disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-09 23:53:07

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-09 23:53:08 -04:00
parent 0e100ebd49
commit 438c1d0e77
No known key found for this signature in database
86 changed files with 3794 additions and 814 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

18
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/40 Committee.md
View file

@ -10,24 +10,32 @@ tags:
- Chile
- HenryKissinger
- CIA
summary: "National Security Council subcommittee that approved CIA covert action under Nixon, chaired by Henry Kissinger, which voted 1.665 million dollars to El Mercurio and was never told of the 1970 order for a coup in Chile."
summary: "National Security Council subcommittee that approved CIA covert action under Nixon, chaired by Henry Kissinger, which voted funds to El Mercurio and was never told of the 1970 coup order in Chile."
location: "Washington, D.C."
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[National Security Council]]"
role: "Subcommittee of the Council from 1970 under NSDM 40, succeeding the 303 Committee"
start: 1970-02-17
fn: 2
---
The 40 Committee was the subcommittee of the [[National Security Council]] that reviewed and approved covert operations of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] during the administration of [[Richard Nixon]]. It succeeded the 5412 Panel of the 1950s, the [[Special Group]], and the [[303 Committee]], and was chaired by the president's national security adviser, [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]].[^1]
### Chile
The 303 Committee approved the campaign against [[Salvador Allende]] in the Chilean election of 1964 on April 2 of that year. In 1970 the 40 Committee approved 125,000 dollars for a "spoiling operation" against Allende's coalition and then 300,000 dollars more for propaganda. After Allende's plurality on September 4 it met on September 8, where Kissinger asked for a "cold blooded" assessment of the prospects of a military coup, and approved 250,000 dollars for Ambassador [[Edward Korry]] to use on the Chilean congress. It also approved 60,000 dollars for Korry to buy a radio station, which was never spent.[^1][^2]
The 303 Committee approved the campaign against [[Salvador Allende]] in the Chilean election of 1964 on April 2 of that year. National Security Decision Memorandum 40, signed February 17, 1970, converted the 303 Committee into the 40 Committee, updating NSC 5412/2. The Foreign Relations annotation on the memorandum reads "thus updating NSC 5412/2."[^2] On October 18, 1969 Director of Central Intelligence [[Richard Helms]] sent Kissinger a memorandum on the annual review of 303 Committee programs, which the Council's covert-action directive had put under committee review.[^3] In 1970 the 40 Committee approved 125,000 dollars for a "spoiling operation" against Allende's coalition and then 300,000 dollars more for propaganda. After Allende's plurality on September 4 it met on September 8, where Kissinger asked for a "cold blooded" assessment of the prospects of a military coup, and approved 250,000 dollars for Ambassador [[Edward Korry]] to use on the Chilean congress. It also approved 60,000 dollars for Korry to buy a radio station, which was never spent.[^1][^4]
On September 15 Nixon ordered the agency to organize a coup. The Senate's report states: "the 40 Committee was never informed of this direct CIA role." The operation, [[Project FUBELT]], reported to Kissinger or his deputy, and the agency's instruction of September 16 was that it never be discussed at a committee meeting. Korry, who told the Senate "I even attended a 40 Committee meeting," was not told either.[^3]
On September 15 Nixon ordered the agency to organize a coup. The Senate's report states: "the 40 Committee was never informed of this direct CIA role." The operation, [[Project FUBELT]], reported to Kissinger or his deputy, and the agency's instruction of September 16 was that it never be discussed at a committee meeting. Korry, who told the Senate "I even attended a 40 Committee meeting," was not told either.[^5]
The committee authorized 700,000 dollars for the newspaper [[El Mercurio]] on September 9, 1971, and 965,000 dollars more on April 11, 1972. In September 1972 it gave 24,000 dollars to a "powerful businessmen's organization" and declined to fund others "because of their possible involvement in anti-government strikes." That October it approved 100,000 dollars for three private groups within a 1.5 million dollar program for the opposition. On the truckers' strikes the Senate staff wrote: "The 40 Committee did not approve any such support. However, the U.S. passed money to private sector groups which supported the strikers. And in at least one case, a small amount of CIA money was passed to the strikers by a private sector organization, contrary to CIA ground rules." On August 20, 1973, it approved a further million dollars. None of it had reached the private groups when the armed forces took power on September 11.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, staff report, *Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973,* December 1975. https://archive.org/details/CovertActionInChile196373
[^2]: National Security Archive, "'Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende,'" Electronic Briefing Book, September 15, 2020. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-09-15/extreme-option-overthrow-allende
[^3]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,* interim report, S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975. Testimony of Edward M. Korry, *Hearings,* vol. 7, *Covert Action,* 1975.
