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- MI6
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- SIS
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- ColdWar
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summary: "MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS) is the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence service, whose operations documented in this vault include the joint 1953 CIA-MI6 coup in Iran, Cold War coordination with the CIA on Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Robert Maxwell-Mossad intelligence network, and the Arms-to-Iraq affair."
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aliases:
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- "Secret Intelligence Service"
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- "SIS"
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summary: "The United Kingdom's foreign intelligence service, put on a statutory footing in 1994, which ran the 1953 Iran coup with the CIA and employed the Soviet agent George Blake until 1961."
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created: 2026-05-14
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updated: 2026-05-14
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updated: 2026-09-22
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location: "London, United Kingdom"
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relations:
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[George Blake]]"
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reverse: true
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end: 1961
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fn: 4
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---
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The [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (SIS), known popularly as MI6, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s foreign intelligence service, responsible for collecting intelligence from overseas sources. It operates under the authority of the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]] and reports to the Foreign Secretary, with parliamentary oversight through the Intelligence and Security Committee. Its legal basis was established by the Intelligence Services Act 1994. Its current headquarters, known as Vauxhall Cross, opened on the south bank of the Thames in [[London]] in 1994; the building's distinctive architecture made it a publicly known landmark, ending decades of official non-acknowledgment of SIS's existence.[^1]
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The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), known popularly as MI6, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s foreign intelligence service, responsible for collecting intelligence from overseas sources. It operates under the authority of the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]] and reports to the Foreign Secretary, with parliamentary oversight through the Intelligence and Security Committee. The Intelligence Services Act 1994 provides that "there shall continue to be a Secret Intelligence Service" under the authority of the Secretary of State, with the functions of obtaining and providing information "relating to the actions or intentions of persons outside the British Islands" and performing "other tasks" relating to them, in the interests of national security, of "the economic well-being of the United Kingdom," or of the prevention or detection of serious crime.[^1] Its current headquarters, known as Vauxhall Cross, opened on the south bank of the Thames in [[London]] in 1994; the building's distinctive architecture made it a publicly known landmark, ending decades of official non-acknowledgment of SIS's existence.[^2]
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### Origins and World War II
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SIS traces its origins to the Secret Service Bureau established in 1909, which split in 1910 into domestic (later [[MI5]]) and foreign intelligence (later SIS) sections. During [[World War II]], SIS worked alongside the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American [[Office of Strategic Services]], forming the intelligence relationships - particularly with the United States - that became the post-war [[Five Eyes]] intelligence alliance. The [[UKUSA Agreement]] of 1946 formalized intelligence sharing between SIS's signals partner [[GCHQ]] and the American [[NSA|National Security Agency]].[^1]
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SIS traces its origins to the Secret Service Bureau established in 1909, which split in 1910 into domestic (later [[MI5]]) and foreign intelligence (later SIS) sections. During [[World War II]], SIS worked alongside the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American [[Office of Strategic Services]], forming the intelligence relationships - particularly with the United States - that became the post-war [[Five Eyes]] intelligence alliance. The [[UKUSA Agreement]] of 1946 formalized intelligence sharing between SIS's signals partner [[GCHQ]] and the American [[NSA|National Security Agency]].[^2]
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### Operation Boot: The Iran Coup
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SIS's most historically significant joint operation with the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] was Operation Boot (the American component was called Operation Ajax) in August 1953. British and American intelligence officers, including SIS officer Norman Darbyshire and CIA officer [[Kermit Roosevelt Jr.]], organized a coup in [[Iran]] that removed elected Prime Minister [[Mohammad Mosaddegh]] and restored [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] to full power. The British motivation was primarily the recovery of nationalized [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company|Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]] assets; the American motivation was preventing a communist takeover. The operation established the template for Cold War covert regime change and the long-term relationship between the CIA and [[SAVAK]], the Shah's intelligence service.[^2]
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SIS's most historically significant joint operation with the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] was Operation Boot (the American component was called Operation Ajax) in August 1953. British and American intelligence officers, including SIS officer Norman Darbyshire and CIA officer [[Kermit Roosevelt Jr.]], organized a coup in [[Iran]] that removed elected Prime Minister [[Mohammad Mosaddegh]] and restored [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] to full power. The British motivation was primarily the recovery of nationalized [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company|Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]] assets; the American motivation was preventing a communist takeover. The operation established the template for Cold War covert regime change and the long-term relationship between the CIA and [[SAVAK]], the Shah's intelligence service.[^3]
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### Cold War Operations
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SIS maintained liaison relationships with intelligence services across the [[Middle East]], Africa, and Asia throughout the Cold War. Its cooperation with Mossad - the [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence service - is described in numerous memoirs and investigative accounts as extensive, covering operations in Arab states, Iranian intelligence assessments, and personnel exchanges. [[David Kimche]], the senior Mossad officer who initiated the Iran-Contra arms channel, was born in [[London]] and cultivated SIS relationships throughout his career.
