|Armed Services Committee]].[^2][^3] On October 11, 2002, she voted yea on House Joint Resolution 114, the authorization for the use of military force against [[Iraq]], which passed 77 to 23.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Clinton Foundation and the State Department
|
||||
|
||||
She was sworn in as Secretary of State on January 21, 2009, and her appointment terminated on February 1, 2013.[^3] At her confirmation hearing before the [[Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]] on January 13, 2009, the ranking member, [[Richard Lugar]], said that "the main issue related to Senator Clinton's nomination that has occupied the Committee" was how her service could be reconciled with the activities of Bill Clinton and the [[Clinton Foundation]], that "foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the Secretary of State," and that "the only certain way to eliminate this risk going forward is for the Clinton Foundation to forswear new foreign contributions." The Obama transition and the Foundation had instead signed a memorandum of understanding requiring disclosure of past donors, annual disclosure thereafter, and a State Department ethics review of donations from foreign governments and government-controlled entities. Lugar called it "a beginning, not an end" and proposed that all foreign gifts of 50,000 dollars or more be reviewed, since "conflicts of interest could arise from a donation from a Gazprom executive or a member of the Saudi Royal family as easily as from the governments of Russia and [[Saudi Arabia]]."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation (EIN 31-1580204) reported revenue of 57.1 million dollars for 2011 and 54.7 million for 2012. For 2013, the year she left the department, it reported revenue of 148.9 million and contributions of 144.4 million; for 2014, 177.8 million and 172.6 million; for 2015, 116.1 million and 108.9 million; and for 2016, 70.8 million and 62.9 million. Revenue for 2017 was 38.4 million.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Uranium One
|
||||
|
||||
On June 30, 2015, Senator [[Chuck Grassley]] wrote to Treasury Secretary [[Jack Lew]], citing reporting by Jo Becker and Mike McIntire in the [[New York Times]], that in September 2005 [[Frank Giustra]] won a uranium deal in [[Kazakhstan]] for his company UrAsia days after visiting the country with Bill Clinton, and then gave 31.3 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation; that UrAsia merged into [[Uranium One]]; that Uranium One and former UrAsia investors gave 8.65 million dollars between 2008 and 2010 while the company's Kazakh mining licenses were in doubt; that the Uranium One chairman [[Ian Telfer]] gave 1 million dollars in 2009 through his family's Fernwood Foundation and 250,000 dollars in 2010 as [[Rosatom]], through its subsidiary ARMZ, sought a majority of the company; and that in June 2010 Bill Clinton was paid 500,000 dollars for a speech in Russia funded by a Russian investment bank. Uranium One and ARMZ notified the [[Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States]], on which the Secretary of State sits and which Treasury chairs, in the first week of August 2010 and were told on October 22, 2010, that "there were no unresolved national security concerns." Grassley wrote that "Secretary Clinton's involvement in the decision-making process needs to be more closely examined."[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
Dan Friedman of [[Mother Jones]] reported that the State Department's representative on the committee, Assistant Secretary [[Jose Fernandez]], told the Times that Clinton "never intervened with me" on any matter before it, that the approval was unanimous among the committee's member agencies, and that a second approval in 2013, when Rosatom bought the remaining shares, came after she had left the department; Giustra said he had sold his interest three years before the Russian purchase.[^23] In November 2017 Attorney General [[Jeff Sessions]] directed the Utah United States Attorney [[John Huber]] to review the Foundation and Uranium One matters. Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky of the [[Washington Post]] reported in January 2020, citing current and former officials, that Huber had conferred with FBI agents in Little Rock handling "a meandering probe into the Clinton Foundation," had largely finished and had found nothing worth pursuing, with no criminal charges.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Private Email Server
|
||||
|
||||
She used a personal email account on a private server for official business throughout her tenure. The State Department inspector general reported in May 2016 that she had not sought approval to do so, that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Information Resource Management "did not, and would not, approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account," and that she "did not comply with the Department's policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act." On January 9, 2011, the outside adviser to Bill Clinton who supported the system shut the server down because he believed "someone was trying to hack us," and later that day wrote, "We were attacked again." Her production omitted the first months of her tenure, and through her counsel she declined the inspector general's request for an interview.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General]] reported in June 2018 that in the summer of 2014, after the department told her former chief of staff [[Cheryl Mills]] that it could not locate her emails for requests from the [[House Select Committee on Benghazi]], she asked Mills and Kendall to oversee their production. Mills, Kendall and the former department lawyer [[Heather Samuelson]] devised a method by which Samuelson culled the work-related messages, and in December 2014 she produced about 55,000 pages, about 30,000 emails. The committee sent preservation orders on March 3, 2015. Later that month [[Paul Combetta]] of [[Platte River Networks]], the company administering the server, realized he had not applied a retention change Mills had requested months earlier, had what he told the FBI was an "oh shit" moment, and used BleachBit to delete the emails from the server; according to FBI documents her attorneys had advised him of the preservation order before he did so. In all, 31,830 emails her lawyers had deemed personal were deleted from the laptops of Mills and Samuelson and from the server. The Intelligence Community inspector general referred the matter to the FBI on July 6, 2015.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 27, 2016, Attorney General [[Loretta Lynch]] and Bill Clinton met for 20 to 30 minutes aboard Lynch's aircraft at [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] Sky Harbor Airport; Lynch publicly denied discussing the investigation. Mrs. Clinton was interviewed at FBI headquarters on July 2, 2016, with Mills and Samuelson present as her lawyers. On July 5 FBI Director [[James Comey]] described her and her aides as "extremely careless" in handling classified information, a phrase that earlier drafts had rendered "grossly negligent," and said "no reasonable prosecutor" would bring a case. His statement reported that 110 emails in 52 chains among the 30,000 had contained classified information when sent, eight chains at Top Secret, that the FBI had recovered several thousand more work-related emails, and that "we found no evidence that any of the additional work-related emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them." Lynch accepted the recommendation to decline prosecution on July 6.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2016 Campaign, Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS
|
||||
|
||||
In the spring of 2016 the law firm [[Perkins Coie]], counsel to [[Hillary for America]] and the [[Democratic National Committee]], retained [[Fusion GPS]], whose co-founder [[Glenn Simpson]] in mid-May 2016 retained the former British intelligence officer [[Christopher Steele]] and his firm [[Orbis Business Intelligence]]; Steele was then also a confidential human source for the FBI.[^27] Perkins Coie paid Fusion GPS 1,024,407.97 dollars in 2016. Between July 15 and August 26, 2016, the DNC paid Perkins Coie 849,407.97 dollars, of which it reported 782,907.97 dollars as "legal and compliance consulting," and the campaign paid Perkins Coie 175,000 dollars, which it reported as "legal services." On a complaint by the [[Coolidge Reagan Foundation]], the [[Federal Election Commission]] voted 4 to 0 on July 23, 2019, to find reason to believe that both committees had misreported the purpose of funds paid to Fusion GPS through Perkins Coie, after deadlocking 2 to 2 on whether they had also misreported the payee. It found probable cause by votes of 4 to 2 on December 16, 2021, and on February 17, 2022, accepted conciliation agreements with civil penalties of 105,000 dollars for the DNC and 8,000 dollars for the campaign. Each committee stated that it "does not concede" the finding and contended that Fusion GPS worked at the direction of Perkins Coie, including in anticipation of litigation. On March 25, 2022, the Commission voted 6 to 0 to dismiss the allegations under the foreign national provision against Steele, [[Marc Elias]], Perkins Coie, the campaign and Fusion GPS.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
The report of Special Counsel [[John Durham]], dated May 12, 2023, records that in late July 2016 American intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that she had approved "a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify [[Donald Trump]] by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services," a document the intelligence community said it did not know to be accurate and that "may reflect exaggeration or fabrication." [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] Director [[John Brennan]] briefed President [[Barack Obama]] on it on August 3, 2016, and on September 7 the intelligence agencies sent an investigative referral on it to Comey and [[Peter Strzok]]. The Perkins Coie lawyer [[Michael Sussmann]] gave the FBI's general counsel data purporting to show a covert channel between the [[Trump Organization]] and [[Alfa Bank]], telling him he was not acting for any client; Durham found that he was representing the campaign, as shown by Perkins Coie billing records, and the technology executive [[Rodney Joffe]]. A jury acquitted Sussmann of making a false statement. At his trial Elias and the campaign manager [[Robby Mook]] testified that the campaign did not authorize Sussmann to go to the FBI, and Mook testified that senior campaign officials favored giving the Alfa Bank allegations to the media and that Clinton approved doing so, before their accuracy had been resolved.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Hillary Victory Fund
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Hillary Victory Fund]], a joint fundraising committee first registered with the Federal Election Commission on September 10, 2015, with the campaign treasurer Elizabeth Jones as its treasurer, reported 530.0 million dollars in receipts and 529.6 million in disbursements for the 2016 cycle. Its itemized disbursements include 165.9 million dollars to Hillary for America, 108.9 million to the DNC, 68.6 million to the digital firm [[Bully Pulpit Interactive]], 29.0 million to the direct-mail firm [[Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey]] and 11.3 million to [[Financial Innovations]], with transfers of between about 2.5 million and 3.4 million dollars to each of 38 state Democratic parties.[^29] In the same cycle many of those parties reported disbursements of comparable size to the DNC. The Missouri Democratic State Committee received 3,043,700 dollars from the fund and reported 3,033,700 dollars in disbursements to the DNC; the Mississippi party received 3,025,700 and reported 3,015,700; Wyoming received 3,023,500 and reported 3,013,500; [[New Jersey]], Delaware, Kansas and South Dakota each reported disbursements to the DNC equal to the amounts they received from the fund. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, which received 3,110,348 dollars, reported 412,626 dollars to the DNC, and the [[North Carolina]] party, which received 3,423,484 dollars, reported 379,614.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
### House Oversight and Jeffrey Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
On July 23, 2025, the Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] approved by voice vote subpoenas to ten people, including both Clintons, in its inquiry into [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], and Chairman [[James Comer]] issued them on August 5. Her deposition, first set for October 9, was moved to December 18, 2025; she declined that date, citing a funeral, did not propose a January date, and did not appear on January 14, 2026, under a further subpoena. On January 21, 2026, the committee voted with members of both parties to recommend that the House hold both Clintons in contempt, and on February 3 Comer announced that they had agreed to appear.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
She was deposed on February 26, 2026, at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in [[Chappaqua, New York]]. Her opening statement said: "I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices." Afterward she said she had "never met Jeffrey Epstein" and knew Maxwell "casually as an acquaintance," and that Maxwell had attended her daughter's wedding as the guest of an invited guest. Comer said the times she answered "I don't know. You'll have to ask my husband" numbered "more than a dozen," and Representative [[Scott Perry]] said questions about the [[Clinton Global Initiative]] or the Clintons' relationship with Epstein and Maxwell had to go to Bill Clinton. Representative [[Lauren Boebert]] gave a photograph of the closed session to the commentator Benny Johnson, and the deposition was briefly paused.[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
In video released on March 2, 2026, each Clinton is questioned for about four and a half hours. Representative [[Nancy Mace]] asked how she had known [[Howard Lutnick]] in the early 2000s and said she had an email in which Lutnick invited Epstein and his associates to an "intimate event" on Clinton's behalf at his New York offices; Clinton said she knew nothing about it. Boebert asked her about [[Pizzagate]].[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton," The White House, Office of the First Lady (Clinton administration archive, National Archives). https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/HILLARY_Bio.html
|
||||
[^2]: "CLINTON, Hillary Rodham," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, capture of February 1, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160201012933/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C001041
|
||||
[^3]: "Hillary Rodham Clinton," Biographies of the Secretaries of State and Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State (appointed January 21, 2009; termination of appointment February 1, 2013). https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/clinton-hillary-rodham
|
||||
[^4]: Truell, Peter, and Larry Gurwin. *False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire*. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992, ch. 18 and source notes, p. 428 (index entry "Clinton, Hillary, 428"). https://archive.org/details/bypetertruellauthorlarrygurwinauthorfalseprofitstheinsidestoryofbccitheworldsmos
|
||||
[^5]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part A, "The Clintons, the McDougals, and the Whitewater Development Company," pp. 1-5 and 27-28 (RTC Criminal Referral No. C-0004; Bank of Kingston loan of December 16, 1980). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-2.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Office of the Independent Counsel (Robert W. Ray), *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In re Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association*, vol. I, table of contents, section III.B to III.C ("Department of Justice Criminal Division Fraud Section (November 1993 to January 1994)"; "Regulatory Independent Counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr. (January 20, 1994 to August 5, 1994)"). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-1-1.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Office of the Independent Counsel (Robert W. Ray), *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In re Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association, In re William David Watkins and In re Hillary Rodham Clinton*, filed June 22, 2000, released October 18, 2000, pp. 1-5, 14-17 and 233-234, with notes 4, 10-16, and the letter of David E. Kendall to Hon. Mark J. Langer, September 28, 2000, in the appendix. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheIndependentCounselReMadisonGuarantySLDavidWatkinsAndHillaryRodhamClinton
|
||||
[^8]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 1, pp. 114-117 and notes 497-505 (Bill Clinton to Beverly Bassett, January 22, 1985, Doc. No. DEK219149; message slip of December 22, 1984, Doc. No. DEK218791; Senate Whitewater Committee hearing, January 25, 1996; W. Clinton deposition, April 22, 1995, at 77). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-3-1.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 1, pp. 115-132 and notes 545-581 (Rose letter to Charles Handley, April 30, 1985, Doc. Nos. RFL1 03182-3183; Bassett to Clinton, May 14, 1985, Doc. No. RLF1 03184; Clinton to McDougal, May 23, 1985; Brady RTC affidavit, May 18, 1994; McDougal note to Latham, McDougal grand jury testimony, April 2, 1997, at 121). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-3-1.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 3, "Mrs. Clinton's Madison Guaranty Representation," pp. 410-414 and 466-467. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-4-2.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 1, pp. 161-164, 174-175 and notes 713-723, 766 (Rose billing records, January 1986, Doc. No. DEK015017; McDougal to Ward memorandum, November 20, 1985). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-3-1.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 2, pp. 251-252, 288-292 and 406, with notes 1131-1140 (letter from David E. Kendall to John D. Bates, January 5, 1996; Rose Law Firm billing records 1985-1986, Doc. Nos. DEK 014936 through 5049; FDIC-OIG, Supplemental Report on Rose Law Firm Conflicts of Interest, WA-94-0016, September 20, 1996; Black grand jury testimony, February 19, 1998, at 4-7). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-4-1.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. III, Part C, "Webster L. Hubbell's Billing Practices and Tax Filings," introduction. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-2.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. III, table of contents, Part D, "Rose Law Firm Billing Records," sections III.A to III.G, pp. 71-143. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-1.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. II, Part B, ch. 3, pp. 488-495 and notes 1959-1964 (FBI Laboratory Report, March 21, 1996; H. Clinton grand jury testimony, January 26, 1996, at 28; Hubbell grand jury testimony, December 19, 1995, at 177-178). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-2-4-2.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: *Final Report*, In re Madison Guaranty, vol. III, Part E, "The Discovery and Removal of Documents from Vincent W. Foster Jr.'s Office," pp. 151-156, 239-240 and 245-247, with notes 1422-1423 and 1458-1471 (Williams & Connolly index, Doc. No. 325-DC-00000028; M. Williams sworn interview, October 28, 1994; Secret Service residential movement logs, July 22, 1993). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-3.pdf
|
||||
[^17]: Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. v. Clinton, 997 F.2d 898 (D.C. Cir. June 22, 1993), Nos. 93-5086, 93-5092, opinion of Silberman, J. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/997/997.F2d.898.93-5092.93-5086.html
|
||||
[^18]: "Independent counsel: No evidence to warrant prosecution against first lady in 'filegate,'" CNN, July 28, 2000 (Bob Franken and Tom Dunleavey contributing). https://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/28/clinton.filegate/
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 237, 107th Cong., 2d sess., on H.J. Res. 114, October 11, 2002. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1072/vote_107_2_00237.xml
|
||||
[^20]: Lugar, Richard G. Opening statement for the confirmation hearing of Senator Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, January 13, 2009, pp. 2-4 and Attachment A. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/LugarStatement090113a.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Bill Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, EIN 31-1580204, Form 990 financial data for tax years 2011 to 2017, via the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/311580204.json
|
||||
[^22]: Grassley, Charles E. Letter to Jacob J. Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, June 30, 2015, pp. 1-3, citing Jo Becker and Mike McIntire, "Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal," New York Times, April 23, 2015, and Uranium One to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, January 29, 2013. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2015-06-30%20CEG%20to%20Treasury%20(CFIUS%20+%20Uranium).pdf
|
||||
[^23]: Friedman, Dan. "The Clinton-Uranium 'Scandal' Is Right-Wing Nonsense. Here's Everything You Need to Know," *Mother Jones*, October 31, 2017. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/the-clinton-uranium-scandal-is-right-wing-nonsense-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/
|
||||
[^24]: Barrett, Devlin, and Matt Zapotosky. "Justice Department winds down Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence," *Washington Post*, reprinted in the *Philadelphia Inquirer*, January 10, 2020. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/justice-department-hillary-clinton-inquiry-trump-20200110.html
|
||||
[^25]: U.S. Department of State, Office of Inspector General, *Office of the Secretary: Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity Requirements*, ESP-16-03, May 2016, pp. 2, 22-23, 36-37 and 39. https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/esp-16-03.pdf
|
||||
[^26]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, *A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election*, Report 18-04, June 2018, Executive Summary pp. i-iii, ch. 1 pp. 1-5, ch. 2 pp. 37-39, and the draft of Comey's statement of July 5, 2016, Bates FBI DOJ OIG ELEC 003446 to 003448. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-J37-PURL-gpo93700/pdf/GOVPUB-J37-PURL-gpo93700.pdf
|
||||
[^27]: Durham, John H., Special Counsel. *Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns*, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, pp. 11-12, 16-17, 81-85, 266 and 287. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf
|
||||
[^28]: Federal Election Commission, MURs 7291 and 7449: conciliation agreements with DNC Services Corporation/Democratic National Committee and with Hillary for America, and letter of Richard L. Weiss to Graham Wilson, February 22, 2022 (doc. 64); certification of July 23, 2019 (doc. 20); Commission votes of December 16, 2021, February 17, 2022, and March 25, 2022, recorded in the MUR 7449 case file. https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7449/7449_64.pdf ; https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7449/7449_20.pdf ; https://www.fec.gov/data/legal/matter-under-review/7449/
|
||||
[^29]: Federal Election Commission, Hillary Victory Fund, committee C00586537: committee record, 2016 cycle totals, and Schedule B disbursements by recipient and by recipient committee, 2016 cycle, via the FEC API. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00586537/?cycle=2016
|
||||
[^30]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule B disbursements by recipient committee (recipient C00010603, DNC Services Corp./Democratic National Committee), 2016 cycle, for the Missouri Democratic State Committee (C00135558), Mississippi Democratic Party PAC (C00149641), WY Democratic State Central Committee (C00001917), New Jersey Democratic State Committee (C00104471), Democratic State Committee (Delaware) (C00211763), Kansas Democratic Party (C00019380), South Dakota Democratic Party (C00160937), Pennsylvania Democratic Party (C00167130) and North Carolina Democratic Party-Federal (C00165688), via the FEC API. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_b/by_recipient_id/
|
||||
[^31]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Republicans and Democrats Hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in Contempt for Defying Lawful Subpoenas," January 21, 2026, https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-republicans-and-democrats-hold-bill-and-hillary-clinton-in-contempt-for-defying-lawful-subpoenas/ ; "Chairman Comer Announces the Clintons Caved, Will Appear for Depositions," February 3, 2026, https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-announces-the-clintons-caved-will-appear-for-depositions/
|
||||
[^32]: Yilek, Caitlin. "Hillary Clinton tells House committee she had 'no idea' about Epstein's crimes," CBS News, February 26, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-epstein-house-oversight-committee-deposition/
|
||||
[^33]: Grayer, Annie, MJ Lee, Aaron Blake, Emily Condon and Dugald McConnell. "Epstein deposition videos show Hillary Clinton in heated moments with lawmakers, Bill Clinton addressing hot tub photo," CNN, March 2, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/politics/clinton-depositions-epstein-video
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,244 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Politician
|
||||
- Nuclear
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "Chief of Staff under President Reagan who agreed sanctions against Israel were essential after the 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak reactor."
|
||||
- JamesBaker
|
||||
- TreasuryDepartment
|
||||
- StateDepartment
|
||||
- ReaganAdministration
|
||||
- BushAdministration
|
||||
- Debategate
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- BNLScandal
|
||||
- MatrixChurchill
|
||||
- BakerBotts
|
||||
- CarlyleGroup
|
||||
- FARA
|
||||
- SaudiArabia
|
||||
- IraqStudyGroup
|
||||
- Texas
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- James A. Baker III
|
||||
- James Baker
|
||||
- Jim Baker
|
||||
- James Addison Baker III
|
||||
- James A. Baker, III
|
||||
- Secretary Baker
|
||||
summary: "Lawyer and Republican campaign manager who was Reagan's chief of staff and Treasury Secretary and Bush's Secretary of State, then Baker Botts senior partner, Carlyle senior counselor, Iraqi debt envoy and Iraq Study Group co-chair."
|
||||
born: 1930-04-28
|
||||
location: "Houston, Texas"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Andrews & Kurth]]"
|
||||
role: "lawyer"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
end: 1975
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Department of Commerce]]"
|
||||
role: "Under Secretary of Commerce"
|
||||
start: 1975
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[President Ford Committee]]"
|
||||
role: "national chairman"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[George Bush for President Committee]]"
|
||||
role: "national chairman"
|
||||
start: 1979-01
|
||||
end: 1980-05
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[White House]]"
|
||||
role: "chief of staff to President Reagan"
|
||||
start: 1981
|
||||
end: 1985
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Debategate]]"
|
||||
role: "received the Carter briefing book from Casey and passed it to the debate team"
|
||||
start: 1980
|
||||
end: 1980
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Department of the Treasury]]"
|
||||
role: "Secretary of the Treasury"
|
||||
start: 1985-02-03
|
||||
end: 1988-08-17
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[State Department]]"
|
||||
role: "Secretary of State"
|
||||
start: 1989-01-25
|
||||
end: 1992-08-23
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[BNL Scandal]]"
|
||||
role: "Secretary of State briefed on the case; interviewed by Independent Counsel Frederick Lacey"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[White House]]"
|
||||
role: "chief of staff and senior counselor to President Bush"
|
||||
start: 1992-08
|
||||
end: 1993-01
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Baker Botts]]"
|
||||
role: "senior partner"
|
||||
start: 1993-03
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Carlyle Group]]"
|
||||
role: "senior counselor"
|
||||
start: 1993
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carlyle Group]]"
|
||||
role: "executive officer and member of TCG Holdings; managing director of TCG Ventures"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Electronic Data Systems]]"
|
||||
role: "director; chairman of the governance committee"
|
||||
start: 1996
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Reliant Energy]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Rice University]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy]]"
|
||||
role: "honorary chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[George W. Bush]]"
|
||||
role: "campaign representative in the Florida recount"
|
||||
start: 2000-11-09
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[George W. Bush]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "personal envoy on Iraqi debt"
|
||||
start: 2003-12-05
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Iraq Study Group]]"
|
||||
role: "co-chair"
|
||||
start: 2006-03-15
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James A. Baker III served as the Chief of Staff under President [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981, where he agreed that some sanctions against [[Israel]] were essential.[^1]
|
||||
James Addison Baker III was born in [[Houston]] on April 28, 1930, graduated from [[Princeton University]] in 1952, served two years on active duty as a lieutenant in the [[United States Marine Corps]], took his law degree with honors from the [[University of Texas School of Law]] in 1957, and practiced with the Houston firm of [[Andrews & Kurth]] from 1957 to 1975.[^1] Through the influence of his first wife he entered Republican politics, chaired [[George H.W. Bush]]'s unsuccessful 1970 Senate campaign in [[Texas]], and in 1971 became finance chairman of the Republican Party, with a regional role in the 1972 reelection of [[Richard Nixon]].[^2] He served as the Chief of Staff under President [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing|Osirak]] in June 1981, where he agreed that some sanctions against [[Israel]] were essential.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ford and Bush Campaigns
|
||||
|
||||
His public service began in 1975, when President [[Gerald R. Ford]] appointed him Under Secretary of Commerce. He then served on Ford's campaign staff as deputy chairman for delegate operations and, four months later, as national chairman of the [[President Ford Committee]]. From January 1979 to May 1980 he was national chairman of the [[George Bush for President Committee]].[^1][^4] He led presidential campaigns for Ford, Reagan and Bush over five consecutive elections from 1976 to 1992.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chief of Staff
|
||||
|
||||
From 1981 to 1985 Baker was White House Chief of Staff.[^1] According to the national security adviser [[Richard V. Allen]], as recounted by [[Seymour Hersh]], at the meeting of Reagan's senior officials the morning after the Israeli raid on Osirak, Secretary of Defense [[Caspar Weinberger]] proposed canceling the sale of F-16 aircraft to Israel, and Vice President Bush and Baker agreed that some sanctions were essential; Reagan, Allen said, "rolled his eyes at me" and made clear he would take no such step. A scheduled delivery of four F-16s was suspended a few days later and quietly resumed two months after that.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Carter Briefing Papers
|
||||
|
||||
In 1983 the [[Time (magazine)|Time]] correspondent [[Laurence Barrett]] wrote in *Gambling with History* that a Reagan campaign "mole" in the camp of President [[Jimmy Carter]] had "filched papers containing the main points the President planned to make" in the Cleveland debate of October 28, 1980, and that Baker, then a senior campaign adviser, "looked the other way when a dirty trick was perpetrated on Carter. He was grateful not to know the mechanics of it." Baker said through an aide that he did not know how the papers were obtained. Representative [[Donald Albosta]], chairman of the Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, wrote to Baker, to the budget director [[David Stockman]], to the communications director [[David Gergen]] and to the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[William J. Casey]], who had managed Reagan's 1980 campaign; Albosta said the matter "appears on the surface to be more serious than Watergate."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Casey replied on June 22, 1983: "I have no recollection that I ever received, heard of or learned in any other way of a set of papers which laid out the Carter debate plan or the points which President Carter had planned to make."[^6] Baker's letter, as reported in the [[Washington Post]], stated that "it is my best recollection" that Casey was the senior campaign official who gave him a large loose-leaf book in a black binder "that was thought to have been given to the Reagan camp by someone with the Carter campaign," "with the suggestion that it might be of use to the [Reagan] Debate Briefing Team" headed by Gergen and [[Frank Hodsoll]], and that after thumbing through it he "passed it on." He called it a "compendium" of Carter administration policy positions, wrote that he had "no recollection that I ever received or saw any debate strategy or sensitive debating points prepared by the Carter campaign or Carter White House," and said he had "never, directly or indirectly" asked anyone to get it. Stockman said the material had been "useful" in preparing Reagan. The campaign consultant [[Myles Martel]] said he had urged Hodsoll to return it: "My impression was we had something we shouldn't have had." Casey then said he did not remember "any black book" but that he had sent Baker all papers that crossed his desk about the debate.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 27, 1983, Carter's former pollster [[Patrick Caddell]] delivered to the White House a copy of what he said was the complete Carter briefing book. After Baker, Stockman and Gergen reviewed it, the White House said it appeared "a more finished, more sensitive briefing book than they recall," and that papers retrieved from Reagan campaign officials' files had been forwarded to the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]. Baker had discussed the matter with Casey at a meeting the day before.[^8] In June 1984 the Democratic majority of the Albosta subcommittee reported that "the persons using these papers were aware that they were using Carter debate briefing materials" and that the foreign policy papers were "most likely" taken from the Carter [[National Security Council]] front office or the White House Situation Room. At a news conference on June 14, 1984, Reagan said that "no one" in his campaign had seen the briefing book and called the differing recollections of Baker and Casey "easily understandable."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Treasury and BCCI
|
||||
|
||||
Baker became the sixty-seventh Secretary of the Treasury on February 3, 1985, exchanging jobs with [[Donald Regan]], and also chaired the President's Economic Policy Council. The Treasury Department credits him with guiding the 1986 tax reform bill through Congress and with "encouraging international economic cooperation by lowering the value of the dollar"; the State Department's historians describe him as "instrumental in passing the Plaza Accord of September 1985."[^1][^2][^4] He resigned on August 17, 1988, to chair the Bush campaign.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin wrote in their 1992 history of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] that a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] report dated September 30, 1986, alleging BCCI's involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering and its secret control of [[First American Bankshares]], was distributed to the State, Treasury and Commerce departments but not to the [[Federal Reserve]], and that Regan, asked about it, said he did not recall seeing it and suggested it may have gone to Baker, his successor, who at the time was traveling in Morocco. They also wrote that in 1987 the Iranian businessman [[Mohammed Rahim Motaghi Irvani]], whom they describe as having multiple ties to BCCI, wrote to Baker, whom they identify as Bush's campaign manager, offering to help, and that the letter was forwarded to Baker by the former CIA director [[Richard Helms]] with a note describing Irvani as "a man of substance and decency"; the letter and Helms's cover note were released by the Senate subcommittee chaired by [[John Kerry]]. They recorded that [[Jackson Stephens]], whose firm had gathered First American stock for BCCI's clients, was a member of Bush's "Team 100" and that his wife ran Bush's 1988 campaign in Arkansas.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Secretary of State
|
||||
|
||||
Baker was appointed Secretary of State on January 25, 1989, and served until August 23, 1992, the sixty-first holder of the office; he traveled to 90 countries.[^1][^2] On February 9, 1990, in Moscow, he told [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], according to the American memorandum of conversation released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], that "if we maintain a presence in a Germany that is a part of [[NATO]], there would be no extension of NATO's jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east." The Soviet record of the same meeting has him saying that "not an inch of NATO's present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction." The same day [[Robert Gates]], deputy to the national security adviser [[Brent Scowcroft]], told the [[KGB]] chairman [[Vladimir Kryuchkov]] at the Lubyanka the same thing. On February 10 Baker wrote to Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] that he had asked Gorbachev whether he would prefer a unified Germany "tied to NATO, with assurances that NATO's jurisdiction would not shift one inch eastward from its present position."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Matrix Churchill and the BNL Prosecution
|
||||
|
||||
An authentication certificate numbered 89/3648-2, dated March 14, 1989, attests the seal of the Ohio Secretary of State, [[Sherrod Brown]], on papers of the Cleveland firm [[Matrix Churchill]]. It reads: "In testimony whereof, I, James A. Baker III, Secretary of State, have hereunto caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed and my name subscribed by the Authentication Officer of the said Department," and is subscribed "James A. Baker III, Secretary of State. By Annie R. Maddux, Authentication Officer, Department of State." Representative [[Henry B. Gonzalez]], chairman of the [[House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs]], placed it in the Congressional Record on August 10, 1992, with a similar document of May 10, 1989, issued over the name of Acting Secretary [[Lawrence Eagleburger]]. Gonzalez said that Iraqis had taken control of Matrix Churchill in late 1988, that Iraqi law required American firms to be certified before opening a branch, that "unwittingly, in 1989 both James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburge[r] helped Matrix-Churchill establish its Baghdad branch," and that the State Department then held intelligence identifying the firm as an Iraqi front company.[^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Independent Counsel [[Frederick Lacey]], appointed by Attorney General [[William Barr]] on October 16, 1992, to investigate the handling of the prosecution of [[Christopher Drogoul]] and others in the [[BNL Scandal]], listed Baker among the people he and his staff had "spoken to, interviewed or deposed under oath." Lacey classified the second part of his report "Top Secret Codeword."[^13] He recorded that, according to the daily log of the Atlanta prosecutor [[Gale McKenzie]] in the fall of 1989, "then Secretary of State Baker was most interested in the [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro|BNL]] case and was receiving frequent briefings," and that the Justice Department first contacted her office on October 26, 1989, when [[Robert Mueller]] called for information on the case; by the time of Lacey's inquiry Mueller was Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Lacey quoted an October 26, 1989, State Department memorandum to Baker from Kelly and Sofaer, sent through Kimmitt and McCormack, warning that "our ability to influence Iraqi policies in areas important to us, from Lebanon to the [[Middle East]] peace process, will be heavily influenced by the outcome of the [[Commodity Credit Corporation|CCC]] negotiations." On November 8, 1989, the Agriculture and State Departments overcame the resistance of the National Advisory Council and obtained approval of 1 billion dollars in [[Commodity Credit Corporation Iraq Program|Commodity Credit Corporation]] guarantees for Iraq for fiscal 1990, of which one 500 million dollar tranche was released before the Gulf War. The two departments asserted at each stage that there was "no evidence to date that would lead us to recommend that the Department should not extend the guarantees," a claim Lacey called "inconsistent with McKenzie's statements to the contrary." He wrote that it was "not within my responsibility to address the wisdom of the decision." Citing a memorandum of April 17, 1990, from Kimmitt to Baker, he wrote that "as with the CCC program, political considerations have been brought to bear upon Eximbank decisions," while the [[Export-Import Bank of the United States|Export-Import Bank]] had found Iraq "not creditworthy by any reasonable standard" in April 1989.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In the days before the February 1991 indictment, during the war with Iraq, the list of defendants grew to include the Jordanian businessman [[Wafai Dajani]], whose company handled grain for Iraq at [[Aqaba]] and whom Drogoul called "the brother of the Prince of Jordan," but Dajani and others "were removed as defendants a few days later at a February 13 meeting" of the Atlanta prosecutors and Justice Department officials, Mueller among them. At that meeting the State Department did not want the [[Central Bank of Iraq]] indicted while the Atlanta office still did, and the Treasury, Defense and State Departments, the Export-Import Bank and the Federal Reserve then answered Mueller with a joint memorandum supporting indictment of [[Rafidain Bank]] but opposing indictment of the Central Bank. The prosecutors denied any State Department interference and said the decision not to indict Dajani was their own, for want of evidence. Lacey recorded that Dajani had paid Drogoul 100,000 dollars through a consulting position in 1990 and 1991 and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. He found "absolutely no support" for reports that the Justice Department, "perhaps influenced by others in the Executive Branch," had imposed the theory of BNL as a victim on the Atlanta office.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Baker Botts and Foreign Principals
|
||||
|
||||
Baker served as White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993.[^1] The Houston firm of [[Baker Botts]] was registered under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] as Baker & Botts, L.L.P., registration 4293, from September 15, 1989, to September 30, 2003. Its foreign principals were the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, September 15, 1989, to April 30, 1993), the French chemical company [[Rhône-Poulenc]] (May 1, 1991, to February 13, 1996), Middle East Airlines Airliban of [[Lebanon]] (May 23, 1991, to November 1, 1993), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of [[Yemen]] (April 22, 1992, to July 21, 2000), the Government of [[Abu Dhabi]] (July 29, 1992, to March 31, 1995) and the Japan External Trade Organization office in Houston (November 9, 1992, to September 30, 2003). In 1977 the firm had registered for the Indonesian state oil company [[Pertamina]], and from September 15, 2017, to October 12, 2018, it was registered for the Ministry of Financial Services and Home Affairs of the [[Cayman Islands]].[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Carlyle and Corporate Boards
|
||||
|
||||
Baker has been a senior partner of Baker Botts since March 1993 and was a senior counselor of the [[Carlyle Group]] from 1993. The 2002 proxy statement of [[Electronic Data Systems]], which had been split off from [[General Motors]] in June 1996, lists him as a director since 1996 and chairman of its governance committee, and as a director of [[Reliant Energy]], Reliant Resources, [[Rice University]] and the [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]; it discloses that EDS retained Baker Botts for legal services during 2001.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
Carlyle's Schedule 13D filings with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] list him among the executive officers of its holding entities. The filing of May 21, 2001, on [[Net2000 Communications]] names him among the executive officers of TC Group, L.L.C. and TCG Holdings, L.L.C. and members of TCG Holdings, with [[Frank Carlucci]], [[Richard Darman]], [[William Conway]], [[Daniel D'Aniello]], [[David Rubenstein]], [[Jerome Powell]], [[Glenn Youngkin]] and [[Afsaneh Beshloss]], and as one of nine managing directors of TCG Ventures, L.L.C.; the reporting entities included Cayman Islands partnerships, and the directors of TCG Ventures, Ltd. were Rubenstein and a British Virgin Islands company in care of [[Julius Baer]] Bank & Trust. The amendment of January 13, 2005, on [[Magellan Midstream Partners]] again lists him among the executive officers of TC Group and members of TCG Holdings, with [[Louis Gerstner]] and [[William Kennard]].[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Florida, 2000
|
||||
|
||||
On November 9, 2000, Baker was in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]], identified by CNN as an observer for the Bush campaign "there to supervise a recount of the state vote in Florida on behalf of George W. Bush." He said he would meet the Florida secretary of state later that day and hoped to meet [[Warren Christopher]], whom the Gore campaign had sent "to do the exact same thing."[^17] On November 28 he introduced the senior litigation team for the contest of the result: [[Barry Richard]] of [[Greenberg Traurig]], [[Fred Bartlit]] and [[Philip Beck]] of Bartlit Beck in Chicago, and "two law partners of mine at Baker Botts in Houston, Texas," [[Irvin Terrell]] and [[Daryl Bristow]].[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Saudi Defense in the September 11 Litigation
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michael Isikoff]] of [[Newsweek]] reported on April 15, 2003, that "a trio of lawyers from Baker Botts" had filed a motion for Prince [[Sultan bin Abdulaziz]], the Saudi defense minister, in the September 11 families' suit, arguing that he was immune and acknowledging that he had approved payments of about 266,000 dollars a year for 16 years to the [[International Islamic Relief Organization]] and grants of 52,000 dollars to the [[World Assembly of Muslim Youth]] as official acts. Isikoff wrote that Baker Botts "still boasts former secretary of State James Baker as one of its senior partners" and that its recent alumni included [[Robert Jordan]], President Bush's former personal lawyer and then ambassador to [[Saudi Arabia]]. The plaintiffs' lead lawyer, [[Ron Motley]], said: "We smoked out the prince."[^19] On November 14, 2003, Judge [[James Robertson]] of the District of Columbia dismissed the claims against Sultan for his official acts for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and those for his personal acts for lack of personal jurisdiction, and dismissed the claims against Prince [[Turki bin Faisal Al Saud|Turki]], the former head of Saudi general intelligence, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.[^20] William H. Jeffress Jr. of Baker Botts appears among defense counsel in that opinion, and Jeffress, Christopher R. Cooper, Sara E. Kropf and Jamie S. Kilberg of Baker Botts in the consolidated opinion of January 18, 2005, in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]].[^20][^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Iraqi Debt Envoy
|
||||
|
||||
On December 5, 2003, President [[George W. Bush]] announced that "in response to a request from the Iraqi Governing Council" he had appointed Baker "to be my personal envoy on the issue of Iraqi debt," reporting directly to the President.[^22] [[Naomi Klein]] wrote in *[[The Nation]]* on November 1, 2004, that Baker was then senior counselor and an equity partner of Carlyle "with an estimated $180 million stake," that Saudi Arabia was among Iraq's largest creditors, that Carlyle and Baker Botts did extensive business with the Saudi royal family, and that on December 12, 2003, the [[New York Times]] had called editorially for him to resign from both. She wrote that documents obtained by The Nation showed a consortium including Carlyle and the [[Albright Group]] of the former Secretary of State [[Madeleine Albright]] proposing to [[Kuwait]] that its claims on Iraq, as much as 57 billion dollars, be transferred to a foundation the consortium would control, with Kuwait investing 2 billion dollars in a private equity fund, half of it through Carlyle. The proposal, she reported, said the role of Carlyle figures including former President Bush, [[John Major]] and Baker was "now more limited" because of his appointment but that after his "retirement from his temporary position" they would "once again be free to play a more decisive role." On January 21, 2004, the day Baker met Kuwait's foreign minister as envoy, the consortium hand-delivered the proposal to the same minister.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
Carlyle's spokesman [[Chris Ullman]] told Klein that "neither the Carlyle Group nor James Baker wrote, edited or authorized this proposal to the Kuwait government," that Carlyle knew of the proposal and stood to receive a 1 billion dollar investment but "played no role in procuring that investment," and that after Baker's appointment Carlyle "explicitly restricted its role to only investing assets on behalf of Kuwait." The consortium's chief executive, Shahameen Sheikh, said the timing "had nothing to do with Mr. Baker's visit." Klein wrote that the White House and Baker's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Iraq Study Group
|
||||
|
||||
In late 2005 Representative [[Frank Wolf]] asked the [[United States Institute of Peace]] to facilitate an assessment of Iraq with the [[James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy]] at Rice University, the [[Center for the Study of the Presidency]] and the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]. Baker and the former Representative [[Lee Hamilton]] co-chaired the [[Iraq Study Group]], launched on March 15, 2006, at a Capitol Hill meeting hosted by Senator [[John Warner]]. Its members were Eagleburger, [[Vernon Jordan]], [[Edwin Meese]], [[Sandra Day O'Connor]], [[Leon Panetta]], [[William Perry]], [[Charles Robb]] and [[Alan Simpson]]; the former CIA director Robert Gates was an active member until his nomination as Secretary of Defense. Recommendation 62 of its December 2006 report urged technical assistance to the Iraqi government "to prepare a draft oil law" creating "a fiscal and legal framework for investment," and Recommendation 63 urged that the [[United States]] "encourage investment in Iraq's oil sector by the international community and by international energy companies" and help reorganize the national oil industry "as a commercial enterprise."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### Envoys and Commissions
|
||||
|
||||
From 1997 to 2004 Baker was the personal envoy of [[United Nations]] Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] on the [[Western Sahara]] conflict. He co-chaired the Commission on Federal Election Reform with Carter in 2005 and the National War Powers Commission with Warren Christopher in 2008, and is honorary chairman of the Baker Institute. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records itemize contributions from James A. Baker III of Houston: 1,000 dollars to George Bush for President on June 6, 1980, and 1,000 dollars on June 11, 1980, to the Connally for President Committee, with his employer given as Andrews Kurth Campbell & Jones; 1,000 dollars to Bush for President Inc. on March 16, 1999; 2,000 dollars to Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. on December 3, 2003, two days before his appointment as envoy; 15,000 dollars to the National Republican Senatorial Committee on April 11, 2006; 2,500 dollars to Romney for President Inc. on July 26, 2011, and July 5, 2012; 2,500 dollars to RickPerry.org on September 16, 2011, with his employer given as the Baker Institute; 2,700 dollars to Jeb 2016 Inc. on January 18, 2016; and 2,800 dollars to Team Graham on September 23, 2020, with Baker Botts as employer in the other filings.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
|
||||
[^1]: "James A. Baker, III," Baker Botts L.L.P., attorney biography. https://www.bakerbotts.com/people/b/baker-james-a-iii
|
||||
[^2]: "James Addison Baker III," Biographies of the Secretaries of State and Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State (appointed January 25, 1989; termination of appointment August 23, 1992). https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/baker-james-addison
|
||||
[^3]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. New York: Random House, 1991, p. 9 (account of Richard V. Allen). https://archive.org/details/seymour-hersch-the-samson-option
|
||||
[^4]: "James A. Baker, III (1985 - 1988)," U.S. Department of the Treasury, Prior Secretaries. https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/prior-secretaries/james-a-baker-iii-1985-1988
|
||||
[^5]: "Casey fourth Reagan aide asked about '80 campaign incident," *Baltimore Sun*, Washington Bureau, June 22, 1983, reproduced in CIA Reading Room document C05560156. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-05560156
|
||||
[^6]: Casey, William J., Director of Central Intelligence, letter to Representative Don Albosta, June 22, 1983, CIA-RDP85M00364R001703320052-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp85m00364r001703320052-2
|
||||
[^7]: Hoffman, David. "Casey Is Cited as Source of Briefing Book," *Washington Post*, June 24, 1983, reproduced in CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400039-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000505400039-7
|
||||
[^8]: Schram, Martin, and Lou Cannon. "1980 Debate 'Papers' Go To Justice," *Washington Post*, June 28, 1983, reproduced in CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020034-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201020034-3
|
||||
[^9]: Hoffman, David. "Reagan Says 'No One' Saw '80 Briefing Book," *Washington Post*, June 15, 1984, reproduced in CIA-RDP90-00552R000505390080-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000505390080-3
|
||||
[^10]: Truell, Peter, and Larry Gurwin. *False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire*. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992, pp. 365 and 382, with source notes. https://archive.org/details/bypetertruellauthorlarrygurwinauthorfalseprofitstheinsidestoryofbccitheworldsmos
|
||||
[^11]: Savranskaya, Svetlana, and Tom Blanton. "NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard," National Security Archive Briefing Book, December 12, 2017, Documents 05 (memorandum of conversation between Gorbachev and Baker, February 9, 1990, U.S. Department of State FOIA 199504567), 06 (Gorbachev Foundation record of the same conversation), 07 (memorandum of conversation between Robert Gates and Vladimir Kryuchkov, February 9, 1990) and 08 (letter from Baker to Helmut Kohl, February 10, 1990). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early
|
||||
[^12]: Gonzalez, Henry B. Special order, "US Armed Iraq Through BNL," section "Baker and Eagleburger Approve MCC Baghdad Branch," *Congressional Record*, House, August 10, 1992, reproducing Department of State authentication no. 89/3648-2 of March 14, 1989. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/congress/1992_cr/h920810g.htm
|
||||
[^13]: Lacey, Frederick B. "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Investigation: Report of the Independent Counsel," Part I, pp. 1, 12, 37 n., 43, 68-74 and 102-104, reproduced in House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, *Testimony of Former Employees of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro*, hearing, 103d Cong., 1st sess., November 9, 1993, Serial No. 103-95, pp. 343-347, 355, 380, 386, 411-417 and 445-447. https://archive.org/details/testimonyofforme1994unit
|
||||
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act unit, registrant and foreign principal records for registration 4293 (Baker Botts L.L.P., September 15, 1989, to September 30, 2003), registration 2833 (Baker & Botts, 1977) and registration 6464 (Baker Botts, LLP, 2017 to 2018), via the FARA eFile API. https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/ForeignPrincipals/json/Terminated/4293
|
||||
[^15]: Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Schedule 14A definitive proxy statement, filed March 6, 2002 ("Directors Standing for Election" and "Certain Transactions"), Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR accession 0000950109-02-001187. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1007456/000095010902001187/ddef14a.htm
|
||||
[^16]: Carlyle Venture Partners, L.P., et al., Schedule 13D, Net2000 Communications, Inc., filed May 21, 2001, Item 2 (accession 0000950133-01-501284); TC Group, L.L.C., et al., Schedule 13D/A, Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P., filed January 13, 2005, Schedule A-1 (accession 0001193125-05-006004), Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1099363/000095013301501284/w49431sc13d.txt ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1126975/000119312505006004/0001193125-05-006004.txt
|
||||
[^17]: "Election 2000: James Baker Holds News Briefing on Progress of Florida Recount," CNN transcript, November 9, 2000. http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0011/09/se.03.html
|
||||
[^18]: "Bush Legal Team Remarks," Tuesday, November 28, 2000, American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/documents-related-the-2000-election-dispute-40
|
||||
[^19]: Isikoff, Michael. "Terror Watch: A Legal Counterattack," *Newsweek*, April 15, 2003. https://www.newsweek.com/terror-watch-legal-counterattack-133991
|
||||
[^20]: Burnett v. Al Baraka Investment & Development Corp., 292 F. Supp. 2d 9 (D.D.C. November 14, 2003), list of counsel; described in In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 349 F. Supp. 2d 765, 781 n.2 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/burnett-v-baraka-inv-893111164
|
||||
[^21]: In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 349 F. Supp. 2d 765 (S.D.N.Y. January 18, 2005), list of counsel. http://uniset.ca/other/cs5/349FSupp2d765.html
|
||||
[^22]: "Statement on James A. Baker III," Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, December 5, 2003. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031205-3.html
|
||||
[^23]: Klein, Naomi. "James Baker's Double Life," *The Nation*, November 1, 2004, republished by Type Investigations. https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2004/11/01/james-bakers-double-life/
|
||||
[^24]: *The Iraq Study Group Report*, December 2006, Recommendations 62 and 63, pp. 55-56, and "Letter from the Sponsoring Organizations," p. 64. https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/http://media.usip.org/reports/iraq_study_group_report.pdf
|
||||
[^25]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts for contributor "Baker, James A. III," Houston, Texas, 1980 to 2020, via the FEC API. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
166
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James R. Bath.md
Normal file
166
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James R. Bath.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JamesBath
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- SaudiArabia
|
||||
- Houston
|
||||
- TexasAirNationalGuard
|
||||
- GeorgeWBush
|
||||
- Arbusto
|
||||
- Aviation
|
||||
- Mahfouz
|
||||
- BinLaden
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- James R. Bath
|
||||
- James Bath
|
||||
- Jim Bath
|
||||
- Jim R. Bath
|
||||
summary: "Houston aircraft broker and Texas Air National Guard pilot who acted as trustee for Salem bin Laden and Khalid bin Mahfouz, sat on Main Bank's board and invested in George W. Bush's Arbusto partnerships."
|
||||
born: 1936
|
||||
location: "Houston, Texas"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Texas Air National Guard]]"
|
||||
role: "pilot, major, 147th Fighter Group, Ellington Air Force Base"
|
||||
start: 1965
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Lan Bentsen]]"
|
||||
role: "real estate partner, Bath Bentsen Interests"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Salem bin Laden]]"
|
||||
role: "business representative and trustee in Houston"
|
||||
start: 1976
|
||||
end: 1988
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Khalid bin Mahfouz]]"
|
||||
role: "trustee for investments in the United States"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Houston Gulf Airport]]"
|
||||
role: "5 percent interest; bought on behalf of Salem bin Laden"
|
||||
start: 1977
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Main Bank]]"
|
||||
role: "shareholder and director"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[George W. Bush]]"
|
||||
role: "contributions to the 1978 congressional campaign"
|
||||
start: 1978-08-23
|
||||
end: 1978-10-12
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Lloyd Bentsen]]"
|
||||
role: "contributions to Senate campaigns"
|
||||
start: 1979-05-31
|
||||
end: 1988-10-05
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[John Connally]]"
|
||||
role: "contribution to Connally for President"
|
||||
start: 1979-11-14
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[George H. W. Bush]]"
|
||||
role: "contributions to presidential campaign committees"
|
||||
start: 1980-01-04
|
||||
end: 1987-04-13
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Arbusto Energy]]"
|
||||
role: "50,000 dollar investment for 5 percent of Arbusto '79 and Arbusto '80"
|
||||
end: 1986
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Skyway Aircraft Leasing]]"
|
||||
role: "sole director; company owned by Khalid bin Mahfouz according to a court document"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Southwest Airport Services]]"
|
||||
role: "majority owner and operator, Ellington Field"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Khalid bin Mahfouz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "1.4 million dollar loan toward the Express Auto Park garage, Hobby Airport"
|
||||
start: 1990
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Bill White]]"
|
||||
role: "partner in real estate joint ventures and Venturcorp; later adverse litigant"
|
||||
start: 1980
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "review of accusations of acting for Saudi interests, reported June 1992"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James R. Bath, a native of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]], moved to [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] in 1965 at the age of twenty-nine to join the [[Texas Air National Guard]], and became an aircraft broker and real estate developer there.[^1] He was 55 years old in October 1991 and in June 1992.[^2][^3] From 1976 he was the business representative in Houston of [[Salem bin Laden]], under a trust agreement, and he held a 5 percent interest in oil partnerships controlled by [[George W. Bush]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Texas Air National Guard
|
||||
|
||||
[[Craig Unger]] wrote that Bath became friendly with George W. Bush, who began training as an F-102 pilot at [[Ellington Air Force Base]] in 1970, in the unit called the "Champagne Unit," and that Bath called Bush "Geo," the abbreviation on his uniform.[^1] An order of the [[National Guard Bureau]] dated September 29, 1972, issued "by order of the Secretaries of the Army and the Air Force" over the name of Major General [[Francis S. Greenlief]], chief of the bureau, confirmed in paragraph 6 the "verbal orders of the Comdr on 1 Aug 72 suspending 1STLT GEORGE W BUSH," Texas Air National Guard, Headquarters 147th Fighter Group, Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, "from flying status," and in paragraph 7 the "verbal orders of the Comdr on 1 Sep 72 suspending MAJ JAMES R BATH" of the same group. The reason given in each case was "Failure to accomplish annual medical examination."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Unger wrote in *[[Salon (website)|Salon]]* in 2004 that when the White House released Bush's military records in March 2004 the second name on the order was redacted, although names of other guardsmen were printed in full, and that the same order, released earlier under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] to the researcher Marty Heldt, showed Bath's name. [[White House|The White House]] declined to explain. Bath confirmed that he was the man named and said the suspensions were not significant: "It happens all the time, especially in the Guard." He declined to say why he and Bush had missed their physicals and said: "Geo did not use drugs."[^1] In 1991 Bath told *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* that his friendship with Bush dated from their service in the Guard and that he was only "slightly" acquainted with the then-President, [[George H. W. Bush]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Aviation, Bentsen and Connally
|
||||
|
||||
Atlantic Aviation, a [[Delaware]] company selling business aircraft, hired Bath in 1968 to open its Houston office, and he later became an aircraft broker on his own.[^1] In 1973 he formed a real estate partnership with [[Lan Bentsen]], a son of Senator [[Lloyd Bentsen]]; sources whom *Time* did not name said that one purpose was to find investments for the senator's blind trust. Bath and Bentsen said they had not been partners for years, but in 1991 secretaries at Bath's office still answered the telephone "Bath Bentsen Interests," and Bath said he had not got around to changing the name. Bath opened his own aircraft brokerage in 1976.[^2] Unger wrote that Bath counted among his friends the Bentsen family, the younger and elder Bush, whom the son introduced to Bath in the mid-1970s, the Houston lawyer [[James Baker|James A. Baker III]], his duck-hunting companion, and [[John Connally]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Saudi Clients
|
||||
|
||||
Bath told Unger that around 1974, while trying to sell an F-27 turboprop, he received a telephone call from Salem bin Laden, then about twenty-five, a son of the founder of the [[Saudi Binladin Group]], and that he befriended bin Laden and his associate [[Khalid bin Mahfouz]], heir to the [[National Commercial Bank]] of [[Saudi Arabia]]. Unger wrote that Salem bin Laden bought aircraft and construction equipment, houses at [[Marble Falls, Texas|Marble Falls]] and near [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], and set up an aircraft services company, Binladen Aviation, in [[San Antonio]]; and that Mahfouz bought a 3.5 million dollar house in the [[River Oaks, Houston|River Oaks]] section of Houston and a 4,000-acre ranch in [[Liberty County, Texas|Liberty County]] near Bath's own ranch. "By 1976, bin Laden had appointed Bath to be his American business representative. Bin Mahfouz drew up a similar arrangement with him."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the *[[Houston Chronicle]]*, the 1976 trust agreement by which Salem bin Laden appointed Bath his business representative in Houston was drawn shortly after George H. W. Bush became director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. In sworn depositions Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as trustee and would use his name on their investments in return for a 5 percent interest in the deals.[^3] Bath told Unger: "The investments were sometimes in my name as trustee, sometimes offshore corporations and sometimes in the name of a law firm."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Houston Gulf Airport and Main Bank
|
||||
|
||||
Bath bought [[Houston Gulf Airport]] in [[League City, Texas]] in 1977 on behalf of Salem bin Laden, receiving a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate it; after bin Laden died in 1988 his interests in the airport passed to Mahfouz, according to court documents.[^3] Unger dates to August 1977 the purchase of the [[Main Bank]] of Houston, then a community bank with about 70 million dollars in assets, by Connally, Bath, Mahfouz and [[Ghaith R. Pharaon|Ghaith Pharaon]], and wrote that Bath acted as an intermediary between the Saudis and Connally, who was positioning himself for the 1980 presidential nomination.[^1] *Time* dated to 1978 Bath's entry as a shareholder and director of Main Bank, with Connally, Pharaon, whom it described as an alleged front man for the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]], and Mahfouz, who later became a major shareholder in that bank. Pharaon later sold his Main Bank holdings and bought the [[National Bank of Georgia]], in *Time*'s words "allegedly on behalf of B.C.C.I." *Time* reported that a researcher had found that in the late 1970s Main Bank, when it held only 58 million dollars in deposits, had been buying 10 million dollars a month in new 100 dollar bills, for a purpose not known.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A full-page advertisement for the Jeddah newspaper *[[Arab News]]* and its magazine *Saudi Business*, printed in the issues of November 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 26, 1978, carried a testimonial signed by Bath: "Doing business in Saudi Arabia is a very personal experience, and ARAB NEWS and SAUDI BUSINESS give me a feel for the market there." Beneath it the advertisement stated: "Jim Bath, a former [[U.S. Air Force]] fighter pilot, heads Jim Bath and Associates, a turbine aircraft consulting firm based in Houston. He also operates an airport there on behalf of a group of Saudi investors, and travels frequently to the Kingdom."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Campaign Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list the following contributions from "Jim R. Bath" or "Jim Bath" of Houston. On May 30, 1978 he gave 125 dollars to the Archer for Congress Committee of [[Bill Archer|William R. Archer]], candidate for the House from the 7th District of Texas, with his employer given as Jim Bath and Associates. George Bush for Congress, the 1978 committee of George W. Bush in the 19th District of Texas, recorded 409 dollars on August 23, 1978 under the name "Bath, Jim (IK)" with a zero zip code, and gifts of 500 dollars on August 31 (employer given as "real estate aviation") and 500 dollars on October 12, 1978. The Senator Lloyd Bentsen Election Committee recorded 1,000 dollars on May 31, 1979, with the employer given as Bath Bentsen Interests. Bath gave 1,000 dollars to the Connally for President Committee on November 14, 1979 and 1,000 dollars to George Bush for President on January 4, 1980; 250 dollars on June 19, 1980 to the 1980 Republican Presidential Unity Committee, with the employer given as Bath/Bentsen International; 500 dollars to the Bentsen committee on May 20, 1982; 500 dollars on July 1, 1982 to the Friends of Prescott Bush Campaign Committee, the Connecticut Senate committee of [[Prescott Bush Jr.|Prescott S. Bush Jr.]]; 1,000 dollars to George Bush for President, Inc. on April 13, 1987; and 1,000 dollars to the Bentsen committee on October 5, 1988, with the employer field reading "realtor."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Skyway, Southwest Airport Services and Hobby Airport
|
||||
|
||||
In a sworn deposition Bath said he was the sole director of [[Skyway Aircraft Leasing]] Ltd., which a court document showed to be owned by Mahfouz.[^3] *Time* reported that Bath's partners in Skyway, one of four similarly named companies he controlled, were "artfully hidden," and that the firm that incorporated his companies in the [[Cayman Islands]] had set up a money-collecting front company for [[Oliver North]] in the [[Iran-Contra affair]]; that Skyway leased a 10 million dollar Gulfstream II to the [[Abu Dhabi National Oil Company]], controlled by Sheikh [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan]], president of the [[United Arab Emirates]] and owner of BCCI; that associates confirmed Bath had brokered more than 150 million dollars of private aircraft sales and leases, concentrated among Middle Eastern royalty.[^2] Unger wrote that through Skyway Bath brokered about 150 million dollars of aircraft deals to major BCCI stockholders including Pharaon and Sheikh Zayed.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Bath operated, and held a majority stake in, [[Southwest Airport Services]] at [[Ellington Field]]. The *[[Houston Post]]* reported in 1990 that the government had spent millions of dollars more than necessary by fueling military aircraft, including [[Air Force One]], there rather than at a government fuel station, with a markup of as much as 60 percent; *Time* noted that the paper's report had prompted no official investigation.[^2] In 1990 Bath bought the [[Express Auto Park]] garage at [[William P. Hobby Airport]] for 8.4 million dollars, which included a 1.4 million dollar loan provided by Mahfouz, according to transaction documents.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Arbusto
|
||||
|
||||
Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath held a 5 percent interest in Arbusto '79 Ltd. and Arbusto '80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, and had invested 50,000 dollars in them; "There is no available evidence to show whether the money came from Saudi interests," the *Chronicle* wrote. Bush's company, [[Bush Exploration Co.]], the general partner, went through several mergers and became [[Harken Energy]], of which Bush was a shareholder and director, which held offshore drilling rights off [[Bahrain]], and one of whose top shareholders was [[Abdullah Taha Bakhsh]]. Bush told the newspaper that to his knowledge Bath's investment came from personal funds and that no Saudi money was invested in [[Arbusto Energy|Arbusto]].[^3] Early 1980s tax records reviewed by *Time* showed that Bath remained a stockholder until Bush sold his company to Harken in 1986, while Bush had denied ever having business dealings with Bath.[^2] Bath told Unger that "100 percent of those funds were mine. It was a purely personal investment," and that bin Laden and Mahfouz "never met Bush, ever."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The White Litigation
|
||||
|
||||
Charles W. (Bill) White, a graduate of the [[United States Naval Academy|Naval Academy]] and former Navy fighter pilot, formed a real estate partnership with Bath in 1980, with a joint venture for each project under a Master Partnership Agreement and White in charge of day-to-day operations; they were also partners in the development company [[Venturcorp]], Inc.[^3][^7] White told *Time* that it was Lan Bentsen who suggested that he go into business with Bath.[^2] Bath sued White in September 1986 for rescission or dissolution of the partnership and damages, and White counterclaimed in February 1987. After two motions to compel, and a hearing on February 20, 1989 at which White's lawyer stated that all requested documents had been produced or did not exist, the trial court appointed a special master; White then swore by affidavit that all documents had been produced and afterward produced more than ten thousand others. On October 6, 1989 the master struck White's pleadings, including his counterclaims, and ordered him to pay Bath 5,000 dollars. After an evidentiary hearing from June 18 to July 2, 1990, the trial court adopted the master's findings and entered a default judgment for Bath. The [[Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals|Fourteenth Court of Appeals]] at Houston, sitting as Justices [[Paul Pressler]], Junell and Ellis, affirmed in *[[White v. Bath]]*, 825 S.W.2d 227, on February 20, 1992; Kem T. Frost appeared for Bath. Rehearing was denied on March 26, 1992, and the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] denied certiorari on April 19, 1993.[^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
White claimed that Bath was a front man for CIA business operations, used his connections to the Bush family and Senator Bentsen to cloak offshore companies that moved money and airplanes between the [[Middle East]] and Texas, and kept the upper hand in five lawsuits "by privately asserting to the court that he had 'national security' connections"; he also claimed in court that Bath had wanted to borrow 550,000 dollars from their venture to cover funds Bath had "misappropriated" from an aircraft company he controlled. Bath told *Time*: "I am not a member of the CIA or any other intelligence agency," and called White's account a "fantasy."[^2] Unger wrote that Bath later equivocated, telling him: "There's all sorts of degrees of civilian participation. It runs the whole spectrum, from maybe passing on relevant data to more substantive things. The people who are called on by their government and serve, I don't think you're going to find them talking about it. Were that the case with me, I'm almost certain you wouldn't find me talking about it."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1992 Federal Review
|
||||
|
||||
On June 4, 1992, Jerry Urban of the *Chronicle* reported, citing "sources close to the investigations," that the [[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]] of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury]] and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] were reviewing accusations that Bath had guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence [[United States]] policy under the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and Bush administrations, and that the review stemmed in part from court documents White had obtained in litigation. Such representation would have required registration as a foreign agent with the [[Department of Justice]]. White said Bath had told him he had assisted the CIA in a liaison role with Saudi Arabia since 1976. Bath, who had previously denied working for the CIA, declined to comment for the record, as did spokesmen for FinCEN and the FBI.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Craig Unger, "Mystery man," *Salon*, April 28, 2004. https://www.salon.com/2004/04/28/james_bath/
|
||||
[^2]: Jonathan Beaty, "A Mysterious Mover of Money and Planes," *Time*, October 28, 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718843/a-mysterious-mover-of-money-and-planes/
|
||||
[^3]: Jerry Urban, "Bush Said Friend's Arbusto Investment Was His Own, Not Saudi Money," *Houston Chronicle*, June 4, 1992, as reproduced at the 9/11 Timeline archive (original not retrieved). https://911timeline.s3.amazonaws.com/1990s/houstonchronicle060492.html
|
||||
[^4]: National Guard Bureau, Departments of the Army and the Air Force, orders AO 87, dated September 29, 1972, paragraphs 6 and 7, signed for the Secretaries by Francis S. Greenlief, Chief, National Guard Bureau, in "George W. Bush Presidential Papers," GWB02 Military Records, Extras and Extracts, p. 25 of the scan (Internet Archive). https://archive.org/details/GeorgeW.BushPresidentialPapers
|
||||
[^5]: *Arab News* (Jeddah), advertisement for *Arab News* and *Saudi Business*, issues of November 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 26, 1978, in the Internet Archive collection "Arab News, 1978, Saudi Arabia, English." https://archive.org/details/ArabNews1978SaudiArabiaEnglish
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, contributor names "BATH, JIM R," "BATH, JIM R. MR," "BATH, JIM" and "BATH, JIM (IK)," Houston, Texas, committees C00000125 (Archer for Congress Committee, candidate H6TX07029), C00079350 (George Bush for Congress), C00029769 (Senator Lloyd Bentsen Election Committee), C00107318 (Connally for President Committee), C00106922 (George Bush for President), C00128306 (1980 Republican Presidential Unity Committee), C00145961 (Friends of Prescott Bush Campaign Committee), C00213538 (George Bush for President, Inc.), image numbers 78011413712, 78011503577, 78011503461, 78011283458, 79020042048, 80031040056, 80031053403, 80031110532, 82020092415, 82020080463, 87034752452, 88020213114, retrieved through the FEC API (api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/); images at https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/
|
||||
[^7]: *White v. Bath*, 825 S.W.2d 227 (Tex. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1992), No. B14-91-00260-CV, decided February 20, 1992, rehearing denied March 26, 1992 (Junell, J.; before Paul Pressler, Junell and Ellis, JJ.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/sw2d/825/cases/0227-01.json
|
||||
[^8]: *White v. Bath*, 507 U.S. 1039 (1993), No. 92-7783, certiorari denied April 19, 1993, Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/us/507/cases/1039-01.json
|
||||
144
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Leopold Aschenbrenner.md
Normal file
144
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Leopold Aschenbrenner.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- LeopoldAschenbrenner
|
||||
- SituationalAwareness
|
||||
- OpenAI
|
||||
- FTXFutureFund
|
||||
- HedgeFund
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- AISafety
|
||||
- CarlShulman
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Leopold Aschenbrenner
|
||||
- Aschenbrenner
|
||||
summary: "German-born former FTX Future Fund staffer and OpenAI Superalignment researcher, fired in 2024, who founded Situational Awareness LP, an AI-infrastructure hedge fund that CNBC reported was forced to sell its public holdings in 2026."
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Global Priorities Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "research affiliate on long-run economic growth"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[FTX Future Fund]]"
|
||||
end: 2022-11-11
|
||||
role: "member of the four-person team named at launch"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
|
||||
role: "researcher on the Superalignment team; fired for alleged leaking, according to The Information"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Situational Awareness LP]]"
|
||||
role: "founder"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Situational Awareness LP]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-05
|
||||
role: "managing partner and chief investment officer"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Situational Awareness LP]]"
|
||||
role: "50 to 75 percent owner of the adviser, per Form ADV Schedule A"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carl Shulman]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
role: "business partner; co-portfolio manager and director of research, 25 to 50 percent owner of the adviser"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Patrick Collison]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "anchor investor in the firm"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[John Collison]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "anchor investor in the firm"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Nat Friedman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "anchor investor in the firm"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Daniel Gross]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "anchor investor in the firm"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Avital Balwit]]"
|
||||
role: "fiance, as reported by CNBC in July 2026"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Leopold Aschenbrenner is the founder of [[Situational Awareness LP]], a [[San Francisco]] investment adviser to an AI-infrastructure hedge fund. His own site states that he "originally hail[s] from Germany," "did research on long-run economic growth at Oxford's Global Priorities Institute," worked "on the Superalignment team at OpenAI," and "recently founded an investment firm focused on AGI, with anchor investments from [[Patrick Collison]], [[John Collison]], [[Nat Friedman]], and [[Daniel Gross]]."[^1] The cover pages of the firm's ownership filings with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] give his citizenship as code 2M, the EDGAR code for Germany.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Columbia and Oxford
|
||||
|
||||
[[Columbia University]]'s alumni magazine announced in April 2021 that Aschenbrenner, an economics and mathematics-statistics major from Berlin, was the valedictorian of the class of 2021. It described him as a research affiliate at the [[Global Priorities Institute]] at the [[University of Oxford]] and a cofounder of Columbia College Effective Altruism, and stated that after graduation he would be a research fellow at the [[Forethought Foundation]].[^3] In the interview he said he arrived at Columbia aged 15, and listed among his courses "War, Peace, and Strategy" with [[Richard K. Betts]] and "War in Germany" with [[Adam Tooze]].[^3] The Forethought Foundation was a project of the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], directed from October 2017 by [[William MacAskill]].[^4] In a 2024 interview [[Dwarkesh Patel]] said the two had met "through the [[Tyler Cowen]] universe."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### FTX Future Fund
|
||||
|
||||
Cowen posted the announcement of the [[FTX Future Fund]] on Marginal Revolution on 1 March 2022. The fund planned "to distribute at least $100M this year" and might "deploy up to $1B this year"; its team was "[[Nick Beckstead]] (CEO), Leopold Aschenbrenner, Will MacAskill, and [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]]." Cowen added: "[[Emergent Ventures]] winner Leopold Aschenbrenner has been a driving force behind this, congratulations to Leopold!"[^6] Aschenbrenner later described the fund as "a foundation funded by [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] but we were our own thing. We were based in the Bay Area," and said that in November 2022 "it was revealed that Sam was a giant fraud, and from one day to the next, the whole thing collapsed."[^5] He was among the signatories of a post dated 11 November 2022 announcing that the team had resigned, which stated that "to the extent that the leadership of [[FTX]] may have engaged in deception or dishonesty, we condemn that behavior in the strongest possible terms."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2018, through the American affiliate of the Centre for Effective Altruism, [[Open Philanthropy]] had granted 5,000,000 dollars to "create and seed a new discretionary fund that will be administered by [[Carl Shulman]]," a research associate at the [[Future of Humanity Institute]] and Open Philanthropy adviser; the work Shulman said he might fund included "economic modeling of the impacts of automating different aspects of AI development."[^8] Shulman later became Aschenbrenner's co-portfolio manager.
|
||||
|
||||
### OpenAI
|
||||
|
||||
[[Erin Woo]] and [[Stephanie Palazzolo]] of [[The Information]] reported on 11 April 2024, citing "a person with knowledge of the situation," that [[OpenAI]] had fired two researchers for allegedly leaking information: Aschenbrenner, "a researcher on a team dedicated to keeping artificial intelligence safe for society," and [[Pavel Izmailov]]. They described Aschenbrenner as "an ally of OpenAI chief scientist [[Ilya Sutskever]], who participated in a failed effort to force out OpenAI CEO [[Sam Altman]] last fall," and wrote that "It's not clear what information the two fired staffers leaked."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
In a podcast interview with Patel posted on 4 June 2024, Aschenbrenner said the leak was a "brainstorming document on preparedness, safety, and security measures" that he had shared "with three external researchers for feedback," after redacting a reference to "a future cluster." He said he had earlier written an internal memo on OpenAI's security, "which I thought was egregiously insufficient to protect against the theft of model weights or key algorithmic secrets from foreign actors," shared it with "a couple of board members" after "a major security incident," and received "an official HR warning for sharing the memo with the board." He said that when he was fired "it was very made explicit that the security memo was a major reason," that a lawyer had questioned him about "whether the government should be involved in AGI, whether I and the superalignment team were loyal to the company, and what I was up to during the OpenAI board events," that he had not signed the employee letter during those events, and that he was offered equity worth "close to a million dollars" on leaving but "didn't want to sign."[^5] [[David Faber]] of [[CNBC]] wrote in July 2026 that "OpenAI has said those concerns were unrelated to his departure."[^10] The essay series "Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead," published under his name, is dated June 2024.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Funds
|
||||
|
||||
Situational Awareness Partners LP, a Delaware partnership, filed a notice of exempt offering (Form D) on 23 September 2024 as a hedge fund relying on Rule 506(b) and the section 3(c)(7) exclusion, with a minimum investment of 5,000,000 dollars and offices at 512 2nd Street, San Francisco. Its general partner is SAF AI GP LP, whose general partner is SAF AI GP LLC, managed by Aschenbrenner, who signed the form; [[Nicholas Gross-Whitaker]] is chief operating officer.[^12] Situational Awareness Offshore LP, a [[Cayman Islands]] partnership at the offices of Walkers Corporate Limited, filed on 12 December 2024 with a first sale on 1 December and 24,042,356 dollars sold to two investors.[^13] A third vehicle, "Situational Awareness LP Nov 2024 a Series of CGF2021 LLC," administered by [[Sydecar]] in Claymont, Delaware, reported 24,975,000 dollars sold to 32 investors under the section 3(c)(1) exclusion.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The adviser registered with the SEC effective 24 February 2025 (file 801-132039, CRD 333011), after withdrawing a California exempt-reporting registration on 25 January 2025.[^15] Its Form ADV of 11 June 2026 reports regulatory assets under management of 9,278,344,000 dollars, all discretionary, in two accounts, and eight employees, four of them in advisory roles. The single private fund it reports is Situational Awareness Partners LP, a master fund whose feeder is the offshore partnership, which is registered with the [[Cayman Islands Monetary Authority]]. It reports the fund's gross asset value as 9,278,344,000 dollars, its beneficial owners as about 81, the share owned by the adviser and its related persons as about 4 percent and the share owned by non-United States persons as 14 percent. The auditor is [[KPMG]] in Walnut Creek, the administrator is Stone Coast Fund Services, and the prime brokers are BofA Securities Prime, [[Citigroup]] Global Markets, [[Goldman Sachs]] and J.P. Morgan Securities, with [[Citizens Financial Group]] also listed as a custodian. Schedule A lists Aschenbrenner as chief investment officer from May 2024 with ownership of 50 to 75 percent, Shulman as director of research from October 2024 with 25 to 50 percent, and Gross-Whitaker as chief operating officer from August 2024 with 5 to 10 percent, followed by chief financial officer Patrick DeGraca (January 2026) and chief compliance officer Kimberly Summe (June 2026).[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The amended Forms D record the cumulative amounts sold since the first sales. For the Delaware fund they were 997,910,000 dollars from 65 investors (signed 5 September 2025), 1,025,510,000 dollars from 66 investors (29 December 2025), 1,762,326,027 dollars from 93 investors (10 March 2026) and 4,346,004,027 dollars from 135 investors (11 September 2026). For the Cayman feeder they were 53,185,626 dollars from 10 investors (8 and 29 December 2025), 198,142,357 dollars from 15 investors (10 March 2026) and 5,184,671,655 dollars from 52 investors (11 September 2026).[^12][^13] Two further partnerships under the same general partner, SAF FSC2 LP and SAF PIC LP, filed on 12 May 2026 as venture capital funds, reporting 167,150,000 dollars from 25 investors and 50,100,000 dollars from nine, with first sales on 1 May 2026.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reported Positions
|
||||
|
||||
The adviser's quarterly holdings reports (Form 13F) list long equity positions and listed options, the latter valued at the underlying shares. The first, for 31 December 2024, listed six positions worth 254,813,765 dollars, led by [[Marvell Technology]] and followed by [[Vistra]], Vertiv, Talen Energy, [[Constellation Energy]] and Modine. For 31 March 2025 the twelve positions totaled 1,005,567,727 dollars, led by call options on 20,237,400 shares of [[Intel]] (459,591,354 dollars), and included [[CoreWeave]] and [[Core Scientific]]. For 30 June 2025 the nine positions totaled 2,123,023,762 dollars, led by put options on a VanEck semiconductor exchange-traded fund. For 30 September 2025 there were 28 positions worth 4,138,368,748 dollars, and for 31 December 2025, 29 worth 5,516,758,344 dollars, led by [[Bloom Energy]].[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
For 31 March 2026 the report listed 42 positions worth 13,676,657,577 dollars, of which the five largest were put options: on the VanEck semiconductor fund (2,042,716,860 dollars), [[Nvidia]] (1,568,257,120 dollars), [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]] (1,072,873,230 dollars), [[Broadcom]] (1,006,247,961 dollars) and [[Advanced Micro Devices]] (969,160,863 dollars); there were also puts on Micron, [[Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company]] and ASML, and long positions in bitcoin-mining and data-center companies including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark and Applied Digital. The same report was filed under the Delaware fund's own registration. The report for 30 June 2026, signed by Summe, listed 26 positions worth 20,242,292,228 dollars, almost all long: [[SanDisk]] (5,673,738,513 dollars), [[Micron Technology]] (5,573,819,392 dollars), Bloom Energy, Taiwan Semiconductor, [[Nebius Group]], CoreWeave and Core Scientific.[^17][^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Core Scientific, Nebius and SharonAI
|
||||
|
||||
A Schedule 13D filed on 19 August 2025 reported that the Delaware fund held 17,682,918 shares of Core Scientific (5.8 percent), bought for 213,190,431.12 dollars, "for investment purposes." The reporting persons were the adviser, SAF AI GP LP, Situational Awareness LLC, the fund, Aschenbrenner, "the managing partner and control person of Adviser and General Partner," and Shulman, "the co-portfolio manager of the Fund"; both men signed the joint filing agreement. The filing reserved the right to recommend "mergers, consolidations, sales or acquisitions of assets, changes in control." Counsel was Anthony J. Caldwell of [[Shartsis Friese]]. An amendment of 14 October 2025 reported 28,756,478 shares (9.4 percent), bought for 362,121,757.59 dollars.[^2] In the proxy statement for Core Scientific's proposed acquisition by CoreWeave, filed on 26 September 2025, the adviser appears among the holders of more than 5 percent, alongside the [[Vanguard Group]], [[BlackRock]], Two Seas Capital and G1 Execution Services.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
The adviser reported 12,410,060 Class A shares of Nebius Group (5.6 percent) on a Schedule 13G for 19 May 2026.[^20] In June 2026 the fund bought shares of [[SharonAI Holdings]] under a securities purchase agreement with a prefunded warrant at 0.0001 dollars a share, capped at 19.99 percent until shareholders approved the issuance on 27 August 2026; the next day the reporting persons filed a Schedule 13D for 8,070,950 shares (21.1 percent), bought for 523,882,863.18 dollars, stating an investment purpose. The fund exercised the rest of the warrant on 15 September 2026.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### July and August 2026
|
||||
|
||||
Faber reported on 30 July 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, that the fund "was forced to sell all of its public stock holdings" after losses on AI infrastructure investments "such as SK Hynix" and on "short positions in software companies such as Adobe," that it had grown to "as big as $45 billion at the start of July," and that "Ken Griffin's [[Citadel]] hedge fund reached a deal to buy the fund's publicly traded assets." He wrote that prime brokers including [[Bank of America]], Goldman Sachs and [[JPMorgan Chase]] had been "working with the fund as it seeks to meet margin requirements," that "The firm had been negotiating to sell its stake in [[Anthropic]]," and that a spokesman "said reports that it was marketing a stake it owns in Anthropic are not accurate." Citing a Fortune profile, he reported that Aschenbrenner was engaged to [[Avital Balwit]], chief of staff to Anthropic's chief executive, [[Dario Amodei]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
A second amendment to the Core Scientific Schedule 13D, filed on 4 August 2026 by Adriana Schwartz of [[Seward & Kissel]], reported 25,608,473 shares (8.1 percent) on 15 July and 14,089,395 shares (4.4 percent) on 4 August. Its schedule of transactions lists two sales on 3 August 2026 of 5,759,539 shares each, at 19.6896 and 19.4807 dollars, "sold through block trades with unaffiliated third parties."[^21] The SharonAI Schedule 13D followed on 28 August, and the amended Forms D, reporting the cumulative 4.35 billion and 5.18 billion dollars sold, were signed on 11 September 2026.[^12][^13][^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Aschenbrenner, Leopold. "Leopold Aschenbrenner," author page, situational-awareness.ai, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://situational-awareness.ai/leopold-aschenbrenner/
|
||||
[^2]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Schedule 13D, Core Scientific, Inc. (CIK 0001839341), accession 0000935836-25-000543, filed 19 August 2025, with Exhibit 99.1 (joint filing agreement signed by Aschenbrenner and Shulman); Schedule 13D/A, accession 0000935836-25-000638, filed 14 October 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1839341/000093583625000543/primary_doc.xml ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1839341/000093583625000638/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^3]: "'21 Valedictorian Remembers Special Times at the College." Columbia College Today, 23 April 2021. https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/take-five/valedictorian-special-times-college
|
||||
[^4]: Centre for Effective Altruism, Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2021, filed at Companies House 5 April 2022, Trustees' Report, "Structure, Governance & Management" and "Objectives and Activities." https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzMzNTExMDE2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Patel, Dwarkesh. "Leopold Aschenbrenner: 2027 AGI, China/US super-intelligence race, and the return of history." Dwarkesh Podcast, transcript, 4 June 2024, at about 02:22 to 02:41. https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/leopold-aschenbrenner
|
||||
[^6]: Cowen, Tyler. "Announcing the Future Fund." Marginal Revolution, 1 March 2022. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/03/announcing-the-future-fund.html
|
||||
[^7]: Beckstead, Nick, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Ketan Ramakrishnan and others. "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned." Effective Altruism Forum, 11 November 2022. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1
|
||||
[^8]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism, New Discretionary Fund," award date March 2018, grant investigator Holden Karnofsky, Wayback Machine capture of 5 January 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250105202534/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-new-discretionary-fund/
|
||||
[^9]: Woo, Erin, and Stephanie Palazzolo. "OpenAI Researchers, Including Ally of Sutskever, Fired for Alleged Leaking." The Information, 11 April 2024 (headline and byline; text as reproduced by CDO Times, 28 April 2024). https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-researchers-including-ally-of-sutskever-fired-for-alleged-leaking ; https://cdotimes.com/2024/04/28/openai-researchers-including-ally-of-sutskever-fired-for-alleged-leaking-the-information/
|
||||
[^10]: Faber, David. "Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness sells entire book of public investments, sources say." CNBC, 30 July 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/30/leopold-aschenbrenners-hedge-fund-is-facing-steep-ai-losses.html
|
||||
[^11]: Aschenbrenner, Leopold. "Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead," June 2024, site home page. https://situational-awareness.ai/
|
||||
[^12]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Situational Awareness Partners LP (CIK 0002038540): Form D, accession 0000935836-24-000602, filed 23 September 2024; Forms D/A, accessions 0000935836-25-000591 (signed 5 September 2025), 0000935836-25-000734 (29 December 2025), 0000935836-26-000153 (10 March 2026) and 0000935836-26-000486 (11 September 2026). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0002038540
|
||||
[^13]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Situational Awareness Offshore LP (CIK 0002048430): Form D, accession 0000935836-24-000752, filed 12 December 2024; Forms D/A, accessions 0000935836-25-000718 (8 December 2025), 0000935836-25-000735 (29 December 2025), 0000935836-26-000154 (10 March 2026) and 0000935836-26-000484 (11 September 2026). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0002048430
|
||||
[^14]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, "Situational Awareness LP Nov 2024 a Series of CGF2021 LLC" (CIK 0002047424), accession 0002047424-24-000001, filed 5 December 2024. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2047424/000204742424000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^15]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, "Situational Awareness LP," CRD 333011, firm summary, retrieved 1 October 2026; Form ADV, other-than-annual amendment filed 11 June 2026, Items 5 and 7.B and Schedules A and D, Section 7.B.(1). https://api.adviserinfo.sec.gov/search/firm/333011 ; https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/333011/PDF/333011.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Forms D, SAF FSC2 LP (CIK 0002131438), accession 0000935836-26-000242, and SAF PIC LP (CIK 0002131439), accession 0000935836-26-000243, each filed 12 May 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2131438/000093583626000242/primary_doc.xml ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2131439/000093583626000243/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^17]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Forms 13F-HR of Situational Awareness LP (CIK 0002045724), cover pages and information tables: accessions 0000935836-25-000120 (31 December 2024), 0002045724-25-000002 (31 March 2025), 0002045724-25-000006 (30 June 2025), 0002045724-25-000008 (30 September 2025), 0002045724-26-000002 (31 December 2025), 0002045724-26-000008 (31 March 2026) and 0000935836-26-000418 (30 June 2026). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0002045724&type=13F-HR
|
||||
[^18]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Form 13F-HR of Situational Awareness Partners LP (CIK 0002038540), accession 0002038540-26-000004, period 31 March 2026. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0002038540&type=13F-HR
|
||||
[^19]: Core Scientific, Inc., definitive merger proxy statement (Schedule 14A, DEFM14A), accession 0001140361-25-036346, filed 26 September 2025, "Beneficial Ownership of Core Scientific Common Stock," note 14; located through EDGAR full-text search, which also returns CoreWeave, Inc.'s Form S-4 of 20 August 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1839341/000114036125036346/ny20053622x1_defm14a.htm
|
||||
[^20]: Securities and Exchange Commission, filings by Situational Awareness LP: Schedule 13G, Nebius Group N.V., accession 0000935836-26-000303, filed 27 May 2026; Schedule 13G, SharonAI Holdings Inc. (CIK 0002068385), accession 0000935836-26-000334, filed 29 June 2026, and 13G/A, accession 0000935836-26-000416, filed 14 August 2026; Schedule 13D, accession 0000935836-26-000468, filed 28 August 2026, Items 3, 4 and 6; Schedule 13D/A, accession 0000935836-26-000500, filed 17 September 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2045724/000093583626000303/primary_doc.xml ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2068385/000093583626000468/primary_doc.xml ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2068385/000093583626000500/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^21]: Securities and Exchange Commission, Schedule 13D/A (Amendment No. 2), Core Scientific, Inc., accession 0000919574-26-004796, filed 4 August 2026, cover pages, Item 5 and Exhibit 99.2 ("Transactions in the Past 60 Days"). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1839341/000091957426004796/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
136
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md
Normal file
136
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- NickBeckstead
|
||||
- FTXFutureFund
|
||||
- FTXFoundation
|
||||
- EffectiveVentures
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- Longtermism
|
||||
- SecureAIProject
|
||||
- Latona
|
||||
- WythamAbbey
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Nick Beckstead
|
||||
- Nicholas Beckstead
|
||||
- Nicholas Michael Beckstead
|
||||
- Dr Nicholas Michael Beckstead
|
||||
summary: "American philosopher, Open Philanthropy program officer and Effective Ventures director who ran the FTX Foundation and Future Fund, was sued and then dismissed by the FTX debtors, and co-founded Secure AI Project."
|
||||
born: 1985-03
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
role: "program officer, science philanthropy and machine learning"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Future of Humanity Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "research fellow"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Effective Ventures]]"
|
||||
start: 2012-02-23
|
||||
end: 2019-04-02
|
||||
role: "director of the company then named Centre for Effective Altruism"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Effective Ventures]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-07-01
|
||||
end: 2023-08-23
|
||||
role: "director of the company named Centre for Effective Altruism until August 2022, then Effective Ventures Foundation"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[FTX Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive, reporting directly to Bankman-Fried"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[FTX Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "director of the Delaware nonprofit"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[FTX Future Fund]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Sam Bankman-Fried]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive of the FTX Foundation"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Alameda Research]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-07-19
|
||||
end: 2024-03-14
|
||||
role: "defendant in the debtors' Latona adversary proceeding, No. 23-50444; settled and dismissed"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Center for AI Safety]]"
|
||||
role: "policy lead"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Secure AI Project]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder and chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Nicholas Michael Beckstead (born March 1985), an American philosopher, was a program officer at [[Open Philanthropy]] from 2014, a director of the English charitable company now named Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) in two periods between 2012 and 2023, and the chief executive of the [[FTX Foundation]] and its [[FTX Future Fund]] until the team's resignation in November 2022. The debtors in the [[FTX]] bankruptcy named him as a defendant in July 2023 and dismissed him in March 2024 after he agreed to cooperate. His website lists him as co-founder and chief executive of Secure AI Project.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Education and Open Philanthropy
|
||||
|
||||
His website states that he completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics and philosophy at the [[University of Minnesota]] and a Ph.D. in philosophy at [[Rutgers University]], that he was a research fellow at the [[Future of Humanity Institute]] of the [[University of Oxford]], and that he was an early employee of Open Philanthropy, where he served as a program officer "in a variety of areas, including science philanthropy and machine learning, starting in 2014." The same page lists conversations he recorded in 2013 and 2014 on space colonization and on surviving a global food crisis.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Centre for Effective Altruism and Effective Ventures
|
||||
|
||||
[[Companies House]] records for company 07962181, incorporated on February 23, 2012 as the Centre for [[Effective Altruism]], renamed Effective Ventures Foundation on August 25, 2022 and Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) on February 27, 2023, list Dr Nicholas Michael Beckstead, an American national, as a director from February 23, 2012 to April 2, 2019 (with a correspondence address in [[San Francisco]]) and again from July 1, 2021 to August 23, 2023. The register lists [[William MacAskill]] as a director from February 23, 2012 to September 21, 2023, [[Toby Ord]] from February 23, 2012 to July 29, 2022, [[Hilary Greaves]] from April 2 to July 18, 2019, [[Claire Zabel]] from July 18, 2019 to March 28, 2024, [[Owen Cotton-Barratt]] from March 24, 2020 to February 11, 2023, and [[Tasha McCauley]] from July 1, 2021 to March 14, 2024, and records [[Tara Mac Aulay]] as company secretary from July 1, 2015 to August 17, 2018.[^1] A 2025 filing by the [[FTX Recovery Trust]] states that [[Sam Bankman-Fried|Bankman-Fried]], as chief executive of the FTX Foundation, "hired Nick Beckstead, an Effective Altruist who sat on the Board of Directors of Effective Ventures, a federation of Effective Altruist organizations and projects (including the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]])," and that the Foundation employed MacAskill as an adviser. The same filing records that Bankman-Fried had left the Centre's board in 2019 after it investigated its connections with [[Alameda Research]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 19, 2022 the charity reported to the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales|Charity Commission]] that FTX and affiliated entities, among its funders, had filed for bankruptcy, that it held 3.3 million pounds and 300,000 dollars in funding from them, and that two of its trustees were connected with FTX, one as chief executive of the FTX Foundation and the other as an unpaid adviser to the Future Fund. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry on December 19, 2022. Its report, published May 22, 2024, does not name the trustees. It records that the charity ringfenced the funds, obtained a defence against money laundering from the [[National Crime Agency]], and returned 4,246,503.16 dollars to FTX under a settlement; that the two FTX-connected trustees had been excluded from decisions on the bankruptcy and resigned during the inquiry; that their connections had produced "a lack of clarity as to whether they were acting for the charity or on behalf of FTX Foundation at any given time"; that trustees had not been required to disclose potential conflicts on joining the board until October 2022; and that there was nonetheless no evidence of unmanaged conflicts regarding funds received from the FTX Foundation.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
*[[Civil Society]]* reported in April 2024, citing the charity's accounts, that Effective Ventures Foundation bought [[Wytham Abbey]], near [[Oxford]], in April 2022 after receiving 17 million pounds from Open Philanthropy to support the purchase.[^5] *[[Third Sector]]* reported on February 18, 2026 that the charity had paid almost 15 million pounds for the abbey, recorded an impairment loss of 8.6 million pounds as of June 30, 2025, and sold it to an unnamed buyer for 6 million pounds in November 2025.[^6] The charity's announcement of March 25, 2024 stated that the Wytham Abbey Project had not met "the funding bar of our major funders" and that the board had decided to sell the property; an update of November 11, 2025 recorded completion of the sale.[^7] Beckstead was recorded as a director of the charity from July 2021 through the purchase and until August 2023.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The FTX Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
A document that Bankman-Fried created on December 30, 2021 at 1:55 a.m. Eastern time, setting out proposed terms for hiring [[Ross Rheingans-Yoo]], tells the recipient to "chat with Nick [Beckstead ('Beckstead'), the CEO of the FTX Foundation,] about foundation stuff before this is finalized," and lists the manager as "likely Caroline [Ellison] + SBF [Bankman-Fried] + Nick [Beckstead] depending on the task." A revised version Rheingans-Yoo created later that day describes a position as "Director of Special Projects, reporting to NB," and states that "FDUs," foundation direction units, "can be directed to plausibly-EA things at Ross's discretion with NB[ Beckstead]/SBF oversight for not damaging the FTXF/etc brand"; the final terms of March 24, 2022 repeat that clause. The debtors and Rheingans-Yoo stipulated in January 2025 that he began work on or about January 4, 2022 and, with the knowledge and consent of Bankman-Fried and Beckstead, held himself out as a "program officer," "project officer" and "special projects lead" of the FTX Foundation, although he was not employed by it and was paid by FTX Digital Markets Ltd.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The debtors' complaint of July 19, 2023 states that the FTX Foundation was a Delaware nonprofit, non-stock corporation whose sole member was Bankman-Fried and whose directors included Bankman-Fried, [[Nishad Singh]], [[Gary Wang]], [[Caroline Ellison]] and Beckstead, and that Beckstead, as its chief executive, reported directly to Bankman-Fried.[^9] A later complaint by the FTX Recovery Trust states that FTX Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on February 1, 2022 and renamed FTX Philanthropy, Inc. on July 1, 2022, that its directors and officers included the same five, and cites the February 28, 2022 post of [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]] and Beckstead describing the Future Fund's regranting program, which offered "discretionary budgets to independent part-time grantmakers." According to that complaint, in March 2022 the Foundation approved a regrantor's request to send 1 million dollars to [[Manifold Markets]] through simple agreements for future equity; because the Foundation was not yet incorporated, Alameda Research Ventures LLC was made the counterparty, Bankman-Fried signed the agreements on March 20 and April 2, 2022, and the money was wired from Alameda Research Ventures' account at [[Signature Bank]]. Manifold Markets applied on March 21, 2022 for funds to create a charitable arm, and on or about August 8, 2022 FTX Philanthropy sent it 500,000 dollars, which the Trust alleges funded Manifold for Charity and seeks to recover.[^10] In a motion of July 23, 2025 the Trust stated that the Bankruptcy Court had overruled, on July 9, 2025, its objection to Rheingans-Yoo's claim to a 650,000 dollar donation to an effective altruism cause of his choosing, and that he had designated Manifold for Charity, where Singh then worked as an engineer, as the beneficiary.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On cross-examination of Bankman-Fried at his trial on October 31, 2023, Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Danielle Sassoon]] asked whether he had discussed with the Bahamian prime minister [[Philip Davis]] paying off the national debt of about 11.6 billion dollars, which he said he did not remember, and whether he had joked that his employee [[Ryan Salame]] was effectively a member of the Bahamian government, which he denied. She then read from Government Exhibit 2504, a chat titled "Project Chinchilla Chatter" dated December 2, 2021, in which Bankman-Fried wrote that "the Bahamas has already asked if we want to do anything with their CBDC." The next message was from Beckstead at 12:01 a.m.: "Leopold is going to look online to try to figure out who in the Bahamas government we should be talking to." Bankman-Fried replied, "His name is Ryan Salame."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
In a post on the [[Effective Altruism Forum]] timestamped 02:04 UTC on November 11, 2022, Beckstead, Aschenbrenner, [[Avital Balwit]], [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]] and MacAskill announced that they had resigned from the Future Fund "earlier today." They wrote that they were "shocked and immensely saddened," that they had "fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund," and that "it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Equity in FTX
|
||||
|
||||
The FTX debtors' lists of equity holders, filed March 13, 2023, record Nick Beckstead as the holder of 100,000 shares of Class A common stock of West Realm Shires Inc., the parent of FTX US, and 22,400 shares of common stock of FTX Trading Ltd.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Latona adversary proceeding
|
||||
|
||||
On July 19, 2023 Alameda Research Ltd. and FTX Trading Ltd. filed an adversary complaint (Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444, Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware) against [[Platform Life Sciences]] Inc., Lumen Bioscience, [[GreenLight Biosciences]] Holdings, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, [[Latona Biosciences Group]], the FTX Foundation, Bankman-Fried, Rheingans-Yoo and "Nicholas Beckstead." The debtors alleged that the FTX Foundation and Latona, which they called "a sham non-profit company organized in the Bahamas," channeled approximately 71.6 million dollars of commingled Alameda and FTX funds to the life sciences companies, and sought to recover no less than 71,550,000 dollars as fraudulent transfers. Against Beckstead and Rheingans-Yoo they pleaded aiding and abetting, or knowing assistance in, Bankman-Fried's breach of fiduciary duty.[^9] Latona was incorporated in [[Bahamas|the Bahamas]] on May 20, 2022 with Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and a third person as its initial directors.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The complaint alleges that on or around January 25, 2022 Platform Life Sciences pitched Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and Beckstead on a 10 million dollar investment; that Rheingans-Yoo wrote that "Nick [Beckstead] had a different idea," an investment of 4 million dollars to "support short-run operations" followed by co-founding a company if it looked like "a multi-$bln opportunity"; that Beckstead approved, on a funding recommendation form dated January 27, 2022, a 3,250,000 dollar "philanthropic grant," increased from the 3 million dollar budget "to support the onboarding of 1-2 trial sites in the Bahamas"; and that because the Foundation had no bank account, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead, at Bankman-Fried's direction, caused FTX to wire the money on February 4, 2022. It quotes an internal document Beckstead wrote in May 2022 about the Platform Life Sciences investment: "Why did it need to be through Latona? In case it makes a lot of money. Prefer not to be disclosed on Bahamian entity balance sheet. Main thing: if it makes a ton of money, how open do we need to be about that?" It states that he conceded most of the life sciences investments were "ill-advised and not well-evaluated," that on August 9, 2022 he called a proposed GreenLight investment "unattractive" in part because it came from a "random CEO pitching this to Ross [Rheingans-Yoo] at a conference," that he forwarded Riboscience's deck to Bankman-Fried and Rheingans-Yoo in January 2022, and that on July 15, 2022 the office manager of FTX in [[Miami]] introduced [[Joseph Bankman|Joe Bankman]], Bankman-Fried's father, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead to the two founders of Genetic Networks, one of them [[Leland Hartwell]]. The pleading puts FTX's damages on the Platform Life Sciences transfer at 3.25 million dollars.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The debtors' disclosure statement records that a stipulation of November 1, 2023 stayed the proceeding as to the smaller life sciences defendants and Beckstead; that on January 25, 2024 the debtors reached a settlement with him "pursuant to which he provided documents and information to the Debtors, sat for an interview, and agreed to be deposed in the adversary proceeding if necessary"; that the court approved it on March 13, 2024; and that the debtors dismissed him from the case on March 14, 2024. Platform Life Sciences paid the debtors 16 million dollars, GreenLight 420,918 dollars and Genetic Networks 450,000 dollars.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Center for AI Safety and Secure AI Project
|
||||
|
||||
His website lists, after the Future Fund, a period as policy lead at the [[Center for AI Safety]] and his current role as co-founder and chief executive of Secure AI Project, which it describes as developing and advocating "pragmatic policies to reduce risks of severe harm from advanced AI."[^2] [[ProPublica]]'s Nonprofit Explorer, drawing on the [[Internal Revenue Service]] business master file, lists Secure AI Project (EIN 33-2394289) at 584 Castro Street in San Francisco as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization with a ruling date of January 1, 2026, revenue and assets of 195,025 dollars, and a return for the tax period ending December 2024.[^15] [[Dario Amodei]]'s essay "The Adolescence of Technology" of January 2026, filed by [[Anthropic]] as an exhibit in its suit against the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of War]], thanks "Nick Beckstead" and "Jim McClave," among others, "for their helpful comments on drafts of this essay."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Companies House, Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), company no. 07962181, company overview (incorporation and previous company names) and officers register, accessed Oct. 1, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/officers
|
||||
[^2]: Nick Beckstead, personal website, "About Me," accessed Oct. 1, 2026. https://www.nickbeckstead.com/
|
||||
[^3]: FTX Recovery Trust's Motion for Reconsideration or to Modify Order Allowing Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 31846, paras. 1-2, 7-10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.31846.0.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Charity Commission for England and Wales, "Charity Inquiry: Effective Ventures Foundation UK," published May 22, 2024 (since withdrawn under the Commission's retention policy), sections "Background," "Findings" and "Conclusions." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk
|
||||
[^5]: "Crypto-backed charity plans closure and £17m Oxford property sale," *Civil Society*, April 3, 2024. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/crypto-backed-charity-plans-closure-and-17m-oxford-property-sale.html
|
||||
[^6]: "Charity backed by crypto fraudster sells historic property at 'significantly' reduced price," *Third Sector*, February 18, 2026. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-backed-crypto-fraudster-sells-historic-property-significantly-reduced-price/finance/article/1948737
|
||||
[^7]: Rob Gledhill, "Announcement on the future of Wytham Abbey," Effective Altruism Forum, March 25, 2024, with update of November 11, 2025. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/announcement-on-the-future-of-wytham-abbey
|
||||
[^8]: Stipulation of Undisputed Facts Relating to Ross Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. Jan. 15, 2025), D.I. 29218, paras. 3-6, 9-13, 18-21, 32-35, 42-46. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.29218.0.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: Complaint, *Alameda Research Ltd. v. Platform Life Sciences Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. July 19, 2023), filed as D.I. 1881 in No. 22-11068, caption and paras. 1, 5, 9-10, 17-20, 48-51, 53-64, 82, 88, 98, 174-179. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.1881.0.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: First Amended Complaint, *FTX Recovery Trust v. Manifold Markets, Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 24-50214 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 38, paras. 10, 38-40 and n.6. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.194811/gov.uscourts.deb.194811.38.0.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: Trial transcript, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 31, 2023), filed as ECF No. 380, Bankman-Fried cross-examination, pp. 2751-2752. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.380.0.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: Nick Beckstead, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Avital Balwit, Ketan Ramakrishnan and Will MacAskill, "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned," Effective Altruism Forum, published 2022-11-11T02:04 UTC. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1
|
||||
[^13]: Notice of Filing of Lists of Equity Holders, Exhibit A (WRS Equity Holders List) p. 14 and Exhibit B (FTX Trading Equity Holders List) p. 35 of 69, filed Mar. 13, 2023 in *In re Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd.*, No. 23-10149 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.), D.I. 76-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.189054/gov.uscourts.deb.189054.76.1.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Disclosure Statement for Debtors' Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization of FTX Trading Ltd. and Its Affiliated Debtors, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD), p. 59 (litigation, item 5), filed as Exhibit C to ECF No. 450, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. June 14, 2024), ECF No. 450-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.450.3.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization 332394289, Secure AI Project (IRS EO BMF data, updated Sept. 16, 2026). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/332394289.json
|
||||
[^16]: Dario Amodei, "The Adolescence of Technology," January 2026, acknowledgments, filed as Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Michael J. Mongan, *Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War*, No. 3:26-cv-01996-RFL (N.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2026), ECF No. 6-7. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.6.7.pdf
|
||||
239
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Philip Agee.md
Normal file
239
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Philip Agee.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,239 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Defector
|
||||
- InsideTheCompany
|
||||
- Counterspy
|
||||
- CovertActionInformationBulletin
|
||||
- HaigVAgee
|
||||
- IntelligenceIdentitiesProtectionAct
|
||||
- Cuba
|
||||
- KGB
|
||||
- LatinAmerica
|
||||
- Passport
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Philip Agee
|
||||
- Phillip Agee
|
||||
- Phil Agee
|
||||
- Philip B. F. Agee
|
||||
- Philip Burnett Franklin Agee
|
||||
summary: "CIA operations officer in Ecuador, Uruguay and Mexico from 1957 to 1968 whose 1975 book named Agency personnel, whose passport was revoked in 1979, and who died in Havana."