[^2]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. XVII, doc. 30, annotation on National Security Decision Memorandum 40 of February 17, 1970. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d30
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. II, doc. 195, memorandum from Helms to Kissinger, October 18, 1969. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d195
[^4]: National Security Archive, "'Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende,'" Electronic Briefing Book, September 15, 2020. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-09-15/extreme-option-overthrow-allende
[^5]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,* interim report, S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975. Testimony of Edward M. Korry, *Hearings,* vol. 7, *Covert Action,* 1975.

7
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/Internal Revenue Service.md
View file

@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ relations:
reverse: true
fn: 13
created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-09
---
The Internal Revenue Service is the agency through which the [[Treasury Department|Secretary of the Treasury]] administers the federal tax laws. Section 7801 of the Internal Revenue Code gives the secretary "full authority to administer and enforce the internal revenue laws" and "the power to create an agency to enforce these laws"; in the service's own words, "the IRS was created based on this legislative grant." Section 7803 provides for a Commissioner of Internal Revenue "to administer and supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws." Its main office is at 1111 Constitution Avenue NW in [[Washington, D.C.]][^1] The office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue was created in 1862, with an income tax to pay for the Civil War; in the 1950s the agency was reorganized to replace patronage appointments with career staff, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue was renamed the Internal Revenue Service. Only the commissioner and the chief counsel are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.[^2]
@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ After Representative [[Wayne Hays]] demanded in 1954 that the exemption of [[H.L
### Other Cases
In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 million dollars, most of it to the IRS.[^10] In July 2023 Senator [[Ron Wyden]], chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, opened an inquiry into the roughly 158 million dollars that [[Leon Black]] had paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust and estate-planning advice, and in July 2025 said the work deserved an IRS examination.[^11] Among former employees, [[Robert Garder Terrell]], spokesman and financial manager of [[The Finders]], had been an IRS appeals officer, and [[Peter Videnieks]], the Justice Department contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract with [[Inslaw]], had worked for the service.[^12][^13]
In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 million dollars, most of it to the IRS.[^10] In July 2023 Senator [[Ron Wyden]], chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, opened an inquiry into the roughly 158 million dollars that [[Leon Black]] had paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust and estate-planning advice, and in July 2025 said the work deserved an IRS examination.[^11] Among former employees, [[Robert Garder Terrell]], spokesman and financial manager of [[The Finders]], had been an IRS appeals officer, and [[Peter Videnieks]], the Justice Department contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract with [[Inslaw]], described his employment in a 1987 deposition as beginning with the service, followed by the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]] Goddard Space Flight Center and the [[U.S. Customs]] Service.[^12][^13][^14]
### Footnotes
@ -70,4 +70,5 @@ In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 milli
[^10]: Gwynne, S.C. "Bunker Hunt," *Texas Monthly,* September 2001. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/bunker-hunt/
[^11]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023, https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein ; "Leon Black's $158 Million Sent to Epstein Draws Senate Probe." *Bloomberg,* July 25, 2023.
[^12]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation." *U.S. News & World Report,* December 27, 1993 / January 3, 1994; Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." *Washington City Paper*, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/
[^13]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^13]: Deposition of Peter Videnieks, In re INSLAW, Inc., Adversary Proceeding No. 86-0069 (Bankr. D.D.C.), 1987. https://archive.org/details/InslawVidenieksDepositions1987
[^14]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.

213
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/National Security Council.md
View file

@ -4,41 +4,226 @@ aliases:
- National Security Council
- NSC
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-09
tags:
- Organization
- Government
- USA
- NationalSecurity
- Presidential
- CovertAction
- PsychologicalWarfare
- NSC5412
- NSC68
- Stargate
- UAPRecords
- IranContra
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "Principal presidential forum for national security and foreign policy matters that under the Reagan administration became an operational intelligence agency running Oliver North's illegal Contra supply network."
summary: "Presidential council created in 1947 that issued the written covert-action directives NSC 4-A, NSC 10/2 and NSC 5412, and whose staff ran the operations later exposed in the Iran-Contra affair."
