vault backup: 2026-09-22 17:42:28

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolf Berle.md

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ His oral history interview, conducted July 6, 1967 as part of the [[John F. Kenn
 
 ### Advisory Role and the 1964 Coup
 
-After his formal government service, Berle continued to operate as an adviser to Rockefeller and as a private intermediary with Brazilian political and military figures. He was a founding trustee of the [[Institute for International Labor Research]], a Cold War anti-communist labor institution funded through AIFLD and other Rockefeller-network channels.[^11]
+After his formal government service, Berle continued to operate as an adviser to Rockefeller and as a private intermediary with Brazilian political and military figures. He was a founding trustee of the [[Institute for International Labor Research]], a Cold War anti-communist labor institution funded through [[AIFLD]] and other Rockefeller-network channels.[^11]
 
 On the night of March 30-31, 1964, as the Brazilian military began its coup against President [[Joao Goulart]], Berle was in his Manhattan townhouse monitoring the coup's progress by shortwave radio alongside Alberto Jackson Byington Jr. (1902-1964), a Sao Paulo businessman and Harvard graduate (class of 1924) who had been working to forestall a "Goulart dictatorship" and had, according to Berle's diary, "bought on his own credit a shipload of oil to make sure the Brazilian Navy would be able to function."[^12]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andreas Baader.md

@@ -23,17 +23,17 @@ Andreas Bernd Baader (May 6, 1943 - October 18, 1977) was a co-founder and opera
 
 Baader was born in [[Munich]], [[Germany]], the son of a historian who was killed on the Eastern Front in [[World War II]]. He grew up without a father in postwar [[West Germany]] and was by his own account more drawn to action and provocation than to political theory. He had no formal political education and, unlike Meinhof or Ensslin, came from outside the student movement's intellectual circles.
 
-He moved to [[Berlin]] in the 1960s and became associated with the communal housing and protest culture that surrounded the West German student movement, though his relationship to formal political organizations was always marginal. He was arrested and convicted of arson in 1968 after he and [[Gudrun Ensslin]] set fire to two Frankfurt department stores as a protest against the Vietnam War - their statement of intent to escalate from demonstration to action.[^1]
+He moved to [[Berlin]] in the 1960s and became associated with the communal housing and protest culture that surrounded the West German student movement, though his relationship to formal political organizations was always marginal. He was arrested and convicted of arson in 1968 after he and Gudrun Ensslin set fire to two Frankfurt department stores as a protest against the [[Vietnam War]] - their statement of intent to escalate from demonstration to action.[^1]
 
 ### Founding of the RAF
 
-Released from prison pending appeal, Baader was re-arrested in April 1970. [[Ulrike Meinhof]] arranged for him to be given a supervised prison release to a Berlin institution to research a book, then organized the operation that freed him on May 14, 1970 - a confrontation in which a guard was shot. This event - the RAF's founding act - was followed by the group's training with the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] in Jordan.
+Released from prison pending appeal, Baader was re-arrested in April 1970. Ulrike Meinhof arranged for him to be given a supervised prison release to a Berlin institution to research a book, then organized the operation that freed him on May 14, 1970 - a confrontation in which a guard was shot. This event - the RAF's founding act - was followed by the group's training with the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] in Jordan.
 
 The RAF conducted bank robberies to fund operations, established a network of safe houses, and recruited additional members. Baader's leadership style was domineering and the group's internal culture was characterized by intense loyalty demands and harsh criticism of those who showed doubt. Several early members left or were expelled; some later testified against the organization.[^1]
 
 ### 1972 Bombing Campaign and Arrest
 
-In May 1972, the RAF conducted a concentrated series of bombings against American military facilities in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, the Hamburg police headquarters, the [[Munich]] offices of the Axel Springer publishing company, and the car of Federal Judge Wolfgang Buddenberg. Several American soldiers were killed.
+In May 1972, the RAF conducted a concentrated series of bombings against American military facilities in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, the Hamburg police headquarters, the Munich offices of the Axel Springer publishing company, and the car of Federal Judge Wolfgang Buddenberg. Several American soldiers were killed.
 
 Baader was arrested on June 1, 1972, in Frankfurt. Meinhof was arrested June 15, Ensslin June 7. Their imprisonment did not end RAF activity; a second generation of members, operating outside, continued operations partly aimed at forcing the government to release the imprisoned founders.
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ The trial of Baader, Ensslin, Meinhof, and Jan-Carl Raspe was conducted at Stamm
 
 After Meinhof died in May 1976, the trial of the remaining three continued. Baader, Ensslin, and Raspe were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in April 1977.
 
-In October 1977, RAF members kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and simultaneously coordinated with Palestinian hijackers who seized Lufthansa Flight 181. West [[Germany]]'s [[GSG 9]] commando unit stormed the aircraft at Mogadishu airport on October 18, 1977, freeing all hostages. Hours later, Baader, Ensslin, and Raspe were found dead in their cells. Baader had a pistol wound to his head; Ensslin had hanged herself; Raspe had a gunshot wound.
+In October 1977, RAF members kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and simultaneously coordinated with Palestinian hijackers who seized Lufthansa Flight 181. West Germany's [[GSG 9]] commando unit stormed the aircraft at Mogadishu airport on October 18, 1977, freeing all hostages. Hours later, Baader, Ensslin, and Raspe were found dead in their cells. Baader had a pistol wound to his head; Ensslin had hanged herself; Raspe had a gunshot wound.
 
 Prison authorities ruled the deaths suicides; the RAF and supporters argued it was impossible for firearms to have been smuggled into the maximum-security facility without guard involvement. Schleyer was murdered the following day. Official investigations upheld the suicide findings; the RAF's position was never accepted by any formal inquiry.[^2]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Berent Friele.md

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ Before Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] left Washington for his Rio posting in 1961
 
 ### AIFLD and Pre-Coup Political Activity
 
-Friele served as vice president of the [[American Institute for Free Labor Development]] (AIFLD), the AFL-CIO-linked organization with significant CIA funding that operated labor training programs across [[Latin America]] during the Cold War. In that capacity he was described by contemporaries as "an old Brazilian hand belonging to the Rockefeller entourage."
+Friele served as vice president of the [[American Institute for Free Labor Development]] ([[AIFLD]]), the AFL-CIO-linked organization with significant CIA funding that operated labor training programs across [[Latin America]] during the Cold War. In that capacity he was described by contemporaries as "an old Brazilian hand belonging to the Rockefeller entourage."
 