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SIS maintained liaison relationships with intelligence services across the [[Middle East]], Africa, and Asia throughout the Cold War. Its cooperation with Mossad - the [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence service - is described in numerous memoirs and investigative accounts as extensive, covering operations in Arab states, Iranian intelligence assessments, and personnel exchanges. [[David Kimche]], the senior Mossad officer who initiated the Iran-Contra arms channel, was born in London and cultivated SIS relationships throughout his career.
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In [[Afghanistan]], SIS coordinated with the CIA's [[Operation Cyclone]] through SAS training programs for mujahideen fighters during the Soviet occupation (1979-1989). The relationship between SIS and Pakistan's [[ISI]] during this period was close and operationally significant.[^1]
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In [[Afghanistan]], SIS coordinated with the CIA's [[Operation Cyclone]] through SAS training programs for mujahideen fighters during the Soviet occupation (1979-1989). The relationship between SIS and Pakistan's [[ISI]] during this period was close and operationally significant.[^2]
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[[George Blake]], an SIS officer who had worked for the KGB, was exposed in 1961 on information from the Polish defector Michał Goleniewski, confessed when confronted in April 1961, and was tried at the [[Old Bailey]] and sentenced to 42 years.[^4]
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### Robert Maxwell
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Multiple former intelligence officers, including [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] and [[Victor Ostrovsky]], asserted that press baron [[Robert Maxwell]] worked simultaneously for [[Mossad]] and had relationships with multiple Western intelligence services including SIS. Maxwell's access to senior British politicians, his publishing empire (which included scientific journals widely distributed in the Soviet bloc), and his Central European connections made him valuable to intelligence services. [[Nicholas Davies]], his [[Daily Mirror]] foreign editor, was accused of operating as a Mossad asset. SIS's relationship with Maxwell was not officially confirmed.[^2]
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Multiple former intelligence officers, including [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] and [[Victor Ostrovsky]], asserted that press baron [[Robert Maxwell]] worked simultaneously for [[Mossad]] and had relationships with multiple Western intelligence services including SIS. Maxwell's access to senior British politicians, his publishing empire (which included scientific journals widely distributed in the Soviet bloc), and his Central European connections made him valuable to intelligence services. [[Nicholas Davies]], his [[Daily Mirror]] foreign editor, was accused of operating as a Mossad asset. SIS's relationship with Maxwell was not officially confirmed.[^3]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: "Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)," UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/secret-intelligence-service
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[^2]: Dorril, Stephen. *MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service.* Free Press, 2000.
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[^1]: Intelligence Services Act 1994, c. 13, s. 1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/13/section/1
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[^2]: "Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)," UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/secret-intelligence-service
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[^3]: Dorril, Stephen. *MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service.* Free Press, 2000.
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[^4]: Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.* Doubleday, 2007; Murphy, David E., Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey. *Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War.* Yale University Press, 1997.
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53
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/Old Bailey.md
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53
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/Old Bailey.md
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@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
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---
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category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
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aliases:
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- "Central Criminal Court"
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tags:
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- Organization
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- UK
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- London
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- Court
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summary: "The Central Criminal Court in the City of London, where George Blake, the Matrix Churchill directors, the Maxwell brothers and the National Action and Sonnenkrieg Division defendants were tried."