start: 1947-07-26
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[William Yandell Elliott]]"
reverse: true
role: "Office of Defense Mobilization representative on the NSC Planning Board"
start: 1953
end: 1954
fn: 16
- type: member_of
with: "[[40 Committee]]"
reverse: true
role: "Subcommittee that replaced the 303 Committee under National Security Decision Memorandum 40"
start: 1970-02-17
fn: 29
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
reverse: true
role: "Council staff member who, per Walsh, had working control of the Secord-Hakim Enterprise"
fn: 64
- type: head_of
with: "[[Robert McFarlane]]"
reverse: true
role: "National Security Adviser; Walsh found that the Council's staff at times became operational under him"
fn: 53
- type: head_of
with: "[[John Poindexter]]"
reverse: true
role: "National Security Adviser, appointment announced by President Reagan on December 4, 1985"
start: 1985-12-04
fn: 65
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Gary Sick]]"
reverse: true
role: "Council staff member, described in the 1993 House Task Force report as a former NSC staff member whose superior was National Security Adviser Brzezinski"
fn: 51
- type: member_of
with: "[[John McCone]]"
reverse: true
role: "Director of Central Intelligence; member of the 303 Committee, the renamed Special Group 5412"
start: 1964-06-02
fn: 26
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
role: "Council staff ran the Iran and Contra operations; the independent counsel found both violated United States policy and law"
start: 1985
end: 1986-11
fn: 61
---
The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with senior advisors and Cabinet officials.[^1]
The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with senior advisors and Cabinet officials.[^1] Section 101 of the [[National Security Act of 1947]] established the Council to advise the President on the integration of domestic, foreign and military policies relating to national security.[^1] Section 102(d)(5) of the act allowed the Council to direct the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) to perform "such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time direct."[^2] The Council used that authority to issue written directives that governed the agency's covert operations. Subcommittees of the Council, later the Special Group (5412), the 303 Committee and the 40 Committee, reviewed and approved those operations.
### Covert directives, 1947 to 1948
On December 17, 1947 the Council approved NSC 4-A, which directed the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] to "initiate and conduct, within the limit of available funds, covert psychological operations designed to counteract Soviet and Soviet-inspired activities which constitute a threat to world peace and security or are designed to discredit and defeat the United States in its endeavors to promote world peace and security."[^3] The directive charged the Director of Central Intelligence with ensuring that such operations were consistent with United States foreign policy and overt foreign information activities. The minutes of the Council's fourth meeting refer only to NSC 4. [[Harry S. Truman]] approved the companion paper, NSC 4, on December 18, 1947.[^4]
NSC 10/2, approved June 17, 1948 and dated June 18, provided that "A new Office of Special Projects shall be created within the Central Intelligence Agency to plan and conduct covert operations."[^5] [[Frank Wisner]]'s memoranda of the period carry the title Assistant Director for Policy Coordination, the title of the [[Office of Policy Coordination]] (OPC).[^6]
### Psychological operations boards
President Truman's directive of April 4, 1951 created the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] to plan and coordinate national psychological operations. The Board consisted of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, and reported to the Council. [[Gordon Gray]] was its first Director.[^7] NSC 10/5, approved October 23, 1951, set out the Board's functions.[^8]
Executive Order 10483, signed by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] on September 2, 1953, established the [[Operations Coordinating Board]] (OCB), reporting to the Council. Its members were the Under Secretary of State, who chaired it, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, the Director of Central Intelligence and a representative of the President designated by the President; the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs could attend its meetings. Section 4 provided that the Psychological Strategy Board be abolished not later than sixty days after the order and its outstanding affairs wound up by the OCB.[^9][^10]
### NSC 68
The State-Defense Policy Review Group met on March 2, 10 and 16, 1950 to consider the drafts that became [[NSC-68]].[^11] The final paper is dated April 7, 1950.[^12]
### Planning Board
The NSC Planning Board prepared the papers that the Council considered. The minutes of the 225th Council meeting, November 24, 1954, list the Planning Board members present as representatives of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the [[Foreign Operations Administration]], the [[Office of Defense Mobilization]] (ODM), the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], the CIA, the [[Bureau of the Budget]] and the [[Atomic Energy Commission]].[^13]