 In fall 1963, Friele and AIFLD executive director [[Serafino Romualdi]] traveled to [[Sao Paulo]] and met with Governor [[Adhemar de Barros]], one of President Goulart's chief opponents. During the meeting, de Barros described plans already under way to mobilize police and military contingents against Goulart. When de Barros complained that the US Embassy was not responding to these signals, Romualdi relayed the complaint in writing to the embassy's labor attaché, [[John Fishburn]]. Starting in 1963, AIFLD ran a special all-Brazilian training class of 33 union participants in Washington, focused on countering Communist influence in labor organizations; AIFLD-trained graduates later helped ensure the April 1964 coup proceeded without a successful general strike.[^13]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Brenda Dunne.md

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+category: "Scientists & Researchers"
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - Parapsychology
+  - RemoteViewing
+  - PEAR
+  - Princeton
+summary: "Chicago remote-viewing experimenter who from 1979 ran Robert Jahn's privately funded Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory."
+location: "Princeton, New Jersey"
+created: 2026-09-22
+updated: 2026-09-22
+---
+
+Brenda J. Dunne, of the Midwest Parapsychological Research Institute at Mundelein College in [[Chicago]], published with John P. Bisaha a series of precognitive remote-viewing experiments in the Chicago area from 1977, presented as replications of the [[Stanford Research Institute]] work; in them she travelled as the "agent" to target sites chosen at random from a pool of more than a hundred.[^1] Harry and Arlene Snyder's review of June 1, 1979, for the Defense Department's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] criticized the earlier versions for nonrandom pairing of subjects, inconsistent monitoring and unspecified instructions to judges, and called the 1978 paper "essentially a verbatim version" of the 1977 one "in spite of the later copyright."[^2]
+
+### PEAR
+
+By 1979 [[Robert Jahn]] had started the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory at [[Princeton University]] and hired Dunne to run it, and in 1987 they published *Margins of Reality.*[^3] Jahn relied on private donations of more than ten million dollars, the first and largest from [[James S. McDonnell]] of [[McDonnell Douglas]]. PEAR published more than sixty research reports, most in the journal of the [[Society for Scientific Exploration]], of which Jahn and Dunne were officers; it announced its closure in 2007. "Many PEAR Tree members who are science faculty members will not reveal themselves publicly," Dunne told the *New York Times.*[^4]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Dunne, Brenda J., and John P. Bisaha. "Precognitive Remote Viewing in the Chicago Area: A Replication of the Stanford Experiment." *Journal of Parapsychology* 43, March 1979, pp. 17-30, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080023-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
+[^2]: Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. "Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing," Report RV-79-1, Systemetrics, Inc., June 1, 1979, as reproduced in the *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
+[^3]: Schultz, Steven. "Robert Jahn, pioneer of deep space propulsion and mind-machine interactions, dies at 87." Princeton University, School of Engineering and Applied Science, November 30, 2017.
+[^4]: Carey, Benedict. "A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors." *New York Times,* February 10, 2007.

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/D. Ewen Cameron.md

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Cameron died of a heart attack while mountain climbing in [[Vermont]] on Septemb
 
 When the surviving MKULTRA documents were disclosed through FOIA in 1977, the Allan Memorial experiments became one of the most publicly reported aspects of the program because of the documented severity of the harm to patients and because the victims were Canadian citizens who had sought treatment rather than prisoners or drug users who could be marginalized.
 
-Nine victims filed suit against the CIA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. After years of litigation over jurisdictional questions and state secrets claims, the CIA settled with the nine plaintiffs in 1988 for $750,000 total.
+Nine victims filed suit against the CIA in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]]. After years of litigation over jurisdictional questions and state secrets claims, the CIA settled with the nine plaintiffs in 1988 for $750,000 total.
 
 The Canadian government, under pressure from the settlements and public disclosure, established a compensation program in 1994 that paid C$100,000 to each of approximately 80 identified victims of Cameron's experimental protocols. The program excluded victims who could not document participation in the specific experimental regimen, and advocacy groups argued the number of affected patients was considerably higher than the 80 compensated.
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Before leaving for Martinsburg, Casolaro had warned his brother Anthony: if anyt
 
 On the morning of August 10, 1991, a hotel housekeeper found Casolaro's naked body in the bathtub of room 517. Both wrists had been slashed twelve times - seven to eight cuts on the left, three to four on the right, with one cut deep enough to sever a tendon. The cause of death was determined to be exsanguination (blood loss), occurring approximately one to four hours before discovery. The rest of the room was clean and orderly; a handwritten note on legal stationery read: "To those who I love the most: Please forgive me for the worst possible thing I could have done. Most of all I'm sorry to my son. I know deep down inside that God will let me in."[^1]
 
-Items found in the room included an empty Milwaukee beer can, two white plastic trash bags, a single-edge razor blade under the body, a half-empty wine bottle, and four additional unopened razor blades in a small package. No sign of forced entry, no evidence of struggle. The hotel room had not been disturbed. West Virginia authorities ruled the death a suicide.[^1]
+Items found in the room included an empty Milwaukee beer can, two white plastic trash bags, a single-edge razor blade under the body, a half-empty wine bottle, and four additional unopened razor blades in a small package. No sign of forced entry, no evidence of struggle. The hotel room had not been disturbed. [[West Virginia]] authorities ruled the death a suicide.[^1]
 
 The investigation's integrity was immediately compromised when a Martinsburg funeral home embalmed Casolaro's body without authorization from officials or his next of kin, as a "courtesy to the family." A second autopsy in January 1992 by Dr. Frost of the West Virginia state medical examiner's office confirmed the suicide ruling but found it impossible to conduct a fully conclusive examination of an embalmed body. Frost noted evidence of early-stage multiple sclerosis of minor severity, detected antidepressants, acetaminophen, and alcohol in the toxicology screen, and concluded that "nothing present in any way...could have incapacitated Casolaro so he would have been incapable of struggling against an assailant."[^1]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Earl Brian.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
   - Earl Brian
   - Earl W. Brian
 created: 2024-04-25
-updated: 2026-05-17
+updated: 2026-09-22
 category: "Key Figures"
 tags:
   - Person
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Brian's relationship with Meese predated their time in state government. Both me
 
 ### Role in the PROMIS Software Scandal
 
-Brian became the central figure in [[INSLAW]]'s allegation that the [[Department of Justice]] stole the [[PROMIS]] software and distributed it internationally in exchange for political favors. [[Bill Hamilton]] and [[Nancy Hamilton]], INSLAW's owners, alleged that Brian had spearheaded a plan for worldwide exploitation of PROMIS after acquiring it, through DOJ contracting officer [[Peter Videnieks]], with the intent to both raise off-the-books funds for covert government operations and to benefit [[Hadron]], which stood to acquire INSLAW's client base if the company were driven into bankruptcy.[^1]
+Brian became the central figure in [[INSLAW]]'s allegation that the [[Department of Justice]] stole the [[PROMIS]] software and distributed it internationally in exchange for political favors. [[Bill Hamilton]] and [[Nancy Hamilton]], INSLAW's owners, alleged that Brian had spearheaded a plan for worldwide exploitation of PROMIS after acquiring it, through DOJ contracting officer [[Peter Videnieks]], with the intent to both raise off-the-books funds for covert government operations and to benefit Hadron, which stood to acquire INSLAW's client base if the company were driven into bankruptcy.[^1]
 
 The scale of the alleged scheme: $6 million worth of software stolen from the Hamiltons was allegedly sold by the DOJ through Brian for use in covert operations.[^3]
 
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report (House Report 102-857) des
 
 ### Hadron and the DOJ Connection
 
-Brian owned [[Hadron]] at the time of Riconosciuto's 1992 drug trial in Tacoma, Washington. During that trial, [[Peter Videnieks]] testified about his contact with PROMIS software but denied ever hearing of the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture or meeting Brian. When pressed about his familiarity with Hadron and its ownership, Videnieks was evasive; he acknowledged knowing Hadron existed but declined to elaborate on any connection to Brian.[^3]
+Brian owned Hadron at the time of Riconosciuto's 1992 drug trial in Tacoma, Washington. During that trial, Peter Videnieks testified about his contact with PROMIS software but denied ever hearing of the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture or meeting Brian. When pressed about his familiarity with Hadron and its ownership, Videnieks was evasive; he acknowledged knowing Hadron existed but declined to elaborate on any connection to Brian.[^3]
 