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location: "Old Bailey, City of London"
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relations:
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- type: owned
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with: "[[City of London Corporation]]"
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reverse: true
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fn: 1
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created: 2026-09-22
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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The Central Criminal Court, "universally known as the Old Bailey," is a crown court centre in the [[City of London]] that hears cases from the City and Greater [[London]] and cases remitted to it from elsewhere in England and Wales. The [[City of London Corporation]] owns and administers the building, and the central chair in each of its courts is reserved for the Lord Mayor. Its courthouses have stood on the line of the Roman city wall beside Newgate prison; a courthouse completed in 1785 was enlarged in 1824, and ten years later an Act of Parliament extended the court's jurisdiction beyond the City and Middlesex to parts of Essex, Surrey and Kent and to British ships on the high seas. The present building, designed by Edward Mountford, was opened by King Edward VII in 1907, restored and enlarged after air-raid damage in 1941, and damaged again by an IRA car bomb in the 1970s.[^1] The act of 1834 is the Central Criminal Court Act, 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36.[^2]
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### Espionage and State Secrets
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[[George Blake]], the [[MI6]] officer who had worked for the Soviet Union, was exposed in 1961, tried at the Old Bailey, convicted on five counts of passing information useful to an enemy, and sentenced to 42 years, then the longest term imposed by a British court.[^3] In 1992 three directors of the machine-tool maker [[Matrix Churchill]], bought in 1987 by a holding company controlled from [[Baghdad]] by [[Iraq]]'s [[Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization]], were tried there for deceiving the export licensing authorities; the trial collapsed, and the collapse produced the [[Scott Inquiry]].[^4][^5]
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### The Maxwell Pensions
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[[Kevin Maxwell]] and [[Ian Maxwell]], sons of [[Robert Maxwell]], were prosecuted by the [[Serious Fraud Office]] over the removal of the Mirror Group pension funds' assets and tried at the Old Bailey; in January 1996, after a trial of about eight months, the jury acquitted both of conspiracy to defraud, and in September 1996 prosecutors decided not to pursue a second trial against Kevin.[^6][^7]
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### Terrorism Trials
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David Copeland, the London nail bomber, was convicted at the Old Bailey on June 30, 2000, of three murders by nail bomb and sentenced to six life terms.[^8] Prosecutions under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] followed. The first wave of [[National Action]] prosecutions ended in convictions there in July 2018.[^9] On June 18, 2019, Judge Rebecca Poulet QC sentenced [[Michael Szewczuk]] and [[Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski]] of the [[Sonnenkrieg Division]], calling their material "abhorrent as well as criminal by reason of their clear intention to encourage terrorist acts."[^10] [[Jacek Tchorzewski]] pleaded guilty there on June 21, 2019; [[Harry Vaughan]] was sentenced there in November 2020 by Mr Justice Sweeney, who called him "a dangerous offender"; and a Cornish teenager of the [[Feuerkrieg Division]], whom the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] called Britain's youngest terrorist, received a youth rehabilitation order there in February 2021.[^11][^12][^13] [[Benjamin Hannam]], a serving [[Metropolitan Police]] constable, was convicted there of National Action membership on April 1, 2021, and the Sonnenkrieg founder [[Andrew Dymock]] of fifteen counts in June 2021.[^14][^15] Danyal Hussein was convicted there on July 6, 2021, of murdering the sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, and [[Cameron Finnigan]] was sentenced there on January 16, 2025.[^16][^17]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: City of London Corporation, "Central Criminal Court." https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-us/law-historic-governance/central-criminal-court
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[^2]: Central Criminal Court Act 1834, 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36, legislation.gov.uk record (text not examined). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4/4-5/36/contents
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[^3]: Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.* Doubleday, 2007; Murphy, David E., Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey. *Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War.* Yale University Press, 1997.
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[^4]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Details on Iraq's Procurement Network," *Congressional Record,* House, August 10, 1992. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/congress/1992_cr/h920810g.htm
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[^5]: "Britain's 'Iraqgate': Major Woes," *The Christian Science Monitor,* November 12, 1992.
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[^6]: "Media Magnate Maxwell's Sons Acquitted of Charges They Raided Pension Fund," *The Washington Post,* January 20, 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/20/media-magnate-maxwells-sons-acquitted-of-charges-they-raided-pension-fund/1841c6cf-8340-4e9e-876c-9f862b4685b5/
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[^7]: "Unravelling the Web," *Pensions Archive Trust,* November 3, 2021. https://pensionsarchive.org.uk/2021/11/03/unravelling-the-web/
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[^8]: "Soho bomber David Copeland loses appeal over sentence," *PinkNews,* July 1, 2011. https://www.thepinknews.com/2011/07/01/soho-bomber-david-copeland-loses-appeal-over-sentence/
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[^9]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Co-founder of right-wing terror group convicted." May 2022. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/co-founder-right-wing-terror-group-convicted
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[^10]: "Two British teens just convicted for promoting far-right terrorism online." *The Washington Post,* June 18, 2019.
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[^11]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019.
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[^12]: "Teenage Satanist neo-Nazi avoids jail after admitting 14 terror offences." *ITV News London,* November 2, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-11-02/teenage-satanist-neo-nazi-harry-vaughan-sentenced-for-terror-offences
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[^13]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Youngest British terrorist sentenced for neo-Nazi manuals stash." February 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/youngest-british-terrorist-sentenced-neo-nazi-manuals-stash
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[^14]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Police officer guilty of membership of banned group and terrorism offences." April 1, 2021. https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/police-officer-guilty-membership-banned-group-and-terrorism-offences
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[^15]: Tell MAMA UK. "Neo-Nazi student to be sentenced for terrorism and hate offences." 2021. https://tellmamauk.org/neo-nazi-student-to-be-sentenced-for-terrorism-and-hate-offences/
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[^16]: "Campaigners renew call to ban Nazi-occultist group following Satanist murders of two sisters." *GB News,* 2021.
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[^17]: R v Cameron Finnigan, Sentencing Remarks, Central Criminal Court, January 16, 2025, Mr Justice Jay. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/R-v-Finnigan.pdf
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@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ category: "U.S. Government"
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summary: "The California Attorney General's Office is the chief law enforcement agency for the state of California."
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start: 1850
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location: "Sacramento, California"
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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The [[California Attorney General's Office]] is the chief law enforcement agency for the state of [[California]]. It is mentioned in the context of [[Ron Van Meter]] reporting drug dealing and other forms of corruption within the Mariposa Sheriff's Department to this office in Sacramento. Upon his return, Van Meter was confronted by Sheriff [[Paul Paige]], who had been informed by the Attorney General of Van Meter's visit and its contents.[^1]
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@ -16,4 +17,4 @@ Three consecutive grand jury foremen sought help from the [[California Attorney
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---
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
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[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. Sole source for the passages so cited.
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@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ After *Parade* published "[[Psychic Spying]]" on August 7, 1977, the committee a
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### Other Records
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In 2021 classified versions of the intelligence community's assessment of domestic violent extremism were briefed to the House and Senate intelligence committees.[^7] [[Jim Himes]], its ranking member in 2026, appeared that year on a leaked membership list of [[Peter Thiel]]'s Dialog society.[^8]
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In March 1998 CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] testified to the committee on the agency's relationships with Contra supporters involved in drug trafficking.[^10] On May 11, 2000, the committee released a unanimously adopted report on the allegations of [[Gary Webb]]'s [[Dark Alliance]] series, finding that the evidence did not support the implication "that the CIA was responsible for the crack epidemic in [[Los Angeles]] or anywhere else in the United States to further the cause of the Contra war in [[Central America]]."[^9] In 2021 classified versions of the intelligence community's assessment of domestic violent extremism were briefed to the House and Senate intelligence committees.[^7] [[Jim Himes]], its ranking member in 2026, appeared that year on a leaked membership list of [[Peter Thiel]]'s Dialog society.[^8]
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### Footnotes
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@ -49,3 +49,5 @@ In 2021 classified versions of the intelligence community's assessment of domest
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[^6]: Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs to Larry Combest, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, March 28, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100040002-2.
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[^7]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. "Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021." Unclassified summary, March 17, 2021.
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[^8]: Cameron, Dell, and Yulia Almazova. "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society." *WIRED,* June 16, 2026.
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[^9]: *Survey of Activities of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence During the 106th Congress,* H. Rept. 106-1054, 2001, "CIA Drug Trafficking Investigation," citing the committee print *Report on the Central Intelligence Agency's Alleged Involvement in Crack Cocaine Trafficking in the Los Angeles Area,* February 2000. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-106hrpt1054/html/CRPT-106hrpt1054.htm
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[^10]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998, epilogue.
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@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
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---
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category: "U.S. Government"
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aliases:
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- "IRS"
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tags:
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- Organization
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- USGovernment
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- Treasury
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- Tax
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summary: "Treasury agency that administers the internal revenue laws; its Operation Tradewinds used informants and a stolen briefcase against Bahamian banks before being called off amid reported CIA objections."
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location: "1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C."
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relations:
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Castle Bank and Trust]]"
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start: 1972
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end: 1976
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fn: 2
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- type: informant_for
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with: "[[Norman Casper]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "informant TW-24, Operation Tradewinds"
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start: 1972
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end: 1973
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fn: 2
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[William Kolar]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "chief of IRS intelligence"
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fn: 3
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Robert Garder Terrell]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "appeals officer"
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fn: 11
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Peter Videnieks]]"
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reverse: true
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fn: 12
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created: 2026-09-22
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updated: 2026-09-22
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---
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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]
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### Operation Tradewinds
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"In 1965, the Internal Revenue Service launched an investigation into the financial activities of American citizens in the Bahamas," the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] recorded in 1980; the project, [[Operation Tradewinds|Operation Trade Winds]], was run from [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]].[^2] In 1966 senior officers of IRS intelligence met [[Henry Petersen]] of the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s organized crime section to arrange "special handling" of evidence obtained in ways that "violated Bahamian laws." The intelligence chief, [[William Kolar]], later went to work with the Justice Department lawyers [[Robert Peloquin]] and [[William Hundley]] at [[Intertel]], a subsidiary of the company that owned the casino on [[Paradise Island]].[^3]
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In 1972 the operation turned to the [[Castle Bank and Trust]]. On January 15, 1973, [[Norman Casper]], a former [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] agent paid as informant TW-24 and working for Special Agent [[Richard Jaffe]], took a bank officer's briefcase from a [[Miami]] apartment and had some 400 documents photographed at an IRS agent's house before returning it; the IRS paid him 8,000 dollars in cash. A federal judge called the conduct "outrageous" in 1977. Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]], concurring in the decision that reversed the suppression of the evidence, wrote that it "should not be read as condoning the conduct of the IRS 'private investigators,'" and the Court noted that after a congressional inquiry in 1976 "the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 'called off' Operation Trade Winds."[^2] [[The Wall Street Journal]] reported in 1980 that the tax cases had been dropped at the request of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], for which the bank's founder, [[Paul Helliwell]], had moved money.[^4]
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### Exempt Organizations
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After Representative [[Wayne Hays]] demanded in 1954 that the exemption of [[H.L. Hunt]]'s [[Facts Forum]] be lifted, the IRS gave it what the trade weekly *Broadcasting-Telecasting* called "a clean bill of health."[^5] It later revoked the exemption of the Coalition for Freedom, run by [[Thomas F. Ellis]], for political activity and private benefit to insiders.[^6] The Forms 990 that exempt bodies file with the service are the record from which [[Barry Mehler]] compiled the grants of the [[Pioneer Fund]] from 1971 to 1996, and from which the paid trustees of [[In-Q-Tel]], among them [[George Tenet]] and Admiral [[Mike Mullen]], are known.[^7][^8]
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### Other Cases
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In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 million dollars, most of it to the IRS.[^9] 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.[^10] 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.[^11][^12]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Internal Revenue Service, "The Agency, its Mission and Statutory Authority." https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/the-agency-its-mission-and-statutory-authority
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[^2]: United States v. Payner, 447 U.S. 727 (1980), including the dissent of Marshall, J.; United States v. Payner, 434 F. Supp. 113 (N.D. Ohio 1977); House Committee on Government Operations, *Oversight Hearings into the Operations of the IRS (Operation Tradewinds, Project Haven, and Narcotics Traffickers Tax Program),* 94th Cong., 1st Sess., 1975.
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[^3]: Hougan, Jim. *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents*. William Morrow, 1978, pp. 382-383.