The ODM member was [[William Yandell Elliott]], a professor of government at [[Harvard University]]. The minutes of May 27, 1953 identify him as "W. Y. Elliott, ODM Planning Board Member," and the minutes of July 16, 1953 list "William Y. Elliott, Office of Defense Mobilization."[^14][^15] The Foreign Relations list of persons gives his posts as Assistant Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, 1952 to 1953, and ODM Representative on the Planning Board of the National Security Council, 1953 to 1954.[^16] The Hoover Institution's biographical note for his papers lists him as a member of the National Security Council planning board from 1953 to 1957.[^17] The Harvard Crimson reported in July 1959, when he left for Moscow with Vice President [[Richard Nixon]] as Director of the Harvard Summer School, that since 1953 he had been a member of the National Security Council planning board and had served as assistant director of the Office of Defense Mobilization from 1951 to 1953.[^18] The Eisenhower Library's finding aid for the Council's administrative subseries lists a folder of 1949 to 1953 containing "suggestions by William Elliott re reorganization of the NSC."[^19] Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken wrote in 1998 in *Steamshovel Press* that [[Charles Marsh]] facilitated [[Marion Pettie]]'s tie to Elliott.[^20]
### NSC 5412 and the committee succession
NSC 5412, dated March 15, 1954, told the Director of Central Intelligence to consult the Operations Coordinating Board "and other departments or agencies as appropriate."[^21] The Special Group (NSC 5412) met with Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] on February 26, 1962.[^22]
NSC 5412/1 was approved on March 12, 1955.[^23] NSC 5412/2, approved December 28, 1955, superseded NSC 10/2, NSC 10/5, NSC 5412 and NSC 5412/1. It provided that designated representatives of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense of the rank of Assistant Secretary or above, and a representative of the President designated for the purpose, would be advised in advance of major covert programs initiated by the CIA and would be "the normal channel for giving policy approval for such programs."[^24]
In March 1955 a Planning Coordination Group was set up within the Operations Coordinating Board. The Bureau of the Budget had proposed it as "a special grouping of OCB members chaired by Mr. Rockefeller," and [[Nelson Rockefeller]] was designated its chairman on March 10, 1955.[^25]
National Security Action Memorandum 303, signed by [[McGeorge Bundy]] on June 2, 1964 and addressed to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, stated: "Henceforth, the Special Group 5412 will be known as the 303 Committee," and that the change "in no way alters the composition, function or responsibility of the Special Group 5412 as authorized by NSC 5412/2." An undated list in the Foreign Relations volume identifies the members of the 303 Committee as Bundy, Director of Central Intelligence [[John McCone]], Acting Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs [[Llewellyn Thompson]] and Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Cyrus Vance]].[^26] The Foreign Relations annotation records that the committee considered a proposal concerning the 1964 [[Chile|Chilean]] presidential election on July 23, 1964.[^27] On October 18, 1969 Director of Central Intelligence [[Richard Helms]] sent [[Henry Kissinger]] a memorandum on the annual review of the 303 Committee's programs.[^28]
National Security Decision Memorandum 40, signed February 17, 1970, converted the 303 Committee into the [[40 Committee]], updating NSC 5412/2.[^29]
### Presidential covert-action directives
NSDD 17 of January 4, 1982, titled "National Security Decision Directive on Cuba and Central America," listed among its decisions "Support democratic forces in Nicaragua."[^30] NSDD 159 of January 18, 1985, titled "Covert Action Policy Approval and Coordination Procedures," states that "The National Security Council must coordinate all of the instruments of US national security." It made the National Security Planning Group, "as a committee of the National Security Council," the body to recommend to the President on each proposed covert action Finding, created a Planning and Coordination Group chaired by the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and assigned the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the Council staff to act as recorder of the NSPG's minutes, to keep its records and to administer the special access security compartment protecting covert action policies.[^31]
### Psi Research
During the late 1970s, the NSC tasked remote viewers with highly sensitive intelligence problems, including the remote viewing of a new Soviet Typhoon-class submarine at Severodvinsk. The accuracy of sessions by [[Joe McMoneagle]] sparked debate within the NSC regarding the value of psychic intelligence.[^1]
During the late 1970s, the NSC tasked remote viewers with highly sensitive intelligence problems, including the remote viewing of a new Soviet Typhoon-class submarine at [[Severodvinsk]]. The accuracy of sessions by [[Joe McMoneagle]] sparked debate within the NSC regarding the value of psychic intelligence.[^32]
### Modern UAP Involvement
Documents in the CIA's [[Stargate Project]] files refer to the Council's role in the [[Grill Flame]] program. An Army briefing text states "We were tasked by the NSC Staff in late 1979."[^33] [[Jake Stewart]] is listed as an "NSC Staff Member" at a briefing of Rose on the program.[^34] A Grill Flame schedule for August 1 lists a National Security Council stop at the Executive Office Building.[^35] A July 22, 1980 Army document (DAMI-ISH) lists the National Security Council among the officials who favor US government involvement in the field, noting that it "evidently favors" it.[^36] An information paper addressed to the Secretary of Defense states that "The NSC Staff is preparing to brief [[David Aaron]] and [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Zbig]] on the phenomena and DoD efforts."[^37] Minutes of a Defense Department Grill Flame meeting record that the NSC regarded remote viewing work as a possible privacy act issue and that the White House legal staff was to review it.[^38]