-The Bua Report investigation surfaced a reference to "Project Eagle," a multi-million dollar DOJ technology modernization initiative, in connection with Brian. Jensen denied any involvement in awarding Project Eagle contracts. The Report noted that the project's Request for Proposals was issued in May 1986 - while Jensen was still at DOJ - though Jensen was appointed to the bench the following month.[^2]
+The Bua Report investigation surfaced a reference to "[[Project Eagle]]," a multi-million dollar DOJ technology modernization initiative, in connection with Brian. Jensen denied any involvement in awarding Project Eagle contracts. The Report noted that the project's Request for Proposals was issued in May 1986 - while Jensen was still at DOJ - though Jensen was appointed to the bench the following month.[^2]
 
 ### October Surprise Allegations
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ Brian was never charged with any crime in connection with the PROMIS affair. His
 
 ### Financial News Network and UPI
 
-In July 1993 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Brian and three others with fraudulently inflating the revenue and earnings of the Financial News Network, the Los Angeles cable channel controlled with United Press International by his holding company Infotechnology, Inc.; he settled without admitting or denying the charges and consented to a permanent injunction. A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned a 24-count indictment in June 1994, unsealed on September 5, 1995, charging Brian, then Infotechnology's chairman, and its chief operating officer John F. Berentson with lying to obtain 56 million dollars in loans from Security Pacific and Toronto-Dominion in 1989 by falsifying FNN's books through fictitious equipment leases and inter-company billings; FNN's chief financial officer C. Steven Bolen and Gary A. Prince pleaded guilty and cooperated. FNN, which lost 72.4 million dollars in fiscal 1990, and UPI, whose management rights Infotechnology had bought in February 1988, both entered Chapter 11 in 1991. On October 17, 1996, after a four-month trial in Los Angeles, a jury convicted Brian on ten counts including conspiracy and bank and securities fraud, deadlocking on the rest; he was ordered to report to prison on August 18 of the following year to serve a term reported as four and a half years, and appealed. Hadron continued as a public company, was renamed Analex Corporation in 2002 and ceased reporting in 2007.[^6]
+In July 1993 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Brian and three others with fraudulently inflating the revenue and earnings of the [[Financial News Network]], the Los Angeles cable channel controlled with [[United Press International]] by his holding company Infotechnology, Inc.; he settled without admitting or denying the charges and consented to a permanent injunction. A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned a 24-count indictment in June 1994, unsealed on September 5, 1995, charging Brian, then Infotechnology's chairman, and its chief operating officer John F. Berentson with lying to obtain 56 million dollars in loans from Security Pacific and Toronto-Dominion in 1989 by falsifying FNN's books through fictitious equipment leases and inter-company billings; FNN's chief financial officer C. Steven Bolen and Gary A. Prince pleaded guilty and cooperated. FNN, which lost 72.4 million dollars in fiscal 1990, and UPI, whose management rights Infotechnology had bought in February 1988, both entered Chapter 11 in 1991. On October 17, 1996, after a four-month trial in Los Angeles, a jury convicted Brian on ten counts including conspiracy and bank and securities fraud, deadlocking on the rest; he was ordered to report to prison on August 18 of the following year to serve a term reported as four and a half years, and appealed. On October 3, 2000, he moved to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 in the Central District of California; the motion, assigned to Judge Ronald S. W. Lew, was closed on February 22, 2001.[^7] Hadron continued as a public company, was renamed Analex Corporation in 2002 and ceased reporting in 2007.[^6]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
@@ -65,3 +65,4 @@ In July 1993 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Brian and three othe
 [^4]: U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. *The Inslaw Affair.* September 1989.
 [^5]: *Brian v. Richardson,* 87 N.Y.2d 46, 660 N.E.2d 1126 (N.Y. 1995). https://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I95_0246.htm
 [^6]: "Former UPI execs charged with fraud," United Press International, September 6, 1995. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/09/06/Former-UPI-execs-charged-with-fraud/3824810360000/ ; Gersh, Debra, "SEC Accuses Former UPI Chief of Fraud," *Editor & Publisher,* July 10, 1993 (headline and date only); Fricker, Richard L., "Earl Brian: Reagan's 'Scandal Man' Off to Jail," *The Consortium,* 1997. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile11.html ; Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR filing history for Hadron, Inc., CIK 0000044800. Fricker gives the reporting date as "Aug. 18" without a year; the sentencing order and the disposition of the appeal were not located.
+[^7]: *Earl W. Brian v. United States,* No. 2:00-cv-10607 (C.D. Cal.), docket and Federal Judicial Center Integrated Database record, CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/11266534/earl-w-brian-v-united-states/ The disposition of the motion is recorded only as "Other"; the underlying criminal docket and any appellate disposition were not located.

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Floyd Bankson.md

@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ tags:
 summary: "Floyd Bankson was a system engineer in the Criminal Division of the DOJ, involved with the implementation of Project Eagle."
 ---
 
-Floyd Bankson was a system engineer in the Criminal Division of the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], involved with the implementation of Project Eagle. He was previously a secretary at the LEAA in 1977, where he worked with [[Lois Battistoni]].
+Floyd Bankson was a system engineer in the Criminal Division of the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], involved with the implementation of [[Project Eagle]]. He was previously a secretary at the LEAA in 1977, where he worked with [[Lois Battistoni]].
 
-[[Lois Battistoni]] alleged that Bankson told her that the DOJ intended to "bury [[INSLAW|Inslaw]]." However, Bankson absolutely denied these allegations. He stated that he never heard [[Lowell Jensen]] say anything derogatory about Inslaw, nor that Jensen pressured him to select the DALITE system for the DOJ's case tracking needs. Bankson also denied saying that the DOJ intended to "bury Inslaw" and was unaware of any wrongdoing related to [[PROMIS]] that needed to be concealed. According to Bankson, Battistoni "constantly" called him to ask if he had read various news articles, and he believed she enjoyed the publicity from Inslaw's allegations. The Special Counsel's investigation found no corroboration for Battistoni's claims from Bankson.[^1]
+Lois Battistoni alleged that Bankson told her that the DOJ intended to "bury [[INSLAW|Inslaw]]." However, Bankson absolutely denied these allegations. He stated that he never heard [[Lowell Jensen]] say anything derogatory about Inslaw, nor that Jensen pressured him to select the DALITE system for the DOJ's case tracking needs. Bankson also denied saying that the DOJ intended to "bury Inslaw" and was unaware of any wrongdoing related to [[PROMIS]] that needed to be concealed. According to Bankson, Battistoni "constantly" called him to ask if he had read various news articles, and he believed she enjoyed the publicity from Inslaw's allegations. The Special Counsel's investigation found no corroboration for Battistoni's claims from Bankson.[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes
 [^1]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Frank Church.md

@@ -26,13 +26,13 @@ Frank Forrester Church III (July 25, 1924 - April 7, 1984) was a Democratic sena
 
 ### Early Career
 
-Church was born in Boise, Idaho. He served in U.S. Army Military Intelligence during World War II, rising to the rank of Captain. He received his law degree from Stanford in 1950 and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Idaho in 1956 at age 32, one of the youngest senators in history at that time. He became known as a foreign policy critic, opposing the Vietnam War from an early period and chairing the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] from 1979 to 1981.[^1]
+Church was born in Boise, Idaho. He served in U.S. Army Military Intelligence during World War II, rising to the rank of Captain. He received his law degree from Stanford in 1950 and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Idaho in 1956 at age 32, one of the youngest senators in history at that time. He became known as a foreign policy critic, opposing the [[Vietnam War]] from an early period and chairing the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] from 1979 to 1981.[^1]
 
 ### The Church Committee
 
 In January 1975, the Senate created the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities in the aftermath of Seymour Hersh's December 1974 New York Times reporting on [[Operation CHAOS]]. Church was appointed chairman. The committee ran through April 1976 and produced a final report (S. Rept. 94-755) and fourteen volumes of supplementary staff reports documenting:
 
-- [[Operation CHAOS]]: the CIA's domestic surveillance program targeting antiwar organizations, found to be unlawful
+- Operation CHAOS: the CIA's domestic surveillance program targeting antiwar organizations, found to be unlawful
 - [[COINTELPRO]]: the FBI's systematic campaign against political organizations, including programs resulting in the death of activists such as [[Fred Hampton]]
 - Assassination plots against foreign leaders including Fidel Castro, Patrice Lumumba, and others
 - NSA programs monitoring American citizens' international communications

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Frederick Atwater.md

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ He published a memoir, *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guida
 
 ### The Documents
 
-Frederick H. Atwater, known as Skip, was a lieutenant in the Special Security Detachment of the 902d Military Intelligence Group at Fort Meade when INSCOM began its remote-viewing project in October 1978. The project manager, Major Murray Watt, reported in February 1979 that "the initial concern of the Project Manager (PM) was to develop a full understanding of parapsychology and the various aspects of the phenomena. Towards this end, the PM has been greatly assisted by Lieutenant Frederick H. Atwater. LT Atwater, although assigned to the Special Security Detachment, 902d MI Group, was attached to the GRILL FLAME project because of previous research into this area during work on a separate project." Watt and Atwater "were busy preparing a method that would help them select the INSCOM personnel who would volunteer for participation," considering 251 and interviewing 117, and on January 12, 1979, the two visited the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], which was running its own tests of the SRI protocol.[^1]
+Frederick H. Atwater, known as Skip, was a lieutenant in the Special Security Detachment of the 902d Military Intelligence Group at Fort Meade when INSCOM began its remote-viewing project in October 1978. The project manager, Major Murray Watt, reported in February 1979 that "the initial concern of the Project Manager (PM) was to develop a full understanding of parapsychology and the various aspects of the phenomena. Towards this end, the PM has been greatly assisted by Lieutenant Frederick H. Atwater. LT Atwater, although assigned to the Special Security Detachment, 902d MI Group, was attached to the GRILL FLAME project because of previous research into this area during work on a separate project." Watt and Atwater "were busy preparing a method that would help them select the INSCOM personnel who would volunteer for participation," considering 251 and interviewing 117, and on January 12, 1979, the two visited the [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], which was running its own tests of the SRI protocol.[^1]
 
 He remained the unit's operations officer through Grill Flame and [[Center Lane]]. INSCOM's chronology records, under a date read as July 7 or August 1983, "CPT Frederick Atwater assumes duties as Acting Project Manager," between Lieutenant Colonel Robert Jachim's departure and Lieutenant Colonel Brian Buzby's arrival on August 15. Published accounts by participants credit him with recruiting the first six viewers, among them Joe McMoneagle and Mel Riley, and with the unit's training in [[Robert Monroe]]'s Hemi-Sync method, which the Center Lane briefing dates to the end of 1980. After retiring from the Army in 1988 he became research director of the Monroe Institute's laboratory and, in 2006, its president, and was a founder and president of the International Remote Viewing Association.[^1][^2][^3]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/George W. Bush.md

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, the elde
 
 ### Pre-Presidential Background
 
-George W. Bush attended [[Yale University]] (B.A. 1968) and [[Harvard]] Business School (M.B.A. 1975). He served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968-1973, a period characterized by disputed questions about fulfillment of service obligations that became a recurring political issue. He entered the oil industry in Texas ([[Arbusto Energy]], later merged into [Harken Energy]]) before entering politics. His father [[George H.W. Bush]] had served as CIA Director (1976-1977), Vice President (1981-1989), and President (1989-1993), giving the younger Bush direct family familiarity with the intelligence community at the highest levels.[^2]
+George W. Bush attended [[Yale University]] (B.A. 1968) and [[Harvard]] Business School (M.B.A. 1975). He served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968-1973, a period characterized by disputed questions about fulfillment of service obligations that became a recurring political issue. He entered the oil industry in Texas ([[Arbusto Energy]], later merged into [Harken Energy]]) before entering politics. His father George H.W. Bush had served as CIA Director (1976-1977), Vice President (1981-1989), and President (1989-1993), giving the younger Bush direct family familiarity with the intelligence community at the highest levels.[^2]
 
 ### 9/11 and the Decision for War
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The CIA operated a network of "black sites" - secret detention facilities in cou
 
 ### NSA Warrantless Surveillance
 
-Bush authorized a program known as "[[Stellar Wind]]" (later "President's Surveillance Program") that allowed the [[NSA]] to collect telephone and internet communications of Americans in contact with persons overseas without obtaining the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants required by the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] (FISA). The program was revealed publicly by the New York Times in December 2005. The revelation led to significant congressional controversy, emergency retroactive legal justifications, and later became the template for the bulk collection authorities expanded under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. [[Edward Snowden]]'s 2013 disclosures established that Stellar Wind was among the early programs in a broader NSA surveillance architecture that had expanded substantially beyond its original authorization.[^1]
+Bush authorized a program known as "[[Stellar Wind]]" (later "President's Surveillance Program") that allowed the [[NSA]] to collect telephone and internet communications of Americans in contact with persons overseas without obtaining the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]] warrants required by the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] (FISA). The program was revealed publicly by the New York Times in December 2005. The revelation led to significant congressional controversy, emergency retroactive legal justifications, and later became the template for the bulk collection authorities expanded under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. [[Edward Snowden]]'s 2013 disclosures established that Stellar Wind was among the early programs in a broader NSA surveillance architecture that had expanded substantially beyond its original authorization.[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Alcock.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ created: 2026-09-22
 updated: 2026-09-22
 ---
 
-James E. Alcock, professor of psychology at [[York University]] in [[Toronto]] from 1973 and former director of its graduate program in psychology, took an honours physics degree at [[McGill University]] and a doctorate in social psychology at McMaster, with post-doctoral training in clinical psychology, and was a registered psychologist from 1974. He was "invited to the initial conference where the organization was formalized" of the [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]], later a fellow and member of its executive council, a member of the editorial board of the *Skeptical Inquirer* and of the advisory board of the American Council on Science and Health, and the author of *Parapsychology: Science or Magic?* (1981) and *Science and Supernature* (1990) and co-editor of *Psi Wars* (2003). Of the 1970s: "This led to such crazy things as 'spoon bending parties' among some American congressmen, the use of 'biorhythm analysis' by some companies with regard to vetting their employees, and even at one point the use of horoscopes to help a judge decide on terms of punishment." [[John Palmer]] answered his book in *Zetetic Scholar* in 1983. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^1]
+James E. Alcock, professor of psychology at [[York University]] in [[Toronto]] from 1973 and former director of its graduate program in psychology, took an honours physics degree at [[McGill University]] and a doctorate in social psychology at McMaster, with post-doctoral training in clinical psychology, and was a registered psychologist from 1974. He was "invited to the initial conference where the organization was formalized" of the [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal|CSICOP]], later a fellow and member of its executive council, a member of the editorial board of the *[[Skeptical Inquirer]]* and of the advisory board of the American Council on Science and Health, and the author of *Parapsychology: Science or Magic?* (1981) and *Science and Supernature* (1990) and co-editor of *Psi Wars* (2003). Of the 1970s: "This led to such crazy things as 'spoon bending parties' among some American congressmen, the use of 'biorhythm analysis' by some companies with regard to vetting their employees, and even at one point the use of horoscopes to help a judge decide on terms of punishment." [[John Palmer]] answered his book in *Zetetic Scholar* in 1983. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Foster Dulles.md

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ British intelligence and Dulles jointly argued the U.S. position to Eisenhower b
 
 ### Personal Rockefeller Connection
 
-John Foster Dulles had a long personal relationship with the Rockefeller family predating his political career. In the 1920s, he defended Rev. [[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] (the Rockefellers' minister at [[Riverside Church]]) during the Fundamentalist Controversy, emerging as a leader of Presbyterian modernists. He served on the Rockefeller-backed [[Federal Council of Churches' Commission on a Just and Durable Peace]]. [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] trusted and respected Dulles, making his criticism of [[Nelson Rockefeller]] at the San Francisco UN conference in 1945 particularly stinging.[^rock1]
+John Foster Dulles had a long personal relationship with the [[Rockefeller family]] predating his political career. In the 1920s, he defended Rev. [[Harry Emerson Fosdick]] (the Rockefellers' minister at [[Riverside Church]]) during the Fundamentalist Controversy, emerging as a leader of Presbyterian modernists. He served on the Rockefeller-backed [[Federal Council of Churches' Commission on a Just and Durable Peace]]. [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] trusted and respected Dulles, making his criticism of [[Nelson Rockefeller]] at the San Francisco UN conference in 1945 particularly stinging.[^rock1]
 
 ### Rockefeller Foundation Chairmanship
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kit Green.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Green's assessment of the Geller results was qualified: he acknowledged that the
 
 ### Sugar Grove and Sensitive Facility Remote Viewing
 
-Green was the CIA officer informed of and involved in evaluating the Sugar Grove incident, in which [[Pat Price]] and [[Ingo Swann]] were provided geographic coordinates corresponding to a classified [[NSA]] signals intelligence facility at Sugar Grove, West Virginia, and independently produced detailed descriptions of the installation. The accuracy of the descriptions - which included internal organizational details not publicly available - created significant concern within the NSA about whether the remote viewing program represented a security vulnerability for highly classified facilities. Green managed the CIA's response to NSA's concerns about the implications of the result.[^2]
+Green was the CIA officer informed of and involved in evaluating the Sugar Grove incident, in which [[Pat Price]] and [[Ingo Swann]] were provided geographic coordinates corresponding to a classified [[NSA]] signals intelligence facility at Sugar Grove, [[West Virginia]], and independently produced detailed descriptions of the installation. The accuracy of the descriptions - which included internal organizational details not publicly available - created significant concern within the NSA about whether the remote viewing program represented a security vulnerability for highly classified facilities. Green managed the CIA's response to NSA's concerns about the implications of the result.[^2]
 
 ### Esalen and the Soviet Exchange Program
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Lincoln Gordon.md

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ As assistant secretary of state, Gordon was involved in the Johnson administrati
 Gordon served as President of [[Johns Hopkins University]] from 1967 to 1971, then as a fellow at the [[Woodrow Wilson International Center]] from 1972 to 1975, and from 1984 onward as a scholar at the [[Brookings Institution]]'s Economic Studies program and as a director of the [[Atlantic Council]]. He died on December 19, 2009, at age 96, at Collington Episcopal Life Care in [[Mitchellville, Maryland]].[^13]
 
 [^1]: Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett, *Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon*. HarperCollins, 1995. Ch. 28.
-[^2]: JFK Library, Tape 114/A50, "Meeting on Brazil," October 7, 1963. Participants listed in NSA Electronic Briefing Book No. 465, Document 9, "Excerpt from White House meeting tape, October 7, 1963." Published by the National Security Archive, George Washington University, 2014.
+[^2]: JFK Library, Tape 114/A50, "Meeting on Brazil," October 7, 1963. Participants listed in NSA Electronic Briefing Book No. 465, Document 9, "Excerpt from White House meeting tape, October 7, 1963." Published by the National Security Archive, [[George Washington University]], 2014.
 [^3]: NSA Electronic Briefing Book No. 465, Document 5, Department of State Memorandum, Gordon to Bundy, "Political Considerations Affecting U.S. Assistance to Brazil," March 7, 1963.
 [^4]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29.
 [^5]: FRUS 1964-68, Vol. XXXI, Document 187, [[Telegram]] from the Ambassador to Brazil (Gordon) to the Department of State, Rio de Janeiro, March 28, 1964 (received March 27, 8:01 p.m.). Top Secret; Immediate; Exdis. Also published as NSA Electronic Briefing Book No. 118, Document 2, "Ambassador Lincoln Gordon to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, CIA Director John McCone, and others," March 27, 1964.

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Patricia Cloherty.md

@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ tags:
 summary: "Patricia Cloherty worked for Patricof and Company in New York from about 1970 until 1977, when she was appointed by President Carter to be Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA)."
 ---
 
-Patricia Cloherty worked for [[Patricof and Company]] in New York from about 1970 until 1977, when she was appointed by President [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] to be Deputy Administrator of the [[Small Business Administration]] (SBA). After leaving the SBA around 1980, she worked at Tessler & Cloherty, Inc., an investment management company she ran with her husband, [[Daniel Tessler]]. In February 1988, Cloherty returned to Patricof and Company.
+Patricia Cloherty worked for [[Patricof and Company]] in New York from about 1970 until 1977, when she was appointed by President [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] to be Deputy Administrator of the [[Small Business Administration]] (SBA). After leaving the SBA around 1980, she worked at [[Tessler & Cloherty]], Inc., an investment management company she ran with her husband, [[Daniel Tessler]]. In February 1988, Cloherty returned to Patricof and Company.
 
-Cloherty's involvement with [[INSLAW|Inslaw]] began in 1984 when she and her husband took over management of [[53rd Street Ventures]], which had a small investment in [[INSLAW|Inslaw]]. [[Bill Hamilton]]'s affidavit alleged that Cloherty told [[Richard D'Amore]] that she "knew all about" [[Earl Brian]]'s role in the Inslaw matter. However, Cloherty denied ever making such a statement to D'Amore or anyone else. She maintained that she knows nothing about Earl Brian's connection, if any, to Inslaw. She stated that she knows Earl Brian, having met him in the 1980s when they both served on the board of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies. In 1990, Brian contacted Patricof and Company with a deal proposal regarding UPI, but Cloherty did not meet with him directly, and the firm decided not to pursue the deal. Cloherty stated she has never heard of and has had no involvement with Hadron or Simeon, and does not know [[Dominic Laiti]], [[Edwin Meese]], or [[Lowell Jensen]]. She denied discussing 53rd Street Ventures' investment in Inslaw with Brian, Jensen, Meese, Laiti, or any officials from the DOJ or the Reagan or Bush administrations. The Special Counsel's investigation found no credible evidence to support Hamilton's claims regarding Cloherty's knowledge of a conspiracy.[^1]
+Cloherty's involvement with [[INSLAW|Inslaw]] began in 1984 when she and her husband took over management of [[53rd Street Ventures]], which had a small investment in Inslaw. [[Bill Hamilton]]'s affidavit alleged that Cloherty told [[Richard D'Amore]] that she "knew all about" [[Earl Brian]]'s role in the Inslaw matter. However, Cloherty denied ever making such a statement to D'Amore or anyone else. She maintained that she knows nothing about Earl Brian's connection, if any, to Inslaw. She stated that she knows Earl Brian, having met him in the 1980s when they both served on the board of the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies. In 1990, Brian contacted Patricof and Company with a deal proposal regarding UPI, but Cloherty did not meet with him directly, and the firm decided not to pursue the deal. Cloherty stated she has never heard of and has had no involvement with Hadron or Simeon, and does not know [[Dominic Laiti]], [[Edwin Meese]], or [[Lowell Jensen]]. She denied discussing 53rd Street Ventures' investment in Inslaw with Brian, Jensen, Meese, Laiti, or any officials from the DOJ or the Reagan or Bush administrations. The Special Counsel's investigation found no credible evidence to support Hamilton's claims regarding Cloherty's knowledge of a conspiracy.[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Richard D'Amato.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Charles Richard D'Amato was born in Hackensack, [[New Jersey]], on September 28,
 
 The CIA's papers on the transfer of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Star Gate]] program in 1995 ([[1995 transfer of Star Gate to the CIA]]) record that the Director of Congressional Affairs "described our approach to Mr. Richard D'Amato, the congressional staffer responsible for the language effecting the transfer, and Mr. D'Amato expressed concern about the DIA people, in particular the three remote viewers, during the period that the panel is conducting our review"; that on March 27, 1995, the CIA "briefed Richard D'Amato at Hart Senate Office bldg, on status of transfer; obtained agreement on previously submitted Terms of Reference"; and, in slides for the committee, that "CIA terms of reference requested that no resources be transferred until Blue Ribbon Panel completes directed review, SAC staffer agreed." His support for the program in the Senate is said to have been vital. [[Edwin May]] wrote to him in 1993 to complain that research reports sent to Fort Meade had never been read, and in 1995, dissatisfied with DIA's treatment of the project, he pressed for the transfer.[^4][^5]
 
-A statement he posted on his own website, headed "1980's Inquiry into Unidentified Aerial Crash in New Mexico," reads: "In the 1980's and 1990's, I served on the staff of the Senate Democratic Leader, Senator Robert C. Byrd, and my responsibilities involved helping manage the budgets of the Department of Defense and the National Foreign Intelligence Program... In this context, a senior Senate Committee chairman asked me to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations that came to his attention regarding unidentified aerial crashes in the 1940's in New Mexico. I met with a number of people who had made public statements on the matter. I reported my conclusion to the Senator that the basis for such allegations did not appear to merit any further Senate investigation. Beyond this inquiry on behalf of the Senator, I have no personal opinion on the matter and consider the inquiry to have been closed for over 20 years."[^1]
+A statement he posted on his own website, headed "1980's Inquiry into Unidentified Aerial Crash in [[New Mexico]]," reads: "In the 1980's and 1990's, I served on the staff of the Senate Democratic Leader, Senator Robert C. Byrd, and my responsibilities involved helping manage the budgets of the Department of Defense and the National Foreign Intelligence Program... In this context, a senior Senate Committee chairman asked me to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations that came to his attention regarding unidentified aerial crashes in the 1940's in New Mexico. I met with a number of people who had made public statements on the matter. I reported my conclusion to the Senator that the basis for such allegations did not appear to merit any further Senate investigation. Beyond this inquiry on behalf of the Senator, I have no personal opinion on the matter and consider the inquiry to have been closed for over 20 years."[^1]
 
 ### Afterward
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Robert Byrd.md

@@ -3,14 +3,16 @@ category: "Political Figure"
 tags:
   - Person
   - CIA
-summary: "Powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator whose executive assistant was Barbara Videnieks, wife of PROMIS figure Peter Videnieks."
+summary: "Powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator in whose office Barbara Videnieks, wife of the PROMIS contracting officer Peter Videnieks, worked."
 born: 1917-11-20
 died: 2010-06-28
 location: "North Wilkesboro, North Carolina"
+created: 2025-08-05
+updated: 2026-09-22
 ---
-[[Robert Byrd]] was a powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator. His executive assistant was Barbara Videnieks, wife of [[Peter Videnieks]]. Byrd played a major role in the effort to have the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] move some of its administrative offices to Charlestown, 20 miles from Martinsburg, on the Virginia border.[^1]
+[[Robert Byrd]] was a powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator. Barbara Videnieks, wife of [[Peter Videnieks]], the Justice Department contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract, worked in his office.[^1][^2] The suggestion by [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and others that Peter Videnieks was involved in the death of [[Danny Casolaro]] in [[West Virginia]], the Justice Department's review of 1994 stated, appeared "to rest on the fact that Mr. Videnieks' wife works for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia"; it found "no evidence whatsoever of Mr. Videnieks' involvement." [[Joseph Cuellar]], an Army Reserve major, told the reviewers that his former fiancée had worked with Barbara Videnieks "in the Capitol Hill office of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd."[^2] Byrd played a major role in the effort to have the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] move some of its administrative offices to Charlestown, 20 miles from Martinsburg, on the Virginia border.[^1]
 
----
 ### Footnotes
 
-[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
+[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
+[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report,* September 27, 1994, section on the death of Danny Casolaro. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Sidney Gottlieb.md

@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Olson had a severe adverse reaction. In the days following the retreat he exhibi
 
 CIA Director Allen Dulles was briefed on the circumstances and the program was concealed. Olson's family was told only that he had fallen from a window during a mental breakdown. Gottlieb was not prosecuted.
 
-In 1994, Olson's son Eric had his father's body exhumed. Forensic examination by James Starrs of George Washington University found a hematoma on Olson's skull inconsistent with the fall - suggesting he had been struck before going through the window. The New York District Attorney reopened the case as a possible homicide; it was never prosecuted due to insufficient surviving evidence. Gottlieb died in March 1999; he had been under investigation for Olson's death.
+In 1994, Olson's son Eric had his father's body exhumed. Forensic examination by James Starrs of [[George Washington University]] found a hematoma on Olson's skull inconsistent with the fall - suggesting he had been struck before going through the window. The New York District Attorney reopened the case as a possible homicide; it was never prosecuted due to insufficient surviving evidence. Gottlieb died in March 1999; he had been under investigation for Olson's death.
 
 Olson's son maintained until his own death that his father was murdered because he had developed doubts about the CIA's biological weapons programs and CIA interrogation methods - doubts that made him a security risk.[^3]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Steve Bannon.md

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Mercer's entry was an investment of about 10 million dollars made in June 2011,
 
 Bannon served as vice president and secretary of Cambridge Analytica from June 2014 to August 2016. The [[Guardian|Guardian]] reporting (March 2018), based on the whistleblower [[Christopher Wylie|Christopher Wylie]] disclosures, documented that Bannon oversaw the firm's Facebook data-harvesting project that acquired data on up to 87 million Facebook users through the [[Aleksandr Kogan|Aleksandr Kogan]] academic-researcher channel. The data was used for psychographic profiling of voters in the 2016 Trump campaign. Mercer provided approximately 15 million dollars in Cambridge Analytica funding. [[Jane Mayer|Jane Mayer]]'s *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* reporting documented Bannon's involvement in Cambridge Analytica's [[Brexit|Brexit]]-related activities before he formally joined the Trump campaign.[^2][^5]
 
-The firm was created in 2013 as a U.S.-facing spin-off of the British military-contracting firm SCL Group, after its chief executive [[Alexander Nix|Alexander Nix]] met the Mercers aboard the family's yacht with Bannon present; Mercer agreed to the roughly 15 million dollar stake, Bannon was given the company name (a nod to the Cambridge academics Nix was recruiting) and a board seat as vice president.[^7] Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 16, 2018, Wylie said Bannon had engaged SCL, "a foreign military contractor," to build "an arsenal of informational weapons" he could deploy on the American population because he "saw cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics," and that the firm tested 2014 slogans later used in the Trump campaign and discussed voter-suppression messaging aimed at Black voters.[^7] The harvested data originated in a personality-quiz app built by Kogan, whose firm Global Science Research passed the resulting profiles to Cambridge Analytica in breach of Facebook's platform terms, the disclosure that drove Facebook's stock down and produced a 5 billion dollar U.S. Federal Trade Commission settlement in 2019.[^2]
+The firm was created in 2013 as a U.S.-facing spin-off of the British military-contracting firm SCL Group, after its chief executive [[Alexander Nix|Alexander Nix]] met the Mercers aboard the family's yacht with Bannon present; Mercer agreed to the roughly 15 million dollar stake, Bannon was given the company name (a nod to the Cambridge academics Nix was recruiting) and a board seat as vice president.[^7] Testifying to the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on May 16, 2018, Wylie said Bannon had engaged SCL, "a foreign military contractor," to build "an arsenal of informational weapons" he could deploy on the American population because he "saw cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics," and that the firm tested 2014 slogans later used in the Trump campaign and discussed voter-suppression messaging aimed at Black voters.[^7] The harvested data originated in a personality-quiz app built by Kogan, whose firm Global Science Research passed the resulting profiles to Cambridge Analytica in breach of Facebook's platform terms, the disclosure that drove Facebook's stock down and produced a 5 billion dollar U.S. Federal Trade Commission settlement in 2019.[^2]
 
 ### The 2016 Trump Campaign and the White House
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Theodore Flournoy.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ location: "Geneva, Switzerland"
 ---
 
 
-[[Theodore Flournoy]] was a Swiss psychology professor at the University of Geneva. He is known for his extensive study of the medium Hélène Smith, documented in his 1899 book *From India to the Planet Mars*. In this work, he coined the term "[[Cryptomnesia]]," a phenomenon where forgotten memories reappear as seemingly original thoughts.[^1]
+[[Theodore Flournoy]] was a Swiss psychology professor at the University of Geneva. He is known for his extensive study of the medium [[Helene Smith|Hélène Smith]], documented in his 1899 book *From India to the Planet Mars*. In this work, he coined the term "[[Cryptomnesia]]," a phenomenon where forgotten memories reappear as seemingly original thoughts.[^1]
 
 Flournoy believed that the content produced by mediums during trances, including foreign languages and detailed historical accounts, originated from their "subliminal imagination" and forgotten sources, rather than from supernatural channeling. His work emphasized the astonishing capabilities of the human brain and contributed to the scientific understanding of memory and consciousness.[^1]
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William Barr.md

@@ -1,19 +1,51 @@
 ---
-category: "PROMIS Scandal"
+category: "Intelligence & Government"
 tags:
   - Person
-  - PROMIS
   - CIA
   - Lawyer
+  - PROMIS
   - INSLAW
-summary: "William Barr served as the Attorney General of the United States."
+  - BNLScandal
+  - IranContra
+summary: "Former CIA employee who became Attorney General in 1991 and again in 2019; he appointed the INSLAW and BNL special counsels and urged the Iran-Contra pardons of 1992."
 born: 1950-05-23
-location: "New York City, New York"
+location: "Washington, D.C."
+created: 2025-08-05
+updated: 2026-09-22
 ---
 
-William Barr served as the Attorney General of the United States. He is noted for his involvement in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] investigation.
+William P. Barr worked at the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] from 1973 to 1977 while attending law school at night. "During my tenure at CIA, 1973 to '77, the investigations of the agency started, and I moved to the legislative counsel's office," he recalled; as assistant legislative counsel under Director [[George H.W. Bush]] in 1976 he worked against legislation of Representatives Michael Harrington and Bella Abzug that would have required notice to people whose mail the agency had opened under [[HTLINGUAL]]. He then clerked for Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|D.C. Circuit]], a former head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, who telephoned Bush for a reference. After private practice and the Reagan transition he joined the White House domestic policy staff, where he worked with C. Boyden Gray, counsel to Vice President Bush. In 1988 he helped screen vice-presidential candidates through Robert Kimmitt.[^1]
 
-On November 7, 1991, Attorney General William Barr appointed [[Nicholas J. Bua]] to serve as a Special Counsel. Bua's mandate was to investigate all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with the Inslaw matter. Barr requested a complete and thorough investigation to determine if there had been any misconduct by individuals inside or outside the Department of Justice. He assured the Special Counsel that the investigation would be independent and that all Department of Justice employees would cooperate fully.[^1]
+### Justice Department, 1989-1993
+
+Gray, who wanted in the [[Office of Legal Counsel]] "someone in that position who believed in executive authority," asked Barr to take it in 1989; Barr was "the White House's choice," acceptable to Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]]. At the Office of Legal Counsel he took part in the planning of the legal basis for the invasion of [[Panama]] and the arrest of [[Manuel Noriega]] in December 1989. He became deputy attorney general in 1990 and acting attorney general in August 1991, during the seizure of the Talladega federal prison by Cuban detainees, and served as attorney general until January 1993.[^1]
+
+#### INSLAW
+
+According to the report of [[Nicholas J. Bua]], Barr appointed him special counsel on the [[INSLAW]] matter on November 7, 1991, requesting "a complete and thorough investigation."[^2] The [[House Committee on the Judiciary]] gave the date as November 13, 1991, and noted that "at that time the Attorney General had not empowered Judge Bua to subpoena witnesses, convene a grand jury or compel the Department to produce key documents."[^3] Barr recalled that he announced the appointment at his confirmation hearing, in answer to Senator [[Paul Simon]]: "I've promised him carte blanche. Let the chips fall where they may." Simon, he said, called it "great news," and "Once Simon gave his imprimatur, that issue was off the table."[^1]
+
+#### BNL
+
+On the [[BNL Scandal|Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]] loans to [[Iraq]], Barr declined to seek an independent counsel. "Even though an independent counsel was not required, in my opinion, because they didn't meet the statutory test, I just used my inherent authority," he recalled. He first asked former Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, who declined, and on October 16, 1992, appointed the retired judge [[Frederick Lacey]]. Barr said the position became untenable after an allegation that the CIA had withheld cables and after a White House aide's call to the Atlanta prosecutor Gale McKenzie about the case, and that Bush telephoned him from Air Force One only to ask what to say about it. Lacey reported on December 8, 1992, that there were no grounds for an independent counsel and that he had "seen nothing" to suggest that [[Brent Scowcroft]] and [[Lawrence Eagleburger]] knew of the loans; Representative [[Henry B. Gonzalez|Henry Gonzalez]] called the report a whitewash.[^1][^4]
+
+#### House Bank
+
+Barr appointed his former judge, Wilkey, as special counsel for the investigation of the House bank. He recalled that two members of Congress "took me back in my office" and "threatened that life could be very difficult for me if this thing was really investigated," and that he answered, "That's tough. It's going to be investigated."[^1]
+
+#### Iran-Contra Pardons
+
+At the end of the administration Barr advised Bush to pardon [[Caspar Weinberger]], "but while he was at it, he should pardon about five others." "The big ones obviously were the Iran Contra ones. I certainly did not oppose any of them. I favored the broadest. There were some people arguing just for Weinberger, and I said, 'No, in for a penny, in for a pound.'" He described [[Elliott Abrams]] as "very unjustly treated" and did not remember going through the pardon office. Of the independent counsel [[Lawrence Walsh]] he said: "He was certainly a headhunter and had completely lost perspective." He disputed Bob Woodward's account that Bush "bellowed" at him over Weinberger's indictment on the Friday before the 1992 election: "He didn't even raise his voice. He just said that he felt it cost him the election."[^1]
+
+### Attorney General, 2019
+
+Barr resigned from the board of [[Dominion Energy]] effective February 12, 2019, before his confirmation as attorney general.[^5] His department oversaw the federal prosecution of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] that year. His father, [[Donald Barr]], was headmaster of the [[Dalton School]] in New York during the period in which Epstein, a college dropout, was hired there to teach; accounts differ on whether Donald Barr personally hired him.[^6]
 
 ### Footnotes
-[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
+
+[^1]: Miller Center, University of Virginia. "William P. Barr Oral History," interview of April 5, 2001, George H. W. Bush Oral History Project. https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/william-p-barr-oral-history
+[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.,* March 1993, introduction. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
+[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report,* H. Rept. 102-857, September 10, 1992. https://archive.org/details/InslawAffairInvestigativeReport
+[^4]: Lacey, Frederick B. "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Investigation: Report of the Independent Counsel," reproduced in House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, *Testimony of Former Employees of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro,* Serial No. 103-95, November 9, 1993; Gonzalez, Henry B. "Update on BNL Investigation," *Congressional Record,* House, January 21, 1993.
+[^5]: Dominion Energy, Inc. Proxy statement, 2019, SEC Form DEF 14A, director table, note 4. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/715957/000119312519085276/d693331ddef14a.htm
+[^6]: "The 'Epstein-Barr' Problem of New York City's Dalton School." *Law and Crime,* July 13, 2019, which states that Epstein was hired "by the school's headmaster Donald Barr in the mid 1970's". https://web.archive.org/web/2019/https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/the-epstein-barr-problem-of-new-york-citys-dalton-school/

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William Colby.md

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 - April 27, 1996) served as Director of Cent
 
 ### Vietnam Service
 
-Colby served as CIA station chief in Saigon during the Vietnam War and from 1968 to 1971 headed the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) program, under which the Phoenix Program - a joint U.S.-South Vietnamese effort to identify and neutralize Viet Cong infrastructure through targeted assassination and detention - operated. He subsequently served as Deputy Ambassador in Saigon until 1972. His Vietnam years established personal relationships that would have later significance: Nebraska attorney [[John DeCamp]] served as his aide during this period and participated in Operation Baby Lift in the war's final days.[^1]
+Colby served as CIA station chief in Saigon during the [[Vietnam War]] and from 1968 to 1971 headed the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) program, under which the Phoenix Program - a joint U.S.-South Vietnamese effort to identify and neutralize Viet Cong infrastructure through targeted assassination and detention - operated. He subsequently served as Deputy Ambassador in Saigon until 1972. His Vietnam years established personal relationships that would have later significance: Nebraska attorney [[John DeCamp]] served as his aide during this period and participated in Operation Baby Lift in the war's final days.[^1]
 
 ### Angleton Firing and Operation CHAOS
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Yasser Arafat.md

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon forced the PLO out of its Lebanese position
 
 The PLO operated from Tunis from 1982 to 1994. Arafat maintained diplomatic recognition from most of the Arab world and developing nations, but the United States and Israel refused direct contact with the PLO under a long-standing policy. The First Intifada (1987-1993), a civilian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza that the PLO had not initiated, shifted political momentum toward negotiation and toward Palestinian organizations based inside the occupied territories.[^1]
 
-Secret negotiations between Israeli and PLO representatives, conducted in Oslo under Norwegian facilitation in 1993, produced the Declaration of Principles signed at the [[White House]] on September 13, 1993. The signing ceremony, with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands in the presence of President Bill Clinton, was one of the most widely photographed diplomatic images of the 1990s. Arafat, Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. The Oslo Accords established the Palestinian Authority, to which Arafat returned from exile in 1994, and he was elected its first president in 1996.[^1]
+Secret negotiations between Israeli and PLO representatives, conducted in Oslo under Norwegian facilitation in 1993, produced the Declaration of Principles signed at the [[White House]] on September 13, 1993. The signing ceremony, with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands in the presence of President Bill Clinton, was one of the most widely photographed diplomatic images of the 1990s. Arafat, Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. The [[Oslo Accords]] established the Palestinian Authority, to which Arafat returned from exile in 1994, and he was elected its first president in 1996.[^1]
 
 ### Camp David and Second Intifada
 

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Yigal Allon.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ location: "Kfar Tavor, British Mandate Palestine"
 
 Yigal Allon was a 1948 war hero and a close adviser to Prime Minister [[Levi Eshkol]]. He was an advocate of [[West Bank]] resettlement. Allon, along with [[Yitzhak Rabin]] and [[Ariel Sharon]], believed that [[Israel]]'s essential advantage over the Arabs was the quality and training of its military personnel, and viewed nuclear weapons as nothing more than a great equalizer.[^1]
 
-In early December 1967, Allon was given a private look at [[Israel]]'s early work on its first nuclear missile field, under construction at Hirbat Zachariah. This experience moved him to tears, as he saw it as a new kind of military security for the nation. He couldn't resist boasting about what he had seen, stunning his cabinet colleagues by warning [[Egypt]] in a public speech that [[Israel]] would reply in kind to any Egyptian attack on a population center using advanced weapons. His cryptic assertions were privately attacked by other government officials as a breach of security and publicly criticized in the press for creating panic.[^1]
+In early December 1967, Allon was given a private look at Israel's early work on its first nuclear missile field, under construction at Hirbat Zachariah. This experience moved him to tears, as he saw it as a new kind of military security for the nation. The concealed shelters at the site were built by [[Tahal]], the government-owned water planning corporation, and the launch barrels were imported marked as lengths of pipeline. He couldn't resist boasting about what he had seen, stunning his cabinet colleagues by warning [[Egypt]] in a public speech that Israel would reply in kind to any Egyptian attack on a population center using advanced weapons. His cryptic assertions were privately attacked by other government officials as a breach of security and publicly criticized in the press for creating panic.[^1]
 
 Allon was among those in the kitchen cabinet who assembled for an all-night session in [[Golda Meir]]'s office in [[Tel Aviv]] on Monday, October 8, 1973, during the [[Yom Kippur War]]. The Israeli leadership resolved to implement three critical decisions: rally its collapsing forces for a major counterattack; arm and target its nuclear arsenal in the event of total collapse and subsequent need for the [[Samson Option]]; and inform [[Washington, D.C.]] of its unprecedented nuclear action to demand an emergency airlift of replacement arms and ammunition.[^2]