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[^4]: Drinkhall, Jim. "IRS vs. CIA: Big Tax Investigation Was Quietly Scuttled by Intelligence Agency," *The Wall Street Journal,* April 18, 1980, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-01208R000100100061-5.
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[^5]: Facts Forum, pamphlet in reply to Representative Wayne Hays, c. 1954, reproduced in the FBI headquarters file on H.L. Hunt, part 1, https://archive.org/details/H.L.Hunt; Sherrill, Robert G. "H.L. Hunt: Portrait of a Superpatriot," *The Nation,* February 24, 1964.
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[^6]: Edsall, Thomas B., and David A. Vise. "CBS Fight a Litmus Test for Conservatives," *The Washington Post,* March 31, 1985, p. 1.
|
||||
[^7]: Mehler, Barry, comp. "Pioneer Fund Grants, 1971-1996," Institute for the Study of Academic Racism, compiled from Internal Revenue Service Forms 990.
|
||||
[^8]: In-Q-Tel, Inc., Internal Revenue Service Form 990, fiscal years 2011 to 2025, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
|
||||
[^9]: Gwynne, S.C. "Bunker Hunt," *Texas Monthly,* September 2001. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/bunker-hunt/
|
||||
[^10]: 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.
|
||||
[^11]: 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/
|
||||
[^12]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "Witness Security Program"
|
||||
- "WITSEC"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Program
|
||||
- USGovernment
|
||||
- USMarshals
|
||||
- DepartmentOfJustice
|
||||
summary: "Federal Witness Security Program run by the U.S. Marshals Service since 1971, which relocated the DINA assassin Michael Townley under another name after his Letelier plea."
|
||||
location: "United States"
|
||||
start: 1971
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Townley]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "protected witness"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Witness Security Program, which the [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals Service]] says is "sometimes referred to as the 'Witness Protection Program,'" protects witnesses whose lives are in danger because of their testimony against drug traffickers, terrorists, organized crime and other major criminals. It "was authorized by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and amended by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984," and by the Marshals Service's count has "protected, relocated, and given new identities to more than 19,250 witnesses and their family members, since the program began in 1971." Candidates are vetted by the sponsoring law enforcement agency, the sponsoring U.S. Attorney, the Marshals Service and the [[Department of Justice]]'s Office of Enforcement Operations, "which makes the final determination." The service states that no participant following its guidelines "has ever been harmed or killed."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Michael Townley
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michael Townley]], the American-born agent of the Chilean secret police [[DINA]] who planted the car bombs that killed General [[Carlos Prats]] in [[Buenos Aires]] in 1974 and [[Orlando Letelier]] in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] in 1976, pleaded guilty in Washington in August 1978 and testified against DINA's chief [[Manuel Contreras]], [[Armando Fernandez Larios|Armando Fernández Larios]] and five Cubans. He was sentenced to ten years, served 62 months, and has since lived in the [[United States]] under another name in the program.[^2][^3] In 1983 Prats's daughters Sofía and Angélica went to Washington with Argentine lawyers to seek his extradition; a federal judge ruled that his plea agreement prevented it.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Michael Riconosciuto
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michael Riconosciuto]], arrested in March 1991 on charges of running a methamphetamine laboratory, eight days after signing an affidavit on the [[PROMIS]] software, tried repeatedly to trade information with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms|BATF]] and the [[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]] for entry into the program, offering to hand over "[[The Company]]" and [[Robert Booth Nichols]]. The former FBI agent [[Ted Gunderson]] tried to broker his admission. Nothing came of the approaches.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Marshals Service, "Witness Security," archived September 22, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260922082044/https://www.usmarshals.gov/what-we-do/witness-security
|
||||
[^2]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "The Pinochet Dictatorship Declassified: Confessions of a DINA Hit Man," National Security Archive, November 22, 2023. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2023-11-22/pinochet-dictatorship-declassified-confessions-dina-hit-man
|
||||
[^3]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "The Pinochet Regime at 50: The Assassination of General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert," National Security Archive, October 1, 2024. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-10-01/pinochet-regime-50-assassination-general-carlos-prats-and-sofia
|
||||
[^4]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
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