[[Luis Elizondo]] managed Special Access Programs for the NSC during his career. The NSC has been briefed on the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] issue by the [[UAP Task Force]] and its successor, the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]].[^2]
A 1984 memorandum in the same files quotes [[Barbara Honegger]] on high-level awareness of parapsychology achievements at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], the Office of Policy Development and the NSC.[^39]
### Dark Alliance Investigation
### UAP records and briefings
Under the Reagan administration, the NSC became an operational intelligence agency based inside the [[White House]]. It ran [[Oliver North]]'s illegal Contra supply network, known as "The Enterprise," after Congress cut off military aid through the [[Boland Amendment]]. CIA records showed that Hangar No. 4 at [[Ilopango Airbase]] was used by the Agency for covert Contra operations until it was turned over to the NSC and North's network in 1985.[^3]
The [[Majestic-12]] record includes the Cutler-Twining memorandum of July 14, 1954, addressed by [[Robert Cutler]], special assistant to the President, to General [[Nathan F. Twining|Twining]]. It refers to an "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project" and a briefing on July 16.[^40] The National Archives wrote that its search of the National Security Council indexes was negative except for the Cutler memorandum.[^41]
CIA agent [[Moises Nunez|Dagoberto Nuñez]] revealed that since 1985 he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the NSC, and refused to elaborate on narcotics trafficking because of the specific tasks he had performed at the NSC's direction. CIA headquarters ordered an immediate halt to his questioning.[^4]
A memorandum from [[H. Marshall Chadwell]] to the Director of Central Intelligence, catalogued under December 9, 1952, had attached a draft memorandum to the Council and a draft NSC directive. It stated that on August 20 the Director had directed preparation of a National Security Council directive on unidentified flying objects.[^42] The [[Robertson Panel]] met from January 14 to 17, 1953.[^43] Haines wrote that the panel recommended that the National Security Council "debunk UFO reports" and institute a policy of public education, and that following the panel's findings the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSC Intelligence Directive on UFOs.[^44] The panel's own report describes its proposed educational program as having the two aims of "training and 'debunking,'" and records that the panel considered the technical manpower cost of following up "every one of the thousand or more reports received through channels each year (1,900 in 1952)" unjustified.[^45]
The NSC's role became public after the October 1986 shootdown of a CIA cargo plane over [[Nicaragua]], exposing the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. North was indicted on sixteen felony counts. The scandal revealed the NSC had been selling arms to [[Iran]] and diverting profits to the [[Contras]] in direct violation of congressional prohibitions.[^3]
[[Luis Elizondo]] told the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in written testimony of November 13, 2024: "In my last position, I managed a Special Access Program on behalf of the White House and the National Security Council."[^46] The biography submitted with the testimony gives his position as Director, National Programs Special Management Staff, in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.[^47] In *Imminent* he wrote that the Special Management Staff managed national-level special access programs for the NSC and that the NSC has been briefed on the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] issue by the [[UAP Task Force]] and its successor, the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]].[^48]
[[Sean Kirkpatrick]], the first director of that office, held the post of Director, National Security Strategy, at the National Security Council, according to the Defense Department biography released on the office's establishment.[^49] Asked by [[Douglas Dean Johnson]] whether anyone in the White House, the Executive Office of the President or the NSC had pressed him to soften his opposition to the UAP Disclosure Act, Kirkpatrick replied by email on July 23, 2024: "The White House could have cared less about this issue. No one from the White House, EOP, NSC, or any other 'higher authority' called me or my boss to put pressure on me to soften my position on the UAPDA."[^50]
### Gary Sick and the October Surprise
[[Gary Sick]] was a member of the Council staff. The House Task Force report of 1993 describes him as a former NSC staff member and records that his superior was National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.[^51] Sick published "The Election Story of the Decade" in the *New York Times* on April 15, 1991 and the book *October Surprise* the same year, alleging that the 1980 [[Ronald Reagan]] campaign negotiated with Iranian representatives over the release of the American hostages.[^51] The Task Force, chaired by [[Lee Hamilton]], gave Sick formal interviews and took his sworn deposition. Its report records his testimony that Jamshid Hashemi was his exclusive source for what was discussed at the alleged meetings in Madrid. The Task Force's joint report of January 3, 1993 stated that it "explains why either wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate the allegations that form the October Surprise theory."[^51]