|
||||
born: 1935-01-19
|
||||
died: 2008-01-07
|
||||
location: "Takoma Park, Maryland (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
end: 1968
|
||||
role: "operations officer"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Air Force]]"
|
||||
start: 1957-08
|
||||
role: "active duty"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of State]]"
|
||||
start: 1960-11
|
||||
end: 1969-01
|
||||
role: "cover employment"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "reporting to the FBI on his travel plans, 1974"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Home Office]]"
|
||||
start: 1976-11-15
|
||||
role: "deportation from the United Kingdom"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1977-03-18
|
||||
role: "disclosure of classified information in Inside the Company"
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Covert Action Information Bulletin]]"
|
||||
start: 1978
|
||||
role: "co-founder"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of State]]"
|
||||
start: 1979-12-23
|
||||
role: "revocation of passport"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Haig v. Agee]]"
|
||||
end: 1981-06-29
|
||||
role: "respondent"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Cubalinda]]"
|
||||
start: 2000
|
||||
role: "online travel agency, with European investors and a state travel agent"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (January 19, 1935 to January 7, 2008) was an operations officer of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] who served in [[Quito]], [[Montevideo]] and [[Mexico City]] and resigned in 1968. His book [[Inside the Company: CIA Diary]] (1975) named CIA officers, agents and contacts in [[Ecuador]], [[Uruguay]] and [[Mexico]]. He was deported from [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[France]] and the [[Netherlands]]; in December 1979 the [[State Department|Department of State]] revoked his passport, and in June 1981 the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] upheld the revocation in [[Haig v. Agee]]. He died in [[Havana]].[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early life and Agency service
|
||||
|
||||
In a letter of June 10, 1977 authorizing the attorney [[Melvin L. Wulf]] to request his government files, Agee stated that he was born on January 19, 1935 at [[Takoma Park, Maryland]], that he was employed by the CIA "from August or July 1957 until January 1969," that from August 1957 to about June 1960 he was on active duty in the [[United States Air Force]], and that from November 1960 until January 1969 he was employed by the Department of State "under a cover arrangement with the Central Intelligence Agency."[^2] The Supreme Court's opinion in Haig v. Agee gives his employment as 1957 to 1968, in the division responsible for covert intelligence gathering abroad, with training in clandestine operations "including the methods used to protect the identities of intelligence employees and sources."[^1] A CIA unclassified fact sheet of September 1978 states that he worked for the Agency for eleven years before resigning in November 1968.[^4] A CIA reviewer of his book wrote that it began "with an account of his recruitment in 1959."[^5] The [[Associated Press]] reported at his death that he "quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA reviewer, writing in the Agency's journal [[Studies in Intelligence]] in a review released in 1996, placed him in Quito from 1960 to 1963, in Montevideo from 1964 to 1966 and in Mexico City from 1966 to 1968, and wrote that Agee "had rejected going into his family business, had left law school after three months, and left his wife and later his girl friend."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Quito, 1960 to 1963
|
||||
|
||||
Agee's diary entry describing the founding of the [[AIFLD|American Institute for Free Labor Development]] states that "Business leaders are front men on the Board of Directors so that large sums of [[Agency for International Development|AID]] money can be channelled to AIFLD," that the institute "is headed by [[Serafino Romualdi]], 10 Division's longtime agent," and that its directors included [[George Meany]], [[J. Peter Grace]] and [[Joseph Beirne]] of the [[Communications Workers of America]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The entry for Quito, July 11, 1963 records that a four-man military junta had replaced President [[Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy|Carlos Julio Arosemena]] after a banquet for the president of the [[W. R. Grace and Company|Grace Lines]], and that Agee watched the Presidential Palace from a room arranged by Jorge Andino, whom he describes as a support agent and the owner of the Hotel Majestic, while monitoring the military intelligence radio and reporting to the station, which sent progress reports to headquarters and to the military commands in [[Panama]]. The entry of July 13 states: "we've already started passing data from the Subversive Control Watch List to Major de los Reyes here in Quito and to Colonel Lugo in Guayaquil which they are using with military colleagues in the arrests campaign," and records that more than a hundred Communists and other leftists had been jailed in [[Guayaquil]] alone. The entry of July 31 records [[United States]] recognition of the junta that day and that "all along we've kept busy getting information to Major de los Reyes and Colonel Lugo."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mexico City and resignation
|
||||
|
||||
Agee's entry on his assignment to Mexico City records a briefing on the station's operations, which he describes as "heavily weighted towards liaison (which rests on the unusually close relationship between [[Gustavo Díaz Ordaz|Gustavo Diaz Ordaz]], the President of Mexico and [[Winston Scott]], the Chief of Station) and operational support (surveillance, observation posts, travel control, postal intercepts, telephone tapping)."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The September 1978 CIA fact sheet states that "At the time of his resignation in Mexico City, Agee gave no indication of disaffection," that his resignation letter "had only praise and good wishes for the Agency and his colleagues," and that "he was asked to resign because of personal/marital problems which threatened to expose him publicly in Mexico City as a CIA officer."[^4] In January 1977 the British journalist [[Anthony Holden]] reported Agee's own account that before the 1968 Olympic Games he had told his CIA superiors in Mexico City of his intention to resign, and that he was then in a custody dispute with his former wife, who had threatened to expose him as a CIA officer to make him back down.[^9] [[Christopher Andrew]] and [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] wrote that he "had been forced to resign in 1968 after complaints at his heavy drinking, poor financial management and attempts to proposition wives of American diplomats."[^10] The CIA reviewer wrote: "In Mexico City his increasing dissent amounts to defection."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Writing Inside the Company, 1970 to 1972
|
||||
|
||||
Agee wrote in the book's introduction that "In order to write this book, I have spent most of the last four years in intensive research to reinforce my own recollections."[^11] A diary entry dated Mexico City, January 1971 records his decision "to name all the names and organizations connected with CIA operations" and "to seek ways of getting useful information on the CIA to revolutionary organizations that could use it to defend themselves better."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
An entry of March 1971 records a trip to [[Montreal]] to meet a publisher's representative, with whom he discussed doing the research in [[Paris]], [[Brussels]] or [[Cuba]]. Agee listed his fears about Cuba: "my past work against Cuba and communism, possible Soviet pressures, my reluctance to engage in sessions for counter-intelligence ploys, problems with the CIA afterwards," and wrote that he feared the CIA "would begin a campaign to denigrate me as a traitor." He agreed to go if the trip could be arranged and added: "Presumably the book will have to be politically acceptable to the Cubans and the research materials available."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
An entry dated Paris, August 1971 states: "In May I went to Havana to discuss the research materials needed, and they agreed to assist with what they have available, which appears to be a good deal. They also invited me to stay there to finish as much as possible, which I accepted." An entry of October 1971 is headed Havana.[^14] An entry of August 1972 states that he went to Havana again in May 1972 and that "For reasons I fail to understand there is a lack of confidence in my intentions about the book's political content," that research left pending in Cuba had not been done, and that "the Cubans wouldn't want to be embarrassed by a politically unacceptable book."[^15] In the book's acknowledgements Agee wrote that in Havana the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí and the [[Casa de las Américas]] "provided special assistance for research and helped find data available only from government documentation," and that "Representatives of the Communist Party of Cuba also gave me important encouragement at a time when I doubted that I would be able to find the additional information I needed."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA reviewer, in a review whose editor's note states that it "does not purport to examine the possibility or extent of Soviet involvement in Agee's actions, from the start or at an early stage," wrote: "One assumes that when he visited Havana he received editorial assistance from the Cubans and Soviets, but how much is, of course, not clear."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Paris, 1971 to 1972
|
||||
|
||||
Agee wrote that in late 1971 he sent a letter to the Montevideo weekly [[Marcha]] about possible CIA election operations against the [[Frente Amplio]]. According to his entry of January 1972, a few days after Christmas a former training colleague, whom he names as Keith Gardiner, appeared at his Paris hotel with a copy of the published letter and said that [[Richard Helms]] wanted to know "just what I think I am doing"; Gardiner told him that the Paris station, then headed by [[David Murphy]], had located him through the French liaison service, and suggested that he was being manipulated by the Soviets through his publisher.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
In the entry of August 1972 Agee wrote that after returning from Cuba he recognized street surveillance in Paris, which he suspected was the French service acting at CIA request, and that he was befriended by Americans including a freelance journalist he names as Sal Ferrera and a woman he names as Leslie Donegan, who offered to finance him and read the manuscript.[^15] His June 1977 authorization letter lists his Paris mail address from May to October 1972 as care of Ferrera.[^2] The entry of October 6, 1972 states that in September the CIA's General Counsel visited his father in [[Florida]] and his former wife "to express Helms's concern over the book and my trips to Cuba," leaving copies of a recent court decision on the secrecy agreement.[^18] The entry of October 14, 1972 states that a typewriter Donegan had given him contained "an elaborate installation of transistors, batteries, circuits, wiring and antennas, also a tiny microphone for picking up voices," which he found after detecting a beeping signal on his radio and seeing a couple he took to be monitors outside the studio where he was living. An entry of October 24, 1972, written in [[London]], states that a friend in Paris had been arrested and questioned for several hours at the Ministry of the Interior about him and the book.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Publication and the London campaign, 1974 to 1975
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum written shortly before the press conference by the CIA Director of Security, [[Charles W. Kane]], asked the Deputy Director for Administration to approve a memorandum to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], at the telephoned request of the Chief of [[Latin America]] Operations, stating that "Information has been received from a usually reliable source that Philip Agee plans to return to the United States immediately after a press conference which he has scheduled in London for 3 October 1974." It cites a CIA memorandum to the FBI of August 23, 1974 "and Previous Correspondence."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
At the London press conference Agee announced "a new campaign to fight the United States CIA wherever it is operating," with two functions: "to expose CIA officers and agents and to take the measures necessary to drive them out of the countries where they are operating" and "to seek within the United States to have the CIA abolished." He said that the list released that day "was compiled by a small group of Mexican comrades whom I trained to follow the comings and goings of CIA people before I left Mexico City."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The book carried an appendix that the CIA reviewer counted as 429 names and descriptions of "CIA Employees, Agents, Collaborators and Organizations."[^5] Andrew and Mitrokhin wrote that it identified approximately 250 Agency officers and agents, that it was first published in Britain "Because of legal problems in the United States," and that a review in [[The Spectator]] by [[Miles Copeland]], a former CIA station chief in [[Cairo]], called it "as complete an account of spy work as is likely to be published anywhere."[^10] The Stonehill Publishing edition was distributed in the United States by George Braziller; the CIA review cites a 1975 [[Penguin Books]] edition.[^5][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Counterspy and the death of Richard Welch
|
||||
|
||||
In December 1975 [[Richard Welch]], the CIA chief of station in [[Athens]], was shot dead outside his home after an English-language newspaper in Athens named him as chief of station.[^1][^21] On December 29, 1975 the [[National Public Radio]] program All Things Considered reported that CIA Director [[William Colby]] had denounced the [[Fifth Estate]], a Washington group that published the quarterly [[Counterspy]] and had named Welch in September 1975, for what he called "irresponsible and paranoid attacks" on employees of the agency. The group's spokesman [[Douglas Porter]] said that Welch had been exposed in 1967 in an East German publication, "Who's Who in the CIA," in [[British Guiana]] in 1969, and in [[Peru]], and that the group reprinted only names already published abroad.[^21] On January 5, 1976 the [[Christian Science Monitor]] reported that the [[Department of Justice]], at the request of the CIA, was examining whether to prosecute Counterspy's editors, [[Tim Butz]], Margaret Van Houten, [[Winslow Peck]] and Porter.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
[[David Atlee Phillips]], president of the Association of Retired Intelligence Officers, wrote in a letter published in the [[Washington Star]] on January 28, 1976 that the journalist [[Norman Kempster]] had, in Phillips's summary, suggested "that the death of Richard Welch in Athens had been deftly exploited by the CIA" and that the press had "swallowed the bait" of a CIA stratagem to blame the Fifth Estate. Phillips confirmed that he had said Welch's death "became inevitable" when "a few American ex-intelligence officers joined Philip Agee in his sordid campaign of identifying American intelligence officials abroad," and added: "I certainly don't know who pulled the trigger."[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
Agee wrote in a letter to the editor published on March 1, 1976 and signed from [[Cambridge]]: "I never 'fingered' Richard Welch to Counterspy, the Athens News or to any other publication or person. However, I continue to help other journalists, and would have helped the Athens News in identifying the [CIA] people if asked." He wrote that Welch had been identified in print as a CIA officer as early as 1968.[^24] The September 1978 CIA fact sheet states that Agee "has attempted to downplay his indirect contribution to the assassination of Athens Station Chief Richard Welch."[^4] The [[New York Post]] reported on December 17, 1979 that Agee "heatedly denied any connection."[^25] Agee later sued [[Barbara Bush]] for $4 million for defamation over a passage in her autobiography linking his book to Welch's death; the Associated Press reported that she revised the book to settle the case.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Deportation from Britain, 1976 to 1977
|
||||
|
||||
Agee had lived in Britain since 1972; his June 1977 letter lists addresses in London from November 1972, in [[Cornwall]] from May 1974 to August 1975 and in Cambridge from September 1975.[^2][^26] On November 18, 1976 Home Secretary [[Merlyn Rees]] told the [[House of Commons]] that on November 15 Agee and the journalist [[Mark Hosenball]] had been informed of his decision to make deportation orders against them under section 3(5)(b) of the [[Immigration Act 1971]], as being conducive to the public good in the interests of national security. Agee was told that the Home Secretary had considered information that he "had maintained regular contacts harmful to the security of the United Kingdom with foreign intelligence officers," had been involved in disseminating information harmful to its security, and had aided and counseled others in obtaining such information for publication. There was no statutory right of appeal; an advisory panel of Sir Derek Hilton, Sir Clifford Jarrett and Sir Richard Hayward would hear representations. Rees said he was "not prepared to go into greater detail." [[Judith Hart]] asked him to read pages 567 and 570 of Agee's book; [[Winston Churchill (MP)|Winston Churchill]] asked whether there would be concern "that individuals have been maintaining contact with Cuban and Soviet bloc intelligence services."[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 9, 1977 the [[Sunday Times]] published an article by Anthony Holden on what it called the Polish connection. It reported that on January 12, 1976 [[Murray Seeger]], the [[Los Angeles Times]] correspondent in [[Bonn]], had written a story from Brussels, citing "qualified western sources," that blamed Agee for the arrest of the fencer [[Jerzy Pawlowski]] and 120 other [[NATO]] agents in [[Poland]] by giving their names to the [[KGB]] in Cuba in 1971. The Los Angeles Times never printed it; its foreign editor, Bob Gibson, said it "needed further checking." Seeger told the Sunday Times his sources were "highly reliable" and would not comment on whether they had CIA connections. Pawlowski had been arrested in June 1975 and sentenced in April 1976 to 25 years. Agee described the story as a smear by his former colleagues in the CIA and argued that, had he passed the names in 1971, the ring would not have survived until 1975. Holden reported that, according to an intermediary, Rees had told a senior politician that he was deporting Agee "because he has betrayed two of our men behind the Iron Curtain."[^9] On January 10, 1977 the journalist [[Lindsay Mackie]] reported Agee's statement that he had heard, from what he called "a second-hand second-hand source," that Rees had told the Liberal leader [[David Steel]] that Agee was responsible for the deaths of two men in Poland; Agee denied it, and said that the only link between himself and Pawlowski was that both had been at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
The panel hearings at 116 Pall Mall opened on January 11, 1977.[^28] Andrew and Mitrokhin wrote that Agee's character witnesses included [[Stan Newens]], Hart, Alex Lyon, [[Ramsey Clark]], [[Morton Halperin]] and [[Seán MacBride]], and that a KGB file noted by Mitrokhin claimed the London residency had been used "to direct action" by Labour Party, union and journalists' leaders against the decision, a claim they described as "greatly exaggerated."[^10] On February 16, 1977 Rees told the Commons that the panel's advice had not changed his decision and that he had made a deportation order against each man, served with notices requiring them to report weekly to the police.[^29] Agee left England for the Netherlands on June 3, 1977.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Justice Department investigation, 1977
|
||||
|
||||
On March 22, 1977 the Associated Press reported that the Justice Department had closed its investigation of Agee and told him he was free to return without facing prosecution for disclosing CIA secrets. The decision was made the previous Friday, March 18, by the new head of the Criminal Division, [[Benjamin Civiletti|Benjamin R. Civiletti]], a day after he met Agee's attorneys; several weeks earlier Civiletti's predecessor, [[Dick Thornburgh|Richard L. Thornburgh]], had told Agee that he might be charged for disclosing classified material in the book. Civiletti said the investigation had "reached a logical end without producing ground for prosecution." A CIA spokesman said the agency was "upset," and Director [[Stansfield Turner]] said he was weighing a campaign for new laws.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Greek article, 1977
|
||||
|
||||
On June 13, 1977 [[Anne Weaver]] reported from Athens that an article by Agee, "The American factor in Greece: old and new," written in April 1976, had appeared in the left-of-center biweekly Anti, naming 64 Americans whom he said were CIA employees in Greece and 175 who he said had served there. An opposition deputy, Virginia Tsouderou, called for clarification of what they were doing and for some expulsions; a member of [[Constantine Karamanlis]]'s [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] party called the article "an open invitation to assassination."[^30] [[Newsday]] reported that the Greek government had tried to stop publication by offering the magazine full financial compensation, according to a senior staff member.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
### Freedom of Information Act request, 1977 to 1978
|
||||
|
||||
On November 9, 1977 Wulf sent requests under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] on Agee's behalf to the CIA, the [[National Security Agency]], the FBI and the Departments of Defense, State and Justice for "all files and records of every description" relating to him. A memorandum of March 22, 1978 from [[John F. Blake]], assistant for information to the CIA's Deputy Director for Administration, records that the CIA had asked the other agencies to refer to it any document containing CIA information, that the FBI had referred four, two of them CIA documents found in FBI files, and that "Nothing has, as yet, been released to Agee or his lawyer."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Covert Action Information Bulletin and Dirty Work, 1978 to 1979
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA fact sheet delivered on September 7, 1978 to the staff of Senator [[Lloyd Bentsen]] states that at the World Youth Festival in Havana Agee announced [[Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe]], "said to contain biographies of 700 CIA and [[NSA]] personnel abroad," and the launch of the [[Covert Action Information Bulletin]], which he hoped would become "a permanent weapon in the fight against the CIA, the FBI, military intelligence, and all other instruments of U.S. imperialist oppression throughout the world," and that he intended to organize a worldwide network called "CIA Watch." The fact sheet dates his first public break to a 1971 letter to a Uruguayan newspaper.[^4] A newspaper column of August 19, 1978 states that [[William Schaap]], an attorney of the [[National Lawyers Guild]], announced from the Havana Libre Hotel a group called Counter-Watch, and quotes the bulletin's July 1978 first issue asking readers to send, "anonymously if you desire, copies of U.S. diplomatic lists." It states that Welch was killed on December 23, 1975.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 11, 1979 [[Isaiah J. Poole]] reported in the New York News World that CIA Director Turner had said that as a result of the bulletin's exposures "Nearly all major foreign intelligence services with which we have liaison relationships have undertaken review of their relations with the Agency," that Agee then lived in [[Hamburg]], and that the staff included Schaap, [[Ellen Ray]] and [[Louis Wolf]], who said "We are not out, per se, to destroy the CIA."[^32] Andrew and Mitrokhin wrote that KGB files claim the bulletin was founded "on the initiative of the KGB" and that the group running it, codenamed RUPOR, which first met in [[Jamaica]] early in 1978, was "put together" by the counterintelligence directorate of the KGB's First Chief Directorate; that a KGB task force under V. N. Kosterin supplied it with material; that early in 1979 [[Oleg Nechiporenko]] and A. N. Itskov met Agee in Cuba and gave him a list of CIA officers in Africa for Dirty Work II: The CIA in Africa; and that they agreed with the head of the Cuban [[Dirección General de Inteligencia|DGI]], Pedro Pupo Pérez, that it should appear during the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] summit in Havana in September 1979. They wrote that "There is no evidence in Mitrokhin's notes that any member of the RUPOR group, apart from Agee, was conscious of the role of the DGI or KGB."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1978 damage assessment and briefing
|
||||
|
||||
The September 1978 fact sheet states that Agee's first book "exposed 170 Agency personnel and numerous agents and operations in Latin America," that the exposures "resulted in the retirement of more than 100 active foreign agents," and that as of June 1977 their monetary cost was estimated at more than $2,000,000. It states that "There are numerous cases of current and prospective clandestine agents refusing to cooperate with CIA," and that officials of American corporations had cited Agee in explaining their reluctance to cooperate.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 16, 1978 the CIA briefed the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] on Agee at the request of Representative [[Bob Wilson (California politician)|Bob Wilson]], Republican of California. The briefers were [[John N. McMahon]], Deputy Director for Operations, and [[Anthony Lapham]], the General Counsel; no transcript was to be taken. The committee's questions included "What might CIA have done or what would CIA have liked to have done had the circumstances or law permitted?"[^33] Wilson had sat in 1973 on the Special Subcommittee on Intelligence of the [[House Armed Services Committee]] chaired by [[Lucien Nedzi]].[^34] On November 21, 1978 [[Reuters]] reported from Bonn that Hamburg authorities had given Agee permission to stay in [[West Germany]] until at least May 1979, and that the previous year the West German authorities had refused to let him stay.[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
### Iran and the revocation of the passport, 1979
|
||||
|
||||
According to government affidavits summarized in Haig v. Agee, after the seizure of the American embassy in [[Iran]] on November 4, 1979 Agee "made contact with the captors, urged them to demand certain CIA documents, and offered to travel to Iran to analyze the documents"; one affidavit mentioned, "but does not vouch for the accuracy of," a report that he had been invited to sit on a "Revolutionary Tribunal" to judge the hostages.[^1] The New York Post reported on December 17, 1979 that an Iranian diplomat in the United States had said that "Philip Agee is at the top of our list of candidates" for an anti-imperialist American seat on such a tribunal; Phillips told the paper: "If I were a hostage, he'd be the last guy I'd want to see."[^25] On December 19, 1979 Turner wrote to Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]]; the letter is withheld as exempt, and the New York Post clipping is filed with it.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 23, 1979 the American Consul General in Hamburg delivered to Agee a letter revoking his passport under 22 CFR 51.70(b)(4), which permits revocation when the Secretary determines that a national's activities abroad "are causing or are likely to cause serious damage to the national security or the foreign policy of the United States." The notice cited his activities in Mexico, the United Kingdom, [[Denmark]], Jamaica, Cuba and Germany. Both lower courts suggested that the immediate impetus was the Iran crisis.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Haig v. Agee
|
||||
|
||||
Agee did not use the administrative procedure and sued in the District Court for the District of Columbia. For his summary judgment motion he conceded the Secretary's factual averments; his counsel said "I would concede any charge [the Government] want[s] to make against him." The district court (Agee v. Vance, 483 F. Supp. 729) held that the regulation exceeded the Secretary's authority under the Passport Act of 1926, and the Court of Appeals (Agee v. Muskie, 629 F.2d 80), which stressed that Agee had not been indicted, affirmed.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 29, 1981 the Supreme Court reversed in an opinion by Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]]. Its footnotes record that in a separate suit to enforce his secrecy agreement the district court had found that "Agee has shown a flagrant disregard for the requirements of the Secrecy Agreement" (Agee v. Central Intelligence Agency, 500 F. Supp. 506); that in July 1980, two days after a press conference in Jamaica at which "Agee's principal collaborator" identified Richard Kinsman as CIA chief of station, Kinsman's house was strafed with automatic gunfire; and that in January 1981 two American officials of the AIFLD, an organization Agee had identified as a CIA front, were assassinated in [[El Salvador]]. The Court noted that "The Secretary does not assert that Agee has specifically incited anyone to commit murder." The Secretary told the Court that Agee had been given identification papers permitting him to return to the United States. Justice [[Harry Blackmun]] concurred; Justice [[William J. Brennan Jr.|William Brennan]], joined by Justice [[Thurgood Marshall]], dissented, writing that "bad facts make bad law."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Intelligence Identities Protection Act, 1980 to 1982
|
||||
|
||||
At a 1980 hearing of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on S. 2216, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Deputy [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Frank Carlucci]] testified that the problem "had its inception with faithless Government employees who went public with the names of CIA personnel, the most prominent of whom, of course, is Phillip Agee," and that when he was ambassador to [[Portugal]] Agee had published the names of embassy staff, "some accurate, some not," with telephone numbers, license plates, car makes and addresses.[^36] In a statement of May 8, 1981 to the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, Director [[William J. Casey]] cited Welch's murder, the July 1980 attack in Jamaica, and the expulsion of six Americans from [[Mozambique]] following visits by members of the Cuban intelligence service and editors of the bulletin.[^37] Andrew and Mitrokhin wrote that all thirteen members of the House intelligence committee sponsored the bill, "popularly known as the 'Anti-Agee Bill,'" which became law in June 1982, and that Agee afterwards traveled on passports issued by [[Maurice Bishop]]'s government in [[Grenada]] and by the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]] government in [[Nicaragua]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nicaragua, October 1981
|
||||
|
||||
A cable of October 13, 1981 from the American embassy in [[Managua]], signed by [[Roger Gamble|Roger R. Gamble]] and sent with immediate precedence, reported that Agee's visit coincided with a demonstration organized by the [[Sandinistas|FSLN]] and the government to close an "anti-imperialist" campaign, and that his remarks at a press conference on October 12 were "thinly veiled calls for attacks on Embassy and Embassy personnel." The embassy reported that dependents had been told to pack, that the [[United States Southern Command|Southern Command]] had been alerted to a possible evacuation, that classified traffic had been destroyed and the embassy would close at 2:30 p.m., that Foreign Minister [[Miguel d'Escoto]] was "too busy" to meet, and that junta members and comandantes [[Daniel Ortega]], [[Bayardo Arce]] and [[Jaime Wheelock]] were all "unavailable."[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cuban and Soviet intelligence allegations
|
||||
|
||||
Andrew and Mitrokhin wrote that in 1973 Agee approached the KGB residency in Mexico City, which turned him away as a suspected CIA plant, and quoted [[Oleg Kalugin]]: "Agee then went to the Cubans, who welcomed him with open arms... The Cubans shared Agee's information with us." They wrote that a KGB file claimed Inside the Company was "prepared by Service A, together with the Cubans," which they described as "doubtless with some exaggeration"; that "Mitrokhin's notes do not indicate exactly what the KGB and its Cuban ally, the DGI, contributed to Agee's text"; that at Service A's insistence he removed all references to CIA penetration of Latin American Communist parties; that the KGB kept contact with him in London through the [[Novosti]] correspondent Edgar Cheporov; and that the files describe him as an agent of the DGI but "do not formally list him as a KGB, as well as DGI, agent." They wrote that in May 1976 the KGB learned from Agee, codenamed PONT, that a Soviet source codenamed MAREK was an American dangle run jointly by the CIA and the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 8, 2000 [[Julia Preston]] and [[Tim Weiner]] reported in the [[New York Times]] on a document carried by [[Pedro Riera Escalante]], a major of the Cuban intelligence directorate and consul in Mexico City from 1986 to 1991, who was deported from Mexico to Havana that week. Riera described an operation, "Moncada," in which he said he used Agee to try to recruit the secretary of the deputy chief of the CIA station in Mexico City; United States intelligence officials said it was a total failure and that Agee was quickly identified and rebuffed. Riera said his work with Agee began in 1973, when he was liaison between Agee and the Cuban Politburo while Agee was writing the book, that he conveyed the government's suggestions about what Agee should disclose, and that telephone numbers of CIA officials at the Mexico City embassy supplied by Agee later helped him identify station personnel. Agee did not reply to an e-mail sent to his office in Cuba.[^39] The Mexico City newspaper Reforma, which said it had seen Riera's service file, reported in a translation published by [[Cryptome]] that during "long months between 1974 and 1975, Escalante was the official in charge of correcting Agee's texts."[^40] The Associated Press reported in 2008 that Agee had been accused of receiving up to $1 million from the Cuban intelligence service, an accusation first made in a 1992 report by a high-ranking Cuban intelligence defector, and that Agee denied it.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later years and death
|
||||
|
||||
Agee lived for years in Hamburg and later in Havana. In 2000 he opened [[Cubalinda]], an online travel agency for Americans traveling to Cuba, with European investors and a state travel agent as partners. In 2003 he distinguished his disclosures from the exposure of [[Valerie Plame]], calling the latter "purely dirty politics," and said he had named his former colleagues to "weaken the instrument for carrying out the policy of supporting military dictatorships" in [[Greece]], [[Chile]], [[Argentina]], Uruguay and [[Brazil]]. After the arrest of 75 Cuban dissidents in 2003 he wrote in Granma International that the dissidents "were funded and controlled by a hostile foreign power." He died in Havana after operations for perforated ulcers; [[Granma]] called him "a loyal friend of Cuba and fervent defender of the peoples' fight for a better world."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Haig v. Agee, 453 U.S. 280 (1981), decided June 29, 1981: opinion of Chief Justice Burger, Part I and notes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 15 and 16; concurrence of Justice Blackmun; dissent of Justice Brennan, joined by Justice Marshall (delivery of the revocation letter by the Consul General in Hamburg on December 23, 1979). https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/453/280
|
||||
[^2]: Philip Agee to Melvin L. Wulf, June 10, 1977 (authorization letter, with consular acknowledgment, Amsterdam, June 1977); Melvin L. Wulf to the Director of Central Intelligence and other agency heads, November 9, 1977; John F. Blake, Assistant for Information, DDA, to the Acting Director of Central Intelligence, "FOIA Request on Behalf of Mr. Philip Agee," DDA 78-1204, March 22, 1978. CIA-RDP81-00142R000700040006-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81-00142r000700040006-8
|
||||
[^3]: "Former CIA agent Agee dies in Cuba at age 72," Associated Press, NBC News, January 9, 2008. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna22571961
|
||||
[^4]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, memorandum for the record OLC 78-2991/2, "Request by Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D., Texas) for Unclassified Information on Philip Agee," September 7, 1978 (typed September 12, 1978), with attached unclassified fact sheet delivered September 7, 1978. CIA-RDP81M00980R000600300055-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81m00980r000600300055-3
|
||||
[^5]: "Intelligence in Recent Public Literature," review of Philip Agee, *Inside the Company: CIA Diary* (Penguin Books, 1975), *Studies in Intelligence*, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Historical Review Program release in full July 2, 1996, posted May 8, 2007. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Review-Inside-the-Company.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Philip Agee, *Inside the Company: CIA Diary* (New York: Stonehill Publishing Company, distributed by George Braziller, 1975), pp. 206 to 207 (Quito entry on the founding of the AIFLD). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^7]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 250 to 253 (Quito entries of July 11, 13 and 31, 1963). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^8]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 424 to 428 (Washington entry on assignment to Mexico City). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^9]: Anthony Holden, "Why they want to deport me," The Sunday Times (London), January 9, 1977. CIA-RDP88-01315R000300560018-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300560018-2
|
||||
[^10]: Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, *The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB* (New York: Basic Books, Perseus Books Group, 1999; paperback edition with an introduction dated 2001), p. 206 (chapter 13, "The Main Adversary, Part 4") and pp. 230 to 234 (chapter 14, "Political Warfare"), with the chapter notes. Read in the full-text scan of the paperback edition at https://archive.org/details/the-sword-and-the-shield-the-mitrokhin-archive-and-the-secret-history-of-the-kgb_202605
|
||||
[^11]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, Introduction, pp. 1 to 2, and front matter (Stonehill Publishing Company, distributed by George Braziller). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^12]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 485 to 486 (Mexico City, January 1971). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^13]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 488 to 489 (Mexico City, March 1971). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^14]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 489 to 491 (Paris, August 1971; Havana, October 1971). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^15]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 495 to 497 (Paris, August 1972). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^16]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, Acknowledgements, p. 563. https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^17]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 493 to 495 (Paris entries of late 1971 and January 1972). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^18]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 497 to 498 (Paris, October 6, 1972). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^19]: Agee, *Inside the Company*, pp. 498 to 501 (Paris, October 14, 1972; London, October 24, 1972). https://archive.org/details/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee
|
||||
[^20]: Director of Security (Charles W. Kane) to Deputy Director for Administration, "Philip Burnett Franklin Agee," with attached draft memorandum to the Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, referencing CIA memorandum of August 23, 1974; reading room date October 1, 1974. CIA-RDP84-00780R006100130022-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00780r006100130022-9
|
||||
[^21]: "Report on Richard Welch," transcript, All Things Considered, WETA Radio and NPR network, December 29, 1975, with Susan Stamberg and Jeff Stein. CIA-RDP88-01314R000100370007-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000100370007-8
|
||||
[^22]: Dana Adams Schmidt, "U.S. Weighs Prosecution of Editors in Welch Case," Christian Science Monitor, January 5, 1976. CIA-RDP88-01314R000100360054-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000100360054-7
|
||||
[^23]: David Atlee Phillips, letter, "The Death of Richard Welch," Washington Star, January 28, 1976. CIA-RDP88-01314R000100360023-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000100360023-1
|
||||
[^24]: Philip Agee, "I never 'fingered' Richard Welch," letter to the editor, March 1, 1976, signed Cambridge, England (publication not identified on the clipping). CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040087-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp99-00498r000100040087-5
|
||||
[^25]: Stansfield Turner to Cyrus R. Vance, December 19, 1979 (text withheld as exempt), filed with "Philip Agee: Iranians want him as a judge," New York Post, December 17, 1979. CIA-RDP81B00401R000600050023-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81b00401r000600050023-9
|
||||
[^26]: Associated Press, "U.S. Closes Probe of CIA Critic Agee," Washington Post, March 22, 1977, p. A7. CIA-RDP99-00498R000100080006-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp99-00498r000100080006-0
|
||||
[^27]: Hansard, House of Commons, "Mr. Hosenball and Mr. Agee (Deportation)," November 18, 1976, vol. 919, cols. 1567 to 1572 (statement of the Home Secretary; questions of Mrs. Hart and Mr. Churchill). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1976/nov/18/mr-hosenball-and-mr-agee-deportation
|
||||
[^28]: Lindsay Mackie, "Polish agent deaths 'behind Agee order'," newspaper article of January 10, 1977 (publication not identified on the clipping; reading room date January 10, 1977). CIA-RDP88-01315R000300560016-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300560016-4
|
||||
[^29]: Hansard, House of Commons, "Mr. Agee and Mr. Hosenball," February 16, 1977, vol. 926, cols. 495 to 496 and following. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1977/feb/16/mr-agee-and-mr-hosenball
|
||||
[^30]: Anne Weaver, "Agee names Greek CIA men," June 13, 1977 (attributed to The Guardian in the reading room title "[The Manchester Guardian, 13 June 1977]"), CIA-RDP88-01314R000300490003-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000300490003-7; "Agee on CIA in Greece," Newsday, June 14, 1977, CIA-RDP88-01314R000300490001-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000300490001-9
|
||||
[^31]: "Lives of CIA Agents Deliberately Imperiled," newspaper column, August 19, 1978 (publication and author not identified on the clipping). CIA-RDP88-01314R000100390039-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000100390039-1
|
||||
[^32]: Isaiah J. Poole, "CIA goes after anti-U.S. agent magazine," New York News World, August 11, 1979. CIA-RDP88-01314R000100390017-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000100390017-5
|
||||
[^33]: Assistant Legislative Counsel to Frederick P. Hitz, Legislative Counsel, "16 August 1978 Briefing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Phillip Agee," OLC 78-2991, August 15, 1978. CIA-RDP81M00980R002100030023-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81m00980r002100030023-1
|
||||
[^34]: House Committee on Armed Services, Special Subcommittee on Intelligence, *Inquiry into the Alleged Involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Watergate and Ellsberg Matters*, 93rd Cong., 1st sess., October 23, 1973, membership page. CIA-RDP75B00380R000100090080-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75b00380r000100090080-8
|
||||
[^35]: Reuters dispatch from Bonn, November 21, 1978, CIA Operations Center news service. CIA-RDP81M00980R000400040002-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81m00980r000400040002-2
|
||||
[^36]: *Intelligence Identities Protection Act (S. 2216)*, hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980, testimony of Frank C. Carlucci, pp. 43 to 45. CIA-RDP85-00003R000200080003-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp85-00003r000200080003-5
|
||||
[^37]: William J. Casey, Director of Central Intelligence, Statement for the Record before the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, May 8, 1981, on S. 391. CIA-RDP85-00003R000200040003-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp85-00003r000200040003-9
|
||||
[^38]: American Embassy Managua to Secretary of State, Managua 4517, "Agee Visit Security Precautions," Confidential, EXDIS, NIACT Immediate, October 13, 1981 (drafted by Roger R. Gamble). CIA-RDP84B00049R001503700007-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00049r001503700007-4
|
||||
[^39]: Julia Preston and Tim Weiner, "A Document by Cuban Spy Talks of Acts Against C.I.A.," New York Times, October 8, 2000, as reproduced at https://cryptome.org/cuban-op-cia.htm
|
||||
[^40]: Grupo Reforma, untitled article on Pedro Riera Escalante, Reforma (Mexico City), October 2000, in the English translation by Cryptome reproduced with the New York Times article at https://cryptome.org/cuban-op-cia.htm
|
||||
178
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roelof Botha.md
Normal file
178
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roelof Botha.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RoelofBotha
|
||||
- SequoiaCapital
|
||||
- VentureCapital
|
||||
- PayPalMafia
|
||||
- Square
|
||||
- SpaceX
|
||||
- TwentyThreeAndMe
|
||||
- HouseSelectCommitteeOnTheCCP
|
||||
- SouthAfrica
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Roelof Botha
|
||||
- Roelof F. Botha
|
||||
- Botha, Roelof
|
||||
summary: "South African-born actuary and venture capitalist, PayPal chief financial officer at its 2002 offering, Sequoia Capital partner from 2003 and senior steward from 2022 to 2025, and SpaceX director from June 2026."
|
||||
location: "Menlo Park, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Pik Botha]]"
|
||||
role: "grandson"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[McKinsey & Company]]"
|
||||
start: 1996-08
|
||||
end: 1998-07
|
||||
role: "management consultant"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[PayPal]]"
|
||||
start: 2000-03
|
||||
role: "vice president of financial and risk management; chief financial officer from August 2001"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Sequoia Capital]]"
|
||||
start: 2003-01
|
||||
role: "partner; managing member of Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC from 2007 to 2025"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Sequoia Capital]]"
|
||||
end: 2025-11-04
|
||||
role: "senior steward"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Square]]"
|
||||
start: 2011-01
|
||||
role: "director; audit and risk and compensation committees in 2015"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Xoom Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Natera]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[23andMe]]"
|
||||
end: 2024-09-17
|
||||
role: "director and audit committee member"
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Unity Technologies]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman by October 2023; lead independent director from May 2024"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[MongoDB]]"
|
||||
role: "Class I director"
|
||||
fn: 21
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[SpaceX]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06-16
|
||||
role: "independent director and audit committee member"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford University]]"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
role: "member of the board of trustees"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Select Committee on the CCP]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-10-17
|
||||
role: "addressee, as managing partner, of the committee's letter to Sequoia Capital"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[VenturePAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-11-19
|
||||
end: 2022-09-15
|
||||
role: "$10,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
### Family and education
|
||||
|
||||
Roelof Botha was born in [[Pretoria]], [[Alec Hogg]] of [[News24]] wrote in February 2017, when Botha was 43; Hogg wrote that he carried "the same name as his father, one of [[South Africa]]'s top economists and long-time advisors to PWC, and his grandfather, former SA Foreign Minister 'Pik'," [[Pik Botha]], who is a different man from [[P.W. Botha]]. Hogg wrote that Botha had recorded the highest marks in the [[University of Cape Town]]'s actuarial science examinations, had become South Africa's youngest actuary at 25, and had moved to California in 1998 to attend Stanford's business school, where he was valedictorian.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[PayPal]]'s prospectus of February 2002 gives his age as 28 and records a B.S. in actuarial science, economics and statistics from the University of Cape Town in 1994, fellowship of the [[Faculty of Actuaries]] in 1996, work as a management consultant for [[McKinsey & Company]] from August 1996 to July 1998, and an M.B.A. from the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]] in 2000.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### PayPal
|
||||
|
||||
Botha joined PayPal in March 2000, served as vice president of financial and risk management, and became chief financial officer in August 2001.[^2] In April 2000 the company assumed a $70,000 loan at 9 percent that he owed to his former employer, and forgave it in 25 percent annual installments from June 2001. In July 2001 he took a non-recourse loan of $112,500 under an employee liquidity program in which PayPal then repurchased part of the participants' stock; [[David Sacks]] and [[Reid Hoffman]] took $450,000 and $500,000 under the same program.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The board in the prospectus included [[Michael Moritz]], a partner of [[Sequoia Capital]] since 1986 and a director since August 1999, whose appointment the prospectus describes as "a condition to the obligation of entities affiliated with Sequoia Capital to complete their investment." In August 1999 Sequoia funds had bought 15,000,000 shares of Series A preferred stock from [[Elon Musk]] for $5.0 million. Moritz sat on the audit committee with Musk and [[Shailesh Mehta]], former chief executive of [[Providian]]. Entities affiliated with Sequoia owned 9.9 percent of PayPal before the offering.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sequoia Capital
|
||||
|
||||
Botha joined Sequoia in January 2003.[^3] A Form 8-K of [[SpaceX]] states that he was a managing member of Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC from 2007 to 2025.[^4] Square's registration statement of 2015 names him among the directors and stockholders of SC US (TTGP), Ltd. who exercised voting and investment discretion over Sequoia's 2010 [[United States]] venture funds, with [[Jim Goetz]], [[Michael Goguen]], [[Doug Leone]] and Moritz.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 31, 2017 Goetz wrote to Sequoia's investors that he would step aside from his leadership responsibilities, thanking "Doug and Sir Michael for the trust they placed in me." News24 printed the letter and reported that Goetz's place as one of the firm's three stewards went to Botha, alongside Leone and [[Neil Shen]], who ran the China business.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
When [[23andMe]] went public through a merger in June 2021, Botha was listed as a director and beneficial owner of 18,442,574 Class B shares, 4.54 percent, of which 17,818,438 were held by Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC; the filing named Leone and Botha as the directors of SC US (TTGP) with discretion over the Global Growth Fund II funds.[^5] A Schedule 13D for [[Maplebear]] (Instacart), filed on February 27, 2024 and signed by Botha as authorized signatory, lists [[Cayman Islands]] funds, their management partnerships, SC US (TTGP), Ltd., Leone and Botha as reporting persons, and states that "the directors and stockholders of SC US (TTGP) who exercise voting and investment discretion" are Leone and Botha. It records that Sequoia managing member [[Ravi Gupta]] had joined Maplebear's board in August 2023.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Square, Xoom and other boards
|
||||
|
||||
Botha became a director of [[Square]] in January 2011, as the designee of the Series B preferred holders.[^3] Square's Form D of September 2011 lists him with [[Jack Dorsey]], [[Jim McKelvey]], [[Vinod Khosla]], [[Larry Summers]] and [[Mary Meeker]] as directors, and [[Keith Rabois]] as an executive officer.[^7] Rabois resigned as chief operating officer in January 2013 amid an employee's allegation of sexual harassment, which he denied.[^8] In the registration statement of November 2015, Sequoia's 2010 funds held 15,728,310 shares, 5.3 percent, and Khosla Ventures III, LP held 16.9 percent; Botha sat on the audit and risk committee with [[David Viniar]] and Summers and on the compensation committee with Meeker, and also served on the boards of [[Natera]] and [[Xoom Corporation]].[^3] Rabois was a Xoom director until May 2015.[^9] At the annual meeting of the renamed Block, Inc. in June 2026, Botha was re-elected a Class II director with 869,045,360 votes for and 127,444,544 withheld, alongside [[Shawn Carter]] and McKelvey.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senior steward
|
||||
|
||||
[[TechCrunch]] reported that Botha took the firm's highest role, senior steward, in mid-2022.[^11] On November 9, 2022 Sequoia wrote to the limited partners of its Global Growth Fund III, and posted the letter publicly, that it was marking its investment in [[FTX]] to zero: "In recent days, a liquidity crunch has created solvency risk for FTX." The letter gave a cost basis of $150 million in that fund and $63.5 million in SCGE Fund, L.P., and said: "We are in the business of taking risk."[^12] The investment had been made in FTX's Series B in July 2021, when the exchange was valued at $18 billion.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 6, 2023 Botha, Neil Shen and [[Shailendra Singh]] announced that Sequoia would separate into Sequoia Capital in the United States and Europe, [[Peak XV Partners]] in India and Southeast Asia, and [[HongShan]] in China by March 2024, writing that "It has become increasingly complex to run a decentralized global investment business."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### The House Select Committee
|
||||
|
||||
On October 17, 2023 [[Mike Gallagher]] and [[Raja Krishnamoorthi]], chairman and ranking member of the [[House Select Committee on the CCP]], wrote to Botha as managing partner and to [[Don Vieira]], partner and global chief policy officer. The letter named investments by Sequoia Capital China in EverSec, 4Paradigm, DJI and DeepGlint and support by both Sequoia entities for [[ByteDance]]. It stated the committee's understanding, from "source material on file," that roughly 20 percent of the carry from each deal had flowed to the top of the Sequoia family, that a compliance office in Menlo Park had reviewed every deal, and that 60 to 70 percent of Sequoia Capital China's limited partners had been American, falling to about half. It described an internal screening process set up in the summer of 2022 covering only Chinese quantum computing, semiconductor and aerospace investments, and asked for answers by November 1, 2023.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The committee's report of February 8, 2024 stated that Sequoia Capital and Sequoia Capital China had invested about $1.4 billion in ByteDance from March 2014, that Shen sat on ByteDance's board and was a representative to the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]], and that Sequoia Capital China had invested about $32 million in BGI Tech, a subsidiary of the genomics company [[BGI Group]], from 2013 to November 2020; the report quotes an internal Sequoia China memo of September 2012 that touted BGI's acquisition of the American sequencer Complete Genomics. It recorded Sequoia's statement that its entry into China "coincided with expressed government policies and public positions in the US that encouraged businesses to invest in the region."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
Vieira, according to [[Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom]], had been chief of staff of the [[National Security Division]] of the [[Department of Justice]] and counselor to the assistant attorney general for national security from 2009 to 2011, an espionage prosecutor, and deputy chief counsel of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]. At Sequoia he founded the firm's Washington office, served as chief legal officer and represented the firm on the board of the [[National Venture Capital Association]]; he also sat on the boards of Genuity Science and [[Hakluyt & Company|Hakluyt & Co.]]. Skadden announced his return on September 9, 2025.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### 23andMe, Unity and MongoDB
|
||||
|
||||
At 23andMe's annual meeting on August 25, 2022, Botha was re-elected a Class I director with 1,797,444,732 votes for and 16,584,769 withheld.[^17] On September 17, 2024 he and the six other independent directors, including [[Neal Mohan]], resigned together, writing to the chief executive [[Anne Wojcicki]] that "we have yet to receive from you a fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal" and that "because of your concentrated voting power" they would resign "rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company." Botha was then on the audit committee.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 9, 2023 Botha, as chairman of [[Unity Technologies]], accepted the resignation of its chief executive [[John Riccitiello]], who left his posts that day and was to retire on April 9, 2024; Botha's letter extended the period for exercising Riccitiello's vested equity to five years and permitted continued vesting, in exchange for a separation agreement.[^19] On May 1, 2024 Unity announced that Botha would return from chairman to lead independent director.[^20] At [[MongoDB]]'s annual meeting on June 25, 2024 he was re-elected a Class I director with 34,836,881 votes for, 22,488,981 withheld and 9,306,416 broker non-votes.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Departure from leadership
|
||||
|
||||
In 2025 Sequoia partner [[Shaun Maguire]] called the New York mayoral candidate [[Zohran Mamdani]] an "Islamist" who "comes from a culture that lies about everything." In August the firm's chief operating officer, [[Sumaiya Balbale]], resigned over the decision not to discipline him. At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in October 2025 Botha said: "Internally, we celebrate a diversity of opinions, and we need spiky people inside of Sequoia." On November 4, 2025 Sequoia announced that [[Alfred Lin]] and [[Pat Grady]] would succeed him as co-stewards. [[Marina Temkin]] of TechCrunch reported that he had overseen the distribution of $50 billion to limited partners since taking over the firm's United States and European business in 2017.[^11] A profile of [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] that Sequoia published on its website in September 2022 credited Lin and [[Michelle Bailhe]] with pursuing the FTX investment.[^22] Sequoia's Form ADV amendment of July 17, 2026 lists Leone, Goetz, Lin, Grady, Maguire and others as direct owners and executive officers of Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC and does not list Botha.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### SpaceX and Stanford
|
||||
|
||||
On June 16, 2026 the board of SpaceX elected Botha an independent director to fill a vacancy and appointed him to its audit committee. The Form 8-K states that he has been a trustee of [[Stanford University]] since 2024 and that a member of his family had worked at SpaceX since January 2025 on the enterprise operations team, with 2025 compensation above the $120,000 reporting threshold, "generally commensurate with their peers' compensation." SpaceX does not pay its non-employee directors.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political contributions
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records show two contributions under his name, each of $5,000, to VenturePAC of the National Venture Capital Association, on November 19, 2021 and September 15, 2022, with Sequoia Capital as employer.[^24] Leone, the other director of SC US (TTGP) named in the 2024 filing, gave $2,000,000 to Never Back Down Inc. on April 19, 2023, $1,000,000 to America PAC on June 14, 2024 and $250,000 to the [[Trump 47 Committee]] on October 30, 2024.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Alec Hogg, "SA prodigy, Pik Botha's 43yo grandson, to lead Silicon Valley's top VC firm," News24, February 1, 2017, reproducing the letter of Jim Goetz to Sequoia investors. https://www.news24.com/Fin24/sa-prodigy-pik-bothas-43yo-grandson-to-lead-silicon-valleys-top-vc-firm-20170201
|
||||
[^2]: PayPal, Inc., prospectus (Form 424B4), February 2002, "Management," "Certain Relationships and Related Transactions" and "Principal Stockholders." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205702006471/a2071068z424b4.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Square, Inc., Form S-1/A, filed November 16, 2015, "Management" (director biographies, board composition, committees) and "Principal Stockholders" (footnotes 4 and 8). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000119312515378578/d937622ds1a.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Form 8-K, filed June 17, 2026 (accession 0001628280-26-043865), Item 5.02. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026043865/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm
|
||||
[^5]: 23andMe Holding Co., Form 8-K, filed June 21, 2021 (accession 0001193125-21-194255), security ownership table and footnotes 4 and 5. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1804591/000119312521194255/d187358d8k.htm
|
||||
[^6]: Sequoia Capital USV XIV Holdco, Ltd. and others, Schedule 13D re Maplebear Inc., filed February 27, 2024, cover pages, Items 2 and 4, and signatures. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579091/000119312524048200/d799472dsc13d.htm
|
||||
[^7]: Square, Inc., Form D, filed September 30, 2011 (accession 0001512673-11-000003). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000151267311000003/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^8]: Edward Ngai, "Square COO, Stanford alum, resigns over sexual harassment allegations," The Stanford Daily, January 25, 2013. https://stanforddaily.com/2013/01/25/square-coo-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-allegations/
|
||||
[^9]: Xoom Corporation, Form 8-K, filed March 27, 2015, Item 5.02. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1315657/000155837015000406/xoom-20150325x8k.htm
|
||||
[^10]: Block, Inc., Form 8-K, event date June 16, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-275869), Item 5.07. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000119312526275869/d55271d8k.htm
|
||||
[^11]: Marina Temkin, "Sequoia names Alfred Lin and Pat Grady as new co-stewards as Roelof Botha steps down," TechCrunch, November 4, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/04/sequoia-names-alfred-lin-and-pat-grady-as-new-co-stewards-as-roelof-botha-steps-down/
|
||||
[^12]: Connie Loizos, "Sequoia Capital marks its FTX investment down to zero dollars," TechCrunch, November 9, 2022, reproducing Sequoia's letter to Global Growth Fund III limited partners. https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/09/sequoia-capital-marks-its-ftx-investment-down-to-zero-dollars/
|
||||
[^13]: Manish Singh and Rita Liao, "Sequoia splits China and India arms from US mothership to avoid 'portfolio conflict' and 'market confusion'," TechCrunch, June 6, 2023. https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/06/sequoia-rebrands-china-india-and-southeast-asia-units/
|
||||
[^14]: Rep. Mike Gallagher and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, letter to Roelof Botha and Don Vieira, Sequoia Capital, October 17, 2023, Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. https://chinaselectcommittee.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023.10.17-letter-to-sequoia-capital.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, "The CCP's Investors: How American Venture Capital Fuels the PRC Military and Human Rights Abuses," February 8, 2024, pp. 4 to 5, 7, 18 and 21. https://chinaselectcommittee.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-02-08%20-%20VC%20Report%20-%20FINAL.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, "Don L. Vieira" (professional biography), https://www.skadden.com/professionals/v/vieira-donald-l ; "Skadden Welcomes Back Don Vieira as Partner in Washington, DC," September 9, 2025, https://www.skadden.com/about/news-and-rankings/news/2025/09/skadden-welcomes-back-don-vieira-as-partner-in-washington-dc
|
||||
[^17]: 23andMe Holding Co., Form 8-K, filed September 1, 2022 (accession 0000950170-22-017988), Item 5.07. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1804591/000095017022017988/me-20220825.htm
|
||||
[^18]: 23andMe Holding Co., Form 8-K, filed September 18, 2024 (accession 0001193125-24-221081), Item 5.02 and Exhibit 17 (resignation letter of September 17, 2024). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1804591/000119312524221081/d894676d8k.htm ; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1804591/000119312524221081/d894676dex17.htm
|
||||
[^19]: Unity Software Inc., Form 8-K, filed October 10, 2023, Exhibit 10.1 (letter of Roelof Botha, Chairman, to John Riccitiello, and transition agreement, October 9, 2023). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1810806/000119312523253118/d551719dex101.htm
|
||||
[^20]: Unity Software Inc., Form 8-K, filed May 1, 2024, Exhibit 99.1 (press release). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1810806/000181080624000085/ex991pressrelease.htm
|
||||
[^21]: MongoDB, Inc., Form 8-K, filed June 28, 2024 (accession 0001441816-24-000136), Item 5.07. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1441816/000144181624000136/mdb-20240625.htm
|
||||
[^22]: Adam Fisher, "Sam Bankman-Fried Has a Savior Complex, And Maybe You Should Too," Sequoia Capital website, September 22, 2022, as archived by the Internet Archive on November 9, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221109025610/https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-spotlight/
|
||||
[^23]: Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC, Form ADV (CRD 157373, SEC file 801-122957), other-than-annual amendment of July 17, 2026, Schedule A. https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/157373/PDF/157373.pdf
|
||||
[^24]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor names "Botha, Roelof" (sub_ids 4121820211386160968 and 4111520221629334595, committee C00150367) and "Leone, Doug" and "Leone, Douglas" (sub_ids 4080120231758607105, 4103020241011643180, 4021320251172522832), queried October 1, 2026 through https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
119
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William Buckley.md
Normal file
119
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William Buckley.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Hostage
|
||||
- Beirut
|
||||
- IranContra
|
||||
- Hezbollah
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- Lebanon
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- William Buckley
|
||||
- William Francis Buckley
|
||||
- William F. Buckley (CIA)
|
||||
- Bill Buckley
|
||||
summary: "CIA station chief in Beirut kidnapped on March 16, 1984, whose captivity and death in 1985 figured in the arms-for-hostages dealings with Iran; his remains were returned in December 1991."
|
||||
born: 1928-05-30
|
||||
died: 1985-06-03
|
||||
location: "Medford, Massachusetts (born); Beirut, Lebanon (kidnapped)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "station chief, Beirut"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Islamic Jihad Organization]]"
|
||||
role: "kidnapped and held hostage"
|
||||
start: 1984-03-16
|
||||
end: 1985-06-03
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Center Lane]]"
|
||||
role: "target of remote-viewing tasking by the CIA"
|
||||
start: 1984-03-21
|
||||
end: 1984-04-20
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
|
||||
role: "hostage whose release was sought"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
William Francis Buckley (May 30, 1928, to June 3, 1985) was a lieutenant colonel of the [[United States Army]] and an officer of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] who was serving as station chief in [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]], when he was kidnapped on March 16, 1984. The [[United States]] District Court for the District of Columbia found that he was held for 444 days and died in captivity on June 3, 1985. His remains were returned to the United States in December 1991.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Army and CIA career
|
||||
|
||||
Buckley was born in Medford, Massachusetts, graduated from high school in 1947 and entered the Army. According to a memorial page of the Special Forces Association chapter that bears his name, he served as a company commander with the 1st Cavalry Division in the [[Korean War]], graduated from [[Boston University]] in political science, worked as a librarian in the public libraries of Concord, Winchester and Lexington, attended the Special Forces qualification course in 1960, served with the Military Assistance Command in the [[Vietnam War]], was promoted to lieutenant colonel in May 1969, and was employed by the CIA from 1955 to 1957 and again from 1965, with assignments in Vietnam, [[Zaire]], Cambodia, [[Egypt]] and [[Pakistan]].[^3] The CIA states that elements of his career remain classified, that he was awarded the Silver Star for capturing a North Korean machine-gun nest, that in the late 1970s he helped develop the Incident Response Team and the Counterterrorism Group, and that he volunteered to be Station Chief in Lebanon after the 1983 bombing of the [[United States Embassy in Beirut]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The court's findings of fact state that as the highest-ranking CIA official in Beirut his position was "an open secret" within the Lebanese government and among the violent religious factions of the city. The retired CIA officer [[Chip Beck]] testified that two weeks before the kidnapping Buckley said to him, "I'd rather die in a botched rescue attempt than waste away or die like Tucker did in Vietnam. Try as hard as you can to push the bureaucracy to get me out of here." The court identified Tucker Gougelmann as Buckley's old mentor, tortured in Vietnam.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Kidnapping and the Planning Group meeting
|
||||
|
||||
Buckley was seized in the underground garage of his apartment building in Beirut on March 16, 1984. The group that claimed responsibility used the name [[Islamic Jihad Organization]], which the court described as an alias of [[Hezbollah]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A bulletin of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service dated March 29, 1984, reported that a Kuwaiti newspaper described Buckley as the third secretary of the American embassy, said that he was close to Lebanese President [[Amine Gemayel]] and was known to the president's entourage, and attributed the kidnapping to a Soviet intelligence network operating in Syria. The bulletin was placed at Tab L, "Mid-East Press Reports of Buckley's CIA Relationship," of the briefing binder prepared for the [[Director of Central Intelligence]], [[William J. Casey]], for a meeting of the [[National Security Planning Group]] on March 30, 1984, from 11:00 to 12:00 in the [[White House]] Situation Room. A cover memorandum described attendance as limited to principals and the subjects as "the Iran-Iraq war and the Buckley abduction." The binder's other tabs concerned the Iran-Iraq war, Iraqi use of chemical weapons, the oil supply and a memorandum by [[Graham Fuller]] arguing for earlier support to Iraq.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Remote viewing sessions
|
||||
|
||||
From March 21 to April 20, 1984, the Army's INSCOM [[Center Lane|CENTER LANE]] project conducted 11 remote-viewing interviews at the request of the CIA concerning Buckley. On March 20 the CIA supplied three essential elements of information: the location of Buckley, his physical and mental condition, and the identity of his captors; on April 10 a fourth was added, who the CIA should contact to arrange his release. A photograph of Buckley taken before the kidnapping cued the first interviews, and later ones were cued with his name, date and place of birth and a photograph "allegedly taken by his captors" that the CIA supplied. The summary states that information from the project "was 'on the streets' in Lebanon hours after being passed to the CIA," that much of it was later verified by other CIA sources, and that no further interviews were conducted after April 20 because the project had exhausted its leads. A memorandum of the CIA's Deputy Director for Operations dated May 1, 1984, stated that the Agency's relationship with CENTER LANE "has been that of a customer," that "we have no Agency people or funds assigned," that its sources "have often 'made contact' far beyond what might be expected by probabilities and coincidence" with "a less than hoped for signal-to-noise ratio and a less than photographic resolution, as well as some outright misses," and that "we would like to continue to call upon CENTER LANE." Lieutenant Colonel [[Brian Buzby]] attached both documents to an overview of May 4, 1984, recommending that the project continue within INSCOM.[^5] The project is also described on the [[Stargate Project]] page.
|
||||
|
||||
### Ransom proposals
|
||||
|
||||
According to the report of Independent Counsel [[Lawrence Walsh]] on the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], [[Michael Ledeen]] said that in 1985 the former CIA official [[Ted Shackley]] told him of a meeting Shackley had in late 1984 with the Iranian [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]], who said it might be possible to ransom Buckley; that Shackley in April or May 1985 asked him to relay to the Administration a memorandum on the plan, which the [[State Department]] had already rejected in December 1984; and that he gave the memorandum to [[Oliver North]]. A footnote cites a memorandum from Shackley to General [[Vernon Walters]] of November 22, 1984.[^6] The [[Tower Commission]] report records that Shackley and Ledeen separately told the board that Shackley sent his report to Walters, that in May 1985 Shackley told Ledeen he had no response from Walters, and that in June 1985 Shackley gave Ledeen the report with an update, which Ledeen passed to North, without reading it, with the message that Shackley "had had a contact with an Iranian who had said he thought he could ransom Buckley."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In the Walsh report the Israeli talks of 1985 among [[Adolph Schwimmer]], [[Yaakov Nimrodi]] and Ghorbanifar included a proposal that Israel sell Iran 100 TOW missiles, in return for which Ghorbanifar, "as a sign of the power of his contacts in Iran," would obtain the release of Buckley.[^6] On June 7, 1985, North submitted to [[Robert McFarlane]] two plans for the release of the Americans held in Lebanon, both approved by McFarlane; the second was the private ransoming of two hostages, including Buckley, for $2 million, an operation that would take "considerable time (contacts inside Lebanon, financial transactions, and rental of yacht/safehouse)."[^7] Walsh reported that in the spring of 1985 reports reached the CIA that Buckley was being tortured and that, according to Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]], Buckley's fate was of special concern to Casey; that in early September 1985 North asked [[Charles Allen]], the national intelligence officer for counterterrorism, to collect intelligence about Ghorbanifar, his Iranian contact and their contacts in Lebanon, saying the request related to a possible release of Buckley; and that after the delivery of 408 TOW missiles on September 14, 1985, led to the release of the Reverend [[Benjamin Weir]] and not Buckley, "the fact that Buckley had not been released was of special concern, because Administration officials had sought his return first."[^6][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
A report to the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]] by Senators [[John Kerry]] and [[Hank Brown]] on the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] states that during the trial of the arms dealer Michael Aspin in London, Leslie Aspin testified that a TOW missile sale of 1985 was a legitimate sale authorized by the United States government as part of a 1984 to 1985 effort to ransom Buckley, with the weapons to move from Portugal to Iran, and that in a sworn statement of May 1, 1987, Aspin (the report does not say which of the two) attested that he and North had opened three joint accounts at BCCI in Paris into which North deposited $5 million on November 15, 1984. The subcommittee stated that North denied maintaining such an account, that it had confirmed other accounts in London and Monte Carlo but had no access to the Paris accounts, and that Aspin and the dealer [[Ben Banerjee]] were dead; it adds that a BCCI Paris manager learned in 1988 of an account named Devon Island and was told that it existed but had not been used.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Islamic Jihad announcement and accounts of the death
|
||||
|
||||
On October 1, 1985, Israeli aircraft bombed the headquarters of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] in Tunis. On October 4 Islamic Jihad announced that it had executed Buckley in retaliation, and on October 12 it issued a further statement, published in Beirut, repeating that it had executed "the American spy" and offering to turn the body over to the [[United Nations]] Secretary-General, [[Javier Perez de Cuellar]], 24 hours before the release of 100 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.[^7][^10] The Tower Commission report states in a footnote that in October 1985 the United States obtained reliable evidence that Buckley had died the preceding June, and that the announcement of October 4 was false according to the [[National Security Council|NSC]] staff chronologies, to Iranians who met CIA and NSC personnel, and to the released hostages Jenco and Jacobsen, who reported that Buckley probably died on June 3, 1985, of "pneumonia-like symptoms."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum dated December 5, 1985, apparently by North, stated: "We are relatively confident of information that former Beirut Chief of Station, Bill Buckley, is dead."[^7] On December 13, 1985, [[Jack Anderson]] and [[Dale Van Atta]] wrote in the *[[Washington Post]]* that the CIA had highly sensitive intelligence leaving no doubt of Buckley's death, while the State Department's official position was that "we assume that he is alive." They wrote that Buckley was taken from the Bekaa Valley to Tehran in early March 1985 disguised as an injured Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldier on a Syrian army helicopter to Damascus and an Iran Air flight, held in a house on Fereshteh Street, interrogated in the basement of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, moved to a Revolutionary Guard camp near Qom after an Iraqi bomb landed near the house, and that he suffered a heart attack induced by torture, probably between April 10 and 15, and died soon after in a Tehran hospital.[^11] In a later column Anderson and Van Atta wrote that the CIA denied their story, that President [[Ronald Reagan]] told them off the record in February 1986 that Buckley was dead, and that the death was publicly acknowledged a year after their report.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The *Washington Post* reported in late November 1986 that Buckley had been the CIA's station chief in Beirut and that he had disclosed information under torture; his sister said she retained hope that he was alive and called the reports that he confessed before dying "absurd."[^13] On December 2, 1986, the former hostage [[David Jacobsen]] said on NBC News that he believed Buckley died on the evening of June 3, 1985, recalling that Buckley had been delirious and running a high fever and that guards asked him as a hospital director what they could do and then said "We can't do that" when he told them to get Buckley to a hospital.[^13] On January 20, 1987, Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] said that an American "in terrorist hands is tortured and, in the case of William Buckley, killed."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### The interrogation transcript
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum from North to [[John Poindexter]] of September 25, 1986, reporting meetings in Washington with an Iranian "Second Channel," stated that the Iranians possessed a 400-page transcript of the torture and debriefing of Buckley; Walsh recorded that [[Clair George]] had been "extremely emotionally involved" in the Buckley matter.[^15] At the Frankfurt meetings of October 5 to 7, 1986, North laid out a seven-step proposal in which the Iranians would use their influence to secure the release of the remaining hostages, the body of Buckley and "a debrief by his captors."[^7] In 1988 Anderson and Van Atta wrote that they had seen a suppressed transcript of the September 1986 meeting, in which an Iranian envoy, [[Ali Hashemi]], a nephew of [[Hashemi Rafsanjani]], said that "Buckley revealed 200 to 300 sensitive names of people and over 400 pages of debriefing," and that Hashemi said Hezbollah passed the information to the Iranians.[^12] Poindexter's plan for the Tehran mission of McFarlane in May 1986 provided that after the delivery of HAWK parts and the release of hostages "the remains of Buckley would be turned over."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The *New York Daily News* reported on December 9, 1986, that testimony of Casey and McFarlane had convinced senators that the real motive for the arms sales was to free American hostages, and quoted a source who had heard most of the testimony to the Senate intelligence panel as saying that the primary focus was to free Buckley. Senator [[Frank Murkowski]] was quoted as saying, "It is clear to me that the humanitarian motive to win the freedom of the hostages was the paramount motive."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Remains and burial
|
||||
|
||||
On August 21, 1987, a CIA routing sheet from the Information and Privacy Coordinator asked C/NE for concurrence "as to the extent of disclosure concerning Mr. Buckley"; the reading room indexes the document as "Memorial Service for William F. Buckley" and the following page is withheld.[^17] The CIA held a memorial service in 1985, awarded him a star on its Memorial Wall and the Distinguished Intelligence Cross, and in 1988 laid him symbolically to rest at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 27, 1991, police found a body near the airport highway in Beirut before dawn after an anonymous telephone call, wrapped in cotton and bandages, in a blanket and a plastic bag, as the remains of Lieutenant Colonel [[William Richard Higgins]] had been found the previous weekend. Coroner-General Dr. Ahmed Harati identified the remains as Buckley's. A caller who said he spoke for Islamic Jihad said the body had been released.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Surette v. Islamic Republic of Iran
|
||||
|
||||
His companion of more than twenty years, as administrator of his estate, sued the Islamic Republic of Iran, the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] and the [[Ministry of Intelligence and Security|Ministry of Information and Security]] in the District of Columbia in 2001. Service was made through diplomatic channels on September 24, 2001; the clerk entered default on December 5, 2001; and Judge [[Paul L. Friedman]] heard evidence on September 3 and 4, 2002. Witnesses included Chip Beck, Jacobsen by videotape, Dr. [[Patrick Clawson]], Dr. Bruce Tefft, Norman Gardner, the medical examiner Dr. Richard Froede by videotape, and the accountant John Devlin.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In its opinion of November 1, 2002, the court found that Buckley had been held captive for 444 days, interrogated, tortured and denied medical care, and had died on June 3, 1985. It credited Jacobsen's testimony that Buckley, held behind plywood partitions, was delirious with fever on his last day, that the captors did not act on suggestions of water, antibiotics and cooling, that Jacobsen heard "death rattles" and then a "tap" he understood to be a silenced gun, and that he later saw a bullet hole in the wall 12 to 24 inches above the floor. It stated that Buckley's remains, recovered years later, were too decomposed to reveal much about his treatment but were found with a catheter and a set of intravenous tubes with a butterfly valve, which Froede and Tefft testified could have been used to cause extreme pain. Norman Gardner testified that videotapes of Buckley in captivity released to the United States came from Iran, and Jacobsen testified that a man called Ali, who had "absolute authority" over the guards, was the Iranian representative to the kidnapping group.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The court held Iran, the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security liable under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and entered judgment for $1,021,284 for the estate's lost income, $5,440,000 for the estate's pain and suffering ($10,000 for each of 444 days plus $1,000,000 for the period of facing death alone), $10,000,000 in solatium for his companion and $2,500,000 for his sister, and $300,000,000 in punitive damages against the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry jointly and severally.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "William F. Buckley," Central Intelligence Agency, Honoring Our Heroes. https://cia.gov/legacy/honoring-heroes/heroes/william-f-buckley
|
||||
[^2]: *Surette v. Islamic Republic of Iran*, 231 F. Supp. 2d 260 (D.D.C. 2002) (Friedman, J.), Civil Action No. 01-0570 (PLF), decided November 1, 2002, findings of fact I.A and I.B, conclusions of law and judgment, pp. 261 to 275. Reporter text at https://thecjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/final-opinion-Surette.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: "In Memory of LTC William Buckley," Special Forces Association Chapter 54 memorial page. https://sfob54.org/LTC-William-Buckley.html (secondary source; the CIA states that parts of his career remain classified).
|
||||
[^4]: "NSPG Meeting on Iran-Iraq War/Buckley Kidnapping, 30 March 1984," contents page, cover memorandum of March 29, 1984, SA/DCI/IA to Director of Central Intelligence, and Tab L (FBIS unnumbered item of March 29, 1984, citing a Kuwaiti newspaper through the Middle East News Agency; the scanned text is partly garbled), CIA-RDP86B00420R000200450001-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00420r000200450001-0
|
||||
[^5]: "Summary of Investigation, Subject: William F. Buckley, 84-04," CIA-RDP96-00788R001600510002-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001600510002-8; Buzby, Brian, Lieutenant Colonel, "Purpose: To Provide an Overview of Center Lane," May 4, 1984, with attached summary and CIA memorandum "Comments on Recent CENTER LANE Experience," May 1, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220003-8, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220003-8
|
||||
[^6]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, 1993, chapter 1 ("United States v. Robert C. McFarlane"), text and notes 73, 76 to 78, 82, 101 to 102 and 143. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm
|
||||
[^7]: *Report of the President's Special Review Board* (Tower Commission), February 1987, declassified copy in CIA-RDP89G00643R001300120001-9, text of Part III on the Iranian initiative, footnotes 7 and 20, and Appendix B (Ledeen and Shackley accounts, page B-4). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89g00643r001300120001-9
|
||||
[^8]: Walsh, *Final Report*, chapter 15 ("William J. Casey"), text and notes 35 and 43. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_15.htm
|
||||
[^9]: Kerry, John, and Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate*, December 1992, chapter 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence," section "Other Iranian Arms Dealers and BCCI," notes 85 to 89. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
|
||||
[^10]: "Text of statement on Buckley," Associated Press, *Boston Globe*, October 13, 1985, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200063-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100200063-2
|
||||
[^11]: Anderson, Jack, and Dale Van Atta. "Buckley Is Dead, and Iran Is Responsible," *Washington Post*, December 13, 1985, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200043-4. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200043-4
|
||||
[^12]: Anderson, Jack, and Dale Van Atta. "CIA Official Tortured to Death, Gave Secrets," Deseret News, September 28, 1988. https://www.deseret.com/1988/9/28/18779491/cia-official-tortured-to-death-gave-secrets/ See also the transcript of the interview of Dale Van Atta on "Nightwatch," CBS, December 27, 1985, CIA-RDP88G01116R001001550002-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88g01116r001001550002-8
|
||||
[^13]: "Buckley Sister Retains Hope," Associated Press, *Washington Post*, November 28, 1986, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200023-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100200023-6; "David Jacobsen Comments on Death of William Buckley," NBC Nightly News transcript, December 2, 1986, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200048-9, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200048-9; "Ex-Hostage Disputes Date of Buckley Death," Associated Press, *Washington Post*, December 3, 1986, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200049-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100200049-8
|
||||
[^14]: Gertz, Bill. "Vice President confirms Buckley was tortured and killed," *Washington Times*, January 21, 1987, CIA-RDP90-00965R000302310058-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000302310058-3
|
||||
[^15]: Walsh, *Final Report*, chapter 17 ("United States v. Clair E. George"), text and notes 64 to 68, citing North to Poindexter memorandum of September 25, 1986 (AKW 7291 to 7308) and George's deposition of April 24, 1987. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm
|
||||
[^16]: "Buckley key to deal, freeing hostages the motive, senators hear," *New York Daily News*, December 9, 1986, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605350007-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605350007-9
|
||||
[^17]: Routing and record sheet, Information and Privacy Coordinator, August 21, 1987, "Official Disclosure," CIA-RDP89G00643R001000080034-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89g00643r001000080034-1
|
||||
[^18]: Abu-Nasr, Donna. "Hostage Crisis Is Finally Over for America: William Buckley's Remains Found on Beirut Highway," Associated Press, *The Seattle Times*, December 27, 1991. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19911227/1325252/hostage-crisis-is-finally-over-for-america----william-buckleys-remains-found-on-beirut-highway
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +1,238 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- SecretaryOfState
|
||||
- NixonAdministration
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- HalperinWiretap
|
||||
- Chile
|
||||
- NATO
|
||||
- Falklands
|
||||
- Osirak
|
||||
- Nuclear
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "Secretary of State under President Reagan who was present at high-command meetings following Israel's 1981 bombing of the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor."
|
||||
- MGMMirage
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
|
||||
- Alexander Haig
|
||||
- Alexander M. Haig Jr.
|
||||
- Alexander M. Haig
|
||||
- Alexander Meigs Haig Jr.
|
||||
- Al Haig
|
||||
- General Haig
|
||||
- Haig
|
||||
summary: "Kissinger's deputy and a Halperin wiretap defendant, Nixon's chief of staff, NATO commander, Reagan's first Secretary of State, and later a director and paid consultant of MGM Mirage, SDC International and DOR BioPharma."
|
||||
born: 1924-12-02
|
||||
died: 2010-02-20
|
||||
location: "Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
location: "Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania (born); Baltimore, Maryland (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Henry A. Kissinger]]"
|
||||
role: "assistant and deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Halperin v. Kissinger]]"
|
||||
start: 1973-06
|
||||
role: "defendant; summary judgment entered for him in december 1976"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
end: 1974
|
||||
role: "white house chief of staff"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Church Committee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1975-08-15
|
||||
end: 1975-08-15
|
||||
role: "testified on chile track ii"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]]"
|
||||
start: 1974
|
||||
end: 1979
|
||||
role: "supreme allied commander in europe"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United Technologies Corporation]]"
|
||||
start: 1978
|
||||
end: 1981
|
||||
role: "president and chief operating officer"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Ronald Reagan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1982-06-25
|
||||
role: "secretary of state"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Haig v. Agee]]"
|
||||
end: 1981-06-29
|
||||
role: "petitioner as secretary of state"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Worldwide Associates]]"
|
||||
start: 1984
|
||||
role: "chairman and president"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Donald Rumsfeld]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1988-01-27
|
||||
end: 1988-01-27
|
||||
role: "$1,000 to haig for president"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[MGM Mirage]]"
|
||||
start: 1990
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[MGM Mirage]]"
|
||||
start: 1990-05
|
||||
role: "consultant; fees of $50,000 in 2000"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[MGM Mirage PAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2000-12-19
|
||||
end: 2004-05-04
|
||||
role: "three contributions totaling $2,500"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Interneuron Pharmaceuticals]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[SDC International]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-05
|
||||
role: "strategic advisor; 1 to 2 percent of contracts obtained through his efforts"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[SDC International]]"
|
||||
start: 2002-01
|
||||
role: "director and proxy holder"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[DOR BioPharma]]"
|
||||
start: 2002-12-23
|
||||
role: "non-employee chairman of the board and consultant"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 1994-01-11
|
||||
end: 2008-05-07
|
||||
role: "contributions of $750 to $5,000 listing worldwide associates as employer"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Alexander M. Haig, Jr. served as the Secretary of State under President [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]] in June 1981. While the [[State Department]] formally condemned the bombing, Haig was privately forbearing.[^1]
|
||||
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. was born on December 2, 1924, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, and died at about 1:30 a.m. on February 20, 2010, at [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]] in [[Baltimore]], at the age of 85; a hospital spokesman attributed his death to complications of an infection.[^1] He was military adviser and then deputy to [[Henry A. Kissinger]] at the [[National Security Council]], [[White House]] chief of staff to [[Richard Nixon]], Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, president of [[United Technologies Corporation]], and Secretary of State under President [[Ronald Reagan]].[^1][^2] Nixon promoted him in 1972 from two-star to four-star rank, passing over 240 officers with greater seniority.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Kissinger's deputy and the 1969 wiretaps
|
||||
|
||||
On May 9, 1969, the [[New York Times]] reported on [[United States]] bombing raids in [[Cambodia]]. The following day, according to the findings recited by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]], officials of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and Colonel Alexander Haig, Kissinger's assistant, worked out procedures to conduct the surveillance "with no record maintained" in the Bureau's normal files, and the Bureau then formally requested wiretap authorization from the Attorney General. Three other private telephones were tapped in the attempt to find the source of the article. The tap on the home telephone of [[Morton H. Halperin]], a National Security Council staff member, ran from May 1969 to February 1971. At first the logs were kept at the Bureau in special files, where Kissinger and Haig reviewed them; later, summary letters went to Kissinger, to Nixon through [[John Ehrlichman]], and occasionally to [[John Mitchell]], and after May 1970 only to [[H. R. Haldeman]]. The investigation eventually included electronic surveillance of 13 government employees and four newspaper reporters.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum from Haig to Kissinger dated June 4, 1969, supplied "talking points" for a meeting with FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and recommended continuing the Halperin tap "so that a pattern of innocence can be firmly established," as the court quoted it. The report of the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]] on the impeachment of Nixon, H. Rept. 93-1305, concluded that the May 1969 wiretaps, including Halperin's, were established for "political purposes," as the court cited it.[^3] The Associated Press obituary states that Haig helped arrange the wiretaps of government officials and reporters on Nixon's behalf.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Halperin v. Kissinger
|
||||
|
||||
Halperin and his family sued in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]] in June 1973 (Civil Action No. 1187-73), within a month of the government's admission at the trial of [[Daniel Ellsberg]] that Ellsberg had been overheard on the tap. The defendants were Nixon, Mitchell, Kissinger, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Haig, [[Jeb Magruder]], FBI Director [[Clarence Kelley]], the FBI official [[William C. Sullivan]] and Assistant Attorney General [[Robert Mardian]]; the [[Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company]] was also named. On cross-motions for summary judgment in December 1976 the district court ruled for all defendants except Nixon, Mitchell and Haldeman (424 F.Supp. 838), and in August 1977 it awarded $1 in nominal damages.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 12, 1979, the court of appeals (606 F.2d 1192) reversed on the application of Title III of the [[Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968]], on damages and on the summary judgment for Kissinger.[^3] The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] affirmed in 1981 by an equally divided Court and dismissed certiorari as to Haldeman (452 U.S. 713). On remand the district court granted summary judgment to all defendants on qualified immunity (578 F.Supp. 231 (1984)). On December 5, 1986, in an opinion by Circuit Justice [[Antonin Scalia]] (807 F.2d 180), the court of appeals held that summary judgment was proper as to the initiation of the wiretap but not as to its continuation after May 1970, and remanded.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Laos and Chile, 1970 and 1971
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, the [[Church Committee]], described Haig as "Kissinger's deputy" and recorded his contacts with [[Thomas Karamessines]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s Deputy Director for Plans, in October 1970, during the CIA's effort to prevent the inauguration of [[Salvador Allende]] in [[Chile]], the operation the Committee called Track II and the CIA's memoranda carried as [[Project FUBELT]]. Karamessines's calendar showed a lunch with Haig on October 8 and meetings on October 15, 19 and 22; on October 10 Karamessines told Haig by telephone, according to a CIA memorandum, that the Station had "made direct contact with a number of the senior military officers" and "received pessimistic reactions from all." At the October 15 meeting of Kissinger, Haig and Karamessines, the CIA memorandum recorded that General [[Roberto Viaux]] did not have more than one chance in twenty of a successful coup, that a message would be sent warning him against precipitate action, and that Kissinger instructed Karamessines to preserve Agency assets in Chile and keep up the pressure on Allende. The CIA cable sent to the Station on October 16 stated that it was "firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Kissinger and Haig testified that the October 15 meeting turned off the Agency's coup efforts and that afterwards they were neither informed of nor authorized Track II activities; CIA officials testified that their activities after October 15 were known to and authorized by the White House, and the Committee reported that it could not resolve the conflict. Haig testified on August 15, 1975, that he left the October 15 meeting "with the impression that there was nothing authorized," that he was not familiar with the Valenzuela plan or "$50,000" and had no recollection of a meeting with Karamessines on October 19, the afternoon of the day the Station's cable outlining the plan arrived, that word of the shooting of General [[Rene Schneider]] on October 22 came as "a great shock," and, asked whether he was informed before the attempted abduction, "I don't believe I was at all."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 3, 1971, Karamessines sent Brigadier General Haig, then Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, two "Top Secret Sensitive/Exclusively Eyes Only" messages for Haig from Ambassador [[William H. Godley]] in [[Laos]], captioned "Operation Gold," received through CIA channels. One reported that a Lao official, Sisouk, had let Godley glance at the Royal Lao Government's draft declaration to be issued after the operation against Tchepone began, and that the Prime Minister had agreed on the need for discretion but wondered whether anything could be kept secret.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 12, 1972, the CIA's Office of Legislative Counsel recorded that the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] had telephoned Haig about the nomination of a new Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. Haig said the nomination might be presented in the very near future, that he was unaware of plans to alert key senators in advance but thought Senator [[John Stennis]] might be advised, and that he would tell the Director the White House "game plan" once it was decided.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chief of staff and the August 1974 meetings with Ford
|
||||
|
||||
Haig succeeded Haldeman as White House chief of staff in 1973.[^1] In sworn testimony to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee on October 17, 1974, President [[Gerald R. Ford]] described two meetings with Haig on August 1, 1974, when Ford was Vice President. In the early morning Haig told him of additional tape evidence due to be delivered to Judge [[John Sirica]] on Monday, August 5. Haig came again at about 3:30 in the afternoon for roughly three-quarters of an hour and told him of the damaging nature of a June 23, 1972, conversation on one of the tapes, of which White House lawyers had told him. Ford testified that Haig outlined the courses under discussion in the White House, among them the President stepping aside under the 25th Amendment, a censure vote, "the question of whether the President could pardon himself," "pardoning various Watergate defendants, then himself, followed by resignation," and "a pardon to the President, should he resign"; that Haig "indicated he was not advocating any of the options"; and that, asked about the pardon power, Haig said it was his understanding from a White House lawyer that a President could grant a pardon before any criminal action was taken. Ford testified that on the morning of August 2 the Nixon lawyer [[James St. Clair]] told him he had not been the source of any opinion about the pardon power, and that late on August 2 he telephoned Haig to say that nothing they had discussed should be given any consideration in Nixon's decision, to which Haig replied that he was in full agreement. Asked whether Haig had discussed a pardon with Nixon or his representatives during the week of August 4 or afterward, Ford answered: "not to my knowledge."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The Associated Press obituary states that Haig "suggested to President Gerald Ford that he pardon his predecessor," that he played a key role in persuading Nixon to resign, and that he repeatedly denied speculation that he was "Deep Throat."[^1] It states that he stayed about six weeks with the Ford administration.[^1] [[Donald Rumsfeld]] became Ford's chief of staff on September 27, 1974.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Supreme Allied Commander Europe
|
||||
|
||||
Haig was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 1974 to 1979.[^2] On December 5, 1975, George A. Carver Jr., the CIA's Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, informed Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in writing that, at General Haig's request, the CIA had arranged to provide him intelligence support tailored to his needs, concentrating on current political and economic developments and supplementary to the support he received through military channels, and that the arrangements had been endorsed by Rumsfeld's predecessor and the Chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] and set up with the knowledge of the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. A copy went to a CIA file labeled "HAIG SUPPORT."[^10] A CIA reminder of March 6, 1978, directed that General Haig be sent a personal copy of National Intelligence Estimate 4-1 when it came off the press.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Rowland Evans]] and [[Robert Novak]] wrote in a column printed in the [[Boston Globe]] on January 25, 1981, that in his last days as President, [[Jimmy Carter]] summoned General [[Robert Huyser]], Haig's deputy at [[NATO]] whom Carter had sent to [[Tehran]] in January 1979 over Haig's objections, for a conversation the columnists described as an unsuccessful ploy against Haig's confirmation as Secretary of State; they cited "an intimate of both Huyser and Haig" as saying Huyser was "unshakable" in praising Haig.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### United Technologies
|
||||
|
||||
Haig's later corporate biographies give different dates for his presidency of United Technologies: the 2004 proxy statement of DOR BioPharma gives 1978 to 1981, and the 2002 proxy statement of SDC International gives 1979 to 1981 and states that he "remains as a consultant."[^2][^13] The Associated Press obituary places the move after he briefly explored a presidential run in 1979.[^1] On August 15, 1980, "Haig, Alexander M Jr" of Farmington, Connecticut, employer United Technologies, gave $500 to the United Technologies Corporation political action committee.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Secretary of State
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum by [[Robert Gates]] records the subjects raised at a breakfast between Director of Central Intelligence [[William J. Casey]] and Haig on March 20, 1981, among them NATO security, with State to work with NATO Secretary General [[Joseph Luns]].[^15] On March 30, 1981, after the attempted assassination of Reagan, Haig told reporters in the White House briefing room: "Constitutionally gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Haig was present at a meeting of Reagan's high command following the Israeli bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in June 1981 (the [[Osirak bombing]]), and that while the [[State Department]] formally condemned the bombing, Haig was privately forbearing.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 29, 1981, the Supreme Court decided [[Haig v. Agee]], in which Haig, as Secretary of State, was the petitioner. The Court upheld the revocation of the passport of [[Philip Agee]], a CIA employee from 1957 to 1968 who had announced a campaign to expose CIA officers and agents; the revocation had been ordered in December 1979, before Haig took office.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
CIA scheduling memoranda record that Casey planned a meeting with Haig on October 1, 1981, at 3:30 p.m., and that Casey and his deputy, Admiral [[Bobby Ray Inman]], were scheduled for breakfast with Haig on October 6, 1981, and again on January 26, 1982.[^18] The National Intelligence Officer for [[Latin America]] prepared Casey for the October 1 meeting with a memorandum listing four policy alternatives on Cuba and [[Central America]], the third being increased support for [[El Salvador]], Guatemala and Honduras "plus replacement of Sandinista Directorate by Third Force moderates to include the use of US forces to deter or interdict Cuban reinforcement of Nicaragua," and the fourth "direct pressure on Cuba," including an oil blockade. The memorandum stated that there was "virtual consensus among Defense, most of CIA and State" for the third alternative.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 2, 1982, Casey sent Haig ("Dear Al") a quick intelligence assessment of the military aspects of the "Falkland affair" in the [[Falkland Islands]], which referred to "the Argentine invasion Friday," with a copy to Vice President [[George H.W. Bush]].[^20] On April 14, 1982, Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] told the House of Commons that Haig had made two visits to the [[United Kingdom]] and one to [[Buenos Aires]], praised his "tireless efforts," and said that on his second visit he had put forward ideas concerning the withdrawal of troops and an interim period for negotiations. On April 29 she said that Haig had put formal American proposals to the [[Argentina|Argentine]] government, and on May 4 that he was pursuing initiatives through the Peruvian government.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Reagan accepted Haig's resignation by letter on June 25, 1982. Haig's letter of the same date states that he and Reagan had agreed that "consistency, clarity and steadiness of purpose were essential to success" and that "in recent months, it has become clear to me that the foreign policy on which we embarked together was shifting from that careful course which we had laid out."[^22] [[George P. Shultz]] succeeded him.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Worldwide Associates and the CIA, 1984 and 1985
|
||||
|
||||
[[Worldwide Associates]], a Washington international advisory firm, had Haig as chairman and president from 1984.[^2] Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[John N. McMahon]] wrote to Haig ("Al") on January 5, 1984, at 1155 15th Street, N.W., Suite 800, that a doctoral candidate and former military officer whose resume Haig had passed to the Agency, whose name is redacted, would join the CIA as a career trainee on April 16, adding: "We're always on the lookout for good people and appreciate your keeping us in mind."[^23] The same address is given for Haig in the 2002 proxy statement of SDC International.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The appointment log of Director of Central Intelligence Casey for 1985, as released, lists under Haig a reception and screening of "That's Dancing" hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Haig at the [[Motion Picture Association]], 1600 I Street, N.W., on January 22; a breakfast with Haig at the Madison Hotel on April 10; a reception and screening of "A View to a Kill" at the same address hosted by General and Mrs. Haig on May 31; a breakfast with General Haig at CIA headquarters on November 13; and a cocktail buffet hosted by General and Mrs. Haig on December 20.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
No registrant named Worldwide Associates, and none named Haig, appears in the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] registrant lists, active or terminated, retrieved from the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s FARA e-file interface on October 1, 2026; the only near matches are the law firm Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens and related Haight registrants.[^25] The Senate and House lobbying disclosure database, which begins in 1999, returns no registrant named Worldwide Associates and no lobbyist named Haig.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### Corporate boards
|
||||
|
||||
The proxy statement of [[MGM Mirage]] filed March 27, 2001, lists Haig as a director since 1990 and a consultant to the company since May 1990, holder of options on 10,000 shares, and recipient in 2000 of $50,000 in consulting fees; it describes him as chairman of Worldwide Associates, host of the weekly television program "World Business Review," and a director of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] Inc., CompuServe Interactive Services and [[Interneuron Pharmaceuticals]]. [[Tracinda]], of which [[Kirk Kerkorian]] was sole director and stockholder, owned 91,221,432 MGM Mirage shares.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
[[SDC International]] named Haig a director in January 2002; he had been its strategic advisor since May 1999. Its proxy statement filed December 6, 2002, discloses that SDC paid him $85,000 in September 2001 for past services, issued him fully vested options on 300,000 shares at $0.40 when the agreement was renewed on September 9, 2001, and agreed to pay him "between one and two percent of the total gross contract amount of any contract entered into by SDC or any of its subsidiaries which was obtained through the efforts of General Haig." SDC's principal operating entity was its Czech subsidiary [[Tatra]]; [[Terex Corporation]], which had received shares as a strategic advisor, held 12 percent. Haig held 505,000 shares, 2.47 percent, and was one of the two persons named to vote stockholders' proxies.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
[[DOR BioPharma]] entered into a letter agreement with Haig on December 23, 2002, making him chairman of its board for a retainer of $50,000 a year and options on 2,000,000 shares; its 2004 proxy statement adds that he received a further $50,000 a year for consulting services. The company had executed licence agreements for ricin and botulinum toxin vaccines in January 2003, and its 2003 private placement was handled by [[Paramount Capital]], an investment bank affiliated with its largest stockholder, [[Lindsay Rosenwald]]. The statement lists Haig, then 79, as a director of MGM Mirage, [[Indevus Pharmaceuticals]], SDC International and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and gives Worldwide Associates' address as 4301 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political contributions and the 1988 campaign
|
||||
|
||||
Haig for President (FEC committee C00214189), with treasurer Dominic J. Saraceno of Virginia, reported receipts of $2,633,083 for the 1988 cycle, including $140,442 in federal matching funds, and remained registered through 2000.[^28] Rumsfeld gave it $1,000 on January 27, 1988.[^14] The Associated Press obituary records that Haig ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list contributions by entries in the name of Haig giving Worldwide Associates as employer, among them $750 to the [[Republican National Committee]] on January 11, 1994, $1,000 to Pete Wilson for President on May 1, 1995, $5,000 to the RNC on July 19, 1996, November 10, 1998, and February 1, 2000, and $2,300 to John McCain 2008 on April 10, 2007. A $1,000 contribution to McCain 2000 dated June 15, 1999, comes from "Haig, Alexander M. Mr. Jr." of [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] with no employer listed. The records list contributions to the MGM Mirage political action committee of $500 on December 19, 2000, $1,000 on January 31, 2002, and $1,000 on May 4, 2004.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
|
||||
[^1]: "Alexander Haig, Presidential Adviser, Dies," CBS News and Associated Press, February 20, 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexander-haig-presidential-adviser-dies/
|
||||
[^2]: DOR BioPharma, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 28, 2004, accession 0000812796-04-000012, nominee table and biography of General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., "Board of Directors Agreements," "Director Compensation," "Related Party Transactions" and beneficial ownership table, note 8, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/812796/000081279604000012/defproxy.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Halperin v. Kissinger, 606 F.2d 1192 (D.C. Cir. 1979), Nos. 77-2014 and 77-2015, argued February 9, 1979, decided July 12, 1979, appeal from Civil Action No. 1187-73 (D.D.C.), Part I (statement of facts) and notes 1, 4, 17 to 20, 39 to 41, 82 and 84 (June 4, 1969 memorandum, Joint Appendix 57; H. Rept. 93-1305 at 35 and 146), https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/606/606.F2d.1192.77-2015.77-2014.html
|
||||
[^4]: Halperin v. Kissinger, 807 F.2d 180 (D.C. Cir. 1986), No. 84-5095, argued May 1, 1985, decided December 5, 1986, opinion of Circuit Justice Scalia (procedural history citing 424 F.Supp. 838, 434 F.Supp. 1193, 452 U.S. 713 and 578 F.Supp. 231), https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/807/807.F2d.180.84-5095.html
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report," S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975, chapter on Chile, findings and section "CIA/White House Communication During Track II" (chronology for October 8, 10, 15, 16, 19 and 22, 1970), citing Haig testimony of August 15, 1975, pp. 12, 13, 26-27, 36 and 38-39, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Thomas H. Karamessines, Deputy Director for Plans, memorandum for Brigadier General Alexander M. Haig, February 3, 1971, with two attached messages from Ambassador Godley, "Operation Gold," CIA Reading Room, LOC-HAK-477-18-13-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-loc-hak-477-18-13-9
|
||||
[^7]: Legislative Counsel, memorandum for the record, "Director's Conversation with General Al Haig, White House Staff, Re DDCI Nomination," OLC 72-0040, January 12, 1972, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP75B00380R000100020156-1, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP75B00380R000100020156-1
|
||||
[^8]: Gerald R. Ford, statement before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, House Committee on the Judiciary, October 17, 1974, typescript pp. 6-14, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Philip Buchen Files, Box 34, "Nixon Pardon Hungate Subcommittee, Ford Testimony, 1974/10/17," https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520699.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services, S. Hrg. 107-749, hearing of January 11, 2001, Committee on Armed Services Form for Donald H. Rumsfeld, Part A, items 9 and 10 (Assistant to the President under Ford, September 27, 1974, to November 18, 1975), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
|
||||
[^10]: George A. Carver Jr., Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Intelligence Support for General Haig," December 5, 1975, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8
|
||||
[^11]: CIA reminder memo, March 6, 1978 ("Send General Haig a personal copy of NIE 4-1"), CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80B01554R003200280018-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01554r003200280018-2
|
||||
[^12]: Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, "Carter failed in effort to block Haig," Boston Globe, January 25, 1981, CIA Reading Room clipping, CIA-RDP90-00965R000301900078-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000301900078-7
|
||||
[^13]: SDC International, Inc., preliminary proxy statement (PRE 14A), filed December 6, 2002, accession 0000943440-02-000519, questions and answers, beneficial ownership table, director biographies and "Certain Transactions with Management," https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1005841/000094344002000519/proxy-1202.txt
|
||||
[^14]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, API queries for contributor names "Haig, Alexander" (two-year periods 1980 to 2010; New Jersey donors of the same name excluded) and "Rumsfeld, Donald" (HAIG FOR PRESIDENT, January 27, 1988), run October 1, 2026, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^15]: Robert M. Gates, Director, DCI/DDCI Executive Staff, memorandum, "Haig Breakfast, 20 March 1981," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP89G00720R000100040085-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89g00720r000100040085-3
|
||||
[^16]: Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (New York: Random House, 1991).
|
||||
[^17]: Haig v. Agee, 453 U.S. 280 (1981), No. 80-83, argued January 24, 1981, decided June 29, 1981, opinion of Chief Justice Burger, Part I, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/453/280
|
||||
[^18]: CIA Executive Secretary, memoranda "DCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Thursday, 1 October 1981" (September 28, 1981), CIA-RDP84B00890R000300080052-2; "DCI and DDCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Tuesday, 6 October 1981" (September 29, 1981), CIA-RDP84B00890R000300080051-3; and "DCI and DDCI Meeting with Secretary of State Haig, Tuesday, 26 January 1982" (January 19, 1982), CIA-RDP84M00395R000600260026-0, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00890r000300080052-2
|
||||
[^19]: National Intelligence Officer for Latin America, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Cuba/Central America Strategy Issues for Your Meeting with Secretary Haig, 1 October 1981," September 30, 1981, secret, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP84B00049R001203100015-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00049r001203100015-4
|
||||
[^20]: William J. Casey to Alexander M. Haig, Jr., April 2, 1982, with "Quick Intelligence Assessment on Falkland Affairs (April 2, 1982)," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP84B00049R000701780017-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84b00049r000701780017-6
|
||||
[^21]: House of Commons, "Falkland Islands," HC Deb 14 April 1982 vol 21 cc1146-208, HC Deb 29 April 1982 vol 22 cc980-1059, and HC Deb 4 May 1982 vol 23 cc16-8 (statements of the Prime Minister), https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/apr/14/falkland-islands, https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/apr/29/falkland-islands and https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/may/04/falkland-islands
|
||||
[^22]: Ronald Reagan, "Letter Accepting the Resignation of Alexander M. Haig, Jr., as Secretary of State," June 25, 1982, with Haig's letter of resignation of the same date, Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-accepting-the-resignation-alexander-m-haig-jr-secretary-state
|
||||
[^23]: John N. McMahon, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, to General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., USA (Ret.), January 5, 1984, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP86B00885R000100060077-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00885r000100060077-6
|
||||
[^24]: Director of Central Intelligence, appointment and contact log for 1985, entries under "HAIG, Alexander," CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP93-00415R000200210008-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp93-00415r000200210008-9
|
||||
[^25]: U.S. Department of Justice, FARA e-file API, Registrants (Active, 537 rows) and Registrants (Terminated, 6,552 rows), retrieved October 1, 2026, https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/Registrants/json/Active and https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/Registrants/json/Terminated (name search; short-form registrants and foreign principals not searched).
|
||||
[^26]: Lobbying Disclosure Act filings database, API queries for registrant name "Worldwide Associates" and lobbyist name "Haig," run October 1, 2026, https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/
|
||||
[^27]: MGM Mirage, Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed March 27, 2001, accession 0000912057-01-008537, nominee table, notes on options, and "Certain Transactions," https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789570/000091205701008537/a2041387zdef14a.htm
|
||||
[^28]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00214189, Haig for President, committee record and financial totals by cycle, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00214189/totals/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
113
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arthur Jensen.md
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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Arthur Jensen.md
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|
|
@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- ArthurJensen
|
||||
- PioneerFund
|
||||
- RaceScience
|
||||
- HumanBiodiversity
|
||||
- UCBerkeley
|
||||
- HarvardEducationalReview
|
||||
- MankindQuarterly
|
||||
- Psychometrics
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Arthur Jensen
|
||||
- Arthur R. Jensen
|
||||
- Arthur Robert Jensen
|
||||
summary: "Berkeley educational psychologist whose 1969 Harvard Educational Review article on IQ and race was inserted in the Congressional Record and who is named on the Pioneer Fund's own list of grantees."
|
||||
born: 1923-08-24
|
||||
died: 2012-10-22
|
||||
location: "San Diego, California (born); Kelseyville, California (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[University of California, Berkeley]]"
|
||||
start: 1958
|
||||
role: "professor of educational psychology"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Pioneer Fund]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "named as a grantee on the fund's own grantees page; the fund paid the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences 1,071,500 dollars from 1973 to 1990, and a 1983 report by Jensen and a coauthor acknowledges that institute's support"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity]]"
|
||||
role: "submitted a written statement for a hearing scheduled for February 24, 1972, which was not held"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Arthur Robert Jensen (August 24, 1923, to October 22, 2012) was an educational psychologist who joined the faculty of the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 1958. His 123-page article "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" appeared in the Winter 1969 issue of the [[Harvard Educational Review]] and was entered in full in the [[Congressional Record]] by Representative [[John Rarick]] on May 28, 1969. The [[Pioneer Fund]]'s own web page lists him among its grantees.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Education and Berkeley Appointment
|
||||
|
||||
Jensen was born in [[San Diego]], took a bachelor's degree in psychology at [[Berkeley]] and a master's at [[San Diego State College]], and received his doctorate from [[Columbia University]] in 1956. He then spent two postdoctoral years in [[Hans Eysenck]]'s laboratory in [[London]]. His first academic appointment at Berkeley, in the Department of Educational Psychology, dated from 1958. In 1966 and 1967 he spent a year at the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]] in [[Palo Alto]]. He died at his home in [[Kelseyville, California|Kelseyville]], California, and was then professor emeritus.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1967 he was professor of educational psychology and research psychologist in the Institute of Human Learning of the [[University of California]], Berkeley, and gave a speech to the California Advisory Council of Educational Research in San Diego.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Berkeley Desegregation Evaluation
|
||||
|
||||
Jensen described the following sequence in a paper printed in the Senate committee compilation of 1972. In 1967 the [[Berkeley Board of Education]] voted to desegregate its elementary schools by two-way busing, approved in January 1968 and put into effect the following September, with about 3,500 of 9,000 elementary pupils bused each day. Chancellor [[Roger Heyns]] formed an advisory committee at the school officials' request; Jensen was first called to confer in November 1967, and in late December Heyns asked him to direct the evaluation. Jensen wrote the proposal in January 1968, trained 15 testers, half white and half Negro, and had them test the district's 9,000 elementary pupils in April and May 1968 to obtain baseline data. He wrote that he insisted on outside testers and that his continuing as director was contingent on it.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
He wrote that a group called the [[Community for New Politics]] protested the study at the board meeting of May 7, 1968, alleging racist bias, and that he rebutted at the meeting of May 21. He also wrote that local newspapers publicized his views on race differences "quite luridly," including once with a red two-inch banner headline, and that it was agreed that the dean of the School of Education would become principal investigator, with Jensen "far into the background" as research psychologist.[^5] In his account the Harvard Educational Review published his article in the first week of March 1969. A spokesman for one group proposed at a board meeting that the evaluation be halted and the baseline data destroyed; at the next meeting the board announced that the district would dissociate itself from the university's project, about two weeks after the spring 1969 testing had begun. Jensen wrote that the testers completed the testing, that the school administration kept the results, and that a school official explained that "the schools were not a research institute, but a political unit."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Jensen's report on the spring 1968 questionnaires, published in May 1970 as Research Resume No. 43 of the California Advisory Council on Educational Research of the [[California Teachers Association]], covers 337 Berkeley elementary teachers and the parents of over 8,000 pupils. Its abstract states that the vast majority of teachers favored integration and busing, that a majority of parents favored integration but approved busing less as a means of achieving it, and that a majority of every racial group favored ability grouping.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Contract Research
|
||||
|
||||
The final report of July 1970, "An Experimental Analysis of Learning Abilities in Culturally Disadvantaged Children," records that it resulted from a contract between the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]] and the University of California, Contract Number OEO 2404, with Jensen and [[William D. Rohwer Jr.]] as principal investigators; the acknowledgments name [[Douglas Penfield]] as project director and describe studies in three school districts.[^7] A paper of 1970, "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?", is registered in ERIC with an abstract that begins: "We need to find out the extent to which individual differences, social class differences and race differences in rates of cognitive development, and differential patterns of relative strength and weakness are attributable to genetically conditioned biological growth factors."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1967 Speech and the 1969 Article
|
||||
|
||||
The October 1967 speech carries the title the article later used.[^4] The article opens: "Compensatory education has been tried and it apparently has failed." In the text Jensen wrote that "such an hypothesis is anathema to many social scientists," meaning an hypothesis that genetic factors play a part in the lower average intelligence and scholastic performance of Negroes, and then: "The fact that a reasonable hypothesis has not been rigorously proved does not mean that it should be summarily dismissed." He concluded that the evidence made it "a not unreasonable hypothesis that genetic factors are strongly implicated in the average Negro-white intelligence difference," adding that "the preponderance of the evidence is, in my opinion, less consistent with a strictly environmental hypothesis than with a genetic hypothesis, which, of course, does not exclude the influence of environment or its interaction with genetic factors."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The editors' note printed with the article announced that the Spring 1969 issue would carry a discussion by five psychologists: [[Carl Bereiter]], [[Lee Cronbach]], [[James F. Crow|James Crow]], [[David Elkind]] and [[J. McVicker Hunt]].[^2] The article's text cites "Shuey (1966), whose 578 page review is the most comprehensive, covering 382 studies," and its reference list includes [[Robert E. Kuttner|Kuttner]]'s "Biochemical anthropology" in *Race and Modern Science* ([[Social Science Press]], 1967) and a Kuttner letter in *[[Perspectives in Biology and Medicine]]* of 1968.[^2] Radical groups disrupted his lectures, students chanted "Dr. Jensen is inside. He is teaching genocide," his car tires were slashed, he received death threats, the university gave him a pair of bodyguards, and police X-rayed his mail.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congressional Record Insertion
|
||||
|
||||
On May 28, 1969, Representative John Rarick of [[Louisiana]], recognized by the House for 30 minutes, stated: "because of the significant findings of Dr. Arthur L. [sic] Jensen of the Institute for Human Learning at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif., in the field of environment, heredity, and behavior, I include his work." The article and its references occupy pages 14190 to 14217 of the Congressional Record for that day.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senate Select Committee, 1972
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate [[Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity]], chaired by [[Walter Mondale]], scheduled a hearing on "Environment, Intelligence and Scholastic Achievement" for February 24, 1972. The hearing could not be held as planned, and in June 1972 the committee printed the statements of the scheduled witnesses with research papers on the same topic. Jensen's statement runs pages 55 to 68, followed by reprints of the 1969 article and six other papers by him, among them "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?" and "Do Schools Cheat Minority Children?"[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The print also contains [[Richard Herrnstein]]'s "IQ" from [[The Atlantic Monthly]] of September 1971, an article by Eysenck, and two papers by [[William B. Shockley]], "Dysgenics: A Social Problem Reality Evaded by the Illusion of Infinite Plasticity of [[Human Intelligence]]" and "Dysgenics, Geneticity, Raceology: A Challenge to the Intellectual Responsibility of Educators." It reproduces the Harvard Educational Review's reprint series on the controversy, including a [[Black Student Union]] statement and "The SPSSI statement."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
In his statement Jensen wrote that he had been on the Berkeley faculty for 14 years, that no one taking the contrary position had had to endure "personal threats, prolonged harassment, invasion of his college classes by disruptive demonstrations," or two plainclothes police bodyguards, and that a newsletter of the [[American Anthropological Association]] had proposed that members burn copies of the Review. He stated: "My position is that there is now sufficient evidence to seriously question the 100-percent environmental theories of the mean white-black intelligence difference."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The statement gave empirically determined heritabilities of IQ as "usually of the order of .70 to .80," said that in European and North American Caucasian populations genetic factors were "roughly twice as important as environmental variation" as a cause of individual differences, and put the average white-black difference in the [[United States]] at approximately one standard deviation, or 15 IQ points. It offered as an hypothesis that the heritability of IQ is the same within the white and black populations as between them and that the genetic variance involved in IQ is about one-fifth less in the black than in the white population. It proposed three educational approaches, the pursuit of aptitude-by-training interactions, greater attention to learning readiness, and greater diversity of curricula and goals, and stated that none of them was "based on the expectation of the schools' significantly changing children's basic intelligence."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pioneer Fund Money
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Institute for the Study of Educational Differences]] appears in the ledger of Pioneer Fund grants that [[Barry Mehler]] compiled from the fund's returns, which lists grantees by institution. Its nominal payments were 10,000 dollars in each of 1973, 1974 and 1975; 20,000 dollars in 1976; 30,000 in 1977 and 1978; 47,000 in 1979; 63,000 in 1980; 70,000 in 1981; 50,000 in 1982; 6,000 in 1983; 90,000 in 1984; 96,000 in 1985; 134,500 in 1986; 107,000 in 1987; 98,000 in 1988; and 100,000 in 1989 and 1990. The total is 1,071,500 dollars, about 10 percent of the 10,670,040.55 dollars the ledger records for all grantees from 1971 to 1996, and no payment to the institute appears after 1990.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Internal Revenue Service]] listed "Institute for the Study of Educational Differences, Orinda, Ca." among organizations eligible to receive deductible gifts in the editions of its Publication 78 revised to October 31, 1982, and October 31, 1985.[^11] A report by Philip A. Vernon and Jensen, dated 1983 in the ERIC catalog, states: "This study was supported by the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences."[^12] The ledger's entries for the University of California total 221,600 dollars from 1971 to 1996, of which 218,000 dollars were paid from 1991 to 1996; the ledger does not state whom these grants supported.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] wrote that Jensen "got more than $1 million in Pioneer grants over three decades."[^13] The fund's grantees page of February 2003 describes Jensen as "Professor Emeritus Arthur R. Jensen of the University of California at Berkeley" and "todays leading exponent of the position that all mental tasks, even simple reaction time tests, reflect a unitary general factor termed g," and names him again among grantees who "significantly extended the scope of the debate about racial differences" with *The g Factor* (1998).[^3] The fund's page headed "Controversies" poses the question "But the Pioneer Fund has supported researchers such as Audrey Shuey, Henry Garrett, Arthur Jensen, [[Richard Lynn]], and [[J. Philippe Rushton]]? Didnt they all set out to prove that Blacks are inferior?" and answers: "Pioneer grantees are not interested in proving that any one group has a particular average IQ or anything else."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mankind Quarterly and Social Science Press
|
||||
|
||||
The issue of *[[Mankind Quarterly]]* for January to March 1973, edited in [[Edinburgh]] by [[Robert Gayre]] with [[Henry Garrett]] as honorary associate editor, Robert Kuttner as an assistant editor and [[Audrey Shuey]] on the honorary advisory board, printed [[Dale C. Adams]]'s "Farewell to Behaviourism," which begins by comparing Copernicus with Jensen: "some credit for the world henceforth admitting that human life revolves around heredity may be given to Arthur Jensen."[^15] The issue of January to March 1972 advertised, under the imprint Social Science Press, Kuttner's *Race and Modern Science* and Shuey's *The Testing of Negro Intelligence,* described as "578 pages" summarizing "382 studies."[^16] An article by [[Nathaniel Weyl]] in the same issue names Jensen, William B. Shockley and [[R. Travis Osborne]] as having presented evidence that the Negro-white intelligence gap was widening.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The issue of Summer 1990, published in Washington by [[The Cliveden Press]], carried [[J. W. Jamieson]]'s "Arthur Jensen and the Heritability of I.Q.: A Case Study in the Violation of Academic Freedom." Jamieson's affiliation is given as the [[Institute for the Study of Man]], which the Pioneer ledger lists at 944,000 dollars for 1971 to 1996.[^10][^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Loehlin, John C. "Arthur R. Jensen, 1923-2012," *Twin Research and Human Genetics* 16, Supplement 1 (February 2013), pp. 499-500, doi:10.1017/thg.2012.143. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twin-research-and-human-genetics/article/arthur-r-jensen-19232012/F033208B342BBA3F1C97E3055FFE17D4
|
||||
[^2]: Remarks of Representative John R. Rarick of Louisiana, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement," inserting Arthur R. Jensen, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" *Harvard Educational Review* 39, no. 1 (Winter 1969), pp. 1-123, *Congressional Record* (House), May 28, 1969, pp. 14190-14217 (editors' note on the Spring issue at p. 14190; "Compensatory education has been tried and it apparently has failed" at p. 14190; the passage on a "not unreasonable hypothesis" at p. 14207; reference list). https://archive.org/details/1969-jensen-in-congressional-record
|
||||
[^3]: The Pioneer Fund, Inc., "Grantees: Highlights of Pioneer Fund Research and Grantees," web page, capture of February 26, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030226195940id_/http://www.pioneerfund.org:80/Grantees.html
|
||||
[^4]: Jensen, Arthur R. "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" speech to the annual meeting of the California Advisory Council of Educational Research, San Diego, October 1967, 17 pp., ERIC document ED023722 (author note and abstract). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153036_0091
|
||||
[^5]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Assessment of Racial Desegregation in the Berkeley Schools," in U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, *Environment, Intelligence, and Scholastic Achievement: A Compilation of Testimony* (Committee Print, June 1972), pp. 523-541. https://archive.org/details/1972-senate-testimony
|
||||
[^6]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Parent and Teacher Attitudes Toward Integration and Busing," Research Resume No. 43, California Advisory Council on Educational Research, California Teachers Association, Burlingame, May 1970, 51 pp., ERIC document ED041092 (abstract and title page). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153160_0387
|
||||
[^7]: Jensen, Arthur R., and William D. Rohwer Jr. "An Experimental Analysis of Learning Abilities in Culturally Disadvantaged Children," Final Report, Office of Economic Opportunity Contract OEO 2404, University of California, Berkeley, July 1970, 205 pp., ERIC document ED043690 (title page and acknowledgments). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153158_0296
|
||||
[^8]: Jensen, Arthur R. "Can We and Should We Study Race Differences?" 1970, 60 pp., ERIC document ED041059 (abstract). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153160_0356
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, *Environment, Intelligence, and Scholastic Achievement: A Compilation of Testimony* (Committee Print, 92d Cong., 2d sess., June 1972), Foreword, table of contents, and "Statement of Arthur R. Jensen," pp. 55-68. https://archive.org/details/1972-senate-testimony
|
||||
[^10]: Mehler, Barry, comp. "Pioneer Fund Grants, 1971-1996," Institute for the Study of Academic Racism, compiled from the fund's Internal Revenue Service returns; nominal-dollar tables in Part I (1971-1975, capture of February 2, 2002), Part II (1976-1980, capture of February 14, 2002), Part III (1981-1985, capture of February 2, 2002), Part IV (1986-1990, capture of January 29, 2002), Part V (1991-1996, capture of January 29, 2002) and Part VI (totals, capture of March 9, 2002), read at https://web.archive.org/web/20020202075204id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp1.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020214214926id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/PFp2.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020202045118id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp3.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020129112308id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp4.htm, https://web.archive.org/web/20020129113141id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp5.htm and https://web.archive.org/web/20020309164506id_/http://www.ferris.edu:80/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfspread/pfp6.htm
|
||||
[^11]: Internal Revenue Service, *Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954* (Publication 78), revised to October 31, 1982 (https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152660_0032) and revised to October 31, 1985 (https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152806_0979), entry "Institute for the Study of Educational Differences, Orinda, Ca. (3)."
|
||||
[^12]: Vernon, Philip A., and Arthur R. Jensen. "Individual and Group Differences in Intelligence and Speed of Information Processing," [1983], ERIC document ED237624, p. 32 (note: "This study was supported by the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences."). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153452_0481
|
||||
[^13]: Southern Poverty Law Center, "Pioneer Fund," Extremist Files, passage on Arthur Jensen's grants. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/pioneer-fund/
|
||||
[^14]: The Pioneer Fund, Inc., "Controversies: Setting the Record Straight," web page, capture of February 19, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030219052001id_/http://www.pioneerfund.org:80/Controversies.html
|
||||
[^15]: *Mankind Quarterly* 13, no. 3 (January-March 1973), Edinburgh, masthead (editor R. Gayre of Gayre; honorary associate editors Henry E. Garrett, Mario Cappieri and Frank C. J. McGurk; assistant editor Robert Kuttner; honorary advisory board including Audrey M. Shuey), and Dale C. Adams, "Farewell to Behaviourism." https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
|
||||
[^16]: *Mankind Quarterly* 12, no. 3 (January-March 1972), advertisements for the International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics, Inc. (New York), and for Social Science Press: Robert E. Kuttner, ed., *Race and Modern Science* (484 pages, 7.95 dollars) and Audrey M. Shuey, *The Testing of Negro Intelligence* (578 pages, 6.50 dollars). https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
|
||||
[^17]: Weyl, Nathaniel. "Racial Discrimination and the Conservative Outlook," *Mankind Quarterly* 12, no. 3 (January-March 1972), pp. 129ff. (passage citing Arthur Jensen, William Shockley and R. Travis Osborne, following the page marked 133). https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
|
||||
[^18]: Jamieson, J. W. (Institute for the Study of Man). "Arthur Jensen and the Heritability of I.Q.: A Case Study in the Violation of Academic Freedom," *Mankind Quarterly* 30, no. 4 (Summer 1990), pp. 351ff., published by The Cliveden Press, Washington, D.C. https://archive.org/details/mankind-quarterly-the-1960-2004
|
||||
232
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben Horowitz.md
Normal file
232
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ben Horowitz.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,232 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- BenHorowitz
|
||||
- AndreessenHorowitz
|
||||
- VentureCapital
|
||||
- SiliconValley
|
||||
- Opsware
|
||||
- PoliticalMoney
|
||||
- SuperPAC
|
||||
- Policing
|
||||
- LasVegas
|
||||
- Fairshake
|
||||
- Trump
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ben Horowitz
|
||||
- Benjamin Horowitz
|
||||
- Benjamin A. Horowitz
|
||||
- Horowitz, Ben
|
||||
summary: "Cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and former chief executive of Loudcloud and Opsware, whose family foundation gave 7,255,132 dollars to the Las Vegas police foundation and who funded crypto, AI and Trump super PACs."
|
||||
location: "Las Vegas, Nevada"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Andreessen Horowitz]]"
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
role: "cofounder and general partner"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Andreessen]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-09
|
||||
role: "cofounder of Loudcloud in 1999 and of Andreessen Horowitz in 2009"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Netscape]]"
|
||||
start: 1995-07
|
||||
end: 1999-04
|
||||
role: "vice president"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[America Online]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-04
|
||||
end: 1999-09
|
||||
role: "vice president and general manager, E-Commerce Platform division"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Opsware]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-09
|
||||
role: "cofounder of Loudcloud, later renamed Opsware"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Opsware]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-09
|
||||
end: 2007
|
||||
role: "president and chief executive of Loudcloud and Opsware"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Opsware]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-09
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Hewlett-Packard]]"
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
role: "vice president and general manager, Business Technology Optimization for Software"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Databricks]]"
|
||||
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Anyscale]]"
|
||||
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Navan]]"
|
||||
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[NationBuilder]]"
|
||||
role: "board member per a16z biography, 2026"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[AliphCom]]"
|
||||
start: 2012-05
|
||||
role: "director, signatory of board consent"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "through the Horowitz Family Foundation, 500,000 dollars (year to June 2021), 2,015,000 dollars (June 2023), 4,740,132 dollars (June 2024)"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]]"
|
||||
start: 2025
|
||||
role: "Tesla Cybertrucks donated directly with Felicia Horowitz, outside the foundation"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Fairshake]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-10-23
|
||||
end: 2025-12-10
|
||||
role: "45,400,000 dollars attributed on the committee's filings"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Right for America]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-07-22
|
||||
end: 2024-07-22
|
||||
role: "2,500,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[BlackPAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-10-07
|
||||
end: 2024-10-07
|
||||
role: "2,500,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[MAGA Inc.]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-02-04
|
||||
end: 2026-03-10
|
||||
role: "6,000,000 dollars in three contributions"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Leading the Future]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-22
|
||||
end: 2026-02-11
|
||||
role: "25,000,000 dollars in two contributions attributed on the filings"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Leadership Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-03-07
|
||||
end: 2026-03-19
|
||||
role: "1,250,000 dollars attributed in four contributions"
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[David Horowitz]]"
|
||||
role: "son"
|
||||
fn: 25
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Felicia Horowitz]]"
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ben Horowitz (Benjamin A. Horowitz) is a cofounder and general partner of the venture capital firm [[Andreessen Horowitz]] (a16z), which he and [[Marc Andreessen]] started in 2009.[^1] He worked in product marketing at [[Lotus Development Corporation]] before joining [[Netscape]] in July 1995, where he ran product divisions including the Directory and Security line; was vice president and general manager of the E-Commerce Platform division of [[America Online]] in 1999; and from September 1999 was cofounder, president and chief executive of Loudcloud, which became [[Opsware]] and was acquired by [[Hewlett-Packard]] in 2007. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from [[Columbia University]] and a master's from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]].[^2][^3] His a16z biography lists board seats at [[Anyscale]], [[Databricks]], [[Mayvenn]], [[NationBuilder]], [[Navan]] and [[UnitedMasters]], and credits him with creating the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Loudcloud
|
||||
|
||||
The proxy statement of Loudcloud, Inc. for its annual meeting of June 26, 2001, filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on May 25, 2001, states that Horowitz "is a co-founder of Loudcloud and has served as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since September 1999," and that he had been at America Online from April to September 1999 and a vice president at Netscape Communications from July 1995 to April 1999. The board consisted of Horowitz, Andreessen, [[Andrew Rachleff]] of [[Benchmark Capital]], [[William V. Campbell]] and [[Michael Ovitz]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The proxy reports Horowitz's salary as 210,000 dollars for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2001 and 35,000 dollars for the period from the company's inception in September 1999 to January 2000, with an option grant of 500,000 shares; he was the only named executive granted options that year. As of May 11, 2001 he beneficially owned 4,158,453 shares, 5.5 percent of the class, of which 3,873,453 were held individually and 285,000 by the Horowitz Family Limited Partnership, and 2,288,334 were subject to the company's right of repurchase. Andreessen's trust held 9,110,899 shares (12.0 percent) and entities affiliated with Benchmark Capital 10,010,712 shares (13.2 percent). Entities affiliated with [[Amerindo Investment Advisors]] reported 4,323,502 shares (5.6 percent) on a Schedule 13G dated April 6, 2001.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sale of Opsware to Hewlett-Packard
|
||||
|
||||
Opsware's Schedule 14D-9 of August 3, 2007, which names Horowitz as chief executive and the person authorized to receive notices, responds to a tender offer by Hewlett-Packard at 14.25 dollars per share in cash. It narrates that Andreessen, Horowitz and [[John O'Farrell]] met senior executives of HP and other companies between January 30 and February 14, 2007; that on January 30 [[Thomas Hogan]] and [[Sandeep Johri]] of HP Software met Horowitz and O'Farrell; that on May 21 the chief executive of an unnamed "Company No. 1" sent Horowitz a written offer of 11 dollars per share on a day when Opsware closed at 7.97 dollars; that the board told bidders it would not consider offers below 14 dollars; that Company No. 1 raised its offer to 13.25 dollars on June 21 and to 14 dollars on July 5; that Opsware retained [[Goldman Sachs]] effective July 6; and that HP's chief technology officer, [[Shane Robison]], telephoned Horowitz on July 14 to express HP's interest; on the afternoon of July 18 Robison indicated that, subject to approval by HP's board, HP would be willing to pay 14.25 dollars per share in cash.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The board named in the filing is Campbell, [[Simon Lorne]], Ovitz and [[Michelangelo Volpi]] as non-employee directors and Andreessen as chairman; the executive officers include Horowitz, [[Timothy Howes]] and O'Farrell. The directors and executive officers agreed in tender agreements to tender their shares. As of July 16, 2007 they beneficially owned 16,756,791 shares and vested options on 7,623,156 shares, and the filing calculates that they would receive about 319,001,551 dollars in the offer and merger. Horowitz's stock option agreement of February 24, 2004 provided that half of the unvested shares would vest on a change in control, with the rest vesting monthly over the following year, and that all of them would vest on a termination without cause. The filing's table gives Horowitz 1,065,627 shares under unvested options, with accelerated value of 150,750 dollars on the change in control itself and 7,489,921 dollars on an involuntary termination not for cause.[^4] The a16z biography states that HP paid 1.6 billion dollars for Opsware and appointed Horowitz vice president and general manager of Business Technology Optimization for Software.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### AliphCom (Jawbone)
|
||||
|
||||
An action by unanimous written consent of the board of directors of [[AliphCom]], the maker of Jawbone wearable devices, dated May 2012 and approving a common stock financing, carries signature lines for five directors: [[Alexander Asseily]], [[Roelof Botha]], Horowitz, [[Hosain Rahman]] and [[David Weiden]].[^5] Botha was then a partner of [[Sequoia Capital]].
|
||||
|
||||
An authorization to disburse funds for AliphCom's Series 8 preferred stock financing names Mort, Inc. as the purchaser, in the amount of 1,249,996.88 dollars, with the date left blank.[^6] On February 4, 2016 [[Richard Kahn]] forwarded to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] a "Mort Series 8 Timeline" sent to him that day by Andrew Lindsay of Jawbone, which stated that Jawbone negotiated the Series 8 terms with [[JPMorgan Chase]] and Sequoia Capital in July 2015, that [[BlackRock]] invested 50 million dollars on July 21, 2015, that the initial Series 8 closing of 40 million dollars from JPMorgan and Sequoia was completed on July 24, 2015, and that Jawbone e-mailed Mort on August 13 about investing on the same terms. Kahn asked Epstein whether to send an email requesting the money back or pass.[^7] A notice dated July 7, 2017 states that AliphCom, doing business as Jawbone, made an assignment for the benefit of creditors on June 19, 2017.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Las Vegas Police Donations
|
||||
|
||||
On October 11, 2024 Horowitz published a post titled "Safety First" on the a16z website, opening with a statement that [[TechCrunch]] was "working on yet another piece on me." He wrote that he and his wife, [[Felicia Horowitz]], had donated 800,000 dollars for computer terminals, about 120,000 dollars for an ice machine, a cappuccino machine and a gymnasium, 400,000 dollars for technology from the a16z portfolio company [[Prepared911]], and "approximately $6.3 million dollars" toward the products of the a16z portfolio companies [[Skydio]] and [[Flock Safety]], for the [[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]] (LVMPD). He wrote that "By donating the technology, I am able to give LVMPD a running start," described a sequence in which a Flock license plate alert dispatches a Skydio drone automatically, and reported that the share of 911 calls answered in under 15 seconds had risen to 95 percent for the year through September 2024 from 66 percent, and that homicides had fallen from 101 to 80.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Margaux MacColl and Sean O'Kane of TechCrunch reported on November 8, 2024, from more than 100 emails between Horowitz and the department and internal police emails, mostly from January 2023 to July 2024, obtained by public records request, that LVMPD chief of staff [[Mike Gennaro]] had forwarded a Skydio proposal to Horowitz, who replied "Which deployment are you looking to do?" and was told "Whatever you want, Ben." Horowitz then sent money to the police foundation to buy Skydio drones. He questioned the scope of Skydio's proposal, which included drone docks on schools, writing "I thought that we just wanted this for the 11 neighborhoods" and "They bid the schools too. Is that what we asked for?"; Gennaro replied that "We can adjust however you see fit," and LVMPD said that no drone docks had been installed in its jurisdiction. Three months later, raising another a16z company, [[Kodex]], Horowitz wrote: "If it's a good idea, I am happy to help, but let's not let the company know that. We don't need another Skyd.io proposal lol." The reporters wrote that Horowitz had facilitated communication between LVMPD and at least six a16z portfolio companies, that police leadership had concerns about a proposed donation of technology from the a16z-backed company [[Toka]], and that an LVMPD sergeant who had evaluated Skydio drones later became a program manager at Skydio. An a16z spokesperson said there was "nothing more for Ben to share beyond his blog post."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The same report states that a16z held its 2023 limited partner summit in Las Vegas, where Sheriff [[Kevin McMahill]], in uniform, sat between the Flock Safety founder [[Garrett Langley]] and the a16z partner [[David Ulevitch]] and said of Flock's products that "Every piece of that technology is the equivalent of three police officers."[^10] Estelle Atkinson of the [[Las Vegas Review-Journal]] reported on February 6, 2025 that Metro had accepted at least 7 million dollars from Horowitz through the foundation that supports it, that the donations had funded license plate readers, drones, communications center upgrades and a 911 upgrade, and that McMahill appeared in an interview with Andreessen and Horowitz posted on the firm's YouTube channel on November 18, 2024, in which he said that most of Metro's 1.5 billion dollar budget goes to salaries and benefits and spoke of enveloping high-crime areas in "technology bubbles." The University of Chicago sociologist [[Robert Vargas]] asked: "Are they accountable to the public, or are they accountable to their donors?" LVMPD said in a statement that "If we can envelop neighborhoods in a technology bubble, we can reduce crime and save people's lives."[^11] Akiya Leggio of the Review-Journal reported on February 26, 2025 that LVMPD stated "Ben and Felicia Horowitz donated the Cybertrucks to LVMPD" and that "This donation did not go through the LVMPD Foundation," after McMahill announced in his State of the Department address that Metro had ordered 10 [[Tesla]] Cybertrucks as patrol and SWAT vehicles that would not affect its general budget.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Horowitz Family Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
The Horowitz Family Foundation (employer identification number 35-7050910) is a private foundation that files Form 990-PF for fiscal years ending June 30, prepared by Frank Rimerman and Co. Its trustees are Felicia Annette Horowitz and a second family member, and its contributor schedules list "Benjamin and Felicia Horowitz," at an address in [[Atherton, California]] on the returns through June 2021 and in [[Las Vegas]], Nevada, from the return for June 2022.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The contributions were made in shares. The return for the year ended June 2019 lists 63,758 shares of [[Microsoft]] worth 7,128,028 dollars. The year ended June 2021 lists shares of [[Slack Technologies]] (200,000 shares, 5,145,000 dollars), [[Pinterest]] (254,450 shares, 14,975,655 dollars), [[Lyft]] (200,000 shares, 10,007,000 dollars), [[Facebook]], [[Dropbox]], [[Upwork]], [[Zuora]] and [[1Life Healthcare]]. The year ended June 2022 lists [[Salesforce]] (110,880 shares, 27,114,595 dollars), [[Airbnb]] (114,511 shares in two gifts, 20,448,175 dollars), Pinterest (8,630,050 dollars), [[Affirm]] (7,883,080 dollars in two gifts), [[DigitalOcean]], [[Roblox]] and smaller holdings in [[Opendoor]], [[Amplitude]], [[Poshmark]] and [[Warby Parker]]. The year ended June 2024 lists 35,400 shares of [[Coinbase]] worth 8,154,390 dollars, given on May 6, 2024, as well as Airbnb, Lyft and [[Nu Holdings]]. The year ended June 2025 lists 150,000 shares of [[Reddit]] (8,501,250 dollars) and 92,000 shares of [[Maplebear]] (3,266,920 dollars), both given on September 10, 2024, and shares of [[Yubico]].[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The returns record these grants to the LVMPD Foundation: 500,000 dollars for "police support" in the year ended June 30, 2021; none among the twelve grants of the year ended June 2022; 2,015,000 dollars for "support of police" in the year ended June 2023; and 4,740,132 dollars for "support of police" in the year ended June 2024, to "LVMPD Foundation Friends of Las Vegas" at 110 N. City Parkway, Suite 420, recorded as a public charity with no relationship to the foundation's managers. The three grants total 7,255,132 dollars.[^13] TechCrunch reported the 2 million dollar donation of 2023 and the purpose "support of police."[^10] The recipient, incorporated in 1999 as Friends for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (employer identification number 88-0429730) and now filing as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation at the same Suite 420 address, describes itself as raising funds "to support youth and community programs, equipment and technology, and officer training." It reported contributions of 1,084,255 dollars for 2019, 6,826,048 dollars for 2020, 11,865,125 dollars for 2021, 10,497,885 dollars for 2022 (with expenses of 27,507,555 dollars), 6,474,809 dollars for 2023 and 5,864,773 dollars for 2024.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The Horowitz foundation's earlier grants included 250,000 dollars to the [[Barack Obama Foundation]], 250,000 dollars to the [[Anti-Recidivism Coalition]] and 300,000 dollars to [[American Jewish World Service]] in the year ended June 2019; 570,000 dollars to American Jewish World Service and 260,300 dollars to [[The Potter's House]] of [[T. D. Jakes]] in the year ended June 2021; 250,000 dollars each to the T. D. Jakes Foundation and the [[Apollo Theater]] Foundation in the year ended June 2022; 1,000,000 dollars to [[Stanford University]] for [[Stanford Health Care]] and 86,250 dollars to Harvard for a [[Nas|Nasir Jones]] Hiphop Archive fellow in the year ended June 2023; and 1,000,000 dollars to [[Friends of United Hatzalah]] and 750,000 dollars to the Chabad of the North Peninsula Israel Solidarity Fund in the year ended June 2024, along with annual grants to the UMC Foundation of Las Vegas. Total assets at book value were 15,604,829 dollars at June 2019, 61,744,089 dollars at June 2021, 134,152,684 dollars at June 2022, 134,271,519 dollars at June 2023 and 144,805,727 dollars at June 2024.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
For the year ended June 30, 2025 the foundation reported grants of 147,508,395 dollars, of which 144,112,395 dollars went to the [[National Philanthropic Trust]] of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, "for support for art, education, and health." Other grants were 1,000,000 dollars each to the [[MD Anderson Cancer Center]] and the [[Cleveland Clinic]], 696,000 dollars to the [[Tides Foundation]], 100,000 dollars to [[Hope for Prisoners]], and 400,000 dollars to Behind the Blue of Las Vegas for "support of police." There was no grant to the LVMPD Foundation, and total assets fell to 39,376,336 dollars.[^13] Behind the Blue (employer identification number 83-4125717), recognized in 2019, states that it provides financial relief to Southern Nevada law enforcement employees facing catastrophic incidents; it reported contributions of 359,865 dollars for 2023, 1,499,990 dollars for 2024 and 6,280,470 dollars for 2025.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Political Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list Horowitz giving 33,400 dollars to the Democratic Hope Fund on October 9, 2015, with Atherton as his city, and 1,000,000 dollars on May 27, 2022 to GMI PAC.[^16] Contributions from AH Capital Management, the a16z management company, are attributed in equal shares to Horowitz and Andreessen on the recipients' filings: AH Capital Management entries of May 30 and November 6, 2024 carry the memo "SEE ATTRIBUTION BELOW," and the entries under Horowitz's and Andreessen's names on the same dates carry memo code X.[^17] The crypto industry super PAC [[Fairshake]] (committee C00835959, first filed March 23, 2023, treasurer Brandon Philipczyk) lists AH Capital Management for 5,000,000 dollars on October 23, 2023, 14,000,000 dollars on December 14, 2023, 25,000,000 dollars on May 30, 2024, 23,000,000 dollars on November 6, 2024 and 23,800,000 dollars on December 10, 2025, and attributes half of each to Horowitz: 2,500,000, 7,000,000, 12,500,000, 11,500,000 and 11,900,000 dollars, a total of 45,400,000 dollars. Fairshake reported receipts of 260,070,709 dollars for the 2024 cycle and 137,923,216 dollars for the 2026 cycle through the latest report.[^17] Its affiliated super PACs [[Defend American Jobs]] and [[Protect Progress]] list Horowitz for 750,000 dollars each in October and December 2023, 125,000 dollars each in November 2024 and 50,000 dollars each on December 10, 2025.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 2024 Andreessen and Horowitz announced on their podcast that they would support [[Donald Trump]]; Horowitz said that "For Little Tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice," adding "And sorry, Mom," and said they had dined with Trump, as Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert of Business Insider reported.[^19] On July 22, 2024 Horowitz, listing his employer as A16Z, gave 2,500,000 dollars to [[Right for America]], a super PAC whose website stated its goal "to ensure President Donald J. Trump is victorious in the 2024 presidential election"; Andreessen gave 2,500,000 dollars on July 24. Right for America reported 72,503,980 dollars in receipts and 69,583,233 dollars in independent expenditures for the 2024 cycle.[^19][^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On Friday, October 4, 2024, Horowitz told a16z employees by email that he and Felicia had known [[Kamala Harris]] for more than ten years, that she had been "a friend to the firm in our early days, helping with several events at my house when we built the original Cultural Leadership Fund network," and that "Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign," while the firm would not change its position, as Dan Primack of Axios reported.[^21] On October 7, 2024 Horowitz gave 2,500,000 dollars to [[BlackPAC]], a super PAC that reported 34,730,789 dollars in receipts for the cycle.[^20] The 11,500,000 dollars attributed to him at Fairshake followed on November 6, 2024, the day after the election.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2025 and 2026 Horowitz is listed as giving 500,000 dollars on February 4, 2025, 2,500,000 dollars on March 31, 2025 and 3,000,000 dollars on March 10, 2026 to [[MAGA Inc.]], a total of 6,000,000 dollars, and 12,500,000 dollars on each of August 22, 2025 and February 11, 2026 to [[Leading the Future]], attributed as partnership contributions, a total of 25,000,000 dollars.[^22] Partnership attributions to him at the [[Senate Leadership Fund]] were 125,000 dollars on March 7, 2024, 250,000 dollars on June 20, 2024, 125,000 dollars on March 31, 2025 and 750,000 dollars on March 19, 2026, and at the Democratic super PAC SMP 250,000 dollars on each of June 20 and September 20, 2024.[^18][^22] Contributions under his own name to party committees include the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] (13,766 dollars on February 29, 2024, 120,467 dollars to its legal proceedings account on May 19, 2025 and 44,300 dollars on February 24, 2026), the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]], the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] (44,300 dollars on September 22, 2025 and 22,150 dollars on February 23, 2026) and the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]], and committees supporting [[JD Vance]] (Vance Victory, April 11, 2024), [[John Thune]], [[John Cornyn]], [[Cory Booker]], [[Ritchie Torres]], [[Patrick McHenry]] and [[Susan Collins]].[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Lobbying
|
||||
|
||||
The Lobbying Disclosure Act database lists A16Z Capital Management LLC, formerly AH Capital Management and doing business as Andreessen Horowitz, as an in-house registrant from January 25, 2023, with reported expenses of 950,000 dollars for 2023 (330,000, 340,000, 120,000 and 160,000 dollars by quarter), 1,760,000 dollars for 2024 (280,000, 660,000, 450,000 and 370,000 dollars), 3,530,000 dollars for 2025 (650,000 dollars; 840,000 dollars for the second quarter as amended from 790,000 dollars; 1,330,000 dollars; 710,000 dollars) and 1,540,000 dollars for the first half of 2026 (660,000 and 880,000 dollars). The reports list digital asset market structure and stablecoin legislation, anti-money laundering proposals, oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the [[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]], artificial intelligence and, from 2025, open-source artificial intelligence, the National Defense Authorization Acts, health legislation and tax. Its in-house lobbyists have included [[Collin McCune]], who lists service as deputy director and director of the [[House Financial Services Committee]] from 2019 to 2022; [[Colin Rom]], formerly a senior adviser at the [[Food and Drug Administration]] and a confidential assistant at the [[Office of Management and Budget]]; [[Michael Reed]], formerly director of whip operations for the House Minority Whip and senior adviser in the office of the Speaker; and [[Josh Arnold]], formerly deputy chief of staff to Senator [[Cynthia Lummis]].[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
Outside firms registered for the firm are [[Mehlman Consulting]] (registered May 9, 2023; 180,000 dollars for 2023, 300,000 dollars for 2024, 320,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[McDermott+]] (July 5, 2023 to the second quarter of 2026), [[Cornerstone Government Affairs]] (November 26, 2024; 100,000 dollars for 2024, 320,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[Miller Strategies]] (March 14, 2025; 410,000 dollars for 2025 and 240,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), [[BGR Government Affairs]] (March 20, 2025; 270,000 dollars for 2025 and 160,000 dollars for the first half of 2026), Zero Mile Strategies (February 10, 2026, on defense technology and acquisition reform in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act; 62,500 dollars), the [[Sternhell Group]] (2026, financial services; 150,000 dollars), Capitol Tax Partners (April 30, 2026) and Raab Government Strategies (July 16, 2026, on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act). Mehlman's filings list [[Bruce Mehlman]], formerly Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy; Miller Strategies lists [[Jonathan Hiler]], formerly director of legislative affairs to Vice President [[Mike Pence]]; BGR lists [[Joseph Lai]], formerly special assistant to the President for legislative affairs, and [[Patrick Ames]], formerly a senior policy adviser at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Zero Mile lists [[Christopher Vieson]], a former staff director of the [[House Armed Services Committee]], and [[Phil MacNaughton]], a former professional staff member of the committee; and Raab lists a former policy director to Senate Republican leader [[Mitch McConnell]]. Vieson and MacNaughton registered through The VM Group for [[Scale AI]] in 2026, and Mehlman and Cornerstone also represent Scale AI.[^23][^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family
|
||||
|
||||
Horowitz is the son of the writer and activist [[David Horowitz]], founder of the [[David Horowitz Freedom Center]], who died on April 29, 2025 at the age of 86. Misty Severi of Just the News and Heather Hunter of the [[Washington Examiner]] reported that David Horowitz was survived by his sons Ben and Jonathan and a daughter, that Ben Horowitz posted "Rest in Peace to my father," and that the family's obituary recounted that when Ben told Trump about his father the previous year, "President Trump's face immediately lit up and he insisted that Benjamin get David on the phone immediately."[^25][^26] Horowitz lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Felicia Horowitz, a trustee of the family foundation.[^11][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Andreessen Horowitz. "Who We Are." a16z.com/about, accessed October 1, 2026. https://a16z.com/about/
|
||||
[^2]: Andreessen Horowitz. "Ben Horowitz," biography and author page, a16z.com, accessed October 1, 2026. https://a16z.com/author/ben-horowitz/
|
||||
[^3]: Loudcloud, Inc. Definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the annual meeting of June 26, 2001, filed May 25, 2001, accession 0001012870-01-501008, sections on directors, security ownership and executive compensation. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100813/000101287001501008/ddef14a.txt
|
||||
[^4]: Opsware Inc. Solicitation/Recommendation Statement (Schedule 14D-9), filed August 3, 2007, accession 0001047469-07-006048, "Background of the Offer," "Interests of Certain Persons" and acceleration tables. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100813/000104746907006048/a2179079zsc14d9.htm
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01087665 (DataSet 9), AliphCom, Action by Unanimous Written Consent of the Board of Directors, May 2012, signature page EFTA01087668. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01087665.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00589426 (DataSet 9), "Authorization to Disburse Funds," AliphCom Series 8 Preferred Stock Financing. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00589426.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00835155 (DataSet 9), email of Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Mort Series 8 Timeline," February 4, 2016, forwarding message of Andrew Lindsay of Jawbone. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00835155.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00793054 (DataSet 9), Notice of Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, AliphCom dba Jawbone, dated July 7, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00793054.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: Horowitz, Ben. "Safety First." Andreessen Horowitz, October 11, 2024. https://a16z.com/safety-first/
|
||||
[^10]: MacColl, Margaux, and Sean O'Kane. "Ben Horowitz's cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department aided a16z portfolio company Skydio." TechCrunch, November 8, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/08/ben-horowitzs-cozy-relationship-with-the-las-vegas-police-department-aided-a16z-portfolio-company-skydio/
|
||||
[^11]: Atkinson, Estelle. "Donor's millions aid Las Vegas police, observers raise questions" (headline "'Blurring the lines'"). Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 6, 2025. https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/blurring-the-lines-as-donors-millions-aid-las-vegas-police-observers-raise-questions-3276842/
|
||||
[^12]: Leggio, Akiya. "Las Vegas police Cybertrucks donated by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz." Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 26, 2025. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/las-vegas/venture-capital-firm-co-founder-funds-metro-cybertrucks-3311590/
|
||||
[^13]: Horowitz Family Foundation (EIN 35-7050910), Form 990-PF e-file returns for fiscal years ended June 30: 2019 (IRS object 201903169349101270, download990xml_2019_2.zip), 2021 (202113159349103201, 2021_TEOS_XML_01A.zip), 2022 (202243189349107164, 2022_TEOS_XML_02A.zip), 2023 (202303189349101720, 2023_TEOS_XML_11A.zip), 2024 (202443099349101029, 2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip) and 2025 (202601289349101920, 2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip); Part VIII officers, Part XIV grants, balance sheets and Schedule B contributors and noncash property. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/
|
||||
[^14]: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation, formerly Friends for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (EIN 88-0429730), Form 990 for 2023 (IRS object 202443209349324474, 2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip) and 2024 (202531719349301233, 2025_TEOS_XML_06A.zip), https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/ ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, filings 2011 to 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/880429730.json ; IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Nevada, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/eo_nv.csv
|
||||
[^15]: Behind the Blue (EIN 83-4125717), Form 990 for 2024 (IRS object 202501629349301600, 2025_TEOS_XML_06A.zip) and 2025 (202601319349305765, 2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip), https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/ ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/834125717.json
|
||||
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor "Horowitz, Ben": Democratic Hope Fund, sub_id 4101220161340831485; GMI PAC, Inc., sub_id 4062420221531211249. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^17]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00835959 (Fairshake): committee record; Schedule A sub_ids 4021420241824800105, 4021420241824800108, 4062620241962823146, 4011320251129780939 and 4090820261595851229 (Horowitz) and the AH Capital Management and Andreessen entries of the same dates; committee totals for the 2024 and 2026 cycles. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00835959/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00835959/totals/
|
||||
[^18]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor names "Horowitz, Ben" and "Horowitz, Benjamin," two-year periods 2016 to 2026, minimum 10,000 dollars, queried October 1, 2026, including Protect Progress (sub_ids 4021620241825215174, 4020820251166868003, 4030420261386079637), Defend American Jobs (4020620241822088010, 4011620251132356569, 4030420261386107195), Senate Leadership Fund (4072320241978428485, 4071620241975074180, 4120420251296889061, 4070820261533602629), SMP (4071720241975953894, 4103020241011597927), NRSC (4032620241887526755, 4062320251206895252, 4032320261424905590), DSCC (4011520261302322980, 4032420261425235551) and Vance Victory (4080120241999430283). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^19]: Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. "Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated $2.5 million to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC." Business Insider, via Yahoo News, October 16, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-donated-024002094.html
|
||||
[^20]: Federal Election Commission, committees C00867036 (Right for America) and C00609388 (BlackPAC): Schedule A sub_ids 4112020241071302621 (Horowitz to Right for America, July 22, 2024) and 4120620241075062279 (Horowitz to BlackPAC, October 7, 2024); committee totals for the 2024 cycle. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00867036/totals/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00609388/totals/
|
||||
[^21]: Primack, Dan. "Scoop: VC titan Ben Horowitz plans 'significant' donation to Kamala Harris." Axios, October 4, 2024, including the text of Horowitz's email to employees. https://www.axios.com/2024/10/04/ben-horowitz-endorse-kamala-harris
|
||||
[^22]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts: MAGA Inc. (C00892471), sub_ids 4081920251218730892, 4081920251218730893 and 4060220261512109023; Leading the Future (C00916114), sub_ids 4030420261386103983 and 4042820261483765368. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^23]: U.S. Senate and House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for clients "Andreessen Horowitz," "AH Capital Management" and "A16Z," 2023 to 2026, including A16Z Capital Management LLC registration posted January 25, 2023 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/7b18b8c6-dcd5-4e94-a6ba-e859e398de2a/print/), Mehlman Consulting registration posted May 9, 2023 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/304977a5-3e0a-4d06-9f69-f2e5cb0cfc09/print/), McDermott+ registration posted July 5, 2023 and termination posted July 6, 2026, Cornerstone Government Affairs registration posted November 26, 2024, Miller Strategies registration posted March 14, 2025, BGR Government Affairs registration posted March 20, 2025, Zero Mile Strategies registration posted February 10, 2026 (https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/8e23305c-2d46-4df0-a09b-afa9586f12be/print/), Sternhell Group, Capitol Tax Partners and Raab Government Strategies registrations. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=A16Z
|
||||
[^24]: Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for client Scale AI: The VM Group registration posted August 28, 2026, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4087f730-33fc-451b-952d-6e39e960ccd9/print/ ; Mehlman Consulting registration posted August 19, 2025, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/abdd7fa4-d0dd-46f6-a946-a16482f72509/print/ ; Cornerstone Government Affairs registration posted October 11, 2023, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4bed6edb-c81c-41ff-aecb-e50754221888/print/
|
||||
[^25]: Severi, Misty. "Conservative author and activist David Horowitz dies at 86." Just the News, April 29, 2025. https://justthenews.com/nation/culture/conservative-author-david-horowitz-dies-86
|
||||
[^26]: Hunter, Heather. "Conservatives pay tribute following death of David Horowitz." Washington Examiner, April 30, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3397321/conservatives-pay-tribute-death-david-horowitz/
|
||||
181
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/G. Gordon Liddy.md
Normal file
181
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/G. Gordon Liddy.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- GordonLiddy
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- Gemstone
|
||||
- Plumbers
|
||||
- FBI
|
||||
- CommitteeToReElectThePresident
|
||||
- Conviction
|
||||
- Radio
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- G. Gordon Liddy
|
||||
- Gordon Liddy
|
||||
- George Gordon Liddy
|
||||
- George Gordon Battle Liddy
|
||||
- George F. Leonard
|
||||
summary: "Former FBI agent and Treasury aide who joined the Plumbers, planned Gemstone for Nixon's reelection committee, was convicted in Watergate and the Fielding break-in, and had his sentence commuted by Carter in 1977."
|
||||
born: 1930-11-30
|
||||
died: 2021-03-30
|
||||
location: "Hoboken, New Jersey (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
role: "special agent"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
end: 1962
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of the Treasury]]"
|
||||
role: "special assistant"
|
||||
start: 1969
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[White House Plumbers]]"
|
||||
role: "member"
|
||||
start: 1971-07
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Egil Krogh]]"
|
||||
role: "Plumbers staff member"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Fielding break-in]]"
|
||||
role: "organizer and lookout"
|
||||
start: 1971-09-03
|
||||
end: 1971-09-03
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
|
||||
role: "general counsel"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Finance Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel"
|
||||
start: 1972-03
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Watergate]]"
|
||||
role: "planner of Gemstone and convicted conspirator"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 to March 30, 2021) was a former agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], a prosecutor in [[Dutchess County, New York]], an official of the [[Department of the Treasury]] and a member of the [[White House]] "[[White House Plumbers|Plumbers]]" unit. As general counsel and then finance committee counsel of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] he presented the intelligence plan known as Gemstone, and on January 30, 1973 he was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping offenses arising from the [[Watergate]] break-in; in 1974 he was also convicted for the 1971 burglary of the office of the psychiatrist of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]. [[Jimmy Carter]] commuted his sentence on April 12, 1977.[^1][^2][^3] He died on March 30, 2021.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dutchess County and the Treasury Department
|
||||
|
||||
Edward Jay Epstein wrote in 1977 that Liddy graduated from [[Fordham University School of Law|Fordham Law School]] in 1957 and served the next five years in the FBI, becoming its youngest supervisor and a member of [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s personal staff in Washington, where he wrote articles and speeches for the director; that he resigned in 1962 and practiced with his father in [[New York City]]; and that in 1966 he moved to [[Poughkeepsie, New York|Poughkeepsie]], carrying sealed recommendations from the FBI, and was hired as an assistant district attorney of Dutchess County by District Attorney [[Raymond Baratta]].[^5] The Poughkeepsie public library's local history account records that Liddy was married in Poughkeepsie in November 1957, was an assistant district attorney there during the 1960s, and in 1966 "nabbed [[LSD]] guru Timothy Leary and others" at the [[Hitchcock Estate]] in [[Millbrook, New York|Millbrook]].[^6] Epstein described the Millbrook raid as a "no knock" entry in the middle of the night in March 1966 and wrote that the charges were dismissed because Liddy had not advised [[Timothy Leary]] of his rights in the manner required by the Supreme Court's [[Miranda v. Arizona|Miranda]] decision of that year.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein wrote that Liddy sought the Republican nomination for district attorney of Dutchess County in June 1968 and lost a party caucus, 25 to 4, then challenged Representative [[Hamilton Fish Jr.]] for the Republican congressional nomination and lost the primary by a few thousand votes, took the [[Conservative Party of New York State|New York Conservative Party]] line, and withdrew after [[Gerald R. Ford]], then House Republican leader, came to Poughkeepsie and arranged for Liddy to endorse Fish in return for a promise of a position in the Nixon administration. Epstein gave this account without attribution to a named participant.[^5] In 1969, Epstein wrote, Liddy became a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury under [[Eugene Rossides|Eugene T. Rossides]], who supervised the department's law enforcement bureaus, and Liddy was assigned to Task Force Number One, a joint [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and Treasury task force on narcotics smuggling. Epstein wrote that Rossides feared Attorney General [[John Mitchell]] would use the task force to enlarge the Justice Department's domain at the expense of the [[United States Customs Service|Customs Bureau]] and that Liddy was assigned to protect Treasury's interests.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] record, prepared in answer to the question whether the agency had any other dealings with Liddy while he was in Treasury or at the White House, states that in December 1969 security action was initiated to grant Liddy a number of agency clearances in connection with his Treasury employment, at which time he was listed as a member of the Presidential Task Force reporting on narcotics, marijuana and dangerous drugs; that in August 1971 he was briefed on several additional sensitive programs in connection with his assignment to the White House staff; that memoranda prepared in 1971 (the catalog text is partly illegible) indicated he was working with [[David R. Young]] on the investigation of leaks of classified information to the news media; and that he was debriefed from these special clearances on February 22, 1972. The record concludes that "Mr. Liddy held Agency clearances because of his White House duties, but he was not utilized by CIA."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 26, 1973 Henry S. Ruth, Deputy Special Prosecutor of the [[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]], wrote to John S. Warner, the CIA's Acting General Counsel, about questions arising in the investigation of [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] and "the persons who were employed by Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, and Bernard Barker." The letter asked whether the CIA had employed or been associated with Felipe de Diego, Pablo Fernandez, Angelo Ferrer, Hiram Gonzalez, Humberto Lopez and [[Hal Hendrix]]; whether it knew of intelligence or undercover activities by ITT against the Chilean government in the [[United States]]; whether it knew of arrangements between ITT and the [[Robert R. Mullen Company|Mullen Company]]; whether it had any working relationship with the ITT Public Relations Office at 495 Biltmore Way, [[Coral Gables, Florida|Coral Gables]], Florida; and whether it was aware "of any intelligence or undercover activities performed by Howard Hunt and/or Gordon Liddy for ITT." Warner forwarded the letter on August 3, 1973 to Bill Nelson with a note that it should be cross-checked with the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]]. The reply of the CIA's Cover and Commercial Staff dated August 7, 1973, which describes the letter as dated July 29, responds to the third and fourth questions only, stating that the staff had never discussed with the Mullen Company any association with ITT, that the Mullen file contained two brochures listing no ITT among its clients, and that the staff had no relationship with or information about the Coral Gables office; the released document does not address the fifth question.[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Attorney General Mitchell testified in 1973 that when Liddy was brought to him in November 1971 he understood Liddy to have been an assistant prosecutor in New York State, a candidate for Congress, an FBI agent, a Treasury employee and then a White House staff member.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Plumbers and the Fielding Break-in
|
||||
|
||||
[[John W. Dean]], testifying in 1973, said that he learned through [[Jack Caulfield]] that Liddy had a falling out with Rossides at Treasury and that [[Egil Krogh]] "waded into the middle of the dispute by hiring Liddy and bringing him into the White House."[^11] The Senate committee's final report stated that the Plumbers unit, under Krogh and David Young, added Liddy and [[Howard Hunt]] in July 1971, both being known to the White House as persons with investigative experience; the court of appeals dated the formation of the unit to the summer of 1971, after publication of the [[Pentagon Papers]].[^12][^13] The court of appeals recorded that Liddy was hired by Krogh with the approval of [[John Ehrlichman]] to investigate leaks of classified information.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
After Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. [[Lewis Fielding]], declined to be interviewed by FBI agents, the unit proposed a covert entry into his [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] office. Hunt traveled to Miami in mid-August 1971 to recruit [[Bernard Barker]], who had worked under him in the [[Bay of Pigs]] operation, and Barker recruited [[Eugenio Martinez]] and [[Felipe de Diego]]. On August 25, 1971 Liddy gained entry to Fielding's office by misrepresenting his identity to a cleaning woman in order to take reconnaissance photographs; he purchased supplies for the operation. Hunt and Liddy met the three Miami men at a Beverly Hills hotel on September 2, 1971. On the night of September 3 Barker, Martinez and de Diego entered the office and forced a file cabinet, and Liddy kept a lookout nearby. The file on Ellsberg was not found.[^2][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
California indicted Liddy on September 4, 1973 for the break-in. At the request of Special Prosecutor [[Leon Jaworski]], and over Liddy's objection, the California prosecution was dismissed on March 11, 1974, four days after a federal grand jury indicted Liddy, Ehrlichman, Barker, Martinez and de Diego on March 7, 1974 for conspiring to violate Fielding's Fourth Amendment rights.[^2][^13] The jury convicted Liddy on July 12, 1974, and on July 31, 1974 Judge [[Gerhard Gesell]] sentenced him to one to three years, to run concurrently with his Watergate sentence. The court of appeals affirmed on May 17, 1976 in an opinion that rejected claims that the indictment was defective, that the California dismissal violated his speedy trial and due process rights, and that the trial court had erred in refusing to enforce two subpoenas duces tecum.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On the same day the court of appeals reversed the convictions of Barker and Martinez, who had been sentenced to probation, in a per curiam opinion accompanied by separate opinions of Judges Wilkey and Merhige and a partial dissent by Judge Leventhal.[^14] At a hearing on February 22, 1979, Chief Judge William B. Bryant ruled that the "Barker-Martinez defense," which the court described as reasonable reliance on the authority of superiors, was available to the former FBI officials [[W. Mark Felt]] and [[Edward S. Miller]], who had been indicted in April 1978 on charges of conspiring to deprive relatives and acquaintances of [[Weather Underground]] fugitives of their rights through surreptitious entries; the Justice Department at the time was headed by Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]].[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### General Counsel to the Reelection Committee
|
||||
|
||||
According to the court of appeals, Liddy was hired by the reelection committee in late 1971 as general counsel; in January 1972 he agreed to organize an intelligence gathering operation; and in March 1972 he moved to the Finance Committee to Re-elect the President as its counsel while continuing the intelligence assignment.[^1] Dean testified that Krogh suggested Liddy for the general counsel post, that Krogh obtained Ehrlichman's approval, and that Dean arranged an interview with Mitchell on November 24, 1971, for which Liddy prepared an agenda. Dean described it as a general job interview with virtually no discussion of intelligence plans; on December 8 [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]] interviewed Liddy briefly and asked him to start work as soon as possible.[^16] Mitchell testified that Krogh brought Liddy to his office on December 8 on a drug abuse law enforcement program, and that he did not then know Liddy worked for Krogh as one of the Plumbers.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Magruder testified that during Liddy's first week Liddy told him he had discussed a broad intelligence plan with members of the White House staff, mentioning Dean in particular, and had been told he would have a budget of about $1 million. Dean testified that he had not encouraged Liddy's plans and had told Liddy that he would not discuss them.[^17][^18] Hunt testified that in late November 1971 Liddy told him that Attorney General Mitchell had proposed the establishment of a large-scale intelligence and counterintelligence program with Liddy as its chief, and that he and Liddy designed a budget for it under the code name Gemstone. Hunt added that in April 1972 Liddy told him the Watergate operation would be undertaken as part of Gemstone, on information, from what Hunt understood to be a government agency, that the Cuban government was supplying funds to the [[Democratic Party]] campaign, and that entries were made on May 27 and June 17, 1972.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Magruder, Dean and Mitchell each testified about the meetings in the Attorney General's office on January 27 and February 4, 1972, at which Liddy presented charts and a plan with a budget of about $1 million, later scaled down. Magruder testified that the projects included wiretapping, photography, the abduction of radical leaders to Mexico during the [[San Diego]] convention, and call girls; Dean testified that the plan also included mugging squads and that Liddy described interception of communications between ground facilities and aircraft; Mitchell testified that he told Liddy "to go burn the charts" and described the presentation as "a complete horror story."[^20][^21][^22] Magruder testified that Mitchell approved a revised $250,000 plan on March 30 at [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]]; Mitchell denied it and testified that the plan was rejected for the third time. The court of appeals affirming the convictions of Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman summarized the evidence at that trial as showing that Mitchell gave approval on that date.[^23][^24][^25]
|
||||
|
||||
Money for the operation passed through the Finance Committee. [[Hugh Sloan]], its treasurer, testified that in April 1972 Liddy consulted him about four checks drawn on a Mexican bank, payable to and endorsed by [[Manuel Ogarrio]], and the two agreed to convert them into cash with the help of Liddy's friends around the country. These checks and a check of $114,000 payable to a member of the finance committee were deposited in a Miami bank account by Barker and Martinez on April 20, 1972, and most of the funds were withdrawn by Barker within two weeks. Liddy returned $111,500 in $100 bills to Sloan, and Sloan testified that he turned over to Liddy a total of $199,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills, which Liddy gave to [[James McCord]], the committee's security chief. Bills of that denomination were later found in sequence on McCord and the four other men arrested in the [[Democratic National Committee]] offices on June 17.[^1] In his questioning of Mitchell, committee counsel stated that Sloan had testified that Liddy asked for an initial payment of $83,000 on a $250,000 budget.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Arrests and the Silence
|
||||
|
||||
The court of appeals summarized the evidence on the arrests. Liddy telephoned Barker before the Miami men traveled to Washington in May and June 1972; six of the defendants using aliases checked into a Washington hotel on May 22 and rented rooms at the [[Watergate complex|Watergate Hotel]] until May 29; and [[Alfred Baldwin]], a former FBI agent hired by McCord, monitored the Democratic National Committee telephones from rooms 419 and 723 of the [[Howard Johnson Motel]] across the street. Baldwin testified that Hunt and Liddy visited room 419 on May 26 and that the two later surveyed the DNC offices from the balcony of room 723.[^1] On June 17, 1972 Baldwin saw two men leave an alleyway near the building after police arrived, identified one as Hunt and said the other was wearing a suit he recognized as Liddy's. Attorney [[Douglas Caddy]] testified that Hunt telephoned Liddy at about 5 a.m. from Caddy's apartment, and that a few days later Liddy directed Caddy to pay $2,500 of the cash Hunt had given him to the criminal lawyer retained for the five men. Sloan testified that Liddy met him in a hallway that morning and said, "my boys got caught last night; I made a mistake; I used somebody from here which I said I'd never do. I'm afraid I am going to lose my job." Liddy later asked about the committee's largest shredding machine and was seen with a large stack of papers at the shredder.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Richard Kleindienst]], the new Attorney General, testified that on Saturday, June 17, Liddy and [[Powell Moore]] came to the [[Burning Tree Club]], where Kleindienst was playing in a tournament; that Liddy appeared agitated, said that he had been asked to report on the Watergate break-in and that some of those arrested might be employed by the White House or the reelection committee, and (in Kleindienst's less precise recollection) said that Mitchell had asked him to come; that Kleindienst telephoned Assistant Attorney General [[Henry Petersen]] to instruct that those arrested receive no special treatment; and that he told Liddy to leave.[^27] Mitchell testified that from February 4 until June 15, 1972, when Liddy came to his office about a letter to the *[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]*, he had no conversation with Liddy.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
Dean testified that after the arrests he asked Liddy to meet him and that, shortly before noon, they walked down 17th Street toward the [[Corcoran Gallery of Art|Corcoran Gallery]]; Mitchell placed Dean's first debriefing of Liddy on June 19. Dean said Liddy told him the arrested men were his men, that Magruder had pressed him into the operation because the committee was not getting good information from an earlier bug, that Liddy had used McCord because Magruder had cut his budget, that the men were friends of Hunt, and that no one at the White House was involved.[^28][^29] [[Robert Bennett]], Hunt's employer, testified at trial that on July 2 Liddy told him he had lost his job at the committee for failing to cooperate fully with the FBI.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Conviction, Sentence and Refusal to Testify
|
||||
|
||||
On January 8, 1973 jury selection began before Chief Judge [[John Sirica|John J. Sirica]]; five defendants changed their pleas to guilty, and on January 30, 1973 the jury found Liddy and McCord guilty. Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, two counts of burglary, and three counts of endeavoring to intercept and intercepting communications. He did not testify. On March 23, 1973 Sirica sentenced him to a total of not less than six years and eight months and not more than 20 years, with a $40,000 fine. The appellate caption lists the alias George F. Leonard. The en banc court of appeals affirmed on November 8, 1974.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Senate Watergate Committee]]'s final report stated that its knowledge of Liddy's activities came from sources other than Liddy, who refused to testify at an executive session on June 4, 1973 even after being instructed to do so upon the conferral of use immunity under a court order. The report stated that Liddy's role in Gemstone was detailed through the testimony of McCord, Magruder, Dean, Mitchell and Hunt.[^30] Dean had testified that he "never understood how the Liddy plan had been approved" and that Magruder had indicated to him that there had been White House pressure to get the plan moving.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### Commutation and Release
|
||||
|
||||
On April 12, 1977 President Carter signed an order commuting Liddy's sentence from 20 years to eight years, making him eligible for parole on July 9, 1977 and fixing a mandatory release date, with good time, of September 30, 1980. The order recited that Liddy had begun serving his sentence on January 30, 1973, was confined at the [[Federal Prison Camp, Allenwood|Federal Prison Camp at Allenwood]], Pennsylvania, and had not paid the $40,000 fine, which remained in effect. The order was countersigned by Attorney General Griffin Bell, and the White House announcement stated that the President took the action "in the interest of equity and fairness based on a comparison of Mr. Liddy's sentence with those of all others convicted in Watergate related prosecutions."[^3] The Justice Department official biography of Bell records that he was sworn in as Attorney General on January 26, 1977.[^32] The *[[The New York Times|New York Times]]*, reporting on Liddy's memoir in April 1980, stated that he left prison in September 1977 after serving 52 months, longer than any other Watergate defendant.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
### Writing, Speaking and Private Security Work
|
||||
|
||||
Liddy published a novel, *Out of Control* ([[St. Martin's Press|St. Martin's]], 1979), reviewed in *[[Newsweek]]* on October 15, 1979, and an autobiography, *Will* (St. Martin's, 1980).[^33][^34] In October 1981 he spoke to a standing-room audience at the [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] on a national campus tour; the *[[Austin American-Statesman]]* reported that he said the Central Intelligence Agency had been weakened by "illusions" and that the assassination of President [[Anwar Sadat]] earlier that day might have been anticipated by a strong covert intelligence service, and that he told the audience he had been in nine different prisons.[^35] In 1985 the [[United States Tax Court]], in a dispute with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] over more than $150,000 in claimed back taxes and penalties, heard Liddy describe how he spent more than $340,000 as director of covert activities for the 1972 campaign, including $30,000 for a room bugging device, $2,270 for prostitutes at the Miami convention, $500 for [[Donald Segretti]]'s work against Senator [[Edmund Muskie]], and $300 for cartoons of Senator [[Edward Kennedy]] drawn by a CIA artist, according to [[United Press International]]; Judge [[Samuel Sterrett]] accepted Liddy's testimony in part, finding tax due on $45,430 rather than the IRS's $174,800 and rescinding a $51,766 fraud penalty.[^36]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 18, 1987 the [[Associated Press]] reported from [[Santa Ana, California]] that Liddy had opened a school, the Academy of Corporate Security and Private Investigation, charging $1,500 a week and bringing classes to students, and that he also operated a security company offering drug investigations and detection of illegal surveillance.[^37] In an October 1986 interview with *[[USA Today]]*, according to United Press International, Liddy said he ran the G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security in Florida and commanded the "Hurricane Force," a group of professional soldiers "organized to perform extraction missions (in Third World countries) for private parties."[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
Liddy hosted a syndicated radio program for two decades, with a career at [[Radio America (United States)|Radio America]] that ended with his retirement in 2012, and appeared in television roles including an episode of *[[Miami Vice]]*.[^4][^39]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements About Plots to Kill Jack Anderson and Howard Hunt
|
||||
|
||||
The *New York Times* reported on April 14, 1980, summarizing excerpts from *Will* published in *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]*, that Liddy wrote that a plan to kill the columnist [[Jack Anderson]] arose over lunch in Washington with Hunt and a CIA operative, was suggested because an Anderson column had supposedly compromised an American agent abroad, and preceded the Watergate burglary. According to the excerpts, a plan to kill Anderson with LSD was dismissed as impractical, and Liddy then volunteered to kill him on a Washington street but was advised by Hunt to "forget" it. The same report stated that Liddy wrote that he had been prepared to participate in a project to poison Hunt in prison for cooperating with prosecutors and that he had arranged for Hunt's food to be poisoned if a coded message arrived, which, he wrote, never came.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
The New York *Daily News* reported on April 18, 1980 that Liddy said on two network television programs that Anderson was "a pain in the butt" to the Nixon White House and that assassinating him would have been "justifiable homicide," that he had made the recommendation at a White House meeting at which Hunt first suggested drugging Anderson with LSD, and that Anderson's columns had compromised an intelligence agent who was unmasked, tortured and killed. Anderson, meeting Liddy on the program, said that neither Liddy nor anyone else could name a CIA agent tortured or killed as a result of his columns: "It never happened." Liddy answered that he had not said CIA agent. Hunt declined to appear on the second program; the report stated that Hunt said he never discussed with Liddy a need to kill Anderson, that they considered how to discredit Anderson with LSD, and that they dropped the matter when a retired CIA doctor said attempts of that kind overseas had been unsuccessful.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
United Press International reported on October 31, 1986 that Liddy told *USA Today* that he would have killed Anderson and Hunt if ordered to do so, that the decision had to be taken "from a much higher level than I was," that he had been ordered to discuss the Anderson problem with "[[Edward Gunn|Dr. Edward Gunn]] of the CIA," whom he described as "the CIA's assassination expert," and that "it was not until an Anderson column caused the death of one of our intelligence people posted abroad that that thought was even entertained." The report added that published reports in 1975 had said that a senior official in the Nixon White House ordered Anderson killed and the death made to look accidental.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: *United States v. Liddy*, 509 F.2d 428 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (en banc) (No. 73-1565), decided November 8, 1974, introductory paragraphs, Part I, and nn. 2 and 3. https://static.case.law/f2d/509/cases/0428-01.json
|
||||
[^2]: *United States v. Liddy*, 542 F.2d 76 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (No. 74-1885), decided May 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/f2d/542/cases/0076-01.json
|
||||
[^3]: Jimmy Carter, "Commutation of G. Gordon Liddy's Prison Sentence: Announcement of the Commutation, With the Text of the Order," April 12, 1977, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commutation-g-gordon-liddys-prison-sentence-announcement-the-commutation-with-the-text-the
|
||||
[^4]: "Chief Operative Behind Watergate Scandal, G. Gordon Liddy, Dies At 90," NPR, *Morning Edition*, March 31, 2021 (transcript; born in Hoboken, N.J.; died Tuesday at his daughter's home in Virginia; 52 months in prison; talk show for 20 years until 2012). Other accounts give Brooklyn as the birthplace (Epstein, below) and 1929 as the birth year; contemporaneous reports in 1980 and 1987 give ages (49 and 56) consistent with a birth in November 1930. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/31/982953846/chief-operative-behind-watergate-scandal-g-gordon-liddy-dies-at-90
|
||||
[^5]: Edward Jay Epstein, *Agency of Fear: Opiates and Political Power in America* (1977), ch. 3, "G. Gordon Liddy: The Will to Power." http://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/History/aof/aof3.html
|
||||
[^6]: Bill Kleppel, "G. Gordon Liddy and Family," Adriance Memorial Library (Poughkeepsie Public Library District). https://poklib.org/g-gordon-liddy-and-family/
|
||||
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, question and response concerning other dealings with Liddy (catalog date 1972), CIA Reading Room document C01482344. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01482344
|
||||
[^8]: Letter, Henry S. Ruth Jr., Deputy Special Prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution Force, to John S. Warner, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, July 26, 1973, with routing slip of August 3, 1973, CIA Reading Room document C01482382. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01482382
|
||||
[^9]: Memorandum, Chief, Cover and Commercial Staff, to C/WH, "Inquiry regarding possible ITT association with CIA and Robert R. Mullen and Company," August 7, 1973, CIA Reading Room document C01367838. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01367838
|
||||
[^10]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60: Watergate and Related Activities*, hearings, 93d Cong., 1st sess., Book 4 (1973), testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1608-1609. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^11]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3 (1973), testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 920. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^12]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *The Final Report* (1974; Dell paperback edition, *The Senate Watergate Report*), p. 63. https://archive.org/details/senatewatergater01unit
|
||||
[^13]: *United States v. Ehrlichman*, 546 F.2d 910 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (No. 74-1882), decided May 17, 1976, Part I. https://static.case.law/f2d/546/cases/0910-01.json
|
||||
[^14]: *United States v. Barker*, 546 F.2d 940 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (Nos. 74-1883, 74-1884), decided May 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/f2d/546/cases/0940-01.json
|
||||
[^15]: *United States v. Felt*, 491 F. Supp. 179 (D.D.C. 1979) (Crim. No. 78-00179) (Bryant, C.J.), decided December 21, 1979; *Gray v. Bell*, 712 F.2d 490, 493-494 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (indictment of Gray, Felt and Miller, April 1978). https://static.case.law/f-supp/491/cases/0179-01.json and https://static.case.law/f2d/712/cases/0490-01.json
|
||||
[^16]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 927-928. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^17]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2 (1973), testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 786-787. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
|
||||
[^18]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 930-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^19]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of E. Howard Hunt, p. 3663. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
|
||||
[^20]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 787-788. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
|
||||
[^21]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 929-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^22]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1610-1611. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^23]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 794-795. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
|
||||
[^24]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1615-1616. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^25]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.A. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
|
||||
[^26]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1616 (question of committee counsel Samuel Dash). https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^27]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9, testimony of Richard G. Kleindienst, August 7, 1973, pp. 3560-3562. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
|
||||
[^28]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1619-1620. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^29]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 932. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^30]: *The Final Report* (Dell paperback edition, *The Senate Watergate Report*), p. 74, citing Liddy executive session, June 4, 1973. https://archive.org/details/senatewatergater01unit
|
||||
[^31]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, p. 956. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Griffin Boyette Bell," Attorneys General biographies. https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/bell-griffin-boyette
|
||||
[^33]: "Assassination Plots Described by Liddy," *New York Times*, April 14, 1980, as reproduced in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710021-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710021-5
|
||||
[^34]: Peter S. Prescott, "From Liddy with Love," review of *Out of Control*, *Newsweek*, October 15, 1979, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP88-01350R000200160018-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01350r000200160018-8
|
||||
[^35]: "Liddy Says 'Illusions' Weakened Spy Agency," *Austin American-Statesman*, October 7, 1981, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710012-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710012-5
|
||||
[^36]: "Liddy Spills Watergate-Era Tricks to Tax Court," United Press International, August 17, 1985, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710004-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710004-4
|
||||
[^37]: "Liddy Opens School for Private Security," Associated Press, in *New York Times*, March 19, 1987, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710006-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710006-2
|
||||
[^38]: "Liddy Says He Would Have Killed If Ordered," United Press International, October 31, 1986, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710003-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710003-5
|
||||
[^39]: Eddie Scarry, "G. Gordon Liddy Ends 20-year Radio Run," *Adweek*, September 20, 2012. https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/gordon-liddy-retirement-marsha-blackburn/
|
||||
[^40]: Thomas Raftery and Donald Singleton, "Liddy: Murder Was Rx for Our Pain in Papers," *New York Daily News*, April 18, 1980, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710019-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710019-8
|
||||
201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Howard Hughes.md
Normal file
201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Howard Hughes.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- HowardHughes
|
||||
- HughesToolCompany
|
||||
- SummaCorporation
|
||||
- HughesAircraft
|
||||
- HowardHughesMedicalInstitute
|
||||
- RobertMaheu
|
||||
- Intertel
|
||||
- ProjectAzorian
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- HughesRebozo
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- LasVegas
|
||||
- Nevada
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Howard Hughes
|
||||
- Howard R. Hughes
|
||||
- Howard Robard Hughes
|
||||
- Howard R. Hughes Jr.
|
||||
- Howard Robard Hughes Jr.
|
||||
summary: "Sole owner of Hughes Tool Company (later Summa Corporation) whose cash gift to Bebe Rebozo, Nevada casino purchases and company name on the CIA's Glomar Explorer run through Senate, court and CIA records."
|
||||
born: 1905-12-24
|
||||
died: 1976-04-05
|
||||
location: "Houston, Texas / Las Vegas, Nevada"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Hughes Tool Company]]"
|
||||
role: "sole owner of Hughes Tool Company, later Summa Corporation"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and sole trustee"
|
||||
start: 1953-12-17
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Robert Maheu]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "personal representative and head of Nevada operations"
|
||||
end: 1970-12-05
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Chester Davis]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "lawyer"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Edward P. Morgan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Washington lawyer"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Robert R. Mullen Company]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Washington public relations under Robert Bennett"
|
||||
fn: 21
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Intertel]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "security and management consultants, Nevada casinos"
|
||||
start: 1970-12
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Bebe Rebozo]]"
|
||||
role: "100,000 dollars in cash delivered by Richard Danner, returned in June 1973"
|
||||
start: 1969-09
|
||||
end: 1973-06
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities]]"
|
||||
role: "requested to testify; subpoena approved but never served"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Project Azorian]]"
|
||||
role: "Hughes Tool Company named as owner of the Hughes Glomar Explorer"
|
||||
start: 1971-04
|
||||
fn: 25
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Annette Gano Lummis]]"
|
||||
role: "nephew"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born on December 24, 1905, and died on April 5, 1976, aboard an aircraft on the way to [[Houston, Texas|Houston]].[^1] His father invented and patented the modern oil-drill bit, which was leased for 30,000 dollars a well; Hughes inherited a majority interest in the company at nineteen and bought out his relatives. In December 1970 his holdings in oil-drilling equipment, aerospace, electronics, airlines, communications and real estate were privately owned and not subject to public reporting requirements, and *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* estimated their value at 1.4 billion to 2 billion dollars. Hughes companies then employed about 65,000 people, and the [[Hughes Tool Company]] held about 60 percent of the world market for drill bits.[^2] Hughes Tool, later renamed [[Summa Corporation]], was the holding company for most of the holdings, and Hughes was its sole owner.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Hughes Aircraft and the Medical Institute
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]] was incorporated in [[Delaware]] on December 17, 1953, with Hughes as its trustee, holding full power to manage and control its affairs. An executive committee was created the same day. The institute was funded by the transfer to it of the electronics division of the Hughes holdings, the [[Hughes Aircraft Company]], all of whose stock it afterward held. The [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruled on March 1, 1957 that the institute was a charitable corporation exempt from federal income tax. On July 3, 1968, by a "Resolution of Trustee" that, according to the complaint of the attorney general of Delaware, Hughes caused to be adopted, the executive committee was delegated all the powers that Delaware law conferred on the board of a business corporation.[^4][^5] In 1970 *Time* described Hughes Aircraft, an electronics and satellite company, as controlled by the medical foundation, "of which Howard Hughes is sole trustee."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Robert Maheu and the Central Intelligence Agency
|
||||
|
||||
Hughes retained [[Robert Maheu]], a former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] agent, in 1953 according to *Time*, and in 1954 or 1955 according to Maheu's own testimony. In that testimony, as summarized by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]], Hughes several times said that Maheu would be his "alter ego," representing him before government agencies; from 1961 through 1965 Maheu was his personal representative at all levels of government; and Maheu never had a face-to-face conversation with Hughes in the course of a fourteen-year relationship, all communication being by telephone or written memorandum.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had earlier paid Maheu a 500 dollar retainer, ended when his detective agency became more lucrative. In late August or early September 1960 the agency's Operational Support Chief, Maheu's case officer, asked him to approach [[Johnny Roselli]] about a plan to "dispose" of [[Fidel Castro]]. "At first Maheu was reluctant to become involved in the operation because it might interfere with his relationship with his new client, Howard Hughes." Maheu testified to the [[Church Committee]] that shortly before the November 1960 election, while he was in [[Miami]] on the assassination project, Hughes telephoned and asked him to return to the West Coast, and that, not wanting to lose Hughes as a client, he "definitely told him that the project was on behalf of the [[United States]] Government," including plans to dispose of Castro in connection with a pending invasion.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA memorandum for the record dated May 20, 1971, written by an agency employee seeking employment who had been introduced to the president of [[Intertel]], records that in the early 1960s Maheu closed his [[Washington, D.C.]] office, took Hughes as his sole client and moved to [[Los Angeles]]. Its author wrote that during 1962 to 1964 he was himself "working out the details of a nonofficial cover arrangement with the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company in Culver City, California," that Rhea Hopper, the vice president in charge of the division, "was the principle cleared witting official," that it was "doubtful that details of this arrangement ever reached Mr. Hughes himself," and that Maheu "was cut in as a pickup for insurance." The same memorandum states that Maheu had first done subcontract investigative work for Hughes in the early 1950s, during the Senate hearings conducted by Senator [[Owen Brewster]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Trans World Airlines
|
||||
|
||||
In 1944 the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] approved control of [[Trans World Airlines]] by Hughes Tool, and from 1944 to 1960 every acquisition and lease of aircraft by the airline from the company, and every financing, received the board's approval; in 1960 the company's TWA stock was placed in a voting trust. TWA sued Hughes Tool for treble damages in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] on June 30, 1961. On February 1, 1963 the district court ordered Howard Hughes to appear for a deposition and the company to produce documents it had refused to produce. On February 8 the company filed a "notice of position" resting on the merits of its positions, which constituted a default, and judgment was entered against it on May 3, 1963. The damages were confirmed at more than 145 million dollars with interest. On January 10, 1973 the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] reversed, holding in *[[Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines]]*, 409 U.S. 363, that the challenged transactions had been under the board's control and surveillance and were immune from the antitrust laws.[^8] Hughes had sold his TWA shares in 1966 at 86 dollars each and collected 546 million dollars.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Las Vegas
|
||||
|
||||
Hughes moved to [[Las Vegas]] in November 1966, and Maheu contracted through his own company to manage the hotels, casinos and other properties Hughes began to acquire, reporting to Hughes rather than to the executives of Hughes Tool.[^9] *Time* noted that [[Nevada]] had no inheritance taxes. Hughes lived for four years in the penthouse of the [[Desert Inn]]; by 1970 his Nevada holdings, valued by *Time* at 300 million dollars, included the Desert Inn, the [[Sands Hotel|Sands]], the [[Landmark Hotel|Landmark]], the [[Frontier Hotel|Frontier]] and the [[Castaways Hotel|Castaways]], the [[Silver Slipper Casino|Silver Slipper]], [[Harolds Club]] in [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]], the [[North Las Vegas Airport]] and the regional airline renamed [[Hughes Air West]]. Roselli held a gift-shop lease at the Frontier and said he had collected a finder's fee when the Desert Inn was sold to Hughes. State officials examining the books of the Sands in the summer of 1970 found 186,000 dollars in markers, some signed with fictitious names, which Hughes's managers wished to write off as bad debts and which the officials refused to allow. Hughes became suspicious of his Las Vegas employees in February 1970 after a tip from federal investigators examining kickbacks and skimming in the Nevada operation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Hughes's purchases drew the [[Department of Justice]]. In 1968, after Hughes had promised the [[Nevada Gaming Commission]] that the [[Stardust Resort and Casino|Stardust]] would be his last major acquisition, the department's [[Antitrust Division]] prepared a civil complaint against the purchase, signed by Attorney General [[Ramsey Clark]] and scheduled for filing in late June 1968; Hughes's representatives postponed the merger shortly before it was to be filed. The Landmark, presented as a failing company, was approved in writing on January 17, 1969.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Maheu testified that he was consulted on which political leaders Hughes should support, that Hughes knew of and approved all political contributions, and that Hughes saw them as ensuring access and influence. By 1969 Hughes's cash contributions were drawn from the Silver Slipper, which Hughes owned as a sole proprietorship. A memorandum from Hughes to Maheu, undated, found in the files of the [[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities|Senate Watergate committee]], reads in part: "Bob, as soon as this predicament is settled, I want you to go see Nixon as my special confidential emissary. I feel there is a really valid possibility of a Republican victory this year. If that could be realized under our sponsorship and supervision every inch of the way then we would be ready to follow with Gov. [[Paul Laxalt]] as our next candidate."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Contribution to Bebe Rebozo
|
||||
|
||||
[[Richard Danner]] had been the FBI special agent in charge in Miami from 1940 to 1946, when he left to manage the first congressional campaign of [[George Smathers]]; after the 1950 election he introduced Senator-elect [[Richard Nixon]] to [[Bebe Rebozo]] at [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]]. Danner testified that in 1968 Nixon or Rebozo asked him to learn whether Hughes would contribute to the campaign, and that Rebozo suggested he raise it with [[Edward P. Morgan]], who represented Hughes. Maheu said Hughes approved 50,000 dollars in cash, seeing a contribution through Rebozo as a means of ensuring access to Nixon. On September 9, 1968 Maheu received 150,000 dollars in two checks from the Hughes executive [[Nadine Henley]], to be used in part for a contribution to Nixon. Danner, Rebozo and Morgan met for breakfast on September 11, 1968. Rebozo testified that he was uneasy about taking cash from Hughes through Morgan because of the 1956 loan from Hughes to [[F. Donald Nixon]], the candidate's brother, and because Morgan represented [[Drew Pearson]]; the [[White House]] denied that Nixon had discussed a Hughes contribution with Danner, and Danner's diary recorded a call from the candidate "re finances" on September 27, 1968. In December 1968 Maheu received 100,000 dollars in cash, 50,000 of which he tried to deliver to the President-elect or an aide at [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]].[^9][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
Danner joined the Hughes organization in February 1969. The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities found that the first delivery of 50,000 dollars to Rebozo took place on September 11 or 12, 1969 at Key Biscayne; Rebozo later moved the date to 1970, and Danner changed his testimony after consulting Rebozo. The committee listed four possible delivery dates (September 11-12, 1969; July 3, 1970; August 19-20, 1970; and October 28-30, 1970) and four possible packets of cash, from the Sands in early December 1968, from Henley on December 5, 1968 and July 11, 1969, and from the Hughes lawyer Thomas Bell out of the Silver Slipper on October 26, 1970.[^11] Asked about a trip to Key Biscayne, made with Maheu, that he had once taken to be the occasion of a delivery, Danner testified: "My recollection of the reason for that trip was to contact Mr. Rebozo and discuss the dumping of the nerve gas."[^12] Danner insisted that the money was requested for the 1970 congressional campaigns; Maheu testified that the first payment fulfilled the 1968 pledge and that the second was to ensure the Hughes people "an entree with the Nixon administration"; Rebozo testified that it was for the 1972 presidential campaign.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In the same period the books of Hughes Tool recorded other political money handled by Maheu. A check for 50,000 dollars dated May 13, 1969 was payable to Robert A. Maheu Associates, with a receipt marked "Nevada and L.V. local," which [[Chester Davis]] said the testimony of Henley identified as being for state and local contributions; Davis declined to produce an accountants' list of cash withdrawals from the Silver Slipper as the work product of litigation.[^14] In Maheu's later libel case, Summa pointed to 100,000 dollars Maheu received from Hughes's personal bank account in May 1970 "ostensibly for political contributions," of which about 13,000 dollars was so used and 87,000 dollars carried on Maheu's books as a debt to Hughes; to 59,000 dollars taken from the Silver Slipper in December 1969; and to "the disappearance of 50,000 dollars, an alleged cash contribution for former Vice-President [[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]]." Maheu testified that he delivered the Humphrey money in cash "by leaving it in an attache case in his limousine."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Dunes
|
||||
|
||||
In early 1970 Hughes instructed Maheu to negotiate the purchase of the [[Dunes Hotel]]. Maheu said Hughes told him to send Danner, then manager of the Frontier, directly to Attorney General [[John Mitchell]], whom Danner knew from the 1968 campaign. Danner met Mitchell on March 19, 1970; he testified that Mitchell said, "From our review of these figures, we see no problem. Why don't you go ahead with the negotiations," and that the purchase "met the guidelines." Danner and Maheu were both registered at the [[Madison Hotel]] in Washington that day, and Maheu recalled being told that the case "was taken care of in Washington and there would be no interference beyond that." Records of the Sonesta Beach Hotel in Key Biscayne show Danner and Maheu registered there from March 20 to 22, 1970; Mitchell left [[Union Station]] in Washington by train for Florida at 3:30 p.m. on March 20. On March 26, unaware of the oral approval, the head of the Antitrust Division, [[Richard McLaren]], wrote Mitchell a memorandum on the Dunes; McLaren said he never met Danner and knew of no approval. On November 24, 1970, [[J. Edgar Hoover]] sent Mitchell a memorandum, still unexplained when the committee reported, stating that Hughes had renewed his interest in the Dunes. The purchase fell through for financial reasons. The committee concluded that, except for that collapse, "this is a classic case of governmental decision-making for friends."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
*Time* reported in October 1973 that the committee intended to examine Maheu's reported allegation that the gifts to Rebozo were meant to buy influence on two federal decisions: the Civil Aeronautics Board's approval in July 1969 of the purchase of Air West, and the cancellation by the Justice Department in the late summer of 1970 of an antitrust action against further casino purchases.[^15] Committee counsel put the question to Davis in executive session on December 4, 1973 in four forms: whether the two 50,000 dollar payments related to the pending acquisition of the Dunes and Justice Department approval of it; to the purchase of Air West and government approval of it; to Hughes's desire to have nerve gas dumped in the Atlantic Ocean; and to any position Hughes took on the anti-ballistic missile system. Davis answered "None whatever" to each.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Departure and Intertel
|
||||
|
||||
A few minutes before ten o'clock on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, Hughes left the Desert Inn by an interior fire escape, was driven to North Las Vegas Airport and flew in a Hughes Tool jet to the [[Bahamas]]. By the next day he occupied a ninth-floor suite of the [[Britannia Beach Hotel]] on [[Paradise Island]], held for him for more than a year; nearly all of Paradise Island was owned by [[Resorts International]], which *Time* reported Hughes had reputedly tried to buy the year before for 85 million dollars. Eighty-four hours passed before the guards at the Desert Inn discovered he was gone. The Hughes Tool executives [[Raymond Holliday]] and [[Frank Gay|Frank W. Gay]] and the lawyer Chester Davis gathered at the [[Century Plaza Hotel]] in Los Angeles, summoned a Maheu aide and demanded Maheu's resignation; Maheu obtained a court order and the undersheriff searched the empty penthouse. Hughes then telephoned Governor Paul Laxalt and the district attorney at 1:30 a.m. to say he wanted Maheu fired.[^2] Hughes discharged Maheu on December 5, 1970.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In a teletype of December 7, 1970, the FBI's Las Vegas office reported that Davis and Gay had announced that Intertel would be engaged to operate security and certain management phases of the Hughes casino-hotels and that Intertel had reportedly been "originally financed to extent of about two million dollars" by Resorts International. The teletype recorded the statement of "an official of Hughes operations (former SA Richard Danner)" that Resorts International and its predecessor, the [[Mary Carter Paint Company]], "may possibly be hoodlum infiltrated or financially indebted to [[Meyer Lansky]]."[^16] A memorandum from J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, filed in January 1971, states that "Intertel has been engaged by officials of the Hughes Tool Company to take over the management and operation of several of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas." On January 5, 1971 the Bureau told its legal attaché in [[Ottawa]] that it had conducted no investigation of the firm.[^17] Intertel's president was [[Robert Peloquin]]. The Sandwedge memorandum of 1971 recorded that the former [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agent [[James Golden|Jim Golden]], "formerly with Intertel, has now switched over to the Hughes' Tool Company."[^16][^18] Danner testified that Golden visited Rebozo in December 1970 and discussed Danner's "precarious position" after the change of administration in the Hughes organization; Golden was later replaced by [[Ralph Winte]].[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that Hughes Tool had engaged Intertel "to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive investigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu," on a contract "reported to run upward to a million dollars," and that Intertel had already turned information over to the Internal Revenue Service, with the former head of IRS intelligence [[William Kolar]] on its staff in Las Vegas. It recorded the account of a former agency employee then on Intertel's staff that Edward P. Morgan had been paid "almost a million dollars" for past services and was "making noises to certain unnamed Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better take it easy on Maheu because of the past involvement with CIA in covert operations," and that the Intertel man "will not allow Maheu to use the Agency as a shield."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jim Hougan]] wrote that Maheu sent a task force of private detectives to the Bahamas to bug Hughes's suite and to enable him to leave, and that Intertel agents discovered the eavesdropping and had the intruders deported.[^19] In late 1971 a publisher announced an "autobiography" of Hughes based on interviews by [[Clifford Irving]]. On January 7, 1972 Hughes spoke by telephone from Paradise Island to reporters assembled in Los Angeles; asked why Maheu had been fired, he said: "Because he's a no-good, dishonest son-of-a-bitch, and he stole me blind." Maheu sued Hughes Tool for defamation in *[[Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.]]*. Hughes "had totally withdrawn from direct contact with the outside world. He would not appear in any court; he would not give depositions." The jury awarded Maheu more than 2.8 million dollars in compensatory damages and Summa about 48,000 dollars on its counterclaims; on one of them, Maheu had held about 74,000 dollars sent to him to pay the rent on a hangar leased from the [[Tucson Airport Authority]] and was about nine months behind. The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and remanded for a new trial.[^3] Hougan wrote that Peloquin, called by Maheu's lawyer, acknowledged that Intertel agents had filed more than five hundred written reports on Maheu and found no evidence of theft. He also wrote that Hughes moved to [[Managua]] in February 1972, where the American ambassador, [[Turner Shelton]], formerly consul general in the Bahamas, acted as liaison between [[Anastasio Somoza]] and Hughes.[^19] In February 1977 Intertel still controlled the security for much of the Hughes empire.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### White House Memoranda, 1971
|
||||
|
||||
White House memoranda of January and February 1971 on Hughes were printed as exhibits to the testimony of [[Lawrence Higby]], an aide to [[H. R. Haldeman]]. On January 15, 1971 [[Charles Colson]] wrote that [[Robert Bennett]], son of Senator [[Wallace Bennett]], had left the Department of Transportation to take over the [[Robert R. Mullen Company]], that one of his new clients was Howard Hughes, and that "[[Larry O'Brien]] has been the principal Hughes man in Washington." He added: "The important thing from our standpoint is to enhance Bennett's position with Hughes because Bennett gives us real access to a source of power that can be valuable."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jack Caulfield]] wrote to [[John Dean]] on January 22 and 25 that O'Brien and "Mayhew" were longtime associates from [[Boston]]; that "serious negotiations" had taken place in 1969 for O'Brien's firm to represent the Hughes interests in Washington, with "knowledgeable sources" putting the fee at 100,000 dollars; that Maheu's "tentacles touch many extremely sensitive areas of government"; that "Mayhew apparently forwarded Hughes' political contributions, personally, to both parties over the last ten years," dealing with a Nixon fund-raiser, Vic Johnson; that the former congressman [[Patrick Hillings|Pat Hillings]], close to [[Murray Chotiner]], had been retained by Maheu for years; that Danner was close to Smathers and professed friendship with Rebozo; that the law firm of [[Clark Clifford]] had for years represented the Hughes legal interests in Washington; and that Maheu had been a close associate of the former FBI agent [[John Frank]], "generally believed to have engineered the assassination of [[Jesús de Galíndez|Jesus de Galindez]]" in 1956 on behalf of [[Rafael Trujillo]]. He proposed "an in depth analysis of all (CIA, F.B.I., IRS) information available for White House perusal."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Dean reported to Haldeman on January 26 that Rebozo said his information on the O'Brien retainer had come from Maheu "at a time when Maheu was professing considerable friendliness towards the Administration," and that Rebozo "also requested that if any action be taken with regard to Hughes that he be notified because of his familiarity with the delicacy of the relationships as a result of his own dealings with the Hughes people." Bennett told Dean there was "no doubt" that O'Brien had been retained by Hughes and that the contract was still in existence, and that he was going to the West Coast to discuss his Hughes relationship with Gay. Haldeman replied on January 28 that Colson should "come up with a way to leak the appropriate information," that "Frankly, I can't see any way to handle this without involving Hughes," and that "we should keep Bob Bennett and Bebe out of it at all costs."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 1 Caulfield wrote that the retainer could be documented only indirectly, payment having been made "via the Mahew-Claude De Sautels route"; that "Don Nixon visited the [[Dominican Republic]] with a group of wheeler dealers in September 1969," who, he wrote, "assertedly were connected with" Maheu's forces in Nevada; and that "Mahew's covert activities from his Washington association with CIA in the early sixties to his Nevada involvment on behalf of Hughes are only generally known here, at this time." On February 3 he drew Dean's attention to a *[[60 Minutes]]* broadcast with an interview of Maheu and "an indication of Intertel's activity in Nevada." An unsigned memorandum in the same exhibits alleged that Maheu had established "close and ominous relationships" with Mafia figures, that huge profits were being skimmed from the casinos, and that Maheu's representatives might have paid hotel and bar bills for the presidential advance party for an October 31 visit to Las Vegas.[^21] Asked in December 1973 whether Intertel had investigated the O'Brien-Maheu relationship, Davis answered that he knew of Intertel's work only under his own direction for litigation, and added: "insofar as I am concerned, there doesn't remain any question in my mind about payments made to and received by Mr. O'Brien."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Senate Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
[[William E. Griffin]], a lawyer whom Rebozo consulted in April or May 1973, testified that Rebozo told him he held 100,000 dollars in cash in a safe-deposit box at Key Biscayne, in the identical bills he had received, and that a government agency, he thought the IRS, or the Maheu case had prompted inquiry; that Rebozo then had difficulty getting Danner to take the money back, once reaching him on a golf course; and that the money was returned to Danner against a receipt.[^22] *Time* reported in October 1973, citing committee sources, that Rebozo said the second installment was paid on July 3, 1970 at Nixon's house at [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]], the date on which Rebozo and [[Robert Abplanalp]] were closing the purchase from Nixon of 2.9 acres of the San Clemente property for, according to the same sources, 100,000 dollars; Rebozo denied that any Hughes money was used. Maheu had mentioned the contribution in a deposition in his 17 million dollar suit against Hughes in the spring of 1973.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
Rebozo returned 100,100 dollars in 1,001 Federal Reserve notes. The committee traced their serial numbers through the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] and found that, for every combination of delivery dates but one, the notes included bills not released for circulation until after a delivery date; on the combination that Danner and Rebozo described, 35 of the bills identified as the second delivery were not available until after August 20, 1970, the latest released on October 1, 1970.[^11] [[Herbert Kalmbach]] testified that on April 30, 1973 Rebozo told him he had spent some of the Hughes money on F. Donald Nixon, [[Edward Nixon]], [[Rose Mary Woods]] and others. Hughes also contributed some 150,000 dollars directly to the 1972 Nixon campaign.[^10][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The committee requested Hughes's appearance by letter, which was never answered; a subpoena was approved but could not be served because Hughes remained outside the country throughout the investigation. Rebozo refused to produce records of the Key Biscayne Bank and, when Chairman [[Sam Ervin]] sought his response in June 1974, left the country and became unavailable for service of a subpoena.[^9] By the spring of 1974 Danner had been examined twice by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]], once by a federal grand jury and twice by the IRS, and Winte had been interviewed twice by the FBI.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The committee's questions extended to Resorts International. Kalmbach testified that Rebozo suggested he see [[James Crosby]], the head of Resorts, and that Crosby's pledge to the 1970 senatorial campaign program fell from 25,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars. Griffin testified that around 1969 or 1970 he had one conversation in Washington with Crosby and [[Jack Davis]] of Resorts, whom he had first met at the 1969 inauguration, about options Resorts held on [[Pan American World Airways]] stock, that he thought Peloquin and Abplanalp were also present, and that he advised them to see the senators sponsoring restrictive legislation. Asked whether the IRS had cases involving Resorts International, the commissioner, [[Johnnie Walters]], answered: "Not to my knowledge ... I do not even know whether there were cases."[^23] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that in January 1969 Resorts had moved to take control of Pan Am by buying a 9.7 percent interest, and that the Civil Aeronautics Board had intervened.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In *[[The Village Voice]]* of January 31, 1974, [[Lucian K. Truscott IV]] wrote that a person close to the committee staff told him the staff had been instructed, "apparently by Ervin and Baker," to "stay away from" any possible quid pro quo for the donation, the Paradise Island casino, Rebozo's bank, "F. Donald Nixon's involvement" and "the whole area of the President's finances," and that Smathers and Danner were in Washington.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### Project Azorian
|
||||
|
||||
In April 1971 the chairman of [[Global Marine]], Robert F. Bauer, announced that the company would build a 600-foot mining ship for the Hughes Tool Company. The Hughes Glomar Explorer was launched on November 4, 1972, with speeches by Bauer and by Paul Reeve, general manager of the Ocean Mining Division of Hughes Tool. The government later acknowledged in court CIA sponsorship of the [[Project Azorian]] recovery of the Soviet submarine [[K-129]] "for intelligence collection purposes," and the participation of Hughes Tool, Summa and Global Marine.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's history of the project attributes the leak behind the press accounts of 1975 to "an improbable series of events following a break-in and robbery in June 1974 at Summa Corporation headquarters in Los Angeles," and records the belief that the stolen documents might include "a memorandum from a senior Hughes official to Howard Hughes describing a proposed CIA attempt to recover a sunken Soviet submarine and requesting Hughes' approval for Hughes Company participation." Several persons in the investigation were briefed, and the source of the leak was never identified.[^25] On February 7, 1975 CIA Director [[William Colby]] told President [[Gerald Ford]] that the *[[Los Angeles Times]]* had asked whether the agency had raised a piece of a Soviet submarine: "We have called Frank Murphy to try to kill it."[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death and Estate
|
||||
|
||||
On April 14, 1976 Hughes's aunt and closest living relative, Annette Gano Lummis, and her son [[William R. Lummis]] were granted temporary letters of administration in Probate Court No. 2 of [[Harris County, Texas|Harris County]].[^1][^27] The Howard Hughes Medical Institute claimed on February 24, 1977 that Hughes had executed a will leaving it his entire estate; a jury found on a trial begun December 6, 1977 that Hughes was domiciled in Texas. The probate court granted summary judgment that the alleged will was not valid; on January 23, 1980 the Court of Civil Appeals at Houston reversed that judgment as an impermissible advisory opinion and refused to disqualify Lummis's lawyers, [[Andrews Kurth|Andrews, Kurth, Campbell and Jones]], who had served as the institute's counsel for more than twenty years and had helped obtain its tax exemption.[^27] In each state that sought death taxes, the estate's personal representative contended that Hughes died domiciled in Nevada, "the only State in the Union without death taxes." [[California]] and [[Texas]] each claimed him; the bulk of the estate consisted of shares in a single holding company, and California alleged that its judgment would be uncollectible to the extent of about 21 million dollars. On June 22, 1978 the Supreme Court denied California leave to file a bill of complaint against Texas in *[[California v. Texas]]*, 437 U.S. 601.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
Hughes died without naming a successor trustee of the medical institute, and the Delaware complaint alleged that the institute had since been controlled by Gay and Davis as majority members of its executive committee, which on July 10, 1978 purported to amend the charter to abolish the office of trustee. The attorney general of Delaware and William Lummis, as Delaware ancillary administrator, sued in the [[Delaware Court of Chancery]] to have a trustee appointed.[^4][^5] A claim by the actress [[Terry Moore]] that she had married Hughes at sea in 1949 was dismissed on judicial estoppel; the opinion affirming the dismissal was written by Justice [[Paul Pressler]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: *Moore v. Neff*, 629 S.W.2d 827 (Tex. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1982), No. B2947, decided February 4, 1982 (Pressler, J.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/sw2d/629/cases/0827-01.json (birth date computed from *Time*'s statement of December 21, 1970 that Hughes "will be 65 on Christmas Eve").
|
||||
[^2]: "Business: Shootout at the Hughes Corral," *Time*, December 21, 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838449/business-shootout-at-the-hughes-corral/
|
||||
[^3]: *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*, 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1977), modified January 12, 1978, Nos. 75-1306 and 75-2353 (Duniway, J.), parts I to V. https://openjurist.org/569/f2d/459
|
||||
[^4]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 404 A.2d 140 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided June 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.), full text at the Harvard Caselaw Access Project. https://static.case.law/a2d/404/cases/0140-01.json
|
||||
[^5]: *Wier v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute*, 407 A.2d 1051 (Del. Ch. 1979), decided October 26, 1979 (Marvel, Ch.). https://static.case.law/a2d/407/cases/1051-01.json
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), pp. 74-75 and n. 2 (Maheu testimony of July 29, 1975, pp. 22-23), and p. 307 n. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, 6 pp., NARA record number 104-10122-10288, released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, March 18, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: *Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.*, 409 U.S. 363 (1973), Nos. 71-827 and 71-830, decided January 10, 1973, opinion of the Court (Douglas, J.) and dissent (Burger, C.J.) reciting the procedural history. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/409/363
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981 (June 1974), ch. 8, "The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters," introduction and sections I-II, pp. 931-936 and n. 7 (Hughes memorandum to Maheu). https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
|
||||
[^10]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section VI, "Dunes Report," pp. 980-998. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
|
||||
[^11]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section V, "Delivery and Retention of the Contributions," pp. 944-948. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
|
||||
[^12]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60, Executive Session Hearings, Book 24: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Richard G. Danner, pp. 11417, 11464-11465, 11553-11555, and letter of Chester C. Davis to the committee, p. 11480. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report*, S. Rept. 93-981, ch. 8, section X, "The Issue of Use of the Money," p. 1030, and section on purpose of the money, pp. 1055-1056. https://archive.org/details/FinalReportOfTheSenateSelectCommitteeOnPresidentialCampaignActivities
|
||||
[^14]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 24*, testimony of Chester C. Davis (executive session of December 4, 1973), pp. 11398-11401, 11609-11611. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: "The Nation: The Hughes Connection," *Time*, October 22, 1973. https://time.com/archive/6841879/the-nation-the-hughes-connection/
|
||||
[^16]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Peloquin file, FOI/PA No. 1602405, Part 01, teletype, Las Vegas (92-3659) to Director and Miami, December 7, 1970, pp. 21-25 (PDF pages). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^17]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, "William G. Hundley, Robert D. Peloquin, International Intelligence, Inc.," December 1970 (file stamp January 8, 1971), p. 33; Director to Legat, Ottawa, January 5, 1971, p. 42. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^18]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), "Operation Sandwedge," Tab 31, pp. 9899-9902. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Jim Hougan, *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents* (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 262-263, 384-385. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
|
||||
[^20]: Tom Zito, "Peloquin of Intertel: Intelligence, Security, 'Targets of Opportunity,'" *The Washington Post*, February 20, 1977, pp. L1, L12 (page images in the Weisberg Subject Index Files, Hood College). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/I%20Disk/Intertel%20on%20Assassination%20Samples%20of/Item%2001.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 23: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), Higby Exhibits 5-A to 5-I, pp. 11123-11135: Colson memorandum of January 15, 1971; Caulfield to Dean, January 22, January 25, February 1 and February 3, 1971; Dean to Haldeman, January 26, 1971; Haldeman to Dean, January 28, 1971; Dean to Caulfield, February 5, 1971; unsigned memorandum, Exhibit 5-I. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 22: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10429-10431, 10446-10448. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 21* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Herbert W. Kalmbach, p. 10183; *Book 23*, testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10792-10793; *Book 24*, testimony of Johnnie M. Walters, p. 11623. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
|
||||
[^24]: Lucian K. Truscott IV, "Watergate, the Bahamas & Howard Hughes," *The Village Voice*, January 31, 1974. https://villagevoice.com/1974/01/31/watergate-the-bahamas-howard-hughes
|
||||
[^25]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Project AZORIAN: The Story of the Hughes Glomar Explorer," released January 2010, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 1 (scanned images, OCR read). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc01.pdf
|
||||
[^26]: Memorandum of conversation, President Ford, Henry Kissinger, James Schlesinger, William Colby, David Jones and Donald Rumsfeld, Oval Office, February 7, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Library, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, document 2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc02.pdf
|
||||
[^27]: *Howard Hughes Medical Institute v. Lummis*, 596 S.W.2d 171 (Tex. Civ. App., Houston [14th Dist.] 1980), No. A2176, decided January 23, 1980 (Brown, C.J.). https://static.case.law/sw2d/596/cases/0171-01.json
|
||||
[^28]: *California v. Texas*, 437 U.S. 601 (1978) (per curiam, June 22, 1978), with concurring and dissenting opinions. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/437/601
|
||||
332
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John J. McCloy.md
Normal file
332
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John J. McCloy.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,332 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JohnJMcCloy
|
||||
- MilbankTweed
|
||||
- HICOG
|
||||
- ChaseManhattan
|
||||
- FordFoundation
|
||||
- CouncilOnForeignRelations
|
||||
- WorldBank
|
||||
- WarrenCommission
|
||||
- OilIndustry
|
||||
- SevenSisters
|
||||
- JapaneseInternment
|
||||
- ArmsControl
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- John J. McCloy
|
||||
- John McCloy
|
||||
- John Jay McCloy
|
||||
- John Snader McCloy
|
||||
- Jack McCloy
|
||||
- J.J. McCloy
|
||||
summary: "American lawyer, Assistant Secretary of War, World Bank president, High Commissioner for Germany, Chase and Ford Foundation chairman, counsel to the major oil companies and Warren Commission member."
|
||||
born: 1895-03-31
|
||||
died: 1989-03-11
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (born); Stamford, Connecticut (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ellen Zinsser McCloy]]"
|
||||
start: 1930-04-25
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Cravath, Swaine & Moore]]"
|
||||
start: 1924-12
|
||||
end: 1940-12
|
||||
role: "associate, partner from 1929"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Department of War]]"
|
||||
start: 1940-12
|
||||
end: 1945-11
|
||||
role: "special assistant, then Assistant Secretary of War"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Henry L. Stimson]]"
|
||||
start: 1940-12
|
||||
end: 1945-11
|
||||
role: "assistant to the Secretary of War"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[World Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1947-03-17
|
||||
end: 1949-06-30
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Harry S. Truman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1949
|
||||
role: "High Commissioner for Germany"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany]]"
|
||||
start: 1949-09-21
|
||||
end: 1952-08-01
|
||||
role: "U.S. High Commissioner for Germany"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[David W. Peck]]"
|
||||
start: 1950-03
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
end: 1965
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board of trustees"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
|
||||
start: 1953
|
||||
end: 1971
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Chase Manhattan Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1953-01
|
||||
end: 1960-12
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board of Chase National, later Chase Manhattan"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Milbank Tweed]]"
|
||||
start: 1946
|
||||
end: 1947
|
||||
role: "partner"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Milbank Tweed]]"
|
||||
start: 1961
|
||||
end: 1989
|
||||
role: "name partner"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament]]"
|
||||
start: 1961
|
||||
end: 1974
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[ExxonMobil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Mobil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Gulf Oil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Texaco]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Standard Oil of California]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[BP]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Royal Dutch Shell]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Libyan Producers Agreement]]"
|
||||
start: 1971-01
|
||||
role: "counsel to whom the Business Review letters were addressed"
|
||||
fn: 34
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Cuban Missile Crisis]]"
|
||||
start: 1962-10
|
||||
end: 1963
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Coordinating Committee"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Warren Commission]]"
|
||||
start: 1963-11-29
|
||||
role: "commissioner"
|
||||
fn: 50
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Jay McCloy (born in [[Philadelphia]] on March 31, 1895; died in [[Stamford, Connecticut]], on March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, banker and government official. He served as Assistant Secretary of War, president of the [[World Bank]], U.S. Military Governor and High Commissioner for [[Germany]], chairman of the [[Chase Manhattan Bank]], the [[Ford Foundation]] and the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], counsel to the major international oil companies, chairman of the [[General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament]] and a member of the [[Warren Commission]]. [[Amherst College]], which holds his papers, records his name at birth as John McCloy, with "Snader" used as a middle name in college records until about 1935 and "Jay" thereafter.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Black Tom and the Stimson Connection
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy joined [[Cravath, Swaine & Moore|Cravath, de Gersdorff, Swaine and Wood]] in December 1924 and became a partner in 1929.[^1] The firm represented the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] Company in the Black Tom case, a World War I sabotage case that began in 1916 when a munitions depot on [[Black Tom Island]] in New York was blown up; McCloy became involved in 1930 and saw the case through to its final settlement in 1941. The proceedings ran before the [[Mixed Claims Commission]] (August 1924 to July 1941), the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] (October 1939 to October 1940) and the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] (August 1940 to January 1941). The archivists who processed his papers wrote that the case reportedly brought him to the attention of [[Henry L. Stimson]], then Secretary of State and later Secretary of War, who appointed him Assistant Secretary of War.[^2] McCloy served Stimson as an expert consultant from October 1940, as Special Assistant from December 1940 and as Assistant Secretary of War from April 1941 to November 1945.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Assistant Secretary of War and the Japanese American Exclusion
|
||||
|
||||
After the outbreak of war McCloy was the civilian aide to Stimson responsible for Japanese American questions.[^3] In the first weeks of 1942 he took part in the discussions among the [[United States Department of War|War Department]], the [[Western Defense Command]] and the [[Department of Justice]] that preceded [[Executive Order 9066]]. Provost Marshal General [[Allen W. Gullion]] described a heated meeting over a draft press release, which stated that the military situation did not require the removal of American citizens of Japanese descent, between Stimson, McCloy and [[Karl Bendetsen]] for the War Department and Attorney General [[Francis Biddle]], [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and [[James Rowe]] for the Justice Department; Stimson and McCloy wanted General [[John L. DeWitt]] to consider the draft before they responded. On February 3, 1942, DeWitt read McCloy by telephone the memorandum he had promised Gullion and urged deletion of the line stating that citizens need not be removed. The [[Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians]] wrote that McCloy "was most concerned about the legality of any government action," that he favored designating restricted zones and letting people back in by permit, that he would allow in "[e]veryone but the Japs," and that he did not press DeWitt for a military justification for moving the Nisei. On February 4 he met Gullion, Rowe, [[Edward Ennis]] and [[John Burling]] on legislation to remove both citizens and aliens from parts of the West Coast. On February 18, 1942, he attended the conference at which Stimson approved Biddle's draft of the executive order; Stimson wrote in his diary that "Biddle, McCloy and Gullion had done a good piece of work in breaking down the issues between the Departments the night before."[^3] McCloy took [[Milton Eisenhower]] to [[San Francisco]] to meet DeWitt before [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] signed [[Executive Order 9102]] creating the [[War Relocation Authority]] on March 18, 1942. When evacuees were being forced to sell their holdings, he wrote [[Harry Hopkins]] that "[o]ne of the drawbacks they have is the loss of their property," and an exchange with Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]] ended with Frankfurter assuring him that he was handling a delicate matter with wisdom and appropriate hard-headedness.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In January 1943 McCloy assured DeWitt that the new loyalty review for Nisei volunteers would not affect exclusion from the West Coast. On April 8, 1943, he wrote DeWitt that "[t]he very 'entering wedge' which you appear to dread is precisely what must be accomplished." The same month he told Bendetsen, in a discussion of how the original exclusion decision had been reached: "We never thought about it." When DeWitt's printed Final Report on the evacuation reached him in mid-April 1943, McCloy found it "too self-glorifying and too self-serving," objecting above all to its statement that the impossibility of determining loyalty, not urgency, had been the military necessity for exclusion. Bendetsen carried McCloy's revisions to DeWitt in Alaska, after which DeWitt accepted them and set out to destroy every copy of the April version. A Bendetsen memorandum of the period records that McCloy concluded there "no longer existed any military necessity for the continued exclusion of all Japanese from the evacuated zone," and that the War Department "of its own motion, would not take any action to direct or require the revision or revocation of present restrictions." In early November 1944, a week after General [[Charles H. Bonesteel]] of the Western Defense Command asked him for a personal meeting on ending exclusion, McCloy wrote that "there is a disposition not to crowd action too closely upon the heels of the election."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy and Bendetsen, the two witnesses before the commission most involved in the evacuation decision, testified that it was not taken on the basis of actual incidents of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity. The commission concluded that the War Department had "failed to scrutinize General DeWitt's demands closely and critically."[^3] From 1947 to 1949 McCloy supported legislation to accept evacuation claims and to grant naturalization rights to Japanese residents not born in the [[United States]]. He opposed the compensation effort that followed the commission's 1983 report and prepared testimony for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Governmental Relations in 1984 to 1986.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1953 the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act (the [[Jenner Committee]]), headed by Senator [[William E. Jenner]], issued a report referring to "Army tolerance of Communists" during the war and quoting McCloy's 1945 testimony to the [[House Committee on Military Affairs]]. On February 7, 1954, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] accused McCloy of having ordered the destruction of Army intelligence files on Communists, and retracted the charge two days later while insisting that McCloy had been the "moving force" behind the commissioning of Communists in the Army. In 1952 Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] named McCloy to a special panel on the loyalty case of the Foreign Service officer [[John Carter Vincent]], with Judge [[Learned Hand]], former Assistant Secretaries of State [[James Grafton Rogers]] and [[G. Howland Chase]], and a former ambassador printed in the finding aid as [[Edmund C. Wilson]]; [[John Foster Dulles]] asked the panel to stop work after the change of administration.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Auschwitz Letters
|
||||
|
||||
In the summer and fall of 1944 the [[World Jewish Congress]] and the [[War Refugee Board]] forwarded requests to the War Department to bomb Auschwitz. On August 14, 1944, McCloy advised that "such an operation could be executed only by the diversion of considerable air support ... now engaged in decisive operations elsewhere and would in any case be of such doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources." Within a week the [[United States Army Air Forces]] carried out a heavy bombing of the [[IG Farben|I.G. Farben]] synthetic oil and rubber (Buna) works near Auschwitz III, less than five miles from the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center.[^8] On November 18, 1944, answering a letter of November 8 from [[John W. Pehle]], executive director of the War Refugee Board, which forwarded the report of two eyewitnesses on Auschwitz and Birkenau, McCloy wrote that "[t]he Operation Staff of the War Department has given careful consideration to your suggestion." He listed five points, among them that the target was beyond the maximum range of medium bombers, dive bombers and fighter bombers in the [[United Kingdom]], France or Italy, that heavy bombers from British bases would face a "hazardous round trip flight unescorted of approximately 2,000 miles over enemy territory," and that "our strategic air forces are engaged in the destruction of industrial target systems vital to the dwindling war potential of the enemy, from which they should not be diverted." He added: "I know that you have been reluctant to press this activity on the War Department. We have been pressed strongly from other quarters, however, and have taken the best military opinion on its feasibility."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Strategic Services Unit
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA historical index card dated December 21, 1965 summarizes two memoranda on the War Department's [[Strategic Services Unit]] (SSU): one from Secretary of War [[Robert P. Patterson]] of September 27, 1945, implementing an executive order of September 20 and designating a War Department representative to administer, operate and liquidate the unit "under authority and policies to be determined by Asst SecWar," and one from McCloy of September 26, 1945, instructing him to examine the unit's facilities to determine their disposition, coordinate with the State Department and the Bureau of the Budget, "preserve SSU functions of peacetime value" and follow War Department fiscal procedures. The card's compiler commented that while the SSU director had the mission to liquidate wartime activities and preserve functions suitable for peacetime, "SSU itself appears to be without any operational mission." The name of the designated representative is withheld in the released card.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### World Bank and the High Commissionership
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy practiced with [[Milbank Tweed|Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Hadley]] in 1946 and 1947.[^1] He was the second president of the World Bank, from March 17, 1947 to June 30, 1949; during his tenure the Bank began to borrow in the capital market and made its first reconstruction and development loans, and he proposed his associate [[Eugene R. Black]] as his successor.[^11] At a meeting on April 30, 1949, [[Harry S. Truman]] asked him to become High Commissioner for Germany, and he resigned from the Bank on May 18, 1949.[^12] The [[Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany]] (HICOG) was established on September 21, 1949, with the creation of the Federal Republic, and McCloy, its first High Commissioner, served until August 1, 1952; the Amherst chronology dates his tenure as Military Governor and High Commissioner from July 1949 to July 1952.[^13] [^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 18, 1949, [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Roscoe Hillenkoetter]] wrote McCloy that a change in the payment of German employees of American units in Germany had affected "[t]he Central Intelligence Agency unit in Germany, the Department of the Army Detachment," and requested that McCloy allot to the detachment, "from the German reparations account," a sum (withheld in the released copy) per year for the salaries of German service personnel who had worked with the CIA unit since the occupation. Hillenkoetter wrote that the Agency had no provision in its budget to carry them and that it wished "to do all possible to aid you in every way you may desire to carry out the aims of your mission."[^14] On January 12, 1951, Director [[Walter Bedell Smith]] answered a McCloy letter of December 12, 1950 concerning his talks with a person whose name is withheld, writing that "Bill, Allen Dulles and I are doing the best we can." On June 19, 1951, Deputy Director [[Allen Dulles]] returned to McCloy a paper he had handed Dulles the night before, keeping a copy, and promised the Agency's views on its recommendations.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Landsberg Clemency Decisions
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy appointed an [[Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals]] in March 1950 to review petitions from prisoners convicted by the [[Nuremberg Military Tribunals]] and held at [[Landsberg Prison]]. Its members were [[David W. Peck]], Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York Supreme Court (chairman); [[Frederick A. Moran]], chairman of the New York Board of Parole; and Brigadier General [[Conrad E. Snow]], Assistant Legal Adviser of the [[State Department|Department of State]]. The board began in Washington, established itself in [[Munich]] in July 1950, sat there for forty days, read the judgments in the cases of 104 defendants and heard 50 counsel representing 90 of them. On January 31, 1951, McCloy announced his decisions: of fifteen death sentences, ten were commuted and five confirmed, four against leaders of the SS [[Einsatzgruppen]] and one against the former head of the concentration camp administration (WVHA).[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
In the Krupp case (Case 10), McCloy wrote that the guilt of the defendants "was no greater in these cases than that involved in the Farben and Flick cases" and reduced the sentences "so that the terms served will conform approximately to the sentences in similar cases." The decisions, as printed by his office, were: [[Alfried Krupp|Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach]], "from 12 years and confiscation of all property to time served and no confiscation"; [[Friedrich von Buelow]] and [[Erich Mueller]], from twelve years to time served; [[Eduard Houdremont]] and [[Friedrich Janssen]], from ten years to time served; [[Karl Eberhardt]] and [[Max Ihn]], from nine years to time served; and [[Heinrich Korschan]] and [[Heinrich Lehmann]], from six years to time served. McCloy described the confiscation decree as "the sole case of confiscation decreed against any defendant by the Nuremberg courts," wrote that he could "find no personal guilt in defendant Krupp, based upon the charges in this case, sufficient to distinguish him above all others sentenced by the Nuremberg Courts," and added that he was "making no judgments as to the ultimate title to the former Krupp property," which "will be subject to AHC Law Number 27, 'Reorganization of the German Coal, Iron and Steel Industries,' and is not affected by this decision."[^17] In the Ministries case he approved the board's reduction of the sentence of [[Gottlob Berger]], a close associate of [[Heinrich Himmler]], from twenty-five years to ten, and noted that he had already commuted the sentence of [[Ernst von Weizsäcker]] to time served. The announcement made no mention of the Flick and Farben cases, because all of the defendants in them had been released or were eligible for release.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 9, 1952, reporting to the State Department on meetings with coalition party leaders over the contractual agreements ending the occupation, McCloy wrote that leaders of the German Party "recommended inter alia early release of war criminals of type of Manstein and Kesselring as gesture of good will," and that he had "gained impression that DP and FDP objections to war criminal provisions were not really fundamental and that review board procedure, if instituted at an early date, wld placate them."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Klaus Barbie and the Cables over McCloy's Name
|
||||
|
||||
Cables from the High Commission concerning [[Klaus Barbie]] went out over McCloy's name; [[Allan A. Ryan]], in his 1983 report to the Attorney General, wrote that this followed the State Department practice by which embassy cables carry the ambassador's name, and that "[o]ne cannot infer from this practice that the ambassador or other signatory actually read or knew about the cable." In June 1950, after a French note of May 5 demanding Barbie's surrender, Deputy Political Adviser [[E. Allan Lightner]] wrote that McCloy had decided to "smoke out EUCOM on the matter to see how far they would go in helping to find this character, and to get more details as to just how embarrassing it would be to them (CIC) if he were turned over to the French." On June 16, 1950, [[Benjamin Shute]], director of HICOG's Office of Intelligence, was told at [[European Command]] headquarters in [[Heidelberg]] that the [[Counter Intelligence Corps]] had ended Barbie's employment on May 24, 1949 and had kept in contact with him until late April 1950. Ryan found that "[t]hese representations by CIC and EUCOM were false": the Counter Intelligence Corps employed and paid Barbie, and knew where he was, from April 1947 until he left for [[South America]] in March 1951. Ryan found Lightner's language not inconsistent with the conclusion that no one at HICOG knew Barbie was still in CIC custody, and recorded that "[n]either Lightner nor McCloy recalled the Barbie matter when questioned in this investigation."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Ford Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations and the CIA
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy was brought into the Ford Foundation as a consultant by [[Henry Ford II]] and insisted that it add a full European program, directed by his former HICOG public affairs director, [[Shepard Stone]]. In a letter of December 31, 1951, as he prepared to leave Germany, McCloy urged [[Paul G. Hoffman]] that the Foundation "help to carry on certain operations which the future [US] Embassy may find difficult to continue, but which are of great significance to United States objectives in Germany."[^21] The Amherst finding aid describes his tenure as chairman of the Foundation's board of trustees as running from 1952 to 1965; his Ford papers include a report of the [[Reece Committee|House Special Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations]] and [[Grenville Clark]]'s 1954 proposal for a Foundation-supported program on disarmament.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 29, 1953, McCloy, on Council on Foreign Relations letterhead, wrote Allen Dulles, by then Director of Central Intelligence, that he was "delighted to have a report from Shep Stone" that Dulles would join a Council study group on relations between the democratic nations and the [[Soviet Union]], "undertaken at the Council on Foreign Relations under a grant of the Ford Foundation," with a full-time staff under [[Henry L. Roberts]] of [[Columbia University]]. "Though the group will be entirely unofficial, its findings will be made available to our government," he wrote, adding that the CIA's [[Robert Amory]] would attend the first dinner meeting on May 6, 1953.[^23] In a letter of February 25, 1954, quoted by the historian [[Volker Berghahn]] and cited by Harm Langenkamp, Stone wrote McCloy about the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]]: "you know the sources of funds that have hitherto been supplied to the Congress, but in our conversation with these gentlemen [Nabokov and Rougemont] we should not reveal what we know."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum of May 21, 1954 by [[Don K. Price]] set the Foundation's policy on government-sponsored programs: such projects could be recommended if "worth support on their merits, regardless of any official interest," and with the prior approval of three trustees, "the Chairman, the President, and 'Mr. McCloy.'" Langenkamp, citing Price's 1972 oral history and McCloy's interview with [[Kai Bird]], writes that McCloy and Price later defended the arrangement as a means of limiting the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s access to Foundation officers and grantees, quotes McCloy as saying the Foundation could not keep its "shirts clean" had it closed the door on the Agency entirely, and quotes Price's warning to Dulles and [[Frank Wisner]]: "The first time you meddle with our boys, we'll quit this whole program." In 1958 Dulles invited Foundation officers to Washington for a briefing on Agency operations, and in 1959 Price reached an understanding allowing the CIA to approach Foundation fellows after their grants expired; in the early 1960s Foundation president [[Henry T. Heald]] repeated the Foundation's position to Director [[John McCone]].[^24] Writing of 1962, when Stone sought a five-year guarantee of some $2,000,000 a year to free the Congress for Cultural Freedom from the CIA's treasury, Langenkamp describes McCloy as Stone's "staunchest ally" and as having by then assumed the chairmanship of the board. The Congress, which the CIA had tried from the outset to transfer to the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, reached self-sufficiency through Ford's 1957 to 1962 grant at the moment the cover of the Agency's network of front organizations was blown; Stone's 1962 proposal itself foundered.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy was chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1953 to 1971.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chase Manhattan
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy was chairman of the board of the Chase National Bank from January 1953 to December 1960; the bank merged with the [[Bank of the Manhattan Company]] in April 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank.[^1] His papers include six volumes of appointment and telephone logs kept as chairman from 1953 to 1958, consisting mostly of names with almost no notation of subject matter, and correspondence of March 1960 concerning his retirement from the bank.[^26] On April 20, 1962, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[Marshall S. Carter]] wrote him at One Chase Manhattan Plaza that he was being briefed that afternoon on "the other matter" they had discussed by telephone and would come back with "a substantive proposal."[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### Counsel to the Oil Companies
|
||||
|
||||
From 1961 McCloy was a name partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hope, Hadley & McCloy.[^1] For much of the 1960s and 1970s he advised the "McCloy Group," representatives of most of the major American oil companies and several European and British firms, on legal questions and on foreign and domestic policy, and advocated on their behalf in the Justice Department, the State Department and Congress. His files on the group include representation agreements dated March 20 to August 2, 1962. He kept the Antitrust Division informed of oil group meetings and negotiations, sought specific clearance for actions that might have been construed as violations of the antitrust laws, and "made a point of holding briefing meetings with each new Attorney General to ensure a continuity of contact and goodwill with the Department."[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
From the early 1960s McCloy represented the Seven Sisters ([[Gulf Oil|Gulf]], [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]], [[BP]], [[ExxonMobil|Exxon]], [[Standard Oil of California|Socal]], [[Texaco]] and [[Mobil]]) and was engaged by other companies operating in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. He testified to the [[Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations]] of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], that while an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] he raised the possibility of joint action by the companies against the combined pressure of the producing countries, and that the President arranged a meeting with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]]. Asked whether the understanding was ever formalized, he answered: "No, I don't believe I ever got a letter from him in regard to it." He informed Deputy Attorney General [[Byron White]] and Attorneys General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], [[Ramsey Clark]] and [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]] of his concerns about [[OPEC]] in informal conversations.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 11, 1967, as the [[Internal Revenue Service]] questioned the industry's pricing practices, McCloy wrote Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] about an IRS audit of the tax returns of the five American majors: "I believe that the Department of State has a particular responsibility to make known to the Treasury Department the implications of its proposed attack on crude oil prices," because the system of royalties and creditable local income taxes "was recommended to the oil companies and to the foreign governments involved in the Department of State and the Treasury Department," and without it "large amounts of direct foreign aid might well be required." The subcommittee found that the failure of the IRS to reverse its original ruling after posted and realized prices diverged in 1957 "has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars in revenues"; in 1973 Exxon paid an effective rate of 11.2 percent on earnings of $2.98 billion, Mobil 5 percent and Texaco 2.3 percent.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 9, 1969, McCloy joined [[David Rockefeller]] and the men listed as [[J. K. Jamieson|Jamieson]], Anderson, [[Rawleigh Warner|Warner]] and [[John Swearingen|Swearingen]] in a meeting with President [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] on the [[Middle East]]; Kissinger's briefing memorandum titled it "Your Meeting with the David Rockefeller Group."[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Libyan Producers Agreement and the Business Review Letters
|
||||
|
||||
On September 25, 1970, McCloy attended, as attorney for several of the major companies, a meeting at which Under Secretary of State [[U. Alexis Johnson]] told the companies operating in [[Libya]] that United States intervention with the Libyan government would be "ineffective at best."[^32] On September 29, 1970, [[Peter Flanigan]], the President's Assistant for International Economic Affairs, recorded that McCloy, "representative of the International Oil Company," had spoken with Johnson; that Flanigan had cleared with Attorney General Mitchell that the companies could discuss a Libyan proposal together "if they were to sit down together with a member of the Justice Department"; and that "[t]his information was given to John McCloy who also spoke to Mitchell." Flanigan suggested to McCloy that the penalties of a break with Libya were greater than those of a settlement, reasoning that a settlement's cost increase would fall on all European and Japanese supplies but only a small part of American supplies, so that "the result would be a competitive benefit to the United States"; he told McCloy the government would expect the companies "to follow the course that they and he thought best."[^33] On January 7, 1971, Johnson met representatives of Esso, Mobil, Gulf, Texaco and Socal and "attorney John McCloy" on OPEC's demands; McCloy said the producers' cartel was in "very strong bargaining position" and asked whether the State Department "could be helpful with Department of Justice in obtaining permission under anti-trust laws for companies to coordinate response."[^34] [[James Akins]] of the State Department and [[Dudley Chapman]] of the Antitrust Division were detailed to work with the companies and McCloy on the documents.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division|Antitrust Division]] under Assistant Attorney General [[Richard W. McLaren]] issued [[Business Review letter|Business Review letters]] to McCloy covering a joint "[[Message to OPEC]]" and the [[Libyan Producers Agreement]] (the Safety Net Agreement), under which Libyan producers would replace the production of any company shut in for resisting Libyan demands, with Persian Gulf production to be shared under specified circumstances. The letters stated that the Department "does not presently intend to institute any proceedings under the antitrust laws." The subcommittee's report dates the letters January 19, 1971, and in the next paragraph places a January 15 meeting of McCloy and the chief executives with Secretary of State [[William P. Rogers]] and Under Secretary [[John N. Irwin II]] "two days after the issuance of the Business Review letters." At that meeting the companies sought a high-level mission to the producing countries; asked by Church whether he had suggested Irwin, McCloy answered: "No. As long as it was a person of dignity, with clout, to use that expression." Irwin, sent with Nixon's authorization, recommended from [[Tehran]] that the companies negotiate with the Gulf states separately; Rogers communicated the recommendation to McCloy, who informed the chief executives, and the subcommittee found that the State Department had thereby abandoned the strategy of a single global negotiation that lay at the heart of the Message to OPEC and the Business Review letters.[^34] [^35]
|
||||
|
||||
The companies formed a [[London Policy Group]], with a parallel group in New York. Each London Policy Group meeting, on dates from January 20 to June 18, 1971, "was attended by a partner or associate from the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, counsel for the oil companies, whose function was to assure that the discussions remained within the terms of the Message to OPEC, the Libyan Producers Agreement, and the pertinent business review letters from the Antitrust Division." "No member of the Departments of Justice or State attended any of these meetings; instead, both Departments relied upon ex post-factor [sic] oral reports by oil company executives to Akins and written reports from McCloy to McLaren."[^35] The subcommittee found "no evidence of any Department of Justice monitoring of the negotiations"; not until October 1973, after subcommittee staff began to inquire, did anyone at the Department read the cable record of the company-OPEC negotiations.[^36] The February 14, 1971 [[Tehran Agreement]] raised the Gulf governments' take by an estimated $11.7 billion over five years, a cost McCloy described to McLaren as "extremely high."[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 15, 1971, McCloy informed McLaren that Libya had taken unilateral steps on exchange rates, and on October 19 he asked for further Business Review letters covering joint negotiation on currency parity and participation and an extension of the sharing agreement; the Department issued new letters addressed to him.[^37] At a State Department meeting on January 3, 1972 attended by the chairmen of the major companies, [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and McCloy, the Under Secretary of State proposed an industry advisory body; on January 20 McCloy and Akins agreed that an informal body was acceptable, and McCloy reported that some executives were "disturbed" by Akins's insistence that the companies change their relationship with the producing countries by 1976.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
The Business Review letters required the companies to report to the Justice Department through McCloy. In March 1973 a suit by the [[Corporate Accountability Research Group]] for the documents was pending against the Justice Department, "[a] similar request by [[New York Times|The New York Times]] in 1971 had been averted under the [[Freedom of Information Act]]," and the companies told State Department officials that the sharing agreement was a "form of insurance" that had allowed Bunker Hunt Oil Company to "stand firm" against Libyan demands. On March 23, 1973, [[Warren Clark]] of the North African Office in the Bureau of African Affairs wrote that release would show Libya that the companies had banded together to "denationalize" part of British Petroleum, and that the matter was "very sensitive from a domestic political point of view. The State Department and the USG have sanctioned in these Business Review Letters a strengthening of the international cartel of seven Anglo-Saxon oil companies." A Senate subcommittee "would fry the State Department if it was revealed that we classified these documents in order to protect the 'cartel,' and that we had taken the position that what was good for the cartel was good for US national security." Clark approved keeping the agreement and the letters classified on the narrow ground of proprietary interest.[^39]
|
||||
|
||||
### Oil Diplomacy in 1973 and 1974
|
||||
|
||||
[[William J. Casey]] sat on McCloy's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament; the committee's letterheads of June 1970 and March and May 1971 list him among the members.[^40] On September 5, 1973, McCloy met Casey, by then Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, and asked that the government send a strong note on the illegality of Libya's nationalization, work with the Europeans "to make the Libyan expropriation attempt fail" by obtaining agreement not to buy oil from fields operated by the majors, and lift the environmental sulphur restriction as a demonstration of political determination. [[John Knubel]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff recorded for Kissinger McCloy's estimate that the net shortfall to the United States would be "about 50,000 barrels per day" if the majors stopped pumping Libyan oil, "a manageable amount (according to McCloy)".[^41] On October 12, 1973, during the [[October War]], McCloy sent [[Alexander Haig]] a memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, stating that the "chief ARAMCO shareholders" wished it "placed in the President's hands as soon as possible"; the memorandum warned that OPEC's demands could raise the free world's oil cost from the Persian Gulf alone by $15 billion a year, and a notation on Kissinger's covering memorandum of November 3 indicates that Nixon saw it.[^42]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 20, 1973, Kissinger met ten oil industry executives and McCloy, listed as "Milbank and Tweed," with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust [[Thomas Kauper]] among the officials present; Kissinger told McCloy he wanted to meet him "and a group of Atlanticists" about the Europeans, and the next day [[Brent Scowcroft]] reported that McCloy was prepared to assemble Americans and Europeans for the purpose. On February 8, 1974, Kissinger telephoned McCloy that "[w]e cannot have the Community organized against us as anti-American."[^43] Opening a meeting with the oil company heads on March 29, 1974, Kissinger said he had called it "after talking with Jack McCloy," and that "[t]he transcript taken here isn't going to go anywhere, except into my own personal files." When Deputy Secretary of Defense [[William Clements]] described the encouragement of technology and industry transfers into [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Atlantic Richfield]] chairman, [[Robert O. Anderson]], added, "In exchange for which we get a preferential position," McCloy said: "In other words, pick up the Yamani offer."[^44]
|
||||
|
||||
In a letter of September 21, 1973 to Kauper, McCloy listed his clients and reported that the producing states were again demanding changes to the Tehran and Tripoli agreements. In a later letter to Church he stated that American companies in the Middle East had made an affirmative contribution of over $2 billion to the 1972 balance of payments; the subcommittee found that the Commerce Department estimates on which he relied had "recently been found to be substantially in error" because they were computed on posted rather than realized prices.[^45] The McCloy Group appears to have been inactive from June 1973 to February 1979.[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Critchfield Reports and the Oil Files
|
||||
|
||||
The International Oil series of his papers contains sub-series I, "Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973," consisting of 49 "perspectives on development" and 16 special reports on Middle East issues. The Amherst archivists state that "[m]ost, if not all," were prepared by [[Basic Resources International]], a [[Falls Church, Virginia]], consulting firm "headed by [[James H. Critchfield]], formerly CIA bureau chief for the Middle East," and that Report 60 is a prospectus for the firm. Sub-series K of the same series holds a folder titled "Chase Manhattan Bank. Financial analysis of thirty-one petroleum companies" among oil company reports for 1964 to 1966. Other folders in the series hold a draft legal brief on taxes on oil company income and drafts of a proposed letter from President Nixon to the Shah of Iran.[^46]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brazil and the McCone File
|
||||
|
||||
On February 21, 1964, Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] reported from [[Rio de Janeiro]] that President [[Joao Goulart|João Goulart]] "said looking forward to McCloy visit and thought Hanna case could have constructive solution." On February 29, 1964, McCloy, then a partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, met Goulart in Rio to discuss the status of the M.A. [[Hanna Mining Company]].[^47] On April 9, 1964, at 11:10 a.m., Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and McCloy spoke by telephone; four pages of the source text of the transcript, filed in McCone's "Eyes Only" telephone records, have not been declassified. The same day the three military ministers, [[Artur da Costa e Silva|Artur Costa e Silva]], [[Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo]] and [[Augusto Rademaker|Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald]], signed Brazil's [[Institutional Act]].[^48] On June 10, 1964, President [[Humberto Castelo Branco]] showed Gordon a staff report on "areas of friction abroad," including the Hanna case, and said work on resolving all of them was going forward rapidly.[^49]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Warren Commission
|
||||
|
||||
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] created the Commission by [[Executive Order 11130]] of November 29, 1963, and selected from private life two lawyers, Allen Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence, and McCloy; Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], Senators [[Richard B. Russell]] and [[John Sherman Cooper]], and Representatives [[Hale Boggs]] and [[Gerald R. Ford]] completed its membership. Its first meeting was on December 5, 1963.[^50] A transcript titled "Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," dated July 9, 1964, records a meeting attended by General Counsel [[J. Lee Rankin]], staff, McCloy and Dulles, at which Drs. [[Dale C. Cameron]], [[Howard P. Rome]] and [[David A. Rothstein]] gave "an informal colloquy, interrogation, and explanation" on a psychiatric interpretation of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]; its pages, 7821 to 8071, indicate that it was volume 57 of the Commission's transcripts.[^51] Rankin's files, donated to the JFK Collection, include memoranda and handwritten changes to draft chapters of the report that Ford, McCloy and Dulles, among others, recommended.[^52]
|
||||
|
||||
Among the papers of Director McCone, the [[Assassination Records Review Board]] found a notation for a meeting of May 19, 1964, participants "DCI, J.J. McCloy," a dinner at the Director's residence, "Re: Oswald," annotated "Destroyed 1-28-72"; CIA historians had found the document missing when they reviewed the files in 1986, along with a record of a November 26, 1963 meeting between McCone and [[McGeorge Bundy]] on the assassination. The Board designated the notations as assassination records.[^53]
|
||||
|
||||
### Disarmament and the Cuban Missile Crisis
|
||||
|
||||
On January 27, 1961, Kennedy designated McCloy his adviser on disarmament and arms control, including the nuclear test ban, with offices in the [[White House]] and the State Department. On February 7, 1961, Dulles answered a McCloy letter on the test ban by naming [[Herbert Scoville]], the CIA's Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, as the Agency's point of contact.[^54] In July 1961 McCloy and [[Valerian Zorin]] conducted bilateral disarmament talks in Moscow; McCloy reported "little point in continuing while Zorin talks about plans and I talk about principles."[^55] McCloy chaired the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1961 to 1974, and the committee's sessions drew briefings from CIA officers including [[Arthur Lundahl]] of the National Photographic Interpretation Center and [[David Brandwein]], chairman of the Guided Missile Committee; in November 1969 he asked Director [[Richard Helms]] for a CIA specialist on Chinese strategic questions, noting that the content of the committee's discussions "is classified and should not be revealed beyond the Committee."[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
In the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] McCloy chaired the Coordinating Committee and negotiated with the Soviet representative [[Vasily Kuznetsov]] in New York. On October 26, 1962, he joined [[Adlai Stevenson]] in talks with the [[United Nations]] Secretary-General and his aides on inspection and the removal of the missiles and IL-28 aircraft. A draft United States declaration headed "McCloy draft" and dated November 21, 1962 conditioned an assurance against invading Cuba on the withdrawal of offensive weapons. On January 2 and 3, 1963, McCloy and Kuznetsov negotiated the joint letter withdrawing the matter from the Security Council.[^56]
|
||||
|
||||
### Iran
|
||||
|
||||
From 1979 to 1981 McCloy was a member of a "Special Project Team" working to gain asylum in the United States for the deposed [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]; the team was headed by David Rockefeller, then chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, and included Kissinger and Chase vice president [[Joseph Verner Reed Jr.]] The team lobbied the President and the Secretary of State for the Shah's admission; he was admitted in October 1979 for cancer treatment, which was followed by the November 1979 seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran. Rockefeller in particular "was accused of helping the Shah out of self-interest, because of the millions of dollars of Iranian loans and assets held by the Chase Manhattan Bank."[^57]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Papers
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy gave his papers to Amherst College, where he was a trustee from 1947 to 1989, by a deed of gift in July 1985. Before their transfer, "roughly half of the papers underwent a national security review by the Department of State"; the bulk arrived in May 1986, "with several batches sent later following clearance by the relevant government agency," and a second installment received in June 1990, after his death, was reviewed by the State Department and legal counsel. The collection holds only photocopies of his War Department diaries; the originals are at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]. Names or other details were removed from some entries to protect the privacy of individuals, and "there are a few places where information was removed from the original by an unknown party prior to the diaries' transfer to Amherst College."[^58]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, "John J. McCloy (AC 1916) Papers, 1897-1989 (Bulk: 1940-1979)," Finding Aid MA.00035, Historical Note and Chronology. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 7: Black Tom, 1924-1946, scope note and sub-series C to E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, *Personal Justice Denied* (Washington, D.C., December 1982), Part I, Chapter 2, "Executive Order 9066." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap2.htm
|
||||
[^4]: *Personal Justice Denied*, Part I, Chapter 3, "Exclusion and Evacuation." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap3.htm
|
||||
[^5]: *Personal Justice Denied*, Part I, Chapter 8, "Ending the Exclusion." https://npshistory.com/publications/incarceration/personal-justice-denied/chap8.htm
|
||||
[^6]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 11: Japanese Americans: Relocation and Compensation, 1942-1989, scope note, sub-series A to F. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 15: Jenner-McCarthy, 1952-1955, sub-series A to C. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "The United States and the Holocaust: Why Auschwitz Was Not Bombed," *Holocaust Encyclopedia*, last edited May 1, 2016. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-united-states-and-the-holocaust-why-auschwitz-was-not-bombed
|
||||
[^9]: John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, to John W. Pehle, Executive Director, War Refugee Board, November 18, 1944, as reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library. https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mccloy-informs-pehle-that-war-department-won-rsquo-t-bomb-auschwitz-november-1944
|
||||
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, index card, "Memoranda for [withheld], Patterson-McCloy, 27, 26 Sept 45," TSD/H 119, dated 12/21/65, CIA-RDP83-00036R000200110010-5 (approved for release 2006/10/17). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000200110010-5
|
||||
[^11]: World Bank Group Archives, "John J. McCloy, 2nd World Bank President, March 17, 1947 - June 30, 1949." https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/archives/history/past-presidents/john-jay-mccloy
|
||||
[^12]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 10: World Bank (folder "JJM resignation (to go to HICOG)," 1949 May 18) and Series 2, sub-series B (account of the April 30, 1949 meeting with President Truman). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: Allan A. Ryan Jr., *Klaus Barbie and the United States Government: A Report to the Attorney General of the United States* (U.S. Department of Justice, August 1983), p. 84, note. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/02/04/08-02-83barbie-rpt.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: R. H. Hillenkoetter, Director of Central Intelligence, to John J. McCloy, U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, August 18, 1949, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300150013-2 (approved for release 2003/06/16). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300150013-2
|
||||
[^15]: Walter B. Smith to John J. McCloy, January 12, 1951, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300110003-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300110003-7 ; Allen W. Dulles, Deputy Director, to John J. McCloy, June 19, 1951, CIA-RDP80R01731R001300110002-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300110002-8
|
||||
[^16]: Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, Public Relations Division, *Landsberg: A Documentary Report* (Frankfurt, January 31, 1951), "Statement of US High Commissioner," pp. 2 to 4, and report of the Advisory Board on Clemency for War Criminals. https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
|
||||
[^17]: *Landsberg: A Documentary Report*, "Case 10, The Krupp Case," pp. 9 to 11. https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
|
||||
[^18]: *Landsberg: A Documentary Report*, note preceding "Case 7, The Hostages Case," and "Case 11, Ministries Case." https://archive.org/details/landsbergdocumen00unit
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Department of State, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954*, vol. VII, part 1, *Germany and Austria*, Document 30 (telegram from the High Commissioner for Germany (McCloy) to the Department of State, Bonn, May 9, 1952). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1952-54v07p1/ebook/frus1952-54v07p1.epub
|
||||
[^20]: Ryan, *Klaus Barbie and the United States Government*, pp. 101 (note), 118 to 121 and notes. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/02/04/08-02-83barbie-rpt.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Harm Langenkamp, "'A Most Interesting and Complex Involvement': Cold War Alignments between the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and the Central Intelligence Agency," Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), p. 11 and note 49 (citing McCloy to Hoffman, December 31, 1951, in Kai Bird, *The Chairman*, p. 358). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 16: Ford Foundation, scope note and sub-series A and B. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: John J. McCloy, Council on Foreign Relations, to Allen W. Dulles, April 29, 1953, CIA-RDP80R01731R001200020045-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001200020045-2
|
||||
[^24]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), notes 50 (Stone to McCloy, February 25, 1954, cited by Volker Berghahn), 56 (Price memorandum of May 21, 1954; Price oral history, June 22, 1972, p. 70; McCloy interview in Bird, *The Chairman*, p. 427) and 57 (John B. Howard oral history; Henry T. Heald oral history). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^25]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), abstract, text at notes 58 and 59, and conclusion. https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^26]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 2, sub-series F and G (Chase Manhattan Bank appointment records and telephone logs) and Series 1 (retirement from Chase Manhattan, 1960 Mar). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^27]: Marshall S. Carter, Lieutenant General, USA, to John J. McCloy, April 20, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001300050094-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001300050094-2
|
||||
[^28]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, 1946-1981, scope note and sub-series B, C and E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^29]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, report together with individual views, 93d Cong., 2d sess., committee print, January 2, 1975, pp. 126 to 127. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^30]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 13 and 92 to 93 (McCloy to Rusk, January 11, 1967, Multinational Corporations hearings, Part 9). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, *Energy Crisis, 1969-1974*, Document 21, note 6, and Document 24 (Kissinger to Nixon, December 8, 1969) and note 5. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^32]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 125. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 57 (memorandum for the files by Peter Flanigan, September 29, 1970), pp. 130 to 131. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 66 (telegram 3565 from the Department of State, January 8, 1971), pp. 167 to 168; *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 127 to 129. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf ; https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^35]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 129 to 133. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^36]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 17. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^37]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 134 to 135. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^38]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 104 (memorandum of conversation, Washington, January 3, 1972) and note 2, pp. 246 to 247. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^39]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 173 (editorial note), pp. 438 to 440. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^40]: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament letterheads and correspondence: McCloy to Arthur Lundahl, June 5, 1970, CIA-RDP78B05703A000400090083-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp78b05703a000400090083-2 ; McCloy to David S. Brandwein, March 26, 1971, CIA-RDP81R00560R000100110004-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81r00560r000100110004-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, May 28, 1971, CIA-RDP74B00681R000100160009-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74b00681r000100160009-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, November 10, 1969, CIA-RDP80B01495R000100010004-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01495r000100010004-9
|
||||
[^41]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 201 (memorandum from John Knubel to Kissinger, September 5, 1973), pp. 548 to 549. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^42]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 212 (memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, New York, October 12, 1973) and note 1. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^43]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 243 (memorandum of conversation, November 20, 1973, 5 p.m.) and note 8, pp. 684 to 690; Document 311 (Kissinger and David Rockefeller, February 8, 1974), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^44]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 345 (memorandum of conversation, March 29, 1974, 5:15 p.m.), pp. 954 to 977. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^45]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 14, 127 and 169. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^46]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, sub-series B, I (Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973, Reports 1 to 65) and K (Oil Company Annual Reports, 1964-1966). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^47]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, *South and Central America; Mexico*, Document 183 (telegram 1761 from the Embassy in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, February 21, 1964), paragraph 8 and note 10, pp. 402 to 403. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^48]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 210 (transcript of telephone conversation between Director of Central Intelligence McCone and John J. McCloy, April 9, 1964, 11:10 a.m.; source: CIA, Job 80-B01285A, DCI (McCone) Files, Telephone Calls, Eyes Only), p. 461, and Document 211 (telegram 2235 from Rio de Janeiro, April 10, 1964), note 2. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^49]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 214 (telegram 2790 from Rio de Janeiro, June 10, 1964). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^50]: *Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy*, Foreword, p. ix, National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/foreword
|
||||
[^51]: National Archives, "Inventory of the Warren Commission's Records," Entry 46 ("Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," July 9, 1964, National Archives Identifier 607521). https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/inventory
|
||||
[^52]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "J. Lee Rankin: Warren Commission Papers." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^53]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "John McCone." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^54]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, *Arms Control and Disarmament*, Document 2 (Kennedy to McCloy, January 27, 1961) and note 1, https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub ; Allen W. Dulles to John J. McCloy, February 7, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R000800050039-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r000800050039-9
|
||||
[^55]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, Document 41 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub
|
||||
[^56]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XI, *Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath*, Documents 86 (telegram 1484 from the Mission to the United Nations, October 26, 1962) and 263 (editorial note), https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v11/ebook/frus1961-63v11.epub ; "McCloy Draft," 11/21/62, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900100035-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900100035-5
|
||||
[^57]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 28: Shah of Iran, 1979-1981, scope note. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^58]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, "History of the Collection," "Processing Information" and Series 2: Diaries and Communication Logs, notes. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John N. Mitchell.md
Normal file
201
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John N. Mitchell.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JohnMitchell
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- AttorneyGeneral
|
||||
- DepartmentOfJustice
|
||||
- CommitteeToReElectThePresident
|
||||
- Gemstone
|
||||
- RobertVesco
|
||||
- Wiretapping
|
||||
- NixonAdministration
|
||||
- Conviction
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- John N. Mitchell
|
||||
- John Mitchell
|
||||
- John Newton Mitchell
|
||||
summary: "Nixon's law partner and 1968 campaign manager, Attorney General from 1969 to 1972 and 1972 reelection committee head, acquitted in the Vesco case in 1974 and convicted in the Watergate cover-up in 1975."
|
||||
born: 1913-09-15
|
||||
died: 1988-11-09
|
||||
location: "Detroit, Michigan (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
|
||||
role: "law partner"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1968
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Mitchell]]"
|
||||
role: "partner"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1968
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney general"
|
||||
start: 1969-01-21
|
||||
end: 1972-03-01
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Committee to Re-elect the President]]"
|
||||
role: "campaign director"
|
||||
start: 1972-03-01
|
||||
end: 1972-07-01
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[40 Committee]]"
|
||||
role: "principal"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[William Hundley]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "defense counsel"
|
||||
fn: 41
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1973-05-10
|
||||
end: 1974-04-28
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1975-01-01
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 to November 9, 1988) was a New York lawyer, law partner of [[Richard Nixon]], manager of Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] of the [[United States]] from January 21, 1969 until March 1, 1972, and head of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] until July 1, 1972.[^1][^2] A federal jury in [[New York City]] acquitted him in April 1974 on all counts of an indictment charging conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with a secret cash contribution by the financier [[Robert Vesco]].[^3] A jury in [[Washington, D.C.]] convicted him in January 1975 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in the [[Watergate]] cover-up, and he served 19 months in prison, including five months of medical furlough.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Law Practice and the 1968 Campaign
|
||||
|
||||
Mitchell was admitted to the New York bar in 1938, was a partner in [[Caldwell, Trimble & Mitchell]] from 1945 to 1966, and was a partner in [[Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Mitchell|Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Mitchell]] from 1967 to 1968.[^1] Testifying before the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] on July 10, 1973, he said that he had a casual acquaintance with Nixon before Nixon came to New York in 1963 to practice law, that the two law firms merged at the end of 1966, that he and Nixon practiced together until both retired from the firm, and that he was known as the campaign director in the 1968 campaign.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 10, 1968, Mitchell wrote to [[Richard Helms]], [[Director of Central Intelligence]], on the stationery of the Office of the President-elect at 450 Park Avenue, New York. The letter thanked Helms for a letter of December 9 concerning [[William Colby|William E. Colby]] and stated that Mitchell would "take the matter up with the appropriate persons."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Harry L. Sears]], a former Speaker of the [[New Jersey]] General Assembly and Majority Leader of the State Senate, became acquainted with Mitchell through work on the 1968 Republican presidential campaign. After an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination for governor left Sears with campaign debts, a testimonial dinner for him was held at which Attorney General Mitchell was the guest of honor. Robert Vesco had made a contribution to Sears's campaign and had arranged a bank loan for him.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Attorney General
|
||||
|
||||
President Nixon appointed Mitchell on January 21, 1969.[^1] Asked in 1973 about the 1970 interagency intelligence plan associated with the [[White House]] aide [[Tom Charles Huston]], Mitchell testified that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[Cartha DeLoach]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover]] brought it to his attention, that he had the plan in his possession during those discussions, and that he "joined Mr. Hoover in opposing its implementation." He said he later spoke to [[H. R. Haldeman]] and to the President about it and that "that was the end of it."[^9] He testified that he learned of the White House "[[White House Plumbers|Plumbers]]" unit only after June 17, 1972.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 6, 1970, Mitchell authorized a warrantless wiretap on the telephone of [[William Davidon]], a [[Haverford College]] physics professor who belonged to a group that, according to information received, had made plans to blow up heating tunnels linking federal office buildings in Washington and had discussed kidnapping National Security Adviser [[Henry A. Kissinger]]. The FBI installed the tap in late November 1970 and it stayed in place until January 6, 1971, intercepting three conversations between Davidon and [[Keith Forsyth]]. In [[Mitchell v. Forsyth]] (1985), the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] held that the Attorney General was not absolutely immune from damages for national security actions but that Mitchell was entitled to qualified immunity, because the legality of a warrantless domestic security wiretap was an open question in November 1970.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
In [[Zweibon v. Mitchell]], a suit by members of the [[Jewish Defense League]], the record showed that the Attorney General approved an FBI request to wiretap the League's headquarters during October 1970, the month of the 25th session of the [[United Nations General Assembly]], and approved a second request, for a 90-day tap beginning in early January 1971. The first approval was given, the opinion stated, because of fear of international embarrassment or Soviet retaliation against Americans in Moscow. The district court had sustained the Attorney General's assertion and granted summary judgment for the defendants, and in August 1973 Judge [[Griffin Bell]], writing for a Fifth Circuit panel in [[United States v. Brown]], cited that district court decision as accord for the proposition that the President may authorize warrantless wiretaps to gather foreign intelligence. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] decided the case en banc on June 23, 1975.[^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chile and the 40 Committee, September to December 1970
|
||||
|
||||
A staff report of the Senate [[Church Committee]] recorded that on September 15, 1970, after [[Salvador Allende]] finished first in the [[Chile|Chilean]] presidential election, Nixon met with Helms, Kissinger and Mitchell and that Helms was directed to prevent Allende from taking power without the knowledge of the Departments of State and Defense or the ambassador.[^14] The Committee's interim report on assassination plots reproduced Helms's handwritten notes of the meeting, which read in part "One in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!" and "$10,000,000 available, more if necessary."[^15] The same report stated that on the morning of September 15, at the request of [[Donald Kendall]], president of [[PepsiCo|Pepsi-Cola]], Kissinger and Mitchell had breakfast with Kendall and [[Agustin Edwards]], publisher of [[El Mercurio]] (the report cited the Mitchell calendar), the subject being the political situation in Chile and "the plight of El Mercurio and other anti-Allende forces."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
At the [[40 Committee]] meeting of October 15, 1970 the principals present were Kissinger, Mitchell, [[David Packard]], [[U. Alexis Johnson|Alexis Johnson]] and Admiral [[Thomas Moorer|Moorer]], together with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[State Department]] officials and Ambassador [[Edward Korry|Korry]].[^17] A memorandum of December 2, 1970 from Helms to Kissinger stated that Helms had given a recapitulation of the CIA's [[Project FUBELT|Track II]] activities to Attorney General Mitchell, who would deliver it personally to Kissinger. Kissinger told the Committee he did not recall receiving the report and was puzzled that it was to be delivered through Mitchell.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Reelection Committee and Liddy
|
||||
|
||||
[[John W. Dean]], counsel to the President, testified that on November 24, 1971 he brought [[G. Gordon Liddy]] to Mitchell's office to be interviewed for the post of general counsel of the reelection committee, after [[Egil Krogh]] had cleared the suggestion with [[John Ehrlichman]]. Dean described a general job interview with virtually no discussion of intelligence plans, and submitted an agenda that Liddy had prepared for it.[^19] Mitchell testified that this was the first time he met Liddy, that he knew Liddy had been an assistant prosecutor in New York State, a candidate for Congress, an FBI agent, and a Treasury and White House staff member, and that a one-line reference to intelligence gathering in Liddy's prospectus was not discussed. He said that on December 8, 1971 Krogh brought Liddy to his office for a meeting on the drug abuse law enforcement program, and that he did not then know that Liddy also worked for Krogh as one of the Plumbers.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Howard Hunt]] testified that in late November 1971 Liddy told him that Attorney General Mitchell had proposed a large-scale intelligence and counterintelligence program with Liddy as its chief, that he and Liddy designed a budget for it under the name Gemstone, and that he understood it to have been approved by [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]] and Dean and later by [[Charles Colson]].[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Magruder, deputy director of the reelection committee, testified that on January 27, 1972 he, Dean, Liddy and Mitchell met in the Attorney General's office, where Liddy presented about six charts, each headed by a code word, one of them Gemstone, with a total budget of about $1 million. The projects included wiretapping, electronic surveillance and photography, the abduction of radical leaders to Mexico during the [[San Diego]] convention, and call girls. Magruder said that all three listeners were appalled and that Mitchell, "in an understated way," indicated that the project was not acceptable and that Liddy would go back to the drawing boards.[^22] Dean testified that Mitchell took a few long puffs on his pipe and told Liddy that the plan was not quite what he had in mind and that the cost was out of the question, that Mitchell winked at him during the presentation, and that Dean told Liddy as they left to destroy the charts. Dean described a second meeting on February 4, at which Liddy presented a scaled-down plan and Dean ended the discussion by saying that it could not continue in the office of the Attorney General.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
Mitchell testified that Liddy's presentation was "a complete horror story," that he told Liddy "to go burn the charts," and that in hindsight he "should have thrown him out of the window." He testified that the February 4 meeting was short, that the revised plan was rejected again, and that no targets were discussed.[^24] He also testified that between February 4 and June 15, 1972 he did not see or speak to Liddy, and he called Magruder's account of showing him Gemstone material "a palpable, damnable lie."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1973 Senator [[Herman Talmadge]] asked Mitchell whether he had played an active role in the campaign while still Attorney General. Mitchell answered that "What I did was succumb to the President's request to keep an eye on what was going on over there," and, when Talmadge used the word "supervisory," said "If you would change 'supervisory' to 'consulting', I think I would be much happier." Talmadge then read him an exchange of March 14, 1972 between Mitchell and Senator [[Edward Kennedy]] before the [[Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]: "Senator Kennedy. No re-election campaign responsibilities? Mr. Mitchell. Not as yet." Mitchell said the answer related back to the Republican Party.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
Magruder testified that on March 30, 1972, at [[Key Biscayne, Florida]], where Mitchell was vacationing, he went over decision papers with Mitchell and [[Fred LaRue]], that the last item was Liddy's proposal reduced to about $250,000, that it was approved for entry into the [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in Washington and possibly later into other targets, and that Mitchell "simply signed off on it."[^27] Mitchell testified that the plan was rejected for a third time at that meeting, that LaRue was present throughout, that LaRue was not enthusiastic and concurred that the plan should not be approved, and that he did not believe Magruder paid Liddy $250,000.[^28] The opinion of the court of appeals affirming Mitchell's convictions summarized the trial evidence as showing that Liddy had pared his budget to $250,000 and that on March 30 Magruder obtained Mitchell's approval for Gemstone at a meeting in Key Biscayne attended only by Mitchell, Magruder and LaRue.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The same court recorded the testimony of [[Hugh Sloan]], treasurer of the [[Finance Committee to Re-elect the President]], that he turned over to Liddy a total of $199,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills, and that bills of that denomination later were found in sequence on the five men arrested in the Democratic National Committee offices.[^29] Committee counsel [[Samuel Dash]] read to Mitchell the testimony of [[Maurice Stans]], chairman of the Finance Committee, that after Sloan questioned a request by Liddy for money Mitchell said Magruder directed the spending and that Sloan should pay Liddy what Magruder directed. Mitchell testified that he had told Stans that Magruder had "continuing authorization" to authorize expenditures, disputed that large sums were discussed, and said he would not dispute Stans's statement about Magruder's continuing authority.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 15, 1972 Liddy came to Mitchell's office with the committee's public information officer, [[Van Shumway]], about a letter to the [[The Washington Post|Washington Post]] on charges by the [[General Accounting Office]] under the [[Federal Corrupt Practices Act|Corrupt Practices Act]]. Mitchell testified that this was the only conversation he had with Liddy between February 4 and June 15.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the court of appeals, after the June 17 arrests Liddy reported the capture to the committee's senior officials, who were in California, and Mitchell, [[Robert Mardian]], LaRue and Magruder decided to ask the new Attorney General, [[Richard Kleindienst]], to arrange the release of [[James McCord]] before his alias was penetrated. Kleindienst refused special treatment.[^31] Kleindienst testified that on Saturday, June 17, Liddy and [[Powell Moore]] came to the [[Burning Tree Club]] in Washington, where he was playing in a tournament; that Liddy said some of those arrested might be employed by the White House or the reelection committee and, in Kleindienst's less precise recollection, that Mitchell had asked him to come and talk to Kleindienst; that Kleindienst found this incredible, telephoned Assistant Attorney General [[Henry Petersen]] to instruct that those arrested be given no different treatment, and told Liddy to leave.[^32] A press release denying any link between the committee and the burglars appeared on June 18 under Mitchell's name; Haldeman approved it by telephone although Magruder had told him the break-in was "Liddy's operation."[^31] Mitchell, Mardian and LaRue returned to Washington on June 19 and met that evening in Mitchell's apartment with Dean and Magruder. Mitchell testified that there was no discussion of destroying documents; Magruder testified that the group discussed what to do about the problem, and the court of appeals summarized the evidence as showing that Magruder removed the Gemstone materials from the committee's files and took them to his home.[^33] Mitchell testified that Mardian and LaRue told him, after debriefing Liddy, that Liddy had been involved in the entry into the office of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]'s psychiatrist and in the matter of the [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] lobbyist [[Dita Beard]], whom, as Mitchell understood it, Liddy had assisted in leaving New York for [[Denver]].[^34]
|
||||
|
||||
Mitchell resigned as campaign director on July 1, 1972. He testified that the President urged him to stay and that he had spent the previous week working on a family situation so that he could stay as husband and wife.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Vesco
|
||||
|
||||
In its disciplinary opinion on Sears, the [[Supreme Court of New Jersey]] recorded that Vesco's corporation, [[International Controls Corporation]], was under investigation by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] over its 1970 purchase of control of [[Investors Overseas Services]]; that Vesco asked Sears several times to speak to Mitchell in the hope that Mitchell would induce SEC Chairman [[William J. Casey]] to monitor and limit the inquiry; and that Sears conveyed these requests in two letters and three meetings with Mitchell.[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
The opinion placed one of those meetings on February 11, 1972, when Mitchell was still Attorney General. Sears again asked Mitchell to induce Casey to oversee the investigation and mentioned that Vesco intended to contribute up to $500,000 to the 1972 campaign. Mitchell replied that he would discuss the matter with Stans. By March 11, 1972 Vesco had pledged $250,000 to Stans, who wanted it in currency. At a meeting on April 3, it was decided that $50,000 would be contributed publicly through the New Jersey Finance Committee and the remainder as a secret cash contribution. Sears noted that the [[Federal Election Campaign Act]] of 1971, which required disclosure of contributions above $50,000, would take effect on April 7, 1972; Stans told him that the date of delivery was unimportant. On April 10, 1972, [[Larry Richardson]], president of International Controls, delivered $200,000 in cash to Stans in Washington. Justice Sullivan, who would have disbarred Sears, wrote in dissent that Richardson told Stans, "He'd like to get some help," and that Stans answered, "that is John Mitchell's department." At 2 p.m. that day Sears told Mitchell about the cash contribution and reminded him of the SEC investigation and of his requests for a meeting with Casey. While Sears was in the office, Mitchell telephoned Casey and arranged a meeting between Sears and Casey for later that day, at which, according to the majority opinion, Casey gave personal assurances that International Controls would be afforded an opportunity to respond to the SEC's findings and that he would review its allegations of SEC harassment; Justice Sullivan wrote that Casey told Sears the Commission was not in the habit of taking precipitous action but did not give "any assurance" that the company would be allowed to appear before the Commission itself.[^36]
|
||||
|
||||
The opinion recorded that by October 1972 the SEC had traced funds representing the $200,000 to the International Controls treasury and had issued subpoenas to company officers, including Richardson. Sears met Mitchell in October 1972, when Mitchell expressed the belief that the subpoenas would ultimately be withdrawn, and again on November 21, 1972, when Sears gave Mitchell a file compiled by Vesco's Washington counsel and a memorandum from Vesco intended for the President's brother Donald Nixon and ultimately for the President. Mitchell and Sears agreed that the file should be returned to Vesco.[^37] The SEC sued Vesco on November 27, 1972 for a $224 million stock fraud.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
At the 1974 trial, according to *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]*, John Dean testified that beginning about July 14, 1972 he made eight to twelve telephone calls to Casey at Mitchell's behest, relaying Mitchell's complaints that the SEC was harassing Vesco, and that in late October 1972 Mitchell asked him to have Casey postpone the November 2 appearances of subpoenaed Vesco staff, saying that it would be embarrassing for them to take the Fifth Amendment before the election. Dean said that Casey answered that nothing could be done and that the witnesses took the Fifth Amendment. Dean also testified that on March 20, 1973 Mitchell telephoned him after a New York federal grand jury appearance, said "those little bastards were all over me," and told him to call Kleindienst, then Attorney General, "and tell him what's going on"; Dean passed the message to Kleindienst. Defense counsel Peter Fleming brought out that the tape of Dean's conversation with Nixon that day did not mention the request. [[G. Bradford Cook]], the SEC general counsel and later chairman, testified that Stans implied he should remove a reference to Vesco's missing $250,000 from the SEC complaint and that he complied; he acknowledged lying about this to the grand jury and a congressional committee, and resigned as SEC chairman on May 16, 1973 after ten weeks.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
The indictment returned on May 10, 1973 (73 Cr. 439, S.D.N.Y.) charged Mitchell, Stans, Sears and Vesco in a conspiracy count alleging an agreement to obstruct justice in relation to the SEC investigation and proceedings against Vesco and to defraud the United States in relation to the functions of the SEC and the General Accounting Office; Mitchell was also charged with counts of endeavoring to obstruct justice and with six counts of perjury before the grand jury. Paragraph 16(r) of the conspiracy count alleged that in October 1972 Vesco threatened to disclose the $200,000 cash contribution delivered to Stans on April 10, 1972 unless an SEC subpoena issued to him was withdrawn and that Sears relayed the threat to Mitchell. Judge [[Lee Parsons Gagliardi|Gagliardi]] ruled on the pretrial motions on August 29, 1973, denying Stans's motion to dismiss on grounds arising from the grand jury questioning of his lawyer [[Kenneth Parkinson]] and granting alternative relief suppressing Parkinson's grand jury testimony and certain documents.[^39] Sears was indicted on May 11, 1973 and, after plea negotiations, accepted transactional immunity and prepared to testify for the prosecution.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 28, 1974 the jury acquitted Mitchell and Stans on all nine counts against them. Assistant United States Attorney John R. Wing said afterward: "If we could have gotten Vesco back it would have been different." Vesco had left the country and the government had been unable to secure his return.[^3] The Supreme Court of New Jersey, by a vote of four to one, suspended Sears from the practice of law for three years effective October 15, 1976; Justice Sullivan would have disbarred him.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senate Testimony and the Cover-up Trial
|
||||
|
||||
Mitchell appeared before the Senate committee on July 10, 1973 under subpoena, accompanied by counsel [[William Hundley]], [[Plato Cacheris|Plato C. Cacheris]] and [[Marvin Segal]]. Hundley stated for the record that by letters of June 18 and July 9, 1973 Mitchell had asked the committee to withdraw the subpoena, that the committee had refused, and that Mitchell would make no opening statement.[^41]
|
||||
|
||||
A grand jury indictment in the case that became United States v. Mitchell et al., D.C. Criminal No. 74-110, charged Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Colson, Mardian, Parkinson and [[Gordon Strachan]] with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and false statements to the FBI, the grand jury and the Senate committee. The jury acquitted Parkinson, convicted Mardian of conspiracy, and convicted Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and all the perjury counts submitted. The sentences were concurrent terms of 20 months to five years on the conspiracy and obstruction counts and 10 months to three years on each perjury count, the latter consecutive, for a total of two and a half to eight years. The court of appeals, sitting en banc, affirmed on October 12, 1976, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari on May 23, 1977.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The court's summary of the trial evidence stated that Magruder, preparing his grand jury testimony in August 1972, reviewed his account with Mitchell, who urged him to minimize Mitchell's role in running the campaign, and that when [[E. Howard Hunt]] demanded another $122,000 on March 16, 1973, Dean relayed the demand to Ehrlichman and, at his suggestion, to Mitchell.[^42] An [[Associated Press]] obituary reported that on a March 22, 1973 White House tape Ehrlichman said "John says he's sorry he sent those burglars in there," Nixon replied "That's right," and Mitchell said "You are very welcome, sir." The same report stated that the verdict was returned on January 1, 1975 and that the sentence was two and a half to eight years.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 1976 the [[New York Court of Appeals]] rejected Mitchell's appeal from an Appellate Division order striking his name from the roll of attorneys on the basis of the federal judgment.[^43] The Associated Press obituary stated that he served a 19-month term that included five months of medical furloughs.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Testimony in the Felt and Miller Trial
|
||||
|
||||
In 1980 Mitchell and Kleindienst testified at the trial of the former FBI officials [[W. Mark Felt]] and [[Edward S. Miller]], indicted in April 1978, during the tenure of Attorney General Griffin Bell, on charges of conspiring to deprive relatives and acquaintances of fugitives from the [[Weather Underground]] of their rights under 18 U.S.C. 241. [[Mark D. Cummings]], a lawyer who was assigned to Felt's defense, wrote in the *National Security Law Journal* that Mitchell testified that J. Edgar Hoover's 1966 halt on surreptitious entries was motivated less by legal concerns than by regard for the Bureau's image, and that neither Mitchell nor Kleindienst had ever been asked to approve a covert entry but both agreed it was a legal tool when national security was at stake. Cummings cited trial transcript pages 5742 to 5826 for the testimony of the two former Attorneys General.[^44]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later Life and Death
|
||||
|
||||
Mitchell died on November 9, 1988, in Washington, D.C., after collapsing on a street in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]]; the Associated Press reported that he had suffered a heart attack.[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Attributed Introduction of Jeffrey Epstein and Steven Hoffenberg
|
||||
|
||||
In a 2003 *[[Vanity Fair]]* article, [[Vicky Ward]] wrote that [[Steven Hoffenberg]] said he and [[Jeffrey Epstein]] were introduced by [[Douglas Leese]], a defense contractor, and that "Epstein has said they were introduced by John Mitchell, the late attorney general."[^45]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, "John Newton Mitchell," Attorneys General biographies (born Detroit, September 15, 1913; partner at Caldwell, Trimble & Mitchell 1945 to 1966 and Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Mitchell 1967 to 1968; appointed January 21, 1969; served until March 1, 1972; died November 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.). https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/mitchell-john-newton
|
||||
[^2]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60: Watergate and Related Activities*, hearings, 93d Cong., 1st sess., Book 4 (1973), testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1664-1665 (resignation as campaign director July 1, 1972). https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit; and U.S. Department of Justice, "John Newton Mitchell," Attorneys General biographies (Mitchell served as Attorney General until March 1, 1972, "when he resigned to head President Nixon's reelection committee"). https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/mitchell-john-newton
|
||||
[^3]: Associated Press, "Jury acquits Mitchell, Stans," *State News* (Michigan State University), April 29, 1974, p. 1 (acquittal on all nine counts, April 28, 1974; indictment of May 10, 1973; Assistant U.S. Attorney John R. Wing quoted; Vesco fled). https://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/state_news/1974/state_news_19740429.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "John Mitchell, 75, Watergate Conspirator, Dies," Associated Press, *Deseret News*, November 10, 1988. https://www.deseret.com/1988/11/10/18783557/john-mitchell-75-watergate-conspirator-dies/
|
||||
[^5]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc) (Nos. 75-1381, 75-1382, 75-1384), decided October 12, 1976, cert. denied May 23, 1977, Part I.A and n.6 (Gemstone, March 30 Key Biscayne meeting, verdicts, sentences). https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
|
||||
[^6]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1602. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^7]: Letter, John N. Mitchell, Office of the President-elect, to Richard Helms, December 10, 1968, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP80B01086A000800030005-7. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80B01086A000800030005-7
|
||||
[^8]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (N.J. 1976), Part I (decided September 30, 1976). https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
|
||||
[^9]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1603-1604. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^10]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1605. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^11]: *Mitchell v. Forsyth*, 472 U.S. 511 (1985), Part I and Part III. https://static.case.law/us/472/cases/0511-01.json
|
||||
[^12]: *Zweibon v. Mitchell*, 516 F.2d 594 (D.C. Cir. 1975) (en banc) (No. 73-1847), decided June 23, 1975. https://static.case.law/f2d/516/cases/0594-01.json
|
||||
[^13]: *United States v. Brown*, 484 F.2d 418 (5th Cir. 1973) (No. 72-2181) (Bell, J.), decided August 22, 1973, Part V. https://static.case.law/f2d/484/cases/0418-01.json
|
||||
[^14]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973*, staff report, 94th Cong., 1st sess. (December 18, 1975), p. 11. https://archive.org/details/CovertActionInChile196373
|
||||
[^15]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, interim report, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 227. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^16]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 228 and n. (Helms testimony of July 15, 1975, pp. 4-5, quoted). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^17]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 250 (40 Committee meeting of October 15, 1970). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^18]: S. Rept. 94-465, p. 253 (Helms to Kissinger memorandum of December 2, 1970; Kissinger testimony of August 12, 1975, pp. 71, 74). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^19]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3 (1973), testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 927-928. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^20]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1608-1609. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^21]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of E. Howard Hunt, p. 3663. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
|
||||
[^22]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2 (1973), testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 787-788. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
|
||||
[^23]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 3, testimony of John W. Dean III, pp. 929-931. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp03unit
|
||||
[^24]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1610-1611. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^25]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1619-1620. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^26]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1653-1654. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^27]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, pp. 794-795, 812. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp02unit
|
||||
[^28]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1615-1616. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^29]: *United States v. Liddy*, 509 F.2d 428 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (en banc) (No. 73-1565), Part I (testimony of Hugh Sloan). https://static.case.law/f2d/509/cases/0428-01.json
|
||||
[^30]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1617-1618. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^31]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.B. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
|
||||
[^32]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 9 (1973), testimony of Richard G. Kleindienst, August 7, 1973, pp. 3560-3562. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp09unit
|
||||
[^33]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1622; Book 2, testimony of Jeb Stuart Magruder, p. 799; *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31, Part I.B. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^34]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, p. 1622; Book 5 (resumed testimony, July 11, 1973), p. 1919. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp05unit
|
||||
[^35]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.A. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
|
||||
[^36]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.B. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
|
||||
[^37]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.C. https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
|
||||
[^38]: "Trials: What, Never? No, Never, Never," *Time*, April 8, 1974. https://time.com/archive/6842371/trials-what-never-no-never-never/
|
||||
[^39]: *United States v. Mitchell*, 372 F. Supp. 1239 (S.D.N.Y. 1973) (No. 73 Cr. 439) (Gagliardi, J.), decided August 29, 1973, introductory paragraphs and Part II. https://static.case.law/f-supp/372/cases/1239-01.json
|
||||
[^40]: *In re Sears*, 71 N.J. 175 (1976), Part I.C (indictment of May 11, 1973; transactional immunity; disciplinary charges). https://static.case.law/nj/71/cases/0175-01.json
|
||||
[^41]: Senate Watergate hearings, Book 4, testimony of John N. Mitchell, July 10, 1973, pp. 1601-1602. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^42]: *United States v. Haldeman*, 559 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc), Part I.B and I.C. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/559/559.F2d.31.6.8.12.23.75-1384.html
|
||||
[^43]: *In re Mitchell*, 40 N.Y.2d 153 (N.Y. 1976), decided June 17, 1976. https://static.case.law/ny-2d/40/cases/0153-01.json
|
||||
[^44]: Mark D. Cummings, "Presidential 'Warrants,'" 7 *National Security Law Journal* 142, 148-149 (2020), citing *United States v. Felt*, No. 78-00179 (D.D.C. 1980), trial transcript pp. 5742-5826. https://www.nslj.org/wp-content/uploads/Cummings_Presidential-22Warrants22-Final.pdf
|
||||
[^45]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair*, March 2003. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
|
||||
161
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ken Howery.md
Normal file
161
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ken Howery.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- KenHowery
|
||||
- PayPalMafia
|
||||
- FoundersFund
|
||||
- AmbassadorToSweden
|
||||
- AmbassadorToDenmark
|
||||
- Greenland
|
||||
- PeterThiel
|
||||
- AmericaPAC
|
||||
- CampaignFinance
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ken Howery
|
||||
- Kenneth Howery
|
||||
- Kenneth A. Howery
|
||||
summary: "PayPal and Founders Fund co-founder who served as Trump's ambassador to Sweden from 2019, gave 1 million dollars to America PAC in June 2024, and became ambassador to Denmark in 2025."
|
||||
location: "Texas (state of residence); Stockholm, Sweden (2019); Copenhagen, Denmark (2025)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[PayPal]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder; director of corporate development in a January 2002 filing; chief financial officer per TechCrunch"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder; director or promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings, 2009 to 2016"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Peter Thiel]]"
|
||||
start: 2009-05-15
|
||||
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Luke Nosek]]"
|
||||
start: 2009-05-15
|
||||
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Explorers Club]]"
|
||||
role: "member"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2019-09-20
|
||||
role: "ambassador to Sweden; confirmed September 17, 2019, 62 to 32"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[State Department]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-10-12
|
||||
role: "ambassador to Sweden, non-career appointee"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2025-10-07
|
||||
role: "ambassador to Denmark; confirmed in en bloc vote 547, 51 to 47"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 2020-10-13
|
||||
end: 2024-02-23
|
||||
role: "200,000 dollars on October 13, 2020, as U.S. ambassador; 413,000 dollars on February 23, 2024"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
|
||||
start: 2022-03-27
|
||||
end: 2022-03-27
|
||||
role: "5,800 dollars to Blake Masters for Senate"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[JD Vance]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-05-14
|
||||
end: 2024-05-14
|
||||
role: "3,300 dollars to JD Vance for Senate"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[America PAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-06-20
|
||||
end: 2024-06-25
|
||||
role: "1,000,000 dollars in four contributions of 250,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-10-17
|
||||
end: 2024-10-17
|
||||
role: "150,000 dollars in three contributions of 50,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[MAHA Alliance]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-10-11
|
||||
end: 2024-10-17
|
||||
role: "100,000 dollars, 25,000 dollars of it attributed to the Kenneth Howery Revocable Trust"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Kenneth A. Howery co-founded [[PayPal]] after graduating from [[Stanford University]] and later co-founded a venture capital firm, [[Founders Fund]], with [[Peter Thiel]] and [[Luke Nosek]].[^1][^2] He was the [[United States]] ambassador to [[Sweden]] from 2019, appointed as a non-career appointee with [[Texas]] as his state of residence, and was confirmed as ambassador to [[Denmark]] on October 7, 2025.[^3][^4] He told the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] in 2025 that his grandfathers "eventually raised their own families in Texas, where I grew up."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family and Early Career
|
||||
|
||||
In his statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 16, 2019, Howery introduced his mother, Karen Howery, his father, Ken Howery, and his sister, and said that both of his grandfathers had served in the Second World War: Fred Howery in the [[United States Navy]] in the Pacific and Hubert Jurek in the [[United States Army]] in Europe and North Africa.[^1] He repeated the family history to the committee in May 2025.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
He told the committee in 2019: "When I graduated from Stanford, I co-founded PayPal. Our idea was simple: to make online transactions easy."[^1] [[Ingrid Lunden]] of TechCrunch wrote in January 2025 that Howery was part of the original "[[PayPal Mafia]]", "the CFO who helped bring it together and sell it to eBay", and "a close pal of Elon Musk's".[^2] A [[Federal Election Commission]] record of a 5,000 dollar contribution to the PayPal Inc. Political Action Committee on January 17, 2002 gives his employer and title as "PayPal Inc./Director of Corporate D[evelopment]", Palo Alto.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founders Fund
|
||||
|
||||
In his prepared statement of 2019 Howery wrote: "After PayPal, I co-founded a venture capital firm that has and continues to support hundreds of new companies, helping create tens of thousands of jobs, and fostering innovation in space exploration, quantum computing, biotechnology, virtual reality, alternative energy, and consumer technologies." He named [[Spotify]] as one of those companies.[^7] In 2025 he described the fund's early investments as including companies "working in fields including aerospace, defense, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology", and said: "In 2019, I left the private sector for public service".[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]'s Form D filings for Founders Fund vehicles list Howery with Thiel and Nosek. Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP (filed May 15, 2009; 3,481,500 dollars sold to 11 investors, amended on August 17, 2009 to 6,737,500 dollars from 29 investors) lists Howery, Thiel, Nosek and [[Sean Parker]] as directors, at One Letterman Drive, Building C, Suite 420, [[San Francisco]]. Founders Fund III (filed May 5, 2010; 107,272,727 dollars from 21 investors) and Founders Fund IV (filed December 1, 2011; 500,000,000 dollars from 58 investors) list him as a promoter; Founders Fund V (filed March 6, 2014; 1,015,200,000 dollars from 109 investors) and Founders Fund VI (filed March 25, 2016; 1,274,127,000 dollars from 197 investors) list him as a director.[^8] A Federal Election Commission record of October 7, 2016 gives his employer as Founders Fund and his occupation as general partner.[^6] At his 2019 hearing Senator [[Mitt Romney]], presiding, introduced him as "the co-founder of PayPal, as well as an early investor in major [[Silicon Valley]] companies such as Facebook and SpaceX".[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ambassador to Sweden
|
||||
|
||||
The committee heard the nomination on May 16, 2019, with Romney presiding and Senators [[Ben Cardin]], [[Jeanne Shaheen]], [[Tom Udall]] and [[Tim Kaine]] present. Howery listed participation in the [[World Economic Forum]] and membership of the [[Explorers Club]], said that he advised [[Kiva]], and said he had travelled to 99 countries. In questioning, Romney asked about the security partnership with Sweden, and Howery answered that Sweden was "a [[NATO]] partner, not a NATO member". Shaheen asked about Russian disinformation in Sweden; Howery cited Sweden's national board for psychological defense and agreed to meet the State Department's [[Global Engagement Center]]. Udall asked about climate change and Kaine about antisemitism in Sweden.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In answers to written questions from Senators [[Robert Menendez]] and Cardin, Howery answered "No" when asked whether anyone had made a complaint of sexual harassment, discrimination or inappropriate conduct against him. Asked whether he would bring to the committee's attention any change in policy that he suspected might be influenced by the business or financial interests of the President or senior [[White House]] staff, he answered: "If confirmed, I commit to comply with all relevant federal ethics laws, regulations, and rules, and to raise concerns that I may have through appropriate channels." Asked whether he or his immediate family had financial interests in Sweden, he answered: "My investment portfolio includes interests in entities that have a presence in Sweden. This includes stock holdings, mutual funds or exchange traded funds, and private investment funds that hold interests in companies with a presence in Sweden." He added that if confirmed he would "divest all investments the State Department Ethics Office deems necessary and recuse myself from matters when required to avoid a conflict of interest".[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate confirmed the nomination, PN127, on September 17, 2019 by a vote of 62 to 32 (roll call 285).[^9] He was appointed on September 20, 2019 and assumed charge on October 12, 2019.[^3] Federal Election Commission records show three contributions by "Howery, Ken Mr." to the [[Republican National Committee]] dated October 13, 2020: 106,500 dollars to its headquarters account, 58,000 dollars to its legal proceedings account and 35,500 dollars to its general account, 200,000 dollars in all. The employer on each entry is "Stockholm" and the occupation "U.S. Ambassador".[^6] In 2025 Howery told the committee that in Sweden he had worked on "countering China's influence" and on "strongly advocating for Sweden's increased defense spending and interoperability, helping pave the wave for its eventual NATO accession".[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political Contributions, 2022 to 2024
|
||||
|
||||
Federal Election Commission records list the following contributions by Howery, with the employer and occupation as reported on each filing.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
- 2022: two entries of 2,900 dollars to [[Blake Masters]] for Senate on March 27, through WinRed; 36,500 dollars and 13,500 dollars to the Republican National Committee on September 22 (employer "PayPal and Founders Fund", occupation co-founder).
|
||||
- 2023: on October 13, 58,700 dollars and 41,300 dollars to the Republican National Committee (contributor name "Howery, Ken Ambassador") and 100,000 dollars to the Daines Senate Majority Fund.
|
||||
- 2024: on February 23, 41,300 dollars to the Republican National Committee and 123,900 dollars to each of its convention, headquarters and legal proceedings accounts, and 11,600 dollars to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee; 100,000 dollars to the Cornyn Victory Committee (May 14), with 3,300 dollars to JD Vance for Senate and 5,000 dollars to Working for Ohio, a leadership PAC whose FEC record lists Vance as its affiliate, the same day; 100,000 dollars to the 2024 Thune Republican Senate Victory committee (May 28) and entries of 3,400 to 10,000 dollars to 34 Republican state party committees, including the District of Columbia's, from May 28 to June 3; 100,000 dollars to the Hudson Victory Fund (June 14); 75,000 dollars on October 11 and 25,000 dollars on October 17 to MAHA Alliance, the latter attributed to the Kenneth Howery Revocable Trust; and three entries of 50,000 dollars to Trump 47 Committee, Inc. on October 17.
|
||||
|
||||
On June 20, 21, 24 and 25, 2024, Howery gave 250,000 dollars each to [[America PAC]], 1,000,000 dollars in all, with his employer given as self-employed and his occupation as investor.[^6][^10] America PAC (committee C00879510) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee with a post office box in [[Austin, Texas]], Chris Young as treasurer, and a first filing date of May 22, 2024. Its other contributions of 200,000 dollars or more in June 2024 were 1,000,000 dollars each from James J. Liautaud (June 6), Lonsdale Enterprises Inc. (June 7), [[Joe Craft]] of Alliance Resource Partners (June 10), [[Douglas Leone]] of Sequoia Capital (June 14) and [[Antonio Gracias]] of Valor Equity Partners (June 28); 500,000 dollars each from Watershed Capital LLC, WCM Investments LLC and its owner Troy Link, [[Shaun Maguire]] of Sequoia Capital and John Hering of Lookout; 250,000 dollars each from [[Cameron Winklevoss]] and [[Tyler Winklevoss]] (June 21); and 200,000 dollars from Michael Thompson (June 20). [[Elon Musk]], with his employer given as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is first recorded as a contributor on July 3, 2024 (5,000,000 dollars); his entries include 40,495,178 dollars on November 25, 2024. The committee reported 263,494,648.67 dollars in receipts for the 2024 cycle.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ambassador to Denmark
|
||||
|
||||
Lunden described Howery in January 2025 as "U.S. President-elect Trump's pick to be the next ambassador" to Denmark. She quoted [[Greenland]]'s prime minister, [[Múte Egede]]: "We don't want to be Americans."[^2] The Copenhagen Post wrote that [[Donald Trump]] nominated Howery in December 2024.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
At the committee's hearing on May 8, 2025, Howery's prepared statement named three priorities: shared security, the economic relationship, and "Arctic security, particularly in Greenland". It referred to the 1951 defense agreement with Denmark, to [[Pituffik Space Base]] as "the northernmost U.S. military base", and to the reopening of the American consulate in Nuuk in 2020, and stated that "recent conversations about this reality, and the appropriate U.S. role in Greenland's future, have been spirited". It also said he would "work closely with Danish leaders to strengthen defense, law enforcement, and intelligence cooperation".[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate confirmed him on October 7, 2025 in roll call 547, a single en bloc vote of 51 to 47 on 107 nominations provided for under Senate Resolution 412. The package included his nomination, "Kenneth Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark", with those of [[Sergio Gor]] (India), [[Herschel Walker]] (Bahamas), [[Jacob Helberg]] (Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth) and [[Paul Atkins]] (Securities and Exchange Commission).[^4] The Copenhagen Post reported that the official residence in Copenhagen was under renovation.[^11] The Local, carrying a Ritzau report of November 10, 2025, wrote that Howery had arrived in Denmark the previous week and had an audience with King [[Frederik X of Denmark|Frederik]] on November 5.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Greenland Interference Reports
|
||||
|
||||
The Local reported that the Danish broadcaster [[DR (broadcaster)|DR]] had reported in August 2025 "that at least three US officials close to US President Donald Trump have been involved in 'interference' activities in Greenland aimed at creating division with Denmark", including gathering information on past tensions between Greenland and Denmark and identifying Greenlanders sympathetic to an American takeover. The Danish intelligence service [[PET]] had stated that Greenland was the target of such campaigns. Foreign minister [[Lars Løkke Rasmussen]] told AFP in August that "any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom will of course be unacceptable" and summoned the American chargé d'affaires; Denmark had also summoned the chargé in May 2025 after the [[Wall Street Journal]] reported that the United States wanted to increase espionage in Greenland. The State Department said at the time: "The United States respects the right of the people of Greenland to determine their own future." Prime Minister [[Mette Frederiksen]] had noted that the United States had not explicitly denied involvement.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
In an interview with the newspaper [[Børsen]] reported on November 10, 2025, Howery stated that he had no direct knowledge of any interference campaign orchestrated by the United States in Greenland and did not believe the United States government to be behind it, and said: "There are individual Americans who could have an interest in Greenland. But the US government does not direct or control the actions of private individuals."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 25, 2025, with his employer given as the [[State Department|U.S. Department of State]] and his occupation as ambassador, Federal Election Commission records list contributions from Howery of 7,000 dollars to Whatley for Senate (part redesignated), 5,000 dollars to North Carolina First, and corresponding WinRed entries.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Nominations of the 116th Congress, First Session, Part I, S. Hrg. 116-273 (hearing of May 16, 2019): opening statement of Senator Romney (p. 303); statement and prepared statement of Kenneth A. Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden (pp. 307 to 310); questioning by Senators Romney, Shaheen, Udall and Kaine (pp. 317 to 323); responses to additional questions for the record submitted by Senators Menendez and Cardin (pp. 328 to 331). https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/transcript-051619
|
||||
[^2]: Ingrid Lunden, "Ken Howery: The tech mogul at the center of Trump's Greenland ambition," TechCrunch, January 17, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/ken-howery-the-tech-mogul-at-the-center-of-trumps-greenland-ambition/
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "Kenneth A. Howery," Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission (non-career appointee; state of residence Texas; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Sweden; appointed September 20, 2019; assumed charge October 12, 2019; database updates suspended January 2024). https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/howery-kenneth-a
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 547, 119th Congress, 1st session, October 7, 2025, 5:01 p.m., "Confirmation: En Bloc Nominations Provided for Under the Provisions of S. Res. 412," Nomination Confirmed (51 to 47), including PN54-3. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00547.xml
|
||||
[^5]: Statement of Kenneth A. Howery, Nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, May 8, 2025. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/050825_howery_testimonydocx
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, itemized Schedule A receipts for contributor names "Howery, Ken" and "Howery, Kenneth," 2002 to 2025, including images 22990662913 (PayPal Inc. PAC, January 17, 2002), 201610279036648865 (Tiberi for Congress, October 7, 2016), 202010229333170964 and 202010229333162503 (RNC, October 13, 2020), 202204159496855438 and 202204159496855439 (Blake Masters for Senate), 202210209541164400 and 202210209541200766 (RNC, 2022), 202311209599329779 and 202311209599319468 (RNC, 2023), 202405239648744395 and 202405239648741077 (RNC, February 23, 2024), 202404159632972497 (Trump Save America JFC), 202502119753399060 and 202502119753399061 (Trump 47 Committee), 202410249710186578 and 202412059731464457 (MAHA Alliance). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=Howery%2C+Kenneth and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202010229333170964
|
||||
[^7]: Prepared statement of Kenneth A. Howery, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, May 16, 2019. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/download/howery-testimony-051619
|
||||
[^8]: Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP, Forms D filed May 15 and August 17, 2009 (accessions 0001464202-09-000001 and 0001464202-09-000003); Founders Fund III, LP, filed May 5, 2010 (0001288320-10-000004); Founders Fund IV, LP, filed December 1, 2011 (0001535267-11-000002); Founders Fund V, LP, filed March 6, 2014 (0001601419-14-000001); Founders Fund VI, LP, filed March 25, 2016 (0001669874-16-000001). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000001/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1491094/000128832010000004/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1535267/000153526711000002/primary_doc.xml , https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1601419/000160141914000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1669874/000166987416000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 285, 116th Congress, 1st session, September 17, 2019, "On the Nomination PN127, Kenneth A. Howery, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden," Nomination Confirmed (62 to 32). https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1161/vote_116_1_00285.xml
|
||||
[^10]: Federal Election Commission, America PAC (C00879510), committee record, 2024 cycle totals and Schedule A receipts of 100,000 dollars or more through June 30, 2024 (images 202410099684835306 to 202410099684835311), and receipts from Elon Musk (including image 202412059738029687). https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00879510/ and https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00879510&two_year_transaction_period=2024
|
||||
[^11]: "US ambassador to Denmark finally approved," The Copenhagen Post, October 8, 2025. https://cphpost.dk/2025-10-08/news/round-up/us-ambassador-to-denmark-finally-approved/
|
||||
[^12]: Ritzau/The Local, "US Ambassador denies Trump link to Greenland 'interference'," The Local (Denmark), November 10, 2025. https://www.thelocal.dk/20251110/us-ambassador-denies-trump-link-to-greenland-interference
|
||||
184
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lyman Kirkpatrick.md
Normal file
184
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lyman Kirkpatrick.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- InspectorGeneral
|
||||
- BayOfPigs
|
||||
- MKULTRA
|
||||
- FrankOlson
|
||||
- OSS
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- BrownUniversity
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Lyman Kirkpatrick
|
||||
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick
|
||||
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick Jr.
|
||||
- Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr.
|
||||
- Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr.
|
||||
summary: "CIA inspector general from 1953 to 1961 who investigated the Frank Olson death, wrote the restricted 1961 survey of the Bay of Pigs operation, then served as executive director before teaching at Brown."
|
||||
born: 1916
|
||||
died: 1995-03-03
|
||||
location: "Rochester, New York (born); Middleburg, Virginia (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Helen Kirkpatrick]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. News & World Report]]"
|
||||
end: 1942-06
|
||||
role: "staff of the U.S. News Publishing Corporation"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Office of Strategic Services]]"
|
||||
start: 1942-06
|
||||
end: 1945
|
||||
role: "officer; briefing officer to General Omar Bradley"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
start: 1947-01
|
||||
end: 1965
|
||||
role: "chief of domestic planning, inspector general, executive director-comptroller"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Walter Bedell Smith]]"
|
||||
role: "executive assistant"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Allen Dulles]]"
|
||||
start: 1953
|
||||
end: 1961
|
||||
role: "inspector general"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[John McCone]]"
|
||||
start: 1962
|
||||
end: 1965
|
||||
role: "executive director"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Joint Study Group on the Foreign Intelligence Activities of the United States Government]]"
|
||||
end: 1960-12-15
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Frank Olson]]"
|
||||
start: 1953-11
|
||||
role: "inspector general investigating the death"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Bay of Pigs]]"
|
||||
end: 1961-11-20
|
||||
role: "author of the Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Brown University]]"
|
||||
start: 1965
|
||||
end: 1982
|
||||
role: "professor of political science"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr. (1916 to March 3, 1995) was an officer of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] who served as the Agency's Inspector General from 1953 to 1961 and as its Executive Director, later Executive Director-Comptroller, from 1962 to 1965, and who then taught political science at [[Brown University]] until 1982.[^1] [^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early Career
|
||||
|
||||
Kirkpatrick was born in [[Rochester, New York]], and graduated in 1938 from [[Princeton University]]'s School of Public and International Affairs, where he was undergraduate chairman of the [[Woodrow Wilson School]]. He worked for the U.S. News Publishing Corporation ([[U.S. News & World Report]]) until June 1942, when he enlisted and was assigned to what became the OSS; in 1944 he went to Normandy as General [[Omar Bradley]]'s briefing officer, on the staff of the 12th [[U.S. Army]] Group, and he left the Army in 1945 as a major.[^1] [^3] He received the Legion of Merit and five battle stars, and after a year back at U.S. News, as an editor of "World Report," he joined the CIA.[^3] [^4] His sister was the journalist [[Helen Kirkpatrick]], foreign correspondent of the [[Chicago Daily News]].[^5] [^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Kirkpatrick joined the CIA in January 1947 as chief of the domestic planning office, soon became chief of the division, then deputy assistant director under General [[Walter Bedell Smith]] and shortly afterward Smith's executive assistant in reorganizing CIA operations. In 1952 and 1953 he was hospitalized for eight months with poliomyelitis, which left him paralyzed from the waist down; he afterward traveled by wheelchair.[^4] [[Nicholas Horrock|Nicholas M. Horrock]] of the [[New York Times]] reported in 1977 that when he returned from the hospital [[Richard Helms]] had been appointed director of covert operations, a job Kirkpatrick had been expected to receive, and that "[o]ld agency hands believe that Mr. Helms gained the advantage at this point to rise to [[Director of Central Intelligence]] in the 1960's."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Inspector General
|
||||
|
||||
The Director of Central Intelligence appointed Kirkpatrick Inspector General in 1953. He obtained approval in April 1953 for an inspection program of planned, periodic inspection of Agency components, although the Inspection and Review Staff of the Directorate of Plans kept responsibility for reviewing its own components; by mid-1954 the Inspector General's staff had grown to fifteen; in January 1955 the Director authorized him to inspect components of the Directorate of Plans independently of that staff; and by December 1959 his office had completed its first cycle of component inspections.[^6] His duties included trips to all continents and investigating the basis of charges against the CIA by Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]].[^4] On October 4, 1960, as Inspector General, he addressed the 67th annual conference of the [[International Association of Chiefs of Police]] in Washington on "Free World Police: Target for Communist Subversion."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In the fall of 1959 the [[Bureau of the Budget]] proposed, and President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] approved, a study of the intelligence agencies. Kirkpatrick chaired the resulting [[Joint Study Group on the Foreign Intelligence Activities of the United States Government]], whose members included Lieutenant General [[Graves Erskine]] of the Defense Department, [[Allan Evans]] of the [[State Department]]'s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, [[James S. Lay]] of the [[National Security Council]], and [[J. Patrick Coyne]], executive secretary of the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities. The group submitted a 141-page report on December 15, 1960; the National Security Council approved most of its 43 recommendations on January 18, 1961, and the State Department's historians trace to it the creation of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] in August 1961.[^8] [^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Olson Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
[[Frank Olson]], a [[Special Operations Division]] scientist at [[Fort Detrick|Camp Detrick]], died on November 27, 1953, when he fell from a tenth-floor window of the [[Statler Hotel]] in New York. At a meeting at [[Deep Creek Lodge|Deep Creek Lake]], Maryland, on November 19, [[LSD]] placed in a bottle of Cointreau by [[Robert Lashbrook]] had been served to the Special Operations Division participants; neither the chief of the [[Technical Services Staff]] nor the Deputy Director for Plans specifically authorized the experiment, which [[Sidney Gottlieb]] carried out with the approval of his immediate supervisor.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 1, 1953, the chief of the Inspection and Review staff sent Kirkpatrick a memorandum on "Use of LSD" prepared "[p]ursuant to your request." It reported that the chief of the Technical Services Staff, [[Willis Gibbons]], had "impounded all LSD material in CIA Headquarters in a safe adjacent to his desk" and was stopping any LSD tests under way; that only two field stations, [[Manila]] and [[Atsugi]], held LSD, and that there was none in Germany "although Mr. [[William Harvey]] recently expressed interest in the subject"; that the CIA had furnished LSD to [[George Hunter White]], chief of the New York District of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]]'s Narcotics Division, who was "fully cleared according to Dr. Gibbons"; that [[Harold Abramson]] had experimented with the drug; and that most of the Agency's LSD came from [[Eli Lilly]] of Indianapolis, which "apparently makes a gift of it to CIA," through a mechanism Gibbons could not describe.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
According to a CIA official, the Special Operations Division participants "agreed that an unwitting experiment would be desirable"; the [[Church Committee|Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities]] wrote that this account "directly contradicts" the recollection of Colonel [[Vincent Ruwet]], and cited Kirkpatrick's memorandum for the record of December 1, 1953 for it. In May 1953 Helms had told a staff meeting that LSD "was dynamite and that he should be advised at all times when it was intended to use it," a statement the committee cited to the Inspector General's diary of December 2, 1953; [[Frank Wisner]] had required that the Deputy Director for Plans personally approve any use of LSD. Gottlieb testified that he remembered neither the meeting with Helms nor the Wisner memorandum.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
[[John Marks]] wrote in *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate* that [[Allen Dulles]] personally ordered Kirkpatrick to make a full investigation, after Agency officials had first tried to make sure that no outsider would tie Olson's death to the CIA or LSD. Marks wrote that Kirkpatrick sequestered Gottlieb's LSD files, and quoted Kirkpatrick: "I brought out his stutter. He was quite concerned about his future." According to Marks, Kirkpatrick recommended some form of reprimand for Gottlieb, Gibbons and the deputy chief of the staff, [[James Drum|James "Trapper" Drum]], who had waited twenty days after Olson's death to admit that Gottlieb had cleared the experiment with him; Admiral [[Luis de Florez]], the Agency's research chairman, sent Dulles a personal memorandum against reprimands; and Kirkpatrick went through six drafts of the letter to Gottlieb, from "exceedingly bad judgment" to "very poor judgment" to "poor judgment," after which the officers were told the letters were not reprimands and would not be placed in their personnel files.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 12, 1954, the Director wrote Technical Services Staff officials criticizing them for "poor judgment" in administering LSD "on an unwitting basis and without proximate medical safeguards" to Olson and for the lack of "proper consideration of the rights of the individual to whom it was being administered." On the same day the Inspector General reviewed a report on Subproject Number 3 of [[Project MKULTRA|MKULTRA]], submitted by the chief of Inspection and Review on February 10, in which the same officers were quoted as stating that one purpose of the subproject was to "observe the behavior of unwitting persons being questioned after having been given a drug." The committee found no evidence that the subproject was terminated; the evidence indicated that it continued until 1963, with test subjects contacted at random in bars and given drugs in safehouses.[^13] Horrock reported that Kirkpatrick had never testified publicly about the Olson case, but that he had reportedly told [[Nelson Rockefeller|Vice President Rockefeller]]'s commission on the CIA that he had recommended that the employees involved in giving Olson the drug be disciplined. "They were not," Horrock wrote, and Kirkpatrick "later told associates he regretted not having taken a firmer stand."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1957 Survey of the Technical Services Division and the 1961 Mail Review
|
||||
|
||||
The Inspector General's report of 1957 on the [[Office of Technical Service|Technical Services Division]], issued during Kirkpatrick's tenure, stated that "[s]ix specific products have been developed and are available for operational use. Three of them are discrediting and disabling materials which can be administered unwittingly and permit the exercise of a measure of control over the actions of the subject." The same report stated: "Precautions must be taken not only to protect operations from exposure to enemy forces but also to conceal these activities from the American public in general. The knowledge that the Agency is engaging in unethical and illicit activities would have serious repercussions in political and diplomatic circles and would be detrimental to the accomplishment of its mission."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
A 1961 review by the Inspector General's office, part of an evaluation of the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]], examined the New York mail-opening project ([[HTLINGUAL]]). It found that "few of the operational leads have ever been converted into operations" for the Soviet Russia Division, and that "[t]he activity cannot be called a 'project' in the usual sense, because it was never processed through the approval system and has no separate funds." It recommended a coordinated evaluation by the Deputy Directors for Plans and Support. The Senate committee found that the project was reviewed by disinterested Agency components only twice, in 1961 and 1969.[^15] Horrock reported in 1977 that Kirkpatrick had testified that he knew about the illegal mail openings and that Dulles also knew of them, and that he had reportedly said the Agency was convinced that "the national security need for the mail-openings outweighed the fact that they were against the law."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation
|
||||
|
||||
On November 20, 1961, Kirkpatrick transmitted to [[John McCone]], who was about to succeed Dulles, a 150-page survey of the CIA's operation against [[Fidel Castro]], dated October 1961, with five annexes and ten recommendations. His covering memorandum stated that he had reviewed the material prepared for General [[Maxwell Taylor]]'s committee and the committee's minutes, that his meeting with the top three officers of the branch the week after the landing was reported in some seventy pages, and that "there has been a tendency in the Agency to gloss over CIA's inadequacies and to attempt to fix all the blame for the failure of the invasion upon other elements of the Government." He would make no further distribution until McCone indicated whom he wished to receive copies; the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] had requested a copy so that Coyne could report on it at its December 9 meeting.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The survey rests on interviews by the Inspector General and his representatives with about 125 Agency employees, and "contains no evaluation of or judgment on any decision or action taken by any official not employed by the Agency." It states: "The project had lost its covert nature by November 1960. ... For more than three months before the invasion the American press was reporting, often with some accuracy, on the recruiting and training of Cubans. ... Plausible denial was a pathetic illusion." Its first conclusion was that "[t]he Agency failed to recognize that when the project advanced beyond the stage of plausible denial it was going beyond the area of Agency responsibility as well as Agency capability"; others were that the Agency failed to keep national policymakers "adequately and realistically informed," reduced the exiled leaders "to the status of puppets," and entered the project without adequate boats, bases, training facilities, agent nets and Spanish speakers.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The survey cited earlier warnings from the Inspector General's office: a June 1958 recommendation, in a survey of the Far East Division, for a high-level study of the extent to which the Agency should engage in paramilitary operations, "if any"; a January 1959 memorandum to the Deputy Director for Plans that "the Clandestine Services tends to assume responsibilities beyond its capabilities"; a 1955 survey of the Psychological and Paramilitary Operations Staff and a March 1961 survey of the Covert Action Staff, both warning against bypassing those staffs; and a July 1959 survey of the Plans directorate, which wrote that operations that "may be aimed at the overthrow of a hostile regime" require high-level liaison with the State Department and the [[White House]], and that task forces within a single division "represent a woefully inadequate response to a problem of major national significance." The survey's first recommendation was that such an operation be carried out by a task force under a senior official "on a full-time basis, and organizationally outside the DD/P structure"; its second, that "[t]he Agency should request that such projects should be transferred to the [[Department of Defense]] when they show signs of becoming overt or beyond Agency capabilities."[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Distribution and Restriction
|
||||
|
||||
Twenty copies were made because, as a later memorandum in Kirkpatrick's name explained, it had been understood when the report was written that copies would go to the President's board. The only distribution was: McCone, November 21, 1961; Dulles, Deputy Director [[Charles P. Cabell]] and Deputy Director for Plans [[Richard Bissell]], November 24; the Inspector General; the file of the acting Inspector General; the chief of the [[CIA Western Hemisphere Division|Western Hemisphere Division]], Colonel [[J. C. King]], and [[Jacob Esterline]] of that division, November 24; and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, through [[J. S. Earman]] at the Director's request, on January 18, 1962. The remaining copies stayed in his office.[^19] On November 28, 1961, Cabell recorded that he had called Kirkpatrick "to state that the fact of the IG's report on Cuba should be restricted on a must-need-to-know basis," that no further copies would go out "without authority of the DCI or DDCI," that the restriction "also specifically applies to distribution to the President's Board of Intelligence Advisors," and that he had discussed "holding this report tightly" with Dulles and Bissell.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 22, 1961, two days after transmitting the survey, Kirkpatrick sat with Dulles, Cabell, Bissell, Helms and McCone in Dulles's office to review the plan, set by President [[John F. Kennedy]] and Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] at the White House the day before, for a committee under General [[Edward Lansdale]] on action against Cuba, which the Attorney General said would embody covert operations, propaganda and actions creating dissension within Cuba; Lansdale had proposed [[James H. Critchfield]] as the CIA's man on the committee, and Bissell offered alternate names.[^21] When McCone took office on November 29, he asked Kirkpatrick to head a study of the Director's role, his relations with the White House and other agencies, and the organization of the CIA and the intelligence community; the President's statement of January 16, 1962 on the Director's responsibilities resulted from it.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 1, 1961, after McCone said he was concerned that the survey taken alone "might give an erroneous impression as to the extent CIA is responsible for the failure of the operation," Kirkpatrick wrote that the failure "should be charged in order" to "[a]n over-all lack of recognition on the part of the U.S. Government as to the magnitude of the operation required to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime"; to "[t]he failure on the part of the U.S. Government to plan for all contingencies ... including the necessity for using regular U.S. military forces in the event that the exiled Cubans could not do the job themselves"; and to the government's unwillingness "to commit to the Cuban operation, as planned and executed, those necessary resources required for its success."[^23] On December 15, 1961, Cabell wrote that a detailed comment would require noting "inaccuracies, omissions, distortions, unsupported allegations, and many erroneous conclusions," that "[n]either Mr. Dulles nor I was consulted in the preparation of the Inspector General's report," and that "[i]n unfriendly hands, it can become a weapon unjustifiably to attack the entire mission, organization, and functioning of the Agency."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
McCone directed that the survey be bound with an analysis by the Deputy Director for Plans dated January 18, 1962; his January 19, 1962 letter to [[James R. Killian]], chairman of the President's board, transmitting both; memoranda by [[Tracy Barnes]] and Kirkpatrick; and Dulles's comments of February 15, 1962, which McCone acknowledged on February 19.[^25] On April 19, 1963, at McCone's direction and as Executive Director, Kirkpatrick took the bound report to [[McGeorge Bundy]]. His memorandum for the record states that Bundy asked for a summary, scanned the conclusions, and "commented that this was an aspect of the operation about which the President and himself had not been informed"; Bundy kept the report because the President "would probably wish to read it over the weekend," and asked whether [[Brigade 2506|the Brigade]] had been told before the landing that it would not be supported by U.S. military forces, which Kirkpatrick said he could not answer.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
The survey remained classified until 1998, when the [[National Security Archive]]'s Cuba Documentation Project obtained its declassification. The CIA's own five-volume official history by its historian [[Jack Pfeiffer]] includes a fifth volume titled "Internal Investigation Report"; in 1987 Pfeiffer sued under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] for its release, and the CIA convinced the court that it could not be declassified.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### Executive Director
|
||||
|
||||
In 1962 a panel headed by Kirkpatrick, then the CIA's Executive Director-Comptroller, recommended creating an office in the Clandestine Service to centralize and professionalize paramilitary action and contingency planning, "drawing upon Agency-wide resources for large-scale operations"; a new paramilitary division was established under a new National Security Council approval group, the [[Special Group (Counterinsurgency)]].[^28] Under McCone's reorganization the Executive Director became the number three position in the CIA, responsible for its internal management, and in 1963 the posts of Executive Director and Comptroller were combined; the [[Baltimore Sun]] wrote in 1965 that he had been outranked only by McCone and Lieutenant General [[Marshall S. Carter]].[^22] [^4] The Audit Staff was transferred to the Office of the Inspector General on April 1, 1962.[^6] On January 19, 1965, as Executive Director, he informed the deputy directors that [[Chester Cooper]], formerly assistant to the Deputy Director for Intelligence, had moved to the White House, that consultation with him "should not be discouraged," and that the deputy directors should be kept advised of such contacts.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
Horrock reported in 1977 that Kirkpatrick had reportedly told the Senate intelligence committee and the [[Rockefeller Commission 1975|Rockefeller Commission]] that a CIA officer complained to him in the early 1960s about being ordered to prepare an assassination attempt against [[Patrice Lumumba]], and that, according to Horrock's sources, he testified that he had gone on record within the Agency as opposing the attempt, and that, according to some sources, he testified that he was unaware of plots against Castro and [[Rafael Trujillo]].[^2] The committee's published report on assassination plots records that [[Michael Mulroney]], after Bissell asked him in 1960 to go to the Congo to kill Lumumba and he refused, made his opposition "a matter of record" with Helms and told his superior, William Harvey; the report does not name Kirkpatrick in that account.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1976 Kirkpatrick wrote to the Senate committee on the functions of the Inspector General; the committee quoted a former Inspector General's letter that "[i]t is necessary that the DCI fully back the Inspector General in his recommendations unless there are overwhelming reasons to the contrary," citing Kirkpatrick's letter of January 13, 1976, and noted that "[s]ince Lyman Kirkpatrick, all the Inspectors General have taken that office as their last post with the CIA."[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brown University and the 1977 Nomination
|
||||
|
||||
In August 1965 Kirkpatrick, holder of the President's 1964 award for distinguished federal civilian service, retired from the CIA to become professor of political science at Brown University; in his spare hours he had set up the Agency's Public Service Aid Society and its Educational Aid Fund.[^4] Horrock reported that "[s]ome sources said he resigned because he no longer expected to become the director."[^2] He taught at Brown until 1982, wrote on defense intelligence and served on several intelligence boards.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 14, 1977, senior administration officials told Horrock that President [[Jimmy Carter]] had offered Kirkpatrick the post of deputy director of the CIA and that he had accepted, the announcement to await the President's conviction that he could be confirmed "without the expenditure of large amounts of political capital." Horrock reported that members and staff of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] indicated he would be closely questioned about his knowledge of assassinations, drug testing and illegal mail openings, and that a prominent Democrat said he would be "more comfortable" with another choice. Kirkpatrick, reached in Rhode Island, declined to comment.[^2] He died at his home in [[Middleburg, Virginia]], on March 3, 1995.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick Jr. '38," memorial, *Princeton Alumni Weekly*. https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/lyman-bickford-kirkpatrick-jr-38
|
||||
[^2]: Nicholas M. Horrock, "Lyman Kirkpatrick Termed Choice of Carter as C.I.A. Deputy Chief," *New York Times*, July 15, 1977, p. A21, CIA-RDP90-01208R000100230084-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-01208r000100230084-6
|
||||
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Biographical Sketch, Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., Inspector General, CIA," CIA-RDP75-00001R000200200078-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000200200078-9
|
||||
[^4]: "CIA's Lyman Kirkpatrick to Retire, Start Teaching," *Baltimore Sun*, August 5, 1965, CIA-RDP75-00001R000200190026-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000200190026-8
|
||||
[^5]: "Kirkpatrick, Helen (1909-1997)," *Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia* (Gale), via Encyclopedia.com (born Rochester, daughter of Lyman Bickford Kirkpatrick; name variation Helen Milbank). https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kirkpatrick-helen-1909-1997
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, *Foreign and Military Intelligence*, S. Rep. No. 94-755 (1976), "The Office of the Inspector General," pp. 290 to 291. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick Jr., "Free World Police: Target for Communist Subversion," address to the 67th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Washington, D.C., October 4, 1960, CIA-RDP67-00318R000100530001-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00318r000100530001-9
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of State, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, *Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters*, Document 78 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v25/ebook/frus1961-63v25.epub
|
||||
[^9]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, "Drug Testing Program," pp. 394 to 396. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Chief, Inspection and Review, Memorandum for Inspector General, "Use of LSD," December 1, 1953, 2 pp., Center for National Security Studies FOIA, National Security Archive. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/1953-12-01a%20CNSS-ocr.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, p. 395 and notes (citing Memorandum for the Record from Lyman Kirkpatrick, 12/1/53, p. 1; Inspector General Diary, 12/2/53; Gottlieb testimony, 10/18/75, p. 16). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: John Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control* (New York: Times Books, 1979), chapter 5, text as posted at https://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/lsd/marks5.htm
|
||||
[^13]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, pp. 399 to 400 and notes (memoranda from the DCI to Sidney Gottlieb and to the Chief of Operations, TSS, 2/12/54; memorandum to Inspector General from Chief, Inspection and Review, on Subproject #3 of MKULTRA, 2/10/54). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: *Final Report*, Book I, Appendix C, p. 393 note and p. 394 (quoting the Inspector General's Report of 1957 on the Technical Services Division). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book III, *Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans*, S. Rep. No. 94-755 (1976), "CIA Intercepting and Opening of Mail," pp. 577 and 581 to 582 (citing memorandum from L. K. White to Acting Inspector General (attachment), 3/9/62). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Inspector General, Memorandum for Mr. McCone, "Survey of the Cuban Operation," November 20, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160016-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160016-0
|
||||
[^17]: Central Intelligence Agency, Inspector General, *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation*, October 1961, Introduction, paragraphs 5 and 6 (printed pp. 1 to 2, PDF pp. 9 to 10), "The Choice," paragraph 42 (printed p. 61, PDF p. 69), and Conclusions (printed pp. 143 to 144, PDF pp. 151 to 152), National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 341. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation*, printed pp. 146 to 148 (PDF pp. 154 to 156). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, "Inspector General Survey of the Cuban Operation (dated October 1961)," February 16, 1962, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 2). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: C. P. Cabell, General, USAF, Deputy Director, Memorandum for the Record, November 28, 1961, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 226). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, *Cuba, January 1961-September 1962*, Document 275 (memorandum for the record drafted by McCone, Washington, November 22, 1961). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v10/ebook/frus1961-63v10.epub
|
||||
[^22]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, Document 95 (memorandum for the file, December 27, 1961), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v25/ebook/frus1961-63v25.epub
|
||||
[^23]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Inspector General, Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, "Report on the Cuban Operation," December 1, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160013-3
|
||||
[^24]: C. P. Cabell, General, USAF, Deputy Director, "The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation," December 15, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160013-3
|
||||
[^25]: Index note "at the direction of Mr. John A. McCone," tabs 1 to 11, in *Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation* (PDF p. 3), https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/IGrpt1.pdf ; John A. McCone to Allen W. Dulles, February 19, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160007-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160007-0
|
||||
[^26]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, Memorandum for the Record, "Meeting with Mr. McGeorge Bundy, Friday, 19 April 1963, 4:15 p.m.," CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160006-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160006-1
|
||||
[^27]: Peter Kornbluh, "CIA Sued for 'Holding History Hostage' on Bay of Pigs Invasion," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 341, April 14, 2011. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB341/index.htm
|
||||
[^28]: *Final Report*, Book I, chapter on covert action, note on the 1962 paramilitary office, p. 150. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^29]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, Action Memorandum, January 19, 1965, CIA-RDP84-00780R001000070006-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00780r001000070006-0
|
||||
[^30]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, S. Rep. No. 94-465 (1975), pp. 38 to 40. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^31]: *Final Report*, Book I, pp. 296 (note 71, citing Kirkpatrick letter, 1/13/76, p. 2) and 299 (notes). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
210
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Mercer family.md
Normal file
210
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Mercer family.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "New Right"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Family
|
||||
- MercerFamily
|
||||
- RobertMercer
|
||||
- RebekahMercer
|
||||
- MercerFamilyFoundation
|
||||
- RenaissanceTechnologies
|
||||
- GovernmentAccountabilityInstitute
|
||||
- Breitbart
|
||||
- CambridgeAnalytica
|
||||
- DarkMoney
|
||||
- Parler
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Mercer family
|
||||
- Mercers
|
||||
- Robert Mercer
|
||||
- Robert L. Mercer
|
||||
- Robert Leroy Mercer
|
||||
- Rebekah Mercer
|
||||
- Rebekah A. Mercer
|
||||
- Jennifer Mercer
|
||||
- Heather Mercer
|
||||
- Mercer Family Foundation
|
||||
summary: "Family of the Renaissance Technologies co-chief executive Robert Mercer and his daughters, whose private foundation, super PAC contributions and company investments reached conservative organizations, Cambridge Analytica, Parler and 1789 Capital."
|
||||
location: "East Setauket, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Renaissance Technologies]]"
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, co-chief executive; announced on November 2, 2017 that he would step down"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Cambridge Analytica]]"
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, investor holding 90 percent for an initial 15 million dollars, per the account of Christopher Wylie"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Emerdata]]"
|
||||
start: 2018-03-16
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, directors"
|
||||
fn: 28
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Government Accountability Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer, chairman of the board in the returns for 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022"
|
||||
fn: 21
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Government Accountability Institute]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 7,460,000 dollars in tax years 2013 to 2017"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Media Research Center]]"
|
||||
start: 2011
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 17,772,420 dollars in tax years 2011 to 2017"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Heartland Institute]]"
|
||||
start: 2010
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants, 4,818,000 dollars in tax years 2011 to 2017"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Federalist Society]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 6,450,000 dollars in tax years 2013 to 2017"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[DonorsTrust]]"
|
||||
start: 2016
|
||||
end: 2024
|
||||
role: "Mercer Family Foundation grants totaling 67,450,000 dollars in the returns for 2016, 2017 and 2019 to 2024"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Make America Number 1]]"
|
||||
start: 2015-04-10
|
||||
end: 2016-07-14
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, 15,500,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[John Bolton Super PAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2014-04-28
|
||||
end: 2017-12-28
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, ten contributions of 500,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee, Inc.]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-03-25
|
||||
end: 2024-03-25
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, 814,399 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Parler]]"
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer, described by chief executive John Matze as a lead early investor"
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Parler]]"
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer, executive officer, director and promoter in the Form D of January 6, 2022"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Omeed Malik]]"
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer, managing member of the general partner of 1789 Capital Fund I, LP"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Breitbart News]]"
|
||||
role: "Robert Mercer, who wrote on November 2, 2017 that he was selling his stake to his daughters"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-03-12
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, directors"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-03-12
|
||||
role: "Rebekah Mercer, person with significant control holding 75 percent or more"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Mercer family is the family of Robert Mercer, who was a co-chief executive of the hedge fund [[Renaissance Technologies]] until he announced in November 2017 that he would step down, and his daughters Rebekah Mercer and Jennifer Mercer; a Heather Mercer appears with them as a director of the family's private foundation and as a beneficiary of a trust holding shares in [[Emerdata]].[^1][^2] The family's records include a private foundation, a series of federal super PAC and party contributions, an investment in the data company [[Cambridge Analytica]], a role in the social network [[Parler]], and a private equity vehicle, [[1789 Capital]], of which Rebekah Mercer is a managing member of the general partner.[^2][^3][^4][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Renaissance Technologies and the basket options hearing
|
||||
|
||||
On July 22, 2014 the [[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] of the [[United States Senate]] held a hearing, "Abuse of Structured Financial Products: Misusing Basket Options to Avoid Taxes and Leverage Limits," chaired by [[Carl Levin]]. In his opening statement Levin said that Renaissance's Medallion fund had used basket options to produce profits from 1999 to 2013 totaling more than $30 billion and that [[Deutsche Bank]] and [[Barclays]] had earned about $570 million and $655 million in revenue from the structures. The tax expert Steven Rosenthal testified that the structures reduced taxes paid to the Treasury by approximately $6.8 billion by converting short-term trading profits taxed at 35 percent into long-term gains taxed at 15 percent.[^7] The Renaissance witness was Peter Brown, identified in the hearing record as co-chief executive officer and co-president of Renaissance Technologies. The name Mercer does not appear in the text of the printed hearing record, which lists among the exhibits an October 1, 2004 indemnity agreement among Barclays and the Medallion entities including Medallion Capital Investments Ltd.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] contribution records from the 2010 through 2022 cycles give Robert Mercer's employer as Renaissance Technologies and his occupation in some entries as "co-CEO" and in others as "CEO."[^8] The Form 990-PF of the [[Mercer Family Foundation]] for the period beginning June 18, 2004 lists an investment in "Medallion Capital Investments" with a book value of $550,358; the return for 2010 lists "Medallion investments" valued at $8,456,921 at the start of the year and $23,361,133 at its end.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 2, 2017 Robert Mercer wrote to Renaissance investors that he was stepping down as co-chief executive and selling his stake in [[Breitbart News]] to his daughters; in the same letter he wrote that he had been mistaken to support [[Milo Yiannopoulos]]. [[National Public Radio]] wrote that the Mercers reportedly introduced [[Donald Trump]] to [[Steve Bannon]] and to [[Kellyanne Conway]] and "also own part of Cambridge Analytica."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
In September 2021 the [[Associated Press]] reported, citing reports by the [[Wall Street Journal]] and the [[New York Times]], that Renaissance insiders including its founder [[James Simons]] and Robert Mercer had agreed to pay as much as $7 billion to settle a dispute with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] covering transactions between 2005 and 2015.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mercer Family Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
The Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204) is a private foundation with a recognition date of June 2005 whose recent returns carry the care-of address of the accounting firm BerryDunn in Waltham, Massachusetts. Its Form 990-PF for 2004 covers a tax year that began on June 18, 2004; the foundation's disbursements for charitable purposes were $69,000 in 2005, $292,000 in 2007, $1,565,000 in 2008, $1,770,000 in 2009 and $4,039,000 in 2010.[^9][^12] The returns for 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 list Rebekah Mercer as the only director; the return for 2023 lists Rebekah, Robert, Jennifer and Heather Mercer, each at one hour a week, and gives Rebekah Mercer as the person in whose care the books are kept.[^2][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The foundation's grants paid, as reported to the Internal Revenue Service, were $7,105,215 in 2011, $11,677,197 in 2012, $13,492,358 in 2013, $18,300,979 in 2014 and $24,544,570 in 2015, and its total assets at the end of the year fell from $37,887,151 in 2011 to $22,729,081 in 2015.[^12] The return for 2016 reports grants of $19,025,582.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The itemized recipients in the returns for 2011 to 2017 include the [[Government Accountability Institute]] ($1,000,000 in 2013 and 2014, $1,735,000 in 2015, $2,000,000 in 2016 and $1,725,000 in 2017, a total of $7,460,000); the [[Media Research Center]] ($1,800,000, $3,000,000, $2,972,420, $3,000,000, $3,000,000, $2,000,000 and $2,000,000 in 2011 through 2017, a total of $17,772,420); the [[Heartland Institute]] ($444,000, $912,000, $877,000, $885,000, $100,000, $800,000 and $800,000 in 2011 through 2017, a total of $4,818,000, after a grant of $100,000 in 2010); the [[Federalist Society]] ($1,600,000 in 2013, $2,050,000 in 2014, $2,300,000 in 2015 and $500,000 in 2017); the [[Citizens United Foundation]] ($2,000,000, $1,000,000, $550,000 and $250,000 in 2012 through 2015); the [[Heritage Foundation]] ($500,000 in each of 2013 through 2016); and [[Reclaim New York]] ($75,000 in 2014, $1,250,000 in 2015, $1,600,000 in 2016 and $1,760,000 in 2017).[^14] The return for 2016 also lists $500,000 to the [[Cleveland 2016 Host Committee]] and $500,000 to the [[Rev the Vote Foundation]], and the return for 2017 lists $500,000 to the [[Susan B. Anthony List]] Education Fund.[^14] The itemized grant lists in the returns for 2011 through 2017 and 2019 through 2024 contain no grant to Breitbart News, Parler or Cambridge Analytica.[^14][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
From 2016 the lists change in form. [[DonorsTrust]] received $2,250,000 in 2016 and $500,000 in 2017, and the returns for 2019 to 2024 list DonorsTrust as the principal recipient: $1,400,000 in 2019, $19,250,000 in 2020, $5,800,000 in 2021, $31,000,000 in 2022, $3,500,000 in 2023 and $3,750,000 in 2024, which with the amounts for 2016 and 2017 total $67,450,000 (the return for 2018 is not included in these totals).[^14][^15] The only other recipients in the returns for 2019 to 2024 are the [[American Association for Aerosol Research]] ($9,000 in each of 2019 to 2021), the [[Marine Corps University Foundation]] ($20,000 in 2019), the [[Hospital for Special Surgery]] ($6,772,269 in 2020), the [[Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America]] and the [[Explorer's Club]] ($100,000 each in 2021), the [[Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine]] ($250,000 in 2021) and [[Ohio State University]] ($149,778 in 2022).[^15] The Oregon Institute's address on the return for 2021, 2251 Dick George Road, Cave Junction, Oregon, is also the registered address of the committee Art Robinson for Congress, which paid Cambridge Analytica $20,000 in 2014.[^15][^16] The foundation's return for 2011 lists a grant of $965,000 to an organization at Cave Junction, Oregon.[^14] The return for 2014 lists $100,000 to the Job Creators Alliance of Addison, Texas.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
A letter dated May 5, 2014 on the stationery of the Mercer Family Foundation, 240 Riverside Boulevard, New York, addressed to Mary Ann Coleman of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, asks that $100,000 be wired from the foundation to the account of Job Creators Network Foundation; a callback verification block on the page names Rebekah Mercer. The document is in the [[Department of Justice]] [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] data set 10 among Deutsche Bank trust department records that also include client lists naming a Mercer family trust, and the page itself contains no reference to [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government Accountability Institute
|
||||
|
||||
The Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), a [[Tallahassee]], Florida charity with a recognition date of January 1, 2013, states its mission as "to investigate and expose crony capitalism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance."[^19] Its Form 990 for 2012 lists Bannon as chairman (30 hours a week, compensation $80,769), [[Peter Schweizer]] as president and secretary-treasurer, and Rebekah Mercer as a director at one hour a week, with [[Hunter Lewis]], Owen Smith and Ronald Robinson as the other directors, and Wynton C. Hall as communications strategist. Schedule O to that return states that "Stephen Bannon, Chairman, and Rebekah Mercer, Board Director, have a business relationship."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Schedule L to the returns for 2013, 2014 and 2015 reports purchases of advertising on the website of Breitbart News Network, LLC, with the explanation that "Stephen Bannon is chairman of the board" of that company, in the amounts of $102,500, $7,500 and $98,000; the return for 2015 adds that a committee of disinterested board members reviewed the proposed purchase and collected comparison data from other online advertising venues.[^20] Bannon's reportable compensation from the institute was $100,000 for 2013, $100,733 for 2014 and $96,703 for 2015.[^20] The return for 2016 lists Rebekah Mercer as "Chairman of the Board" at 30 hours a week without compensation, Bannon as a board director at one hour a week with compensation of $61,539, Schweizer at $210,000 and Hall as a key employee at $175,000; the returns for 2017, 2020 and 2022 also list her as chairman.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
The institute's total contributions were $2,200,000 in 2012, $2,602,500 in 2013, $1,701,000 in 2014, $2,587,000 in 2015, $2,601,000 in 2016 and $2,435,250 in 2017; for 2013 through 2017 the foundation's itemized grants to the institute were $7,460,000 of $11,926,750 in contributions.[^14][^22]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal contributions
|
||||
|
||||
The OpenFEC database attributes to Robert Mercer of East Setauket, New York, individual contributions of $88,500 in the 2008 cycle, $764,426 in 2010, $5,712,860 in 2012, $8,749,000 in 2014, $23,421,700 in 2016, $5,275,000 in 2018, $1,865,200 in 2020, $600,000 in 2022, $849,399 in 2024 and $100,000 in the 2026 cycle to date, and to Rebekah Mercer of New York $1,015,050 across the 2010 to 2024 cycles, in itemized receipts of $200 or more excluding memo entries.[^8] The largest single recipient in the database is [[Make America Number 1]] ($15,500,000); the others over $1,000,000 are the [[John Bolton Super PAC]] ($5,000,000), [[Freedom Partners Action Fund]] ($2,500,000), [[American Crossroads]] ($2,000,000), [[Club for Growth]] Action ($2,000,000), the [[Congressional Leadership Fund]] ($1,900,000), [[Ending Spending Action Fund]] ($1,750,000), [[KelliPAC]] ($1,500,000), the [[Republican National Committee]] ($1,154,900 from 2008 to November 2025), [[Restore Our Future]] ($1,000,000) and [[Remember Mississippi]] ($1,000,000).[^8] The database also records $814,399 from Robert Mercer to [[Trump 47 Committee, Inc.]] on March 25, 2024, $449,400 from Rebekah Mercer to [[Trump Victory]] on June 13, 2016, and $355,200 from Robert Mercer to Trump Victory on February 14, 2020.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Other itemized contributions by Robert Mercer in the database include $643,750 to Concerned Taxpayers of America between September 13 and December 16, 2010; $920,000 to Prosperity First Inc. in three payments from April 1 to October 22, 2012; $500,000 to Women Speak Out PAC on August 28, 2014; $500,000 each to New York Wins PAC (January 29, 2016) and Fighting for Ohio Fund (May 16, 2016); $1,500,000 to KelliPAC in four payments from July 22, 2016 to June 29, 2018; $637,100 to Black Americans for a Better Future in ten payments from September 18, 2015 to May 7, 2024; $400,000 to Great America PAC on October 25, 2018; $100,000 to [[Protect Ohio Values PAC]] on March 12, 2021, five days before a $50,000 contribution to the same committee by Rebekah Mercer; and $500,000 to General John Stark PAC on June 6, 2022.[^23] The database lists Rebekah Mercer's largest recipients as Trump Victory ($449,400), The Founders Committee ($67,700 in two committee records), Romney Victory Inc. ($65,800), Coalition for American Values PAC ($50,000) and Protect Ohio Values PAC ($50,000).[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
The committee now named Make America Number 1 (C00575373) filed its original statement of organization on April 6, 2015 under a cover letter headed "Keep The Promise I," signed by the treasurer, Jacquelyn James, with the address 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, New York; the amended statement signed on June 22, 2016 gives the name Make America Number 1.[^24] The paid-preparer block of the Mercer Family Foundation's returns for 2013 through 2017 names Jacquelyn James Varga of Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis LLP, 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, the same street address, and the returns for 2011 and 2012 name Brian Golub of the same firm; the return for 2019 names Louis M. Cohen of Caler Donten Levine of West [[Palm Beach, Florida]], and the returns for 2020 through 2024 name Barbara J. McGuan of Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker LLC of Portland, Maine.[^25] The committee received $11,000,000 from Robert Mercer on April 10, 2015, $500,000 on February 26, 2016, and $2,000,000 on each of March 17 and July 14, 2016; other receipts of $1,000,000 or more were $2,000,000 from [[Bernard Marcus]] (September 6, 2016), $1,000,000 from [[Peter Thiel]] (October 26, 2016) and $1,000,000 from [[Cherna Moskowitz]] (August 23, 2016).[^3] In the 2016 cycle it reported receipts of $20,737,585, disbursements of $19,659,532 and independent expenditures of $13,432,443.[^3] Its disbursements include $1,476,484 to Cambridge Analytica, $952,015 to [[The Polling Company]], $950,000 to [[Trusted Leadership PAC]], $538,446 to [[Greenberg Traurig]], $500,000 to [[Carly for America]], $336,495 to [[Bracewell & Giuliani]], $280,641 to [[Glittering Steel LLC]] for video production, $119,341 to Breitbart News Network LLC and $115,262 to [[The Aventine Group]].[^3] On December 23, 2022 it recorded a contribution refund of $620,000 to Robert Mercer.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The John Bolton Super PAC received ten contributions of $500,000 from Robert Mercer, dated April 28 and June 30, 2014; February 24, June 30, September 28 and December 18, 2015; July 5 and September 6, 2016; and October 23 and December 28, 2017, and paid Cambridge Analytica $1,152,300 between July 7, 2014 and September 29, 2016.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cambridge Analytica and Emerdata
|
||||
|
||||
According to [[Christopher Wylie]], Robert Mercer invested $15 million in Cambridge Analytica for 90 percent of the company and served as its president, with Jennifer Mercer as treasurer; the company's statement of financial affairs lists Rebekah Mercer as a member of the board of managers and vice president and Jennifer Mercer as a member of the board of managers from March 6, 2014 through January 23, 2018.[^4] [[Brittany Kaiser]] told the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] that almost every client meeting with a political figure was preceded by an introduction from Bannon, Rebekah Mercer or Conway, and [[Jared Kushner]] told the committee that the Mercers aggressively advocated the campaign's use of the company.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer became directors of Emerdata Limited on March 16, 2018 and are recorded as active directors on the Companies House register of October 1, 2026; the company has been in administration since December 9, 2024.[^28] Jennifer Mercer was appointed on March 12, 2021 a director of [[Dynamo Recoveries Limited]], a non-trading company incorporated on March 4, 2021 with Terence William Donal Blaney as its first person with significant control; since March 12, 2021 Rebekah Mercer has been recorded as its only person with significant control, holding 75 percent or more of the shares and votes. [[Jacquelyn James-Varga]], who is also a director of Emerdata, is a director of the company.[^29] Companies House gives the correspondence address of the Mercers, James-Varga and Dynamo Recoveries as 60 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling, England.[^28][^29]
|
||||
|
||||
### Parler and 1789 Capital
|
||||
|
||||
In November 2020 [[Newsweek]] reported, citing people familiar with the matter who spoke to the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]], that the Mercers had ties to Parler; Newsweek wrote that the chief executive John Matze had confirmed Rebekah Mercer as a lead investor in the early stages of the company and that her funding was conditional on the application relinquishing control over what users can see, and that she had written on the platform that she launched Parler with Matze to "provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended."[^30] A Form D filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on January 6, 2022 by Parler Inc., a Delaware corporation at 901 Woodland Street, Nashville, lists Rebekah Mercer as an executive officer, director and promoter alongside the chief executive George Farmer; it reports a first sale of equity on December 15, 2021, $20,250,000 offered and sold to 10 investors at a minimum of $50,000, and finders' fees of $500,000, with William C.T. Gaynor II of Washington as the sales compensation recipient.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A Form D filed on February 9, 2023 by 1789 Capital Fund I, LP of Palm Beach, Florida lists [[Omeed Malik]], Rebekah Mercer and [[Christopher Buskirk]] each as executive officer, director, promoter and managing member of the general partner, with a first sale on January 31, 2023, $100,000,000 offered and $10,000,000 sold to one investor at a minimum of $1,000,000.[^6] Two further Forms D filed on June 10, 2024 by 1789 Capital Co-Invest I, LP and 1789 Capital BH, LP list her as manager of the general partner; the first reports $2,162,000 sold to seven investors and the second $9,700,000 of a $10,000,000 offering sold to 28 investors.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, *Disinformation and "fake news": Final Report*, HC 1791, February 18, 2019, paragraph 286 and note 327 (describing "Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer (daughters of financier Robert Mercer)" as directors of Emerdata and listing trusts for the benefit of Rebekah, Jennifer and Heather Mercer among its shareholders as of August 10, 2018). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/1791/1791.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204), Form 990-PF for 2023, Part VII (officers: Rebekah, Robert, Jennifer and Heather Mercer, directors, 1.00 hour a week each), Part VIII line 1 ("books are in care of Rebekah Mercer") and Part XV (DonorsTrust, $3,500,000), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF
|
||||
[^3]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A receipts and Schedule B disbursements of Make America Number 1 (C00575373): Robert Mercer, $11,000,000 on April 10, 2015 (file 1027937), $500,000 on February 26, 2016, $2,000,000 on March 17, 2016 and $2,000,000 on July 14, 2016; Bernard Marcus $2,000,000 (September 6, 2016); Peter Thiel $1,000,000 (October 26, 2016); Cherna Moskowitz $1,000,000 (August 23, 2016); committee totals for the 2016 cycle (receipts $20,737,584.81, disbursements $19,659,532.23, independent expenditures $13,432,442.89); disbursements to Cambridge Analytica, The Polling Company ($952,015), Trusted Leadership PAC ($950,000), Greenberg Traurig and Greenberg & Traurig ($538,446 and $41,972), Carly for America ($500,000), Bracewell & Giuliani ($336,495), Glittering Steel LLC (seven payments from July 17, 2015 to November 1, 2016, $280,641), Breitbart News Network LLC ($109,341.25 on November 25, 2015 and $10,000 on January 27, 2016) and The Aventine Group ($55,625 and $59,637); and a contribution refund to Robert Mercer of $620,000 dated December 23, 2022 (file 1681564, https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202301299575139049). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00575373/
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, *Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities*, report released August 18, 2020, pp. 664 to 667 and note 4303 (proffer of Christopher Wylie, May 17, 2018; Statement of Financial Affairs of May 31, 2018 in *In re Cambridge Analytica LLC*, Case No. 18-11500-shl (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, Parler Inc. (CIK 0001902750), accession no. 0001902750-22-000002, filed January 6, 2022: related persons George Farmer (executive officer, director), Rebekah Mercer (executive officer, director, promoter) and others; exemption Rule 506(b); date of first sale December 15, 2021; total offering amount and amount sold $20,250,000; 10 investors; minimum investment $50,000; finders' fees $500,000; sales compensation recipient William C.T. Gaynor II. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1902750/000190275022000002/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, 1789 Capital Fund I, LP (CIK 0001965234), accession no. 0001965234-23-000001, filed February 9, 2023: related persons Omeed Malik, Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk, each executive officer, director, promoter and managing member of the general partner; date of first sale January 31, 2023; total offering amount $100,000,000; amount sold $10,000,000; one investor; minimum investment $1,000,000. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1965234/000196523423000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, hearing of July 22, 2014, *Abuse of Structured Financial Products: Misusing Basket Options to Avoid Taxes and Leverage Limits*, S. Hrg. 113-422: opening statement of Chairman Carl Levin; testimony of Steven M. Rosenthal; testimony of Peter Brown, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of Renaissance Technologies; index of exhibits, item 43 (Indemnity Agreement dated October 1, 2004, Barclays Bank PLC, Palomino Limited, Badger Holdings L.P., Medallion International Limited, Medallion Capital Investments Ltd., Medallion Associates L.P., Medallion Fund L.P., Medallion USA L.P. and Medallion RMP Fund L.P., BARCLAYS-PSI-632877-904). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113shrg89882/pdf/CHRG-113shrg89882.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A itemized individual contributions of $200 or more, excluding memo entries, for contributor names "MERCER, ROBERT" (including "ROBERT L"), "MERCER, REBEKAH" and "MERCER, JENNIFER" with New York addresses (Robert Mercer: East Setauket, Stony Brook, St. James or New York, employer Renaissance Technologies, occupations including "financial consultant" and "CO-CEO"), two-year transaction periods 2008 to 2026, retrieved October 1, 2026; recipient committees including Make America Number 1 (C00575373), John Bolton Super PAC (C00542464), Freedom Partners Action Fund (C00564765), American Crossroads (C00487363), Club for Growth Action (C00487470), Congressional Leadership Fund (C00504530), Ending Spending Action Fund (C00489856), KelliPAC (C00572941), Republican National Committee (C00003418), Restore Our Future (C00490045), Remember Mississippi (C00641423), Trump 47 Committee, Inc. (C00867937; $814,399 on March 25, 2024, file 1857498, https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202412059731342737) and Trump Victory (C00618389; Rebekah Mercer $449,400 on June 13, 2016, file 1087212; Robert Mercer $355,200 on February 14, 2020, file 1413489). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^9]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for the tax year beginning June 18, 2004 (Part II, line 10b, "Medallion Capital Investments," book value $550,358), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_200412_990PF.pdf; Form 990-PF for 2010 (schedule of investments, "Medallion Investments," $8,456,921 beginning of year and $23,361,133 end of year), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201012_990PF.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Jim Zarroli, "Billionaire Investor Robert Mercer To Step Down From Firm, Selling Stake In Breitbart," National Public Radio, November 2, 2017 (as published by KPBS). https://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/nov/02/billionaire-investor-robert-mercer-steps-down
|
||||
[^11]: "Renaissance hedge fund execs to pay $7 billion in settlement with IRS, reports say," Associated Press, as published by CBS News, September 2021 (reporting the accounts of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; settlement "as much as $7 billion"; transactions between 2005 and 2015). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-mercer-irs-tax-settlement-7-billion/
|
||||
[^12]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization record for Mercer Family Foundation (EIN 20-1982204): recognition date June 2005; address care of BerryDunn, 51 Sawyer Road, Waltham, Massachusetts; grants paid and total assets at end of year by tax year, 2011 to 2023 (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/201982204.json); Forms 990-PF for 2005 (line 25, $69,000), 2007 ($292,000), 2008 ($1,565,000), 2009 ($1,770,000) and 2010 ($4,039,000), https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_200512_990PF.pdf and the corresponding archive files for 2007 to 2010.
|
||||
[^13]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, Part VIII (officers, directors, trustees), e.g. https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2011 to 2017, Part XV line 3a (grants and contributions paid during the year), recipient lists as printed; amounts totaled by recipient from the itemized lists, e.g. 2013 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201312_990PF.pdf), 2015 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201512_990PF.pdf) and 2016 (https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf, which reports total grants of $19,025,582, the grant to OISM of Cave Junction, Oregon, and the accounting firm address 2 Roosevelt Ave, Port Jefferson Station, New York).
|
||||
[^15]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2019 to 2024, Part XV (grants and contributions paid), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: 2019 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202012559349100501/IRS990PF; 2020 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202212639349100101/IRS990PF; 2021 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202213199349104431/IRS990PF; 2022 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202303189349100610/IRS990PF; 2023 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF; 2024 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202513169349100411/IRS990PF. The 2016 and 2017 DonorsTrust grants are from the Part XV lists in the returns for those years. The Part XV list for 2020 totals $26,031,269 including $6,772,269 to the Hospital for Special Surgery; the grants-paid field in the ProPublica summary for 2020 reads $19,259,000.
|
||||
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for ART ROBINSON FOR CONGRESS (C00481341), 2251 Dick George Rd, Cave Junction, Oregon; Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica of $20,000 in three payments, June to November 2014. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00481341/
|
||||
[^17]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for 2014, Part XV (Job Creators Alliance, Addison, Texas, 100,000 dollars, "non profit donation"). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas; related items EFTA01398726, EFTA01398757, EFTA01398924 and EFTA01398965 not reopened). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), Form 990 for 2012, Part III (mission), Part VII Section A (officers and compensation), Schedule O; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer record (recognition date January 1, 2013). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201212_990.pdf and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912
|
||||
[^20]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2013, 2014 and 2015, Schedule L Part IV (business transactions involving interested persons) and Part VII: https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201312_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201412_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201512_990.pdf (amount for 2013 as read from the scanned return)
|
||||
[^21]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2016 (Part VII Section A), 2017, 2020 and 2022, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912/201743179349306999/IRS990 ; /201833199349301453/IRS990 ; /202111759349300306/IRS990 ; /202343009349300814/IRS990
|
||||
[^22]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization record for Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), total contributions by tax year, 2012 to 2017. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/454681912.json
|
||||
[^23]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A itemized contributions attributed to Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer of New York, New York, excluding memo entries, retrieved October 1, 2026: Concerned Taxpayers of America (C00488437; file numbers 502614, 508878, 521433, 711830); Prosperity First Inc. (C00517466; files 795576, 815221, 837748); Women Speak Out PAC (C00530766; file 1007524); New York Wins PAC (C00603365; file 1059531); Fighting for Ohio Fund (C00573014; file 1119836); KelliPAC (C00572941; files 1096404, 1164890, 1180218, 1251801); Black Americans for a Better Future (C00567784); Great America PAC (C00608489; file 1346216); Protect Ohio Values PAC (POV PAC) (C00770495; file 1532515, Robert Mercer $100,000 on March 12, 2021 and Rebekah Mercer $50,000 on March 17, 2021); General John Stark PAC (C00815407; file 1611754). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^24]: Federal Election Commission, Form 1 Statement of Organization of committee C00575373, original filed April 6, 2015 under cover letter headed "Keep The Promise I" signed by treasurer Jacquelyn James, 2 Roosevelt Avenue, Port Jefferson Station, New York (https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/670/15031410670/15031410670.pdf), and amended Form 1 dated June 21, 2016, filed June 22, 2016, in the name "Make America Number 1" (https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/183/201606229020090183/201606229020090183.pdf).
|
||||
[^25]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF, paid preparer blocks: 2011 and 2012 (Brian Golub, Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis), 2013 to 2017 (Jacquelyn James Varga, Golub LaCapra Wilson & DeTiberiis LLP, 2 Roosevelt Ave, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776), e.g. https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf and https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201612_990PF.pdf; 2019 (Louis M Cohen, Caler Donten Levine et al PA), 2020 to 2024 (Barbara J McGuan CPA, Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker LLC, PO Box 1100, Portland, Maine), ProPublica full text, e.g. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF.
|
||||
[^26]: OpenFEC API, Schedule A receipts of John Bolton Super PAC (C00542464) from Robert Mercer, East Setauket, New York, $500,000 each on April 28, 2014, June 30, 2014, February 24, 2015, June 30, 2015, September 28, 2015, December 18, 2015, July 5, 2016, September 6, 2016, October 23, 2017 and December 28, 2017 (e.g. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201801319091015357); Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica, July 7, 2014 to September 29, 2016, totaling $1,152,300. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00542464/
|
||||
[^27]: U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, *Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities*, report released August 18, 2020, p. 672 and note 4348 (Kaiser transcript, pp. 40 to 43), and p. 674 and note 4362 (Kushner transcript II, pp. 84 to 85). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
|
||||
[^28]: Companies House, EMERDATA LIMITED (company number 10911848), officers and insolvency pages, and personal appointments pages for Jennifer Lynne Mercer and Rebekah Anne Mercer (each appointed March 16, 2018, active), viewed October 1, 2026; administration started December 9, 2024. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers
|
||||
[^29]: Companies House, DYNAMO RECOVERIES LIMITED (company number 13246135), incorporated March 4, 2021, SIC 74990 non-trading company, registered office Suite 21, 60 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling; persons with significant control (Terence William Donal Blaney, March 4 to March 12, 2021; Rebekah Mercer, from March 12, 2021, 75 percent or more of shares and votes); officers including Jacquelyn James-Varga and Jennifer Lynne Mercer (each appointed March 12, 2021), viewed October 1, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13246135/persons-with-significant-control
|
||||
[^30]: "Parler Reportedly Backed by Mercers, Same Family That Funded Cambridge Analytica," *Newsweek*, November 2020 (reporting the account of the *Wall Street Journal* and statements of John Matze and Rebekah Mercer). https://www.newsweek.com/parler-reportedly-backed-mercers-same-family-that-funded-cambridge-analytica-1547519
|
||||
[^31]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Forms D filed June 10, 2024: 1789 Capital Co-Invest I, LP (CIK 0002026273), accession no. 0002026273-24-000001 ($2,162,000 sold; seven investors) and 1789 Capital BH, LP (CIK 0002025959), accession no. 0002025959-24-000001 ($9,700,000 sold of $10,000,000; 28 investors; Rebekah Mercer listed as manager of 1789 Capital Fund I GP, LLC). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2026273/000202627324000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
121
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Nick Lowles.md
Normal file
121
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Nick Lowles.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Extremism & Violent Networks"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UK
|
||||
- AntiFascist
|
||||
- Searchlight
|
||||
- HOPEnotHate
|
||||
- CombatEighteen
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
- Informants
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Nick Lowles
|
||||
- Nicholas Lowles
|
||||
- Nicholas Lloyd Lowles
|
||||
- Nick Lowles MBE
|
||||
summary: "British anti-fascist writer and campaigner, Searchlight editor to 2011, founder and chief executive of HOPE not hate, author of White Riot on Combat 18, and company director of its successor bodies from 2005."
|
||||
born: 1968-06
|
||||
location: "London, United Kingdom"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
|
||||
start: 2004
|
||||
role: "founder"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Searchlight Magazine]]"
|
||||
start: 1999
|
||||
end: 2011
|
||||
role: "co-editor, then editor"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
|
||||
start: 2005-06-25
|
||||
role: "director of Searchlight Information Services Limited, later Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[HOPE not hate]]"
|
||||
start: 2012-08-22
|
||||
end: 2020-02-18
|
||||
role: "director of Hope Not Hate Limited"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Nick Lowles (Nicholas Lloyd Lowles, born in June 1968 ([[Companies House]] record)) is a British anti-fascist campaigner and writer. He was co-editor and then editor of [[Searchlight Magazine]] between 1999 and 2011, founded [[HOPE not hate]] in 2004 and has been its chief executive.[^1][^2][^3] He wrote White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18 (2001) and a number of other books, and was appointed MBE in the New Year Honours of 2017.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early Life and Searchlight
|
||||
|
||||
Lowles grew up in [[Hounslow]] and moved to [[Shrewsbury]] at the age of ten, became involved in the anti-fascist movement as a student volunteer at the [[University of Sheffield]], worked as a freelance investigative journalist in television, with credits on [[BBC]] Panorama, World in Action, Channel Four Dispatches and MacIntyre Undercover, and was co-editor and then editor of Searchlight between 1999 and 2011 ([[HarperCollins]] author biography).[^1] The [[Sheila McKechnie Foundation]] gives the mid-1980s as the start of his campaigning at school and 2004 as the founding of HOPE not hate, in response to the rise of the [[British National Party]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The Companies House record of Searchlight Information Services Limited, later renamed Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited, lists Lowles as a director appointed on 25 June 2005, with [[Gerry Gable]] as director since before 1991 and [[Sonia Gable]] as secretary.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Books
|
||||
|
||||
The Open Library catalogue lists the following titles with Lowles as author or editor: White Noise, with [[Steve Silver]] (Searchlight, 1998); White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18 ([[Milo Books]], 2001); Mr. Evil, with [[Graeme McLagen]] ([[John Blake Publishing|John Blake]], 2002), catalogued under the subjects terrorists, bombings and neo-Nazism; Hooligans, with [[Andy Nicholls]] (Milo Books, 2005); A-L of British Football Gangs and M-Z of Britain's Football Hooligan Gangs, with Nicholls (2007); From Cable Street to Oldham, edited by Lowles (Searchlight, 2007); and How to Defeat the Far Right (HarperCollins, 2025).[^4] The charity's annual report for 2021 records that he "wrote Codename Arthur, the true story of the anti-fascist spy who spent 10 years infiltrating the BNP and identified the London nail bomber", released to coincide with a [[Netflix]] documentary on the nail bombing.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Combat 18 and the Wells Informant
|
||||
|
||||
[[Larry O'Hara]] of [[Notes From The Borderland]] wrote in an introduction to his 1995 notes on [[Combat 18]] and [[MI5]] that the C18 booklet was written by [[Wilf Browning]] "with significant input from Darren Wells (aka McKenzie) who later 'came out' as a Searchlight/[[Special Branch]] informant in 2002", and that his site would at some point "dissect the tendentious disinformation peddled by Searchlight editor Nick Lowles in his 'White Riot' book on C18". O'Hara described Searchlight as "presenting themselves as squeaky clean 'Community-oriented' anti-fascists via their 'Hope Not Hate' front." O'Hara also wrote that he had never thought Browning or [[Steve Sargent]] were state assets.[^8] Searchlight's obituary of Gable, written by the magazine, describes its use of agents or "moles" within far-right groups as its "true hallmark" and says that "some of these were inserted, some had a change of heart and resolved to make amends, some simply wanted money".[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Company Records
|
||||
|
||||
Companies House lists Lowles as a director of the following: Searchlight Information Services Limited (from 25 June 2005; the company was renamed Hope Not Hate (1986) Limited in October 2012 and dissolved on 14 July 2015); Hope Not Hate (Services) Limited (from 25 September 2012; dissolved 10 September 2013); and Hope Not Hate Limited (22 August 2012 to 18 February 2020, and again from 1 September 2026).[^3][^6][^10] He was secretary of Hope Not Hate Limited from 31 August 2023 to 1 September 2026 and of the charity then named Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust from 31 August 2023 to 30 June 2025.[^3][^11] The charity's annual reports for 2021 to 2024 list him under "Key management personnel", with [[Jemma Levene]] also listed in the report for 2021.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2011 Separation
|
||||
|
||||
[[Martin Bright]] wrote in the [[The Jewish Chronicle|Jewish Chronicle]] in August 2012 that Lowles was "Mr Gable's heir apparent", that he had "effectively spun off Hope Not Hate as a separate organisation", and that Gable had retained control of the magazine; Bright took neither side.[^13] The Borderland timeline, whose author is hostile to both sides, states that on 28 March 2011 Lowles and [[Cormac Hollingsworth]] met the Gables to ask for the Searchlight magazine shares and for Gable's resignation from the Searchlight companies by the end of June 2011, that Lowles resigned as editor on 23 September 2011, and that Lowles stated around the summer of 2010 that Gable had told him he would "step aside" in 2011, which the timeline records that Gable "vehemently denies".[^14] Searchlight's 2026 obituary of Gable states that Gable offered Lowles "the hand of friendship" at an anti-fascist anniversary event in 2023.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Informants
|
||||
|
||||
[[Ed Caesar]] reported in The New Yorker in 2019 that Lowles, then HOPE not hate's chief executive, "runs several moles", that one source was an anti-fascist campaigner who went undercover nearly twenty-five years earlier, and that Lowles received a briefing after [[Robbie Mullen]] e-mailed the organisation in April 2017. According to Lowles, the police then believed that [[National Action]] had been all but dismantled after its ban. Mullen later worked for HOPE not hate as a researcher after Lowles found him the position.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Disputes
|
||||
|
||||
[[Nigel Farage]] said on the radio station [[LBC]] in December 2016 that HOPE not hate pursued "violent and undemocratic means". HOPE not hate began a crowdfunded libel action, and on 14 November 2017 announced that Farage had filed a statement in the High Court acknowledging that it "does not tolerate or pursue violent or undemocratic behaviour".[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
On the night of Saturday 3 August 2024, during rioting in Middlesbrough, Lowles wrote on X: "Reports are coming in of acid being thrown out of a car window at a Muslim woman in Middlesbrough. Absolutely horrendous." The post was seen by more than 100,000 people. [[Cleveland Police]] stated that it had not received any formal complaint from any victim. On 4 August Lowles wrote that police had denied knowledge of the attack, "though some in the local Muslim community insist it happened", and "Hold my hands up if my initial tweet was wrong". The Conservative member of Parliament [[Neil O'Brien]] described the original post as "Incredibly irresponsible".[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2025 and 2026 complaints to the [[Charity Commission]] by [[Jack Rankin]] and Farage concerned the relationship between the charity and Hope Not Hate Limited, of which Lowles was a director until 2020 and secretary from 2023; the Commission closed its compliance case in January 2026 and took no further action on the second complaint. Its press release of 22 January 2026 refers to the charity's changes to its secretary and trustees and does not name Lowles.[^18][^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding Records of the Organisation
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Electoral Commission]] register records donations to HOPE not hate Ltd, a permitted third party, in the years in which Lowles was an editor or chief executive, among them 80,000 pounds from [[UNISON]] on 14 May 2009, 65,000 pounds from [[Unite the Union]] on 14 December 2009, 60,000 pounds from the [[National Union of Teachers]] on 17 February 2010, 200,000 pounds from an individual recorded as [[David Sainsbury]] on 4 November 2019, 100,000 pounds from Mr [[Greg Nasmyth]] on 12 December 2019 and 75,000 pounds from [[Open Britain|Open Britain Ltd]] in two payments in November and December 2019.[^20] The Borderland timeline states that in September 2010 "Labour-supporting financier [[Richard Brindle]] moves into HNH orbit, entrancing Lowles"; the timeline's author is hostile to both sides, and the Electoral Commission search for HOPE not hate Ltd returns no donation from a person of that name.[^14][^20] The charity's accounts record an unrestricted grant of 46,000 pounds from the [[Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust]] in each of 2019 and 2020 and grants from the charity to Hope Not Hate Limited of 625,000 pounds in 2022, 650,000 pounds in 2023 and 787,858 pounds in 2024.[^21][^22][^23][^24] The [[Sigrid Rausing Trust]] lists HOPE Not Hate as a grantee since 2013 with 1,615,000 pounds of previous grants.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Honours
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Cabinet Office]] list of the New Year Honours 2017 contains the entry "Mr Nicholas LOWLES, Founder, Hope Not Hate. For services to Community Cohesion and Combating Extremism", London, under Members of the Order of the British Empire. The Cabinet Office list for the 2016 New Year Honours contains no entry for the name. The publisher's biography gives 2016 as the year of the award, and the 2017 list is the one that carries the entry.[^1][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: HarperCollins Rights, "Nick Lowles" author biography (grew up in Hounslow, moved to Shrewsbury aged ten; student volunteer at Sheffield University; television credits; "Between 1999 and 2011 Lowles was co-editor, and then editor, of Searchlight magazine"; "awarded an MBE in 2016"), harpercollinsrights.co.uk, accessed 1 October 2026. https://www.harpercollinsrights.co.uk/contributors/nick-lowles-28341-uk/
|
||||
[^2]: Sheila McKechnie Foundation, "Nick Lowles", Long Term Achievement Award 2024 page. https://smk.org.uk/awards_nominations/nick-lowles/
|
||||
[^3]: Companies House, appointments of Nick Lowles (born June 1968): HOPE NOT HATE (SERVICES) LIMITED, director from 25 September 2012; HOPE NOT HATE LIMITED (08188502), director 22 August 2012 to 18 February 2020, secretary 31 August 2023 to 1 September 2026, and director again from 1 September 2026 (filing AP01, 15 September 2026), accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/jk99RhE3ohSWf-QgztVYEGaMHUU/appointments and https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08188502/officers
|
||||
[^4]: Open Library, author search "Nick Lowles", openlibrary.org, queried 1 October 2026 (White Noise 1998; White Riot, Milo Books, 2003 edition record, first published 2001 per Internet Archive item whiteriotviolent0000lowl; Mr. Evil 2002; Hooligans 2005; A-L and M-Z 2007; From Cable Street to Oldham 2007; How to Defeat the Far Right 2025). https://openlibrary.org/search.json?author=Nick+Lowles
|
||||
[^5]: Cabinet Office, New Year Honours 2017, full list (CSV): Members of the Order of the British Empire, "Mr Nicholas LOWLES, Founder, Hope Not Hate. For services to Community Cohesion and Combating Extremism", London, GOV.UK; the Cabinet Office CSV for the New Year Honours 2016 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80ca2e40f0b62302695834/NewYearHonoursList2016.csv) was searched for the name without result. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f0f19e5274a2e8ab49da3/new-years-honours-2017-full-list-csv.csv
|
||||
[^6]: Companies House, officers of HOPE NOT HATE (1986) LIMITED (02055070), formerly SEARCHLIGHT INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED: Nick Lowles, director, appointed 25 June 2005; Gerry Gable, director, appointed before 31 December 1990, resigned 4 December 2011; Sonia Kathleen Emma Gable, secretary, 1 November 1992 to 4 December 2011, accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02055070/officers
|
||||
[^7]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021, filed 29 September 2022, Companies House filing MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4 (key management personnel N Lowles and J Levene; "Publications" section). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
|
||||
[^8]: Larry O'Hara, "Combat 18 and MI5: Some Background Notes", with a later undated introduction, Notes From The Borderland, borderland.co.uk (partisan source; the notes are dated December 1995). https://borderland.co.uk/combat-18-mi5-some-background-notes/
|
||||
[^9]: Searchlight, "Obituary: Gerry Gable (1937-2026), architect of modern British anti-fascism", searchlightmagazine.com, January 2026. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2026/01/obituary-gerry-gable-1937-2026-architect-of-modern-british-anti-fascism/
|
||||
[^10]: Companies House, officers of HOPE NOT HATE (SERVICES) LIMITED (07719229), accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07719229/officers
|
||||
[^11]: Companies House, appointments of Nick Lowles as secretary of HOPE UNLIMITED CHARITABLE TRUST (02738367), 31 August 2023 to 30 June 2025, accessed 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/emU3mSR1s-h9BzsxxdYnfy2z_dY/appointments
|
||||
[^12]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual reports and financial statements for 2021 (filing MzM1MzYwMDY0NmFkaXF6a2N4), 2022, 2023 (MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4) and 2024 (MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4), "Key management personnel", Companies House company 02738367. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history
|
||||
[^13]: Martin Bright, "Tragedy of a serious split between anti-fascists", The Jewish Chronicle, 9 August 2012. https://www.thejc.com/opinion/analysis/tragedy-of-a-serious-split-between-anti-fascists-p843rzof
|
||||
[^14]: Larry O'Hara, "Exclusive: Introduction and Time-line to Hope Not Hate versus Searchlight Civil War Article NFB 10", Notes From The Borderland, borderland.co.uk (partisan source, hostile to both sides). https://borderland.co.uk/exclusive-introduction-time-line-to-hope-not-hate-versus-searchlight-civil-war-article-nfb-10/
|
||||
[^15]: Ed Caesar, "The Undercover Fascist" (print title "Hate and Love"), The New Yorker, 27 May 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/27/the-undercover-fascist
|
||||
[^16]: Peter Walker, "Nigel Farage withdraws 'violent means' claim against Hope Not Hate", The Guardian, 14 November 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/14/nigel-farage-withdraws-claim-hope-not-hate-high-court
|
||||
[^17]: Fiona Parker, "Hope Not Hate boss apologises for false 'acid attack on Muslim woman' tweet", The Telegraph, 5 August 2024, as syndicated by Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/hope-not-hate-boss-apologises-162745371.html
|
||||
[^18]: Charity Commission, "Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust addresses concerns following intervention by regulator", GOV.UK press release, 22 January 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hope-not-hate-charitable-trust-addresses-concerns-following-intervention-by-regulator
|
||||
[^19]: Dami Adewale, "Charity cleared by commission after Farage complaint", Third Sector, 24 June 2026. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-cleared-commission-farage-complaint/governance/article/1962712
|
||||
[^20]: Electoral Commission, Political Finance Online, donations search for "hope not hate" (recipient HOPE not hate Ltd, regulated entity type Third Party), queried 1 October 2026. https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/
|
||||
[^21]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020, filed 9 December 2021, Companies House filing MzMyMzA3OTQwOWFkaXF6a2N4 (unrestricted grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust 46,000 pounds in 2019 and 2020). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzMyMzA3OTQwOWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
|
||||
[^22]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022, Companies House, company 02738367 (grant to HnH Ltd 625,000 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history
|
||||
[^23]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023, filed 30 September 2024, Companies House filing MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4 (grant to Hope not Hate Ltd 650,000 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzQzNzcyNTg5NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
|
||||
[^24]: Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust, annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, filed 28 September 2025, Companies House filing MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4 (grant to Hope not Hate Ltd 787,858 pounds). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02738367/filing-history/MzQ4MjkyNzA1OWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=xhtml&download=1
|
||||
[^25]: The Sigrid Rausing Trust, grantee profile "HOPE Not Hate" (supported since 2013; total of previous grants 1,615,000 pounds), accessed 1 October 2026. https://sigrid-rausing-trust.org/grantees/hope-not-hate/
|
||||
189
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Al Schwimmer.md
Normal file
189
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Al Schwimmer.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- AlSchwimmer
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
- IsraelAircraftIndustries
|
||||
- ArmsDealer
|
||||
- NeutralityAct
|
||||
- JewishAgency
|
||||
- IranContra
|
||||
- ShimonPeres
|
||||
- LakeResources
|
||||
- PresidentialPardon
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Al Schwimmer
|
||||
- Adolph Schwimmer
|
||||
- Adolph W. Schwimmer
|
||||
- Adolph William Schwimmer
|
||||
- A. W. Schwimmer
|
||||
- Adolf Schwimmer
|
||||
- Adolf (Al) Schwimmer
|
||||
summary: "American flight engineer convicted in 1950 of smuggling aircraft to Israel for the Jewish Agency, founder of Israel Aircraft Industries, Peres adviser and Israeli intermediary in the 1985 Iran arms sales, pardoned in 2001."
|
||||
born: 1917-06-11
|
||||
died: 2011-06-11
|
||||
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Jewish Agency for Israel]]"
|
||||
start: 1947-09
|
||||
end: 1948
|
||||
role: "aircraft procurement, funded through Nahum Bernstein"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Haganah]]"
|
||||
start: 1947
|
||||
role: "volunteer"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
start: 1948
|
||||
end: 1950
|
||||
role: "subject, Neutrality Act and export control investigation, Los Angeles"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1949-04
|
||||
end: 1950-02
|
||||
role: "defendant, United States v. Schwimmer et al., S.D. Cal. Docket No. 20,636"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Israel Aircraft Industries]]"
|
||||
role: "founder of Bedek, its precursor"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Israel Aircraft Industries]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Shimon Peres]]"
|
||||
start: 1984-09
|
||||
role: "special adviser to the prime minister"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Yaacov Nimrodi]]"
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
role: "business associate in the Iran arms channel"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
|
||||
start: 1985-01
|
||||
end: 1986-01
|
||||
role: "Israeli intermediary in the 1985 TOW and HAWK sales"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[The Enterprise (Iran-Contra)]]"
|
||||
start: 1985-11
|
||||
role: "deposited about $1 million in the Lake Resources account for HAWK flights"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Adolph W. "Al" Schwimmer (June 11, 1917 to June 11, 2011) was a flight engineer for the [[Air Transport Command]] in the Second World War and for [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]] afterward.[^1] From September 1947 he bought surplus American aircraft for the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] and flew them through [[Panama]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] to the forces that became the [[Israeli Air Force]]. He was convicted in [[Los Angeles]] in 1950 of conspiring to violate the [[Neutrality Act]] and export controls, moved to [[Israel]], and built the aircraft maintenance company [[Bedek]] into [[Israel Aircraft Industries]].[^2][^3][^4] From September 1984 he was a special adviser to Prime Minister [[Shimon Peres]], and in 1985 he and [[Yaacov Nimrodi]] were the private Israeli arms dealers through whom American missiles were first shipped to [[Iran]] in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].[^5] [[Bill Clinton]] pardoned him on January 20, 2001.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|Jewish Journal]] called him "a New York native" and reported that he died at Tel Hashomer hospital on his 94th birthday; the newsletter of the [[American Veterans of Israel]] called him "a native of Bridgeport."[^1][^6] In September 1947 he lived in [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Jewish Agency's aircraft, 1947 to 1948
|
||||
|
||||
Schwimmer gave the FBI his own account in 1949. About September 15, 1947, just back at his Bridgeport home from a transatlantic flight, he received a call from [[Albert Miller]], who met him near Grand Central Station in New York, said he was a representative of the Jewish Agency who lived in [[Palestine]], and said he wanted to start "a nucleus airline" for transport to Palestine. Miller sent him to Los Angeles to look at [[Lockheed Constellation|Constellation]] aircraft. Schwimmer bought three Constellations from the [[War Assets Administration]] for $15,000 each and received $125,000 in all to recondition them, all of it banked in his name. He told the agents he wished "to go on record as being quite aware of the fact that it was illegal to take certain types of planes out of the [[United States]] without proper [[State Department]] clearance," and that he believed the trust placed in him was owed to "his Jewish lineage and his sympathy with the Jewish cause in Palestine."[^2] The [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] work was done at Burbank under the name of the Schwimmer Aviation Company.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The money came through [[Nahum Bernstein]], a New York lawyer and veteran of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] who was counsel to the Jewish Agency and secretary of Americans for Haganah. Bernstein later testified that he met Schwimmer in November 1947, that the Jewish Agency's checks were deposited in his law firm's special account at the [[Chase National Bank]] at 20 Pine Street, and that Schwimmer opened an account to receive the funds at the [[Bank of America]] in Hollywood. Another Jewish Agency official told Bernstein that $750,000 was available for the purchases.[^7] The newsletter of the American Veterans of Israel records that Schwimmer volunteered for the [[Haganah]] in 1947.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The FBI's Los Angeles office divided the case into four phases. In March 1948 a C-46 sold as scrap to a school district near [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] was dismantled and its engines taken to the Schwimmer company in Burbank; one of the company's associates told a woman who arranged the purchase, when she asked what she would get out of it, "You're working for the cause." Five C-46s that Schwimmer had bought cleared customs on April 13 and 14, 1948, the last days before [[Presidential Proclamation 2776]] barred the export of aircraft at midnight on April 14; they flew to Panama, then [[Žatec]] in Czechoslovakia, and Palestine. One crashed on takeoff at [[Mexico City]], killing both pilots. Forty-two Pratt and Whitney R2800-10W combat engines bought in [[Honolulu]] by [[Hank Greenspun|Herman Greenspun]] and [[William Sosnow]] were declared to customs as an exportable civilian type for shipment by [[Service Airways]] to [[Lineas Aereas de Panama]], and were seized; on April 14 Schwimmer asked an official of [[Pacific Airmotive]] for help with the export and admitted that the engines were the combat type. In May 1948 a box of C-46 radio parts was seized at the airport as a mechanic's personal baggage; a second set was picked up at midnight for cash, and Schwimmer handed the parts to the installers in Panama. In June 1948 about thirty-eight mechanics flew east on the last Constellation on the understanding that they would work on commercial aircraft in [[Rome]]. Customs impounded the two remaining Constellations in the East, and the State Department took the passports of the men who had not yet left. Schwimmer's foreman gave the FBI a signed statement on August 7, 1948 that Schwimmer and his representatives had asked him on July 21 to sign a statement contradicting what he had told customs, and that he had signed it under duress.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A report of the [[Air Force Office of Special Investigations]] of October 18, 1948, on a reserve lieutenant colonel recruited to ferry B-17 bombers, records that Schwimmer's associate [[Leo Gardner]] told the officer he had been assured by the State Department that there would be no trouble for the men who ferried the aircraft.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
By Schwimmer's account the operation brought about thirty aircraft to Israel through [[Italy]] or [[South America]] and Czechoslovakia, through dummy airline companies that were supposed to fly charters, and recruited crews, mostly Second World War veterans. By May 1948 he was sleeping somewhere different each night. "My philosophy was that we couldn't outsmart them, but if we moved fast, we'd be ahead of them all the time," he told the [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] in 2001. He served in Israel's air force during the war.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Indictment and trial, 1949 to 1950
|
||||
|
||||
On April 6, 1949 a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned two indictments. The first charged Schwimmer, [[Rey Selk]], J. Leonard, [[Abe Levin]], Greenspun, [[Sam Lewis]], Sosnow, Leo Gardner and the corporation Service Airways of New York with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act and export control laws, under Title 22, sections 452 and 453, Title 50, section 701, and Proclamation 2776. The second charged Schwimmer, Selk, Lewis and [[Elynor Rudnick]] with conspiracy to defraud the government.[^2] A month later Schwimmer and two co-defendants just back from Israel surrendered, with the support of ten Jewish organizations including [[Hadassah]] and the [[American Jewish Congress]], which said the defendants were "accused of aiding victims of aggression."[^9] Bond, first set at $10,000, was reduced to $1,000.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The trial, *United States v. Schwimmer et al.*, was held before Judge [[Pierson M. Hall]]; the defense attorneys were [[Isaac Pacht]] and [[William Strong]]. On January 15, 16 and 17, 1950 Bernstein testified for the defense that the Jewish Agency had financed the purchases under his direction and that the defendants were its agents; the defense told the court that "the setting up of the plan, the purchase of the planes, the Panamanian situation" and "everything" had been under his supervision. An FBI agent testified in rebuttal that on January 13, 1948 Bernstein had told the bureau he had never met Schwimmer. Schwimmer, Gardner, Selk and Service Airways were convicted and fined $10,000 each; Greenspun, Sosnow and Lewis were acquitted.[^7] The Executive Grant of Clemency of 2001 identifies the conviction as one in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of California]] on Docket No. 20,636, for violation of sections 88 (1946 edition) and 371 of Title 18, section 452 of Title 22, section 701 of Title 50, and Proclamation No. 2776 of March 26, 1948, and records that on February 20, 1950 Schwimmer was sentenced to a fine of $10,000 "and to imprisonment until said fine was paid or otherwise discharged pursuant to the law."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The assistant United States attorney, [[Herschel E. Champlin]], told the FBI that had the government known of Bernstein's role he would have been indicted with the others; Champlin then declined to prosecute him in Los Angeles because he had committed no overt act there, and referred the matter to the Justice Department. Champlin also told the bureau that the department had "worked out a formula" for the main defendants, indicted in several districts, "so that they would not be sentenced more than once." The FBI's New York office had an espionage case pending on Bernstein; a headquarters memorandum of July 1950 states that the former Israeli military attaché in Washington, [[Ephraim Ben-Arzi]], had named him in a military attaché report of January 27, 1949 as one of four persons who would control Israeli intelligence operations in the United States. In July 1950, sentencing Greenspun, Sosnow and [[Abraham Leven]] in the Miami phase of the case, Hall said that "the Government cannot permit individuals or private groups to conduct their private wars," and of Greenspun: "I think Greenspun was the leader, but I cannot bring myself to send him to prison because I believe that there are other persons more culpable than he in the background but they are not in the jurisdiction of this court." Champlin told the bureau he believed Hall had in mind such persons as Bernstein.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Schwimmer said the Jewish Agency paid his fine and court costs.[^3] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency later wrote that the case "ultimately cost him his U.S. citizenship"; the American Veterans of Israel wrote that he was "deprived of his civil rights, including the right to vote or claim government benefits."[^6][^9] President [[John F. Kennedy]] pardoned Greenspun, later publisher of the [[Las Vegas Sun]], on October 18, 1961; Greenspun's warrant records a separate indictment, No. 21266-CD, and a fine imposed on July 17, 1950.[^3][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bedek and Israel Aircraft Industries
|
||||
|
||||
In the early 1950s Schwimmer was running an aircraft maintenance company in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]] when [[David Ben-Gurion]] asked him to establish an aircraft company in Israel for commercial and military work.[^1] He founded Bedek, the precursor of Israel Aircraft Industries, and headed the company for nearly twenty-five years.[^3] A former employee who worked on Israel's missile program at the company's Or Yehuda facility from August 1968 to March 1969 told the FBI in June 1970 that the president of IAI was "Al Schwimmer, who actually has dual citizenship (Israel and U.S. of America), and who maintains a residence in the U.S." The source said the program was modifying French missiles, seventeen of a projected fifty-seven delivered, for a range of 500 miles, with the [[Weizmann Institute of Science|Weizmann Institute]], the [[Technion]], [[Elta Systems|Elta]], [[Motorola Israel]] and American Electronics Laboratories taking part, and that he had heard of a reactor at [[Dimona]]. The Albuquerque office captioned its memorandum "Electronics Firm in Pennsylvania Allegedly Owned by the Israeli Government."[^11] In July 1987 the FBI's Honolulu office, in a neutrality investigation concerning the Philippines that followed [[Ferdinand Marcos]]'s attempt to leave Honolulu by private plane in January 1987, listed "Al Schwimmer, 69, Chairman, Israel Aircraft Industries" among fourteen international arms suppliers profiled in wire reports, with [[Adnan Khashoggi]], [[Sarkis Soghanalian]], Sherwood International, Federal Ordnance Corporation, [[Stanford Technology Corporation|Stanford Technology]], [[Civilian Materiel Assistance]] and the Virginia farm known as "Black Eagle," and asked headquarters to run traces through [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] liaison.[^12] The Jewish Journal dated his retirement to 1988, when the company was valued at $1 billion; the American Veterans of Israel dated it to 1980.[^1][^6] He received the [[Israel Prize]] in 2006.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Adviser to Shimon Peres
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Tower Commission]] described Schwimmer as "a long-time arms merchant and, since September 1984, Special Advisor to Prime Minister Peres."[^5] He took the post, for one shekel a year, as adviser for technology and industry, and in that capacity met President [[Ronald Reagan]] and Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]].[^1][^3] [[Michael Ledeen]] told the Tower board that Schwimmer was one of Peres's "close friends."[^5] [[Richard Secord]], asked in the 1987 hearings what Schwimmer's relationship to the Israeli government was, answered that he was "a long-time friend of the prime minister but I don't believe he had a formal position," and agreed that he was an arms dealer.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In December 1986 Israeli officials gave the Israeli press their own account of the affair. [[Yoel Marcus]] of [[Haaretz]], in a reconstruction based on Israeli sources, wrote that in March 1985 Peres told his "informal adviser and old friend" Schwimmer that the Americans had asked for help in freeing their hostages, particularly the CIA station chief in [[Beirut]], [[William Buckley]]; that Schwimmer suggested using Nimrodi; and that it was Schwimmer "who came up with the idea of 'arms for Buckley.'" Marcus also wrote that if Israel were pushed further, "I won't be surprised if officials here use" the "bullets in the gun" it still held. [[Thomas L. Friedman]] of the [[New York Times]] reported that the account contained factual errors and conflicted with the American version; Ledeen called it "total nonsense."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Iranian channel, 1985
|
||||
|
||||
In a series of meetings beginning in January 1985, Nimrodi, [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]], [[Amiram Nir]] and Schwimmer discussed obtaining the release of American hostages in [[Lebanon]] and a dialogue with Iran.[^5] The congressional committees found that Adnan Khashoggi put Ghorbanifar and [[Cyrus Hashemi]], a naturalized American indicted in 1984 for arms export violations, in touch with "an Israeli group: Al Schwimmer, an adviser to then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and Ya'accov Nimrodi," and that members of the Israeli team met Hashemi and Ghorbanifar in [[London]], [[Geneva]] and Israel in early spring. Khashoggi's former employee [[Roy Furmark]] placed the introduction in June.[^15] Khashoggi said in 1987 that he had asked Peres to have the [[Mossad]] check Ghorbanifar and that "48 hours later, Schwimmer was at my door with Nimrodi"; at a later meeting in [[Hamburg]], he said, [[David Kimche]] came with Schwimmer, Nimrodi "and another guy from Mossad," and in the first week of July "Schwimmer and Kimche flew over to see McFarlane."[^16] Ledeen recalled Schwimmer reporting that he had met Ghorbanifar "through Schwimmer's friend, Khashoggi."[^5] The committees' minority report cited Schwimmer's reported statement to Ledeen that he had just been introduced to Ghorbanifar, "even though Ghorbanifar had been meeting with them since January."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 7, 1985 Kimche, Nimrodi, Schwimmer, Ghorbanifar and Khashoggi met in Geneva, and on July 8 they met Ghorbanifar's Iranian contact in Hamburg. On July 11, at Kimche's direction, Schwimmer met Ledeen in Washington and told him that Ghorbanifar thought the hostages could be freed and that selling [[TOW Missile|TOW missiles]] to Iran would improve relations; Ledeen said it was the first time he had heard of Ghorbanifar.[^17] On July 13 [[Robert McFarlane]] received a request from Peres carried by an "emissary," Schwimmer, through Ledeen.[^5] At a meeting in Israel at the end of July with Ghorbanifar, Kimche, Schwimmer and Nimrodi, Ledeen said, the subject of weapons and hostages was raised for the first time.[^18] On August 20, Israel, "working through Nimrodi, Schwimmer and Ghorbanifar," shipped 96 TOW missiles to Iran.[^17] After a second shipment of 408, the Reverend [[Benjamin Weir]] was released on September 15, and Schwimmer asked Ghorbanifar why Buckley had not been; Ghorbanifar answered that Buckley was too ill to move.[^18] Buckley had died in June.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Oliver North]]'s calendar shows a meeting with Schwimmer at 11:30 a.m. on September 26. On October 6 North asked the CIA to put Ghorbanifar and Nimrodi under surveillance during their visit, and on October 8 Ledeen, North, Nimrodi, Schwimmer and Ghorbanifar, using the alias Nicholas Kralis, met in the [[Old Executive Office Building]].[^5] Ledeen told the Tower board that Ghorbanifar had urged in one of their meetings that the arms and hostage matters, "which engaged Schwimmer and Nimrodi particularly," be dropped. Ledeen said that in October he asked Schwimmer to open an account for expenses; Schwimmer opened one at [[Credit Suisse]] and gave him the number, which Ledeen passed to North.[^5] After the sales became public Credit Suisse wrote to Ledeen that the account had never been used.[^17] On October 27 Nimrodi, Schwimmer, Ledeen, Ghorbanifar and several Iranians met in Geneva, where the Iranians asked for [[HAWK missile|HAWK missiles]].[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### The HAWK shipment, November 1985
|
||||
|
||||
On November 18 North called Schwimmer, who said the first shipment of 100 missiles had been "approved" in [[Tel Aviv]] and was to be followed by the release of five "boxes," the code word for the hostages. North wrote in his notebook: "Schwimmer to P/U [pick up] HAWKs in U.S."[^15] On November 20 the [[Lake Resources]] account at Credit Suisse in Geneva, a Panamanian company controlled by Secord that North called "our Swiss Co[mpany]," received $1 million.[^15] Secord testified: "Mr. Schwimmer quickly deposited in our account, Lake Resources account, the million dollars and said to go ahead and lease the airplanes."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 22 North called Schwimmer and authorized an aircraft carrying 80 HAWKs to take off for a transit country that had not given landing permission; three and a half hours later he called again, and the aircraft was recalled and unloaded. Schwimmer abandoned his plan to fly the missiles on from the transit country in two DC-8s from a European company and, by his account, told North that the Americans would have to handle the flight logistics.[^18] North wrote to [[John Poindexter]] at 7:00 p.m.: "Unbelievable as it may seem, I have just talked to Schwimmer, in TA [Tel Aviv,] who advises that they have released their DC-8s in spite of my call to DK [David Kimche] instructing that they be put on hold until we could iron out the clearance problem.... Schwimmer released them to save $ and now does not think that they can be re-chartered before Monday." Within minutes North reported that Secord would have one of "our LAKE Resources A/C," then waiting to carry ammunition to the [[Contras]], repainted overnight to take its place.[^15] Secord, whom North had sent to [[Lisbon]], testified that he had never dealt with Schwimmer before and spoke with him "dozens of times" on an unsecured telephone.[^13] The CIA's airline proprietary flew the cargo. Its manager reported that Schwimmer proposed flying an American-registered plane into Iran with a false registration painted on its tail, or in formation with another plane to hide it from radar operators, and that Schwimmer "must be crazy"; the proposals were rejected.[^15] [[Stephen Engelberg]] of the New York Times reported that by American accounts Schwimmer had erred in letting the plane take off before landing rights in [[Portugal]] were secured, and that Israeli officials said North had failed to obtain them.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Eighteen HAWKs reached Tehran. Secord testified that Schwimmer, at his home in Israel, told him that Ghorbanifar's contact in the Iranian prime minister's office "was literally screaming" about the missiles.[^13] According to Secord, Schwimmer and Nimrodi had promised Ghorbanifar missiles that could shoot down high-flying Soviet reconnaissance aircraft and Iraqi bombers; the I-HAWKs, like all HAWKs, could not.[^15] North wrote to Poindexter on December 4 that "Schwimmer and Ledeen were unfamiliar with the operational parameters of the HAWK" and had agreed to ship 120 missiles "totally inadequate to meet the rqmts established by the Iranians."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The money
|
||||
|
||||
Iran paid $24.72 million for the 80 HAWKs, about $300,000 a missile. On November 22 Ghorbanifar transferred $18 million and $6 million to the account of an Israeli intermediary, whom the committees did not name, who transferred $1 million to Lake Resources "on North's demand" and paid the Israeli Ministry of Defense $11.2 million for the HAWKs at $140,000 each, keeping $11.8 million more than he had paid out. According to the Israeli Financial Chronology, $6 million of it was held in trust for Ghorbanifar and $5.8 million was for shipping and other expenses, and Ledeen and North agreed that it stay in the intermediary's account. On November 27 the ministry returned $8.17 million to the intermediary, who sent Ghorbanifar $18.6 million; at the end of November the Israelis held more than $5 million in residuals.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The Israelis had paid the Enterprise $1 million to deliver 120 HAWKs; when only 18 were delivered, at a cost of about $200,000, $800,000 remained, and "with the Israelis' permission to use this money as the United States wished, North directed Secord to spend the $800,000 on Contra support."[^15] Secord testified that North told him he had discussed the use of the money with the Israelis "but not as to destination of the funds. So Mr. Schwimmer made a contribution." Questioned by Senator [[William Cohen]], Secord agreed that the $800,000 was Schwimmer's money, that North told him to keep it, that Nir confirmed this a month later, and that Israel would make no claim on it if it were turned over to the Treasury.[^13] The [[Washington Times]] reported the testimony as $800,000 "paid into Gen. Secord's Swiss bank account by Israeli arms dealer Al Schwimmer."[^20] In late November 1985, the committees found, Secord learned in Israel that proceeds of the earlier TOW sales had been used by Nimrodi and Schwimmer "for purposes other than purchasing the HAWKs." Asked what profits Schwimmer had made, Secord said he had no knowledge.[^13][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### London and removal, December 1985 to January 1986
|
||||
|
||||
Secord, Ghorbanifar, Kimche, Schwimmer and Nimrodi met in Paris about December 1, and the group then moved to London.[^18] On December 8 McFarlane met Ghorbanifar at Nimrodi's London home with North, Secord, Kimche, Schwimmer and an Israeli defense official present.[^17] Secord testified that, out of McFarlane's hearing, a dispute broke out among the Israelis over who was in control, Schwimmer or an official of the Ministry of Defense, and that it ended "with Schwimmer asserting that he was in control."[^13] McFarlane told the Tower board he had seen reports that the West End apartment was Schwimmer's but did not know it firsthand.[^5] North wrote: "The Israeli contact, Schwimmer, has arranged deliveries of items which were not requested by Gorbanifahr for the Iranian military. Further, the terms which he negotiated are disadvantageous to the IDF and our ability to replenish the Israelis.... Despite admonishments to the contrary, Schwimmer had already arranged for the 3,300 TOWs as part of the next steps."[^5] By mid-December Poindexter had told North to keep the initiative moving, which included substituting a new team, led by North and Nir, for Ledeen, Schwimmer and Nimrodi.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 15, 1986 North reported to Poindexter Nir's view that Ghorbanifar "probably lied to Schwimmer and that Schwimmer probably lied to Nir re how much there was available."[^5] North's notes of a call with Nir that day refer to a 25 percent cut for "other Iranians" and a 15 percent cut to "accountant," which the committees identified as the code name for Schwimmer, and to "7500 each to Copp. 5300 each to DOD." The committees read North's message of that day as an effort to have more of the residual profit flow to the American side "rather than to Schwimmer and Nimrodi." On January 16 North proposed that Nir deal directly with Ghorbanifar, with Schwimmer and the Iranian officials "cut-out" from the expected profits.[^15] Asked later about his role, Schwimmer said only: "We used the connections we had, which were perhaps better than the United States had, to try to get the hostages out."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Inquiries
|
||||
|
||||
On January 14, 1987 [[Lee Hamilton]], chairman of the House select committee, asked the acting director of central intelligence, [[Robert Gates]], for all CIA material on arms transactions with Iran, Israel, Ghorbanifar, Khashoggi, Nimrodi, Schwimmer or Nir and on efforts to free the hostages.[^21] On May 22, 1987 FBI headquarters sent its New York office, under the Iran-Contra case name FRONT DOOR, five subpoenas for Israeli officials and businessmen who had been "instrumental, in various degrees, in assisting the United States in selling arms to Iran"; the names are withheld in the copy released in the FBI's file on Schwimmer. The airtel states that the Israeli government had been "steadfast in its refusal" to make them available, that they had been entered in the Treasury Enforcement Communication System, and that the Immigration and Naturalization Service would stop them on arrival and notify the bureau and the independent counsel.[^22] Israel's insistence on diplomatic protocols prevented testimony by Schwimmer, Kimche, Nimrodi and Nir, though it provided written chronologies, which the committees used under a specific agreement with the Israeli government.[^15][^23] North told McFarlane, according to McFarlane's grand jury testimony, that he suspected "Mr. Schwimmer and Michael" had an agreement to share some of the gain from the sales; Ledeen denied profiting, and the independent counsel, [[Lawrence Walsh]], found no evidence that he had, adding that "Israel never gave OIC access to financial accounts or records."[^17] Schwimmer was never charged in the United States or Israel.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pardon
|
||||
|
||||
Schwimmer never applied for a pardon. The son of his co-defendant, [[Brian Greenspun]], submitted the petition, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Greenspun asked Clinton for the pardon over the preceding Thanksgiving weekend.[^3][^6] "You've got to say 'I recognize I was guilty and I did wrong,'" Schwimmer said of the application process. "I wasn't ready to say all that."[^9] His name was on the master warrant of January 20, 2001 that also pardoned [[Marc Rich]]. Before the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on February 14, 2001, the pardon attorney, [[Roger C. Adams]], testified that for some persons on the warrant his office had received "either no documents at all or very sketchy information from the [[White House]] Counsel in the last hours before the pardons were granted," that individual warrants for nine persons were still being prepared, and that "in one case (that of Adolph Schwimmer), the conviction of which we have knowledge is more than 50 years old."[^24] The individual warrant, dated January 20, 2001 and signed by Adams at the President's direction, grants Adolph W. Schwimmer "a full and unconditional pardon"; Adams's memorandum to the department's public affairs office records it as granted "after completion of sentence." The [[Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy]], which obtained the warrant under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], reported that most records of the clemency applications had been transferred to the National Archives.[^4][^25]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 27, 2008 Schwimmer wrote to President [[George W. Bush]] and Attorney General [[Michael Mukasey]] in support of a posthumous pardon for [[Charles Winters]], who had supplied B-17s to Israel and served a prison sentence; others "including myself" convicted of similar crimes, he wrote, "were treated more leniently by the justice system, as we were assessed fines and did not serve any jail time."[^26] Brian Greenspun wrote in the same campaign that Schwimmer was "the man who led the operation in which Mr. Winters participated."[^27] Bush granted the Winters pardon at the end of his term.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
In his eighties Schwimmer worked for an Israeli constitution with civil marriage and equal standing for all branches of Judaism.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Tom Tugend, "Al Schwimmer, Israel Air Force pioneer, dies at 94," *Jewish Journal* (Los Angeles), June 12, 2011, https://jewishjournal.com/news/93036/.
|
||||
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles report L.A. 2-86, September 19, 1949 (Neutrality Act and export control investigation; Schwimmer's statement; "Vineland School District," "Forty-two Aircraft Engine," "Aircraft Radio Parts" and "Two Constellation" phases; indictments), FBI file 97-HQ-2912, serial 603, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
|
||||
[^3]: JTA Staff, "Pardoned American served Israel in 1948," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2001, https://www.jta.org/archive/pardoned-american-served-israel-in-1948.
|
||||
[^4]: Executive Grant of Clemency, Adolph W. Schwimmer, signed by Roger C. Adams, Pardon Attorney, January 20, 2001, and Pardon Attorney memorandum to the Director, Office of Public Affairs, same date, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and published by the Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/01202001_Schwimmer_Pardon.pdf.
|
||||
[^5]: *The Tower Commission Report: The Full Text of the President's Special Review Board* (New York: Bantam Books and Times Books, 1987), pp. 24 to 25, 30 to 31, 121 to 122, 125 to 127, 154 to 155, 163 to 165, 189 to 190, 194 to 195, 232 to 233 (page breaks as printed in the scanned text), https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit.
|
||||
[^6]: "Al Schwimmer Pardoned by Clinton," *The AVI Newsletter* (American Veterans of Israel), Spring 2001, p. 9, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~sklausne/Newslettersp01_9.html.
|
||||
[^7]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, file 65-HQ-59184 (Nahum Bernstein, "Espionage, IS"), serials including New York report of June 13, 1950; Los Angeles report LA 65-5048 of July 28, 1950 by SA Philip J. Reilly ("Neutrality Act, Conspiracy"), summarizing the trial transcript of United States v. Schwimmer et al., vols. XXVIII to XXX; and headquarters memorandum of July 1950, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
|
||||
[^8]: Headquarters, United States Air Force, Office of Special Investigations, Report of Investigation, District Office, Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, October 18, 1948 (subject a reserve lieutenant colonel; character "Subversive Activity"), p. 3, forwarded by the State Department Division of Security, November 23, 1948, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/10181948_Zatec.pdf.
|
||||
[^9]: Julie Wiener, "From the Archive: The idealistic outlaw who built the Israel Air Force," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 17, 2015, https://www.jta.org/2015/05/17/culture/from-the-archive-the-american-jewish-outlaw-who-built-the-israel-air-force.
|
||||
[^10]: Pardon warrant, Herman Greenspun, signed by President John F. Kennedy, October 18, 1961, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/10181961_Greenspun.pdf.
|
||||
[^11]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albuquerque letterhead memorandum, "Electronics Firm in Pennsylvania Allegedly Owned by the Israeli Government," June 23, 1970 (classified Secret), FBI file 105-HQ-205824, serial 2, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
|
||||
[^12]: SAC Honolulu (2-35) to Acting Director, FBI (attention Terrorism Section), "Neutrality Matter, Philippines," July 1987, FBI file 2-HQ-2840, serial 157X, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
|
||||
[^13]: *Joint Hearings Before the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran and the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition: Testimony of Richard V. Secord*, 100th Cong., 1st sess., Hearings 100-1, May 5 to 8, 1987 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987), pp. 80 to 84, 90 to 92, 96, 145, 313 to 314, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
|
||||
[^14]: Thomas L. Friedman, "Israelis' Account on Arms: How U.S. Set Up the Deals," *The New York Times*, December 11, 1986, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000403730010-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000403730010-7.
|
||||
[^15]: *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair*, H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216, November 1987, pp. 164, 166, 169, 171 nn. 16 and 18, 177, 179, 182, 187, 191 n. 147, 194, 200, 207 to 208, 280, and minority report p. 527, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
|
||||
[^16]: Arnaud de Borchgrave, interview with Adnan Khashoggi, "Khashoggi says he warned against arms for hostages," *The Washington Times*, March 19, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000201460002-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201460002-0.
|
||||
[^17]: Lawrence E. Walsh, *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. 1, ch. 1, "Robert C. McFarlane," text and nn. 74, 82, 86 to 88, 98, 103, 130 and 177, https://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm.
|
||||
[^18]: *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair*, Appendix C, "Chronology of Events," entries of circa July 29, September 15, October 8, October 27, November 22, circa December 1 and December 7, 1985, https://archive.org/details/Iran-ContraReport.
|
||||
[^19]: Stephen Engelberg, "North Implicated in Contra Supply Through Portugal," *The New York Times*, January 10, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000201820031-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201820031-8.
|
||||
[^20]: Mary Belcher, "Secord says North told Reagan about diversion," *The Washington Times*, May 7, 1987, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00965R000100450003-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000100450003-2.
|
||||
[^21]: Lee H. Hamilton, Chairman, House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, to Robert M. Gates, Acting Director of Central Intelligence, January 14, 1987, CIA Reading Room document 0001296190, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001296190.
|
||||
[^22]: Director, FBI, to ADIC New York, airtel, "FRONT DOOR; Major Case 90; Ethics in Government Act 1978," May 22, 1987, FBI file 211-HQ-26, serials 796 and 1048, released under FOI/PA 1177948-1, https://archive.org/details/AdolphSchwimmer.
|
||||
[^23]: "Examining the loose ends in the Iran-Contra affair," *U.S. News & World Report*, October 26, 1987, p. 22, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP89T00142R000700920014-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89t00142r000700920014-7.
|
||||
[^24]: *President Clinton's Eleventh Hour Pardons: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate*, 107th Cong., 1st sess., S. Hrg. 107-194, February 14, 2001, statement of Roger C. Adams, Pardon Attorney, pp. 27 to 28, https://archive.org/details/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-107shrg76344.
|
||||
[^25]: "Presidential Pardons: Greenspun, Schwimmer and Winters," Israel Lobby Archive, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/.
|
||||
[^26]: Al Schwimmer to President George W. Bush and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, June 27, 2008, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/06272008_Al_Schwimmer.pdf.
|
||||
[^27]: Brian Greenspun to President George W. Bush and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, July 4, 2008, Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/Pardon/07042008_Brian_Greenspun.pdf.
|
||||
76
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Buck Shlegeris.md
Normal file
76
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Buck Shlegeris.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- BuckShlegeris
|
||||
- RedwoodResearch
|
||||
- MachineIntelligenceResearchInstitute
|
||||
- AlignmentResearchCenter
|
||||
- AISafety
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Buck Shlegeris
|
||||
- Michael Shlegeris
|
||||
- Michael Buck Shlegeris
|
||||
summary: "AI-alignment researcher and recruiter at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute who became chief technology officer and then chief executive of Redwood Research, an Open Philanthropy-funded Berkeley nonprofit, and an Alignment Research Center director."
|
||||
location: "Berkeley, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "researcher and recruiter"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "contractor processing job applications, as of February 2021"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
role: "chief technology officer, later chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
|
||||
role: "director, from the return for 2023"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Alignment Research Center]]"
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Buck Shlegeris is an AI-alignment researcher who worked at the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] (MIRI) in [[Berkeley]], California, and became chief technology officer and later chief executive of [[Redwood Research]]. Redwood's tax returns list him as Michael Shlegeris.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Machine Intelligence Research Institute
|
||||
|
||||
In an "Ask Me Anything" post on the [[Effective Altruism Forum]] dated 15 November 2019, Shlegeris described himself as "a researcher at MIRI" who divided his time "roughly equally between technical work and recruitment/outreach work." He wrote that he handled the intake of participants for MIRI's "AI Risk for Computer Scientists" workshops and taught at them, did "most of the technical interviewing for engineering roles at MIRI," and managed the AI Safety Retraining Program, "in which MIRI gives grants to people to study ML for three months." On the technical side, he wrote, "I mostly work on some of our nondisclosed-by-default technical research," adding that "Because the work isn't public, there are many questions about it that I can't answer."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On 13 February 2021 an applicant asked on the forum LessWrong whether Shlegeris still worked for MIRI, writing that the first stage of its software engineering interviews had been a quiz administered by the recruiting company [[Triplebyte]]. [[Anna Salamon]], a director of MIRI, replied that "Buck is mostly no longer working at MIRI but is doing some contracting, including about processing job applicants I think." Shlegeris wrote that he was "still in the business of talking to people who want to work on alignment stuff" and was "indeed still the person who processes MIRI job applications."[^3][^4] MIRI's return for 2019 lists [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]], Salamon, [[Edwin Evans]], [[Nate Soares]] and [[Blake Borgeson]] among its directors and does not list Shlegeris.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Redwood Research
|
||||
|
||||
Announcing Redwood on 6 October 2021, [[Nate Thomas]] wrote that it was "a longtermist research lab focusing on applied AI alignment," that "We're led by Nate Thomas (CEO), Buck Shlegeris (CTO), and [[Bill Zito]] (COO/software engineer)," and that "our board is Nate, [[Paul Christiano]] and [[Holden Karnofsky]]," with ten staff.[^5] Karnofsky was co-chief executive of [[Open Philanthropy]]. In November 2021 Open Philanthropy recommended "four grants totaling $9,420,000 to Redwood Research for general support," with [[Nick Beckstead]] as grant investigator; the page states that "Redwood Research staff also reviewed this page prior to publication."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Redwood Research Group Inc (EIN 87-1702255) received its tax exemption on 1 September 2021 and files in care of Nathaniel Thomas at 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1200, Berkeley. Its return for 2021 lists Karnofsky as treasurer and Christiano as secretary, both unpaid, and Thomas, Michael Shlegeris (chief technology officer) and William Zito each paid 56,250 dollars. For 2022 Shlegeris, still chief technology officer, was paid 273,567 dollars. The return for 2023 lists him first, as chief executive and director, paid 272,175 dollars, with Thomas as board chair, Christiano and Karnofsky as directors until June and November 2023, and [[Ajeya Cotra]] as a director. The return for 2024 lists Shlegeris as chief executive and director at 272,164 dollars, Cotra as a director until August 2024 and [[Ammon Bartram]] as a director.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Redwood reported revenue of 13,904,248 dollars for 2021, 12,049,894 dollars for 2022 and 10,036,347 dollars for 2023, nearly all from contributions, against expenses of 2,341,569, 12,759,191 and 12,590,834 dollars. Its return for 2024 reports contributions of 9,659 dollars, total revenue of 22,060 dollars and expenses of 2,922,498 dollars, including grants of 679,955 dollars.[^1][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2023 a pseudonymous author signing as "Omega." published a critique of Redwood on LessWrong and the Effective Altruism Forum. It stated that Redwood had received 20 million dollars from Open Philanthropy and 1.27 million dollars from the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]], had been "granted (but never received) $6.6 million from [[FTX Future Fund]]," and ran the [[Constellation Institute|Constellation]] office of about 30,000 square feet in Berkeley, where "many OP staff work," adding that "OP pays Redwood for use of the space." Of Shlegeris it wrote that he "has 3 years of software engineering experience and a limited ML research background" and "also worked as a researcher at MIRI for two years."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Alignment Research Center
|
||||
|
||||
The team page of the [[Alignment Research Center]] (ARC), led by Christiano, names its board as "Paul Christiano, Buck Shlegeris, and Ben Hoskin."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Redwood Research Group Inc, EIN 87-1702255, Forms 990 for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Part I and Part VII, Section A, as rendered from IRS e-file data by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, objects 202203149349303980, 202323199349304867, 202413209349327491 and 202503199349302920, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202203149349303980/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202323199349304867/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202413209349327491/IRS990 ; https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202503199349302920/IRS990
|
||||
[^2]: Shlegeris, Buck. "I'm Buck Shlegeris, I do research and outreach at MIRI, AMA." Effective Altruism Forum, 15 November 2019. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/tDk57GhrdK54TWzPY/i-m-buck-shlegeris-i-do-research-and-outreach-at-miri-ama
|
||||
[^3]: "Is MIRI actually hiring and does Buck Shlegeris still work for you?" LessWrong, 13 February 2021, answers by Anna Salamon and Rob Bensinger and comment by Buck Shlegeris. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y2qaZ7X2jHzqK84TZ/is-miri-actually-hiring-and-does-buck-shlegeris-still-work
|
||||
[^4]: Machine Intelligence Research Institute Inc, EIN 58-2565917, Form 990 for 2019, Part VII, Section A, as rendered from IRS e-file data by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, object 202003219349318895, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/202003219349318895/IRS990
|
||||
[^5]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, 6 October 2021. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama
|
||||
[^6]: Open Philanthropy, "Redwood Research, General Support (2021)," award date November 2021, grant investigator Nick Beckstead, Wayback Machine capture of 12 November 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251112112328/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/
|
||||
[^7]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, organization record and filing data, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/871702255.json
|
||||
[^8]: Omega. "Critiques of prominent AI safety labs: Redwood Research." LessWrong, 17 April 2023, linkpost of the Effective Altruism Forum original. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SuZ6Guuos7CjfwRQb/critiques-of-prominent-ai-safety-labs-redwood-research
|
||||
[^9]: Alignment Research Center, "Team," retrieved 1 October 2026. https://www.alignment.org/team/
|
||||
325
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Donald Rumsfeld.md
Normal file
325
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Donald Rumsfeld.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,325 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- SecretaryOfDefense
|
||||
- FordAdministration
|
||||
- GDSearle
|
||||
- Aspartame
|
||||
- GileadSciences
|
||||
- IranIraqWar
|
||||
- IraqWar
|
||||
- AbuGhraib
|
||||
- Guantanamo
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Donald Rumsfeld
|
||||
- Donald H. Rumsfeld
|
||||
- Donald Henry Rumsfeld
|
||||
- Don Rumsfeld
|
||||
- Rumsfeld
|
||||
summary: "Illinois congressman, Ford chief of staff and twice Secretary of Defense, G.D. Searle and General Instrument chief executive, Gilead chairman, and Reagan's 1983 envoy to Saddam Hussein."
|
||||
born: 1932-07-09
|
||||
died: 2021-06-29
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois (born); Taos, New Mexico (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States House of Representatives]]"
|
||||
start: 1963
|
||||
end: 1969
|
||||
role: "representative from illinois"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1969-05-26
|
||||
end: 1970-12-10
|
||||
role: "director, office of economic opportunity"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Cost of Living Council]]"
|
||||
start: 1971-10-07
|
||||
end: 1973-02-02
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1973-02-02
|
||||
end: 1974-12-05
|
||||
role: "permanent representative to nato"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Gerald R. Ford]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1974-09-27
|
||||
end: 1975-11-18
|
||||
role: "assistant to the president and white house chief of staff"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Defense]]"
|
||||
start: 1975-11-18
|
||||
end: 1977-01-20
|
||||
role: "secretary of defense"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[G.D. Searle & Co.]]"
|
||||
start: 1977-06
|
||||
end: 1985-09-30
|
||||
role: "president and chief executive officer; chairman from august 1985"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[G.D. Searle & Co. Political Action Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 1979-11-13
|
||||
end: 1984-10-02
|
||||
role: "six contributions totaling $4,400"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Ronald Reagan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1983-11-03
|
||||
end: 1984-04
|
||||
role: "presidential envoy for the middle east, on leave from searle"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[William Blair & Company]]"
|
||||
start: 1985-10
|
||||
end: 1990-10
|
||||
role: "senior advisor, part time"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[General Instrument Corporation]]"
|
||||
start: 1990-10
|
||||
end: 1993-08
|
||||
role: "chairman and chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Gilead Sciences]]"
|
||||
start: 1988-07
|
||||
role: "director; chairman of the board from january 1997"
|
||||
fn: 25
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Gilead Sciences]]"
|
||||
end: 2001-01
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board; resigned to become secretary of defense"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Gulfstream Aerospace]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 25
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[ABB Asea Brown Boveri]]"
|
||||
start: 1999-06
|
||||
role: "director; nominating committee from december 1999"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Tribune Company]]"
|
||||
start: 1992-07
|
||||
role: "director; chairman of the technical advisory committee 1995 to 2000"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Amylin Pharmaceuticals]]"
|
||||
start: 1991-11
|
||||
role: "director 1991 to 1996 and from 1999"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[RAND Corporation]]"
|
||||
start: 1981-04
|
||||
end: 1986-04
|
||||
role: "chairman, board of trustees"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jamestown Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 1985-10
|
||||
role: "advisory board"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Bohemian Club]]"
|
||||
start: 1986-12
|
||||
role: "member"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States]]"
|
||||
start: 1997-12
|
||||
end: 1998-07
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
start: 1998-07
|
||||
end: 2001-01
|
||||
role: "consultant to the director of central intelligence, without compensation"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization]]"
|
||||
start: 2000-06
|
||||
end: 2000-12
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 1995-12-28
|
||||
end: 2000-07-25
|
||||
role: "six contributions to the rnc state elections committee totaling $84,000"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]]"
|
||||
start: 1988-01-27
|
||||
end: 1988-01-27
|
||||
role: "$1,000 to haig for president"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Defense]]"
|
||||
start: 2001
|
||||
end: 2006-12
|
||||
role: "secretary of defense"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]"
|
||||
role: "named respondent"
|
||||
fn: 37
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Armed Services Committee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "inquiry into the treatment of detainees in u.s. custody; conclusions 13 and 19"
|
||||
fn: 36
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Donald Henry Rumsfeld was born on July 9, 1932, in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].[^1] He was a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1963 to 1969, an assistant to [[Richard Nixon]], ambassador to [[NATO]], [[White House]] chief of staff and Secretary of Defense under [[Gerald R. Ford]], chief executive of [[G.D. Searle & Co.]] from 1977 to 1985 and of [[General Instrument Corporation]] from 1990 to 1993, and chairman of [[Gilead Sciences]] until January 2001.[^1] He served a second time as Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under [[George W. Bush]], and died on June 29, 2021, at 88; his family's statement said he "was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, [[New Mexico]]."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congress and the Nixon administration
|
||||
|
||||
Before his first campaign Rumsfeld was administrative assistant to Representative [[David Dennison]] of Ohio from 1957 to 1959, a staff assistant to Representative [[Robert Griffin]] of Michigan in 1959, Dennison's campaign manager in 1959 and 1960, and a registered representative at the Chicago investment bank [[A.G. Becker & Co.]] from 1960 to 1962. He was elected to the House in 1962, served on the Science and Astronautics Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, and was a member of the transition team for President-elect Nixon.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The employment record he filed with the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] in 2001 lists him as Assistant to the President from May 26, 1969, to February 2, 1973; Director of the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]] from May 26, 1969, to December 10, 1970; member of the Property Review Board from April 20, 1970, and its chairman from September 11, 1971; Counsellor to the President from December 10, 1970; and Director of the [[Cost of Living Council]], the Economic Stabilization Program, from October 7, 1971, to February 2, 1973. From February 2, 1973, to December 5, 1974, he was the [[United States]] Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in [[Brussels]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
At his 2001 confirmation hearing, Senator [[Carl Levin]] asked Rumsfeld about a 1971 taped conversation with Nixon reported that month by the [[Chicago Tribune]], in which Nixon made racist remarks and Rumsfeld spoke of Republicans having ended "Democratic wars." Rumsfeld replied that he did not remember the meeting, that to the extent he agreed with anything on the tape it was only that "some people talk like that," and that the Tribune had opposed the civil rights legislation he supported in the 1960s.[^3] He was then a director of the [[Tribune Company]], a seat he had held since July 1992.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ford White House
|
||||
|
||||
[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.|Alexander Haig]], Nixon's chief of staff, met Vice President Ford twice on August 1, 1974. Ford testified under oath on October 17, 1974, that the afternoon meeting included a list of options under discussion in the White House, among them "a pardon to the President, should he resign," and that on the afternoon of August 2 he telephoned Haig to say that nothing they had discussed should be given any consideration.[^5] In August 1974 Rumsfeld was recalled from Brussels to chair the transition to the Ford presidency, and from September 27, 1974, to November 18, 1975, he was Assistant to the President and White House chief of staff.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 28, 1974, Rumsfeld sent a memorandum to the directors of the Executive Office agencies, among them the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Council]] and the Office of Economic Opportunity, stating that the President had directed all members of the executive branch to comply with the conflict-of-interest regulations, asking each to bring his Confidential Statement of Employment and Financial Interests up to date, and requesting a report on compliance to the staff secretary by November 30, 1974. A second memorandum of the same date circulated to the White House staff a manual on standards of conduct, with a memorandum from Counsel to the President [[Philip Buchen]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1975 [[William Colby]], the [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to Rumsfeld ("Dear Don"), following their conversation of July 17, enclosing the Agency's quarterly report on CIA detailees to the White House. The letter stated that the Agency was prepared to provide information on the past association of any current White House employee or presidential appointee, would await the names from a Mr. Bennett to a Mr. Evans of Colby's staff, and would send its responses to Rumsfeld or to [[Dick Cheney]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Cheney was Rumsfeld's deputy in the spring of 1975, while the [[Rockefeller Commission 1975|Rockefeller Commission]] was investigating CIA activities inside the United States. Documents published by the [[National Security Archive]] in 2016 show handwritten edits by Cheney to the commission's draft report and the removal, on White House orders, of the report's entire 86-page section on CIA plots to assassinate foreign leaders.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Secretary of Defense, 1975 to 1977
|
||||
|
||||
Rumsfeld became the 13th Secretary of Defense on November 18, 1975, and held the office until January 20, 1977.[^1] On December 5, 1975, George A. Carver Jr., the CIA's Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, informed him in writing that, at General Haig's request, the CIA had arranged to give Haig, then the NATO commander, intelligence support tailored to his needs, concentrating on current political and economic developments and supplementing the support he received through military channels. The arrangements, the memorandum said, had been endorsed by Rumsfeld's predecessor and by the Chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] and set up with the full knowledge of the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. One copy was distributed to a file labeled "HAIG SUPPORT."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 18, 1976, [[George H.W. Bush]], then Director of Central Intelligence, wrote to Rumsfeld that, after Rumsfeld's comments that leaks might have come from the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]], he had checked with the Board's secretariat and been told that the Board had not been briefed on the redacted subject. Bush wrote that he doubted the source of "these vicious leaks" would ever be found and that a recent meeting in the office of Deputy Secretary [[William Clements]] "laid to rest a lot of questions about the integrity of the process."[^10] In a letter dated January 24, 1977, Rumsfeld sent Bush the Annual Defense Department Report for fiscal year 1978, writing that "steadiness of purpose and continuing real growth in national defense efforts are required to counter the adverse trends of the past decade."[^11] His form lists him as a consultant to the Defense Department, without compensation, from 1977 to 1980.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### G.D. Searle and aspartame
|
||||
|
||||
Rumsfeld was a consultant to G.D. Searle from January to June 1977, became its president and chief executive officer in June 1977, and held the post until August 1985, when he became chairman, president and chief executive officer until September 30, 1985.[^1] [[Gregory Gordon]] of [[United Press International]] reported in October 1987 that Searle, facing debt, posted a $28 million net loss in Rumsfeld's first year and that he sold more than 30 subsidiaries worth more than $400 million. Rumsfeld hired three outgoing Ford administration officials: [[John Robson]], a former partner at the Chicago law firm [[Sidley & Austin]] and Ford's chairman of the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]], as executive vice president; [[Robert Shapiro]], Robson's special assistant at the [[Department of Transportation]], as general counsel; and [[William Greener]], a Ford White House spokesman who had been Rumsfeld's chief spokesman at the Pentagon. Searle also hired [[William Timmons]], a former Ford White House official, as a Washington lobbyist.[^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The aspartame petition predated him. According to the [[General Accounting Office]], Searle began developing the sweetener in 1965, the [[Food and Drug Administration]] approved it for dry foods in 1974, and Searle was not permitted to market it until 1981. A 1975 FDA task force questioned the quality of the data in certain Searle studies; in 1977 the FDA and a group of university pathologists began detailed investigations of 15 studies; and in 1980 a public board of inquiry of three university scientists concluded that aspartame did not cause brain damage but that the studies did not conclusively show it did not cause brain tumors, and revoked the 1974 approval.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
Gordon reported that at the task force's request the FDA's general counsel, [[Richard Merrill]], demanded in a letter that [[Samuel Skinner]], the United States Attorney in Chicago, open a grand jury investigation of Searle and three of its employees. In February 1977 Skinner and an aide agreed to meet Searle's lawyers, among them [[Newton Minow]] of Sidley & Austin. A month later Skinner, a Republican appointee seeking a job after [[Jimmy Carter]]'s election, informed aides by memorandum that he had begun preliminary employment discussions with the firm. He withdrew from the matter and suggested that his designated successor, [[Thomas Sullivan]], decide whether to open a grand jury inquiry, a step that delayed action by at least four months. Sullivan took office 12 weeks before the statute of limitations for false statements on aspartame expired, and the grand jury that was convened did not explore those allegations. Skinner denied any conflict of interest. Assistant United States Attorney [[William Conlon]] worked with the grand jury until October 12, 1977, two days after the limitations period on the aspartame allegations expired; no indictments were brought. Conlon declined to comment and joined Sidley & Austin 15 months later.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Gordon quoted the consumer lawyer [[James Turner]], who had objected to the 1974 approval, as alleging that Searle chose, with Rumsfeld's hiring, not to redo the questioned studies, in the belief that he could handle aspartame as "a legal problem rather than a scientific problem."[^13] In October 1978 Howard Roberts, the acting director of the FDA's Bureau of Foods who had appointed a review of the task force findings, left to become a vice president of the [[National Soft Drink Association]]; between 1979 and 1982 four more FDA officials who took part in the approval process, among them acting commissioner [[Sherwin Gardner]] and the agency lawyer [[Michael Taylor]], took jobs linked to the NutraSweet industry. All denied any conflict of interest.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Searle waited until January 21, 1981, the day after [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration, to press for a reversal of the board of inquiry. Gordon reported that former commissioner [[Jere Goyan]] found the timing curious, and that Robert Dormer, a lawyer for [[The NutraSweet Company]], said there was nothing special about the date. In May 1981, a month after [[Arthur Hull Hayes Jr.]] took office as commissioner, three scientists on a five-member commissioner's team, Satya Dubey, Douglas Park and Robert Condon, wrote memoranda to the team's lawyer, Joseph Levitt, setting out concerns about the sweetener's safety. Park told Gordon that Levitt "was obviously getting the pressure to get a resolution and a decision made"; Levitt said he had circulated an approval recommendation as a "tactical" step to break an impasse.[^13] The panel members told the General Accounting Office that they felt pressure to expedite their review because of a Searle lawsuit but none to recommend approval or disapproval. On July 18, 1981, Hayes overturned the board of inquiry and reapproved aspartame for dry foods. The GAO, which did not evaluate the scientific issues or aspartame's safety, "did not find any evidence that pressure was put on the former FDA Commissioner to approve aspartame."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
Gordon also reported that a former Searle saleswoman, Patty Wood-Allott, asserted in a letter written after the FDA cleared NutraSweet that Rumsfeld told his sales force shortly after Reagan took office that, if necessary, "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what he would see to it that aspartame would be approved that year." According to Gordon, Rumsfeld declined to return phone calls.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1982 Senator [[Howell Heflin]] proposed an amendment to the [[Orphan Drug Act]] extending Searle's domestic patent monopoly on aspartame by five years, ten months and 17 days; the Senate passed it without mentioning aspartame, Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] calling it "an excellent amendment." Gordon reported, from [[Federal Election Commission]] records, that Heflin's 1984 reelection committee received at least $9,000 from Searle's top officers and its political action committee and Hatch's at least $3,000, and that Searle's officers and political action committee gave nearly $200,000 in federal campaign contributions between 1979 and 1986. Heflin's spokesman said Searle representatives never mentioned contributions when asking him to sponsor the amendment, and Senator [[Howard Metzenbaum]] called the floor procedure "totally inappropriate."[^12] Searle petitioned in late 1982 to use aspartame in soft drinks; Hayes's deputy, Mark Novitch, approved it on a day Hayes was away. Weeks later Hayes resigned amid an internal [[Department of Health and Human Services]] inquiry into gratuities from FDA-regulated companies, including flights on jets owned by [[General Foods]], and became a consultant to [[Burson-Marsteller]], which represented The NutraSweet Company. A Burson-Marsteller vice president said Hayes was not involved in NutraSweet matters; Metzenbaum called the arrangement "unbecoming."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Federal Election Commission records show contributions by Rumsfeld to Searle's political action committee of $1,000 on November 13, 1979, $1,000 on September 18, 1980, $500 on May 26, 1981, $500 on April 20, 1982, $500 on November 4, 1983, and $900 on October 2, 1984, and $1,000 to Reagan for President on April 1, 1980.[^15] Searle's stockholders sold the company, including the NutraSweet division and its patents, to [[Monsanto]] for $2.7 billion in the summer of 1985. Gordon reported that [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] records showed Rumsfeld receiving more than $1.5 million in bonuses between 1979 and 1984.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Envoy to the Middle East, 1983 and 1984
|
||||
|
||||
From October 1982 to February 1983 Rumsfeld was Presidential Envoy for the Law of the Sea, and from November 3, 1983, to April 1984 Presidential Envoy for the [[Middle East]], in both cases part time and on leave from Searle; the Middle East post is marked "W.O.C.," without compensation.[^1] On October 28, 1983, "Rumsfeld, Donald H" of Skokie, employer G D Searle, gave $750 to Reagan-Bush '84.[^15] On March 25, 1983, Rumsfeld wrote to Director of Central Intelligence [[William J. Casey]] ("Dear Bill") enclosing a paper on NATO that Casey had asked him to prepare as a member of the President's Foreign Policy Advisory Group before the inauguration, pointing to his comments on overhead photography on pages 6 and 7, and writing that the national consensus for a strong defense was "badly fractured and weakened and needs shoring up." Casey sent the letter to his deputy's office on August 13, 1983, "just for your interest."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 7, 1983, a [[State Department]] cable signed "DAM" ([[Kenneth W. Dam]]) told the U.S. Interests Section in [[Baghdad]] that Rumsfeld did not think his visit worthwhile unless he met [[Saddam Hussein]] and asked: "how can we use this visit to get out of the GOI certain things we may desire."[^17] On December 20, 1983, Rumsfeld met Saddam for 90 minutes, with [[Tariq Aziz]], William Eagleton and R. H. Pelletreau present. The London embassy's cable of December 21 (London 27572) reported that Saddam showed "obvious pleasure" at a letter from Reagan, that Rumsfeld told him the two countries had shared interests in preventing Iranian and Syrian expansion, that the United States was urging other states to curtail arms sales to Iran, and that Rumsfeld raised Iraqi oil exports, including a possible new pipeline through [[Jordan]] to [[Aqaba]]. Its assessment was that the meeting "marked positive milestone in development of US-Iraqi relations."[^18] [[Joyce Battle]] of the National Security Archive wrote that, according to the detailed notes of the Saddam meeting, Rumsfeld made no reference to chemical weapons.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Rumsfeld's own NODIS report of his separate meeting with Aziz (London 27592, "FROM RUMSFELD") records him saying that "the U.S. had no interest in an Iranian victory" and, after a passage withheld on classification grounds, "I made clear that our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us citing the use of chemical weapons, possible escalation in the Gulf, and human rights," followed by: "From US standpoint, obviously anything that is done that complicates life for Iran and Syria is helpful."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 22, 1983, the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs sent Under Secretary [[Lawrence Eagleburger]] an action memorandum recommending [[Export-Import Bank of the United States]] financing for Iraq, which would "go far to show our support for Iraq in a practical, neutral context." Eagleburger signed it on December 24 and wrote to the bank's president, William H. Draper III, that "the terrorism issue, therefore, should no longer be an impediment to EXIM financing for U.S. sales to Iraq."[^21] The bank's country review of February 21, 1984, rated Iraq a poor credit risk. Its appendix of potential U.S. suppliers, totaling $1,510.6 million, listed [[Westinghouse]] for $159 million of turbine generators, [[Bechtel]] for $150 million of engineering on a Baghdad metro and for the Jordan oil pipeline, [[General Electric]] for power projects and [[Halliburton]] for $10 million of oil field equipment.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 5, 1984, the State Department publicly condemned Iraq's use of chemical weapons. A cable signed by Secretary of State [[George P. Shultz]] on March 24, 1984, captioned "EXDIS, for Rumsfeld party," gave briefing notes for his second visit to Baghdad: bilateral relations had been "sharply set back by our March 5 condemnation of Iraq for CW use, despite our repeated warnings that this issue would emerge sooner or later," a decision "to consider, and to reject, a pending application from Westinghouse to participate in a $160 million portion of a $1 billion Hyundai thermal power plant project in Iraq" was expected to confirm Iraqi perceptions that bank financing for the Aqaba pipeline was out of the question, although Eagleburger had emphasized to an Iraqi official "the administration's firm support for the line."[^23] [[Howard Teicher]], a former National Security Council staff member who wrote that he co-authored a June 1982 national security decision directive under which the United States would do "whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran," stated in a declaration of January 31, 1995, in [[United States v. Cardoen]] (No. 93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH, [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]]), that in 1984 Israeli Foreign Minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]], at a Jerusalem meeting Teicher attended with Rumsfeld, asked Rumsfeld to deliver a secret offer of Israeli assistance to Iraq; that Teicher was present in Baghdad when Rumsfeld told Aziz of the offer; and that Aziz refused even to accept the Israeli letter, saying he "would be executed on the spot" by Saddam if he did.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
### Corporate boards, 1985 to 2000
|
||||
|
||||
From October 1985 to October 1990 Rumsfeld was a part-time senior advisor to the Chicago investment firm [[William Blair & Company]], and from October 1990 to August 1993 chairman and chief executive officer of General Instrument Corporation.[^1] He joined the Gilead board in July 1988 and became chairman in January 1997. The 1997 proxy statement listed his other boards as "ABB AB," [[Gulfstream Aerospace]], [[Kellogg Company]], [[Metricom]], [[Sears, Roebuck & Co.]] and Tribune Company.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
The Gilead directors in 1997 included [[Etienne Davignon]], chairman of [[Societe Generale de Belgique]] since 1985 and European Community commissioner for industry from 1977 to 1981, a director since September 1990; [[James Denny]], a former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Searle and chairman of the Searle-affiliated Pearle Health Services, a managing director of William Blair Capital Partners V, a director since January 1996; [[Gordon Moore]] of [[Intel]]; and Shultz, a director since January 1996, described as a [[Hoover Institution]] fellow, a director of the [[Bechtel Group]], AirTouch Communications and Gulfstream Aerospace, and a former president of Bechtel.[^25] The 1998 proxy statement reported 51,863 Gilead shares in a grantor annuity trust of which Rumsfeld was donor and trustee; the 2000 statement reported 30,854 shares in a grantor annuity trust of which Rumsfeld and Denny were co-donors and trustees.[^26][^27] The 2000 statement also disclosed that Gilead had paid $6,747,923 in 1999 to PharmaResearch Corporation, a contract research organization 45 percent owned by William Blair Capital Fund V, to whose manager Denny was a senior advisor.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
In September 1996 Gilead and [[Hoffmann-La Roche]] signed a development and license agreement for influenza therapies. [[Tamiflu]] was co-developed by the two companies, and Roche sold it, paying royalties to Gilead. Gilead's annual report for 2005 records royalty revenues from Roche of $12.0 million in 2003, $44.6 million in 2004 and $161.6 million in 2005, the last including $80.7 million recognized on resolution of a dispute with Roche, and attributes the 2005 increase partly to "orders for pandemic readiness supplies in certain countries."[^28] Rumsfeld resigned from the Gilead board in January 2001 to become Secretary of Defense, and Denny was elected chairman in his place.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
His 2001 Senate form lists him as a director of ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. of Zurich from June 1999; of Amylin Pharmaceuticals from November 1991 to September 1996 and again from September 1999; of Tribune Company from July 1992, chairing its technical advisory committee from 1995 to 2000; and of the private Overx, Inc. It lists him as adviser to [[Investor AB]] of Stockholm from January 1994, to Metricom from 1994 and to [[Nvidia]] from February 1998, and as chairman of the international advisory board of [[Salomon Smith Barney]] from November 1998. His investments included limited partnerships in [[Cerberus Institutional Partners]] (1999), [[Tiger Management]] (1993), Transpac Capital 1996 Investment Trust of Tortola, [[British Virgin Islands]] (1997), Chengwei Ventures Fund I of [[Shanghai]] (2000), and the Houston energy funds SCF Partners III and IV and R. Chaney & Partners III and IV, and a 1998 grantor retained annuity trust.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The same form lists him as a member of the advisory board of the [[Jamestown Foundation]] from October 1985, a director of [[Empower America]] from January 1993, a member of the foreign policy grant advisory committee of the [[Smith Richardson Foundation]] from June 1998, a trustee of the [[Gerald R. Ford Foundation]] from September 1981, an overseer of the Hoover Institution in several periods from 1983, and a trustee of the [[RAND Corporation]] from 1977, chairing its board from April 1981 to April 1986 and from April 1995 to December 1996. It lists his membership of the [[Bohemian Club]] from December 1986, of its H.B. Camp from August 1987, and of the [[Alfalfa Club]] from 1976.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### ABB and North Korea
|
||||
|
||||
[[Swissinfo]] reported on February 24, 2003, that ABB had signed a $200 million contract with [[North Korea]] in January 2000 to supply equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, and that Rumsfeld was a member of ABB's board "between 1990 and February 2001," dates that differ from the June 1999 start on his Senate form. ABB's spokesman, Wolfram Eberhardt, said Rumsfeld "was at nearly all the board meetings" and that the contract might or might not have been discussed. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clark, told [[Newsweek]] that Rumsfeld "does not recall it being brought before the board at any time." ABB said it had sold its nuclear business to [[BNFL]] in early 2000.[^30] At the January 11, 2001, hearing Levin asked whether the 1994 agreement under which the United States would lead a coalition to provide North Korea with proliferation-resistant light-water reactors served the national interest; Rumsfeld said the matter was "quite a distance off my turf" and described North Korea as a proliferator. The letters "ABB" appear in the hearing record only in his biographical sketch and his committee form.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Commissions and intelligence advisory posts
|
||||
|
||||
Rumsfeld's form lists him as a member of Reagan's Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board in 1981, senior advisor to the [[Scowcroft Commission]] on strategic forces in 1982 and 1983, a member of the General Advisory Committee of the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]] from 1982 to 1986, a consultant to the State Department from 1983 to about 1989, and a member of the National Economic Commission in 1988 and 1989.[^1] He chaired the [[Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States]] from December 1997 to July 1998. Its members, nominated by the Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader and the minority leaders and appointed by the Director of Central Intelligence, were Rumsfeld, [[Barry Blechman]], [[Lee Butler]], [[Richard Garwin]], [[William Graham]], [[William Schneider Jr.]], [[Larry Welch]], [[Paul Wolfowitz]] and [[R. James Woolsey]]; its executive summary was dated July 15, 1998.[^31] In July 1998 he became a consultant, without compensation, to the Director of Central Intelligence, a post he held until January 2001, and from June to December 2000 he chaired the [[Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political contributions
|
||||
|
||||
Federal Election Commission records list contributions from "Rumsfeld, Donald, Honorable" of Chicago to the [[Republican National Committee]]'s state elections committee of $20,000 on December 28, 1995, $24,000 on June 7, 1996, $15,000 on June 30, 1998, $7,500 on April 13, 1999, $7,500 on June 10, 1999, and $10,000 on July 25, 2000, a total of $84,000. While chief executive of General Instrument he gave $5,000 to the General Instrument political action committee on January 9, 1991, and on October 16, 1992, and $1,000 and $3,000 to the cable industry's political action committee in 1991 and 1992. On January 27, 1988, he gave $1,000 to Haig for President, and on January 28 and February 4, 1988, $1,000 each to the campaigns of [[Jack Kemp]], George Bush and [[Bob Dole]]. In August 1999 he gave $1,000 each to Bush for President and to Senator [[Bill Bradley]]'s presidential campaign.[^15] The Associated Press described a brief Rumsfeld run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Confirmation and the Pentagon, 2001 to 2003
|
||||
|
||||
President-elect Bush announced the nomination on December 28, 2000.[^1] At the January 11, 2001, hearing, asked whether he had adhered to the conflict-of-interest laws, Rumsfeld answered "I do not know," saying the rules of the bodies reviewing his filings differed, that his papers were still at the [[Office of Government Ethics]], and that he had "a large number of investments and activities that would have to be characterized as conflicts were they to be maintained"; asked again whether he would adhere to them, he said "Yes, sir."[^3] In a written answer on the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] he wrote: "In the past I have favored it."[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 10, 2001, at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said: "According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."[^33] Notes taken by his aide [[Stephen Cambone]] on September 11, 2001, record Rumsfeld at 2:40 p.m. asking for the best information fast, to judge whether it was good enough to hit "S.H." at the same time, "Not only UBL"; Battle described the notes as directing the Defense Department lawyer Jim Haynes to obtain "support" from Wolfowitz for a link between Iraq and [[Osama bin Laden]].[^34] Rumsfeld's typed talking points for his meeting with General [[Tommy Franks]] at Central Command on November 27, 2001, begin "Focus on WMD," list among possible ways to start a war "US discovers Saddam connection to Sept. 11 attack or to anthrax attacks?" and "Dispute over WMD inspections?", call for "Decapitation of government," and state: "Unlike in Afghanistan, important to have ideas in advance about who would rule afterwards." A handwritten addition reads "Influence campaign ... when begin?"[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
### Detainee interrogation policy
|
||||
|
||||
On December 2, 2002, Rumsfeld signed a one-page recommendation from the Defense Department general counsel, [[William J. Haynes II]], to approve all but three of 18 interrogation techniques requested by [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo]], adding by hand: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?" Haynes's memorandum said he had discussed the matter with Wolfowitz, Under Secretary [[Douglas Feith]] and General [[Richard Myers]]. After Navy General Counsel [[Alberto Mora]] told Haynes he would sign a memorandum of legal concerns, Rumsfeld rescinded the authority on January 15, 2003; on August 13, 2003, he approved an interrogation plan for the detainee [[Mohamedou Ould Slahi]].[^36] The Senate Armed Services Committee concluded that Haynes's review "was grossly deficient" (conclusion 12), that Rumsfeld's authorization "was a direct cause of detainee abuse" at Guantanamo and "influenced and contributed to the use of abusive techniques" in [[Afghanistan]] and Iraq (conclusion 13), and that the techniques used at [[Abu Ghraib]] "appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at GTMO" (conclusion 19).[^36] The Associated Press reported that Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to Bush in 2004 after the Abu Ghraib disclosures; he left office in December 2006 and was replaced by [[Robert Gates]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 29, 2006, in [[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]], the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] held that the military commission convened to try the Guantanamo detainee Hamdan, a Yemeni national, "lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949."[^37]
|
||||
|
||||
### Rumsfeld Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
After 2008 Rumsfeld headed the Rumsfeld Foundation.[^2] The foundation, a Washington private foundation (EIN 26-0580915) with an [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date of August 2007, reported assets of $9,727,763 at the end of 2011, $11,418,376 at the end of 2012 and $1,515,771 at the end of 2023.[^38] His 2001 Senate form lists him as president of a DHR Foundation of Chicago from December 1985, annotated "Possibly without investment control."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services, "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 107th Congress," S. Hrg. 107-749, hearing of January 11, 2001: Biographical Sketch of Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Committee on Armed Services Form, Part A, items 3, 5, 9 and 10 (employment record, appointment dates, former activities and selected U.S. government activities), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Robert Burns, "Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dies at 88," Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour, June 30, 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/former-defense-secretary-donald-rumsfeld-dies-at-88
|
||||
[^3]: S. Hrg. 107-749, transcript of the hearing of January 11, 2001: Chairman Levin's standard questions on conflicts of interest, his question on the Chicago Tribune report of the 1971 Nixon tape, and his question on the 1994 agreed framework with North Korea; full-text search of the record for "ABB" returns only the biographical sketch and the committee form, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
|
||||
[^4]: S. Hrg. 107-749, Committee on Armed Services Form, Part A, item 11 ("current activities": boards of directors, advisory relationships, not-for-profit boards, other memberships, fiduciary and investment relationships), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
|
||||
[^5]: Gerald R. Ford, statement before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, House Committee on the Judiciary, October 17, 1974, typescript pp. 6-14, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Philip Buchen Files, Box 34, "Nixon Pardon Hungate Subcommittee, Ford Testimony, 1974/10/17," https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520699.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Donald Rumsfeld, memoranda of October 28, 1974, to the directors of Executive Office agencies and to the White House Office, Vice President's Office and Domestic Council, "Standards of Conduct/Confidential Statement of Employment and Financial Interests," with Philip W. Buchen memorandum of the same date, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A003100020030-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a003100020030-8
|
||||
[^7]: W. E. Colby to Donald H. Rumsfeld, July 1975 (date stamp "JUL 1975"; refers to a conversation of July 17), CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP89-01114R000100050055-1, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP89-01114R000100050055-1
|
||||
[^8]: John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi, eds., "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975; Removed Section on CIA Assassination Plots," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, February 29, 2016, introduction and Documents 4 and 19 (Ford Library, Richard Cheney Files, Intelligence Series, Box 7), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB543-Ford-White-House-Altered-Rockefeller-Commission-Report/
|
||||
[^9]: George A. Carver Jr., Deputy for National Intelligence Officers, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Intelligence Support for General Haig," December 5, 1975, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8, https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91M00696R000500010003-8
|
||||
[^10]: George Bush, Director of Central Intelligence, to Donald H. Rumsfeld, October 18, 1976, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP79-00498A000600090009-7 (portions redacted), https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-00498a000600090009-7
|
||||
[^11]: Donald H. Rumsfeld to George Bush, January 24, 1977, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100012-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m00165a001800100012-2
|
||||
[^12]: Gregory Gordon, "Part 3: Sweet corporate victories," United Press International, October 1987, reprinted in S. Hrg. 100-567, pp. 504-509, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152617_0380
|
||||
[^13]: Gregory Gordon, "Part 2: NutraSweet approval marred by controversy," United Press International, October 1987, reprinted in "NutraSweet: Health and Safety Concerns," hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, November 3, 1987, S. Hrg. 100-567, pp. 495-500, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152617_0380
|
||||
[^14]: U.S. General Accounting Office, "Food and Drug Administration: Food Additive Approval Process Followed for Aspartame," GAO/HRD-87-46, June 18, 1987, B-223552, Executive Summary, pp. 2-4, and chapter 6, p. 58, https://www.gao.gov/assets/hrd-87-46.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, API query for contributor name "Rumsfeld, Donald," two-year periods 1980 to 2000, run October 1, 2026 (committees include SEARLE PAC / G D SEARLE & CO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, REAGAN FOR PRESIDENT, REAGAN-BUSH '84, HAIG FOR PRESIDENT, GEORGE BUSH FOR PRESIDENT, JACK KEMP FOR PRESIDENT, DOLE FOR PRESIDENT COMMITTEE, GENERAL INSTRUMENT CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GIPAC), NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION ASSOCIATION'S POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, RNC REPUBLICAN NATIONAL STATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEE, BUSH FOR PRESIDENT INC, BILL BRADLEY FOR PRESIDENT INC), https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/. The 1979 to 1984 entries give Skokie or Winnetka and employer G D Searle; the 1995 to 2000 RNC entries give "Honorable" and Chicago.
|
||||
[^16]: Donald Rumsfeld to William Casey, March 25, 1983, with Casey's memorandum for ODDCI of August 13, 1983, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP88B00443R001404080022-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88b00443r001404080022-4
|
||||
[^17]: Department of State cable State 346516, Dam to USINT Baghdad, "Rumsfeld Visit to Iraq," December 7, 1983, secret, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, Document 27, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq27.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: U.S. Embassy London to Department of State, London 27572, "Rumsfeld Mission: December 20 Meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein," December 21, 1983, secret, paragraphs 2 and 3 (capitalization normalized in quotation), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 31, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq31.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Joyce Battle, ed., "Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, February 25, 2003, introduction, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/index.htm
|
||||
[^20]: U.S. Embassy London to Department of State, London 27592, NODIS, "From Rumsfeld," "Rumsfeld One-on-One Meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister," December 21, 1983, secret, sections 1 to 3, paragraphs 7 and 15 (capitalization normalized; passage before paragraph 15's quoted sentence withheld B1), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 32, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq32.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Richard W. Murphy to Lawrence S. Eagleburger, action memorandum, "EXIM Bank Financing for Iraq," December 22, 1983, approved December 24, 1983, with Eagleburger to William H. Draper III, December 24, 1983, National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 33, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq33.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Export-Import Bank of the United States, memorandum to the Board of Directors, Africa and Middle East Division, "Country review and recommendations for Eximbank's programs," February 21, 1984, with "Appendix I: Iraq," National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 40, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq40.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: Department of State cable State 086663, Shultz to Embassy Khartoum, "EXDIS, for Rumsfeld party," "Briefing Notes for Rumsfeld Visit to Baghdad," March 24, 1984, secret, paragraphs 2 and 5 (capitalization normalized), National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 48, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq48.pdf
|
||||
[^24]: Declaration of Howard Teicher, United States v. Carlos Cardoen et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case No. 93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH, executed January 31, 1995, paragraphs 6 and 10, National Security Archive EBB No. 82, Document 61, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq61.pdf
|
||||
[^25]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 2, 1997, accession 0000912057-97-011761, nominee biographies, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0000912057-97-011761.txt
|
||||
[^26]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 16, 1998, accession 0001047469-98-015263, beneficial ownership table, note 6, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0001047469-98-015263.txt
|
||||
[^27]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 18, 2000, accession 0000912057-00-018482, beneficial ownership table, note 5, and "Certain Transactions" (PharmaResearch Corporation), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/0000912057-00-018482.txt
|
||||
[^28]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2005, filed March 3, 2006, Item 1 (Roche, September 1996), Item 6 note 1 ($80.7 million) and Item 7 (royalty revenue), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/000119312506045128/d10k.htm
|
||||
[^29]: Gilead Sciences, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (DEF 14A), filed April 11, 2001, accession 0000912057-01-508145, election of directors and biography of James M. Denny, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/882095/000091205701508145/a2042936zdef14a.txt
|
||||
[^30]: Jacob Greber, "Rumsfeld was on ABB board during deal with North Korea," swissinfo, February 24, 2003, https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/rumsfeld-was-on-abb-board-during-deal-with-north-korea/3176922
|
||||
[^31]: "Report of the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States: Executive Summary," July 15, 1998, pursuant to Public Law 201, 104th Congress, list of members and nominating authorities, https://irp.fas.org/threat/missile/rumsfeld/index.html
|
||||
[^32]: S. Hrg. 107-749, Rumsfeld's answers to advance policy questions, "Iraqi opposition," https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75903/html/CHRG-107shrg75903.htm
|
||||
[^33]: Donald H. Rumsfeld, "DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff, Bureaucracy to Battlefield," remarks as delivered, the Pentagon, September 10, 2001, Department of Defense transcript as reproduced at https://agovernmentofthepeople.com/2001/09/10/donald-rumsfeld-speech-about-bureaucratic-waste/ (the defense.gov original was not reachable).
|
||||
[^34]: Stephen Cambone, handwritten notes of Rumsfeld's comments, September 11, 2001, 2:40 p.m., obtained under FOIA by Thad Anderson, with Joyce Battle's description, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 326, "The Iraq War, Part I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001," September 22, 2010, Document 7, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc07.pdf
|
||||
[^35]: Department of Defense, notes from Donald Rumsfeld, [Iraq war planning], November 27, 2001, annotated, pp. 1-3, National Security Archive EBB No. 326, Document 8, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc08.pdf
|
||||
[^36]: U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, "Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody," Executive Summary and Conclusions, released December 11, 2008, pp. xix-xxi (Haynes memorandum, December 2, 2002 note, Mora, January 15, 2003 rescission, Slahi plan) and pp. xxviii-xxix (conclusions 12, 13 and 19), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/torturingdemocracy/documents/20081211.pdf
|
||||
[^37]: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), No. 05-184, decided June 29, 2006, syllabus, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-184.ZS.html
|
||||
[^38]: ProPublica, Nonprofit Explorer, Rumsfeld Foundation, EIN 26-0580915, organization API record and Form 990-PF data for tax years 2011, 2012 and 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/260580915.json
|
||||
164
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Francis Gary Powers.md
Normal file
164
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Francis Gary Powers.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- U2Incident
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- Lockheed
|
||||
- PrisonerExchange
|
||||
- Dimona
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Francis Gary Powers
|
||||
- Gary Francis Powers
|
||||
- Gary Powers
|
||||
- Francis G. Powers
|
||||
summary: "American Central Intelligence Agency U-2 pilot shot down near Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960, tried in Moscow, exchanged for Rudolf Abel in 1962, and killed in a 1977 television helicopter crash."
|
||||
born: 1929-08-17
|
||||
died: 1977-08-01
|
||||
location: "Letcher County, Kentucky (born); Pound, Virginia (raised)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "U-2 pilot"
|
||||
start: 1956-05
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Lockheed]]"
|
||||
role: "U-2 test pilot"
|
||||
end: 1969-09
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[KNBC]]"
|
||||
role: "helicopter pilot and reporter"
|
||||
end: 1977-08-01
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[U-2 Incident]]"
|
||||
role: "pilot"
|
||||
start: 1960-05-01
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Roman Rudenko]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "State Prosecutor"
|
||||
start: 1960-08-17
|
||||
end: 1960-08-19
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[M. I. Grinev]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "defence counsel"
|
||||
start: 1960-08-17
|
||||
end: 1960-08-19
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Powers-Abel exchange]]"
|
||||
role: "exchanged prisoner"
|
||||
start: 1962-02-10
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[E. Barrett Prettyman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chairman, CIA Board of Inquiry"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Francis Gary Powers Jr.]]"
|
||||
role: "father"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose [[U-2 Spy Plane]] was shot down over the [[Soviet Union]] on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident. [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Powers and his colleagues continued intermittently to overfly the [[Middle East]], and were steadily back at work in the area in 1958, when the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s photo interpreters began seeing significant activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of [[Beersheba]], which turned out to be the early signs of the [[Dimona]] nuclear reactor.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Recruitment and the U-2 program
|
||||
|
||||
Powers was born on August 17, 1929, in Letcher County, [[Kentucky]], the son of a coal-industry mortarman, and attended [[Milligan College]] in Tennessee from 1947 to 1950.[^2] He told the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Senate Committee on Armed Services]] in 1962 that he spent most of his life near Pound and Grundy, [[Virginia]], worked one summer as a lifeguard, joined the [[United States Air Force]] in October of the year he left college, and was first employed by the CIA in May 1956 with "well over a thousand hours" of flying time, a little better than 500 of them in the U-2.[^3] The pilots of the program were hired on civilian contracts. According to the statement the CIA placed in the Senate record, the contracts required them to perform such services as might be required and to follow the instructions and briefings given by their superiors, and the written guidance for capture was to "surrender without resistance and adopt a cooperative attitude toward their captors," to admit previous Air Force affiliation and current CIA employment, and to make no attempt to deny the nature of the mission.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The flight of May 1, 1960
|
||||
|
||||
The flight that became the [[U-2 Incident]] began when Powers took off from [[Peshawar]], [[Pakistan]], at 0159 Zulu on May 1, 1960, in a U-2C, on a route planned to run over [[Tyuratam]], [[Chelyabinsk]], [[Sverdlovsk]], [[Kirov]], [[Plesetsk]], [[Severodvinsk]] and [[Murmansk]] and to end on the northwest coast of Norway.[^4][^5] Soviet radar began tracking the aircraft 15 miles south of the Soviet-Afghan border and that an SA-2 surface-to-air missile detonated close to and just behind it at 70,500 feet over the Sverdlovsk area, four and a half hours into the mission.[^5] In his Senate testimony Powers described an explosion he took to be behind him and external to the aircraft, an orange glare, a nose-down spin in which he believed both wings came off, a canopy released by hand, and an oxygen hose that tore free as he was pulled out over the cowling; he said he had no written instructions with him and tore his map into small pieces during the parachute descent.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's standard cover story for U-2 flights, approved by the President in 1956, was that they were weather flights of the [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]. On May 3 NASA issued a statement about a missing high-altitude weather plane whose pilot had reported oxygen difficulties. [[Nikita Khrushchev]] announced the downing of a "spyplane" near Sverdlovsk to the [[Supreme Soviet]] on May 5 without mentioning the pilot, and on May 7 announced that the pilot was alive and had admitted the mission. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] assumed responsibility for the flight at a press statement on May 11. The [[1960 Paris Summit]] opened on May 16 with a protest and a demand for an apology from Khrushchev. NASA withdrew its support of the cover story during the summer, and the U-2 effort was given the new project name IDEALIST.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Interrogation and trial in Moscow
|
||||
|
||||
Powers was held at the [[Lubyanka Prison]] in [[Moscow]]. In a debriefing transcript of February 20, 1962, marked TOP SECRET, he told CIA interviewers that the first interrogation there, on May 1, had been presided over by [[Roman Rudenko]] in a room of 15 or 20 people and lasted about an hour or an hour and a quarter; that his main interrogators were Kuzmin and Vasilyev, with Rodochev as interpreter; that a second interrogation on May 2 was left out of the English volumes of evidence at the trial; and that when the CIA debriefer asked whether a senior official present on May 2 was [[Aleksandr Shelepin]] he answered, "I'm almost positive."[^7] The CIA's statement of 1962 described about 100 days of solitary confinement before trial and interrogation of 10 to 12 hours a day at times.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The trial took place from August 17 to August 19, 1960, before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR under Presiding Judge V. V. Borisoglebsky, with the assessors D. Z. Vorobyov and A. I. Zakharov. The State Prosecutor was R. A. Rudenko, the Procurator-General. Powers' counsel was [[M. I. Grinev]] of the Moscow City Bar Association. Four witnesses were called by the court. The sentence was ten years' confinement, the first three in prison.[^8] On the advice of his Soviet defense counsel he said he was sorry for his actions, and the CIA's statement of 1962 described the conduct at trial as consistent with the guidance he had received.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Contract pay during imprisonment
|
||||
|
||||
On December 16, 1960, [[Richard Bissell]], then Deputy Director for Plans, sent the [[Allen Dulles|Director of Central Intelligence]] a memorandum titled "Pay to Mr. Francis G. Powers." It recalled that the Director had taken the position, with Bissell's concurrence, that the public answer to questions should be that Powers, "while in prison in Russia," was receiving "no more and no less than he is entitled to by the terms of his contract," and that this should be the policy and not only the public position. Bissell attached a paper from [[James A. Cunningham]] on the status of the matter.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The exchange for Abel
|
||||
|
||||
[[Rudolf Abel]] had been convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and sentenced to thirty years. On March 28, 1960, five weeks before the shootdown, the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] affirmed the conviction 5 to 4 in Abel v. [[United States]] (362 U.S. 217), with [[James B. Donovan]] arguing for the petitioner.[^10] Confidential negotiations during the 18 months after the trial were conducted by Abel's court-appointed counsel Donovan, who corresponded with Abel's "wife" in [[East Germany]]; Acting Director [[Pearre Cabell]] wrote to Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] in November 1961 supporting a trade; and the [[Powers-Abel exchange|exchange]] took place on February 10, 1962, on the [[Glienicke Bridge]], with the American graduate student [[Frederic Pryor]] released at another location.[^11] The CIA's 2020 account of the exchange, published on its website, states that Powers' father had proposed the swap to Abel in prison a month after the capture and that the CIA lawyer [[Milan Miskovsky]] worked with Donovan to negotiate it.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum for the record by the CIA's Legislative Counsel [[John S. Warner]] dated February 12, 1962, records that on February 5 he told the chief counsel of the [[House Armed Services Committee]], [[Robert Smart]], and the Senate Armed Services Committee staff member [[William Darden]] that negotiations were under way, that "the release of Abel had been approved at the highest level if the Soviets would release Powers," and that "anything else was simply bonus." Warner told them on February 9 that the exchange would probably occur over the weekend. Smart was asked to inform Representative [[Carl Vinson]] and Darden told Senator [[Richard Russell]].[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Debriefing and the Prettyman Board
|
||||
|
||||
After the return the CIA reconvened the Damage Assessment Team that had met for two months in the summer of 1960. In 1960 the team had concluded that Powers' knowledge was extensive and that he had probably revealed most of it. After two weeks of debriefing in February 1962 it found the damage much less than estimated.[^11] Dulles, who had left the directorship in November 1961, told Powers "We are proud of what you have done." The new Director, [[John McCone]], appointed a Board of Inquiry.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The General Counsel, [[Lawrence Houston]], proposed the terms in a February 1962 memorandum to the Director. He wrote that the [[Department of Justice]] favored a retired federal judge as chairman, that the first choice was [[E. Barrett Prettyman]] and the second [[Harold R. Medina]], that he recommended Lieutenant General [[Harold R. Bull]] (retired) and [[John A. Bross]] as members, that no Air Force officer should sit in view of the efforts to disassociate the Air Force from the U-2 project, and that he himself would be counsel to the Board. The question put to the Board was whether Powers acted in accordance with the terms of his employment, his instructions and briefings, and his obligations as an American citizen from the start of the mission until his release.[^14] In the Board's hearing of February 22, Houston examined witnesses and entered as Exhibit 17 a cable of February 21 from [[Kelly Johnson]] of [[Lockheed]], who had spoken with Powers about the flight.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The Board reported on February 27, 1962, that Powers had acted in accordance with his instructions and obligations and recommended that he receive his back pay. The findings rested on the testimony of debriefing experts, a review of his background by doctors, psychiatrists, former Air Force colleagues and his commander at Adana, his own testimony, a polygraph examination he had volunteered to undergo, and analysis by Kelly Johnson of photographs of the wreckage. McCone remained skeptical and had the Air Force convene its own panel, which supported Johnson. He then relied on a report of the [[National Security Agency]] suggesting that Powers had descended to a lower altitude and turned back toward Sverdlovsk before being hit, and ordered the Board to reconvene on March 1. It adhered to its findings.[^11] On March 7, 1962, the [[NSA]] Deputy Director, [[Louis W. Tordella]], told Houston that he wished to place on the record that, contrary to Bross's statement in the transcript, it had not taken questioning and cross-examination to bring out the evidence contradicting the account, and that Bross's description of the NSA briefing as "very vehemently and very positively" presented was not accepted; Houston recorded the points to be filed with the transcript.[^16] [[David A. Foy]], reviewing a 2019 book by Powers' son in Studies in Intelligence, wrote that the Board authorized $52,500 in back pay.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Senate hearing of March 6, 1962
|
||||
|
||||
On March 6, 1962, at 2 p.m. in room 318 of the Old Senate Office Building, Powers testified in open session before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, accompanied by Houston. Present were Senators Russell (chairman), [[Harry F. Byrd]] of Virginia, [[John Stennis]], [[Stuart Symington]], [[Henry M. Jackson]], [[Sam Ervin]], [[Strom Thurmond]], [[Robert C. Byrd]], [[Leverett Saltonstall]], [[Margaret Chase Smith]], [[Francis Case]], [[Prescott Bush]], [[J. Glenn Beall]] and [[Barry Goldwater]]. Russell said the committee had extended the invitation through the CIA and that the hearing was in "the interest of fair play for Mr. Powers." Saltonstall told Powers: "I commend you as a courageous, fine young American citizen who lived up to your instructions."[^6] The printed record closes with the CIA's statement, which says the poison needle was intended primarily for torture or similar circumstances, that there were "no instructions that he should commit suicide," that the Board of Inquiry's conclusion was accepted by the Director, and that "the amount due Mr. Powers under the terms of his contract will be paid to him."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] also held brief hearings the same day with McCone representing the agency, and Senator [[John J. Williams]] asked McCone whether Powers was "being left with just a little bit of a cloud hanging over him."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Book, employment and settlement
|
||||
|
||||
On June 25, 1962, a meeting in the Director's office concluded that a book by Powers on his experiences "would be undesirable, would be harmful to Powers and not in the best interests of the Agency." The CIA memorandum of June 27, 1962, signed by [[Lyman Kirkpatrick]], directed that if Powers raised the issue again he be told he would "most likely come out second best," and noted that "one of the arguments that has been constantly advanced for the high pay of the U-2 pilots has been that they would not have an opportunity for personal gain through writings."[^18] A later memorandum of the Acting Assistant Director for Special Activities, James A. Cunningham, recorded that Powers, "a special contract employee," had sought approval to publish after a certain stage in his debriefing, that he was told the Agency would interpose no objection if the work was submitted for clearance before publication and was given a list of Agency-cleared attorneys, that the Director later decided a book would be unwise, and that Powers, dissuaded, had incurred $1,022.28 in legal fees. The memorandum recommended reimbursement; Houston concurred on October 2, 1962, and the approval by [[Marshall S. Carter]] carries a stamp of November 13.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
The Air Force agreed on April 4, 1962, to reinstate Powers effective July 1, and postponed the reinstatement after divorce proceedings began. Powers meanwhile began working for Lockheed as a U-2 pilot and in March 1963 told Colonel [[Leo P. Geary]] that he would stay.[^20] On April 19, 1963, Kelly Johnson cabled the CIA to confirm approval of Powers for flying U-2 aircraft under Lockheed's contracts except those in support of Project [[OXCART]], and on April 25 the Agency replied that approval was "hereby given" under the various U-2 contracts except those involving OXCART.[^21] In the same month McCone awarded the Intelligence Star to all the U-2 pilots except Powers. Powers received it from Deputy Director Carter on April 25, 1965, two days before McCone's resignation took effect; the award was dated 1963 on the back.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 9, 1967, a CIA Office of Special Activities memorandum recorded that Powers would visit headquarters to discuss two subjects: the possibility of employment with the Agency, and whether he could be given approval to write a book about his May 1 experiences.[^22] Powers remained at Lockheed until U-2 testing ceased in September 1969. [[Michael Beschloss]] claimed that Lockheed fired Powers for criticizing the Agency in his memoirs, which he had shown to the Agency in draft; the CIA history quotes Kelly Johnson's "U-2R Log" for September 25, 1969: "We have no flight test activity at all must let Gary Powers go. Have protected him for about seven years, but he doesn't have an ATR (Air Transport Rating), so we have no other job for him, not even flying the Beechcraft."[^20] Powers published Operation Overflight, written with [[Curt Gentry]] and published by [[Holt, Rinehart and Winston]], in 1970; a [[Los Angeles Times]] review of May 12, 1970, found in the CIA's files said the Air Force had reneged on a promise to reinstate him with credit for his time as a U-2 pilot.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA Office of General Counsel memorandum of October 19, 1971, by Houston, titled "Settlement for Francis Gary Powers," states that Powers had retained an attorney who wrote to the President on August 31, 1971, seeking Air Force credit for his time with the Agency and reinstatement, which in another eight years would have entitled him to a 20-year retirement. It states that the Air Force could not restore him to active duty and that a proposal approved by Secretary of the Air Force [[Robert Seamans]] and Secretary of Defense [[Melvin Laird]] would offer him up to $250,000 in lieu of all claims, placed in a trust with a corporate trustee. It continues: "The mechanics of the movement of money and arrangements for the trust will be accomplished by the Agency so that there will be no traceable record back to the Government." The Air Force offered the Agency the chance to supply up to half of the funds; [[Carl Duckett]] had argued for participation; the Director had approved up to $125,000; and the memorandum requested an advance of $250,000 to John S. Warner so that a settlement could be completed in [[Los Angeles]] on October 26 and 27. The recommendation carries the approval of the Acting Executive Director-Comptroller; the date is not legible in the copy.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 31, 1972, [[John Parangosky]], Chief of the Special Projects Staff, answered a memorandum of October 27 reporting that Powers, speaking at an open forum at California State University, Northridge, had said he was laid off at Lockheed two weeks after submitting his book to the CIA for review and, asked whether he meant the CIA had pressured Lockheed, had answered "Yes, I do, but you can draw your own conclusions from those facts." Parangosky wrote: "For your information this is a lot of bologna. The record is replete with Agency help proffered Powers and Lockheed's desire to help him. In fact, after Lockheed felt it could no longer support Powers, the Agency funded an extension to enable Powers to alleviate his own situation."[^25] Foy wrote that Powers and his son, [[Francis Gary Powers Jr.]], believed the Lockheed dismissal was done at the CIA's behest.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death and burial
|
||||
|
||||
Powers became a traffic reporter for a Los Angeles radio station and then flew a helicopter for a television station.[^20] On August 1, 1977, the [[KNBC]] "Telecopter," a Bell 206B JetRanger registered N4TV, crashed in the Sepulveda Basin in [[Van Nuys, California|Van Nuys]], California, killing Powers and the cameraman George R. Spears. A reconstruction of the accident published by the aviation history site This Day in Aviation states that Powers had reported low fuel to the Van Nuys tower, that the engine stopped from fuel starvation, and that the National Transportation Safety Board record, docket LAX77FA060, lists as probable cause improper in-flight decisions and fuel mismanagement; the same page reports that a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request for the NTSB report was answered with a statement that 1977 accident records had been destroyed.[^26] A CIA web feature attributes the crash to a faulty fuel gauge.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 6, 1977, John F. Blake, Acting Deputy [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to the Director that Representative [[Robert Dornan]] of California had telephoned on August 3 with "a rather impassionate plea for assistance for the interment of Gary Powers in Arlington," that Blake had asked [[Frank Moore]]'s office at the [[White House]] and the Under Secretary of the Army to associate the Agency with the request, and that he had told the Under Secretary that Powers held the CIA Intelligence Star, "the counterpart to the military 'Silver Star.'"[^28] Powers is buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded posthumously on November 24, 1986. On February 15, 2000, after review at the request of his son, the Air Force retroactively promoted Powers to captain, credited the period of his CIA service and authorized the Prisoner of War Medal. [[George Tenet]] awarded him the CIA Director's Medal in 2000, and the Silver Star was awarded on June 15, 2012.[^26][^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4.
|
||||
[^2]: "1 August 1977," This Day in Aviation (Bryan R. Swopes), tag page "NTSB LAX 77FA060," biography section. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/ntsb-lax-77fa060/
|
||||
[^3]: *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session, March 6, 1962*. Government Printing Office, 1962, p. 2 (copy in CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2
|
||||
[^4]: "Statement Concerning Francis Gary Powers," printed in *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services*, March 6, 1962, pp. 23 to 26 (CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2 A separate copy is CIA-RDP67-00318R000100190001-7.
|
||||
[^5]: Pedlow, Gregory W., and Donald E. Welzenbach. *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*. CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998, chapter 4, pp. 176 to 182 and 185 to 187. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf (scanned pages read with optical character recognition).
|
||||
[^6]: *Francis Gary Powers: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services*, March 6, 1962, pp. 1 to 5 and the exchange with Senator Saltonstall (CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00764r000500100023-2
|
||||
[^7]: "Debriefing of Francis Gary Powers #16," February 20, 1962, 1133 hours, TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200060004-0, pp. 1 to 6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200060004-0
|
||||
[^8]: *The Powers' Case: Material of the Court Hearings in the Criminal Case of the American Spy-Pilot Francis Gary Powers, Moscow, August 17 to 19, 1960*. Soviet Booklet No. 76, London, September 1960, pp. 7, 25 to 40, 86. https://archive.org/details/powerscasemateri76powe
|
||||
[^9]: Richard M. Bissell Jr., Deputy Director (Plans), Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Pay to Mr. Francis G. Powers," December 16, 1960, CIA-RDP62B00844R000200150001-6 (second copy CIA-RDP62B00844R000200160001-5). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp62b00844r000200150001-6
|
||||
[^10]: *Abel v. United States*, 362 U.S. 217 (1960), decided March 28, 1960, opinion by Justice Frankfurter. https://openjurist.org/362/us/217
|
||||
[^11]: Pedlow and Welzenbach, *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*, chapter 4, pp. 183 to 185 ("The Fate of Francis Gary Powers"), citing the Board of Inquiry records and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee executive session of March 6, 1962 (declassified 1982). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: "May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story." Central Intelligence Agency, April 29, 2020. https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/may-day-over-moscow-the-francis-gary-powers-story/
|
||||
[^13]: John S. Warner, Legislative Counsel, Memorandum for the Record, "Passage of Information with Respect to the Powers/Abel Exchange," OGC 62-0271, February 12, 1962, CIA-RDP64B00346R000100170064-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp64b00346r000100170064-7 (second copy CIA-RDP64B00346R000100140013-6).
|
||||
[^14]: Lawrence R. Houston, General Counsel, Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Board of Inquiry for Francis Gary Powers and Terms of Reference," OGC 62-0274, February 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200020012-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200020012-5
|
||||
[^15]: Board of Inquiry, Francis Gary Powers, transcript excerpts of February 22, 1962, TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200080007-5. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80B01676R002200080007-5
|
||||
[^16]: Lawrence R. Houston, Memorandum for the Record, "Board of Inquiry, Francis Gary Powers," March 7, 1962 (conversation with Louis W. Tordella, Deputy Director, National Security Agency), TOP SECRET, CIA-RDP80B01676R002200070001-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r002200070001-2
|
||||
[^17]: Foy, David A. Review of Francis Gary Powers Jr. and Keith Dunnavant, *Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy* (Prometheus Books, 2019). *Studies in Intelligence* 63, no. 2 (extracts, June 2019), pp. 41 to 43. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Spy-Pilot.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, memorandum "Writings by Francis Gary Powers," June 27, 1962, CIA-RDP75-00001R000400130015-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000400130015-4
|
||||
[^19]: James A. Cunningham Jr., Acting Assistant Director (Special Activities), Memorandum for the Acting Director of Central Intelligence, "Reimbursement for Legal Services Incurred by Francis Gary Powers," SA-0860-62, with concurrence of Lawrence R. Houston dated October 2, 1962 and approval by Marshall S. Carter, CIA-RDP80B01676R003100040001-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003100040001-5
|
||||
[^20]: Pedlow and Welzenbach, *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954 to 1974*, chapter 4, pp. 185 to 187 and footnote on p. 187. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-and-U2-Program.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Cable from Kelly Johnson of Lockheed received April 19, 1963, and reply of April 25, 1963, concerning approval of Francis Gary Powers to fly U-2 aircraft, SECRET, CIA-RDP89B00739R000300110131-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp89b00739r000300110131-3
|
||||
[^22]: John Parangosky, Deputy Director of Special Activities, Memorandum for the Record, "Visit of Gary Francis Powers to Headquarters," OSA-2981-67, August 9, 1967, CIA-RDP70B00501R000100040021-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp70b00501r000100040021-8
|
||||
[^23]: Kirsch, Robert. "The Book Report" (review of Francis Gary Powers with Curt Gentry, *Operation Overflight*, Holt, Rinehart and Winston), *Los Angeles Times*, May 12, 1970, copy in CIA-RDP88-01350R000200190013-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01350r000200190013-0
|
||||
[^24]: Lawrence R. Houston, General Counsel, Memorandum for the Acting Executive Director-Comptroller, "Settlement for Francis Gary Powers," OGC 71-1526, October 19, 1971, SECRET, CIA document C03072202. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-03072202
|
||||
[^25]: John Parangosky, Chief, Special Projects Staff, Memorandum for DC/SMS/DDS&T, "POWERS, Gary Francis," SPS-0918/72, October 31, 1972, with DDS&T 3066/72 of October 27, 1972, CIA document C03069466. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-03069466
|
||||
[^26]: "1 August 1977," This Day in Aviation, tag page "NTSB LAX 77FA060," including the update on the Freedom of Information Act response. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/ntsb-lax-77fa060/
|
||||
[^27]: "May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story." Central Intelligence Agency, April 29, 2020. https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/may-day-over-moscow-the-francis-gary-powers-story/
|
||||
[^28]: John F. Blake, Acting Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Note for the Director of Central Intelligence, August 6, 1977, CIA-RDP80M00165A002600120017-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m00165a002600120017-6
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Nuclear
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "Gary Francis Powers was an American pilot whose U-2 Spy Plane was shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident."
|
||||
born: 1929-08-17
|
||||
died: 1977-08-01
|
||||
location: "Jenkins, Kentucky, USA"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Gary Francis Powers was an American pilot whose [[U-2 Spy Plane]] was shot down over the [[Soviet Union]] on May 1, 1960, leading to a major international incident. Powers and his colleagues continued intermittently to overfly the [[Middle East]], and were steadily back at work in the area in 1958, when the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s photo interpreters began seeing significant activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of [[Beersheba]], which turned out to be the early signs of the [[Dimona]] nuclear reactor.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4.
|
||||
225
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John D. Rockefeller Jr..md
Normal file
225
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John D. Rockefeller Jr..md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,225 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Rockefeller
|
||||
- StandardOil
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- ColoradoFuelAndIron
|
||||
- Ludlow
|
||||
- IvyLee
|
||||
- RockefellerFoundation
|
||||
- BureauOfSocialHygiene
|
||||
- ChaseNationalBank
|
||||
- JacksonHole
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- John D. Rockefeller Jr.
|
||||
- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
|
||||
- John D. Rockefeller Junior
|
||||
- John Davison Rockefeller Jr.
|
||||
- John Davison Rockefeller, Jr.
|
||||
- JDR Jr.
|
||||
summary: "Son of the Standard Oil founder, Colorado Fuel and Iron director during the 1913 to 1914 strike, Rockefeller Foundation chairman, and largest Chase National Bank stockholder who financed Jackson Hole and the United Nations site."
|
||||
born: 1874-01-29
|
||||
died: 1960-05-11
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[John D. Rockefeller Sr.]]"
|
||||
role: "son"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
start: 1901-10-09
|
||||
end: 1948
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Martha Baird Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
start: 1951-08-15
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Laurance Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
role: "father"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nelson Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
role: "father"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[David Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
role: "father"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Winthrop W. Aldrich]]"
|
||||
role: "brother-in-law"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Colorado Fuel and Iron Company]]"
|
||||
role: "director, one of three representatives of his father's holdings"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[House Committee on Mines and Mining]]"
|
||||
start: 1914-04-06
|
||||
role: "witness"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Ivy Lee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "publicity adviser to the Rockefeller office"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Commission on Industrial Relations]]"
|
||||
start: 1915-01-25
|
||||
role: "witness"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Rockefeller Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "president in 1914, chairman of the board of trustees in 1928 and 1936"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Bureau of Social Hygiene]]"
|
||||
role: "established the Bureau after the 1910 grand jury"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Raymond B. Fosdick]]"
|
||||
role: "head of the reorganized Bureau of Social Hygiene"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[International Education Board]]"
|
||||
start: 1923
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]"
|
||||
role: "gave a total of 58.9 million dollars"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Chase Manhattan Bank|Chase National Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1930
|
||||
role: "largest stockholder after the Equitable Trust exchange"
|
||||
fn: 21
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Standard Oil of Indiana proxy contest of 1929]]"
|
||||
start: 1929
|
||||
role: "minority stockholder seeking the removal of Robert W. Stewart"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Snake River Land Company]]"
|
||||
role: "created it as purchasing agent for Jackson Hole land"
|
||||
fn: 23
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Colonial Williamsburg]]"
|
||||
start: 1926
|
||||
role: "restoration, 56 million dollars"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[United Nations]]"
|
||||
start: 1946-12
|
||||
role: "8.5 million dollars for the East River site"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874, in [[Cleveland]], to May 11, 1960, in [[Tucson]]) was the son of [[John D. Rockefeller Sr.]], founder of [[Standard Oil]], and [[Laura Spelman Rockefeller]]. He graduated from [[Brown University]] in 1897, married [[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]] (daughter of Senator [[Nelson W. Aldrich]] of [[Rhode Island]]) on October 9, 1901, and, three years after her death in 1948, married [[Martha Baird Rockefeller|Martha Baird Allen]] on August 15, 1951.[^1] Estimates of his net worth were 995 million dollars in 1928, 379.6 million in 1938 and 336.5 million in 1950. His children were Abby, [[John D. Rockefeller III]], [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[Laurance Rockefeller]], [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] and [[David Rockefeller]]; five sons established the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]] in 1940, and he gave it 58.9 million dollars.[^1] His first employment was in his father's office at 26 Broadway, where he worked with the Reverend [[Frederick T. Gates]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
|
||||
|
||||
The Rockefeller interest in the [[Colorado Fuel and Iron Company]] dated from 1902. In his written statement to the [[Commission on Industrial Relations]] in January 1915 he put the cash investment at about 6 million dollars, the dividends received on the stock since 1902 at 371,000 dollars (about two thirds of one percent a year), and the wages the company had paid in the same period at more than 92 million dollars.[^2] He added that the decision of the company's officers on recognizing the union "was reached without any consultation or communication with me," and that he had no knowledge of it until after the strike had been declared.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 6, 1914, he testified before a subcommittee of the [[House Committee on Mines and Mining]] (House Resolution 387, 63d Congress), where Representative [[Martin D. Foster]] of [[Illinois]] (the chairman), [[James F. Byrnes]], [[John M. Evans]] and [[Richard W. Austin]] questioned him, with [[Starr J. Murphy]] present beside him.[^3] He gave his father's holdings in the company as 139,807 of 342,355 common shares (about 40 percent), 7,943 of 20,000 preferred shares (about 40 percent), 14,450,000 dollars of the 33,437,000 dollars of Colorado Industrial Company first mortgage 5 percent bonds (about 43 percent) and 366,000 dollars of 5,638,000 dollars of the company's general mortgage 5 percent bonds. He said that he held only the shares that qualified him as a director, and that he was "one of my father's representatives in the care of this and other of his personal investments."[^3] The common stock had never paid a dividend "since our relationship to the company"; the preferred stock had paid 35 percent of its accumulated arrears and 4 percent of the current dividend in 1913.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
He named three directors as his father's immediate representatives: himself, Murphy and "J. D. Green," who were on the staff of his father's personal office. [[Lamont M. Bowers]], chairman of the company's board, he described as one "who might be said indirectly to represent our interests," and [[J. H. McClement]] as an independent New York businessman who represented the other stockholders as much as [[Rockefeller family|the Rockefellers]].[^3] The index of the Commission's published record lists Bowers as "member advisory staff of John D. Rockefeller, sr."[^4] Asked by the chairman whether the three were "dummy" directors, he answered, "We have not usually felt ourselves that."[^3] The only annual meeting of stockholders he had attended was held in [[Denver]], he estimated, at least ten years earlier; he signed the minutes of directors' meetings when they were sent east, and he received his information on the strike from correspondence with Bowers and [[J. F. Welborn]], the company's president: "we invariably stand by those officers until we have reason to believe that we have been mistaken in our judgment regarding them."[^3] Later in the examination he told the chairman that he was a director of the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] "and, in fact, to be the chairman of that board," and, asked what steps he had taken to look after the conditions among the company's 10,000 employees in Colorado, answered that he had done "the very best thing that I could possibly have done in the interest of the employees, quite as much as in the interest of the large investment which I represent."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The chairman asked why the "killing of these people, the shooting of children" had not led him to communicate with the other directors. Rockefeller answered that the issue was a national one and that "we stand ready to lose every cent we put in that company rather than see the men we have employed thrown out of work." He continued: "There is just one thing, Mr. Chairman, so far as I understand it, which can be done, as things are at present, to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps; and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost. It is not an accident that this is our position." The chairman asked, "And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?" Rockefeller answered, "It is a great principle."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In the Commission's New York hearing in January 1915 he identified [[Jerome D. Greene]] as the other member (besides Murphy and himself) of his father's personal staff in 1914 and as a director of the company that year, one who "gave his time more to the foundation work" and so had less personal touch with the company than directors of longer standing. Greene was secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ludlow and the Letters to Bowers
|
||||
|
||||
The tent colony of striking miners at [[Ludlow massacre|Ludlow]] was destroyed on April 20, 1914. In the Commission's hearings the counsel of the [[United Mine Workers of America]], [[Edward P. Costigan]], read from the report of three Colorado militia officers. The report stated that "practically all National Guards were enlisted about the middle of April among the superintendents and foremen, the clerical force, physicians, storekeepers, mine guards, and other residents of the coal camps," that Lieutenant [[K. E. Linderfelt]] broke the stock of his Springfield rifle over the head of the prisoner [[Louis Tikas]], and that two women and eleven children were found smothered.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In May 1915 Chairman [[Frank P. Walsh]] read to him letters from the autumn of 1913. Bowers had written on September 29 that several mines were "working from one-half to two-thirds capacity" and that, undisturbed, the company could keep its steel works running and "supply our railroad friends with coal." Asked who the railroad friends were and whether his father held [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]] securities, Rockefeller answered "I don't know" to each question, and added that he thought the phrase referred only to the railroads with which the company did business.[^7] Walsh then read a letter of October 6 from Rockefeller to Bowers: "We feel that what you have done is right and fair, and that the position which you have taken in regard to the unionizing of the mines is in the interest of the employees of the company. Whatever the outcome may be, we will stand by you to the end." A letter of October 10 to Bowers said the company's "strong and just position will not lack backing at this end."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Walsh had read back to him in January 1915 the passage of his April 1914 testimony containing "we expect to stand by the officers at any cost" and "it is a great principle." Rockefeller answered that it concerned "the right of every man to determine for himself whether he should join the union or not."[^8] Asked whether his attention had ever been called to claims that the company's officers violated Colorado law, he said it had not; asked whether he would vote to discharge an officer persistently violating the law, he said, "If all the facts justified that belief, I should."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The strike was called off on December 10, 1914. On December 16 [[David Griffiths]], formerly the state coal mine inspector, was named an intermediary between the company and its employees, and on January 5, 1915 a notice invited the miners to elect one representative for every 250 employees to meet company officers in Denver.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ivy Lee
|
||||
|
||||
[[Ivy Lee]] testified before the Commission on May 22, 1915. Walsh read to him a letter from Rockefeller of June 10, 1914: "Several points in my memorandum, however, could well even more properly be used in the letter from Gov. Ammons to President Wilson, which you are proposing to prepare as soon as the major's memorandum reaches you." The governor was [[Elias M. Ammons]]; the major was [[Edward J. Boughton]] of the Colorado militia, whom Walsh described as the advocate general who presided over the military court at [[Trinidad, Colorado|Trinidad]] (Lee said he did not know that) and whom Lee first met in New York in mid-June. Lee said Greene, "of Mr. Rockefeller's office," had seen Boughton first and that the suggestion that the governor write to the President went to Boughton through Greene. Lee agreed with Walsh that Greene was then also a director of the company, and answered "Yes, sir" when Walsh said, "You took his place, I believe?"[^9] Lee wrote to Rockefeller on June 11 that the best course was to give the governor's letter "our attention," and on July 2 that he was preparing "a very brief statement of the case which will command public attention."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[New York Times]] clipping submitted to the Commission by [[Edward L. Doyle]], a witness for the miners, quoted a statement from the Rockefeller offices at 26 Broadway, issued December 7, 1914, that Greene "had withdrawn temporarily from his activities as a member of John D. Rockefeller's personal staff and that Ivy L. Lee, executive assistant to the president of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]], would shortly take up his duties."[^10] Rockefeller told the Commission in January 1915 that Lee's membership of the staff and his salary began on January 1, 1915; that before then Lee had cooperated with the committee of three Colorado operators and with the company in presenting the facts, with the consent of the president of Lee's company, whom Rockefeller had seen; and that the staff consisted of Murphy, Lee and himself, of whom he alone drew no salary.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Walsh asked Lee whether John D. Rockefeller Sr. had paid him 6,000 dollars from private funds for work to January 1915. Lee answered that the whole expense of the publicity campaign "was repaid to me from Colorado" and that, on his information, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company had paid the greater part of his salary up to January 1 on behalf of the other operators.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1934 Lee appeared before the [[McCormack-Dickstein Committee|Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the McCormack-Dickstein committee)]] on his retainer from the German dye trust, [[I. G. Farben|I. G. Farbenindustrie]]. In the House on February 27, 1935, Representative [[Samuel Dickstein]] said that Lee had told the committee he felt certain the information he supplied to the dye trust was reaching government officials, that Lee received 25,000 dollars a year for each year of the contract, and that Lee had left a son in Germany as his contact man at 33,000 dollars a year.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Rockefeller Foundation's Industrial Relations Division
|
||||
|
||||
The Rockefeller Foundation was incorporated by Chapter 488 of the New York Laws of 1913, which became law on May 14, 1913; the Act named as members John D. Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Gates, [[Harry Pratt Judson]], [[Simon Flexner]], Murphy, Greene, [[Wickliffe Rose]] and [[Charles O. Heydt]].[^12] The Foundation's own account to the Commission said that the Colorado disturbances "impressed the President of the Foundation with the great need and public importance of finding an effective means of preventing such conflicts and caused him to urge a far-reaching study of industrial relations." Its executive committee resolved on August 13, 1914 to appoint [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] to study industrial relations from October 1, 1914, at a salary the Foundation omitted from the published answer "as being information of a confidential nature." The arrangement had been made in conferences "principally" between King and the president and secretary, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Greene.[^12] In his January 1915 statement Rockefeller said he had begun to secure King's services at the beginning of the previous June.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The same document stated that the Foundation "is, moreover, a large owner of corporate securities," and its Schedule D listed the securities contributed by John D. Rockefeller and held on December 1, 1914. The schedule included 2,000 Colorado Industrial Company convertible bonds (book value 1,600,000 dollars), 7,000 shares of [[Colorado and Southern Railway]] first preferred (378,000 dollars), 20,000 shares of the [[Consolidated Gas Company]] (2,600,000 dollars), 24,845 shares of the [[Southern Pipe Line Company]] (5,703,308.88 dollars), 7,000 shares of [[Continental Oil Company|Continental Oil]] (1,330,000 dollars) and 100 bonds of a Southern Pacific branch railway first issue. The total funds of the Foundation on that date were 103,930,817.19 dollars.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The Foundation's report for 1928 lists Rockefeller as chairman of the board of trustees and of the finance committee; Jerome D. Greene was elected a trustee that November.[^13] The members and trustees in 1936, with Rockefeller as chairman, were [[Winthrop W. Aldrich]], [[John W. Davis]], [[Lewis W. Douglas]], [[John Foster Dulles]], [[Raymond B. Fosdick]], [[Walter S. Gifford]], Greene, [[Ernest M. Hopkins]], [[Max Mason]], [[Thomas I. Parkinson]], John D. Rockefeller III, [[Walter W. Stewart]], [[Harold H. Swift]], [[George H. Whipple]], [[Ray Lyman Wilbur]] and [[Owen D. Young]].[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The Foundation's reports for those years list a grant of 75,000 dollars in 1928 "towards erection of building" for the [[Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich|Institute for Psychiatric Research]] in [[Munich]], whose building opened that year; grants numbered RF 31045 and RF 33082 for research in neurohistology, serology and biochemistry there, on which 2,258.80 dollars was paid in 1936; small grants in 1936 to Professors O. Bumke and H. Spatz of Munich; the continuing payments in 1931 to [[Cornell University Medical School]] for Dr. [[C. R. Stockard]]'s "studies in eugenics and heredity"; and general expenses and a research program for the [[Institute of Pacific Relations]] in [[Honolulu]] and for its American Council in 1936.[^13][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bureau of Social Hygiene
|
||||
|
||||
In 1910 he served on a New York grand jury that investigated "white slavery," and he told the House subcommittee in 1914 that he had been its foreman.[^3][^16] The grand jury's work led him to establish the [[Bureau of Social Hygiene]] in 1913, and his statement of January 27, 1913 said that investigating bodies are "generally composed of busy people, who cannot turn away from their own affairs for any great length of time to carry on reforms."[^1][^16] He contributed 5.4 million dollars to the Bureau before its dissolution in 1940.[^1] The Bureau gave 309,000 dollars more for a Laboratory of Social Hygiene at the [[Bedford Hills Reformatory]] (1912 to 1918), which tested inmates for venereal disease and made physiological and psychological assessments intended to define a physical profile of the "criminal type." The Bureau's files show no evidence of sterilization as part of the Laboratory's program; New York's sterilization law for "eugenic purposes" was in force from 1912 to 1920, during which the state sterilized one man and 42 women.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Katharine Bement Davis]], who had led the reformatory at Bedford Hills, became the Bureau's general secretary in 1917. After the Bureau's trustees objected to her proposal that it undertake sex research on its own account (a comment of December 6, 1927 by [[Leonard V. Harrison]] is quoted in the research essay), she retired on January 1, 1928; Rockefeller then reorganized the Bureau and appointed Fosdick to lead it.[^16] Since 1922 the Bureau had paid for research chosen by a committee of the [[National Research Council]] on problems of sex; in 1931, "at the suggestion of the Bureau of Social Hygiene," the Rockefeller Foundation took over those grants for the period beginning July 1, 1931. The Bureau also financed the Council's committee on drug addiction, which in 1928 recommended study of the codeine alkaloids as non-habit-forming substitutes, with the chemical work assigned to Dr. [[L. F. Small]] at the [[University of Virginia]].[^15] The Bureau's grants had all concluded by 1933, and it was formally dissolved in 1940.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Standard Oil of Indiana
|
||||
|
||||
Before the 1929 annual meeting of [[Standard Oil of Indiana]], Rockefeller, a minority stockholder, examined the testimony of its chairman [[Robert W. Stewart]] before the [[United States Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys|Senate Committee on Public Lands]] about the [[Continental Trading Company]] bonds, talked with him and asked him to resign. [[Time]] reported on January 28, 1929 that Stewart had testified "I never had anything to do with the distribution of any bonds" and later "I know about the disposition of $759,500 of these bonds," that the Senate had charged him with perjury and contempt and that juries acquitted him of both, and that Rockefeller, who according to his own account had received Stewart's promise to comply nine months earlier, "sailed for Egypt last fortnight, but left behind him a letter to stockholders, expressing loss of confidence."[^17] The company had 9,160,000 shares held by about 58,000 holders, and the vote was set for March 7 at [[Whiting, Indiana]]. Time listed the acting Alien Property Custodian, [[Howard Sutherland]] (proxies for 12,000 shares seized from Germans and Austrians in the World War), and [[A. P. Giannini]] (32,000 shares) among Rockefeller's supporters, reported that the house of [[J. P. Morgan and Company]] was "authoritatively said to be advising clients to support" him, and noted that the [[University of Chicago]], "object of many Rockefeller benefactions," was expected to vote its 30,000 shares with him; the company's president [[Edward G. Seubert]] and its board voted unanimously for Stewart, and Time reported that Standard Oil of Indiana profits for 1928 were estimated at 80 million dollars.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society states that Rockefeller retained [[Charles Evans Hughes]] to lead his lawyers and that Stewart retained [[Frank J. Hogan]], who had defended [[Edward L. Doheny]] in the [[Teapot Dome scandal|Teapot Dome]] case, and that Hughes's staff published a 69-page statement of Rockefeller's case. According to the society, Rockefeller did not attend the meeting and sent his brother-in-law Winthrop W. Aldrich with about 200 eastern stockholders; the Rockefeller side claimed 57 percent of the proxies; Stewart conceded, "I'm afraid, my friends, that the 'noes' have it, if the vote is taken by shares"; and the society quotes the [[Gary Times]] that Stewart "was plucked out of the chairmanship."[^18] The society's account names [[Harry F. Sinclair]] as one of the four oil company heads who created the Continental Trading Company in 1921.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 15, 1933 the [[United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency|Senate Committee on Banking and Currency]], in hearings conducted by its counsel [[Ferdinand Pecora]] on the Chase Securities Corporation, heard [[Bertram Cutler]], who described himself as having been associated with the Rockefellers for thirty-two years "as financial adviser." Cutler testified that in November 1928 the entire holding of 3 or 4 of the so-called "Rockefeller charitable funds" in the [[Prairie Oil and Gas Company]], roughly 38 million dollars at the prices testified to, was sold to [[Blair and Company]], that he carried on the negotiations, that he had referred the Prairie Oil president, [[William S. Fitzpatrick]], to the bankers when Fitzpatrick said he would have liked to buy some of the stock, and that he had spoken to [[Hunter Marston]] of Blair and Company about it. He testified that he knew nothing of a syndicate in [[Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation]] stock in which Fitzpatrick later shared. Asked whether the Rockefeller interests held Sinclair Consolidated stock after the March 1932 consolidation of the Prairie companies with it, he answered that they held "a very substantial amount," "the amount Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., might have received for stock of the Prairie Co. that he owned," and guessed the whole at about 1,000,000 shares.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chase National Bank
|
||||
|
||||
Time of January 2, 1933 reported that after the 1930 exchange of stock among the [[Chase Manhattan Bank|Chase National Bank]], the [[Equitable Trust Company]] and the [[Interstate Trust Company]], "John Davison Rockefeller Jr. then became the biggest stockholder," a position [[Albert Wiggin]] had held until then, and that his wife's brother, Winthrop W. Aldrich, president of Equitable, became president of Chase. The same article said that Aldrich "led the fight to oust Robert Wright Stewart from Standard Oil of Indiana" and "makes no bones about representing the interests of his in-laws," and that whether the Rockefellers were behind Wiggin's resignation was "still a moot question."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 17, 1933 Wiggin testified before the same committee. Asked by Senator [[James Couzens]] who the largest stockholder was, he consulted an associate and answered "John D. Rockefeller, Jr."; asked whether that was how the bank came to be known as the Rockefeller Bank, he answered, "I think so." He said the Chase had about 89,000 stockholders. His letter of December 21, 1932 to the executive committee, read into the record, stated that in 1930 "through the merger with the Equitable Trust Co., John D. Rockefeller, Jr., as the largest holder of Equitable stock, became, through the ensuing exchange of stock, the largest stockholder in the Chase," and that Aldrich had become president of the bank and later vice chairman of its governing board.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Purchases through Intermediaries
|
||||
|
||||
[[Colonial Williamsburg]] began in 1926 after the Reverend [[W. A. R. Goodwin]], rector of [[Bruton Parish Church]], approached Rockefeller in 1924. He bought properties with Goodwin as his agent and communicated by coded telegram; one, authorizing the purchase of "another antique referred to in your long letter," was signed "David's father." The town was told in June 1928, and the restoration eventually covered 85 percent of the original eighteenth-century area, with more than seven hundred buildings that postdated 1790 demolished.[^22] He gave about 56 million dollars to the restoration and related projects.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In Wyoming the [[Snake River Land Company]] was the purchasing agent he created "to mask his association and keep land prices affordable." It bought more than 35,000 acres of [[Jackson Hole]] for about 1.4 million dollars.[^23] A Senate subcommittee held hearings in 1933 on allegations that the company had used illegal tactics, and the Park Service history states that the company and the Park Service were exonerated.[^23] After holding the land for fifteen years Rockefeller wrote to President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] that, absent acceptance of the gift on terms long discussed, "it will be my thought to make some other disposition of it or to sell it in the market to any satisfactory buyers." On March 15, 1943 Roosevelt proclaimed the 221,000-acre [[Jackson Hole National Monument]].[^23] Representative [[Frank Barrett]]'s bill to abolish it passed both houses, and Roosevelt withheld his approval in a message of December 29, 1944 that referred to lands "acquired by private interests, for ultimate incorporation in the monument."[^23][^24] The Rockefeller land remained private until December 16, 1949, and the act of September 14, 1950 merging the monument into [[Grand Teton National Park]] included the compromise that "in the future presidential proclamation could not be used to create a national monument in Wyoming."[^23] He gave 17.5 million dollars to the [[Jackson Hole Preserve]]; Laurance Rockefeller, as its president, made the 1949 gift of the valley land to the federal government on his father's behalf.[^1][^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Gifts and Building
|
||||
|
||||
He joined the plan for [[Rockefeller Center]] in 1928, leasing the major part of the land from [[Columbia University]]; its first fourteen buildings were erected between 1931 and 1940, and on November 1, 1939 he drove the last rivet in the U.S. Rubber Company Building.[^1] The [[International Education Board]], founded in 1923, gave more than 21 million dollars, including 1.4 million toward the 200-inch telescope on [[Palomar Observatory|Mount Palomar]], 357,000 dollars for the mathematics faculty at [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], 283,000 dollars for [[Niels Bohr]]'s work on atomic structure and 3.2 million dollars for the [[Oriental Institute]].[^1] His park gifts included 3.6 million dollars to [[Acadia National Park]], 5.9 million dollars for [[Fort Tryon Park]] and 15.7 million dollars in all for [[The Cloisters]], 10.2 million dollars to the [[Palisades Interstate Park]], 2 million dollars to the [[Save the Redwoods League]], 1.6 million dollars at [[Yosemite National Park|Yosemite]] and 164,000 dollars at [[Shenandoah National Park|Shenandoah]].[^1] He helped establish the [[United Service Organizations]] in 1941 and the [[National War Fund]] in 1943, which raised more than 321 million dollars; in 1944 he became chairman of the advisory committee of the [[United Negro College Fund]] and gave it 5.2 million dollars; in 1955 he gave securities valued at 20 million dollars for Protestant theological education.[^1] In December 1946 he gave 8.5 million dollars for the purchase of the land for the permanent headquarters of the [[United Nations]] on the [[East River]].[^1] His total charitable giving is estimated at 537 million dollars.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-jr/ (birth, death, education, marriages, children, net worth estimates, first employment, Rockefeller Brothers Fund 1940 and 58.9 million dollars, Bureau of Social Hygiene 1913 and 5.4 million dollars, International Education Board 1923, Colonial Williamsburg 1926 and 56 million dollars, park gifts, Jackson Hole Preserve 17.5 million dollars, Rockefeller Center, USO and National War Fund, United Negro College Fund, theological education, United Nations 8.5 million dollars in December 1946, total giving 537 million dollars).
|
||||
[^2]: John D. Rockefeller Jr., *Statement of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before United States Commission on Industrial Relations, January 25, 1915* (New York, 1915), https://archive.org/details/statementofjohnd00rock.
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Mines and Mining, subcommittee, *Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado*, hearings pursuant to H. Res. 387, 63d Cong., 2d sess., testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., April 6, 1914, pp. 2841-2878 (the exchange on "a great principle" at pp. 2873-2874), https://archive.org/details/conditionsincoa00housgoog.
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, S. Doc. 415, 64th Cong., 1st sess. (1916), vol. 9, contents of volume IX (index entry for L. M. Bowers), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
|
||||
[^5]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7771-7773 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York, January 1915, on the personal staff of John D. Rockefeller and the directors of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
|
||||
[^6]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8129-8130 (statement of Edward P. Costigan reading the report of the Colorado militia officers), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
|
||||
[^7]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8659-8660 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., Washington, May 21, 1915, examination by Chairman Walsh), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
|
||||
[^8]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7761-7773 and 7837-7838 (testimony of John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York, January 25 and 26, 1915, including the announcement of December 7, 1914 read by Chairman Walsh and the answers on Ivy Lee's salary and staff), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
|
||||
[^9]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 9, pp. 8715-8717 and 8728-8729 (testimony of Ivy L. Lee, Washington, May 22, 1915), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati09unitrich.
|
||||
[^10]: *Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony*, vol. 8, pp. 7075-7076 (testimony of Edward L. Doyle, submission of a New York Times clipping), https://archive.org/details/industrialrelati08unitrich.
|
||||
[^11]: *Congressional Record*, House, February 27, 1935, pp. 2668-2669 (remarks of Representative Samuel Dickstein on the report of the Special Committee on Un-American Activities), https://www.fara.us/assets/htmldocuments/uploads/26622_79_cong._rec._2668-73_1935.pdf.
|
||||
[^12]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Information Furnished by the Rockefeller Foundation in Response to Questionnaires Submitted by United States Commission on Industrial Relations* (1915), answers on organization and the arrangement with Mr. King, Schedule A (Chapter 488, Laws of New York, 1913) and Schedule D, https://archive.org/details/cu31924000617567.
|
||||
[^13]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1928*, secretary's report (members and trustees), list of officers and finance committee, exhibit of capital requirements in medical education (Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich, 75,000 dollars, "Towards erection of building") and Medical Education division, pp. 326-327, https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1928.
|
||||
[^14]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1936*, secretary's report (members and trustees), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1936.
|
||||
[^15]: Rockefeller Foundation, *Annual Report 1931*, pp. 166 and 170-172 (Munich institute; Bureau of Social Hygiene and the National Research Council; Cornell University Medical School and Dr. C. R. Stockard), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1931; *Annual Report 1936*, pp. 166, 354 and 370 (Munich institute, RF 31045 and RF 33082; Bumke and Spatz; Institute of Pacific Relations), https://archive.org/details/the-rockefeller-foundation-annual-report-1936.
|
||||
[^16]: Teresa Iacobelli, "Sex Problems as Social Problems: The Bureau of Social Hygiene, 1911-1934" (the essay dates the Bureau 1911 to 1934; the Rockefeller Archive Center biography dates its establishment 1913), Rockefeller Archive Center REsource, January 10, 2022, https://resource.rockarch.org/story/bureau-of-social-hygiene-prostitution-history/ (quoting John D. Rockefeller Jr., "The Origin, Work and Plans of the Bureau of Social Hygiene," January 27, 1913, and Leonard V. Harrison, comment of December 6, 1927).
|
||||
[^17]: "Rockefeller v. Stewart," *Time*, January 28, 1929, https://time.com/archive/6656828/rockefeller-v-stewart/.
|
||||
[^18]: Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society, "Battle of the Century in Whiting," https://www.wrhistoricalsociety.com/standard-oils-battle-of-the-century.
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Banking and Currency, *Stock Exchange Practices*, part 7, Chase Securities Corporation (continued), November 15, 1933, testimony of Bertram Cutler, pp. 3349-3354, https://archive.org/details/stockexchangepra0733unit.
|
||||
[^20]: "Business: Wiggin Out," *Time*, January 2, 1933, https://time.com/archive/6891023/business-wiggin-out/.
|
||||
[^21]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Banking and Currency, *Stock Exchange Practices*, hearings pursuant to S. Res. 84 (72d Cong.) and S. Res. 56 and 97 (73d Cong.), part 5, Chase Securities Corporation, October 17, 1933, testimony of Albert H. Wiggin, pp. 2281-2282 and 2303-2304, https://archive.org/details/stockexchangepra0533unit.
|
||||
[^22]: Anders Greenspan, "Colonial Williamsburg," *Encyclopedia Virginia*, Virginia Humanities, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/colonial-williamsburg/.
|
||||
[^23]: National Park Service, "Creation of Grand Teton National Park (A Thumbnail History)," https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/upload/creation.pdf.
|
||||
[^24]: Franklin D. Roosevelt, message on H.R. 2241, "To abolish the Jackson Hole National Monument," December 29, 1944, American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/veto-bill-abolishing-the-jackson-hole-national-monument.
|
||||
[^25]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "Laurance S. Rockefeller," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/laurance-s-rockefeller/.
|
||||
264
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Keith Rabois.md
Normal file
264
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Keith Rabois.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- KeithRabois
|
||||
- VentureCapital
|
||||
- PayPalMafia
|
||||
- KhoslaVentures
|
||||
- FoundersFund
|
||||
- Opendoor
|
||||
- Square
|
||||
- StanfordReview
|
||||
- JacobHelberg
|
||||
- PoliticalDonor
|
||||
- EthicsAgreement
|
||||
- SiliconValley
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Keith Rabois
|
||||
- Keith Rabois (venture capitalist)
|
||||
- Rabois
|
||||
summary: "American lawyer and venture capitalist, former PayPal and Square executive, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund partner, Opendoor co-founder and chairman, Republican donor, and husband of Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg."
|
||||
location: "Miami Beach, Florida"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[The Stanford Review]]"
|
||||
role: "columnist and former editor"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[College Republicans]]"
|
||||
role: "president of the Stanford chapter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Sullivan & Cromwell]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney; employer given in 1998 contribution records in Washington"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[PayPal]]"
|
||||
role: "senior executive"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[LinkedIn]]"
|
||||
role: "vice president of business and corporate development"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Slide]]"
|
||||
role: "executive vice president of strategy and business development"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Square]]"
|
||||
start: 2010
|
||||
end: 2013-01-24
|
||||
role: "chief operating officer"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Khosla Ventures]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
role: "managing director"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-03
|
||||
end: 2024-01
|
||||
role: "general partner"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Khosla Ventures]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-01
|
||||
role: "managing partner"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Yelp]]"
|
||||
end: 2014-01-17
|
||||
role: "independent director; chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Reddit]]"
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Xoom Corporation]]"
|
||||
end: 2015-05-28
|
||||
role: "independent director"
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Affirm]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2025-06
|
||||
role: "director designated by Khosla Ventures entities"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Opendoor]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder"
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Opendoor]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-09-10
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Miami Labs]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer, director and promoter in the August 2022 Form D"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jacob Helberg]]"
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 27
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Never Means Never PAC]]"
|
||||
start: 2016-03-28
|
||||
role: "$50,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 23
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Georgia Battleground Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2020-11-12
|
||||
role: "$154,100 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Take Back the House 2022]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-03-26
|
||||
end: 2022-02-21
|
||||
role: "$1,369,700 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[SFA Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-09-13
|
||||
end: 2024-01-12
|
||||
role: "$1,000,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Grow the Majority]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-02-16
|
||||
end: 2026-03-06
|
||||
role: "$2,000,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Congressional Leadership Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-02-20
|
||||
end: 2026-03-06
|
||||
role: "$1,500,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Trump 47 Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-09-24
|
||||
role: "$250,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-02-17
|
||||
role: "$443,000 contributor"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
### Stanford
|
||||
|
||||
Keith Rabois was an undergraduate at [[Stanford University]], where he edited and wrote for [[The Stanford Review]] and was president of the [[College Republicans]]. He graduated in 1991 and entered the [[Stanford Law School]] that autumn.[^1] By his own count he had written 31 columns by early 1992.[^2] The Review had printed several of his articles criticizing [[Dennis Matthies]], the resident fellow of Otero, a freshman dormitory.[^3] His age is given as 51 in a registration statement filed on November 18, 2020 and as 57 in a proxy statement filed on April 28, 2026.[^4][^5]
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|
||||
### The Otero incident, January 1992
|
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|
||||
On the night of Sunday, January 19, 1992, Rabois and two other students passed through Otero on their way to a party, according to Rabois. The head advising associate of the dormitory told [[The Stanford Daily]] that he heard one voice screaming "Faggot! Hope you die of AIDS!" and "Can't wait 'til you die, faggot!" toward the resident fellow's cottage. Rabois confirmed the remarks "in substantive content," said they were "mostly about faggots being bad in general," and said that one of his own remarks that night was "See if you can kick me out of housing." He told the paper that Matthies "gets away with intimidating an entire dorm of 80 freshmen every year." Matthies said he assumed the comments were about him but that they were not spoken to him.[^3]
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|
||||
Dean of Students [[Michael Jackson]] announced that the students would not be charged under the [[Fundamental Standard]]. Jackson's ground was that the 1990 interpretation of the standard reached only face-to-face insults; Law Professor [[Thomas Grey]], who wrote the interpretation, said that yelling at a door could qualify but that the interpretation protected only students, and Matthies was a staff member.[^1][^3] Judicial Affairs Officer [[Sally Cole]] said officials had instead chosen to make the case public, so that "the pressure of public disapproval" would fall on the participants.[^1] Jackson had sent the Daily a letter, delivered on January 31, that condemned the remarks without naming the students; he said he had not told any of them he would release it.[^6][^7] On February 5 the Daily corrected its earlier reports: one of the other two students had made no remarks, another participant said he "never opened his mouth," and Matthies had not been home at the time. Jackson said the university's investigation had failed to determine exactly who said what.[^6] Residence Dean [[Angela Rickford]] said Rabois had told her the week before that he knew "exactly what's permitted at this school" and declined to meet with her or anyone in the administration.[^7]
|
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|
||||
In an unpublished letter to the Daily, Rabois wrote: "I don't necessarily hate homosexuals, but do believe in [[Jack Kemp]]'s suggestion that they may not be the best teachers of young children in public schools and recognize that the spread of AIDS has a direct causal link back to their activity."[^7] In a column published on February 7 he wrote that the remarks "were about Dennis Matthies, they were NOT directed at him. There was absolutely no reason to believe he was home," that the intention had been "for the speech to be outrageous enough to provoke a thought of 'Wow, if he can say that, I guess I can say a little more than I thought,'" and that when a residence dean called a week later he saw "an interesting opportunity to demonstrate the ridiculousness of the Grey Standard." He wrote: "I figured it would look really bad if they tried to do it to a student who had constantly been a thorn in their side," and "I hate Democrats, not homosexuals; they're the ones that have hurt the country."[^2]
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|
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Law students posted fliers bearing his crossed-out photograph and the words "Homophobia is Ugly." More than 400 students, deans, staff and faculty of the law school signed a petition dissociating the school from the remarks, which ran as a half-page advertisement in the Daily; Dean [[Paul Brest]] called it "just the appropriate way for the institution to respond." Several students sent the Daily's reports to a Newport Beach law firm at which Rabois was a finalist for a position and said they planned to write to every law firm in California. More than 100 people and reporters from at least three newspapers attended an advertised address by Rabois on "Free Speech, Hate Speech" at which he did not appear.[^6][^8] On February 19 he and Matthies took calls on the premiere of "Talk Back" on [[KZSU]]. Rabois cited a letter in the Daily urging readers to write to the California bar to keep him out and said that the letters to potential employers "were not just speech." Asked whether he stood by the remarks, he said: "No, I didn't mean it that way. I don't hate anyone. It was an example."[^9] The Daily still described him as a first-year law student in April 1992, and its year-end review recorded that he had defended the remarks as a test of the Fundamental Standard.[^10] His later corporate biographies give a law degree from [[Harvard University]], with honors.[^4][^5]
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|
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### Sullivan & Cromwell and PayPal
|
||||
|
||||
Contribution records place Rabois in Washington from 1996 to early 1999. Three gifts in August and September 1998 to the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] and one to Talent for U.S. Congress, the committee of Representative [[Jim Talent]] of Missouri, give his employer as [[Sullivan & Cromwell]]; a gift of $1,000 in January 1999 went to Quayle 2000, the presidential committee of [[Dan Quayle]].[^11] The registration statement of [[Affirm]] states that he "began his career in the industry as a senior executive at PayPal and has also practiced as an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell."[^4]
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|
||||
From September 2001 his contributions were filed from Palo Alto with [[PayPal]] as employer, several of them describing him as a vice president.[^11] PayPal's prospectus of February 2002 lists its executive officers and key employees as of December 31, 2001, including [[Peter Thiel]], [[Max Levchin]], [[David Sacks]], [[Reid Hoffman]] and the chief financial officer [[Roelof Botha]], and does not include Rabois. [[Michael Moritz]] of [[Sequoia Capital]] sat on the audit committee with [[Elon Musk]] and [[Shailesh Mehta]].[^12] [[Connie Loizos]] of [[TechCrunch]] wrote in 2019 that Rabois had been executive vice president of business development, public affairs and policy at PayPal from late 2000 to late 2002, and that he, Thiel, [[Ken Howery]], Sacks and [[Joe Lonsdale]] had worked together at the Review.[^13]
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|
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### LinkedIn, Slide and Square
|
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|
||||
The Affirm filing lists his later positions as vice president of business and corporate development at [[LinkedIn]], executive vice president of strategy and business development at [[Slide]], the company founded by Levchin, and chief operating officer of [[Square]].[^4] A 2004 contribution gives his employer as Epoch Innovations and his occupation as chief operating officer; a 2008 gift to the [[John McCain]] joint committee names Slide; and a $2,400 gift in March 2010 went to Quayle for Congress, the committee of [[Ben Quayle]] of Arizona.[^11] Rabois filed a Form 3 as a director of Yelp with an event date of March 1, 2012.[^14]
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|
||||
Square's Form D of September 2011, for a $100,000,052 Series C sale, lists [[Jack Dorsey]] and [[Jim McKelvey]] as executive officers and directors, Rabois as an executive officer, and Botha, [[Vinod Khosla]], [[Larry Summers]] and [[Mary Meeker]] as directors.[^15] The Stanford Daily reported in 2013 that Rabois had joined the company in 2010 and overseen its growth from 17 employees to more than 400.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Departure from Square
|
||||
|
||||
Rabois resigned as Square's chief operating officer in January 2013. The Stanford Daily reported on January 25, 2013 that a Square employee alleged that Rabois had sexually harassed him and that the company had known of it and failed to act; the company did not identify the employee. Rabois denied the allegation. In a blog post he described a "physical relationship" with the man and wrote that he resigned "so my colleagues could continue to do great work without the distraction that a lawsuit would most certainly bring." Square's statement accepting the resignation said he had "exercised poor judgment." No lawsuit had been filed. Rabois told [[The Wall Street Journal]] he was "completely confident that all the facts will come out and I will be vindicated."[^16] Loizos wrote in 2019 that Square had said at the time it found no evidence to support the claims.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The board he left included Botha of Sequoia and Khosla. In Square's registration statement of November 2015, Khosla Ventures III, LP held 16.9 percent of the shares and entities affiliated with Sequoia held 5.3 percent; Khosla, a director since June 2011, had tendered his resignation effective before the offering, and Botha and Meeker formed the compensation committee.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Khosla Ventures and public boards
|
||||
|
||||
Rabois joined [[Khosla Ventures]] as a managing director in 2013 and left in 2019.[^4] He filed a Form 3 as a director of [[Xoom Corporation]] with an event date of February 14, 2013.[^18] On January 17, 2014 he resigned from the board of [[Yelp]], where he was an independent director and chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee, without disagreement with the company.[^19] On March 25, 2015 he gave notice of his resignation from Xoom's board, effective after its annual meeting of May 28, 2015; he sat on its nominating and corporate governance committee and its compliance committee.[^18] Square's 2015 filing lists Botha as a Xoom director as well.[^17] Opendoor's 2025 filing states that he sat on the board of [[Reddit]] from 2012 to 2019 and lists early personal investments by him in [[YouTube]], [[Airbnb]] and [[Palantir Technologies]].[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
He joined the board of Affirm in 2013, as the designee of entities affiliated with Khosla Ventures.[^4] OpenDoor Labs Inc. of [[San Francisco]] filed a Form D in May 2014 naming [[Eric Wu]] as executive officer and director and Rabois as director.[^21] Contribution records for 2013 and 2015 show $10,600 to Ro for Congress, the committee of [[Ro Khanna]], with Khosla Ventures as employer.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founders Fund and Miami
|
||||
|
||||
Loizos reported on February 20, 2019 that Rabois was joining [[Founders Fund]] as a general partner after six years at Khosla.[^13] Opendoor's 2026 proxy statement dates his Founders Fund partnership from March 2019 to January 2024.[^5] Affirm's registration statement of November 2020 records that Rabois, Thiel and [[Brian Singerman]] shared voting and investment power over Affirm shares held by The Founders Fund VI and Founders Fund Growth partnerships; Singerman had resigned from the Affirm board on November 15, 2020, and Rabois remained on it, as a member of the audit committee.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Contribution records give his city as Miami Beach from February 2021.[^11] In August 2022 Miami Labs, Inc., of North Miami Avenue, Miami, filed a Form D listing Rabois and [[Jack Abraham]] as executive officers, directors and promoters, with $31,999,996 sold to three investors; Rabois signed as chief executive officer.[^22] He returned to Khosla Ventures as a managing partner in January 2024 and served on Affirm's board until June 2025.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political contributions
|
||||
|
||||
Contributions attributed to Rabois in [[Federal Election Commission]] itemized records, excluding memo entries that record joint-committee allocations, total $141,500 in 2016, $333,100 in 2020, $895,700 in 2021, $957,100 in 2022, $1,508,500 in 2023, about $2.47 million in 2024, $1,022,000 in 2025 and $1,943,000 in 2026 through early April.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 28, 2016 he gave $50,000 to [[Never Means Never PAC]], a super PAC registered on March 4, 2016, whose independent expenditures from March to June 2016, chiefly online advertising bought from [[Tusk Digital]], were reported as opposing [[Donald Trump]].[^23] On October 16, 2020 he gave $25,000 to the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]].[^11] On November 12, 2020 he gave $154,100 to the Senate Georgia Battleground Fund; [[Doug Leone]] of Sequoia gave $100,900 to the same committee on November 23.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
From 2021 the larger entries run to House Republican joint fundraising committees: $1,369,700 to Take Back the House 2022 in three gifts between March 2021 and February 2022, $693,700 to Protect the House 2024 in March 2023, and $2,000,000 to Grow the Majority between February 2024 and March 2026. Memo entries attached to these gifts record allocations to Kevin McCarthy for Congress and to Majority Committee PAC, the committee of [[Kevin McCarthy]], in March 2021, February 2022 and March 2023, and to Mike Johnson for Louisiana, the committee of [[Mike Johnson]], in February 2024 and March 2025; across all joint committees, the memo entries assign $1,601,700 of his money to the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]].[^11] He gave $1,000,000 to SFA Fund, Inc., a hybrid committee affiliated with Team Stand for America, in September 2023 and January 2024, after a $16,600 gift to the joint committee Team Stand for America whose memo entries of August 2023 record transfers to Nikki Haley for President, Inc., the committee of [[Nikki Haley]]; $100,000 to The Sentinel Action Fund; $500,000 and later $250,000 and $750,000 to the [[Congressional Leadership Fund]]; $200,000 to the Scalise Leadership Fund 2024; and $400,000 to NRSC Victory.[^11] On September 24, 2024 he gave $250,000 to the [[Trump 47 Committee]], with memo allocations to Never Surrender, Inc., the leadership committee of Trump, and on October 24, 2024 $100,000 to the super PAC Right for America. Leone gave $250,000 to the Trump 47 Committee on October 30, 2024 and $2,000,000 to Right for America on June 4, 2024. On February 17, 2026 Rabois gave $443,000 to the [[Republican National Committee]], recorded in four entries that include its headquarters, convention and legal proceedings accounts.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Opendoor
|
||||
|
||||
On September 10, 2025 [[Opendoor]] announced that "Co-Founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu" were returning to its board, with Rabois as chairman, and that "Khosla Ventures and Wu" were investing $40 million in a private placement.[^24] Its Form 8-K of the next day recorded stock purchase agreements under which Khosla Ventures Opportunity III, LP bought 5,263,158 shares for $35 million and Wu bought 751,879 shares for $5 million. The board grew from six to eight members; Rabois became a Class I director, chairman, and a member of the audit and risk committee and the compensation committee, and the board found him independent. Khosla Ventures Opportunity III accepted standstill and non-disparagement terms running until 90 days after Rabois leaves the board.[^20] The proxy statement of April 2026 lists him as an independent chairman and audit committee financial expert, and states that he sits on the private boards of [[Faire]] and [[Ramp]].[^5]
|
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|
||||
Rabois's Form 3 reported 615,409 Opendoor shares held directly on September 10, 2025. Forms 4 report grants of restricted stock units in lieu of a $92,500 retainer on February 17, 2026 and of 41,667 units on June 11, 2026, after which he held 630,088 and then 671,755 shares directly. The 2026 proxy lists him as beneficial owner of 680,617 shares, including the 615,409 shares and warrants over 61,539 more.[^5][^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Marriage to Jacob Helberg
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jacob Helberg]], a senior adviser to the chief executive of Palantir Technologies, was appointed to the [[U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission]] on January 27, 2023 by [[Hakeem Jeffries]], who wrote that "because of the change in Congress" he was appointing Helberg, "of Miami Beach, Florida," on behalf of the Speaker.[^26] At his nomination hearing before the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] on June 10, 2025, Helberg said: "I would like to thank my husband, Keith."[^27]
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|
||||
Helberg's public financial disclosure report, signed on January 24, 2025, lists consulting fees of $840,000 from Palantir, for services as senior adviser to its chief executive, and, as sources of more than $5,000 in compensation described as clients of his firm Outbuild, LLC of Miami, [[General Catalyst]], Hadrian, Regent Aerospace, [[UBS]], Gusto, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures and Caffeinated Capital. The same report lists, among other assets, interests in Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Fund, Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Partners XIV and Sequoia Technology Partners XII, valued at $15,001 to $50,000, $100,001 to $250,000 and $50,001 to $100,000, Affirm stock valued at $1,000,001 to $5,000,000, and Opendoor Technologies stock valued at $500,001 to $1,000,000.[^28]
|
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|
||||
In an ethics agreement dated May 5, 2025, addressed to [[Richard C. Visek]], the [[State Department]]'s acting legal adviser and designated agency ethics official, Helberg wrote that his spouse was managing director of Khosla Ventures, had earlier been a general partner of Founders Fund, and held equity and carried interests through both firms in funds listed in an attachment, and that he would not participate in matters affecting Khosla Ventures' financial interests. He listed as sectors of heightened conflict risk "artificial intelligence software; space technology; cybersecurity; digital currencies, including platforms for trading; financial technology; renewable energy development; consumer and enterprise technology; digital health, medical technology, diagnostics, and therapeutics; and edge networking," and wrote: "I am prohibited from sharing nonpublic information with my spouse." The retained funds in Attachment B are management and employee entities of Founders Fund V through VIII and Founders Fund Growth and Growth II, and Khosla Ventures associates entities; their underlying holdings listed there include [[OpenAI]], [[SpaceX]], [[Anduril Industries]], Opendoor Labs, Affirm, Ramp and [[Stripe]].[^29]
|
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|
||||
The same agreement states that "I and my spouse will divest our interests in the entities listed in Attachment A" within 90 days of confirmation. Attachment A includes the three Sequoia funds, [[Slow Ventures]] and [[SV Angel]] funds, Palantir, Block and Opendoor Technologies among public companies, and private holdings including [[Hadrian Automation]] and [[Regent Craft]].[^29] The Senate confirmed Helberg on October 7, 2025, by a vote of 51 to 47, in an en bloc confirmation of nominations under S. Res. 412.[^30] The State Department lists him as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs from October 16, 2025.[^31] In a Sequoia filing of February 2024, Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture Partners Fund XIV, L.P. appears as a [[Cayman Islands]] partnership whose general partner, SC U.S. Venture XIV Management, L.P., is in turn managed by SC US (TTGP), Ltd.; the filing names Leone and Botha as the directors and stockholders of SC US (TTGP) who exercise voting and investment discretion.[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
### Khosla Ventures, January 2026
|
||||
|
||||
After a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a protester, an American citizen, in Minneapolis in January 2026, Rabois wrote on [[X]] that "no law enforcement has shot an innocent person. illegals are committing violent crimes every day" and that "interfering w a law enforcement operation is not protected by any of those amendments." Khosla Ventures partner [[Ethan Choi]] replied: "I want to make it clear that Keith doesn't represent everyone's views here at @khoslaventures, at least not mine." Vinod Khosla wrote: "I agree with @EthanChoi7. Macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration." [[Julie Bort]] of TechCrunch, who reported the exchange on January 26, 2026, wrote that Khosla did not directly rebuke Rabois and that the firm did not respond to a request for comment.[^33]
|
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|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Steve McCarroll, "Officials to fight hate speech with public pressure," The Stanford Daily, February 4, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/04/MODSMD_ARTICLE1.article.txt
|
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[^2]: Keith Rabois, "Rabois: My intention was to make a provocative statement," The Stanford Daily, February 7, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/07/MODSMD_ARTICLE21.article.txt
|
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[^3]: Juthymas Harntha, "Two students can't be charged for hurling homophobic slurs," The Stanford Daily, February 3, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/03/MODSMD_ARTICLE3.article.txt (issue viewer https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1992/02/03)
|
||||
[^4]: Affirm Holdings, Inc., Form S-1 registration statement, filed November 18, 2020, "Management" (director biographies, board composition, committees) and "Principal Stockholders" (footnote 7). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1820953/000110465920126927/tm2026663-4_s1.htm
|
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[^5]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A), filed April 28, 2026, director biographies, board leadership, director compensation and security ownership (footnote 14). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036126017460/ny20064714x1_def14a.htm
|
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[^6]: "New light shed on Otero epithet case; Officials, students clarify circumstances," The Stanford Daily, February 5, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/05/MODSMD_ARTICLE4.article.txt
|
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[^7]: June Cohen, "Rabois' comments on 'faggots' derided across University," The Stanford Daily, February 6, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/06/MODSMD_ARTICLE5.article.txt
|
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[^8]: June Cohen, "Law School searches for the 'appropriate' response to Rabois," The Stanford Daily, February 11, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/11/MODSMD_ARTICLE5.article.txt
|
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[^9]: Anush Yegyazarian, "Matthies, Rabois called on views of hate speech," The Stanford Daily, February 20, 1992. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/02/20/MODSMD_ARTICLE1.article.txt
|
||||
[^10]: Liesl Olson, "KZSU strives to make programs accessible," The Stanford Daily, April 23, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/04/23/MODSMD_ARTICLE34.article.txt ; John Ford, "Staff Notebook," The Stanford Daily, April 30, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/04/30/MODSMD_ARTICLE19.article.txt ; Juthymas Harntha, "Anti-gay comments" (year in review), The Stanford Daily, June 3, 1992, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheStanfordDaily/archives-text/main/1992/06/03/MODSMD_ARTICLE28.article.txt
|
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[^11]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, contributor name "Rabois, Keith" and variants, queried October 1, 2026 through https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/ ; memo-coded (X) rows excluded from totals and read separately for joint-committee allocations; employer, occupation and city as filed. Examples: Sullivan and Cromwell rows sub_id 3061920110006215854 and 3061920110006164037 (1998); Quayle 2000 sub_id 3061920110007245353; Senate Georgia Battleground Fund (C00736967) sub_id 4122920201986594565; Take Back the House 2022 (C00766782) sub_ids 4042120211278490263, 4102020211374106323, 4042920221473350526; SFA Fund, Inc. (C00828061) sub_ids 4081320242011883727, 4022720241857652170; Grow the Majority (C00858373); Congressional Leadership Fund (C00504530); Trump 47 Committee (C00867937) sub_id 4051220251193610502; Right for America (C00867036); Republican National Committee (C00003418) sub_ids 4032320261425058817 to 4032320261425058819; DSCC sub_id 4063020211312065539. Leone rows under "Leone, Doug" and "Leone, Douglas," sub_ids 4122920201986594268, 4021320251172522832, 4071920241978175326. Committee types and affiliations from https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/{id}/. Candidate links checked through https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/{id}/ and /v1/candidate/{id}/: Talent for U S Congress C00253534 (H2MO02037), Quayle 2000 Inc C00342667 (P80002587), Quayle for Congress C00475863 (H0AZ03362, Quayle, Ben), Ro for Congress C00503185 (H4CA12055), Majority Committee PAC C00428052 and Kevin McCarthy for Congress C00420935 (H6CA22125), Mike Johnson for Louisiana C00608695 (H6LA04138), Nikki Haley for President Inc., now SFA Action, C00833392 (P40010977), Never Surrender, Inc. C00828541 (P80001571).
|
||||
[^12]: PayPal, Inc., prospectus (Form 424B4), February 2002, "Management." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205702006471/a2071068z424b4.htm
|
||||
[^13]: Connie Loizos, "Keith Rabois joins Founders Fund amid transition at the firm," TechCrunch, February 20, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/20/keith-rabois-is-leaving-khosla-ventures-for-founders-fund/
|
||||
[^14]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Yelp Inc.), event date March 1, 2012 (accession 0001209191-12-014763). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000120919112014763/doc3.xml
|
||||
[^15]: Square, Inc., Form D, filed September 30, 2011 (accession 0001512673-11-000003). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000151267311000003/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^16]: Edward Ngai, "Square COO, Stanford alum, resigns over sexual harassment allegations," The Stanford Daily, January 25, 2013. https://stanforddaily.com/2013/01/25/square-coo-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-allegations/
|
||||
[^17]: Square, Inc., Form S-1/A, filed November 16, 2015, "Management" and "Principal Stockholders." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000119312515378578/d937622ds1a.htm
|
||||
[^18]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Xoom Corp), event date February 14, 2013 (accession 0001209191-13-009126), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000120919113009126/doc3.xml ; Xoom Corporation, Form 8-K, filed March 27, 2015, Item 5.02, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1315657/000155837015000406/xoom-20150325x8k.htm
|
||||
[^19]: Yelp Inc., Form 8-K, filed January 23, 2014, Item 5.02. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1345016/000119312514018681/d664869d8k.htm
|
||||
[^20]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., Form 8-K, filed September 11, 2025 (accession 0001140361-25-034609), Items 3.02, 5.02 and 8.01. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036125034609/ef20055426_8k.htm
|
||||
[^21]: OpenDoor Labs Inc., Form D, filed May 29, 2014 (accession 0001609437-14-000002). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609437/000160943714000002/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^22]: Miami Labs, Inc., Form D, filed August 29, 2022 (accession 0001567619-22-016760). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1873379/000156761922016760/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^23]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for Never Means Never PAC (C00610907), https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00610907/ ; Schedule E independent expenditures, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_e/?committee_id=C00610907 ; Schedule A receipt of March 28, 2016 (sub_id 4042920161284569336).
|
||||
[^24]: Opendoor Technologies Inc., press release, "Opendoor Names Kaz Nejatian as CEO; Founders Rabois and Wu Rejoin Board," September 10, 2025, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1801169/000114036125034609/ef20055426_ex99-1.htm
|
||||
[^25]: Keith Rabois, Form 3 (Opendoor Technologies Inc.), event date September 10, 2025, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986525000002/wk-form3_1758318753.xml ; Form 4, transaction date February 17, 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986526000003/wk-form4_1771541896.xml ; Form 4, transaction date June 11, 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539865/000153986526000005/wk-form4_1781555848.xml
|
||||
[^26]: "Communication from the Democratic Leader," Congressional Record, vol. 169, no. 18, January 27, 2023, p. H471. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2023-01-27/html/CREC-2023-01-27-pt1-PgH471-4.htm
|
||||
[^27]: Statement of Jacob S. Helberg, nominee for Under Secretary of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, June 10, 2025. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2b6dc080-c286-1b13-84e5-3c2b80b7457a/061025_Helberg_Testimony.pdf
|
||||
[^28]: Jacob Helberg, OGE Form 278e, nominee report, electronically signed January 24, 2025, certified May 6, 2025, Parts 2, 4 and 6 (items 1.1, 60 to 62, 472 and 473). https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rvp2G0RgF478/v0
|
||||
[^29]: Jacob Helberg to Richard C. Visek, Acting Legal Adviser and Designated Agency Ethics Official, U.S. Department of State, "Ethics Undertakings," May 5, 2025, Sections 3, 5 and 6, Attachment A (pp. 6 to 22) and Attachment B (pp. 22 to 26). https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rOVlaP5GUdLQ/v0
|
||||
[^30]: United States Senate, Roll Call Vote 547, 119th Congress, 1st Session, October 7, 2025, "Confirmation: En Bloc Nominations Provided for Under the Provisions of S. Res. 412" (PN12-21, Jacob Helberg, of Florida). https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00547.xml
|
||||
[^31]: U.S. Department of State, "Jacob Helberg," biography. https://www.state.gov/biographies/jacob-helberg
|
||||
[^32]: Sequoia Capital USV XIV Holdco, Ltd. and others, Schedule 13D re Maplebear Inc., filed February 27, 2024, Item 2 and cover pages. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579091/000119312524048200/d799472dsc13d.htm
|
||||
[^33]: Julie Bort, "Vinod Khosla publicly disavows Keith Rabois' comments on ICE shooting," TechCrunch, January 26, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/vinod-khosla-publicly-disavows-keith-rabois-comments-on-ice-shooting/
|
||||
271
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Laurance Rockefeller.md
Normal file
271
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Laurance Rockefeller.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,271 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Rockefeller
|
||||
- VentureCapital
|
||||
- EasternAirLines
|
||||
- Itek
|
||||
- Venrock
|
||||
- SpecialStudiesProject
|
||||
- Conservation
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- ConsciousnessResearch
|
||||
- ClintonWhiteHouse
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Laurance Rockefeller
|
||||
- Laurance S. Rockefeller
|
||||
- Laurance Spelman Rockefeller
|
||||
- Laurence Rockefeller
|
||||
- Laurence S. Rockefeller
|
||||
- Laurence Spelman Rockefeller
|
||||
- LSR
|
||||
summary: "Son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., chief stockholder of Eastern Air Lines, venture investor, conservation commissioner, and from 1993 to 1996 petitioner to the Clinton White House on UFO declassification."
|
||||
born: 1910-05-26
|
||||
died: 2004-07-11
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]]"
|
||||
role: "son"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nelson Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[David Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Mary French Rockefeller]]"
|
||||
start: 1934-08-15
|
||||
role: "husband"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
|
||||
start: 1942
|
||||
end: 1945
|
||||
role: "lieutenant commander, Bureau of Aeronautics"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Eastern Air Lines]]"
|
||||
start: 1938
|
||||
role: "chief stockholder, according to W. David Lewis"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Itek]]"
|
||||
role: "60,000 dollars according to Peter O. Crisp"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Venrock]]"
|
||||
start: 1969
|
||||
role: "family venture capital group through which his investments were made from August 1969"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 1958
|
||||
end: 1980
|
||||
role: "president, then chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Special Studies Project]]"
|
||||
start: 1958-05-26
|
||||
role: "chairman of the planning committee"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Special Studies Project]]"
|
||||
role: "member of Panel II, International Security: The Military Aspect"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1958
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Henry L. Diamond]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1993-03-29
|
||||
role: "Washington attorney and long-time associate"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission]]"
|
||||
start: 1958
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jackson Hole Preserve]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[American Conservation Association]]"
|
||||
start: 1958
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center]]"
|
||||
start: 1960
|
||||
end: 1982
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 1960
|
||||
end: 1982
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[New York Zoological Society]]"
|
||||
start: 1935
|
||||
end: 1986
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Virgin Islands National Park]]"
|
||||
start: 1956
|
||||
role: "donated more than 5,000 acres"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab]]"
|
||||
role: "donor"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Program for Extraordinary Experience Research]]"
|
||||
start: 1993
|
||||
role: "funder, according to the John E. Mack Institute"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Human Potential Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "partial funder, in the belief of John H. Gibbons"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Society for Scientific Exploration]]"
|
||||
start: 1997
|
||||
role: "funds for the Pocantico UFO workshop, through the LSR Fund"
|
||||
fn: 44
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Laurance S. Rockefeller (May 26, 1910, in [[New York City]], to July 11, 2004, at his home on [[Fifth Avenue]]) was the fourth of the six children of [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] and [[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller]]. He attended the Lincoln School of [[Teachers College, Columbia University|Teachers College]], [[Columbia University]], entered [[Princeton University]] in 1928, took a degree in philosophy in 1932 and studied for two years at [[Harvard Law School]]. He married [[Mary French Rockefeller|Mary French]] on August 15, 1934, at [[Woodstock, Vermont]], began work in the family office at [[Rockefeller Center]] in 1935, and served from 1942 to 1945 in the [[United States Navy]]'s [[Bureau of Aeronautics]], rising to lieutenant commander.[^1] His brothers were [[John D. Rockefeller III]], [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[Winthrop Rockefeller]] and [[David Rockefeller]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Eastern Air Lines
|
||||
|
||||
The historian W. David Lewis wrote that in 1938 [[Eddie Rickenbacker]], seeking financing to take over [[Eastern Air Lines]], "secured enough backing ... from a syndicate including Laurance S. Rockefeller, who became the chief stockholder in a new corporate entity known as Eastern Air Lines," and that Rickenbacker became chief executive in April 1938.[^3] In Lewis's account Eastern's directors moved Rickenbacker up to chairman in 1953 and named [[Malcolm A. MacIntyre]] president and chief executive, and Rickenbacker interfered with MacIntyre's management. Lewis wrote that Rockefeller "decided that the only way out of its problems was a merger with one of the country's two largest carriers, American Airlines." The industry, led by [[Delta Air Lines]], opposed the merger, and it became clear that [[Robert F. Kennedy]], as attorney general, would veto it on antitrust grounds even if the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] did not; the plan was scuttled.[^3] Rockefeller had hoped the merger would let him replace Rickenbacker and MacIntyre with the chief executive of American, [[C. R. Smith]]. When it failed he appointed a search committee, which chose [[Floyd D. Hall]] of [[Trans World Airlines]]; MacIntyre was fired, and Rickenbacker was summoned to a meeting and asked to retire. Rickenbacker took the news badly and agreed only after a second meeting, which Rockefeller attended, and he left his office at Rockefeller Center and did not return.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Civil Aeronautics Board regulated routes and mail pay throughout this period. In a transcontinental route case decided in 1961 the Board gave Delta and [[National Airlines]] access to [[San Diego]], [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Francisco]] and denied Eastern's application; Rickenbacker had attacked President [[John F. Kennedy]] in a speech while the case was pending.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Venture Investments
|
||||
|
||||
[[Peter O. Crisp]] joined Rockefeller's staff in 1960 and sat on the board of [[Apple Computer]] for sixteen years; in an oral history recorded on October 21, 2008 he described the origin of the family's venture investing. After the war, Crisp said, Rockefeller hired "these three guys" to look for small technology companies: [[Randy Marston]], "who had worked for the Chase Bank for many years"; [[Harper Woodward]], "General Arnold's assistant in [[World War II]] in the Pentagon for procurement matters"; and [[Teddy Walkowicz]], "a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force" and "an MIT guy"; he named a fourth man, [[Jay Richardson Dilworth]], as "kind of the senior advisor to the [[Rockefeller family]]." Crisp said he screened proposals "for Marston, Woodward and Walkowicz," the "big shots" who then joined the boards.[^4] Among the investments Crisp listed since 1946 were [[New York Airways]], Eastern Air Lines, the [[Glenn L. Martin Company]], [[Reaction Motors]] (later bought by [[Thiokol]]), the [[Marquardt Aircraft Company]] (ramjet engines for missiles), Island Packers ("a tuna factory in the Pacific"), [[Flight Refueling]], the [[Piasecki Helicopter Company]] (merged with [[Vertol]] and later acquired by [[Boeing]]) and [[Aircraft Radio Corporation|Aircraft Radio]] (bought by [[Cessna]]); he also named [[Itek]] and [[Scantlin Electronics]], maker of the Quotron.[^4] Crisp said the staff passed on [[Haloid Company|Haloid]], which became [[Xerox]], after a former staff member's memorandum found no future in its copier technology, on which Marston wrote "I concur."[^4] From August 1969 Rockefeller's investments were channeled through [[Venrock]], which Crisp said was formed in 1969 and given its name because "we didn't want to be confused with philanthropy."[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The record on Itek carries three dates. The [[Boston Globe]] obituary of [[Richard Leghorn|Dick Leghorn]] states that he cofounded Itek in 1957, and quotes him that the company was known as "the mystery company. It was very hush-hush."[^5] The [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s history of the [[CORONA]] satellite program, by [[Kenneth E. Greer]], published in a classified supplement to [[Studies in Intelligence]] in spring 1973, states that in late March and April 1958 "interest shifted to a competitive design submitted by Itek Corporation, a spin-off of Boston University," that the project proposal completed on April 9, 1958 was rewritten twice, "retaining the Itek configuration," and that the final proposal was forwarded on April 16, 1958 to the President's staff secretary and approved, "although not in writing"; Itek "was made responsible for the design and development of the camera subsystem, Fairchild producing the camera under subcontract to Itek."[^6] Crisp, who joined the staff in 1960, dated Leghorn's approach to Rockefeller to "around 1960": Leghorn said Eastman Kodak's cameras were heavy and inefficient, and Rockefeller told him to show he could leave [[Eastman Kodak]] without being sued, and put up 60,000 dollars in 1960 together with [[William A. Burden and Company]] and "the Walker Brothers, Elisha and Bayard Walker, who had an investment company called the Long Island Company." Crisp said Itek was later bought by [[Litton Industries]] and that the product "which made them famous" was "the camera which was in the U-2 plane that was flown by Francis Gary Powers."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On Apple, Crisp said that [[Mike Markkula]], who had advised the founders, called Venrock when Markkula's 110,000-dollar loan guarantee ran out, and [[Steve Jobs]] and [[Steve Wozniak]] came to New York. Venrock bought 10 percent of the company for 300,000 dollars, valuing it at 3 million dollars, and put in 200,000 dollars more about eight months later; at the initial public offering the 500,000 dollars was worth 110 million dollars. When Apple prepared to go public the company wanted the managing partner on the board, and Crisp took the seat of his partner [[Hank Smith]], who "made a lot of money in Intel and in Apple."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Special Studies Project
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]]'s [[Special Studies Project]] began in 1956 under its president, Nelson Rockefeller, who chaired it for two years; when Nelson became governor of New York in 1958 Laurance became chairman.[^7] The published planning committee lists "Laurance S. Rockefeller, (Chairman since May 26, 1958)" and "Nelson A. Rockefeller, (Chairman, resigned May 26, 1958)," with [[Dana S. Creel]], [[Nancy Hanks]], [[Emmet John Hughes]], [[Francis A. Jamieson]], [[Henry A. Kissinger]], [[John E. Lockwood]] and [[Oscar M. Ruebhausen]].[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Panel II, "International Security: The Military Aspect," first published on January 6, 1958, had been meeting since November 1956 and was the first panel to report.[^8] Its members, as listed in the 1961 volume, were [[Frank Altschul]], General [[Frederick L. Anderson]], [[Karl R. Bendetsen]], [[Detlev W. Bronk]], [[Gordon E. Dean]], [[James B. Fisk]], [[Bradley Gaylord]], [[Roswell L. Gilpatric]], [[Townsend W. Hoopes]] of J. H. Whitney and Company, [[Ellis A. Johnson]] of the Operations Research Office, Colonel [[George A. Lincoln]], [[Henry R. Luce]], General [[James McCormack Jr.]] (chairman until October 1957), [[Frank C. Nash]], "Laurance S. Rockefeller, president, Rockefeller Brothers, Inc.," [[Arthur Smithies]], [[Edward Teller]], "T. F. Walkowicz, aeronautical engineer," [[Carroll L. Wilson]], and [[John F. Floberg]] until his appointment to the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] in June 1957.[^8] The panel reports were published as *Prospect for America* by [[Doubleday]] in 1961 and sold over 400,000 copies, and participants later served in the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The Central Intelligence Agency's files hold correspondence on two of the releases. [[Allen Dulles]], [[Director of Central Intelligence]], wrote to Rockefeller on September 16, 1960: "I have found this study, like the other reports in your special studies project, most interesting." The study was *The Power of the Democratic Idea*, and a copy of it in the agency's files carries a notice that it was sent "in advance of the RELEASE DATE, Wednesday, September 7, 1960" and was to be treated as confidential until then.[^9] On February 20, 1961 Rockefeller wrote to Dulles on Rockefeller Brothers Fund stationery that lists him as president, enclosing an advance copy of *Prospect for America*, which was to be published on March 17; his letter states that the Trustees of the Fund organized the project "in the belief that there was real merit in a group of citizens making an effort to look at America as it is." Dulles replied on March 1, 1961 that the book would be "a welcome and valuable addition to my private library."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Conservation Commissions, Jackson Hole and the Virgin Islands
|
||||
|
||||
In 1958 President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] appointed Rockefeller chairman of the [[Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission]].[^1] He later served as a special emissary for President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] on the creation of [[Redwood National Park]] and chaired President [[Richard Nixon]]'s Citizens' Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality. He was president, then chairman, of the Fund from 1958 to 1980, chairman of [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]] from 1960 to 1982, a trustee of the [[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]] from 1960 to 1982, and a trustee of the [[New York Zoological Society]] from 1935 to 1986. In 1958 he established the [[American Conservation Association]], Inc., a philanthropy to function as a conservation service agency, assisting other agencies and initiating projects of its own.[^1] The commission's members were Senators [[Clinton P. Anderson]], [[Henry C. Dworshak]], [[Henry M. Jackson]] and [[Jack Miller]]; Representatives [[John P. Saylor]], [[Gracie Pfost]], [[Ralph J. Rivers]] and [[John H. Kyl]]; and presidential commissioners [[Samuel T. Dana]], [[Marian S. Dryfoos]], [[Bernard L. Orell]], [[Joseph W. Penfold]], [[M. Frederick Smith]] and [[Chester S. Wilson]]. The report was presented to President Kennedy and Congress on the Wednesday before the Interior Department's release of February 1, 1962, and Secretary of the Interior [[Stewart Udall]] gave priority to the creation of a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
As president of [[Jackson Hole Preserve]], Inc., Rockefeller made the 1949 gift of [[Jackson Hole]] land to the federal government on his father's behalf.[^1] [[Virgin Islands National Park]] "was created through a donation of more than 5,000 acres of land in 1956 ... from Laurance Rockefeller"; in the mid-1950s he established the [[Caneel Bay]] Resort on [[Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. John]], which operated until [[Hurricane Irma]] and [[Hurricane Maria]] closed it in 2017; and in 1983 Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., "an organization established by Laurance Rockefeller," donated the roughly 150 acres of the resort to the Park Service, subject to a retained use estate allowing its operator to use the property as a resort until September 30, 2023.[^12] The corporation, with an [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling date of 1942, still files returns from Woodstock, Vermont, and reported assets of 5,327,031 dollars for 2023.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Consciousness Research
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab|Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research]] laboratory, established in 1979 by [[Robert Jahn]], announced its closure on February 10, 2007, stating that its research "was funded by gifts from Princeton alumni [[James S. McDonnell]], patriarch of the McDonnell Douglas Aerospace empire, Laurance Rockefeller, [[Donald C. Webster]], and by numerous other philanthropic benefactors."[^14] According to the [[John E. Mack Institute]], in 1993 the [[Center for Psychology and Social Change]] formed the [[Program for Extraordinary Experience Research]] "with funding from Laurence Rockefeller" to study reported "alien encounters"; the program's own page states that as of 2002 it was no longer an active research project.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
[[C. B. Scott Jones]] wrote to the presidential science adviser, [[John H. Gibbons]], on the letterhead of the [[Human Potential Foundation]] of [[Falls Church, Virginia]].[^16] A handwritten note of February 24, 1994 on one of those letters, initialed by Gibbons, concerns Jones's association with Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] and reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^16] In the same office's memorandum for the President of August 4, 1995, Gibbons wrote that Rockefeller's interests "are related to those of Senator Pell."[^17] The writer [[Grant Cameron]], in a paper on the documents below, wrote that Pell founded the foundation and Jones was its president, that [[Common Cause Magazine]] had reported Rockefeller put more than 700,000 dollars through it from 1991 to 1994, and that [[Richard Farley]], who worked for the foundation for about three years, gave the same figure and "claimed" that Rockefeller's interest was in "alternative religious and psychiatric/psychological paradigms, including so-called 'UFOs' and 'abductions,' having 'Global Mind Change' potentials."[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Approach to the Science Adviser, 1993
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], where Gibbons was Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, released 991 pages of correspondence on UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence to Cameron in January 2001, according to Cameron.[^18] The earliest is a memorandum of March 29, 1993 from [[Henry L. Diamond]] to Gibbons (attention [[Mike Kowalok]]), concerning an approach by Rockefeller to President [[Bill Clinton]] and asking for a meeting with Rockefeller on April 12 or 13. It describes Rockefeller as "a leading U.S. conservationist, businessman, and philanthropist" who, "with other leading citizens, is planning to make an approach to President Clinton" on "the potential availability of government information about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life," and gives the basic message as "a belief in many quarters that the government has long held classified information regarding UFOs which has not been released and that the failure to do so has brought about unnecessary suspicion and distrust." It states that Rockefeller would be accompanied by Jones, "President of the Human Potential Foundation," and by Diamond, "a Washington attorney and long-time associate of Mr. Rockefeller, known to Dr. Gibbons." A handwritten note adds "+ Scott Jones."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 21, 1993, on stationery of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Room 5600, Rockefeller thanked Gibbons for seeing him "so early Wednesday morning." He wrote that Gibbons had said that in three months as science adviser he had "not learned that the United States Government has a body of knowledge on UFOs or ETI that is being withheld from the public," and had made it clear that "initially our most fruitful avenue of approach, most likely, will be within the [[Department of Defense]]." Rockefeller would report on the meeting to [[Melvin Laird]] and hoped to follow up with Secretary of Defense [[Les Aspin]]; he planned a letter to President Clinton urging "a reassessment of government policy regarding UFO and ETI information" and a small group, convened with Jones's help, to discuss UFOs "in an informal, non-public way."[^20] On May 26, 1993 Gibbons, signing as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, thanked Jones for "the materials," noted that the books "came from the Foundation's library," and sent "best wishes and regards to Lawrence."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 7, 1993 he wrote to the evangelist [[Billy Graham]], proposing that Graham co-sign a letter to Clinton asking for a review of the classification of UFO information, and stated that "we are working closely with Mel Laird, former Secretary of Defense, and a great good friend of the present Secretary, Les Aspin," and had met Gibbons. The other co-signers under consideration were [[Maurice Strong]], the former [[United Nations]] secretary general [[Javier Pérez de Cuéllar]], possibly former President [[Jimmy Carter]], and Senators Pell and [[Ted Stevens]]. Graham replied on May 20, 1993 that he thought Rockefeller was "exactly right, that since they are reviewing the whole classification process, many documents will probably become available that have not previously," and declined, writing that he had "made it a policy not to co-sign such letters" and kept his contacts with presidents "on a purely personal, one-on-one, private basis."[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 4, 1993 Rockefeller invited Gibbons or a representative to an informal roundtable he was hosting from September 13 to 15 at the [[JY Ranch]], in the Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, Wyoming. The letter gives the purpose as assessing "the extent of information which may or may not be in the hands of the federal government" and developing "productive ways to encourage the Administration to include information of UFO and ETI phenomena in its current review of previously classified information." The six presenters were [[Steven Greer]], [[Linda Moulton Howe]], [[Bruce Maccabee]], [[R. Leo Sprinkle]], [[Jill Tarter]] of the [[NASA]] Ames Research Center and [[Keith Thompson]]; [[John Mack]], [[Peter Sturrock]], "a representative of the Science Advisor to the President" and "several of my associates" were also invited. The four themes included "strategies for influencing government policy in the direction of openness," "assessment of alleged psychological, economic and other barriers to a government policy of openness on the subject," and "spiritual and other dimensional aspects of UFO and ETI phenomena." The roundtable "will not be publicized but, of course will not be secret" and would be off the record.[^23] The [[Paradigm Research Group]] reproduces a photograph that it captions as the September 14 to 15, 1993 meeting at the JY Ranch and labels, left to right, Diamond, Greer, Maccabee, [[George Lamb]], [[Robert Bigelow]], Howe, Sprinkle, Thompson, Mack, Rockefeller, Jones, Johnie Jones and [[Robert Teets]], with [[Marie Galbraith|Marie "Bootsie" Galbraith]] and Farley behind the camera.[^24] On November 12, 1993 Diamond, on the letterhead of [[Beveridge and Diamond]], wrote to a Gibbons staff member that he had seen Gibbons at the [[Environmental Law Institute]] dinner on October 20 and that Rockefeller wished to see him again between December 10 and 23.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Roswell, 1994
|
||||
|
||||
After a meeting on February 4, 1994, Rockefeller wrote to Gibbons on February 14 that "your approach of starting by addressing a specific incident is an important and reasonable way to begin the process of declassification," that the July 1947 [[Roswell Incident]] "would be a logical and challenging place to start," and that if the effort succeeded it "will become an important prototype for the release of all UFO related information." He proposed amnesty "on an individual basis" for those with knowledge, and, "in the light of your proposed initiative," said "we shall defer writing to the President."[^26] On May 24, 1994 Secretary of the Air Force [[Sheila Widnall]] sent Gibbons a cover memorandum, "As you and I discussed earlier, we are researching Air Force material on UFOs in general, and Roswell in particular," with an interim report to her of May 20 from the office designated SAF/AAZ. The report stated that "in early Feb 94, upon learning of the projected GAO audit," the Air Force had stood up elements of its Declassification Review Team to begin preliminary research, and that the offices tasked had "reported no records were located to indicate anything unusual happened at Roswell in July 1947." Widnall wrote: "My policy is that we are declassifying everything even remotely related, and anything our people think still needs to be classified will have to be justified to me." A handwritten note on the cover, initialed "JG," reads: "Skip - for your scanning. After you and I have a chance to discuss, I'll be ready to communicate w/ L.R. + his niece."[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
Jones wrote to Gibbons on February 17 enclosing a chronology compiled by the [[Fund for UFO Research]] and press clippings on the inquiry by Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and reporting that a [[Pentagon]] spokesman had told a [[Government Accountability Office|General Accounting Office]] investigator "Go shit in your hat." He had spent time after the February 4 meeting with [[Edward J. Reese]] of the Modern Military Branch of the [[National Archives and Records Administration]] on where Roswell documentation might be located. The letter's second page reads: "Whatever Roswell turns out to be, it is only the opening round. ... My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena. If that [is] correct, you can expect to run into early resistance when inquiring about UFOs, not because of the UFO subject, but because that has been used to cloak research and applications of mind-control activity."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 1, 1994 Rockefeller wrote that "it was Mel Laird who suggested that you should be the logical point of contact and coordination with the federal government," asked whether there were developments in the survey of information among federal agencies on Roswell that Gibbons had suggested, attached a letter from Laird, and mentioned "preliminary talks with those who might be interested in bringing about a United Nations Conference on extraterrestrial intelligence."[^28] Laird's letter, dated May 9, 1994 and replying to one from Rockefeller of April 25, stated that "you are proceeding properly by going through the President's Science Advisor," and that "any review will certainly disappoint some individuals who have built up some rather extreme antidotal and uncollaborated accounts."[^28] On July 27, 1994 [[Anne Bartley]] wrote to Gibbons about "follow-up on our meeting with Laurance S. Rockefeller and his associates," recalling that Gibbons had suggested "an informal inquiry into the availability of information within federal agencies about the 1947 Roswell, [[New Mexico]], event," asking about "prospects for a relaxation of the classification system," and stating that Rockefeller "has begun to wonder whether a U.N. Conference would be useful."[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 11, 1994 Jones wrote to Gibbons that [[Edgar Mitchell]], founder of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]], on whose board Pell sat, would be glad to meet Gibbons "in the area that Laurance, you and I have been discussing," and that Gibbons "may want to talk to [[R. James Woolsey|James Woolsey]] about what you are doing." The next lines, partly cut off in the scan, say that Woolsey "has a document search project under way" and "has not discovered anything of significance," and Jones adds: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's" bureaucracy "and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within" the aerospace community "or perhaps General Motors."[^30] On September 5, 1994 Rockefeller thanked Gibbons for a note that he had received a report from the Air Force; after the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] released the results of its Roswell investigation (in July 1994 in the General Accounting Office's account, and publicly available in September in Gibbons's)[^17][^31] he wrote on December 9 thanking Gibbons for "your initiative in stimulating the recent Air Force Review of the Roswell incident," adding that "we are continuing our citizens' reconnaissance of the extraterrestrial intelligence phenomenon."[^32] On February 9, 1995 Jones wrote that "there is some shadowy evidence that the administration is in the process of modifying the government's policy concerning secrecy and denial about UFO phenomena," that "Laurance mentioned that he was also considering a public relations approach" and that "he can afford a rather aggressive and expensive effort implementing that strategy, e.g., full page ads in major newspapers," and that after Rockefeller's last meeting with Gibbons "we are not going to get feedback from our attempts to get the [[White House]] to open the books on this subject."[^33] On April 11, 1995 Rockefeller wrote that he had reviewed the draft executive order revising national classification policy and that "my concern with government information involving extraterrestrial intelligence was stimulated by the widespread public belief that the government was withholding information about UFO incidents."[^34]
|
||||
|
||||
The General Accounting Office wrote to Gibbons on April 12, 1995, at Schiff's request, that it was determining what records existed on Roswell. Gibbons replied on April 26 to the GAO's director of federal management issues that the Office of Science and Technology Policy had "no direct knowledge of what occurred at Roswell and no records, except for the information I received from the Air Force."[^31] An internal OSTP message of June 9, 1995 reports a call from the GAO about its eight-page report, which would state that the agency had asked OSTP and other agencies whether they held records and that "DOE and OSTP had no records"; a handwritten reply of June 12, signed "Sue B.," reads "Tanya, OK w/ JHG."[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Draft Letter to the President, 1995 and 1996
|
||||
|
||||
On August 4, 1995 Gibbons sent President Clinton a memorandum headed "Inquiry from Laurance Rockefeller." It begins: "You will probably see Mr. Rockefeller on your vacation in the Tetons. He will want to talk with you about his interest in extrasensory perception, paranormal phenomena, and UFO's. His interests are related to those of Senator Pell." Gibbons wrote that "Les Aspin and Mel Laird referred Laurance to me," that Rockefeller had sought "the Administration's help in 'declassifying the information'," that "I persuaded Rockefeller to not bother you with this issue but instead to let me talk with defense officials," that Secretary of the Air Force Widnall had "arranged for a full revisiting by the Air Force of pertinent records, guaranteed 'amnesty' to anyone who felt constrained to talk," and that "the bottom line is that all evidence points to a failed U.S. Air Force balloon experiment, and no evidence of a 'flying saucer' or cover-up conspiracy. (However, the UFO 'community' persists in believing that the Air Force report is flawed.)" A "second rubric" was "human potential" research: "Senator Pell and others have supported the funding of research in social science to focus more on these phenomena." Gibbons closed: "I've made no secret about my conviction that we must not be too diverted from more earthly imperatives."[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The Clintons began a vacation in Jackson Hole on August 15, 1995, with Senator [[Jay Rockefeller]] and his wife, Sharon, as hosts at a Rockefeller family estate.[^36] The [[William J. Clinton Presidential Library]] holds photographs, in a set processed for a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request, of a visit by President Clinton and [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham Clinton]] to Laurance Rockefeller's JY Ranch on August 21, 1995.[^36] On August 17 Jones, writing on Human Potential Foundation letterhead to Representative Schiff, described a conference, "When Cosmic Cultures Meet," held in Washington over the Memorial Day weekend: "The conference was part of a process to make it politically safe for Congress to get involved in a subject that from all available evidence has been the secret purview of the executive department for nearly fifty years."[^37]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 23, 1995 Rockefeller's office faxed Gibbons five pages plus a cover sheet: a draft letter to President Clinton, headed "Lifting Secrecy on Information About Extraterrestrial Intelligence as Part of the Current Classification Review," and the 1993 exchange with Graham. The draft states that Rockefeller has "been interested in the enhancement of spirituality and holistic healing as well as the development of a new paradigm of consciousness," and asks the President to direct that information on extraterrestrial intelligence and UFOs "be given priority in the current classification review," to appoint a coordinator for government information about those subjects, to bring together information "from all federal agencies involved, such as the Department of Defense, the Air Force, NASA and the CIA" ("Your Science Advisor, Jack Gibbons, might be the right person for this role"), and to make known that anyone with information "will be granted amnesty from relevant oaths or other government constraints."[^22] On November 1, 1995 Diamond, writing from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Room 5600, sent Gibbons "a draft letter to the President which Laurance has been discussing with Mrs. Clinton and her staff" and a draft report on the "best evidence" about UFOs; a letter of November 8 identified [[Don Berliner]] as its principal author.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 5, 1996 Rockefeller told Gibbons that the "Best Evidence Report (the report written by Don Berliner and coordinated by Marie Galbraith which we have referred to as the 'Bootsie report')" was an "unusual combined effort of the three major UFO organizations." He wrote that Gibbons's "willingness to approach the Air Force, the Central Intelligence Agency and NASA on this project is extremely important," and that the group would put forward names for a pilot project on an expanded amnesty program. The draft letter to the President, he wrote, "might receive attention in a second term. You indicated that you will keep the First Lady's Office informed, and we shall as well."[^39] On February 27, 1996 Widnall wrote to Gibbons, after "our recent dinner conversation," enclosing "the full Roswell Report to pass on to Lawrence Rockefeller" and noting that a second volume was in preparation; on February 29 Rockefeller sent Gibbons the "Best Available Evidence" report, writing "I sponsored this report" and, "while I do not necessarily agree with every finding and conclusion," that "the evidence presented indicates that this subject merits serious scientific study," with a new draft of the letter to the President.[^40] On October 17, 1996 he proposed an international conference. "At the suggestion of Maurice Strong," he had contacted [[Julia Marton-Lefevre|Julia Marton Lefevre]], executive director of what the letter calls the International Scientific Union, and he forwarded a letter from [[Carl Sagan]], writing that he was "puzzled by Carl's enthusiastic support of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by radio telescope while he maintains a high degree of skepticism about other means of inquiry."[^41] In a letter of January 2, 1997 to Gibbons, Maccabee wrote that in April 1993, "at the request of Dr. [[Ronald Pandolfi]] of the CIA," he had faxed Gibbons an information paper on UFOs.[^42] On June 20, 1997 the Secretary of the Air Force sent Gibbons the second volume of *The Roswell Report: Case Closed*, to be released on the following Tuesday.[^43]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pocantico Workshop, 1997
|
||||
|
||||
In December 1996, in Sturrock's words in the introduction to the published proceedings, "Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller, Chairman of the [[LSR Fund]], invited me to review with him the status of our understanding of the problem posed by UFO reports." Rockefeller, Diamond and Sturrock conceived a workshop; Sturrock submitted a proposal to the LSR Fund in February 1997 with administrative support from the [[Society for Scientific Exploration]], and "the necessary funds were transferred from the Fund to the Society." The workshop met at the [[Pocantico Conference Center]] at Tarrytown, New York, from September 29 to October 4, 1997, and Sturrock thanked Rockefeller "for his interest in and support of this project" and Diamond and [[Charles Tolbert]] for administrative support.[^44]
|
||||
|
||||
### Rockefeller Funds
|
||||
|
||||
The Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund of New York, which received its Internal Revenue Service ruling in June 2006, reported assets of 35,533,812 dollars for 2023. The Fund for UFO Research of Fairfax, Virginia, to which the letters of 1994 and 1996 refer, has been tax-exempt since April 1982.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "Laurance S. Rockefeller," biography, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/laurance-s-rockefeller/ (birth, death, education, marriage, Navy service, family office, Venrock from August 1969, Jackson Hole Preserve, American Conservation Association, Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, Fund presidency and chairmanship 1958 to 1980, Sloan-Kettering, Sloan Foundation, Zoological Society).
|
||||
[^2]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960," biography (children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller), https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-jr/.
|
||||
[^3]: W. David Lewis, "A Man Born Out of Season: Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Airlines, and the Civil Aeronautics Board," *Business and Economic History* 25, no. 1 (Fall 1996), pp. 157-163, https://thebhc.org/sites/default/files/beh/BEHprint/v025n1/p0154-p0164.pdf.
|
||||
[^4]: Peter O. Crisp, "Venture Capital Greats: A Conversation with Peter O. Crisp," interviewed by Carole Kolker, October 21, 2008, National Venture Capital Association Venture Capital Oral History Project, pp. 8, 24-28, 38 and 45-47, https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/vcg-crisp.pdf.
|
||||
[^5]: "Richard Leghorn, 98, pioneer of Cold War aerial espionage photography," *Boston Globe*, February 5, 2018, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2018/02/05/richard-leghorn-pioneer-cold-war-aerial-espionage-photography/C6PlYAATiFZNKx2P1La8JJ/story.html.
|
||||
[^6]: Kenneth E. Greer, "Corona," *Studies in Intelligence*, Supplement, 17 (Spring 1973), pp. 1-37, reproduced in Kevin C. Ruffner, ed., *CORONA: America's First Satellite Program* (Washington: Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1995), https://www.cia.gov/static/Corona-Between-the-Sun-and-the-Earth.pdf.
|
||||
[^7]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, "In Depth: The Special Studies Project," Wayback Machine capture of October 5, 2021, https://web.archive.org/web/20211005203914/https://www.rbf.org/about/our-history/timeline/special-studies-project/in-depth.
|
||||
[^8]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports* (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), list of the Special Studies Project planning committee and introduction by Panel II, https://archive.org/details/prospect-for-america-the-rockefeller-panel-reports-rockefeller-brothers-fund-1961.
|
||||
[^9]: Allen W. Dulles to Laurance S. Rockefeller, September 16, 1960, CIA-RDP80B01676R003700050029-8, and the advance copy of Special Studies Project report VI, *The Power of the Democratic Idea*, with release notice, CIA-RDP80B01676R003700050028-9, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003700050029-8 and https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003700050028-9.
|
||||
[^10]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to Allen W. Dulles, February 20, 1961, and Dulles to Rockefeller, March 1, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R003500230010-0, CIA Reading Room, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500230010-0.
|
||||
[^11]: U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, news release, "Secretary Udall Pledges Support of ORRRC Proposals," February 1, 1962, https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/historic-news-releases/1962/19620201B.PDF.
|
||||
[^12]: National Park Service, *Caneel Bay Area Redevelopment and Management Environmental Assessment*, Virgin Islands National Park (January 2023), chapter 1, https://npshistory.com/publications/viis/caneel-bay-redev-mgt-ea-2023.pdf.
|
||||
[^13]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for Jackson Hole Preserve Inc (EIN 13-1813818), Laurance S Rockefeller Fund (EIN 20-4192256) and Fund For UFO Research (EIN 52-1164176), https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/131813818.json, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/204192256.json and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/521164176.json.
|
||||
[^14]: Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, press release, "Princeton's PEAR Laboratory to Close," February 10, 2007, http://pearlab.icrl.org/press-statement.html.
|
||||
[^15]: John E. Mack Institute, "History," https://johnemackinstitute.org/history/, and "Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER)," http://johnemackinstitute.org/2003/01/program-for-extraordinary-experience-research-peer/.
|
||||
[^16]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to John H. Gibbons, February 17, 1994, with Gibbons's handwritten note dated 2/24/94, Office of Science and Technology Policy file, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-17-94.htm.
|
||||
[^17]: John H. Gibbons, memorandum for the President, "Inquiry from Laurance Rockefeller," August 4, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-4-95.htm.
|
||||
[^18]: Grant Cameron, "Extraterrestrial Politics in the Clinton White House (1993-2001) and the Laurance Rockefeller Initiative," introduction and notes iii and xiii, http://www.x-ppac.org/OSTP.html. The index of the scanned documents is at http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller_Initiative_Documents.htm.
|
||||
[^19]: Henry L. Diamond, memorandum to John H. Gibbons, attention Mike Kowalok, "Request for Meeting with Dr. Gibbons for Laurance S. Rockefeller, April 12 or 13, 1993," March 29, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-3-29-93.htm.
|
||||
[^20]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, April 21, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-21-93.htm.
|
||||
[^21]: John H. Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, to C. B. Scott Jones, May 26, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-5-26-93.htm.
|
||||
[^22]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to Billy Graham, May 7, 1993, and Graham to Rockefeller, May 20, 1993, attached to Rockefeller's fax to Gibbons of August 23, 1995, with the undated draft letter to President Clinton, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-23-95.htm.
|
||||
[^23]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, August 4, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-4-93.htm.
|
||||
[^24]: Paradigm Research Group, "September 14-15, 1993 Meeting at Rockefeller's JY Ranch in Wyoming," photograph and caption, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/9-14-93_Meeting.htm.
|
||||
[^25]: Henry L. Diamond, Beveridge and Diamond, P.C., memorandum to Sue Bachtel, November 12, 1993, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-12-93.htm.
|
||||
[^26]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 14, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-14-94.htm.
|
||||
[^27]: Sheila E. Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force, memorandum for John H. Gibbons, "UFO Research," May 24, 1994, with Gibbons's handwritten note, and the enclosed memorandum for the Secretary of the Air Force from SAF/AAZ, "Status Report on Search Efforts Regarding 'the Roswell Incident,'" May 20, 1994, p. 1, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-5-24-94.htm (the memorandum of May 24 is listed among the enclosures to Gibbons's letter to the General Accounting Office of April 26, 1995).
|
||||
[^28]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, June 1, 1994, with the attached letter from Melvin R. Laird to Rockefeller, May 9, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-1-94.htm.
|
||||
[^29]: Anne Bartley, memorandum for Jack Gibbons, "Laurance S. Rockefeller Interest in Extraterrestrial Intelligence," July 27, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-7-27-94.htm.
|
||||
[^30]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to John H. Gibbons, August 11, 1994, pp. 1-2, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-11-94.htm.
|
||||
[^31]: U.S. General Accounting Office, General Government Division, to John H. Gibbons, April 12, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-12-95.htm; John H. Gibbons to William Hunt, Director, Federal Management Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office, April 26, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-26-95.htm.
|
||||
[^32]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, September 5, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-9-5-94.htm, and December 9, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-12-9-94.htm.
|
||||
[^33]: C. B. Scott Jones to John H. Gibbons, February 9, 1995, pp. 1-2, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-9-95.htm.
|
||||
[^34]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, April 11, 1995 (the scan is filed under 4-11-94 and the letter is dated April 11, 1995), http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-4-11-94.htm.
|
||||
[^35]: Tanya M. Felder, OSTP electronic message to Susanne Bachtel, Barbara A. Ferguson and Holly L. Gwin, "GAO Report on UFOs," June 9, 1995, with handwritten reply of June 12, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-9-95.htm.
|
||||
[^36]: "Clintons to Vacation in Wyoming Mountains," *Spokesman-Review*, August 15, 1995, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/aug/15/clintons-to-vacation-in-wyoming-mountains/; William J. Clinton Presidential Library, "White House Photos - Laurance Rockefeller - Philanthropist," finding aid 2006-0546-F (contact sheet book 312, frame P31195, August 21, 1995), https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/research/archives/finding-aids/white-house-photos-laurance-rockefeller-philanthropist.
|
||||
[^37]: C. B. Scott Jones, Human Potential Foundation, to Representative Steven Schiff, August 17, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-17-95.htm.
|
||||
[^38]: Henry L. Diamond to John H. Gibbons, November 1, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-1-95.htm, and November 8, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-11-8-95.htm.
|
||||
[^39]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 5, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-5-96.htm.
|
||||
[^40]: Sheila E. Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force, to John H. Gibbons, February 27, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-27-96.htm; Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, February 29, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-2-29-96.htm.
|
||||
[^41]: Laurance S. Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, October 17, 1996, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-10-17-96.htm.
|
||||
[^42]: Bruce Maccabee to John H. Gibbons, January 2, 1997, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-1-2-97.htm.
|
||||
[^43]: Secretary of the Air Force to John H. Gibbons, June 20, 1997, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-20-97.htm.
|
||||
[^44]: Peter A. Sturrock et al., "Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 - October 4, 1997," *Journal of Scientific Exploration* 12, no. 2 (1998), pp. 179-229, introduction as reproduced at http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc535.htm.
|
||||
195
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Luke Nosek.md
Normal file
195
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Luke Nosek.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- LukeNosek
|
||||
- PayPalMafia
|
||||
- FoundersFund
|
||||
- Gigafund
|
||||
- SpaceX
|
||||
- VentureCapital
|
||||
- PeterThiel
|
||||
- SecuritiesFilings
|
||||
- CampaignFinance
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Luke Nosek
|
||||
- Luke P. Nosek
|
||||
summary: "PayPal co-founder, Founders Fund co-founder and Gigafund managing partner, a SpaceX director since July 2008 whose 2026 prospectus lists 32,987,360 shares, 2,381,000 pledged against personal debt."
|
||||
location: "Austin, Texas"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[PayPal]]"
|
||||
start: 1998-11
|
||||
end: 2002-02
|
||||
role: "co-founder; vice president of business development, marketing and strategy"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
|
||||
start: 2006-04
|
||||
end: 2017-07
|
||||
role: "co-founder; general partner"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Gigafund]]"
|
||||
start: 2017-07
|
||||
role: "co-founder and managing partner"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[SpaceX]]"
|
||||
start: 2008-07
|
||||
role: "director; initial Class B director and compensation and nominating committee member on the 2026 offering"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[DeepMind]]"
|
||||
role: "director before its acquisition by Google"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Last Energy]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Emerald Cloud Lab]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[ResearchGate]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Halcyon Molecular]]"
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
role: "president on joining; chairman by 2011"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Pathway Genomics]]"
|
||||
role: "director, per a 2011 university biography"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Peter Thiel]]"
|
||||
start: 2009-05-15
|
||||
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles; shared voting power over Founders Fund II and III funds"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ken Howery]]"
|
||||
start: 2009-05-15
|
||||
role: "co-director or co-promoter of Founders Fund vehicles in Form D filings"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Stephen Oskoui]]"
|
||||
start: 2017-07-27
|
||||
role: "co-executive officer of the Gigafund funds"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Angel Studios]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-09-10
|
||||
role: "19,459,882 Class A shares (19.48 percent) through Gigafund 1, LP, shared control with Oskoui"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Endorse Liberty]]"
|
||||
start: 2012-01-03
|
||||
end: 2012-01-23
|
||||
role: "10,001 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
|
||||
start: 2022-03-28
|
||||
end: 2022-03-28
|
||||
role: "5,800 dollars to Blake Masters for Senate"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Turnout for America]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-11-04
|
||||
end: 2024-11-04
|
||||
role: "500,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Republican National Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-03-23
|
||||
end: 2026-03-23
|
||||
role: "100,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Luke Nosek is a venture capitalist who co-founded [[PayPal]] and, with [[Peter Thiel]] and [[Ken Howery]], [[Founders Fund]]. He has sat on the board of [[SpaceX]] (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) since July 2008 and has been managing partner of [[Gigafund]], a venture firm he co-founded in July 2017, since its inception. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering (1996) from the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]] and was 50 years old in June 2026.[^1] The university's Grainger College of Engineering gave him its Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### PayPal
|
||||
|
||||
Nosek co-founded PayPal and served as its vice president of business development, vice president of marketing and vice president of strategy from November 1998 to February 2002.[^1] He oversaw PayPal's marketing at launch and created its "Instant Transfer" product.[^2] A [[Federal Election Commission]] record dated September 30, 1999 lists a 250 dollar contribution from "Nosek, Luke" of Palo Alto to Bush for President Inc., with his employer given as [[Confinity]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founders Fund
|
||||
|
||||
SpaceX's 2026 prospectus dates his co-founding of Founders Fund to April 2006 and his service as a general partner through July 2017.[^1] The University of Illinois award citation of 2011 gives 2005 as the year he helped found the firm, calls him a managing partner, and credits him as "the initial architect of the 'founder friendly' strategy" and the builder of the firm's biotechnology practice.[^2] Federal Election Commission records give his employer as Founders Fund, with his title variously as managing partner, managing member, partner and general partner, from June 2009 to October 2015.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]'s Form D filings for Founders Fund vehicles name him with Thiel and Howery. On May 15, 2009, Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP reported 3,481,500 dollars sold to 11 investors since a first sale on April 30, 2009, at One Letterman Drive, Building C, Suite 420, [[San Francisco]], and listed Nosek, Thiel, Howery and [[Sean Parker]] as its directors. An amendment filed August 17, 2009 reported 6,737,500 dollars sold to 29 investors.[^5] The same suite is the address given for Thiel on the 2008 and 2009 returns of the [[Thiel Foundation]].
|
||||
|
||||
Founders Fund III, LP (filed May 5, 2010) reported 107,272,727 dollars sold to 21 investors and named The Founders Fund III Management, LLC, Thiel, Howery, Nosek and Parker as promoters. Founders Fund IV, LP (filed December 1, 2011) reported 500,000,000 dollars sold to 58 investors and named Thiel, Howery, Nosek, [[Bruce Gibney]] and [[Brian Singerman]] as promoters. Founders Fund V, LP (filed March 6, 2014, 1,015,200,000 dollars from 109 investors) and Founders Fund VI, LP (filed March 25, 2016, 1,274,127,000 dollars from 197 investors) listed Thiel, Howery, Nosek and Singerman as directors, at One Letterman Drive, Building D, Suite 500.[^6][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Airbnb and the Founders Fund II and III Vehicles
|
||||
|
||||
A Form 3 filed for [[Airbnb]] with a date of event of December 9, 2020 names Founders Fund II Management, LLC, Founders Fund IV Management, LLC, Thiel, Nosek and Singerman as reporting persons, each checked as a ten percent owner. Its footnotes state that Thiel and Nosek "have shared voting and investment power over the shares held by" six partnerships: The Founders Fund II, LP, its Entrepreneurs Fund and Principals Fund, and The Founders Fund III, LP, its Entrepreneurs Fund and Principals Fund. Thiel and Singerman are given the same power over the Founders Fund IV partnerships. A Form 4 filed December 14, 2020 reports the automatic conversion of the Series B and Series C preferred stock into Class B common stock on the closing of Airbnb's initial public offering, with the same statements of shared voting power.[^9][^10] SpaceX's 2026 prospectus places the end of his general partner role at Founders Fund in July 2017.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### SpaceX
|
||||
|
||||
Nosek has served on the SpaceX board since July 2008. For the company's initial public offering of June 2026 he was listed with [[Elon Musk]], [[Gwynne Shotwell]], [[Antonio Gracias|Antonio J. Gracias]] and Donald Harrison as the five directors expected to serve as the initial Class B Directors, the seats elected by holders of Class B stock. [[Ira Ehrenpreis]], Randy Glein and [[Steve Jurvetson]] were named as the initial Common Stock Directors. The board found Nosek independent under the listing standards of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas, and he was named with Ehrenpreis (chair) and Gracias as an expected member of the compensation and nominating committee, under the controlled-company exemption.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The prospectus's beneficial ownership table lists 32,987,360 shares of Class A common stock for Nosek: 24,987,340 shares held of record by him and 8,000,020 shares held of record by Nosek Capital, LLC, of which he is the managing member. Footnote 7 to the table states that "the reported amounts include 2,381,000 shares of Class A common stock pledged as security for personal indebtedness." The initial public offering price was 135.00 dollars per share, at which the holding corresponds to about 4.45 billion dollars.[^1] His Form 3 filed June 11, 2026 reports the same two holdings and lists him as a director, with his address in care of the company at Starbase, Texas.[^11] SpaceX's launch customers include the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], and its Starshield is "a secure satellite network designed specifically for government customers and national security applications."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Form 13F holdings report of Gigafund Management Company, LLC for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 lists 171,826,745 shares of SpaceX Class A common stock valued at 29,358,317,651 dollars, and 19,459,882 shares of [[Angel Studios]] Class A common stock valued at 71,417,767 dollars.[^12] A Federal Election Commission record of March 29, 2012 gives Nosek's employer as "Space X" and his occupation as board director.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
SpaceX's own Form D filings list Nosek as a director in all 21 Form D and Form D/A filings on the company's EDGAR record, from March 31, 2009 to August 5, 2022. The other related persons named include Musk, Shotwell and Jurvetson in every filing, [[Kimbal Musk]] through December 2021, Gracias from November 2010, and Harrison from August 2017. The filing of March 31, 2009 reports 15,025,000 dollars sold to seven investors of a 60,000,000 dollar offering (first sale March 18, 2009), six weeks before the first sale by Founders Fund SpaceX Fund. Later filings report 50,199,998 dollars to 16 investors (November 2010), 999,999,925 dollars to 13 investors (January 2015), 449,999,820 dollars to 25 investors (as amended November 27, 2017), 1,901,446,920 dollars to 75 investors (August 2020), 1,164,061,924 dollars to 99 investors (as amended April 14, 2021) and 1,724,965,480 dollars to 74 investors (as amended June 30, 2022).[^5][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Gigafund
|
||||
|
||||
Nosek co-founded Gigafund in July 2017 and has been managing partner since inception.[^1] The first two Gigafund Form D filings, for Gigafund 0, LP and Gigafund 0-A, LP, were filed July 27, 2017 from Redwood City, California, each with a 100,000,000 dollar offering and no sales reported. Nosek and [[Stephen Oskoui]] are the executive officers on both, and on every one of the 29 Form D and Form D/A filings made by 23 Gigafund partnerships through June 2024. From 2019 the filings give an address in [[Austin, Texas]].[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The filings report Gigafund 0.1, LP (73,811,900 dollars, amendment of May 11, 2018), Gigafund 0.2, LP (50,999,975 dollars from four investors, first sale April 25, 2018), Gigafund 0.6, LP (71,814,396 dollars, July 2020), Gigafund 0.8, LP (230,939,181 dollars from 31 investors, November 2020), Gigafund 0.12, LP (80,000,000 dollars from 19 investors, February 2021), Gigafund 0.14, LP (478,358,022 dollars of a 513,000,000 dollar offering from 43 investors, first sale June 23, 2021), Gigafund 0.15, LP (49,999,600 dollars), Gigafund 0.16, LP (74,999,680 dollars), Gigafund 0.19, LP (53,936,666 dollars) and Gigafund 0.25, LP (71,500,000 dollars of a 100,000,000 dollar offering from 14 investors, first sale April 17, 2024). Smaller vehicles (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 0.13 and 0.24) raised between 2,000,000 and 16,999,998 dollars each, and Gigafund 0.22 (2023) and 0.26, 0.27 and 0.28 (June 28, 2024) reported no sales. The forms do not name portfolio companies.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
A Form 3 filed September 19, 2025 for Angel Studios, Inc. of Provo, [[Utah]] (date of event September 10, 2025) names Gigafund 1, LP, Gigafund 1 GP, LP, Nosek and Oskoui as reporting persons, each a ten percent owner. It reports 19,459,882 shares of Class A common stock held directly by Gigafund 1, LP, and states that "Stephen D. Oskoui and Luke Nosek control all voting and investments decisions" over the partnership's securities. The reporting persons' address is 555 East 5th Street, Suite 3127, Austin.[^15] The Schedule 13G filed September 17, 2025 gives the stake as 19.48 percent of the Class A shares outstanding.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Halcyon Molecular and Other Boards
|
||||
|
||||
Nosek joined [[Halcyon Molecular]], "a Founders Fund portfolio company pursuing a novel approach to ultra-fast complete genome sequencing", as president in 2009, and was its chairman in 2011, when he also sat on the boards of [[Pathway Genomics]] and SpaceX.[^2] Federal Election Commission records of March 29, 2012 give his employer as "Halcyon Molecular/Chairman" on two contributions to Friends of [[Mark Warner]].[^4] He sits on the boards of [[Last Energy]] (small modular nuclear reactors), [[Emerald Cloud Lab]] (remotely accessible, largely autonomous life science laboratories) and [[ResearchGate]], and served on the board of [[DeepMind]] before its acquisition by [[Google]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
Federal Election Commission records list the following itemized contributions by Nosek, with the employer and occupation as reported on each filing.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
- 1999: 250 dollars to Bush for President Inc. (employer Confinity).
|
||||
- 2009: 1,000 dollars to Friends of [[Jane Harman]] on June 19, with an offsetting entry of minus 1,000 dollars on July 1 (Founders Fund, managing partner).
|
||||
- 2011: 1,000 dollars on September 10 to the Committee to Re-elect Congressman [[Dana Rohrabacher]] (Founders Fund, managing member).
|
||||
- 2012: 9,000 dollars on January 3 and 1,001 dollars on January 23 to Endorse Liberty, Inc. (Founders Fund, partner); 5,000 dollars to the National Republican Congressional Committee on March 28; two entries of 2,500 dollars each to Janice Hahn for Congress (Space X, board director) and to Friends of Mark Warner (Halcyon Molecular, chairman) on March 29; 2,000 dollars each to the Committee to Re-elect [[Loretta Sanchez]] (August 27), Fattah for Congress (August 28) and Palazzo for Congress (September 11).
|
||||
- 2013: 5,000 dollars to Team Graham, Inc. on March 8, partly redesignated, and two entries of 2,600 dollars to Udall for Colorado on March 26.
|
||||
- 2015: 5,400 dollars to Friends of [[John McCain]], split between primary and general, and 5,000 dollars to Country First Political Action Committee on October 14 (Founders Fund, general partner, Mill Valley, California).
|
||||
- 2021: 250 dollars to Georgians for Latham through WinRed on May 17 and 750 dollars on May 19 (employer given as "Gigi Fund", managing partner, Austin); 2,900 dollars to Lisa Murkowski for US Senate through WinRed on October 7 (Gigafund, co-founder, West Lake Hills, Texas).
|
||||
- 2022: two entries of 2,900 dollars to [[Blake Masters]] for Senate on March 28 (Gigafund, managing partner).
|
||||
- 2024: 500,000 dollars to Turnout for America on November 4 (self-employed, entrepreneur).
|
||||
- 2025: 10,000 dollars to Protect Freedom Political Action Committee on November 6.
|
||||
- 2026: 5,000 dollars to the Sheehy Victory Committee on February 15 (Gigafund Management Company, venture capital); 44,300 dollars and 55,700 dollars to the [[Republican National Committee]] on March 23, the second to its legal proceedings account (Gigafund Management, partner).
|
||||
|
||||
Endorse Liberty, Inc. (committee C00508002) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee of Alexandria, Virginia, first filed December 20, 2011, with Abraham David Niederhauser as treasurer; it reported 3,937,582.81 dollars in receipts and 3,542,481.59 dollars in independent expenditures for the 2012 cycle.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
Turnout for America (committee C00883520) is registered as an independent-expenditure-only committee of Alexandria, Virginia, with Janna Rutland as treasurer, and first filed on July 17, 2024. For the 2023 to 2024 cycle it reported 45,670,092.93 dollars in receipts and 34,537,933.83 dollars in disbursements.[^18] Its largest itemized individual contributions were 5,000,000 dollars from [[Diane Hendricks]] on each of August 23 and October 4, 2024, 5,000,000 dollars (September 5) and 2,500,000 dollars (October 22) from [[Kelcy Warren]] of Energy Transfer Partners, 2,000,000 dollars from [[Andy Beal|D. Andrew Beal]] of Beal Bank, and 1,979,048.38 dollars from [[Howard Lutnick]] of Cantor Fitzgerald on October 22, 2024; [[Roger Penske]] and Jeffrey Sprecher of Intercontinental Exchange each gave 1,000,000 dollars. Its largest payee was Patriot Grassroots of Cheyenne, [[Wyoming]], which received 26,064,474.55 dollars in twelve payments, the largest of them 4,719,600 dollars on October 22, 2024, each described as "canvassing". It also paid 1,950,000 dollars to American Majority Action and 200,000 dollars to the CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Space Exploration Technologies Corp., prospectus filed under Rule 424(b)(4) on June 12, 2026, SEC accession 0001628280-26-042639 (Management: executive officers and directors, board composition, director independence, compensation and nominating committee; Principal Stockholders, footnote 7; Business: customers and Starshield; cover and offering price). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026042639/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Nosek, Luke," 2011 Young Alumni Achievement Award citation. https://ece.illinois.edu/alumni/awards/yaaa/11-nosek
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipt of September 30, 1999, Bush for President Inc. (C00343509), image 99034852014. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?99034852014
|
||||
[^4]: Federal Election Commission, itemized Schedule A receipts for contributor name "Nosek, Luke," 1999 to 2026, including images 29992454185 and 29934914346 (Friends of Jane Harman), 12950691291 (Rohrabacher), 13961599391 and 13961599392 (Endorse Liberty), 12972456130 (NRCC), 12020251533 and 12020251534 (Friends of Mark Warner), 12951438570 and 12951438571 (Janice Hahn for Congress), 13941782379 (Sanchez), 12972695409 (Fattah), 12972571200 (Palazzo), 13020210239 and 13020210240 (Team Graham), 13020214538 and 13020214539 (Udall), 201602020200033560 (McCain), 201601199004517424 (Country First PAC), 202201249475112325 (Latham), 202201319485294481 (Murkowski), 202204159496855548 and 202204159496855549 (Blake Masters for Senate), 202412059720711906 (Turnout for America), 202512199793619635 (Protect Freedom PAC), 202604159857798766 (Sheehy Victory Committee), 202604209866590200 and 202604209866594413 (RNC). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=Nosek%2C+Luke and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202412059720711906
|
||||
[^5]: Founders Fund SpaceX Fund, LP, Form D filed May 15, 2009 (accession 0001464202-09-000001) and Form D/A filed August 17, 2009 (accession 0001464202-09-000003). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1464202/000146420209000003/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^6]: Founders Fund III, LP, Form D filed May 5, 2010, accession 0001288320-10-000004. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1491094/000128832010000004/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^7]: Founders Fund IV, LP, Form D filed December 1, 2011, accession 0001535267-11-000002. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1535267/000153526711000002/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^8]: Founders Fund V, LP, Form D filed March 6, 2014, accession 0001601419-14-000001; Founders Fund VI, LP, Form D filed March 25, 2016, accession 0001669874-16-000001. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1601419/000160141914000001/primary_doc.xml and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1669874/000166987416000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^9]: Founders Fund II Management, LLC, Founders Fund IV Management, LLC, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek and Brian Singerman, Form 3 for Airbnb, Inc. (date of event December 9, 2020), accession 0001209191-20-062631, footnotes F3 to F11. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000120919120062631/doc3.xml
|
||||
[^10]: Same reporting persons, Form 4 for Airbnb, Inc. (date of event December 14, 2020), accession 0001209191-20-063866. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000120919120063866/doc4.xml
|
||||
[^11]: Luke Nosek, Form 3 for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., filed June 11, 2026, SEC accession 0001628280-26-042636. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026042636/wk-form3_1781226111.xml
|
||||
[^12]: Gigafund Management Company, LLC (CIK 1713833), Form 13F-HR for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed August 12, 2026, accession 0001140361-26-032507, information table; and earlier 13F-HR filings for December 31, 2025 (0001140361-26-004873) and March 31, 2026 (0001140361-26-020009). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1713833/000114036126032507/informationtable.xml
|
||||
[^13]: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (CIK 1181412), Forms D and D/A: 0001181412-09-000003 (March 31, 2009), 0001181412-10-000001 (November 9, 2010), 0001181412-15-000001 (January 26, 2015), 0001181412-17-000001 (August 8, 2017), 0001181412-17-000002 (November 27, 2017), 0001181412-18-000001 (April 18, 2018), 0001181412-19-000001 (January 3, 2019), 0001181412-19-000002 (April 17, 2019), 0001181412-19-000003 and 0001181412-19-000004 (May 24, 2019), 0001181412-19-000005 (July 9, 2019), 0001181412-20-000001 (March 13, 2020), 0001181412-20-000002 (May 26, 2020), 0001181412-20-000003 (August 18, 2020), 0001181412-21-000001 (February 23, 2021), 0001181412-21-000002 (April 14, 2021), 0001181412-21-000003 (November 15, 2021), 0001181412-21-000004 (December 29, 2021), 0001181412-22-000001 (June 13, 2022), 0001181412-22-000002 (June 30, 2022) and 0001181412-22-000003 (August 5, 2022), item 3 related persons and item 13 sales. https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001181412.json and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000118141209000003/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^14]: Gigafund partnerships, Forms D and D/A, 2017 to 2024: Gigafund 0, LP (0001712898-17-000001), Gigafund 0-A, LP (0001712899-17-000001), 0.1 (0001721812-17-000001, 0001721812-18-000001), 0.2 (0001738772-18-000001), 0.3 (0001783523-19-000001), 0.4 (0001806124-20-000003, 0001806124-20-000004), 0.5 (0001806120-20-000003, 0001806120-20-000004), 0.6 (0001806125-20-000003, 0001806125-20-000004), 0.7 (0001817561-20-000001), 0.8 (0001826623-20-000001, 0001826623-20-000002, 0001826623-20-000004), 0.9 (0001847253-21-000001), 0.12 (0001847240-21-000001), 0.13 (0001952171-22-000001), 0.14 (0001871132-21-000003), 0.15 (0001896270-21-000001), 0.16 (0001901047-21-000001), 0.19 (0001934914-22-000001), 0.22 (0001975769-23-000001), 0.24 (0002005250-23-000002), 0.25 (0001877173-24-000001), 0.26 to 0.28 (0002028590-24-000001, 0002028590-24-000002, 0002028590-24-000003); entity list from EDGAR company search "Gigafund". https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=gigafund&owner=include&count=100&action=getcompany
|
||||
[^15]: Gigafund 1, LP, Gigafund 1 GP, LP, Luke Nosek and Stephen D. Oskoui, Form 3 for Angel Studios, Inc. (date of event September 10, 2025), filed September 19, 2025, accession 0001140361-25-035604, footnote F1. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1865200/000114036125035604/form3.xml
|
||||
[^16]: Gigafund 1, LP and others, Schedule 13G for Angel Studios, Inc., filed September 17, 2025, accession 0001140361-25-035282. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2085918/000114036125035282/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^17]: Federal Election Commission, committee record and totals, Endorse Liberty, Inc. (C00508002). https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00508002/
|
||||
[^18]: Federal Election Commission, committee record and 2024 cycle totals, Turnout for America (C00883520). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00883520/ and https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00883520/
|
||||
[^19]: Federal Election Commission, Turnout for America (C00883520), 2024 cycle Schedule A receipts sorted by amount (images 202503189754229322, 202412139739921325, 202412139739921328, 202412059720711909, 202412139739921324, 202412059720711905) and Schedule B disbursements by recipient, including the payment of October 22, 2024 to Patriot Grassroots (image 202412059720711926). https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00883520&two_year_transaction_period=2024 and https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?committee_id=C00883520&two_year_transaction_period=2024
|
||||
200
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ngo Dinh Diem.md
Normal file
200
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ngo Dinh Diem.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,200 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- NgoDinhDiem
|
||||
- Vietnam
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- EdwardLansdale
|
||||
- MichiganStateUniversity
|
||||
- AmericanFriendsOfVietnam
|
||||
- DiemCoup
|
||||
- ChurchCommittee
|
||||
- CovertAction
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ngo Dinh Diem
|
||||
- Ngô Đình Diệm
|
||||
- Diem
|
||||
- President Diem
|
||||
- Premier Diem
|
||||
summary: "Premier of Vietnam from July 1954 and president of South Vietnam until his killing on November 2, 1963, in a generals' coup that Washington encouraged, after a decade of CIA subsidy and American lobbying."
|
||||
died: 1963-11-02
|
||||
location: "Saigon, South Vietnam (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[State of Vietnam]]"
|
||||
start: 1954-07-07
|
||||
role: "premier"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[South Vietnam]]"
|
||||
end: 1963-11-02
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Nhu]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Can]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ngo Dinh Thuc]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1954
|
||||
role: "piasters sent to the Palace by the Saigon station in the first weeks of his government; dollars for Trinh Minh The passed through him in September 1954"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1955
|
||||
end: 1962
|
||||
role: "police, public administration and economic advisers under contract to his government"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Harold Oram, Inc.]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1955
|
||||
end: 1961
|
||||
role: "public relations contract with the Vietnamese government, as reported by Ramparts"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état]]"
|
||||
start: 1963-08-24
|
||||
end: 1963-11-02
|
||||
role: "target of the generals' coup"
|
||||
fn: 35
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Church Committee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1975-11-20
|
||||
role: "subject of the interim report on alleged assassination plots"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ngo Dinh Diem (died November 2, 1963, [[Saigon]]) was premier of the [[State of Vietnam]] from July 7, 1954, and president of [[South Vietnam]] until he and his brother [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]] were killed during the [[1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état|generals' coup of November 1 and 2, 1963]].[^1][^2] Two [[Central Intelligence Agency]] stations in Saigon worked with his government from its first weeks, and the CIA paid money through him to armed sects in 1954.[^3][^4] A [[Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group|Michigan State University group]] under contract to his government advised his police from 1955 to 1962.[^5] The Senate's [[Church Committee]] found in 1975 that the [[United States]] encouraged the coup against him but neither desired nor was involved in his death.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early career
|
||||
|
||||
Diem was an Annamese Catholic who had been governor of [[Phan Thiết|Phan Thiet]] province and then minister of the interior at the imperial court of [[Bao Dai]] in [[Huế|Hue]]. In 1933, after a year in the latter office, he found that reforms he had been promised were blocked by French and Annamese officials, resigned and went into political retirement.[^1] He had earlier served as district and province chief in Annam.[^6] Bao Dai sought him as premier in 1945, [[Ho Chi Minh]] sought him for the government of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] in 1946, and the French for their solutions in 1947 and 1949, all without success.[^1] His brother [[Ngo Dinh Thuc]] was a leading Catholic clergyman with connections throughout the country and later the ranking Catholic bishop; Nhu built the semi-covert [[Can Lao]] party, and another brother, [[Ngo Dinh Can]], built a personal political organization of his own.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### American patrons, 1950 to 1954
|
||||
|
||||
[[Wesley Fishel]], a political scientist about to join [[Michigan State University]], met Diem in a tea room in [[Tokyo]] in July 1950, according to *[[Ramparts]]*.[^5][^7] The magazine reported that Fishel had Diem appointed a consultant to the university's Governmental Research Bureau and helped arrange his long stay in the United States, and that Diem in 1952 asked the French to let Michigan State furnish technical aid to Vietnam at American expense.[^5] Diem lived with the [[Maryknoll]] missionaries in [[New Jersey]] and New York between 1951 and 1953, which gave him the competence in English that made him accessible to American officials; a [[State Department]] officer who met him in late 1950 reported that he believed "only [the] US can solve [the] problem, thru him to be sure," and an American military officer who met him in 1953 left with the impression of a "mystic 'nut.'"[^6] His supporters in this period included Cardinal [[Francis Spellman]], Senators [[Mike Mansfield]], [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Hubert Humphrey]], and Congressman [[Walter Judd]].[^6] [[Robert Scheer]] and [[Warren Hinckle]] wrote in *Ramparts* in July 1965 that Justice [[William O. Douglas]] arranged a breakfast at which Diem met Mansfield and Kennedy.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Scheer and Hinckle wrote that [[Leo Cherne]], president of the [[International Rescue Committee]], spent two and a half weeks in Vietnam in 1954 and sent his assistant [[Joseph Buttinger]], a former leader of the Austrian Socialists, to set up a committee operation there. Buttinger met Diem four days after arriving, at the request of Colonel [[Edward Lansdale]], whom they describe as "the CIA's man in Saigon," and Lansdale introduced him to the security officials of Diem's government and to the army. They wrote that Lansdale "went through channels," convincing CIA Director [[Allen Dulles]] of Diem's worth; that Dulles talked to his brother, Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], who brought the word to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]]; that on Buttinger's return in December 1954 Spellman telephoned [[Joseph P. Kennedy]], who arranged meetings for Buttinger with Mansfield and State Department officials; that Buttinger talked with Senator Kennedy's assistant [[Ted Sorensen]]; and that Spellman set up meetings with the editors of *[[The New York Times]]*, the *[[New York Herald Tribune|Herald Tribune]]*, *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* and *[[Life (magazine)|Life]]*. They called the effort the work of "a small and enthusiastic group of people, including a Cardinal, an ex-Austrian Socialist leader, and a CIA agent."[^7] The authors of the [[Pentagon Papers]] recorded that "there are those who believe that Diem was foisted upon the Vietnamese and the French by a cabal of prominent American Catholics and a CIA agent."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The two CIA stations, 1954 to 1955
|
||||
|
||||
By the time Diem took office the CIA had two independent stations in Saigon: the regular station under [[Emmett McCarthy]], whose covert action chief [[Paul Harwood]] had arrived in April 1954 to assess nationalist politicians, and the [[Saigon Military Mission]] under Lansdale.[^3][^4] Harwood had known Nhu for several months, and Nhu became the regular station's principal contact in the government. Lansdale recalled in his memoirs that he walked in on Diem unannounced the day after Diem took office, and the two communicated through an interpreter for two and a half years. The Embassy, oriented toward the French, kept the brothers at a distance, and Lansdale and Harwood became the principal channels of political information and influence between the two governments.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Nhu, after asking for CIA support without "controls," obtained the station's agreement to plan projects that included the Can Lao party, to be developed from his semi-covert Workers' Party as a cadre organization controlling a mass front.[^4] Nhu told Harwood that the outgoing premier, Prince [[Buu Loc]], had absconded with the premier's confidential fund. In the first weeks of the government Harwood sent piasters to the Palace for Diem's discretionary use; Harwood later could not recall the amount, which was written off on a hand receipt from a Palace functionary. From about August 1954 the station let Nhu use part of its subsidy to support a hamlet militia that Nhu said numbered some 15,000 men by the end of the year.[^4] In September 1954 Diem asked Lansdale for funds to buy the support of the [[Cao Dai]] commander [[Trinh Minh The]], whom the French believed had assassinated their commanding general in the south in 1950. Lansdale delivered the money in dollars to Diem, who passed it through Nhu to The, and on September 15 Lansdale was received at The's headquarters on the Cao Dai mountain in [[Tây Ninh Province|Tay Ninh]]. Lansdale's official report states only that "at Ambassador Heath's request, the US secretly furnished Diem with funds for The."[^4] The intelligence section of the Can Lao, the [[Political and Social Studies Service]] known as SEPES and headed by Dr. [[Tran Kim Tuyen]], became with CIA help the government's service for collection against North Vietnam.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Premier, 1954 to 1955
|
||||
|
||||
Diem took office on July 7, 1954, and until the following May stood virtually alone, unaided by Bao Dai, opposed by the French and offered by Americans mainly advice, criticism and promises. In ten months he survived the partition at [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva]], two threatened coups by his army chiefs of staff, clashes with the [[Binh Xuyen]] and the armed sects, and the arrival of some 900,000 refugees from the north.[^1] On December 7, 1954, Senator Mansfield judged that prospects for helping Diem looked "very dim," and in January 1955 General [[J. Lawton Collins]], the President's special representative, agreed in a report to the [[National Security Council]]. Collins cabled on April 7, 1955, that "the man lacks the personal qualities of leadership and the executive ability successfully to head a government," and on April 19, "I see no alternative to the early replacement of Diem."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Binh Xuyen was the organization of [[Bay Vien]], who, in Lansdale's words, had paid Bao Dai "a staggering sum" for control of gambling and prostitution in [[Cholon]] and of the Saigon-Cholon police.[^1] After Diem survived a test of arms with the army and the sects in late April 1955, Senators Mansfield and [[William Knowland]] issued statements of support and, on May 2, Senator Humphrey told the Senate that Diem was "the best hope that we have in South Vietnam." In May 1955 the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff|Joint Chiefs]] judged that his government "shows the greatest promise of achieving the internal stability essential for the future security of Vietnam."[^1] Diem returned in late August 1955 money the CIA had advanced for a scheme that came to nothing, and used Lansdale as an intermediary in unproductive negotiations with the [[Hoa Hao]] commander [[Ba Cut]] until shortly before Ba Cut's capture in April 1956.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Popular Revolutionary Committee]] that Nhu had formed at the height of the sect crisis, whose members included two former Viet Minh leaders, urged the dissolution of the Bao Dai government and elections for a national assembly. Acting under its mandate, Nhu set up a referendum in which, on October 23, 1955, an overwhelming vote for Diem over Bao Dai was recorded. The committee dissolved itself on October 31, apparently under pressure from Diem and his brother.[^1] In 1955 and 1956, in the words of the Defense Department study, Lansdale "was a key figure in installing and establishing Diem as President of South Vietnam."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Michigan State University group, 1955 to 1962
|
||||
|
||||
*Ramparts* reported in April 1966, in "MSU: The University on the Make," that the Michigan State University Group in Vietnam, an official university project under contract to Saigon and Washington, had responsibility for Diem's civil service and police network, the shaping of a 50,000-man militia and the supply of guns and ammunition to the city police, the Civil Guard, the palace police and the [[Sûreté (Vietnam)|Sûreté]]. The magazine put the cost at $25 million, the largest project ever undertaken abroad by an American university. It reported that after a telephone call from Washington to the university's president, [[John A. Hannah]], requesting that red tape be cut, the first professors joined Fishel in Saigon in late May 1955; Fishel once indicated that the call came from Vice President [[Richard Nixon]], later denied it, and Hannah told the *[[Detroit News]]* that it came from an authority "even higher than Nixon." Fishel became chief of the group in 1956.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
In an introduction to the article, the economist [[Stanley Sheinbaum|Stanley K. Sheinbaum]], campus coordinator of the project for three years, wrote that "our Project had become a CIA front." Sheinbaum and [[Robert Scigliano]], assistant chief of the project from 1957 to 1959, told the magazine that five CIA men were listed on the project staff, formally appointed by the university's board of trustees, in several cases given academic rank and paid by the project, as a self-contained "VBI Internal Security Section" within the police administration division, assigned to counterespionage and counterintelligence. The magazine quoted a book by Scigliano and [[Guy H. Fox]], *[[Technical Assistance in Vietnam]]: The Michigan State University Experience* (Praeger, 1965): "USOM also absorbed at this time [1959] the CIA unit that had been operating within MSUG."[^5] The project, according to *Ramparts*, requisitioned revolvers, riot guns, ammunition, tear gas, jeeps, handcuffs and radios from stocks left over from American aid to the French, ordered some $15 million in further equipment from the United States Mission, and trained the Palace Guard in revolver shooting; the dean of the university's police administration school, [[Arthur Brandstatter]], personally inspected the Palace Guard when rumors of a coup were circulating.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Hannah answered at a news conference on April 22, 1966, that Michigan State "did not have a spy operation within its Vietnam project" and did not have CIA people operating under cover provided by the university. He said the university had hired several men with a background in intelligence work, none known at the time of employment to have CIA affiliations; that some staff later became suspicious that some were CIA men; that the university asked the American and Vietnamese governments to let it out of the counter-subversive program and reduced its police administration division to eight persons, including five from its own faculty; that it did not buy "a single gun"; and that the article contained "no fewer than 53 errors of fact." Hinckle dared him to test the charges in court, and Fishel asked the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] for help.[^9] A CIA briefing paper of 1967 on the magazine, which lists Scheer as an author of the April 1966 article, records the magazine's financing by its owner, identified only as Mr. Keating, and his wife and describes it as designed to appeal to "campus radicals."[^10] The public administration division of the Michigan State group conceived the Civil Guard as a rural constabulary, while Diem wanted a more military force; with the support of the American military advisory group, Diem's view prevailed.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The project ended in 1962. *Ramparts* reported that Diem, angered by critical writing published by two of its veterans, would not renew the contract, and that the university announced its termination in the name of academic freedom.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The American Friends of Vietnam and the 1957 visit
|
||||
|
||||
Scheer and Hinckle wrote that the "Vietnam Lobby" took formal shape in the fall of 1955 as the [[American Friends of Vietnam]], with Generals [[William J. Donovan|"Wild Bill" Donovan]] and [[John W. O'Daniel|"Iron Mike" O'Daniel]] as co-chairmen and a letterhead that included Senators Kennedy and [[Richard Neuberger]], [[Max Lerner]], [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]], Representatives [[Emanuel Celler]] and [[Edna Kelly]], and [[Angier Biddle Duke]]. They wrote that nine of the fourteen directors of the Friends were members of the board of the International Rescue Committee or its employees, including Cherne and Buttinger, and that two months before the Friends were announced the public relations firm of [[Harold Oram]], public relations man for the Rescue Committee, signed a contract to represent the Vietnamese government for $3,000 a month plus expenses, which lasted until 1961. According to the article, Oram and his account executive [[Gilbert Jonas]], both officers of the Friends, were registered as foreign agents of the Republic of Vietnam during the period in which they held executive positions with the organization.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On Diem's official visit to the United States in May 1957 he landed in President Eisenhower's plane, addressed a joint session of Congress, and received the [[Admiral Richard E. Byrd Award]] from Duke at a dinner sponsored by the International Rescue Committee and the American Friends of Vietnam. Scheer and Hinckle wrote that many of his speeches were written by Buttinger and by [[Sol Sanders]], a director of the Friends and a writer for *[[The New Leader]]*, and that Sanders resigned from the Friends in 1963 when its executive committee sent a congratulatory telegram to the generals who had deposed and killed Diem.[^7] A State Department set of position papers prepared for the visit was forwarded to the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] through the CIA's deputy director for plans on May 9, 1957.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### 1960 and 1961
|
||||
|
||||
On November 11, 1960, paratroop units attacked the palace. The CIA had no advance warning, but its officer [[George Carver]], who had recently recontacted the [[Dai Viet]] politician [[Hoang Co Thuy]], was invited that morning to meet Thuy's group of civilians who hoped the military would install them, and with the permission of the chief of station, [[William Colby]], served as the channel of American pressure on the rebels to negotiate rather than storm the palace. Ambassador [[Elbridge Durbrow]] took over Colby's desk to listen to the station officers' reports. Diem used the negotiations to gain time until loyal units arrived on November 12.[^4] Lansdale reported after a visit in January 1961 that the Diem government believed Durbrow had "sympathized strongly with the coup leaders of 11 November," and wrote: "We must support Ngo Dinh Diem until another strong executive can replace him legally."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1961 President Kennedy sent General [[Maxwell Taylor]] and [[Walt Rostow]] to Vietnam. The mission arrived in Saigon on October 18 as Diem proclaimed a state of emergency, and Taylor cabled Kennedy that the United States had to "convince Diem that we are willing to join him in a showdown with the Viet Cong."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The crisis of 1963
|
||||
|
||||
On May 8, 1963, South Vietnamese troops in Hue fired on [[Buddhists in Vietnam|Buddhists]] celebrating Buddha's birthday, killing nine and wounding fourteen. By July 4 Generals [[Duong Van Minh]], [[Tran Van Don]], [[Le Van Kim]] and [[Tran Thien Khiem]] had agreed on the necessity of a coup. Shortly after midnight on August 21 Nhu ordered forces loyal to him to attack pagodas across the country; over thirty monks were injured and 1,400 arrested.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 24 the State Department sent telegram 243 to Ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]. It stated that the "US Government cannot tolerate situation in which power lies in Nhu's hands," authorized Lodge to tell key military leaders that the United States would find it impossible to continue support unless the Nhus were removed, added that "if, in spite of all of your efforts, Diem remains obdurate and refuses, then we must face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved," and instructed the country team to "make detailed plans as to how we might bring about Diem's replacement if this should become necessary." It was drafted by [[Roger Hilsman]], cleared by Hilsman, [[Michael V. Forrestal|Michael Forrestal]] and [[George Ball]], and approved for transmission by [[Averell Harriman]].[^13] Taylor later said it was sent without the concurrence of the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs or the CIA; Hilsman maintained that the President and representatives of the agencies concerned had cleared it.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Lieutenant Colonel [[Lucien Conein]] and another CIA officer were told on August 26 to convey the substance of the telegram to Generals Khiem and [[Nguyen Khanh]], reminding them that "we cannot be of any help during initial action of assuming power of state." On August 29 a message from the [[White House]] authorized General [[Paul Harkins]] to confirm that the United States would support a coup with a good chance of success, and Kennedy cabled Lodge the same day: "Until the very moment of the go signal for the operation by the Generals, I must reserve a contingent right to change course and reverse previous instructions."[^2] On August 30 Taylor sent the President a CIA-sourced table of the probable loyalties of the units around Saigon in a coup, rating the Presidential Guard most likely to remain loyal and the airborne brigade likely to act against Diem.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 2 Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] and Taylor reported that there was "no solid evidence of the possibility of a successful coup, although assassination of Diem or Nhu is always a possibility." They recommended withholding commodity import funds, which together with [[Public Law 480]] made up 60 to 70 percent of Vietnam's imports, suspending two [[Agency for International Development|AID]] loans, and cutting off MAP and CIA support to the units of Colonel [[Le Quang Tung]] unless they were placed under the [[Joint General Staff (Vietnam)|Joint General Staff]]. They held that "no initiative should be taken to encourage actively a change in government" and called for "an intensive clandestine effort, under the Ambassador's direction, to establish necessary contacts" to appraise coup prospects.[^15] Taylor had written to Diem the day before as "an old friend of South Vietnam," and had met Minh privately on September 29 and October 1.[^16][^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### The generals and Conein, October 1963
|
||||
|
||||
On the night of October 2 Conein, who had known many of the generals since the Second World War, met Don at [[Nha Trang]] with the approval of the deputy chief of mission, [[William Trueheart]], whose guidance was to neither encourage nor discourage coup thinking.[^18] On October 5 Minh told Conein that he needed to know the American position and outlined three plans, the first being the assassination of Nhu and Ngo Dinh Can with Diem kept in office, which he called the easiest; Conein said he could not answer.[^19] The station recommended to Lodge that "we do not set ourselves irrevocably against the assassination plot." [[John McCone]], the Director of Central Intelligence, cabled on October 5 that "we cannot be in the position of stimulating, approving, or supporting assassination," and on October 6 that the recommendation be withdrawn; William Colby, then chief of the Far East Division, drafted the first cable. Conein testified that Lodge told him of McCone's position around October 20 and that he then told Don the United States opposed assassination.[^2] A CIA cable to Lodge of October 9 stated that Washington did not wish to stimulate a coup but would not thwart a change of government or deny aid to a new regime, and that knowledge was confined to an extremely limited group in the White House, State, Defense and the CIA.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
Conein's after-action report of November 1 states that the majority of officers wished Diem to have honorable retirement and exile, but that "as to Ngo Dinh Nhu and Ngo Dinh Can, there was never dissention. The attitude was that their deaths, along with Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu would be welcomed."[^2] Conein received 3 million piasters on October 24 and kept them in a safe at his house; on October 29 Lodge cabled that a request for funds should be anticipated.[^2] The station's cable 2023 of October 29 on Conein's meeting with Don the day before, held at a dentist's office, which listed coup units and described two escape tunnels from [[Gia Long Palace]], was sent eyes only to McNamara, [[Roswell Gilpatric|Gilpatric]], Taylor, [[Victor Krulak|Krulak]] and [[William Bundy]] at Defense, among others.[^4][^21]
|
||||
|
||||
At the White House on October 29 Colby estimated pro-Diem and anti-Diem forces at about 9,800 each, with 18,000 neutral. Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] said that the United States needed 48 hours' notice, not four, of any coup. Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]] called his opposition to a coup "the minority view," and Taylor and McCone agreed with him; McNamara proposed that the deputy chief of mission, the acting CIA chief and Harkins jointly decide "what our agent Conein would say and do."[^22] Around October 30 Colby wrote to McCone proposing that Nhu be installed in his brother's place as a "strong, reasonably well oriented and efficient potential successor," whose "highly unfavorable public image" the United States should help improve; the proposal drew no support.[^4] Conein later recalled that Lodge had remarked that if nothing happened and Lodge made his scheduled trip to Washington, Conein would never work another day for the government.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### November 1 and 2, 1963
|
||||
|
||||
On the morning of November 1 Diem received Lodge and Admiral [[Harry D. Felt|Harry Felt]] and complained that that junior CIA officers were "poisoning atmosphere by spreading rumors of coups against him," naming one officer, Hodges.[^23] Speaking alone with Lodge afterwards, Diem asked him to consult "Mr. Colby of CIA and former Ambassador Nolting" about Nhu, saying that Colby had told him it was "too bad that brother Nhu was living in an ivory tower," and asked Lodge to tell Kennedy that he was "a good and a frank ally."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
The coup began early in the afternoon; Harkins cabled Taylor that instead of four hours' or two days' notice "we got approximately four minutes."[^25] An aide to Don asked Conein to bring all available money to the Joint General Staff headquarters, and Conein brought 3 million piasters, about $42,000, which was given to Don to buy food for the troops and pay death benefits. Don wrote in his memoir, *Our Endless War*, that Conein "offered us money and weapons, but I turned him down."[^2][^21] Conein stayed at the Joint General Staff headquarters through the coup, relaying what Minh and Don told him; CIA officers in the streets supplied, with him, nearly all the authoritative information Washington received over the next twenty-four hours.[^4] At 4:30 p.m. Diem telephoned Lodge and asked, "What is the attitude of the US?" Lodge replied that he lacked information and instructions, said he was concerned for Diem's safety, and asked whether Diem had heard of the offer of safe conduct if he resigned; Diem answered, "I am trying to reestablish order."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In Washington, before the outcome was known, Rusk cabled Lodge that "since coup is wholly Vietnamese," premature American recognition would falsely brand it as American-inspired. A second telegram, drafted by Hilsman and [[McGeorge Bundy]], instructed Lodge that acceptance of the coup in the United States would be "greatly increased" if the generals continued to develop "strongly and publicly" their charge that Nhu had been "dickering with Communists"; Lodge replied the next day that he knew "of no hard evidence of such a desire."[^26][^27] Rusk told Senator [[J. William Fulbright]] by telephone at noon that "our own involvement is minimal."[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
At 6:20 on the morning of November 2 Diem called Don and offered to surrender if he and Nhu were given safe conduct to an airport. Lodge had cabled on October 30 that key leaders might request evacuation, and Conein was charged with obtaining an aircraft; when Minh and Don asked for one, a station officer told Conein it would take twenty-four hours, because it would have to come from [[Guam]] and could fly Diem only to a country that granted asylum.[^2] The station officer, [[David Smith (CIA)|David Smith]], also named France as the country most likely to grant asylum and put at twenty-four hours the time needed to bring in an aircraft able to reach Paris without intermediate stops.[^4] An escort appeared at the palace at 8:00 a.m., but Diem and Nhu were not there.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
When Conein returned to the Joint General Staff about 10:30 a.m., Minh told him the brothers were dead and had killed themselves in a Catholic church, to which Conein responded that someone had better construct a more plausible story. Minh offered to show him the bodies, and Conein declined.[^2][^4] Conein reported that he believed Minh had ordered the executions.[^4] The embassy reported that day several versions: that the brothers had spent the night at a Cholon clubhouse owned by a Chinese businessman, gone to church in the morning and been picked up by the army and locked in a vehicle; that Minh had told the former finance minister that they had shot themselves with a gun left in the vehicle "due to an inadvertence"; and that an aide to General Khanh, who saw the bodies, said they had been assassinated at least at the direction of General [[Mai Huu Xuan]].[^29] Most station reporting attributed the decision to kill them to Minh, and the various reports agreed that the killing was carried out by an officer named Nhung, described variously as Minh's bodyguard and as a supporter of Mai Huu Xuan.[^4] On November 16 an officer of unknown reliability gave the CIA two photographs of the bodies in which their hands appeared tied behind their backs, and said they had been shot and stabbed in the vehicle taking them to the Joint General Staff.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The news reached Kennedy during a meeting at 9:35 a.m. on November 2, when Forrestal brought in a telegram reporting the deaths.[^30] Rusk instructed Lodge that the generals should establish publicly that the deaths were suicides "if this true," through an impartial group.[^31] McGeorge Bundy cabled Lodge that evening that the generals "should not be left under illusion that political assassination is easily accepted here."[^32] The State Department instructed all diplomatic posts, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, to distinguish the Saigon coup from its opposition to military coups against democratic governments elsewhere.[^33] Lodge recommended resuming commercial import payments "on a periodic and selective basis without public announcement so as to avoid appearance of blank check or of pay-off."[^34]
|
||||
|
||||
The Church Committee concluded that the details of the deaths were not known and that there was no available evidence of direct or indirect American involvement in them.[^2] Taylor, asked in 1981 whether the killing had been a covert operation, answered, "Not if you mean a covert operation conducted by the CIA."[^35]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense*, Book 2, Part IV.A.5, "Evolution of the War: Origins of the Insurgency, 1954-1960," sections "Ngo Dinh Diem: Basis of Power," "Early U.S.-Diem Relations" and "The Triumph Reappraised," DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465, 94th Cong., 1st sess., November 20, 1975, section III.E, "Diem," pp. 217-224, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^3]: Thomas L. Ahern Jr., "The CIA and the Government of Ngo Dinh Diem," *Studies in Intelligence*, vol. 37 (Winter 1993), approved for release July 29, 2014, C00622834, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0000622834
|
||||
[^4]: Thomas L. Ahern Jr., *CIA and the House of Ngo: Covert Action in South Vietnam, 1954-63* (CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, June 2000), approved for release December 20, 2016, C01268718, pp. 14-15, 27-28, 32, 38, 41-42, 60, 72, 140-141, 201-214, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01268718
|
||||
[^5]: Stanley K. Sheinbaum, introduction, and "MSU: The University on the Make," *Ramparts*, vol. 4, no. 12 (April 1966), pp. 11-23, https://archive.org/details/ramparts-1962-1975 (file "Ramparts v04n12 (1966-04)")
|
||||
[^6]: Ahern, *CIA and the House of Ngo*, chapter 2, "Patrons and Clients," pp. 9-11, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-01268718
|
||||
[^7]: Robert Scheer and Warren Hinckle, "The 'Vietnam Lobby,'" *Ramparts*, July 1965, pp. 16-21 (read from the page images; the text layer is poor), https://archive.org/details/the-vietnam-lobby-by-ramparts
|
||||
[^8]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967*, Book 2, Part IV.B.1, "Evolution of the War: The Kennedy Program and Commitments, 1961," sections on the Lansdale report of January 1961 and the Taylor mission, DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
|
||||
[^9]: "Michigan State U. Denies It Knowingly Aided CIA," *The Baltimore Sun*, April 23, 1966, as preserved in the CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP82R00025R000700050013-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp82r00025r000700050013-0
|
||||
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Briefing Notes on Ramparts," 1967, CIA-RDP70B00338R000200230132-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp70b00338r000200230132-5
|
||||
[^11]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967*, Book 2, Part IV.A.4, "U.S. Training of the Vietnamese National Army, 1954-1959," DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
|
||||
[^12]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence via the Deputy Director (Plans), "Position Papers for President Ngo Dinh Diem Visit," May 9, 1957, CIA-RDP80R01731R000700500014-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r000700500014-9
|
||||
[^13]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. III, *Vietnam, January-August 1963*, document 281, telegram 243 from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, August 24, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v03/d281
|
||||
[^14]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, *Vietnam, August-December 1963*, document 24, Taylor to the President, CM-856-63, August 30, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d24
|
||||
[^15]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 167, McNamara and Taylor to the President, "Report of McNamara-Taylor Mission to South Vietnam," October 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d167
|
||||
[^16]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 163, Taylor to President Diem, October 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d163
|
||||
[^17]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 162, memorandum for the record by Taylor, October 1, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d162
|
||||
[^18]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 171, CIA Saigon station telegram 1385, October 3, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d171
|
||||
[^19]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 177, CIA Saigon station telegram, October 5, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d177
|
||||
[^20]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 192, CIA telegram to the Ambassador in Vietnam, October 9, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d192
|
||||
[^21]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 225, CIA Saigon station telegram 2023, October 29, 1963, and source note quoting Tran Van Don, *Our Endless War*, pp. 98-99, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d225
|
||||
[^22]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 234, memorandum of conference with President Kennedy, October 29, 1963, 4:20 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d234
|
||||
[^23]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 261, Saigon telegram 854, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d261
|
||||
[^24]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 262, Saigon telegram 841, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d262
|
||||
[^25]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 267, Harkins to Taylor, MAC J00 8512, November 1, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d267
|
||||
[^26]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 264, telegram 673 to Saigon, November 1, 1963, and document 266, telegram 674 to Saigon, November 1, 1963, with source notes, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d264 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d266
|
||||
[^27]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 270, Saigon telegram 875, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d270
|
||||
[^28]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 265, memorandum of telephone conversation between Rusk and Senator Fulbright, November 1, 1963, 12:01 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d265
|
||||
[^29]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 273, Saigon telegram 888, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d273
|
||||
[^30]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 274, editorial note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d274
|
||||
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 271, telegram 688 to Saigon, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d271
|
||||
[^32]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 278, Bundy to Lodge, CAP 63602, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d278
|
||||
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 277, circular telegram 833, November 2, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d277
|
||||
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 270, Saigon telegram 875, November 2, 1963, paragraph 1, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d270
|
||||
[^35]: Robert S. Gallagher, "Gen. Maxwell Taylor: Memories of Peace and War" (interview), *American Heritage*, vol. 32, no. 3 (April/May 1981), https://www.americanheritage.com/gen-maxwell-taylor-memories-peace-and-war
|
||||
150
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rob Reich.md
Normal file
150
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Rob Reich.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RobReich
|
||||
- Stanford
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- GiveWell
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- AIGovernance
|
||||
- AISafetyInstitute
|
||||
- HumanCenteredAI
|
||||
- GivingTuesday
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Rob Reich
|
||||
summary: "Stanford political scientist who sat on the GiveWell board from 2013, wrote in 2015 that effective altruists are technocrats, and was senior advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute in 2024 and 2025."
|
||||
location: "Stanford, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford University]]"
|
||||
start: 1998
|
||||
role: "assistant professor from 1998; professor of political science from 2015; McGregor-Girand Professor of Social Ethics of Science and Technology from 2023"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[GiveWell]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2018
|
||||
role: "trustee, per his curriculum vitae"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Spencer Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2019
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[GivingTuesday]]"
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
role: "co-founder and board member; founding board chair 2019 to 2024"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Boston Review]]"
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]]"
|
||||
start: 2008
|
||||
end: 2015
|
||||
role: "trustee; executive, audit and nominating committees"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society]]"
|
||||
start: 2015
|
||||
end: 2023
|
||||
role: "faculty director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society]]"
|
||||
start: 2008
|
||||
end: 2025
|
||||
role: "faculty co-director"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence]]"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
end: 2023
|
||||
role: "founding associate director; associate director again from 2026"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. AI Safety Institute]]"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
end: 2025
|
||||
role: "senior advisor on public service leave from Stanford"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Gina Raimondo]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2024-04-16
|
||||
role: "named senior advisor by the Commerce Secretary"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford Impact Labs]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
end: 2025
|
||||
role: "Scholars in Service program funded his public service leave"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
role: "non-resident fellow"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Rob Reich is a professor of political science at [[Stanford University]], holder since 2023 of the McGregor-Girand professorship of Social Ethics of Science and Technology, with courtesy appointments in philosophy, law and education and a senior fellowship at the [[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence]]. His curriculum vitae lists service as a trustee of [[GiveWell]] from 2013 to 2018 and as senior advisor to the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]] on public service leave in 2024 and 2025.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Education and Early Career
|
||||
|
||||
Reich holds a B.A. in philosophy from [[Yale University]] and, from the Stanford Graduate School of Education, a Ph.D. in education and an M.A. in philosophy. He taught sixth grade at [[Rusk Elementary School]] in [[Houston]], Texas, from 1992 to 1994, was a senior research associate at the [[Aspen Institute]] from 1999 to 2005, and moderated Aspen Institute seminars from 2008 to 2018. At Stanford he was assistant professor of political science from 1998 to 2007, associate professor from 2008 to 2014, and professor from 2015. He was a visiting professor at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in 2009 and 2010 and held the Laurence S. Rockefeller visiting fellowship at the Center for Human Values at [[Princeton University]] in 2004 and 2005.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Centers and Institutes at Stanford
|
||||
|
||||
Reich was faculty co-director of the [[Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society]] from 2008 to 2025; the center publishes the [[Stanford Social Innovation Review]]. He was faculty director of the [[McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society|Center for Ethics in Society]] from 2015 to 2023, now named the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and founding associate director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence from 2018 to 2023. His curriculum vitae lists him as associate director of the institute again from 2026, as a faculty fellow of [[Knight-Hennessy Scholars]] from 2025 and as a member of the Stanford Advisory Board from 2025. He has been a non-resident fellow of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] since 2023.[^1] The center's current biography page lists him as faculty advisor and former faculty codirector.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Alexander Berger]], a 2011 Stanford graduate who worked at GiveWell after graduating and then co-founded [[Open Philanthropy]], first met Reich as a freshman guest lecturer, took his courses over the next two years and completed the Honors Program in Ethics in Society with Reich, then the faculty director of the center, as his advisor, according to a 2021 article published by the center.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The institute held its launch symposium in March 2019. Its 2019 to 2020 annual report gave Reich's title as "Marc and Laura Andreessen Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society" and faculty director of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and credited him with leading the creation of an embedded ethics initiative to insert ethics modules into core computer science courses and with leading the institute's April and June 2020 virtual conferences on COVID-19 and artificial intelligence.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The report states that income for the 2020 fiscal year was $17,751,049: gifts of $14,920,001 (84 percent), endowment payouts of $831,048 (5 percent) and $2,000,000 in Amazon Web Services cloud credits counted as in-kind income (11 percent), against expenditures of $9,830,018. The Hoffman-Yee Research Grants, which awarded $500,000 to six teams in their first year, were made possible by a gift from [[Reid Hoffman]] and [[Michelle Yee]]. The volunteer Advisory Council was chaired by Hoffman, with [[Steve Denning]] and [[Srinija Srinivasan]] as vice chairs, and listed [[Jim Breyer]], [[Kenneth Chenault]], [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]], [[John Hennessy]], [[Mary Kay Henry]], [[Mellody Hobson]], [[Eric Horvitz]], Bob King, Susan Liautaud, [[James Manyika]], [[Marissa Mayer]], [[Samuel J. Palmisano]], [[Condoleezza Rice]], [[Heidi Roizen]], [[Eric Schmidt]], [[Mike Schroepfer]], [[Stephen Schwarzman]], [[Kevin Scott]], [[Neil Shen]], [[Ram Shriram]], [[Vishal Sikka]], [[Jerry Yang]] and Songyee Yoon. In June 2019 the institute's co-directors [[John Etchemendy]] and [[Fei-Fei Li]] met in Washington with the [[National Institutes of Health]], the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]], the [[House AI Caucus]], the [[Executive Office of the President]], the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, [[DARPA]] and Senator [[Rob Portman]], "whose participation would prove invaluable to garnering support for the National Research Cloud bill."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
His courses have included Computer Science 182, The Ethics of Technological Disruption, taught with [[Mehran Sahami]] and [[Jeremy Weinstein]], and Computer Science 283, AI Governance, taught with [[Sanmi Koyejo]], [[Anka Reuel]] and [[Nathaniel Persily]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Philanthropy Boards
|
||||
|
||||
Reich lists the following board service: trustee of the [[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]] from 2008 to 2015, including its executive, audit and nominating committees; trustee of GiveWell from 2013 to 2018; co-founder and board member of [[GivingTuesday|#GivingTuesday]] from 2012, and its founding board chair from 2019 to 2024; trustee of [[Boston Review]] from 2012; and trustee of the [[Spencer Foundation]] from 2019.[^1] The biography page of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society also lists him as a board member of Boston Review, Giving Tuesday and the Spencer Foundation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer data for [[Clear Fund|The Clear Fund]], the legal entity of GiveWell, show total revenue of $6,587,734 for 2013, $11,088,700 for 2014, $17,635,918 for 2015, $18,366,934 for 2016, $29,450,003 for 2017 and $36,024,182 for 2018. The same data show total assets of the Spencer Foundation of $667,415,167 at the end of 2024; revenue of Giving Tuesday Inc., recognized as exempt in 2020, of $3,527,479 for 2021 and $11,010,928 for 2023; and revenue of Boston Critic Inc., the publisher of Boston Review, of $986,327 for 2023.[^5] The [[MacArthur Foundation]] lists six grants to the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society totaling $975,000: $100,000 in 2013 (two years), $100,000 in 2016 (two years), $100,000 in 2018 (two years and four months), and $225,000 in each of 2020, 2023 and 2025 (three years each), described as general operating or flexible support.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### GiveWell and Effective Altruism
|
||||
|
||||
GiveWell published notes of a conversation of January 9, 2014 between Reich, identified as "Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; Board member, GiveWell," and [[Elie Hassenfeld]] on philanthropy and [[United States]] education. The notes record Reich describing large philanthropists' strategies for achieving scale and leveraging public spending, among them charter schools, "diminishing the influence of teachers unions" and [[Teach For America]], and stating that he could think of no significant current philanthropic effort to improve career counseling or career-focused curricula.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 2015 the *Boston Review* published a forum, "The Logic of [[Effective Altruism]]," and Reich contributed a response to [[Peter Singer]] titled "Does Effective Altruism Have a Politics?" He wrote that effective altruism must have a politics if it aspires to be a social movement and if it endorses causes that aim at political or institutional change, adding "(Disclosure: I am a member of the GiveWell board.)" and, as an example of the second, "See, for example, the Open Philanthropy Project." He continued: "In my experience, effective altruists are unabashed technocrats." He wrote that effective altruists "see the best state of affairs, I think, as that in which good-maximizing technocrats are in charge," that this politics "is suspicious of, or rejects, the form of politics to which most people attach enormous value: democracy," and, asked whether effective altruists would choose democratic rather than technocratic rule from scratch, "I suspect the answer is no."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Books and Writing
|
||||
|
||||
According to his curriculum vitae, Reich's books are *Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in Education* ([[University of Chicago Press]], 2002); *Democracy at Risk* ([[Brookings Institution]] Press, 2005), the final report of the Standing Committee on Civic Education and Engagement of the [[American Political Science Association]], on which he served from 2002 to 2005; *Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better* ([[Princeton University Press]], 2018); and *System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot* ([[HarperCollins]], 2021), written with Sahami and Weinstein. He co-edited *Education, Justice, and Democracy* (University of Chicago Press, 2013; PROSE Award for the best book in education), *Philanthropy in Democratic Societies* (University of Chicago Press, 2016, with [[Chiara Cordelli]] and [[Lucy Bernholz]]) and *Digital Technology and Democratic Theory* (University of Chicago Press, 2021, with [[Hélène Landemore]] and Bernholz). He is a co-author of the 2021 paper "On the Opportunities and Risks of Foundation Models" (arXiv:2108.07258), with [[Rishi Bommasani]], [[Percy Liang]] and others.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His curriculum vitae also lists four 2013 white papers on philanthropy, technology and policy written with Bernholz and Cordelli, the March and April 2013 *Boston Review* cover article "What are Foundations For?", the 2013 *[[New York Times]]* opinion piece "Not Very Giving," and a 2013 essay with [[Ray D. Madoff]], "Now or Forever: Rethinking Foundation Life Spans," in the *[[Chronicle of Philanthropy]]*.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### U.S. AI Safety Institute
|
||||
|
||||
On April 16, 2024, Commerce Secretary [[Gina Raimondo]] announced that Reich would be senior advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute, which is housed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in a group of additions to the leadership team that included [[Paul Christiano]] as head of AI safety, [[Adam Russell]] as chief vision officer, [[Mara Campbell]] as acting chief operating officer and chief of staff, and [[Mark Latonero]] as head of international engagement. They joined the director, [[Elizabeth Kelly]], and the chief technology officer, [[Elham Tabassi]]. Raimondo said: "we need the top talent our nation has to offer."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Stanford Impact Labs]] wrote that Reich's leave in service was made possible in part by the Scholars in Service program, run jointly by Stanford Impact Labs and the [[Haas Center for Public Service]], and his curriculum vitae describes the 2024 to 2025 service as a full-time public service leave from Stanford funded by that program. In an interview published by Stanford Impact Labs on April 30, 2024, he described his role as to "advise the AISI and lead engagement with civil society organizations," said that the institute "is not a regulatory body," and said that "This may be the first time in U.S. history that a frontier technology or scientific discovery has been funded, designed, and developed entirely outside the purview of government." He continued that "These AI models are funded by venture capital and created by industry actors." He said the institute already had a consortium of "more than 200 companies, universities, and civil society organizations," that his own task would be coordinating the input of civil society organizations, and, of the appointment, "I've always wanted the opportunity to play a role in the federal government and this will be my first chance to do so."[^1][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Rob Reich, curriculum vitae, Department of Political Science, Stanford University (last revised May 2026), sections Academic Positions, Program and Center Leadership, Other Leadership, Education, Publications, Teaching, Board Service and Other. https://robreich.people.stanford.edu/files/reich-cv.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, "Rob Reich" (biography page, "Faculty Advisor & Former Faculty Codirector"). https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/people/rob-reich
|
||||
[^3]: Diana Aguilera, "Accomplishing as Much Good as Possible: Honors Alum Alexander Berger Paves the Way for More Effective Giving," McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford University, Nov. 12, 2021. https://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/news/accomplishing-much-good-possible-honors-alum-alexander-berger-paves-way-more-effective-giving
|
||||
[^4]: Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, 2019-2020 Annual Report (Stanford HAI, Cordura Hall), sections Faculty (Rob Reich), Policy (Visit to Washington, D.C.), Hoffman-Yee Research Program, Advisory Council, Philanthropic Support and Financials. https://hai-production.s3.amazonaws.com/files/2021-02/hai-2020-annual-report_1.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for The Clear Fund (EIN 20-8625442), Spencer Foundation (EIN 36-6078558), Giving Tuesday Inc (EIN 84-2929872) and Boston Critic Inc (EIN 04-2619695), fields totrevenue and totassetsend by tax year, retrieved Oct. 1, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/208625442.json
|
||||
[^6]: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, grantee page for the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (6 grants, $975,000, 2013 to 2025). https://www.macfound.org/grantee/stanford-center-on-philanthropy-and-civil-society-45770/
|
||||
[^7]: GiveWell, notes of a conversation with Rob Reich on January 9, 2014 (participants Rob Reich and Elie Hassenfeld), published by Open Philanthropy (now Coefficient Giving). https://coefficientgiving.org/wp-content/uploads/Reich-1-9-14-public-.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: Rob Reich, "Response to Effective Altruism," forum "The Logic of Effective Altruism," Boston Review, July 2015 (published under the title "Does Effective Altruism Have a Politics?" in Reich's CV). https://www.bostonreview.net/forum_response/response-rob-reich/
|
||||
[^9]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," Apr. 16, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^10]: Kate Green Tripp, "Stanford's Rob Reich to Serve as Senior Advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute (AISI)" (interview with Rob Reich), Stanford Impact Labs, Apr. 30, 2024. https://impact.stanford.edu/article/stanfords-rob-reich-serve-senior-advisor-us-ai-safety-institute-aisi
|
||||
175
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Peloquin.md
Normal file
175
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Peloquin.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RobertPeloquin
|
||||
- Intertel
|
||||
- ResortsInternational
|
||||
- HowardHughes
|
||||
- PrivateIntelligence
|
||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||
- JusticeDepartment
|
||||
- OperationTradewinds
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- Bahamas
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Robert Peloquin
|
||||
- Robert D. Peloquin
|
||||
- Robert Dolan Peloquin
|
||||
- Bob Peloquin
|
||||
summary: "Justice Department organized crime lawyer who founded the Resorts International subsidiary Intertel in 1970, took over security for Howard Hughes's Nevada casinos that December, and later chaired Resorts International."
|
||||
born: 1929-01-09
|
||||
died: 2011-03-24
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
|
||||
role: "officer on active duty, later Naval Reserve intelligence specialist"
|
||||
start: 1951-08-18
|
||||
end: 1955-06-04
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney, Internal Security Division"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
end: 1961-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "attorney, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section; head of Buffalo task force"
|
||||
end: 1967-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Operation Tradewinds]]"
|
||||
role: "Justice Department liaison"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[William Hundley]]"
|
||||
role: "law partner"
|
||||
start: 1967-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[National Football League]]"
|
||||
role: "chief of security for the football leagues"
|
||||
start: 1967-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Resorts International]]"
|
||||
role: "vice president, Paradise Enterprises Ltd."
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Intertel]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and president"
|
||||
start: 1970-01
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Intertel]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
start: 1970
|
||||
end: 1985
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
role: "Criminal Intelligence Program information matter"
|
||||
start: 1970-04-22
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Hughes Tool Company]]"
|
||||
role: "through Intertel, security, management and investigation of Robert Maheu"
|
||||
start: 1970-12
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Resorts International]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman and executive vice president"
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
end: 1990
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Robert Dolan Peloquin (January 9, 1929, [[Fall River, Massachusetts]], to March 24, 2011, [[Frederick, Maryland]]) was a lawyer in the [[Department of Justice]] who left it in 1967 to practice with [[William Hundley]], became in 1970 the first president of [[Intertel]], a private intelligence company owned by [[Resorts International]], ran it until 1985, and was chairman and executive vice president of Resorts International from 1985 to 1990. Intertel's clients included [[Howard Hughes]], [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] and the shah of Iran.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Navy and Justice
|
||||
|
||||
An applicant investigation conducted by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in 1958 recorded that Peloquin attended [[Georgetown University]] from 1947 to 1951, served on active duty in the [[United States Navy]] from August 18, 1951 to June 4, 1955, leaving as a lieutenant (junior grade), and studied at the Georgetown law school from February 1953 to October 1956. He was an attorney in the department's Internal Security Division from early 1957 to August 1961, when he resigned for private practice, writing to the Director on August 25, 1961 to thank him for the Bureau's courtesies. He returned to the department, on a date the Bureau did not know, as an attorney in the [[Organized Crime and Racketeering Section]].[^2] He held a commission in the Naval Reserve as an intelligence specialist and retired from it in 1981 as a commander.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
At Justice Peloquin led the first Organized Crime Strike Force, in [[Buffalo, New York]], against the [[Magaddino crime family|Magaddino]] and [[Profaci crime family|Profaci]] families, investigated the 1964 murders of [[Andrew Goodman]], [[Michael Schwerner]] and [[James Chaney]] in [[Mississippi]] and organized crime control of casinos in the [[Bahamas]], and received a department award for outstanding performance in 1966.[^1] He worked on the squad assembled to pursue [[Jimmy Hoffa]].[^4] The Bureau's summary records that from January to August 1967 he was in charge of the Buffalo task force, "during which period he attempted to set up his own investigative organization, ignoring the responsibilities of the various Federal agencies, particularly the FBI."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Operation Tradewinds and Paradise Island
|
||||
|
||||
In 1965 the [[Internal Revenue Service]] began [[Operation Tradewinds]], a tax investigation of the means by which American racketeers, lawyers and businessmen laundered, concealed and skimmed cash in the Bahamas. [[Jim Hougan]] wrote that Peloquin was "deeply involved" in it and served as "middleman among the agencies," and that it was Peloquin who informed the [[State Department|Department of State]] in 1966 of a meeting between IRS intelligence officers and his superior, [[Henry Petersen]], chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, which dealt with evidence acquired "in ways that violated Bahamian laws and which therefore required 'special handling'": the IRS could continue to obtain information from bank employees in the Bahamas through American agents such as [[Norman Casper]], to be used "for lead purposes" and delivered on American soil. According to Hougan, a January memorandum by Peloquin on the casino planned for [[Paradise Island]] by [[James Crosby]]'s [[Mary Carter Paint Company]] stated that "the atmosphere looks right for a Lansky skim," a reference to [[Meyer Lansky]], and while the casino was under construction Peloquin shuttled between [[Washington, D.C.]] and [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], conferring with the new American consul general, [[Turner Shelton]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A royal commission of inquiry sat in the Bahamas in 1967 under Sir [[Ranulph Bacon]], formerly commissioner of [[Scotland Yard]] and later a director of Intertel. Hougan wrote that Peloquin was an "unofficial" but influential observer of its work; that the commission examined the casino interests of [[Wallace Groves]] and the fees of Sir [[Stafford Sands]] but not Crosby, whose casino had not yet opened; and that a few weeks before the casino opened on January 1, 1968, Crosby, who had grown close to [[Bebe Rebozo]] and Shelton, wrote thirty-four checks to campaign committees of [[Richard Nixon]], all but one for 3,000 dollars, and raised a further 100,000 dollars from friends at the urging of [[Maurice Stans]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Hundley and Peloquin
|
||||
|
||||
The Bureau's summary records that Peloquin resigned in August 1967 "to enter law practice with William G. Hundley, former Chief of the Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, and to assume the position of Chief of Security for the football leagues." Hougan likewise dates the firm to 1967; a 1977 profile in *[[The Washington Post]]* states that Peloquin left Justice in 1968.[^2][^4][^6] Hougan described Hundley as a veteran of [[Smith Act]] prosecutions who had "harried [[John Frank]] and quizzed [[Robert Maheu]] in the wake of the [[Jesús de Galíndez|Galindez]] kidnapping."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The firm advised the [[National Football League]] on security; one player recalled Peloquin lecturing training-camp locker rooms on how to turn away mobsters offering bribes to fix games.[^4] Hougan named the firm's other first client as Time-Life, "sued by Mike McClaney."[^6] The *Post* wrote that the firm took on *[[Life (magazine)|Life]]* as a client, "gathering evidence for law suits filed against Life's investigative team," a group of reporters who had examined gambling in the Bahamas, and that Resorts International then became a client. A former member of the *Life* team said: "It sort of bothered me when I found out about Peloquin's association with Resorts." Peloquin said: "We certainly had both of them as clients at the same time, but I checked with Life before we took Resorts on as a client."[^4] Hougan wrote that within weeks Peloquin and Hundley were named vice presidents of the Resorts subsidiary responsible for the new casino.[^6] In 1970 Peloquin was a vice president of Paradise Enterprises, Ltd., a Resorts subsidiary.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Formation of Intertel
|
||||
|
||||
On April 22, 1970 the FBI's Miami office reported to the Director that a confidential source, whose name is withheld in the released file, had learned of a newly formed private organization, International Intelligence, Inc., formed by the former Justice Department attorneys Peloquin and Hundley, "whose identities are well known to the Bureau," both associated with the Paradise Island hotel and casino at Nassau. The source advised that "Peloquin has made no secret of the fact that he intends to use information obtained from the Justice Department files" to gather information on racket control of corporations and to furnish it to professional sports organizations, casinos and others. The memorandum was captioned under the Bureau's Criminal Intelligence Program.[^7] A Bureau letter of April 29, 1970, copied to the Deputy Attorney General, described the source as "most reliable."[^8] On July 24, 1970 headquarters asked the New York office to check its indices, and on August 5, 1970 the former FBI supervisor [[John D. O'Connell]], Intertel's executive vice president, gave the New York office a brochure listing the company's officers.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Intertel was incorporated in [[Delaware]] in January 1970 "to conduct and carry on a management advisory and consulting business relating to the protection of business firms of every type and description from the infiltration, incursion, attack and influence of crime and criminals." Crosby was chairman of the board, Peloquin president, and Hundley secretary and general counsel. The officers included the treasurer [[Raymond M. Gore]], also vice president for finance of Resorts International; [[Fenelon Richards]], former director of enforcement of the [[United States Customs Service|Bureau of Customs]] and director of security for Resorts; [[Thomas McKeon]], formerly a Justice Department organized crime attorney and chief of the Special Projects Section of the [[NSA|National Security Agency]]; [[David Belisle]], formerly deputy director of security at the State Department and director of investigations at the National Security Agency; [[William Kolar]], former director of the intelligence division of the IRS; and [[James Golden]], a former [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agent and director of security at the 1968 Republican National Convention.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The records give different accounts of the financing. The *Post* wrote in 1977 that in 1970 Peloquin left the law firm to form Intertel "with $100,000 staked by Resorts International," which then owned 81 percent of its stock.[^4] A teletype of December 7, 1970 from the FBI's Las Vegas office recorded a report that Intertel was "originally financed to extent of about two million dollars" by Resorts International.[^9] A [[White House]] memorandum of 1971 described Crosby as "assertedly owning" what it typed as "%91" of Intertel's stock.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 31, 1970, Peloquin wrote to [[J. Edgar Hoover]] on Intertel stationery with birthday wishes and "the best wishes of the employees of INTERTEL, an organization of former government employees who have long admired your contribution to law enforcement," adding: "Please be assured of our best wishes and continuing cooperation." [[Helen Gandy]] replied that Hoover appreciated the "offer of cooperation." A Bureau note prepared for the reply records that the Bureau had enjoyed favorable relations with Peloquin while he was at Justice, that he had since been critical of the Director, and that at a conference in Buffalo on January 29, 1969 he had said that Hoover "did not recognize the existence of organized crime until 1960" and that businessmen would have to "harass" the FBI to get results on organized crime.[^2][^8] On January 5, 1971 the Bureau told its legal attaché in [[Ottawa]], in reply to an inquiry of December 17, 1970, that "no investigation has been conducted of this organization by the FBI," and that it might be engaged to run security at the Hughes casino-hotels.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Hughes Account
|
||||
|
||||
In late 1970 the Hughes Tool executives [[Raymond Holliday]] and [[Frank Gay|Frank W. Gay]] and the lawyer [[Chester Davis]] moved against Robert Maheu, who directed Hughes's Nevada operations. Hughes left the [[Desert Inn]] in [[Las Vegas]] on Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 1970, and flew to the [[Britannia Beach Hotel]] on Paradise Island, owned by Resorts International. Hughes discharged Maheu on December 5, 1970.[^11][^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The Las Vegas teletype of December 7 reported that Davis and Gay had announced that Intertel would be engaged on contract and that Intertel officials were in Las Vegas awaiting authorization to assume complete security responsibility. It recorded the statement of "an official of Hughes operations (former SA Richard Danner)" that the Mary Carter Paint Company and Resorts International "may possibly be hoodlum infiltrated or financially indebted to Meyer Lansky," and asked headquarters and Miami for all available information on both companies.[^9] A memorandum from J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, prepared at the request of [[Clyde Tolson|Mr. Tolson]] and filed in January 1971, states: "During the past week, Intertel has been engaged by officials of the Hughes Tool Company to take over the management and operation of several of the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, which are owned and operated by Howard Hughes."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Hougan recorded Maheu's account that "Peloquin and Crosby, the Intertel people, came through Las Vegas months before Mr. Hughes disappeared," ostensibly to compare the Desert Inn's security with the Resorts operation in the Bahamas, and that Maheu regarded the visit as "casing the place." Hougan also recorded the statement of Intertel's general counsel, McKeon, that meetings with the Davis faction beginning in the summer of 1970 were devoted to planning the removal of Hughes from Las Vegas ("We developed a plan this thick"), and wrote that Peloquin denied that such a plan existed and attributed the summer meetings to a bomb threat against an [[Air West]] aircraft.[^14] In its written rebuttal of the *[[Las Vegas Sun]]* series of 1971, Intertel stated that the Resorts executives [[Jack Davis]] and Crosby had been in Las Vegas on the date in question solely "to aid Robert D. Peloquin, President of INTERTEL, in his consulting with the Board of Directors of the Hughes Tool Company," and that Intertel "was retained by the Board of Directors of Hughes Tool Company as consultants on security for its Nevada properties, not by Chester C. Davis, nor anyone acting alone."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA memorandum for the record of May 20, 1971, written by an agency employee seeking a position with Intertel, records that he was introduced to Peloquin on May 10, 1971 by a former agency employee then on Intertel's staff. It states that "it would appear that since December of 1970 much of their active staff working out of the D. C. office have in fact become just exactly that," detectives; that Hughes Tool had engaged Intertel "to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive investigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu," on a contract "reported to run upward to a million dollars"; that the investigation had "already turned certain significant information over to the Internal Revenue Service," with Kolar on the scene in Las Vegas; that the lawyer [[Edward P. Morgan]], whom the Intertel source described as having been paid almost a million dollars by Hughes Tool, was "making noises to certain unnamed Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better take it easy on Maheu because of the past involvement with CIA in covert operations," and that Intertel had studied approaches to him through former FBI channels but had not made one; and that the Intertel source "will not allow Maheu to use the Agency as a shield." The memorandum adds that the Washington lawyer [[Bernard Fensterwald]] had told a friend: "It looks like may be the good guys (INTERTEL) are in fact the bad guys with the Mafia connections."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
Asked in executive session in December 1973 whether Intertel had investigated the relationship between Maheu and [[Larry O'Brien]], Chester Davis answered: "the only thing I know about Intertel and its activities are activities under my direction with respect to gathering facts germane to issues involving litigation."[^17] Hougan wrote that in Maheu's libel suit, Maheu's lawyer, Morton Galane, called Peloquin, who acknowledged that Intertel agents had filed more than five hundred written reports on Maheu and found no evidence of theft.[^18] In February 1977 Intertel still controlled the security for much of the Hughes empire. On Christmas morning 1972 Peloquin telephoned Bacon in [[Brighton]] to arrange the immigration clearance at Gatwick of an arriving client, "Howard Hughes," and Peloquin counted as a principal success the identification of [[Edith Irving]] as the "Helga Hughes" who cashed the checks of [[McGraw-Hill]] in the [[Clifford Irving]] hoax.[^4] Peloquin told the writer [[Eamon Javers]] in 2008 that Hughes's money was the reason he could afford his farm in [[Fairfield, Pennsylvania]].[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Bureau's Files
|
||||
|
||||
On May 24, 1971 a former FBI agent then with Intertel, [[Fred G. Robinette]], called on the Bureau official [[Alex Rosen|A. Rosen]] to offer help in answering a column by [[Jack Anderson]] on the royalties from Hoover's books; the memorandum notes that he and Kolar had earlier passed the Bureau information about a television program on the Director.[^20] On January 26, 1972 Robinette wrote to [[John P. Mohr]], assistant to the Director, about a matter "in which we are so deeply involved," enclosing an Intertel brochure to "dispel any image we may have as a 'National Private Detective Agency'," and noting that the former FBI agent Ralph Winte had just taken a position with Bill Gay, one of Hughes's top executives. Mohr reported to Tolson that he had told Robinette that the firm "was not entitled to any information in our files."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### Watergate
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jack Caulfield]], a White House aide, testified to the [[Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities|Senate Watergate committee]] that "Intertel was deeply involved in the Maheu-Hughes battle, with Intertel being on the side of the Hughes interests," and that his proposal for a private political intelligence organization, [[Operation Sandwedge]], was written around July 1971.[^10] The Sandwedge memorandum, printed as Tab 31, warned of the "new and rapidly growing Intertel organization" as a "gun for hire" that could be turned against the President in 1972. It described Hundley as former special assistant to Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy|Bobby Kennedy]] and Peloquin as a "Kennedy loyalist who functioned as Senior Attorney in Justice's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section"; named Belisle; stated that [[Stephen Smith]], the Kennedys' brother-in-law, had visited Intertel's New York office, headed by O'Connell, whom it called a "black bag" specialist; recorded that O'Connell had taken an electronics specialist to sweep the offices of [[Howard Stein]] and of [[Jerome S. Hardy]] of the [[Dreyfus Corporation]], an Intertel director; alleged that one Intertel principal, related to a Baltimore Cosa Nostra figure, was in charge of Hughes security in Las Vegas; and noted that Kolar and the Resorts president, Jack Davis, had testified before the [[New Jersey]] legislature in favor of legalized gambling. It recorded that Golden, "formerly with Intertel, has now switched over to the Hughes' Tool Company," stated a "consensus in the federal intelligence sector" that Intertel "in all likelihood" had delivered to Hughes the details of a reported Justice-IRS skimming investigation of Maheu, and recommended that Intertel be "neutralized by Justice" through a case on whether it had "unauthorized access to sensitive government files."[^10] Caulfield testified that information had come to his attention "indicating that Intertel was unlawfully receiving information from Government files," and that his intent was to find out whether that was so.[^10] He also testified that Intertel's financial success, and the IRS background of some of its leading principals, bore on his proposal that the IRS official [[Vernon Acree]] handle IRS matters for the new organization.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
The committee's Hughes and Rebozo hearings touched Resorts International. [[William E. Griffin]], a lawyer consulted by Rebozo about the 100,000 dollar Hughes contribution, testified that around 1969 or 1970 he had one conversation in Washington with Crosby and Jack Davis, at which he thought Peloquin and [[Robert Abplanalp]] were also present, about options Resorts had obtained on [[Pan American World Airways]] stock, and that he advised them to see the senators sponsoring restrictive legislation.[^22] [[Herbert Kalmbach]] testified that Rebozo suggested he see Crosby, whose pledge to the 1970 senatorial campaign program fell from 25,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars.[^22] The May 1971 CIA memorandum recorded that Resorts had tried in January 1969 to take control of Pan Am by buying a 9.7 percent interest.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
Peloquin said that after the Watergate break-in both [[Edward Bennett Williams]] and [[Murray Chotiner]] asked Intertel for help, for the Democrats and the Republicans respectively, and were turned down. The investigative reporter [[Les Whitten]] said that ITT hired Intertel to spy on Jack Anderson's office after the publication of the [[Dita Beard]] memorandum, to learn who had leaked it. Peloquin answered: "We never spied on Les."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Resorts International and Atlantic City
|
||||
|
||||
Intertel represented Resorts International in its campaign for legalized gambling in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]]. In 1977 it employed about fifty professionals, most from the FBI, IRS and CIA, and former employees put its income from more than two hundred clients at about 2 million dollars. Peloquin said: "I get 'em cheap. I capitalize on government training." On informants he said: "When I was at Justice, I probably had the best system of informers that anybody ever had. They were my sources; not the department's." The *Post* listed among the staff J. Edgar Hoover's only nephew.[^4] A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] press digest, "News, Views and Issues" no. 19 of December 6, 1974, reproduced Hougan's article on private intelligence agencies from *[[Harper's Magazine]]*, which also named Hoover's nephew among the staff, gave [[Edward Mullin]], formerly of the FBI and the CIA, as Intertel's director of intelligence operations, recorded that Peloquin and McKeon denied that Golden had worked for Intertel although an Intertel brochure associated him with the firm, and stated that an attempt to "rescue" Hughes in the Bahamas was thwarted by Bahamian officials accompanied by Intertel agents.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
Peloquin became chairman and executive vice president of Resorts International in 1985 and retired in 1990. He moved from [[Bethesda, Maryland]] to [[Plantation, Florida]] in 1990 and died after a heart attack at a nursing home in Frederick, Maryland, on March 24, 2011.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Lauren Wiseman, "Robert D. Peloquin, Lawyer," obituary, *The Washington Post*, March 28, 2011, as reproduced in Eamon Javers, "Sad News: The Death of Robert Peloquin, Who Ran Howard Hughes' Private Intelligence Ops," TheSpyPost, April 8, 2011. https://thespypost.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/sad-news-the-death-of-robert-peloquin-who-ran-howard-hughes-private-intelligence-ops/
|
||||
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Peloquin file, FOI/PA No. 1602405, Part 01, summary "Robert D. Peloquin" of the Bureau's files, prepared December 1970 to January 1971, p. 38 (PDF page). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^3]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Director to SAC New York, July 24, 1970, p. 8; New York office transmittal of August 5, 1970 enclosing the International Intelligence, Inc. brochure (officers, purposes, incorporation), pp. 9 ff. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^4]: Tom Zito, "Peloquin of Intertel: Intelligence, Security, 'Targets of Opportunity,'" *The Washington Post*, February 20, 1977, pp. L1, L12 (page images in the Weisberg Subject Index Files, Hood College). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/I%20Disk/Intertel%20on%20Assassination%20Samples%20of/Item%2001.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Jim Hougan, *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents* (William Morrow, 1978), pp. 382-384. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
|
||||
[^6]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 392-394. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
|
||||
[^7]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, SAC Miami (92-0) to Director, April 22, 1970, "International Intelligence, Inc.; Robert Peloquin; William Hundley; Criminal Intelligence Program Information Matter," p. 6 (page image). https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^8]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Director's letter of April 29, 1970, p. 2; letter of Robert D. Peloquin to J. Edgar Hoover, December 31, 1970, p. 41; reply of Helen W. Gandy with note, January 1971, p. 39; Director to Legat, Ottawa, January 5, 1971, p. 42. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^9]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, teletype, Las Vegas (92-3659) to Director and Miami, December 7, 1970, "International Intelligence Services, Inc.," pp. 21-25. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^10]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Book 21: Executive Session Hearings* (GPO, 1974), testimony of John J. Caulfield, pp. 9716, 9729-9730, 9735-9736; "Operation Sandwedge," Tab 31, pp. 9899-9902. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob21.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: "Business: Shootout at the Hughes Corral," *Time*, December 21, 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838449/business-shootout-at-the-hughes-corral/
|
||||
[^12]: *Maheu v. Hughes Tool Co.*, 569 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1977), modified January 12, 1978. https://openjurist.org/569/f2d/459
|
||||
[^13]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum, J. H. Gale to Mr. Sullivan, "William G. Hundley, Robert D. Peloquin, International Intelligence, Inc.," December 1970 (file stamp January 8, 1971), p. 33. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^14]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 310-311, 367-368. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
|
||||
[^15]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, Intertel, "Analysis of Each & Every Allegation Concerning Intertel in the Las Vegas Sun, March 21, 1971 to April 2, 1971," pp. 105-128, at pp. 113 and 125. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^16]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Robert D. Peloquin, President, International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)," May 20, 1971, signed John G. Southard, 6 pp., NARA record number 104-10122-10288, released March 18, 2025 under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10122-10288.pdf
|
||||
[^17]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60, Executive Session Hearings, Book 24: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of Chester C. Davis, p. 11611. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob24.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: Hougan, *Spooks*, pp. 262-263. https://archive.org/details/hougan-jim-spooks
|
||||
[^19]: Eamon Javers, "Sad News: The Death of Robert Peloquin, Who Ran Howard Hughes' Private Intelligence Ops," TheSpyPost, April 8, 2011. https://thespypost.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/sad-news-the-death-of-robert-peloquin-who-ran-howard-hughes-private-intelligence-ops/
|
||||
[^20]: FBI, Peloquin file, Part 01, memorandum of A. Rosen, May 24, 1971, "Fred G. Robinette, International Intelligence, Inc.," p. 47; J. P. Mohr to Mr. Tolson, January 28, 1972, p. 89; Fred G. Robinette to John P. Mohr, January 26, 1972, p. 91. https://archive.org/details/robert-peloquin-fbi-file
|
||||
[^21]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 22: The Hughes-Rebozo Investigation and Related Matters* (GPO, 1974), testimony of John J. Caulfield, pp. 10342, 10393. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob22.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Book 23* (GPO, 1974), testimony of William E. Griffin, pp. 10792-10793; *Book 21*, testimony of Herbert W. Kalmbach, p. 10183. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31889Ob23.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: Central Intelligence Agency, "News, Views and Issues," no. 19, December 6, 1974, CIA-RDP77-00432R000100340002-8, reproducing Jim Hougan, article on private intelligence agencies, *Harper's Magazine* (1974; title not legible in the scan). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp77-00432r000100340002-8
|
||||
86
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Ivan Voronych.md
Normal file
86
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Ivan Voronych.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- SBU
|
||||
- Ukraine
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
- Assassination
|
||||
- TheBase
|
||||
- WhitePhoenix
|
||||
- FSB
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ivan Voronych
|
||||
- Ivan Voronich
|
||||
- Іван Воронич
|
||||
summary: "Ivan Voronych was a Security Service of Ukraine colonel shot dead in Kyiv on July 10, 2025, a killing the SBU attributed to FSB-directed agents and a Ukrainian cell of The Base claimed."
|
||||
died: 2025-07-10
|
||||
location: "Kyiv, Ukraine (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Security Service of Ukraine]]"
|
||||
start: 1998
|
||||
end: 2025-07-10
|
||||
role: "officer, colonel"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Special Operations Center Alpha]]"
|
||||
role: "officer, according to Ukrainian intelligence sources cited by The Times"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Roman Chervinskyi]]"
|
||||
role: "deputy, according to The Times sources (the SBU press service called The Times account untrue)"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[White Phoenix]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-07-10
|
||||
role: "claimed killing, not confirmed by Ukrainian authorities"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Security Service]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-07-10
|
||||
role: "killing attributed to an FSB agent-and-combat group by the SBU"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[[Ivan Voronych]] (also transliterated Voronich) was a colonel of the [[Security Service of Ukraine]] (SBU) who was shot dead in the [[Holosiivskyi]] district of [[Kyiv]] on July 10, 2025 (see [[2025 Kyiv SBU Assassination]]). The SBU press service confirmed that an SBU employee had been killed and that a criminal case had been opened under article 348 of the [[Criminal Code of Ukraine]], which covers attempts on the life of a law-enforcement employee or serviceman.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Details of his career come from reporting that cites unnamed intelligence sources. [[The Times]] reported, according to [[Ukrainska Pravda]], that Voronych was 50 when he died, came from the Carpathian region, joined the SSU in 1998, and moved to Kyiv for counterintelligence work after 2014. The Times cited Ukrainian intelligence sources for the statements that he joined the SBU's [[Special Operations Center Alpha]], took part in operations in [[Russia]]'s [[Kursk Oblast]], and served as a deputy under Colonel [[Roman Chervinskyi]], and one source claimed that he had orchestrated the 2015 ambush that killed [[Aleksei Mozgovoi]], the leader of the [[Ghost Brigade]] in occupied [[Luhansk Oblast]]. The Times also reported that sources alleged that he deployed sea drones against the Russian [[Black Sea Fleet]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The SBU press service told Ukrainska Pravda that the information in The Times, "provided by anonymous sources, is not true". It stated that Voronych "had no connection to the '[[Nord Stream]] pipeline sabotage', nor did the Ukrainian security services as a whole", and that he was not involved in SBU operations involving marine drones against the Black Sea Fleet or special operations in the rear of Russia's Kursk Oblast.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[[The New York Times]] reported, according to [[Meduza]], that Voronych had for a time commanded the special operations unit known as the Fifth Directorate, which receives technical support from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and oversees assassination missions such as the 2016 killing of [[Arsen Pavlov]], known by the nom de guerre Motorola, a commander of pro-Russian formations in eastern Ukraine. Another former Ukrainian intelligence operative, [[Ivan Stupak]], told the outlet NV that the unit's work included such operations.[^3] Ukrainska Pravda summarised the [[New York Times]] report as stating that he had taken part in a number of special operations, including the killing of Pavlov, and had led a unit that advanced into Russia's Kursk Oblast in 2024; the SBU press service denied that he was involved in special operations in the Kursk Oblast.[^2] The [[Mapping Militants Project]] at [[Stanford University]] reports that a small group called Phoenix, affiliated with the [[Misanthropic Division]], used the Misanthropic Division's name and flag when claiming responsibility for the Pavlov bombing, that the Misanthropic Division rejected the claim, and that experts were generally skeptical that either group had the skills and support network to carry out the attack.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Mozgovoi's convoy was bombed and shot at near [[Alchevsk]] on May 23, 2015. [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] reported that the separatists blamed Kyiv, that Kyiv denied involvement and pointed to Mozgovoi's rivals within the separatist movement, and that answers to the question of who carried out the killing differed according to the speaker, with candidates including rival separatists, Russia, the [[United States]] and a pro-Ukrainian commando unit.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Killing
|
||||
|
||||
According to Ukrainska Pravda's source, at about 09:00 on July 10, 2025 a man approached Voronych and fired five shots from a pistol, then fled. Voronych died at the scene.[^2][^6] [[Radio NV]] quoted Stupak as saying that the killing was clearly a contract hit, with five suppressed shots, no argument, an early morning and a carefully planned operation.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### SBU account
|
||||
|
||||
On July 13, 2025 the SBU head, Lieutenant General [[Vasyl Maliuk]], said in a video that SBU officers had been conducting an arrest operation against an "agent-and-combat group of the Russian [[Federal Security Service]]", routed to Ukraine in advance, which three days earlier "murdered an SBU officer, our brother-in-arms, Colonel Ivan Voronych". According to the SBU investigation, a man and a woman carried out the killing; their handler ordered them to follow Voronych to establish his schedule and routes, and later gave them coordinates of a stash holding a firearm and suppressor. The SBU statement said that the members of the cell began to resist and were killed during the operation in [[Kyiv Oblast]]. Maliuk said in the video: "the only prospect of the enemy on the territory of Ukraine is death."[^7] Police said that day that the killers were foreign nationals and did not disclose their country of origin.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Ukrainska Pravda also reported, citing The Times, that Ukrainian intelligence sources said the FSB had recruited the two assassins from [[Azerbaijan]] through an organised crime syndicate in spring 2025, that the woman entered Ukraine from [[Moldova]] in May, and that the man was at first refused entry because of prior convictions but later crossed the border, which prompted an SSU investigation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### White Phoenix claim
|
||||
|
||||
On July 16, 2025 the [[Kyiv Post]] reported that [[White Phoenix]], the Ukrainian cell of [[The Base]], posted on Telegram: "We, the White Phoenix organization, are proud of our comrades who are cleansing Ukraine from the dirty-blooded horde! This action is a carefully planned warning to the regime", and "The execution of the SBU colonel is not the end, but only the beginning." The Kyiv Post reported that Ukrainian authorities had not confirmed whether the killing was tied to White Phoenix.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
[[The Guardian]], according to Meduza, reported that its counterterrorism sources found the claim credible. An analyst at the [[Institute for Strategic Dialogue]], [[Steven Rai]], told the Guardian that The Base had been active in Ukraine since March 2025 and had carried out at least ten arson attacks, and that its role in the Voronych killing was unverified. The Guardian also noted allegations that Nazzaro, whom it described as a "semi-defected American" living in [[Saint Petersburg]], is a Kremlin spy. The founder of The Base, [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]], told the Guardian: "I have no personal involvement in this incident and don't know who is responsible for it."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "У Києві зранку 10 липня застрелили полковника СБУ", Суспільне Новини (Suspilne), July 10, 2025. https://suspilne.media/1063237-u-kievi-zastrelili-polkovnika-sbu-zmi/
|
||||
[^2]: Kateryna Tyshchenko, "Ukrainian Security Service colonel shot dead in Kyiv reported to have planned 2015 killing of Russian militant Mozgovoi", Ukrainska Pravda, July 19, 2025, reporting The Times and an SSU press service denial. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/07/19/7522537/
|
||||
[^3]: "Ukrainian colonel gunned down in Kyiv commanded secret intelligence unit that orchestrated assassinations of pro-Russian militants", Meduza, July 11, 2025, citing The New York Times. https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/07/12/ukrainian-colonel-gunned-down-in-kyiv-commanded-secret-intelligence-unit-that-orchestrated-assassinations-of-pro-russian-militants
|
||||
[^4]: Mapping Militants Project, Stanford University, "Misanthropic Division" (Narrative: Phoenix and the October 2016 bombing). https://mappingmilitants.org/profiles/misanthropic-division
|
||||
[^5]: Merhat Sharipzhan, "The Mysterious Assassination Of A Rebel Commander In Ukraine", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 25, 2015. https://www.rferl.org/a/assassination-of-rebel-commander-in-ukraine/27035485.html
|
||||
[^6]: Alex Stezhensky, "SBU colonel's killing: U.S.-linked extremist group with Russian ties claims responsibility", The New Voice of Ukraine, July 16, 2025. https://english.nv.ua/nation/u-s-linked-extremist-group-the-base-claims-killing-of-sbu-colonel-ivan-voronych-in-kyiv-50530320.html
|
||||
[^7]: "SBU claims liquidation of Russian agents responsible for killing officer in Kyiv", Kyiv Independent, July 13, 2025. https://kyivindependent.com/sbu-liquidated-russian-agents-who-killed-sbu-officer-in-kyiv-days-ago/
|
||||
[^8]: Nick Pehlman, "Russo-American Neo-Nazi Group Claims Responsibility for Assassination of SBU Colonel in Kyiv", Kyiv Post, July 16, 2025. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/56428
|
||||
[^9]: "Neo-Nazi group with suspected Russian ties claims responsibility for assassination of Ukrainian intelligence officer", Meduza, July 16, 2025, citing The Guardian. https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/07/16/neo-nazi-group-with-suspected-russian-ties-claims-responsibility-for-assassination-of-ukrainian-intelligence-officer-the-guardian
|
||||
250
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Maxwell Taylor.md
Normal file
250
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Maxwell Taylor.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,250 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- MaxwellTaylor
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
- JointChiefsOfStaff
|
||||
- BayOfPigs
|
||||
- OperationMongoose
|
||||
- Vietnam
|
||||
- Counterinsurgency
|
||||
- SpecialGroup
|
||||
- PFIAB
|
||||
- DiemCoup
|
||||
- Brazil1964
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Maxwell Taylor
|
||||
- Maxwell D. Taylor
|
||||
- Maxwell Davenport Taylor
|
||||
- General Maxwell Taylor
|
||||
- General Maxwell D. Taylor
|
||||
- General Taylor
|
||||
summary: "Army general who chaired the 1961 Bay of Pigs inquiry and the Special Group (Augmented), sat on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, chaired the Joint Chiefs and was ambassador in Saigon."
|
||||
born: 1901-08-26
|
||||
died: 1987-04-19
|
||||
location: "Keytesville, Missouri (born); Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington (died)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Army]]"
|
||||
start: 1955-06-30
|
||||
end: 1959-07
|
||||
role: "chief of staff of the Army"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Mexican Light and Power Company]]"
|
||||
start: 1959
|
||||
end: 1960
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Cuba Study Group]]"
|
||||
start: 1961-04-22
|
||||
end: 1961-06-13
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board of inquiry on the Bay of Pigs"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Bay of Pigs]]"
|
||||
start: 1961-04-22
|
||||
end: 1961-06-13
|
||||
role: "chairman, Cuba Study Group"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]]"
|
||||
start: 1961-05-04
|
||||
role: "member named in the White House release of May 4, 1961; listed again in May 1966"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1961-07-01
|
||||
role: "military representative of the President"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[NSC Special Group]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Special Group (Augmented) during Operation Mongoose"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Operation Mongoose]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman of the overseeing Special Group (Augmented)"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)]]"
|
||||
start: 1962-01-18
|
||||
end: 1962-11-07
|
||||
role: "chairman as military representative of the President; NSAM 204 transferred the chair to State"
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Joint Chiefs of Staff]]"
|
||||
start: 1962-10-01
|
||||
end: 1964-07-01
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1964-07-01
|
||||
role: "ambassador to South Vietnam"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Embassy in Saigon]]"
|
||||
start: 1964-07-01
|
||||
end: 1965-07-30
|
||||
role: "ambassador; credentials presented July 14, 1964"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Institute for Defense Analyses]]"
|
||||
start: 1966
|
||||
end: 1969
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Maxwell Davenport Taylor (August 26, 1901, Keytesville, Missouri, to April 19, 1987, [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center]]) was a [[U.S. Army|United States Army]] officer who was chief of staff of the Army from 1955 to 1959, chairman of the [[Cuba Study Group]] that examined the [[Bay of Pigs]] operation in 1961, military representative of President [[John F. Kennedy]] from July 1, 1961, chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] from October 1, 1962, to July 1, 1964, and ambassador to [[South Vietnam]] from July 1964 to July 1965.[^1][^2][^3] He was named to the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] on May 4, 1961, while the Cuba Study Group was taking testimony, and between 1961 and 1962 he chaired the [[NSC Special Group|Special Group (Augmented)]] that oversaw [[Operation Mongoose]] and the [[Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)]].[^4][^5][^6] In October 1963 copies of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Saigon station cables reporting contacts with the generals who overthrew [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] were distributed to him by name.[^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Army career, 1922 to 1959
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor graduated fourth in a class of 102 at the [[United States Military Academy]] in 1922, receiving his diploma from the superintendent, [[Douglas MacArthur]].[^1] He was commissioned in the engineers, transferred to the field artillery in 1926 and taught French and Spanish at West Point for five years. In 1935 he went to [[Japan]] as a language officer attached to the American embassy in [[Tokyo]], served with a Japanese artillery regiment and was then sent to [[China]] as a Japanese-speaking assistant to Colonel [[Joseph Stilwell]], who was observing the Japanese advance. He returned to Washington in June 1939 for the last prewar class of the [[Army War College]], and in June 1940 he was sent on a hemispheric defense mission to [[Latin America]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
At the time of [[Pearl Harbor]] Taylor was serving in the secretariat of the Army chief of staff, General [[George C. Marshall]]. In 1942 he joined General [[Matthew Ridgway]] as chief of staff of the [[82nd Airborne Division|82nd Division]] during its conversion into the Army's first airborne division, and he commanded the division's artillery in [[Sicily]] and [[Italy]]. On September 7, 1943, he went secretly behind German lines to [[Rome]], and his judgment that an airborne landing near the city was too risky led to the cancellation of the drop. From March 1944 he commanded the [[101st Airborne Division]], which he led into [[Normandy]] on D-Day, in the airborne invasion of the [[Netherlands|Holland]] and in the defense of [[Bastogne]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
After the war Taylor was superintendent of West Point from September 1945, chief of staff of the European Command, the first American commander in [[Berlin]] and, on the Army Staff, deputy chief of staff for operations and administration. He took command of the [[Eighth United States Army|Eighth Army]] in Korea on February 11, 1953, and received his fourth star on June 23, 1953. He later commanded American ground forces in Korea, Japan and [[Okinawa]] and, from April 1955, the [[Far East Command]] and the [[United Nations Command]]. He was appointed chief of staff of the Army on June 30, 1955. In that post he opposed cuts in Army strength, argued against reliance on massive nuclear retaliation, and reorganized the infantry division into the "pentomic" structure of five battle groups for the atomic battlefield; the Army under him enforced school desegregation in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]], in 1957 and landed with the Marines in [[Lebanon]] in 1958. He retired in July 1959.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mexico, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy approach
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor published *[[The Uncertain Trumpet]]* in 1960, arguing for a strategy of flexible response. After retiring he became chairman of the board of the [[Mexican Light and Power Company]] in [[Mexico City]]. He said that he lost the post the following year when the Mexican government bought the utility, that his family left Mexico in December 1960, and that he then became president of the [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts]] in New York.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor said that, when the Kennedy administration came in, Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] offered him the embassy in [[France]] because the President thought a military man should deal with [[Charles de Gaulle]], and that he declined. He said that the first offer from the Kennedys, made through [[Robert Kennedy]], had been the directorship of the CIA, which he also refused. After the landing at the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy telephoned him from the White House and asked him to come to Washington the next day.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Cuba Study Group, April to June 1961
|
||||
|
||||
By a letter of April 22, 1961, Kennedy charged Taylor, with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Admiral [[Arleigh Burke]] and [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Allen Dulles]], to study government practices in military and paramilitary, guerrilla and anti-guerrilla activity short of outright war, with particular attention to the lessons of Cuba.[^9] The first meeting was held that afternoon at [[Quarters Eye]], the CIA building that had housed the project, and was recorded as the first meeting of "General Maxwell Taylor's Board of Inquiry on Cuban Operations Conducted by CIA." At the next session, after it was noted that the President did not regard the study as an inquiry or an investigation, the members agreed to call themselves the "Green Study Group," and Taylor had the minutes amended accordingly. The group met twenty times between April 22 and May 25, 1961; the fourteenth and nineteenth meetings are entirely classified. Witnesses included [[Richard Bissell]], [[Tracy Barnes]], General [[David W. Gray]], General [[Lyman Lemnitzer]], Admiral Burke, [[McGeorge Bundy]], Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]], Secretary of State Rusk, [[Adolf A. Berle|Adolf Berle]], [[Walter Bedell Smith]], [[José Miró Cardona]], [[Antonio de Varona]] and members of the Cuban brigade. General [[Edward Lansdale]] testified at the eighth meeting, on May 2, 1961, at the Pentagon.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 4, 1961, while the group was hearing testimony, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order 10938]] establishing the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, with a mandate to review all functions of the CIA and other intelligence agencies and to report to the President every six months. The order had been prepared from a draft by the special assistant for national security affairs and was forwarded to the President by Robert Kennedy on April 27. [[White House|The White House]] release of May 4 named the members as [[James R. Killian]], chairman, [[William O. Baker]], [[Jimmy Doolittle|James H. Doolittle]], [[William L. Langer]], [[Robert D. Murphy]] and General Maxwell D. Taylor (ret.).[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor wrote to the President from Room 2E980 of the Pentagon on June 13, 1961, that the group was ready to make its final report orally, supported by four memoranda, and that it had found no difficulty in reaching a unanimous view on all essential points. He urged prompt implementation of its first recommendation, a Strategic Resources Group with a [[Cold War]] Indications Center, writing that the government was "losing today on many fronts."[^9] The conclusions held that a paramilitary operation the size of Zapata could not be conducted so that all American support could be "plausibly disclaimed," and that it therefore did not fit within [[NSC 5412/2]]; that by about November 1960 the impossibility of running it as a covert CIA operation should have been recognized; that the Joint Chiefs, "by acquiescing in the Zapata Plan," had given the impression of approving it although they had preferred the Trinidad plan, a point that apparently never reached the senior civilian officials; and that no failure of intelligence had contributed significantly to the defeat.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The group recommended a permanent [[Strategic Resources Group]] of under-secretary rank from State, Defense and the CIA, under a full-time chairman reporting directly to the President, to replace the [[5412 Committee]] and to review covert operations under NSC 5412/2. It recommended that any large paramilitary operation, wholly or partly covert, requiring significant numbers of militarily trained men or equipment beyond normal CIA stocks be the primary responsibility of the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]], with the CIA in a supporting role; that Defense inventory the paramilitary assets available to the [[United States]] "overt and covert, U.S. and foreign"; and that the Joint Chiefs be brought to feel as much responsibility for the Cold War as for conventional defense.[^9][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Church Committee]] found in 1975 that the Taylor report of June 13, 1961, made no mention of the CIA's plot against [[Fidel Castro]] using organized crime figures. Bissell told the committee that he had not disclosed the plot because the question was never asked, because Dulles already knew, because the attempt had been called off, and because it was not germane to the failure of the invasion. Taylor, and Burke in an affidavit, told the committee that neither Bissell nor Dulles had informed them. Taylor testified on July 9, 1975, that he had never heard that underworld figures had been offered money to assassinate Castro, and that Dulles had met the board some thirty or forty times.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
An attachment to a memorandum of May 22, 1961, from [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] to the Attorney General, concerning the [[Las Vegas]] wiretap, quoted [[Sheffield Edwards]] of the CIA as saying that Bissell, "in his recent briefings of Gen. Taylor and the Attorney General," had told the Attorney General "that some of the associated planning included the use of Giancana and the underworld against Castro." Bissell told the committee that he had no recollection of briefing the two except as members of the board, that any such conversation was not before the board, and that the memorandum quoted language "I might very well have used, that is, the use of the underworld against Castro."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Military representative of the President, 1961 to 1962
|
||||
|
||||
The White House announced on June 26, 1961, that Taylor would become the President's military representative on July 1. An editorial clipping preserved by the CIA quotes the announcement as giving him "the responsibility of watching the function of the intelligence apparatus of the government to assure the President that it meets the future needs of the government," and the [[Foreign Broadcast Information Service]] recorded the New China News Agency's report of the appointment the next day.[^11] The Church Committee records, from his testimony and McGeorge Bundy's, that Taylor served as military representative and intelligence adviser until he became chairman of the Joint Chiefs.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
When Kennedy chose [[John McCone]] as Director of Central Intelligence in September 1961, Bundy reported to the President on September 28 that Killian was talking of resigning from the intelligence board and that some members had sharp past disagreements with McCone. Bundy wrote that "General Taylor has talked to Bobby about this and probably is trying to calm Killian down," and that Bundy himself had talked to the columnist [[Joseph Alsop]], who would write a helpful column.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Taylor-Rostow mission to Vietnam, October 1961
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum for the record of October 11, 1961, planned for Taylor to leave for South Vietnam with [[Walt Rostow]] of the White House, General Lansdale, a representative of the Joint Chiefs and an official of the State Department, on a mission to be announced at the President's press conference as an economic survey, and to examine the feasibility of the military intervention plan discussed that morning. The mission arrived in [[Saigon]] on October 18, just as Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed a state of emergency.[^13] In an eyes-only cable to the President, sent from [[Baguio]] in the [[Philippines]], Taylor argued for a task force in the Mekong delta consisting mainly of army engineers to work in a flooded area, warned that it would have to conduct some combat operations and take casualties, and held that the rest of the program would be insufficient without it, because the United States had to "convince Diem that we are willing to join him in a showdown with the Viet Cong."[^13] McNamara recommended the program on November 8; on November 11 Rusk and McNamara jointly recommended deferring combat units, and the presidential decision followed their paper.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Special Group (Augmented) and Operation Mongoose
|
||||
|
||||
Kennedy appointed Taylor chairman of the Special Group (Augmented), created to oversee Operation Mongoose, with Lansdale as chief of operations and [[William Harvey]] in charge of the CIA's [[Task Force W]]. The Church Committee lists its members as the regular members of the Special Group, McGeorge Bundy, [[U. Alexis Johnson|Alexis Johnson]], [[Roswell Gilpatric]], John McCone and General Lemnitzer, augmented by Robert Kennedy and Taylor; Rusk and McNamara sometimes attended.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum for the record of October 5, 1961, by [[Thomas Parrott]], secretary of the Special Group, recorded that a plan was wanted "against the contingency that Castro would in some way or other be removed from the Cuban scene," that the presence of [[Raúl Castro]] and [[Che Guevara]] had to be taken into account, and that Taylor had told Parrott he preferred "the President's interest in the matter not be mentioned" to the assistant secretary of state concerned. Parrott also asked Tracy Barnes at the CIA for a report on what was being planned "on the covert side." Taylor testified that he had no recollection of [[NSAM 100|National Security Action Memorandum 100]], the related order, and that "never at any time" did he raise assassination with Parrott or anyone else.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
In early April 1962 Harvey reactivated the CIA's contact with [[John Rosselli]], and the poison pills were passed in that month. On May 3, 1962, Harvey reported to the Special Group (Augmented) on agent teams without mention of the Rosselli operation. Shortly afterwards Taylor gave the President what he called a "routine briefing," recorded in his memorandum for the record of May 7, 1962, which makes no reference to Harvey's contacts with Rosselli or the delivery of pills and guns.[^6] On the same day, May 7, 1962, Sheffield Edwards and the CIA's general counsel, [[Lawrence Houston]], briefed Robert Kennedy on the earlier underworld operation. Houston had asked the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in April not to prosecute those involved in the Las Vegas wiretap, among them [[Robert Maheu]], "on grounds of security"; the Church Committee found that the CIA's objection avoided "exposure of Giancana's and Rosselli's involvement with the Agency in an assassination plot."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
At a meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) in Rusk's office on August 10, 1962, according to a memorandum by Harvey of August 14, McNamara raised the question of assassinating Castro, and it was "the obvious consensus" that the subject was not one to be made a matter of official record. Lansdale's action memorandum of August 13 assigned to Harvey papers on subjects "including liquidation of leaders," words that Harvey excised. Parrott's minutes contain no reference to assassination.[^16] On August 20 Taylor told the President that the group saw no likelihood that Castro's government would be overturned by internal means without direct American military intervention, and that it favored a more aggressive Mongoose program.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor testified that a plan to assassinate Castro was never submitted to the group, orally or in writing, that the group was never told of the pills given to Rosselli in April 1962, and that the President and the Attorney General "would never have gone around" the group to plan an assassination. He said that Robert Kennedy dealt directly with Lansdale outside the group's channels "only for the purpose of imparting his own sense of urgency." Bundy told the committee that Robert Kennedy and Taylor had "a relation of real trust and confidence."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)
|
||||
|
||||
[[NSAM 124|National Security Action Memorandum 124]] of January 18, 1962, created the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency). A CIA record of March 26, 1962, lists its members as the military representative of the President, as chairman, the Attorney General, the deputy under secretary of state for political affairs, the deputy secretary of defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, the special assistant for national security affairs, the administrator of the [[Agency for International Development]] and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs; NSAM 180 of August 13, 1962, added the director of the [[United States Information Agency]].[^17] [[NSAM 204|National Security Action Memorandum 204]] of November 7, 1962, states, "Since General Taylor has taken up his duties as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," that the [[State Department|Department of State]] would chair the group, with [[Michael V. Forrestal]] as the White House member.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor remained engaged with the group as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. A CIA note for the deputy director of November 23, 1963, the day after the President's assassination, records that in response to a recent letter from Taylor to the members of the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency), the State Department's [[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] had asked for national intelligence estimates giving "a comprehensive assessment related to the internal defense situation" in the [[Dominican Republic]] and [[Honduras]]. The same note records that the office of the chairman, concerned that extremists of right and left might eliminate the center in Italy, had asked through the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] for an estimate on Italy.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Cuban missile crisis
|
||||
|
||||
Kennedy appointed Taylor chairman of the Joint Chiefs on October 1, 1962. Two weeks later the United States obtained the first definite evidence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba. Taylor sat on the [[EXCOMM|Executive Committee]] of the [[National Security Council]], and, speaking for the Chiefs, recommended air strikes, a naval quarantine and preparation for an invasion. In August 1963 he persuaded the Chiefs to endorse the [[Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Vietnam, August to November 1963
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor attended the White House meetings of August 28, 1963, held after the pagoda raids, and reported that Vietnamese forces loyal to Diem in the Saigon area outnumbered two to one those expected to follow rebel generals in a coup, while outside Saigon the generals who might rebel commanded more troops. That evening the President announced that Taylor would ask General [[Paul Harkins]] for his personal assessment of the situation and of the generals' plans.[^20] On August 30 Taylor sent the President, as memorandum CM-856-63, a table of the probable loyalties of military units and commanders "in the event a coup d'etat is undertaken," based, except for the Civil Guard and Self Defense Corps, on a CIA report received from Saigon on August 29. It rated the [[Presidential Guard (South Vietnam)|Presidential Guard]] most likely to remain loyal, the airborne brigade as one that "could likely be led to act against Diem," and the Special Forces under Colonel [[Le Quang Tung]] as probably standing by Diem.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor said in 1981 that the State Department telegram of August 24, 1963, which authorized Ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] to tell the generals that the United States could not continue to support the government unless the Nhus were removed, had been drafted by [[Averell Harriman]], [[Roger Hilsman]] and Michael Forrestal, cleared with Under Secretary [[George Ball]] "who was out playing golf," cleared by telephone with the President at [[Hyannis Port]], and dispatched "without the concurrence of the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the CIA," and that its authors could not explain it the following Monday.[^1] In his memoirs he called it an "end run"; Hilsman maintained that the President and representatives of all the agencies concerned had cleared it.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 19 Taylor recorded a call from the former ambassador [[Tran Van Chuong]], who told him there could be no final victory with the Diem government and that it would be too dangerous for senior civilians to communicate with him.[^23] Kennedy sent McNamara and Taylor to Vietnam in late September. Taylor played tennis with General [[Duong Van Minh]] at the Saigon Officers Club on September 29, with McNamara as a spectator, under the impression that Minh had a message for them; Minh declined to respond to what Taylor later called "broad hints of our interest in other subjects which we gave him during breaks in the game." At Taylor's request Colonel [[Raymond Jones (soldier)|Raymond Jones]] contacted Minh that night. On October 1 Taylor paid a farewell call on Minh, recording that Minh saw "his country in chains with no way to shake them off," and telling him that he could always communicate with Taylor on any subject through General Harkins.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor wrote to Diem on October 1 as "an old friend of South Vietnam," predicting that the insurgency in the north and center could be reduced to sporadic incidents by the end of 1964 and the Delta by the end of 1965 if conditions were met; a note on the copy records delivery on October 2 with McNamara's approval and Lodge's concurrence.[^24] The McNamara-Taylor report of October 2 recommended announcing the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963 and of the bulk of them by the end of 1965, continuing to withhold commodity import funds, suspending the AID loans for the Saigon-Cholon waterworks and the Saigon electric power project, and cutting off MAP and CIA support to Colonel Tung's units unless they were placed under the Joint General Staff. It held that "no initiative should be taken to encourage actively a change in government," and, under possible American actions, that there was a need for "an intensive clandestine effort, under the Ambassador's direction, to establish necessary contacts to allow the U.S. to continuously appraise coup prospects."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA station's cable 1385 of October 3, reporting that Lieutenant Colonel [[Lucien Conein]] had met General [[Tran Van Don]] at [[Nha Trang]] the night before with the approval of the deputy chief of mission, and that Minh wished to see Conein privately, was sent to the State Department exclusive for Rusk, Ball, Harriman and Hilsman, to the White House for Bundy, and to the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence "exclusive for McNamara, Gilpatric, Taylor, and Krulak."[^7] Minh received Conein on October 5 and outlined three plans, the first being the assassination of [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]] and [[Ngo Dinh Can]] with Diem kept in office.[^26] The station's cable 2023 of October 29, on Conein's meeting with Don the day before, which listed units in the coup group and described two escape tunnels from [[Gia Long Palace]], went to the Office of the Secretary of Defense "eyes only for McNamara, Gilpatric, Taylor, Krulak, and William Bundy," to McCone, [[Marshall Carter|Carter]] and [[Richard Helms|Helms]] at the CIA, and to the State Department and White House.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 29 Taylor sent Harkins message JCS 4188-63 on a "continued lack of effective communication" between Harkins and Lodge and on divergent understandings of Washington's coup guidance. Harkins replied the next day, "I share your concern," and complained that Lodge did not clear military messages with him; Taylor had the reply conveyed to Bundy.[^28][^29] The Church Committee records that Harkins cabled Taylor his opposition to American participation in a coup.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
At the President's meeting of 4:20 p.m. on October 29, attended by the Vice President, Rusk, McNamara, Robert Kennedy, McCone, Harriman, Helms, [[William Colby]] and others, Colby estimated pro-Diem and anti-Diem forces at about 9,800 each, with 18,000 neutral. Taylor cautioned against looking at the situation "as if it were a football game." McNamara proposed that the deputy chief of mission, the acting CIA chief and Harkins jointly decide what "our agent Conein" would say and do; McCone disagreed. Robert Kennedy called his own position against a coup "the minority view." Taylor said he agreed with the Attorney General and, pressed by the President, said that even a successful coup would slow the war because the new central government would be inexperienced and the province chiefs appointed by Diem would probably be replaced. McCone said he agreed with Taylor.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor attended the President's meetings on the morning of November 1, as the coup began, and of 9:35 a.m. on November 2, when Forrestal brought in a telegram reporting that Diem and Nhu were dead.[^32] Taylor said in 1981 that "we were meeting in the Cabinet room when the news came, and President Kennedy, who always had insisted Diem never suffer more than exile, jumped up and rushed out of the room." In his memoir he placed the scene on November 1, a date the editors of the Foreign Relations series correct to November 2.[^1][^32] Asked in 1981 whether the killing of Diem had been a covert operation, Taylor answered, "Not if you mean a covert operation conducted by the CIA."[^1] At 12:25 p.m. on November 2 Taylor cabled Harkins about the risk that the new government would make a wholesale replacement of the province chiefs, writing that "it is clearly in our interest to prevent removal of effective and experienced chiefs."[^33] The Church Committee found that the United States had encouraged the coup but was neither involved in nor desired the deaths of Diem and Nhu.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brazil, March 1964
|
||||
|
||||
The cable of March 27, 1964, cited as RIOD 3824 and slugged RYBAT, in which Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] reported from Rio de Janeiro on the situation in [[Brazil]], was addressed for immediate passage to Secretary Rusk, Assistant Secretary [[Thomas C. Mann|Thomas Mann]], [[Ralph Burton]], Secretary McNamara, Assistant Secretary [[John T. McNaughton|John McNaughton]], "General Maxwell Taylor," CIA Director McCone, Colonel [[J.C. King]], [[Desmond FitzGerald]], the White House for Bundy and [[Ralph Dungan]], and General [[Andrew P. O'Meara|O'Meara]] in the Canal Zone, "other distribution only by approval above named." Gordon wrote that the movement around General [[Humberto Castelo Branco]] was where "both I and all my senior advisors believe our support should be placed." He recommended preparing a clandestine delivery of arms "of non-US origin" to Castelo Branco's supporters in [[São Paulo]], the "best delivery means now apparent to us" being an "unmarked submarine to be off-loaded at night in isolated shore spots in state of Sao Paulo south of Santos," with petroleum supplies, and the early detachment of a naval task force with carrier aircraft to within a few days' steaming of [[Santos]].[^34]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ambassador in Saigon, 1964 to 1965
|
||||
|
||||
President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed Taylor ambassador to South Vietnam on July 1, 1964, the day he left the chairmanship; he presented his credentials on July 14 and left post on July 30, 1965, with U. Alexis Johnson as deputy ambassador.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On the night of December 19 to 20, 1964, General [[Nguyen Khanh]] and the officers known as the Young Turks, among them [[Nguyen Cao Ky]] and [[Nguyen Van Thieu]], dissolved the [[High National Council]] by a "Military Council Decree No. 1" and arrested some of its members. Taylor told Prime Minister [[Tran Van Huong]] that accepting the decree would leave "a military dictatorship with only a civilian facade" and could jeopardize continued American support, and proposed conditions Huong should exact; William Bundy cabled, "Entirely agree with line you are taking."[^35] On December 23 Taylor reported that Khanh's military colleagues "would have dropped him except for the understanding that he had U.S. support," and named Generals [[Nguyen Huu Co]], [[Pham Van Dong (general)|Pham Van Dong]] and Thieu as possible replacements, excluding Minh.[^36] The State Department's instructions of December 24, for the contingency that Taylor might be declared persona non grata, expressed the hope that Huong and the military "would in end unite on dumping Khanh as their own decision."[^37]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 19, 1965, Taylor reported a coup attempt led tactically by General [[Lam Van Phat]], with information coming "largely from CAS officer in contact with liaison officer" of Tran Van Don.[^38] On February 23 the State Department told Taylor that it expected the next air strike against North Vietnam on February 26 and that "we believe departure of Khanh essential before either clearance or strike."[^39] Khanh left Saigon on February 25; Taylor reported to the President on March 2 the "perceptible feeling of relief" at his departure.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
### Adviser, IDA and the intelligence board, 1965 to 1969
|
||||
|
||||
After resigning as ambassador, Taylor served as a special consultant to President Johnson and on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; he was president of the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]] from 1966 to 1969.[^1][^2] A CIA list of May 1966 names him among the board's members under [[Clark Clifford]], with William O. Baker, [[Gordon Gray]], William Langer, [[Edwin Land|Edwin H. Land]], Robert Murphy and [[Frank Pace]].[^41] CIA records of 1967 and 1968 show the agency arranging a briefing for him with the [[National Security Agency]] on July 19, 1967, and briefing him on the [[Middle East]], on Soviet technology through the [[Foreign Technology Division]], and on a special estimate of the ability to monitor Soviet arms limitations. The record of the director's meeting of November 30, 1967, notes that Taylor had requested an April 11, 1968, briefing on strategic offensive systems and that the CIA was to brief the board on espionage and counterespionage operations in Vietnam at its meeting of December 11 and 12.[^42]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor published *Responsibility and Response* in 1967, the memoir *Swords and Plowshares* in 1972 and *Precarious Security* in 1976. He died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on April 19, 1987.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Robert S. Gallagher, "Gen. Maxwell Taylor: Memories of Peace and War" (interview with Maxwell D. Taylor), *American Heritage*, vol. 32, no. 3 (April/May 1981), https://www.americanheritage.com/gen-maxwell-taylor-memories-peace-and-war
|
||||
[^2]: Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "General Maxwell Davenport Taylor," from *The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-2016* (2016), https://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Maxwell-Davenport-Taylor/
|
||||
[^3]: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, "Maxwell Davenport Taylor (1901-1987)," Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/taylor-maxwell-davenport
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465, 94th Cong., 1st sess., November 20, 1975, section III.B.3(b)(i)(4)(c), "Taylor/Kennedy Bay of Pigs Inquiry," pp. 121-123, and (ii)(1)(a), p. 135, citing testimony of Taylor, July 9, 1975, pp. 72-73, and of Bissell, June 9, June 11 and July 22, 1975, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^5]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, *Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters*, document 87, editorial note on Executive Order 10938 and the White House release of May 4, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v25/d87
|
||||
[^6]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots*, section III.B.3(b)(ii)(2)-(3), "Operation MONGOOSE" and "Testimony of Kennedy Administration Officials," pp. 139-140, 153-157, citing testimony of Taylor, July 9, 1975, pp. 11-12, 27, 41-49, 62, 67, Bundy, July 11, 1975, and Taylor's memoranda to the President of May 7 and August 20, 1962, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^7]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 171, CIA Saigon station telegram 1385, October 3, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d171
|
||||
[^8]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 162, memorandum for the record by Taylor, "Farewell Call on Major General Duong Van Minh," October 1, 1963, and source note quoting Taylor, *Swords and Plowshares*, pp. 297-298, and Taylor to McNamara, September 30, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d162
|
||||
[^9]: Maxwell D. Taylor to President Kennedy, June 13, 1961; Memorandum No. 3, "Conclusions of the Cuban Study Group," and Memorandum No. 4, "Recommendations of the Cuban Study Group," Recommendations 1 to 4; and memoranda for the record of the first, second and eighth meetings (April 22, April 24 and May 2, 1961), in *Operation Zapata: The "Ultrasensitive" Report and Testimony of the Board of Inquiry on the Bay of Pigs* (Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, 1981), contents, pp. 1-3, 40-50, 183-184, https://archive.org/details/operation-zapata
|
||||
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, "Taylor Report," August 15, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160002-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160002-5
|
||||
[^11]: Unsigned editorial clipping on the appointment of Gen. Maxwell Taylor as military representative of the President, 1961, CIA-RDP70-00058R000200130138-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp70-00058r000200130138-3; Foreign Broadcast Information Service, "Maxwell Taylor Named Kennedy Aide," Peking NCNA in English, June 27, 1961, in daily report of June 28, 1961, CIA-RDP75-00149R000700480016-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000700480016-9
|
||||
[^12]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XXV, document 91, McGeorge Bundy to President Kennedy, "Washington News," September 28, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v25/d91
|
||||
[^13]: *United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense*, Book 2, Part IV.B.1, "Evolution of the War: The Kennedy Program and Commitments, 1961," sections "The Decision to Send Taylor" and "Taylor in Saigon," including the memorandum for the record of October 11, 1961, and Taylor's eyes-only cables from Baguio, DTIC ADA542557, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA542557
|
||||
[^14]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots*, section III.B.3(b)(ii)(1)(b), "National Security Action Memorandum 100 of October 5, 1961, and the CIA Intelligence Estimate," pp. 136-138, citing Parrott memorandum for the record, October 5, 1961, and Taylor testimony, July 9, 1975, pp. 18-19, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^15]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots*, section III.B.3(b)(i)(7)(c)(2), "The Formal Decision to Forego Prosecution" and "Briefing of the Attorney General on May 7, 1962," pp. 131-133, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^16]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots*, section III.B.3(b)(ii)(4), "The August 10, 1962 Special Group (Augmented) Meeting," pp. 161-163, citing Harvey memorandum to Helms, August 14, 1962, and Lansdale memorandum, August 13, 1962, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^17]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Membership of Special Group, Counter Insurgency (According to NSAM 124, 18 Jan 62)," March 26, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01083A000100120022-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01083a000100120022-8
|
||||
[^18]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 204, "Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)," November 7, 1962, revised, with Bromley Smith's memorandum to holders of November 16, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R000100110008-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r000100110008-3
|
||||
[^19]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Notes for DDCI," November 23, 1963, item 5, CIA-RDP80B01676R001300100074-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001300100074-8
|
||||
[^20]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, *Vietnam, August-December 1963*, document 1, memorandum of conference with the President, August 28, 1963, noon, and document 6, memorandum of conversation, August 28, 1963, 6 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d1 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d6
|
||||
[^21]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 24, Taylor to the President, CM-856-63, "Probable Loyalties of Vietnamese Units and Commanders," August 30, 1963, with enclosure, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d24
|
||||
[^22]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. III, *Vietnam, January-August 1963*, document 281, telegram 243 from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, August 24, 1963, source note citing Taylor, *Swords and Plowshares*, pp. 292-294, and Hilsman, *To Move a Nation*, pp. 487-488, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v03/d281
|
||||
[^23]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 135, memorandum for the record by Taylor, "Visit of Former Ambassador Tran Van Chuong," September 19, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d135
|
||||
[^24]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 163, Taylor to President Diem, October 1, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d163
|
||||
[^25]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 167, Taylor and McNamara to the President, "Report of McNamara-Taylor Mission to South Vietnam," October 2, 1963, sections I.A-B and VIII.C, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d167
|
||||
[^26]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 177, CIA Saigon station telegram, October 5, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d177
|
||||
[^27]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 225, CIA Saigon station telegram 2023, October 29, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d225
|
||||
[^28]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 227, Taylor to Harkins, JCS 4188-63, October 29, 1963, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d227
|
||||
[^29]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 240, Harkins to Taylor, MAC 2028, October 30, 1963, and source note, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d240
|
||||
[^30]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots*, section III.E, "Diem," pp. 217-224, https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
|
||||
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 234, memorandum of conference with President Kennedy, October 29, 1963, 4:20 p.m., drafted by Bromley Smith, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d234
|
||||
[^32]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 264, telegram 673 to Saigon, November 1, 1963, source note on the 10 a.m. meeting, and document 274, editorial note on the meeting of November 2, 1963, 9:35 a.m., quoting Taylor, *Swords and Plowshares*, p. 301, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d264 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d274
|
||||
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, document 276, Taylor to Harkins, JCS 4279-63, November 2, 1963, 12:25 p.m., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d276
|
||||
[^34]: Telegram RIOD 3824, personal from Ambassador Gordon, March 27, 1964, sections one to four of five (LBJ Library copy), paragraphs 1, 11, 13 and 14, posted as document 2 of National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 118, "Brazil Marks 40th Anniversary of Military Coup," https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB118/bz02.pdf
|
||||
[^35]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, *Vietnam, 1964*, document 451, Saigon telegram 1870, December 20, 1964, 5 p.m., and document 452, Saigon telegram 1874, December 20, 1964, 7 p.m., with source notes, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d451 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d452
|
||||
[^36]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, document 460, Saigon telegram 1915, December 23, 1964, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d460
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[^37]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, document 465, telegram 1347 to Saigon, December 24, 1964, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d465
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[^38]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. II, *Vietnam, January-June 1965*, document 141, Saigon telegram 2654, February 19, 1965, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d141
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[^39]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. II, document 159, telegram 1805 to Saigon, February 23, 1965, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d159
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[^40]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. II, document 177, Saigon telegram 2817, March 2, 1965, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d177
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[^41]: Central Intelligence Agency, "President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board," membership list, May 1966, CIA-RDP71R00140A000100030002-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp71r00140a000100030002-1
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[^42]: Central Intelligence Agency, memoranda for the record of the Director's morning meetings, August 31, 1967 (CIA-RDP80R01284A001800030023-0), November 30, 1967 (CIA-RDP80R01284A001800030085-2), April 1, 1968 (CIA-RDP80R01284A001800040059-0), May 29, 1968 (CIA-RDP80R01284A001800050019-3) and August 21, 1968 (CIA-RDP80R01284A001800050076-0); memorandum for the record, "Briefing of General Maxwell Taylor, 19 July 1967," July 13, 1967 (CIA-RDP33-02415A000100030079-0); all at https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01284a001800030085-2 and the corresponding identifiers
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