### Central America and the Enterprise
[[Gary Webb]] wrote that under the Reagan administration the NSC became an operational intelligence agency based inside the [[White House]]. It ran [[Oliver North]]'s illegal Contra supply network, known as "The Enterprise," after Congress cut off military aid through the [[Boland Amendment]].[^52] The independent counsel's final report states that the Council's staff "at times became operational, taking on primary responsibility for the execution of the Iran and contra covert operations."[^53]
Webb wrote that CIA records showed that Hangar No. 4 at [[Ilopango Airbase]] was used by the Agency for covert Contra operations until it was turned over in 1985 to the NSC and North's network.[^54] The CIA Inspector General's report gives a different account. It states that in 1984 the CIA moved its activities from Hangar 4 to a newly built hangar, Hangar 5, and that "After CIA had moved out of Hangar 4, it was used in 1985 and 1986 by NHAO and the Private Benefactors in support of their Contra-related operations."[^55] The report says a March 18, 1986 DEA report stated that the pilot [[Carlos Amador]] had recently flown from [[Costa Rica]] to [[San Salvador]], where he had access to Hangar 4. A CIA officer who drafted one cable surmised that another entity operating from Hangar 4 "may have been associated either with Oliver North, the Private Benefactors, or the [[NHAO|Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office]] (NHAO)."[^55]
The CIA Inspector General's report, in its section on [[Moises Nunez]] (paragraphs 480 to 496), records that on March 25, 1987 the CIA questioned him about narcotics trafficking allegations and that "Nunez revealed that since 1985, he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the National Security Council (NSC)." He "refused to elaborate on the nature of these actions but indicated it was difficult to answer questions relating to his involvement in narcotics trafficking because of the specific tasks he had performed at the direction of the NSC," and he refused to identify the NSC officials involved. A headquarters cable of April 1987 first said a decision had been made to debrief him; the next day a headquarters cable stated "Headquarters has decided against . . . debriefing Nunez," without explanation.[^56] The CIA officer Louis Dupart told the Inspector General that the Agency position was to turn the matter over to others because "it had nothing to do with the Agency, but with the National Security Council." [[Alan Fiers]] wrote to the Inspector General: "because of the NSC connection and the possibility that this could be somehow connected to the Private Benefactor program (otherwise known as the Iran Contra affair) a decision was made not to pursue this matter, but rather to turn it over to Judge Walsh."[^56] On April 10, 1987 CIA officials briefed Senators Warren Rudman and William Cohen of the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition on Nunez's claim, and the senators asked that committee staff interview him. The report states that an interview of Nunez in San Jose in September 1987 indicated that he denied any relationship with the NSC or with anyone doing work for it.[^56]
Webb quoted the Inspector General's passage in *Dark Alliance*, naming the subject as Nunez, the Frigorificos de Puntarenas principal.[^57] Webb's text separately names a Bay of Pigs veteran, Dagoberto Nunez, as a Costa Rica based associate of North and the CIA who obtained a contract with H&M Corp. for an intelligence-gathering operation against Nicaraguan president [[Daniel Ortega]], and who with [[Felipe Vidal]] was part of the Costa Rican maritime operations.[^58] Both men are described as Cuban Bay of Pigs veterans, and both appear in [[Robert Owen]]'s memoranda to North on shrimp boats and shrimping ventures in Costa Rica. Whether Dagoberto Nunez and Moises Nunez are one person is not stated in the Inspector General's report, the Senate report or Webb's text; the Inspector General and the Senate subcommittee use only the name Moises. See [[Dagoberto Nunez]].
The Senate subcommittee report names a Moises Nunez who, with Frank Chanes, participated in Contra military assistance operations in 1984 and 1985. It says he was employed by Frigorificos de Puntarenas, which the report describes as a drug money laundering front, and by Glenn Robinette on behalf of the Second-North Enterprise, and that the former CIA Costa Rica chief of station [[Thomas Castillo]] told the Iran-Contra committees that Nunez was involved in "a very sensitive operation" for the Enterprise.[^59]
The Senate subcommittee chaired by [[John Kerry]] reported that "The NSC ordered all relevant agencies to withhold their files on [[Panama]] from the GAO," and that the subcommittee "has not been able to undertake a full analysis of how the Noriega problem was handled by the U.S. prior to his indictment."[^60] In a letter of July 13, 1988 to the General Accounting Office, [[Nicholas Rostow]], Special Assistant to the President and Legal Adviser at the Council, described the GAO's request for files on [[Manuel Noriega]] as seeking "sensitive law enforcement and intelligence files covering a substantial period of time."[^60]
### Iran-Contra staff
The Council's role became public after the October 1986 shootdown of a CIA cargo plane over [[Nicaragua]], which exposed the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. North was indicted on sixteen felony counts.[^52] The scandal revealed that the Council had been selling arms to [[Iran]] and diverting profits to the [[Contras]] in violation of congressional prohibitions.[^52] The independent counsel's executive summary states that "both the Iran and contra operations, separately, violated United States policy and law."[^61] The congressional committees investigating the affair published their report in 1987.[^62]
Walsh wrote that the Council's staff "at times became operational" under [[Robert McFarlane]], who "did not shrink from the operational tasks that were of high personal interest to the President."[^53] The report also states that McFarlane "apparently played no role in approving or implementing the Iran/contra diversion."[^63] Walsh found that North "had working control of the Secord-Hakim covert-action Enterprise," a network of [[Richard Secord]] and [[Albert Hakim]].[^64]
President Reagan announced on December 4, 1985 the resignation of McFarlane and the appointment of Vice Admiral [[John Poindexter]] as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.[^65] The Tower Commission wrote that at the beginning of December 1985 McFarlane resigned and Poindexter succeeded him.[^66] The independent counsel's executive summary states that Reagan's 1985 decision "to authorize the sale of arms to Iran from [[Israel|Israeli]] stocks, despite warnings by Weinberger and Shultz that such transfers might violate the law, opened the way for Poindexter's subsequent decision to authorize the diversion." It records that Poindexter told Congress that "while he made the decision on his own and did not tell the President, he believed the President would have approved."[^61]
The [[Tower Commission]] wrote in 1987 that "it is the Assistant for National Security Affairs who seems to have had the least access to expert counsel familiar with his activities."[^67]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Cast of Characters
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 14: "It's bigger than I can handle"
[^1]: National Security Act of 1947, ch. 343, 61 Stat. 495, sec. 101. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-61/pdf/STATUTE-61-Pg495.pdf
[^2]: National Security Act of 1947, 61 Stat. 495, sec. 102(d)(5). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-61/pdf/STATUTE-61-Pg495.pdf
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 257, December 17, 1947, approving NSC 4-A. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d257
[^4]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 257, recording that Truman approved NSC 4 on December 18, 1947 and that the file contains no mention of presidential approval of NSC 4-A. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d257
[^5]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 292, National Security Council directive on the Office of Special Projects (NSC 10/2), June 18, 1948. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d292
[^6]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 316, memorandum from the Assistant Director for Policy Coordination, Central Intelligence Agency (Wisner). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d316
[^7]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 60, editorial note on the directive of April 4, 1951 (the Board of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, reporting to the NSC; Gordon Gray as first Director). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d60
[^8]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 157, Executive Order 10483, which refers to the functions assigned in NSC 10/5, approved October 23, 1951. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d157
[^9]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 157, Executive Order 10483 of September 2, 1953, sec. 1(a), 1(b), 1(d) and 4. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d157
[^10]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 158, memorandum of September 2, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d158
[^11]: FRUS 1950, vol. I, docs. 65, 69 and 70, minutes of State-Defense Policy Review Group meetings, March 2, 10 and 16, 1950. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v01/d65
[^12]: FRUS 1950, vol. I, doc. 85, NSC 68, April 7, 1950. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v01/d85
[^13]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, doc. 136, minutes of the 225th meeting of the National Security Council, November 24, 1954, listing the NSC Planning Board members. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1/d136
[^14]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 2, doc. 90, minutes of the 146th meeting of the National Security Council, May 27, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p2/d90
[^15]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, doc. 79, minutes of the 155th meeting of the National Security Council, July 16, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1/d79
[^16]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, list of persons, entry "Elliott, William Y." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1
[^17]: Hoover Institution Library and Archives, William Yandell Elliott papers, biographical note: "member, planning board, National Security Council, 1953-1957." https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1199n4gh/
[^18]: "Elliott Flies to Moscow With Nixon's Mission," The Harvard Crimson, July 23, 1959. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/7/23/elliott-flies-to-moscow-with-nixons/
[^19]: Eisenhower Presidential Library, Office of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, NSC Series, Administrative Subseries finding aid, folder "National Security Council - organization and Functions (1) [1949-1953]." https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/who-osansa/nsc-series-administrative-subseries.pdf
[^20]: Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken, "The Finders' Keeper," Steamshovel Press #16, 1998.
[^21]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 171, NSC 5412, March 15, 1954. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d171
[^22]: FRUS 1961-1963, vol. X, doc. 309, chronology entry for February 26, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d309
[^23]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 212, NSC 5412/1, March 12, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d212
[^24]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 250, NSC 5412/2, December 28, 1955, paras. 7 and 8. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d250
[^25]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 210, Bureau of the Budget memorandum, with the annotation on the March 10, 1955 designation of Rockefeller. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210
[^26]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 303, "Change in Name of Special Group 5412," June 2, 1964, as printed in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXIII, doc. 204, with footnote 2 listing the members. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d204
[^27]: FRUS 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, doc. 262, editorial note on the 303 Committee, July 23, 1964. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d262
[^28]: FRUS 1969-1976, vol. II, doc. 195, memorandum from Director of Central Intelligence Helms to Henry A. Kissinger, October 18, 1969. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d195
[^29]: FRUS 1969-1976, vol. XVII, doc. 30, annotation on National Security Decision Memorandum 40 of February 17, 1970, "thus updating NSC 5412/2." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d30
[^30]: National Security Decision Directive 17, January 4, 1982, National Security Decision Directive on Cuba and Central America. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/reference/scanned-nsdds/nsdd17.pdf
[^31]: National Security Decision Directive 159, January 18, 1985, Covert Action Policy Approval and Coordination Procedures. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/reference/scanned-nsdds/nsdd159.pdf
[^32]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^33]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001100290005-5, Army briefing text. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001100290005-5
[^34]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190001-0, record of an INSCOM briefing of Rose on the Grill Flame program. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001100190001-0
[^35]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5, Grill Flame schedule, August 1. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001300120001-5
[^36]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250002-2, DAMI-ISH information paper, July 22, 1980. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000250002-2
[^37]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250060-8, information paper addressed to the Secretary of Defense. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000250060-8
[^38]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130022-3, minutes of a Department of Defense Grill Flame meeting. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000130022-3
[^39]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001200030003-4, 1984 memorandum quoting Barbara Honegger. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001200030003-4
[^40]: Memorandum from Robert Cutler to General Twining, July 14, 1954, "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project," as described in the National Archives reference report on Majestic 12. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
[^41]: National Archives and Records Administration, reference report on Majestic 12 and the NSC indexes search. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
[^42]: H. Marshall Chadwell, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Unidentified Flying Objects," with attached draft memorandum to the National Security Council and draft NSC directive, CIA CREST document CIA-RDP81R00560R000100020008-2 (reading-room publication date December 9, 1952). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81r00560r000100020008-2
[^43]: Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90," Studies in Intelligence (1997), section "The Robertson Panel, 1952-53." https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html
[^44]: Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90," Studies in Intelligence (1997), section "The Robertson Panel, 1952-53": "To meet these problems, the panel recommended that the National Security Council debunk UFO reports" and "Following the Robertson panel findings, the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSCID on UFOs." https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html
[^45]: "Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel), 14-18 January 1953," printed as Appendix U to the Condon Report, sections "Educational Program" and the Tremonton film discussion. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/appndx-u.htm
[^46]: Luis Elizondo, written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Written-Testimony-Elizondo.pdf
[^47]: Biography of Luis Elizondo, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing of November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Bio-ElizondoL-20241113.pdf
[^48]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
[^49]: "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick's Biography, Released by DoD," with "DoD Announces the Establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office," July 20, 2022. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office-july-20-2022/
[^50]: Douglas Dean Johnson, "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, quoting Kirkpatrick's email of July 23, 2024. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/
[^51]: Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 ("October Surprise Task Force"), House of Representatives, 102d Congress, January 3, 1993, Introduction, the Minority views on the Tabatabai request, and the note citing Sick's New York Times article of April 15, 1991 and his depositions. https://archive.org/details/JointReportOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce
[^52]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion*. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Cast of Characters.
[^53]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 1. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm
[^54]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13.
[^55]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation on allegations of connections between CIA and the Contras in cocaine trafficking, classified December 17, 1997, unclassified January 29, 1998, paras. 447 (March 18, 1986 DEA report), 453 (drafter of the cable) and 1023 (Hangar 4 and Hangar 5). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06974497
[^56]: CIA Office of Inspector General report, paras. 480 to 496, section headed "Moises Nunez" (para. 490 on the questioning, para. 491 on the headquarters cable, para. 492 on Dupart, para. 493 on the briefing of Senators Rudman and Cohen, para. 494 on Fiers, para. 495 on the September 1987 interview). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06974497
[^57]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998, passage quoting the CIA Inspector General on Nunez's March 1987 questioning and Fiers's statement that it was stopped "because of the NSC connection."
[^58]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998, passages on H&M Corp. and Owen's memoranda to North, and on the Costa Rican maritime operations with Felipe Vidal.
[^59]: U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), text at notes 140 and 141 on Frigorificos de Puntarenas, Ocean Hunter, the Second-North Enterprise and Castillo. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^60]: U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), chapter on Panama and the GAO, and the July 13, 1988 letter from Nicholas Rostow to Nancy R. Kingsbury, General Accounting Office, printed in the report. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^61]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, executive summary. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm
[^62]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (1987). https://archive.org/details/reportofcongress05unit
[^63]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, part II. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/part_ii.htm
[^64]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 2. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm
[^65]: Ronald Reagan, "Remarks Announcing the Resignation of Robert C. McFarlane as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Appointment of John M. Poindexter," December 4, 1985. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-announcing-resignation-robert-c-mcfarlane-assistant-president-national
[^66]: The Tower Commission Report (1987), section "December 1985: Bird's Eye View." https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^67]: The Tower Commission Report: The Full Text of the President's Special Review Board (1987). https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit