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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolfo Calero.md
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@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ aliases:
- Adolpho Calero
- Sparkplug
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-05
updated: 2026-10-08
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
@ -61,37 +61,40 @@ The Independent Counsel's Final Report states that in the fall of 1984 North int
From December 1984 through July 1985, according to the Committees, Calero transferred $11.3 million to Secord, which paid for five arms shipments (Phases I through IV and a supplement); Secord spent $9.4 million on the arms, and the shortfall against the total cost, including commissions to Secord, Hakim and [[Thomas Clines]], was made up from other Enterprise funds, including donations from the private fund-raising network.[^6] Calero testified that he was unaware Secord was earning money on the sales and believed he supplied the weapons at cost. Secord testified that his markup "averaged out almost exactly 20 percent"; the Committees found that the commission actually averaged 38 percent of the cost of the arms. A European dealer introduced to Calero by General [[John Singlaub]] quoted AK-47 prices "about half of what we had previously had to pay."[^6] The first sale, of Chinese SA-7 missiles shipped under false [[Guatemala|Guatemalan]] end-user certificates, was the first executed by Secord and Hakim.[^7]
In late June 1985 North and Secord met in [[Miami]] with Calero and Bermudez and told them that donors would henceforth pay the suppliers, the Enterprise, directly. Walsh writes that this effectively eliminated Calero "as a money-handler," except for what remained in the Contra account from the Saudi donations; the Committees add that the participants agreed on the need to open a southern front, and that Calero "continued to concentrate his resources on his own organization in the North." A fourth shipment in December 1985 was bought by Calero with funds remaining in his account and delivered to [[El Salvador]] on December 15, 1985, the Enterprise crediting Secord's personal account with $100,800 in profits two days later.[^8][^6]
Singlaub had drawn up the weapons list with FDN commander Enrique Bermudez at FDN base camps in March 1985 and taken it to Oliver North; in early May Calero and Singlaub met Richard Secord in North's office about SA-7 missiles, and North and Calero chose Secord for them because he would supply training. In mid-May Calero ordered other weapons through Singlaub's dealer, and the arms arrived in Central America on July 8, 1985, the last order Calero placed with anyone other than Secord; it nearly exhausted the funds in Calero's own accounts.[^8] In deposition Calero named his three main sources as Ron Martin, Secord and Singlaub, said he had "blind trust" in Singlaub, and said Singlaub told him North had told him to stay away because of his high profile. Committee counsel put the first payments for shipments arranged by Singlaub at $2 million on April 26, 1985 and $3.3 million in May, and Calero associated a May 1, 1986 deposit of $48,770 from Chase Panama with "the last Singlaub" purchase.[^9]
In late June 1985 North and Secord met in [[Miami]] with Calero and Bermudez and told them that donors would henceforth pay the suppliers, the Enterprise, directly. Walsh writes that this effectively eliminated Calero "as a money-handler," except for what remained in the Contra account from the Saudi donations; the Committees add that the participants agreed on the need to open a southern front, and that Calero "continued to concentrate his resources on his own organization in the North." A fourth shipment in December 1985 was bought by Calero with funds remaining in his account and delivered to [[El Salvador]] on December 15, 1985, the Enterprise crediting Secord's personal account with $100,800 in profits two days later.[^6][^10]
In February 1985, with McFarlane's approval, North decided to support another Resistance leader with money from the Calero account; by February 27, 1985 "Adolfo [Calero] ha[d] agreed to provide [the] requisite funds in the blind without [the] [Resistance leader] becoming aware of the source," at $6,250 a month, and the money was in the event passed in traveler's checks by Owen and [[Jonathan Miller]] of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]]'s public diplomacy office. North also warned Calero: "Too much is becoming known by too many people. We need to make sure that this new financing does not become known. The Congress must believe that there continues to be an urgent need for funding."[^6]
### Traveler's checks and the private network
Walsh states that "nearly $6 million" in cash and traveler's checks moved through the Iran and Contra operations and that traveler's checks "were purchased by contra leader Adolfo Calero and used as a convenient form of currency." The checks totaled $2,691,950 in 25,637 checks; Calero said his lawyer [[Carlos Morales]] bought the blank checks from BAC International Bank in Miami with funds transferred from the Contras' [[Cayman Islands]] accounts, and that he initially kept a journal of the disbursements but discontinued it, so that the Office of Independent Counsel obtained no record of what the payments were for, only who endorsed them; on 4,982 checks totaling $479,010 the signatures were illegible. North estimated he received about $100,000 in blank checks from Calero, which went into an operational fund used to pay about 40 Contra leaders; Calero said it was necessary for North to make the payments because of "politically sensitive relationships" between Calero and rival faction heads. North cashed 49 checks in his own name totaling $4,940 and 37 checks totaling $2,420 under the alias William P. Good; the jury acquitted him of converting $4,300 of the checks.[^9]
Walsh states that "nearly $6 million" in cash and traveler's checks moved through the Iran and Contra operations and that traveler's checks "were purchased by contra leader Adolfo Calero and used as a convenient form of currency." The checks totaled $2,691,950 in 25,637 checks; Calero said his lawyer [[Carlos Morales]] bought the blank checks from BAC International Bank in Miami with funds transferred from the Contras' [[Cayman Islands]] accounts, and that he initially kept a journal of the disbursements but discontinued it, so that the Office of Independent Counsel obtained no record of what the payments were for, only who endorsed them; on 4,982 checks totaling $479,010 the signatures were illegible. North estimated he received about $100,000 in blank checks from Calero, which went into an operational fund used to pay about 40 Contra leaders; Calero said it was necessary for North to make the payments because of "politically sensitive relationships" between Calero and rival faction heads. North cashed 49 checks in his own name totaling $4,940 and 37 checks totaling $2,420 under the alias William P. Good; the jury acquitted him of converting $4,300 of the checks.[^11]
The private fundraisers [[Carl Channell]] and [[Richard Miller]] advised Calero from 1984: Calero's [[Nicaraguan Development Council]] paid $55,000 in retainer fees to Miller's [[International Business Communications]] between September 1984 and May 1985. After the first White House briefing in June 1985 Channell gave Calero a $50,000 check. Of $6,323,020 in Contra-related donations to the [[National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty]] from June 1985 to November 1986, $3,306,882 went to Contra support at North's direction, including $1,738,000 to the Enterprise's Swiss Lake Resources account and $1,080,000 in transfers to Calero.[^10] The courier [[Robert Owen]], an employee of [[Gray and Company]], met regularly with Calero and other Contra leaders for North; the Committees' account of the [[National Security Council]]'s NHAO humanitarian office records that when [[Robert Duemling]] refused to hire Owen, the three directors of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, Calero, [[Arturo Cruz]] and [[Alfonso Robelo]], wrote Duemling asking for Owen's help.[^6] Owen's April 1, 1985 memorandum to North, in which Calero carries the code name "Sparkplug," also reported that new Southern Front officials included people with "potential involvement with drug running."[^11]
The private fundraisers [[Carl Channell]] and [[Richard Miller]] advised Calero from 1984: Calero's [[Nicaraguan Development Council]] paid $55,000 in retainer fees to Miller's [[International Business Communications]] between September 1984 and May 1985. After the first White House briefing in June 1985 Channell gave Calero a $50,000 check. Of $6,323,020 in Contra-related donations to the [[National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty]] from June 1985 to November 1986, $3,306,882 went to Contra support at North's direction, including $1,738,000 to the Enterprise's Swiss Lake Resources account and $1,080,000 in transfers to Calero.[^12] The courier [[Robert Owen]], an employee of [[Gray and Company]], met regularly with Calero and other Contra leaders for North; the Committees' account of the [[National Security Council]]'s NHAO humanitarian office records that when [[Robert Duemling]] refused to hire Owen, the three directors of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, Calero, [[Arturo Cruz]] and [[Alfonso Robelo]], wrote Duemling asking for Owen's help.[^6] Owen's April 1, 1985 memorandum to North, in which Calero carries the code name "Sparkplug," also reported that new Southern Front officials included people with "potential involvement with drug running."[^13]
### The arms supermarket
Walsh's chapter on the CIA's senior field officer in Central America, "CIA Subject #1," records that the Miami arms dealer [[Ron Martin]], who had been investigated by the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]] for years and at one time charged with providing arms illegally to narcotics traffickers, planned with Colonel [[James McCoy]] a stock of weapons in [[Honduras]] from which the Contras could buy "on a cash-and-carry basis." Martin's financing came from [[Enrique DeValle]], the brother of a former [[Panama|Panamanian]] president. CIA field reports of February 1985 learned of it "from Calero and others." On May 13, 1985 North starred as "to do" items "Check w/ Ron Martin 'Supermarket'" and "Secord/Aplicano meeting," and on May 20 noted Calero's assessment: "Supermarket is proceeding." Martin told the Independent Counsel that he used the Danish freighter *Erria*'s manifest to try to convince Calero that Secord was "ripping off" the Contras. In September 1985 Calero, under "increasingly intense pressure" from Bermudez to use the warehouse, asked the CIA about it; the CIA officer wrote that Martin's prices were good and the credit terms excellent, that "there is no advantage for [CIA] to get involved," and the CIA ended up making no recommendation; Calero purchased weapons from the supermarket.[^12]
Walsh's chapter on the CIA's senior field officer in Central America, "CIA Subject #1," records that the Miami arms dealer [[Ron Martin]], who had been investigated by the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]] for years and at one time charged with providing arms illegally to narcotics traffickers, planned with Colonel [[James McCoy]] a stock of weapons in [[Honduras]] from which the Contras could buy "on a cash-and-carry basis." Martin's financing came from [[Enrique DeValle]], the brother of a former [[Panama|Panamanian]] president. CIA field reports of February 1985 learned of it "from Calero and others." On May 13, 1985 North starred as "to do" items "Check w/ Ron Martin 'Supermarket'" and "Secord/Aplicano meeting," and on May 20 noted Calero's assessment: "Supermarket is proceeding." Martin told the Independent Counsel that he used the Danish freighter *Erria*'s manifest to try to convince Calero that Secord was "ripping off" the Contras. In September 1985 Calero, under "increasingly intense pressure" from Bermudez to use the warehouse, asked the CIA about it; the CIA officer wrote that Martin's prices were good and the credit terms excellent, that "there is no advantage for [CIA] to get involved," and the CIA ended up making no recommendation; Calero purchased weapons from the supermarket.[^14]
North's notebook for July 12, 1985, released through a [[National Security Archive]] lawsuit, records a call from Secord discussing a Honduran arms warehouse the Contras planned to buy from, with the note, "14 M to finance [the arms in the warehouse] came from drugs."[^11] The National Security Archive's briefing book states that the Contras did eventually buy the arms with money the administration secretly raised from Saudi Arabia.[^11]
North's notebook for July 12, 1985, released through a [[National Security Archive]] lawsuit, records a call from Secord discussing a Honduran arms warehouse the Contras planned to buy from, with the note, "14 M to finance [the arms in the warehouse] came from drugs."[^13] The National Security Archive's briefing book states that the Contras did eventually buy the arms with money the administration secretly raised from Saudi Arabia.[^13]
### Mario Calero, Frank Moss and the Kerry Committee
The [[Kerry Committee]]'s report states that the FDN's chief supply officer was Adolfo Calero's brother [[Mario Calero]], and that under a commercial agreement with the pilot [[Frank Moss]], Mario Calero was to receive an ownership interest in Moss's company [[Hondu Carib]], which flew weapons purchased from R.M. Equipment (the firm controlled by Martin and McCoy); Moss, the report says, had been investigated but never indicted for narcotics offenses by ten law enforcement agencies. [[SETCO]], the Honduran company that carried at least a million rounds of ammunition and other FDN supplies from 1983 to 1985, received funds, according to the testimony of Adolfo Calero to the Iran-Contra committees, from the Contra accounts established by North; U.S. law enforcement records, the report says, state that SETCO was established by [[Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros]]. The report also states that at North's direction Calero paid $10,000 a month to the Costa Rican rancher [[John Hull]] who helped the CIA with Contra supply operations.[^13] North's notebook for August 9, 1985 summarizes a meeting with Owen about a plane used by Mario Calero to transport supplies from [[New Orleans]] to Honduras: "Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S."[^11] The Kerry Committee's conclusion was that it "did not find evidence that the Contra leadership participated directly in narcotics smuggling," although the FDN "did move Contra funds through a narcotics trafficking enterprise and money laundering operation."[^13]
The [[Kerry Committee]]'s report states that the FDN's chief supply officer was Adolfo Calero's brother [[Mario Calero]], and that under a commercial agreement with the pilot [[Frank Moss]], Mario Calero was to receive an ownership interest in Moss's company [[Hondu Carib]], which flew weapons purchased from R.M. Equipment (the firm controlled by Martin and McCoy); Moss, the report says, had been investigated but never indicted for narcotics offenses by ten law enforcement agencies. [[SETCO]], the Honduran company that carried at least a million rounds of ammunition and other FDN supplies from 1983 to 1985, received funds, according to the testimony of Adolfo Calero to the Iran-Contra committees, from the Contra accounts established by North; U.S. law enforcement records, the report says, state that SETCO was established by [[Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros]]. The report also states that at North's direction Calero paid $10,000 a month to the Costa Rican rancher [[John Hull]] who helped the CIA with Contra supply operations.[^15] North's notebook for August 9, 1985 summarizes a meeting with Owen about a plane used by Mario Calero to transport supplies from [[New Orleans]] to Honduras: "Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S."[^13] The Kerry Committee's conclusion was that it "did not find evidence that the Contra leadership participated directly in narcotics smuggling," although the FDN "did move Contra funds through a narcotics trafficking enterprise and money laundering operation."[^15]
Webb wrote that Norwin Meneses traveled to Honduras to meet Bermúdez and brought Calero a crossbow as a gesture of esteem; that Calero confirmed the meeting but denied that Meneses or [[Danilo Blandon]] held any official FDN positions; that from 1984 Calero stayed in [[San Francisco]] with the Contra supporters [[Don Sinicco]] and [[Dennis Ainsworth]], that at his request Sinicco founded the Contra support group [[USACA]], and that on June 4, 1984 Ainsworth arranged a reception for Calero at the St. Francis Yacht Club for sixty business leaders, after which Meneses paid for a dinner at Caesar's Italian Restaurant and on June 6 was photographed in Sinicco's kitchen with Calero and FDN officials. Webb also wrote that Calero admitted meeting Meneses at least six times in San Francisco but described them as greetings at large gatherings, and that he told a Costa Rican newspaper in 1986 Meneses was "involved in some illegal things, but I don't know anything."[^4] Webb is the sole source for the passages so cited.
### Swiss accounts, testimony and later life
The [[Tower Commission]] records that Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]]'s notes of his November 23, 1986 interview with North show North saying that the [[Israel|Israelis]] handled the diverted money and that he had given them the numbers of three accounts in [[Switzerland]] opened by Calero. The March 1988 indictment charged, in Count Seven, that North's statement to Meese that he had advised Calero to open Swiss accounts to receive the diverted funds was false.[^14][^15]
The [[Tower Commission]] records that Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]]'s notes of his November 23, 1986 interview with North show North saying that the [[Israel|Israelis]] handled the diverted money and that he had given them the numbers of three accounts in [[Switzerland]] opened by Calero. The March 1988 indictment charged, in Count Seven, that North's statement to Meese that he had advised Calero to open Swiss accounts to receive the diverted funds was false.[^16][^17]
Calero testified before the Iran-Contra committees in May 1987, and on February 23, 1989 gave detailed prosecution testimony at North's trial about North's role in supplying weapons and other support; on cross-examination he called North a "savior" for whom Nicaraguans should "erect a monument."[^16] The AP obituary reports that in 1987 he said he used to tell North "frankly, everything. I had no reservation," denied knowing the money came from Iranian arms sales, and acknowledged that three former U.S. military officers helped the Contras buy more than $18 million in military equipment while official arms aid was suspended. After the Sandinistas lost the 1990 election he returned to Nicaragua, recovered his confiscated home and worked as a lawyer. He died in Managua on June 2, 2012 of lung problems.[^2]
Calero testified before the Iran-Contra committees in May 1987, and on February 23, 1989 gave detailed prosecution testimony at North's trial about North's role in supplying weapons and other support; on cross-examination he called North a "savior" for whom Nicaraguans should "erect a monument."[^18] The AP obituary reports that in 1987 he said he used to tell North "frankly, everything. I had no reservation," denied knowing the money came from Iranian arms sales, and acknowledged that three former U.S. military officers helped the Contras buy more than $18 million in military equipment while official arms aid was suspended. After the Sandinistas lost the 1990 election he returned to Nicaragua, recovered his confiscated home and worked as a lawyer. He died in Managua on June 2, 2012 of lung problems.[^2]
In January 1985, Webb wrote, Robert McFarlane told Calero that perhaps it was time to think about "cutting both our losses and theirs," as the FDN reached its nadir; the Saudi contribution doubled the following month according to the Final Report.[^4][^8]
In January 1985, Webb wrote, Robert McFarlane told Calero that perhaps it was time to think about "cutting both our losses and theirs," as the FDN reached its nadir; the Saudi contribution doubled the following month according to the Final Report.[^4][^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Brinkley, Joel, and Stephen Engelberg, eds. *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, with the Minority Views*, abridged edition (New York: Times Books/Random House, 1988), Part I, ch. 1, "Introduction: Background on U.S.-Nicaragua Relations," section "The Contras." https://archive.org/details/reportofcongres00unit
[^2]: "Former Nicaragua Contra leader Adolfo Calero dies." Associated Press, June 3, 2012 (Deseret News). https://www.deseret.com/2012/6/3/20416430/former-nicaragua-contra-leader-adolfo-calero-dies/
[^3]: Brinkley and Engelberg, eds., *Report of the Congressional Committees*, "Cast of Characters." https://archive.org/details/reportofcongres00unit
@ -99,12 +102,14 @@ In January 1985, Webb wrote, Robert McFarlane told Calero that perhaps it was ti
[^5]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I (Washington, D.C.: Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels, August 4, 1993), ch. 8, "The Enterprise and Its Finances." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm
[^6]: Brinkley and Engelberg, eds., *Report of the Congressional Committees*, chapters on the private operation, the Enterprise and the NHAO. https://archive.org/details/reportofcongres00unit
[^7]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 1, "United States v. Robert C. McFarlane," discussion of the North memoranda of November 7 and December 4, 1984. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm
[^8]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 8, sections "Summer 1985: Calero's Purchasing Power Is Removed" and "Phase IV of the Contra Arms Sales." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm
[^9]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, "Other Money Matters: Traveler's Checks and Cash Transactions," citing Calero's North trial testimony of February 23, 1989 and FBI interview of September 22, 1987. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm
[^10]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 13, "Private Fundraising: The Guilty Pleas of Channell and Miller." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_13.htm
[^11]: National Security Archive, "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations," Electronic Briefing Book No. 2, section "Documentation of Official U.S. Knowledge of Drug Trafficking and the Contras" (North notebooks of July 12 and August 9, 1985; Owen memorandum of April 1, 1985). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html
[^12]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 21, "CIA Subject #1." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_21.htm
[^13]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), sections on SETCO and Hondu Carib, on John Hull, and the Conclusions. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^14]: Tower Commission, *Report of the President's Special Review Board* (February 26, 1987), "Contra Diversion," excerpts. https://archive.org/details/tower-commission-report-excerpts-reagan
[^15]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 2, "United States v. Oliver L. North," description of Counts Seven and Eight. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm
[^16]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 2, trial testimony of Calero (February 23, 1989). https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm
[^8]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (H. Rept. 100-433, S. Rept. 100-216), ch. 2, pp. 50-51 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=74).
[^9]: Deposition of Adolfo Calero, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 3, transcript pp. 84-85, 94-95, 170, 178-179 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0235).
[^10]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 8, sections "Summer 1985: Calero's Purchasing Power Is Removed" and "Phase IV of the Contra Arms Sales." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm
[^11]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, "Other Money Matters: Traveler's Checks and Cash Transactions," citing Calero's North trial testimony of February 23, 1989 and FBI interview of September 22, 1987. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm
[^12]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 13, "Private Fundraising: The Guilty Pleas of Channell and Miller." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_13.htm
[^13]: National Security Archive, "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations," Electronic Briefing Book No. 2, section "Documentation of Official U.S. Knowledge of Drug Trafficking and the Contras" (North notebooks of July 12 and August 9, 1985; Owen memorandum of April 1, 1985). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html
[^14]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 21, "CIA Subject #1." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_21.htm
[^15]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), sections on SETCO and Hondu Carib, on John Hull, and the Conclusions. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^16]: Tower Commission, *Report of the President's Special Review Board* (February 26, 1987), "Contra Diversion," excerpts. https://archive.org/details/tower-commission-report-excerpts-reagan
[^17]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 2, "United States v. Oliver L. North," description of Counts Seven and Eight. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm
[^18]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 2, trial testimony of Calero (February 23, 1989). https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm

79
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ari Ben-Menashe.md
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@ -20,77 +20,82 @@ summary: "Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli-Canadian who describes hims
born: 1951-12-04
location: "Tehran, Iran; Montreal, Canada"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-08
---
Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli-Canadian businessman, author, and lobbyist who describes himself as a former official of Israel's military intelligence, and who became a recurring source for claims about covert United States and Israeli arms dealing, the [[October Surprise]] theory, [[PROMIS]] software, [[Robert Maxwell]], and, in later years, [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^1] He was born on December 4, 1951, in Tehran, [[Iran]], to an affluent Iraqi Jewish family; his father Gourdji was involved with [[LEHI]] (the Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^3][^5] His allegations have been influential in conspiracy literature while being repeatedly assessed as unreliable by courts, congressional investigators, and journalists.[^2]
Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli-Canadian businessman, author, and lobbyist who describes himself as a former official of Israel's military intelligence, and who became a recurring source for claims about covert United States and Israeli arms dealing, the [[October Surprise]] theory, [[PROMIS]] software, [[Robert Maxwell]], and, in later years, [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^1] He was born on December 4, 1951, in Tehran, [[Iran]], to an affluent Iraqi Jewish family; his father Gourdji was involved with [[LEHI]] (the Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^2][^3] His allegations have been influential in conspiracy literature while being repeatedly assessed as unreliable by courts, congressional investigators, and journalists.[^4]
### Claimed Intelligence Background
By his own account, Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14, and in 1969, while on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]] [[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He says he was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but declined a spying role, was drafted in 1974 and assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (signals intelligence) on the Iranian desk where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code, and that in 1976 he was involved in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. After refusing an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, he says he was court-martialed and released from military service.[^5] He states that he then worked from 1977 to 1987 as a civilian in the External Relations Department of the Israeli [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Military Intelligence Directorate]] (Aman), a role he has portrayed as giving him access to high-level arms-transfer and covert-operations decisions.[^1]
By his own account, Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14, and in 1969, while on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]] [[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He says he was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but declined a spying role, was drafted in 1974 and assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (signals intelligence) on the Iranian desk where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code, and that in 1976 he was involved in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. After refusing an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, he says he was court-martialed and released from military service.[^3] He states that he then worked from 1977 to 1987 as a civilian in the External Relations Department of the Israeli [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Military Intelligence Directorate]] (Aman), a role he has portrayed as giving him access to high-level arms-transfer and covert-operations decisions.[^1]
Critics dispute the seniority he claims. Israel has generally characterized him as a low-level translator rather than a policy insider, and the journalist [[Steven Emerson]], writing in 1991, argued that Ben-Menashe had inflated a minor translating job into a record of "key positions."[^3] The Israeli government acknowledged that he had worked for military intelligence in a translation capacity but denied that he had held the senior operational role he described.[^7] The disagreement over his rank has shaped the reception of all his later claims, because his accounts of arms deals, the October Surprise, and Israeli operations rest on his asserted firsthand access rather than on corroborating documents or witnesses.[^2][^3]
Critics dispute the seniority he claims. Israel has generally characterized him as a low-level translator rather than a policy insider, and the journalist [[Steven Emerson]], writing in 1991, argued that Ben-Menashe had inflated a minor translating job into a record of "key positions."[^2] The Israeli government acknowledged that he had worked for military intelligence in a translation capacity but denied that he had held the senior operational role he described.[^5] The disagreement over his rank has shaped the reception of all his later claims, because his accounts of arms deals, the October Surprise, and Israeli operations rest on his asserted firsthand access rather than on corroborating documents or witnesses.[^2][^4]
### Arms Case and Acquittal
Ben-Menashe first drew wide public attention when he was arrested in the United States in November 1989 and charged under the Arms Export Control Act with attempting to broker the sale of three Israeli-owned Lockheed [[C-130 Hercules]] transport aircraft to Iran, a deal valued at about 36 million dollars, using false end-user certificates.[^4] The prosecution was brought in the United States District Court for the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], where the related rulings carried the caption United States v. Menashe.[^14] He spent nearly a year in custody before a jury acquitted him and a co-defendant on November 28, 1990, after his defense argued, and the jury accepted, that he had been acting under the authority of the Israeli government in a transaction tied to Israel's arms dealings with Iran.[^4]
Ben-Menashe first drew wide public attention when he was arrested in the United States in November 1989 and charged under the Arms Export Control Act with attempting to broker the sale of three Israeli-owned Lockheed [[C-130 Hercules]] transport aircraft to Iran, a deal valued at about 36 million dollars, using false end-user certificates.[^6] The prosecution was brought in the United States District Court for the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], where the related rulings carried the caption United States v. Menashe.[^7] He spent nearly a year in custody before a jury acquitted him and a co-defendant on November 28, 1990, after his defense argued, and the jury accepted, that he had been acting under the authority of the Israeli government in a transaction tied to Israel's arms dealings with Iran.[^6]
Israel denied that he had been authorized to act for it in the transaction, repeating the position that he had been only a translator.[^4] The acquittal nonetheless rested on the jury's willingness to credit his Israeli-agent defense, and he afterward cited the verdict as vindication of his broader account, even though the bodies that later examined his substantive claims rejected them.[^2][^6] The acquittal gave him a platform from which he expanded a series of claims about secret United States and Israeli arms networks, set out in his 1992 book [[Profits of War]].[^5]
Israel denied that he had been authorized to act for it in the transaction, repeating the position that he had been only a translator.[^6] The acquittal nonetheless rested on the jury's willingness to credit his Israeli-agent defense, and he afterward cited the verdict as vindication of his broader account, even though the bodies that later examined his substantive claims rejected them.[^4][^8] The acquittal gave him a platform from which he expanded a series of claims about secret United States and Israeli arms networks, set out in his 1992 book [[Profits of War]].[^3]
### October Surprise and Iran-Contra Claims
In Profits of War and in congressional testimony, Ben-Menashe alleged that Israeli officials, working with figures around the 1980 [[Ronald Reagan]] presidential campaign, arranged arms sales to Iran in exchange for delaying the release of American hostages until after the November 1980 election, the scenario known as the October Surprise.[^5] He claimed to have witnessed a Paris meeting in October 1980 attended by [[George H.W. Bush]], the campaign manager [[William J. Casey|William Casey]], and Iranian representatives.[^6]
In Profits of War and in congressional testimony, Ben-Menashe alleged that Israeli officials, working with figures around the 1980 [[Ronald Reagan]] presidential campaign, arranged arms sales to Iran in exchange for delaying the release of American hostages until after the November 1980 election, the scenario known as the October Surprise.[^3] He claimed to have witnessed a Paris meeting in October 1980 attended by [[George H.W. Bush]], the campaign manager [[William J. Casey|William Casey]], and Iranian representatives.[^8]
His detailed account named a sequence of secret meetings. He described [[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, Casey, [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]] entering negotiations with the Iranians, and [[David Kimche]] of Mossad initiating an arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in 1979. He placed first and second Madrid meetings in March and May 1980 involving [[Mehdi Karrubi]], Casey, McFarlane, [[Donald Gregg]], [[Robert Gates]], and Brian; an Amsterdam meeting in August 1980; and the October 1980 Paris meeting at which he says the hostage-release deal was sealed and after which he received 56 million dollars in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980, with 4 million for Brian and 52 million for the Iranian intermediary Kashani. The hostages were released on Reagan's inauguration day, January 20, 1981.[^5] He further alleged a 1980 to 1981 [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] arms pipeline, a role in the June 7, 1981 [[Israel Air Force]] strike on Iraq's Tammuz nuclear reactor, the recruitment of [[Daily Mirror]] foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] by Mossad, and the use of a slush fund (the [[Ora Group]]) to finance the [[Likud Party]] and "black" operations including, in his telling, the 1985 [[Achille Lauro]] hijacking.[^5]
His detailed account named a sequence of secret meetings. He described [[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, Casey, [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]] entering negotiations with the Iranians, and [[David Kimche]] of Mossad initiating an arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in 1979. He placed first and second Madrid meetings in March and May 1980 involving [[Mehdi Karrubi]], Casey, McFarlane, [[Donald Gregg]], [[Robert Gates]], and Brian; an Amsterdam meeting in August 1980; and the October 1980 Paris meeting at which he says the hostage-release deal was sealed and after which he received 56 million dollars in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980, with 4 million for Brian and 52 million for the Iranian intermediary Kashani. The hostages were released on Reagan's inauguration day, January 20, 1981.[^3] He further alleged a 1980 to 1981 [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] arms pipeline, a role in the June 7, 1981 [[Israel Air Force]] strike on Iraq's Tammuz nuclear reactor, the recruitment of [[Daily Mirror]] foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] by Mossad, and the use of a slush fund (the [[Ora Group]]) to finance the [[Likud Party]] and "black" operations including, in his telling, the 1985 [[Achille Lauro]] hijacking.[^3]
No official body endorsed this account. The [[House October Surprise Task Force]], chaired by Representative [[Lee Hamilton]], published its joint report on January 3, 1993, and rejected it, saying it had conclusive evidence from travel and passport records that Ben-Menashe was not in Paris when he claimed to have witnessed the meeting, and describing his testimony as "totally lacking in credibility," "demonstrably false from beginning to end," and "a total fabrication."[^6] A separate review of the Iran-Contra-related allegations conducted under Attorney General [[William Barr]] likewise found no credible basis for his key claims, and an earlier Senate examination reached similar conclusions.[^6][^7] The Senate Foreign Relations special counsel, Reid H. Weingarten, reporting to Senators [[Terry Sanford]] and [[James Jeffords]] on November 19, 1992, found that Ben-Menashe "undoubtedly had real connections with Israeli intelligence and had access to some highly classified information," but that his "insistence upon placing himself in the middle of numerous scandals and adventures" and his contradiction of credible witnesses and documents made him "a wholly unreliable witness," and did not rely on his testimony without independent corroboration.[^21]
No official body endorsed this account. The [[House October Surprise Task Force]], chaired by Representative [[Lee Hamilton]], published its joint report on January 3, 1993, and rejected it, saying it had conclusive evidence from travel and passport records that Ben-Menashe was not in Paris when he claimed to have witnessed the meeting, and describing his testimony as "totally lacking in credibility," "demonstrably false from beginning to end," and "a total fabrication."[^8] A separate review of the Iran-Contra-related allegations conducted under Attorney General [[William Barr]] likewise found no credible basis for his key claims, and an earlier Senate examination reached similar conclusions.[^5][^8] The Senate Foreign Relations special counsel, Reid H. Weingarten, reporting to Senators [[Terry Sanford]] and [[James Jeffords]] on November 19, 1992, found that Ben-Menashe "undoubtedly had real connections with Israeli intelligence and had access to some highly classified information," but that his "insistence upon placing himself in the middle of numerous scandals and adventures" and his contradiction of credible witnesses and documents made him "a wholly unreliable witness," and did not rely on his testimony without independent corroboration.[^9]
### PROMIS Affidavits and INSLAW
After the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW|Inslaw]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky, had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software, one of them disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials over the October Surprise.[^19] In affidavits submitted to the bankruptcy court in February and March 1991, he claimed personal knowledge of Earl Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution, alleging that Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence claiming ownership of PROMIS rights, that [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane in 1982 for Israeli signals intelligence, and that enhanced PROMIS was sold to the Israeli intelligence community, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Soviet Union, and Canada.[^20] These PROMIS-distribution claims were later amplified by [[Seymour Hersh]] in [[The Samson Option]] and [[Gordon Thomas]] in [[Gideon's Spies]].[^8][^9]
After the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW|Inslaw]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky, had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software, one of them disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials over the October Surprise.[^10] In affidavits submitted to the bankruptcy court in February and March 1991, he claimed personal knowledge of Earl Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution, alleging that Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence claiming ownership of PROMIS rights, that [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane in 1982 for Israeli signals intelligence, and that enhanced PROMIS was sold to the Israeli intelligence community, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Soviet Union, and Canada.[^11] These PROMIS-distribution claims were later amplified by [[Seymour Hersh]] in [[The Samson Option]] and [[Gordon Thomas]] in [[Gideon's Spies]].[^12][^13]
The special counsel [[Nicholas Bua]], in his 1993 report on the Inslaw affair, rejected these claims. When interviewed, Ben-Menashe gave a substantially different account, stating that he had no knowledge of the transfer of Inslaw's proprietary software, and that the "PROMIS" in his affidavits referred not to Inslaw's product but to an NSA program he called "Milon," a dictionary-compilation tool developed independently before Inslaw existed; he admitted he had allowed the Hamiltons and others to assume he meant Inslaw's PROMIS "to promote his book."[^20] The NSA confirmed that its own internal Product Related On-line Management Information System, also called PROMIS, was written in M204 rather than COBOL and was wholly unrelated to Inslaw's software. The House October Surprise Task Force, the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], and the special counsel all found his testimony fabricated and unsupported.[^10][^20]
In the first of two affidavits he submitted to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia in the INSLAW case, dated February 17, 1991, Ben-Menashe said that in January 1989, while serving as a special consultant for intelligence affairs in the Israeli prime minister's office, he was told by [[Carlos Cardoen]], the Chilean arms maker, that Cardoen had brokered a deal between Earl Brian and a representative of Iraqi military intelligence for the use of PROMIS.[^14] A *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* report of February 19, 1991, preserved in the Danny Casolaro papers, says the sale was consummated in Santiago, Chile, where [[Industrias Cardoen]] had its headquarters, and that Brian called the allegations "nonsense."[^15] The report of Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]] states that Ben-Menashe "makes a number of extraordinary claims, most of which are not subject to corroboration."[^14] The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] recorded in 1991 that Robert Gates denied specific allegations made by Ben-Menashe at his confirmation hearing and that the FBI and the CIA inspector general, reviewing Gates's calendar and travel records, found no credible evidence to confirm them.[^16]
The special counsel Nicholas Bua, in his 1993 report on the Inslaw affair, rejected these claims. When interviewed, Ben-Menashe gave a substantially different account, stating that he had no knowledge of the transfer of Inslaw's proprietary software, and that the "PROMIS" in his affidavits referred not to Inslaw's product but to an NSA program he called "Milon," a dictionary-compilation tool developed independently before Inslaw existed; he admitted he had allowed the Hamiltons and others to assume he meant Inslaw's PROMIS "to promote his book."[^11] The NSA confirmed that its own internal Product Related On-line Management Information System, also called PROMIS, was written in M204 rather than COBOL and was wholly unrelated to Inslaw's software. The House October Surprise Task Force, the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], and the special counsel all found his testimony fabricated and unsupported.[^11][^17]
### Claims about Robert Maxwell
Ben-Menashe alleged that the publisher Robert Maxwell and Nicholas Davies were long-time assets of Israeli intelligence and that Maxwell had close ties to the prime minister's office.[^5] One specific claim concerned the 1986 case of the nuclear technician [[Mordechai Vanunu]], whose account of [[Dimona]] reached the Maxwell-owned [[Sunday Mirror]]; Ben-Menashe said Davies alerted Israeli intelligence to the approach and introduced him to Vanunu's intermediary [[Oscar Guerrero]], and that a Vanunu photograph published by the Sunday Mirror had been flown in from Israel, although the photograph in question had in fact been taken by the [[Sunday Times]] journalist [[Peter Hounam]], undercutting that detail.[^15] Hersh's 1991 book and the parliamentary statements that followed brought the Maxwell allegations into the open shortly before Maxwell's death, and Maxwell sued Hersh for libel before the action lapsed.[^8] No declassified material has confirmed the allegations.[^2]
Ben-Menashe alleged that the publisher Robert Maxwell and Nicholas Davies were long-time assets of Israeli intelligence and that Maxwell had close ties to the prime minister's office.[^3] One specific claim concerned the 1986 case of the nuclear technician [[Mordechai Vanunu]], whose account of [[Dimona]] reached the Maxwell-owned [[Sunday Mirror]]; Ben-Menashe said Davies alerted Israeli intelligence to the approach and introduced him to Vanunu's intermediary [[Oscar Guerrero]], and that a Vanunu photograph published by the Sunday Mirror had been flown in from Israel, although the photograph in question had in fact been taken by the [[Sunday Times]] journalist [[Peter Hounam]], undercutting that detail.[^18] Hersh's 1991 book and the parliamentary statements that followed brought the Maxwell allegations into the open shortly before Maxwell's death, and Maxwell sued Hersh for libel before the action lapsed.[^12] No declassified material has confirmed the allegations.[^4]
### Epstein and Maxwell Allegations
Beginning in 2019, Ben-Menashe gave interviews, including to the journalist [[Whitney Webb]] of MintPress News and to the outlet Narativ, in which he claimed that he had met Jeffrey Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in the 1980s, that he had seen Epstein in Robert Maxwell's offices, and that Maxwell had recruited Epstein for Israeli intelligence and introduced him as pre-approved by figures in Aman.[^11] He characterized the later Epstein operation as a "honeytrap" that gathered sexual blackmail material on powerful figures for Israeli intelligence.[^11]
Beginning in 2019, Ben-Menashe gave interviews, including to the journalist [[Whitney Webb]] of MintPress News and to the outlet Narativ, in which he claimed that he had met Jeffrey Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in the 1980s, that he had seen Epstein in Robert Maxwell's offices, and that Maxwell had recruited Epstein for Israeli intelligence and introduced him as pre-approved by figures in Aman.[^19] He characterized the later Epstein operation as a "honeytrap" that gathered sexual blackmail material on powerful figures for Israeli intelligence.[^19]
No corroborating witness, document, or official admission has been produced to support these specific claims, and reviewers have noted that they rest solely on his own assertions against a documented record of unreliability.[^2][^12] His account also conflicts with the established chronology of Epstein's career, since Epstein's documented entry into Ghislaine Maxwell's circle is generally dated to the period after Robert Maxwell's 1991 death rather than to the 1980s meetings Ben-Menashe described.[^12] He has continued to make related claims, including a 2025 assertion that [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] held Epstein-related files, that likewise remain unverified.[^12]
No corroborating witness, document, or official admission has been produced to support these specific claims, and reviewers have noted that they rest solely on his own assertions against a documented record of unreliability.[^4][^20] His account also conflicts with the established chronology of Epstein's career, since Epstein's documented entry into Ghislaine Maxwell's circle is generally dated to the period after Robert Maxwell's 1991 death rather than to the 1980s meetings Ben-Menashe described.[^20] He has continued to make related claims, including a 2025 assertion that [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] held Epstein-related files, that likewise remain unverified.[^20]
### Lobbying and Consulting
After his intelligence-related notoriety, Ben-Menashe built a lobbying and consulting practice through the [[Montreal]]-based firm [[Dickens & Madson]], representing controversial governments and figures.[^13] His involvement with the government of [[Robert Mugabe]] in [[Zimbabwe]] featured in the treason prosecution of the opposition leader [[Morgan Tsvangirai]], built on a videotape in which prosecutors said Tsvangirai discussed the "elimination" of Mugabe with Ben-Menashe; Tsvangirai was acquitted of high treason on October 14, 2004, by Judge [[Paddington Garwe]] of the Harare High Court, who found no proof of the alleged request, ruled that Ben-Menashe's testimony had to be treated with caution, and called some of it clearly false.[^16]
After his intelligence-related notoriety, Ben-Menashe built a lobbying and consulting practice through the [[Montreal]]-based firm [[Dickens & Madson]], representing controversial governments and figures.[^21] His involvement with the government of [[Robert Mugabe]] in [[Zimbabwe]] featured in the treason prosecution of the opposition leader [[Morgan Tsvangirai]], built on a videotape in which prosecutors said Tsvangirai discussed the "elimination" of Mugabe with Ben-Menashe; Tsvangirai was acquitted of high treason on October 14, 2004, by Judge [[Paddington Garwe]] of the Harare High Court, who found no proof of the alleged request, ruled that Ben-Menashe's testimony had to be treated with caution, and called some of it clearly false.[^22]
He later registered a 2 million dollar contract in March 2021 to lobby for the [[Myanmar]] military junta after its coup, agreeing to advise on evading United States sanctions, and took on engagements connected to [[Sudan]] and its militia leader [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]], a roughly 12 million dollar Zimbabwe land transaction funded by the criminal financier [[Paul Le Roux]] in 2007 and 2008 in which the promised farmland was never delivered, a reported 1 million dollar arrangement with [[Kyrgyzstan]], and work tied to [[Libya]], the [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Venezuela]], and the [[Tigray]] conflict in [[Ethiopia]].[^13][^17] Washington figures quoted in profiles of his career described his reputation as "poisonous."[^13]
He later registered a 2 million dollar contract in March 2021 to lobby for the [[Myanmar]] military junta after its coup, agreeing to advise on evading United States sanctions, and took on engagements connected to [[Sudan]] and its militia leader [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]], a roughly 12 million dollar Zimbabwe land transaction funded by the criminal financier [[Paul Le Roux]] in 2007 and 2008 in which the promised farmland was never delivered, a reported 1 million dollar arrangement with [[Kyrgyzstan]], and work tied to [[Libya]], the [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Venezuela]], and the [[Tigray]] conflict in [[Ethiopia]].[^21][^23] Washington figures quoted in profiles of his career described his reputation as "poisonous."[^21]
### The McFarlane Libel Suit
The former national security adviser Robert McFarlane sued Ben-Menashe and the publisher of Profits of War, Sheridan Square Press, for libel over passages that linked McFarlane to the covert dealings Ben-Menashe described.[^18] The case, McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, reached the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in 1996. Applying the [[actual malice]] standard required for a public figure, the court held that McFarlane could not show the publisher had acted with reckless disregard for the truth merely because Ben-Menashe was a doubtful source, and it affirmed dismissal of the suit. The outcome turned on the high bar a public-figure plaintiff must clear rather than on any finding that Ben-Menashe's account was true.[^18]
The former national security adviser Robert McFarlane sued Ben-Menashe and the publisher of Profits of War, Sheridan Square Press, for libel over passages that linked McFarlane to the covert dealings Ben-Menashe described.[^24] The case, McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, reached the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in 1996. Applying the [[actual malice]] standard required for a public figure, the court held that McFarlane could not show the publisher had acted with reckless disregard for the truth merely because Ben-Menashe was a doubtful source, and it affirmed dismissal of the suit. The outcome turned on the high bar a public-figure plaintiff must clear rather than on any finding that Ben-Menashe's account was true.[^24]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Ari Ben-Menashe - Biography," *JewAge.* https://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Article:Ari_Ben-Menashe_-_Biography
[^2]: "Who is Ari Ben-Menashe, what is his track record as a source," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-track-record-israeli-intelligence-source-epstein-claims-evaluation-ec9ba6
[^3]: Emerson, Steven. "The Samson Option, by Seymour M. Hersh," *Commentary,* 1991. https://www.commentary.org/articles/steven-emerson/the-samson-option-by-seymour-m-hersh/
[^4]: "2 Acquitted of Trying to Sell Military Cargo Planes to Iran," *The Washington Post,* 1990. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/29/2-acquitted-of-trying-to-sell-military-cargo-planes-to-iran/2918bfd6-89a7-441a-a124-3b1916e90321/
[^5]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992.
[^6]: "Probe by House finds no 'October surprise,'" *The Baltimore Sun,* 1993. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-13-1993013111-story.html
[^7]: "Espionage: Con Man or Key to a Mystery?," *Time,* 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718038/espionage-con-man-or-key-to-a-mystery/
[^8]: "Fact or fiction? The claims of Ari Ben-Menashe," *Green Left,* 1992. https://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/42/fact-or-fiction-claims-ari-ben-menashe
[^9]: Pipes, Daniel. "Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas," *Commentary,* 1999. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-pipes/gideons-spies-by-gordon-thomas/
[^10]: "No wrong-doing in Inslaw affair, report says," *UPI,* 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/06/17/No-wrong-doing-in-Inslaw-affair-report-says/5482740289600/
[^11]: "Former Israeli Spy Ari Ben-Menashe on Israel's Relationship with Epstein," *MintPress News,* 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/ari-ben-menashe-israel-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/263465/
[^12]: "What did Ari Ben-Menashe claim about Jeffrey Epstein," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-claims-jeffrey-epstein-mossad-d56c30
[^13]: "The Man of Mystery Hustling Myanmar," *Washington Monthly,* 2021. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/03/13/the-man-of-mystery-hustling-myanmar/
[^14]: United States v. Menashe, 741 F. Supp. 1135 (S.D.N.Y. 1990).
[^15]: "The Vanunu affair and the Sunday Mirror photograph," contemporaneous press reporting noting the photograph was taken by Sunday Times journalist Peter Hounam, undercutting Ben-Menashe's account.
[^16]: "Tsvangirai acquitted of treason in Zimbabwe," *The Globe and Mail,* 2004. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tsvangirai-acquitted-of-treason-in-zimbabwe/article18275151/
[^17]: "The Curious Case of Bishkek's $1 Million Deal With Ex-Israeli Intelligence Worker," *Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,* 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/the-curious-case-of-bishkek-s-1-million-deal-with-ex-israeli-intelligence-worker-/31033365.html
[^18]: McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, Inc., 91 F.3d 1501 (D.C. Cir. 1996).
[^19]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010, on Ben-Menashe's call to Bill Hamilton after Casolaro's death.
[^20]: 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, on the PROMIS affidavits, the "Milon" recantation, and the finding that Ben-Menashe's account offered no evidentiary support for the Inslaw allegations.
[^21]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The "October Surprise" Allegations and the Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the American Hostages Held in Iran: Report of the Special Counsel to Senator Terry Sanford and Senator James M. Jeffords,* S. Prt. 102-125, November 19, 1992, p. 113. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000021071829
[^2]: Emerson, Steven. "The Samson Option, by Seymour M. Hersh," *Commentary,* 1991. https://www.commentary.org/articles/steven-emerson/the-samson-option-by-seymour-m-hersh/
[^3]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992.
[^4]: "Who is Ari Ben-Menashe, what is his track record as a source," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-track-record-israeli-intelligence-source-epstein-claims-evaluation-ec9ba6
[^5]: "Espionage: Con Man or Key to a Mystery?," *Time,* 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718038/espionage-con-man-or-key-to-a-mystery/
[^6]: "2 Acquitted of Trying to Sell Military Cargo Planes to Iran," *The Washington Post,* 1990. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/29/2-acquitted-of-trying-to-sell-military-cargo-planes-to-iran/2918bfd6-89a7-441a-a124-3b1916e90321/
[^7]: United States v. Menashe, 741 F. Supp. 1135 (S.D.N.Y. 1990).
[^8]: "Probe by House finds no 'October surprise,'" *The Baltimore Sun,* 1993. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-13-1993013111-story.html
[^9]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The "October Surprise" Allegations and the Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the American Hostages Held in Iran: Report of the Special Counsel to Senator Terry Sanford and Senator James M. Jeffords,* S. Prt. 102-125, November 19, 1992, p. 113. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000021071829
[^10]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010, on Ben-Menashe's call to Bill Hamilton after Casolaro's death.
[^11]: 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, on the PROMIS affidavits, the "Milon" recantation, and the finding that Ben-Menashe's account offered no evidentiary support for the Inslaw allegations.
[^12]: "Fact or fiction? The claims of Ari Ben-Menashe," *Green Left,* 1992. https://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/42/fact-or-fiction-claims-ari-ben-menashe
[^13]: Pipes, Daniel. "Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas," *Commentary,* 1999. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-pipes/gideons-spies-by-gordon-thomas/
[^14]: Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General regarding the allegations of INSLAW, Inc. (March 1993), pp. 73-74.
[^15]: *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, February 19, 1991, "Stolen Software Scattered: Affidavits Allege Sales To Iraqis And Israelis," clipping in the INSLAW folder of the Casolaro papers, https://archive.org/download/casolaro-notebooks/InslawIi_djvu.txt. Sole source for the contents as reported there. Ben-Menashe's claim is kept as made.
[^16]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, *Nomination of Robert M. Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence*, S. Exec. Rept. 102-19 (October 24, 1991), sections 4 and 5, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-filesations-10219.pdf (PDF pages 185 to 187).
[^17]: "No wrong-doing in Inslaw affair, report says," *UPI,* 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/06/17/No-wrong-doing-in-Inslaw-affair-report-says/5482740289600/
[^18]: "The Vanunu affair and the Sunday Mirror photograph," contemporaneous press reporting noting the photograph was taken by Sunday Times journalist Peter Hounam, undercutting Ben-Menashe's account.
[^19]: "Former Israeli Spy Ari Ben-Menashe on Israel's Relationship with Epstein," *MintPress News,* 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/ari-ben-menashe-israel-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/263465/
[^20]: "What did Ari Ben-Menashe claim about Jeffrey Epstein," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-claims-jeffrey-epstein-mossad-d56c30
[^21]: "The Man of Mystery Hustling Myanmar," *Washington Monthly,* 2021. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/03/13/the-man-of-mystery-hustling-myanmar/
[^22]: "Tsvangirai acquitted of treason in Zimbabwe," *The Globe and Mail,* 2004. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tsvangirai-acquitted-of-treason-in-zimbabwe/article18275151/
[^23]: "The Curious Case of Bishkek's $1 Million Deal With Ex-Israeli Intelligence Worker," *Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,* 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/the-curious-case-of-bishkek-s-1-million-deal-with-ex-israeli-intelligence-worker-/31033365.html
[^24]: McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, Inc., 91 F.3d 1501 (D.C. Cir. 1996).

56
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlos Cardoen.md
View file

@ -5,11 +5,26 @@ tags:
- Person
- IranContra
- Israel
summary: "Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation."
summary: "Chilean arms maker whose company supplied cluster bombs to Iraq in the 1980s, indicted in Miami in 1993 over zirconium exports, and named by Ari Ben-Menashe as a broker of CIA-backed arms channels."
born: 1942-05-01
location: "Santa Cruz, Chile"
updated: 2026-10-08
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Industrias Cardoen]]"
fn: 3
- type: owned
with: "[[Swissco Management Group]]"
role: "described by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as a subsidiary of Cardoen Industries"
fn: 2
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
reverse: true
start: 1993-05
role: "twenty-one count indictment, Southern District of Florida, May 26, 1993"
fn: 3
---
[[Carlos Cardoen]] is a Chilean businessman and arms producer, owner of [[Cardoen Industries]]. He comes from an upper-class Chilean family of Italian descent. After attending university in the [[United States|U.S.]] and receiving a degree as a mining engineer, he returned to [[Santiago]], [[Chile]], after [[Augusto Pinochet|General Augusto Pinochet's]] 1973 coup d'état to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]]. His job involved procuring explosives for mining, which became a lucrative business for him personally due to kickbacks.[^1]
[[Carlos Cardoen]] is a Chilean businessman and arms producer, owner of [[Industrias Cardoen|Cardoen Industries]]. He comes from an upper-class Chilean family of Italian descent. After attending university in the [[United States|U.S.]] and receiving a degree as a mining engineer, he returned to [[Santiago]], [[Chile]], after [[Augusto Pinochet|General Augusto Pinochet's]] 1973 coup d'état to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]]. His job involved procuring explosives for mining, which became a lucrative business for him personally due to kickbacks.[^1]
Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation. He then ventured into arms brokering, though initially without success. In 1979, he applied to [[SIBAT]], the Foreign Defense Sales Office of the [[Israel|Israeli]] Ministry of Defense, for a license to sell Israeli arms in [[South America]]. His request was denied due to his lack of experience and established political connections.[^1]
@ -25,19 +40,48 @@ Cardoen's Santiago-produced chemical weapons and those from Paraguay used artill
In late 1986, Israel expressed concern about arms shipments to Iraq, with [[Yitzhak Shamir]] threatening to go to Congress. Robert Gates called a meeting in Santiago to calm the Israelis. Attendees included Cardoen, Gates, Senator [[John Tower]], [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen|Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]] (South African Military Intelligence), and [[Rodolfo Stange|Gen. Rodolfo Stange]] (Chilean Carabineros). At this meeting, U.S. officials made it clear they intended to maintain the arms channel to Iraq to bring Iraq into their sphere of influence, assuring Israel it would not be harmed. Cardoen continued to supply chemical weapons and cluster bombs to Iraq despite Israeli concerns.[^1]
The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]], in its October 24, 1991 report on the Gates nomination, recorded that Gates denied specific allegations made by Ben-Menashe at his confirmation hearing, and that investigations by the FBI and the CIA inspector general, which included analysis of Gates's calendar and travel records, provided no credible evidence to confirm them. The same report records that Cardoen denied meeting Gates in a letter of July 16, 1991 to the U.S. ambassador in Chile.[^2]
In September 1988, Ari Ben-Menashe was sent to Chile to confront Cardoen. Ben-Menashe offered Cardoen a deal: Israel would license him to produce [[Uzi]]s, [[Galil assault rifles]], artillery shells, and mortars, and exclusively sell these materials throughout South America, in exchange for stopping his chemical trade with Iraq. Cardoen was given two weeks to consider the offer. During this visit, Cardoen introduced Ben-Menashe to [[Mark Thatcher]], implying Thatcher was involved in his business.[^1]
Cardoen was furious about Ben-Menashe's visit to his plant in Paraguay and his attempts to stop the trade. He claimed to have the backing of the Americans and the Chilean government, and threatened Israel if they interfered. He also revealed that Gates's office provided technology directly from the CIA, and that Ihsan Barbouti was a key link in his operations. He mentioned [[Alan Bond]] and British investors as backers.[^1]
In February 1989, Cardoen's plant in Paraguay was not closed down, thanks to [[Andres Rodriguez|President Andres Rodriguez]], who continued to rule the country with U.S. blessing. Charges were filed against Cardoen in [[Miami]] in April 1992 by the U.S. Customs Service following newspaper exposés of his involvement with Iraq.[^1]
In February 1989, Cardoen's plant in Paraguay was not closed down, thanks to [[Andres Rodriguez|President Andres Rodriguez]], who continued to rule the country with U.S. blessing. On May 26, 1993, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida in [[Miami]] returned a twenty-one count indictment against Cardoen, Industrias Cardoen Limitada (INCAR), Swissco Management Group, Inc., Franco Saffa, Jorge Burr, [[Edward A. Johnson]], Ronald W. Griffin and Teledyne Industries, Inc. d/b/a [[Teledyne Wah Chang Albany]].[^3] Ben-Menashe's account gives April 1992 and the U.S. Customs Service as the charging agency.[^1]
### Iquique and Baghdad
Cardoen's plant at [[Iquique]] turned out about a thousand cluster bombs a month with labor paid the equivalent of ninety dollars a month, and he priced them at about 7,000 dollars each, some 19,000 dollars below his European competitors. "I'll have to build [[Jimmy Carter]] a statue," he said. "If it hadn't been for the U.S. embargo we would never have invested in arms production here." His agent for Iraq, [[Nasser Beydoun]], who later sued him for 30 million dollars in commissions, carried his offer to Baghdad: "We can provide you with our cluster bombs at the lowest possible price." The first shipment, worth 21 million dollars, reached Iraq early in 1984, and Iraq came to supply about three quarters of his arms exports of 100 million dollars a year. Two American munitions plants were classified by American officials as scrap metal so that they could be exported to Chile. His Washington representative, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Rickertson, said: "It should have been quite evident to them that this was U.S. equipment because the placards on the bomb-making presses identified them."[^2]
Cardoen's plant at [[Iquique]] turned out about a thousand cluster bombs a month with labor paid the equivalent of ninety dollars a month, and he priced them at about 7,000 dollars each, some 19,000 dollars below his European competitors. "I'll have to build [[Jimmy Carter]] a statue," he said. "If it hadn't been for the U.S. embargo we would never have invested in arms production here." His agent for Iraq, [[Nasser Beydoun]], who later sued him for 30 million dollars in commissions, carried his offer to Baghdad: "We can provide you with our cluster bombs at the lowest possible price." The first shipment, worth 21 million dollars, reached Iraq early in 1984, and Iraq came to supply about three quarters of his arms exports of 100 million dollars a year. Two American munitions plants were classified by American officials as scrap metal so that they could be exported to Chile. His Washington representative, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Rickertson, said: "It should have been quite evident to them that this was U.S. equipment because the placards on the bomb-making presses identified them."[^4]
A former contractor for the CIA described Cardoen as "an all-purpose asset, designed to be one of those offshore stockpilers of military equipment who could be used by the CIA to ship arms to the Afghan rebels, to the boys in Angola, or anywhere the U.S. needed some help." [[Howard Teicher]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff said of Robert Gates: "He was tight with Casey and with the [[White House]]. He was one of those who helped get things done." An associate of Cardoen, Robert Johnson, said he saw Gates arrive at Cardoen's house near Miami in the summer of 1986: "He and Cardoen had a series of meetings in 1986 and 1987. We needed an offshore supplier, and the Chileans were very cooperative." The White House said in July 1991: "The whole story is unfounded. There never were any sales, overt or covert, to Iraq or Iran through a third country. Mr. Gates never met with Carlos Cardoen." A subcontractor of his bought 330,000 power supplies from [[International Signal and Control|ISC]] and sent them on to a proximity fuse factory near Baghdad. The British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who was inquiring into Cardoen's helicopter project, was found dead in a Santiago hotel on March 31, 1990.[^2]
A former contractor for the CIA described Cardoen as "an all-purpose asset, designed to be one of those offshore stockpilers of military equipment who could be used by the CIA to ship arms to the Afghan rebels, to the boys in Angola, or anywhere the U.S. needed some help." [[Howard Teicher]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff said of Robert Gates: "He was tight with Casey and with the [[White House]]. He was one of those who helped get things done." An associate of Cardoen, Robert Johnson, said he saw Gates arrive at Cardoen's house near Miami in the summer of 1986: "He and Cardoen had a series of meetings in 1986 and 1987. We needed an offshore supplier, and the Chileans were very cooperative." The White House said in July 1991: "The whole story is unfounded. There never were any sales, overt or covert, to Iraq or Iran through a third country. Mr. Gates never met with Carlos Cardoen." A subcontractor of his bought 330,000 power supplies from [[International Signal and Control|ISC]] and sent them on to a proximity fuse factory near Baghdad. The British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who was inquiring into Cardoen's helicopter project, was found dead in a Santiago hotel on March 31, 1990.[^4]
### Miami arrest, Swissco and the Senate report
[[Kenneth R. Timmerman]] wrote that on August 2, 1983, U.S. Customs officers arrested Cardoen in Miami over night-vision goggles bound for Chile and that the case ended in a plea bargain with a 100,000 dollar fine on his company; a declaration by Howard Teicher dates the arrest to 1983 in a Miami sting concerning night-vision goggles bound for Cuba and Libya.[^5][^6]
The Senate report records that the CIA employed [[James D. Theberge]] on its Senior Review Panel from January 1986 to January 1988, and that during much of that period he was a consultant to [[Swissco Management Group]], "a subsidiary of Cardoen Industries of Chile." Theberge had been U.S. ambassador to Chile from 1982 to 1985. The report states that Theberge disclosed the Swissco work and its Cardoen parentage in the personal history statement he gave the CIA in December 1985, that [[William J. Casey]], John McMahon and James Taylor were involved in his recruitment, and that there was no evidence Gates took part. It states that "Between 1984 and 1988, Cardoen Industries was of significant intelligence interest to CIA, which believed Cardoen was the primary supplier of cluster bombs to the Iraqi government, and an important supplier of other categories of ordnance to Iraq and other Middle Eastern states."[^2] Swissco Management Group, Inc. is among the eight defendants in the 1993 indictment.[^3]
### Indictment, trial and extradition
The zirconium counts concern ordnance-grade zirconium sponge and compacts exported to Chile. The Eleventh Circuit wrote that Cardoen supplied the exporter with false end-use statements describing the zirconium as a booster material for industrial explosives, and that "The zirconium was used as an incendiary agent in cluster bombs that Cardoen was selling to Iraq for use in the Iran-Iraq war."[^7] The district court's order of 1994, reissued in 1995, noted Cardoen's "present fugitive status."[^3] On March 22, 1994 the court dismissed Counts II through VI against Teledyne on statute-of-limitations grounds.[^3]
Edward A. Johnson, a sales manager at Teledyne Wah Chang Albany, was convicted by a jury on four counts, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in 1998.[^7] A State Department notice records that Teledyne Industries pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida on January 26, 1995.[^8]
A witness identified as "Linda C." of the CIA Directorate of Operations, who reviewed the agency file on Cardoen covering 1984 to 1993, testified at the classified-information hearing that Cardoen "was not an agent or source of intelligence for the United States government; on the contrary, Cardoen was a target; that is, an individual of intelligence interest to the government." The court adopted that conclusion for purposes of the hearing, and wrote that the Senate report "corroborates" it.[^3]
On January 31, 1995, Teicher signed a declaration in the case stating that "the CIA authorized, approved and assisted Cardoen in the manufacture and sale of cluster bombs." [[Robert Parry]] reported that the government sealed it as a state secret and that Teicher was blocked from testifying.[^6][^9]
The United States formally requested Cardoen's extradition in March 2019. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reports that the Chilean Supreme Court rejected the request in March 2020; Emol reports that the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court unanimously rejected it on August 24, 2020, confirming a first rejection in March 2020 by the instructing minister Carlos Aranguiz, on grounds of dual criminality and prescription.[^10][^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
[^2]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 46-54, 64.
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, *Nomination of Robert M. Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence*, S. Exec. Rept. 102-19, 102d Cong., 1st sess. (October 24, 1991), section 5, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-filesations-10219.pdf (PDF pages 186 to 188).
[^3]: *United States v. Cardoen*, 898 F. Supp. 1563 (S.D. Fla. 1995) (Highsmith, J.), No. 93-241-CR, reissued order on hearing under section 6 of the Classified Information Procedures Act (original order December 28, 1994), https://static.case.law/f-supp/898/cases/1563-01.json.
[^4]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 46-54, 64.
[^5]: Kenneth R. Timmerman, *The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq* (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), p. 169. Sole source for the passage so cited.
[^6]: Declaration of Howard Teicher, January 31, 1995, *United States v. Cardoen*, No. 93-241-CR-HIGHSMITH, as transcribed at http://spikethenews.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-teicher-affidavit.html. Sole source for the wording (paragraph 17 for the 1983 arrest).
[^7]: *United States v. Edward A. Johnson*, No. 95-5021 (11th Cir. Apr. 28, 1998), https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/19955021.OPN.pdf.
[^8]: Department of State, Public Notice 2206, 60 Fed. Reg. 30151 (June 7, 1995), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1995-06-07/pdf/95-13834.pdf.
[^9]: Robert Parry, "Iraqgate: Confession and Cover-up," *Extra!* (FAIR), 1995, as reposted at https://scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0212/S00074.htm.
[^10]: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, "Most wanted Chilean arms dealer concealed ties to companies with help from Panama's offshore industry," September 2022, https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2022/09/most-wanted-chilean-arms-dealer-concealed-ties-to-companies-with-help-from-panamas-offshore-industry/.
[^11]: "Suprema rechaza extradición Cardoen," Emol, August 24, 2020, https://www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2020/08/24/995884/Suprema-rechaza-extradicion-Cardoen.html.

6
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md
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@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ Casolaro's investigation intersected with the drug-trafficking networks document
### The research files
Casolaro's research files, photographed by [[Christian Hansen]] at the Missouri State Historical Society and published on the Internet Archive, include a folder labelled "Promotional Material" of corporate and weapons literature, hand-numbered "BD|AI|PM-01" onward. Its items are a brochure for the Inter-Probe modular energy transfer catalyzer (PM-01), a printed page numbered 207 on fuel air munitions (PM-02), a [[Brunswick Corporation]] defense division data package for the Rifleman's Assault Weapon for urban warfare dated October 1976 (PM-03), a sales sheet of the defense division of the Chilean firm [[Industrias Cardoen]] (PM-04) and a twelve-page fax of the resumes of the associates of [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] (PM-05), whose page headers carry the date June 20, 1990 and times from 16:53 to 17:01.[^5] The packet names [[Carter Cornick]], [[Eugene Propper]], [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], [[Francis J. McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] (a vice president of [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]), [[Mayer Nudell]] and a former CIA counterterrorism chief whose entry carries no name.[^5] The files also contain a folder of 1980s newspaper and magazine material on [[Frank Terpil]] and [[Edwin Wilson]], folders of Wackenhut annual reports, correspondence, profiles and newsletters, and, in a folder of Department of Defense publications, a magazine article by David Corn on Barcella and the Pan Am 103 bombing.[^6]
Casolaro's research files, photographed by [[Christian Hansen]] at the Missouri State Historical Society and published on the Internet Archive, include a folder labelled "Promotional Material" of corporate and weapons literature, hand-numbered "BD|AI|PM-01" onward. Its items are a brochure for the Inter-Probe modular energy transfer catalyzer (PM-01), a printed page numbered 207 on fuel air munitions (PM-02), a [[Brunswick Corporation]] defense division cover sheet and drawing for the Rifleman's Assault Weapon for urban warfare dated October 1976 (PM-03), a sales sheet of the defense division of the Chilean firm [[Industrias Cardoen]] (PM-04) and a fax of the resumes of the associates of [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], whose fax counters run 141 P01 to 141 P12 (PM-05) and whose page headers carry the date June 20, 1990 and times from 16:53 to 17:01.[^5] In the order of the photographs the folder runs PM-04, PM-02, PM-03, PM-05, PM-01.[^5] The packet names [[Carter Cornick]], [[Eugene Propper]], [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], [[Francis J. McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] (a vice president of [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]), [[Mayer Nudell]] and a former CIA counterterrorism chief whose entry carries no name.[^5] The files also contain a folder of 1980s newspaper and magazine material on [[Frank Terpil]] and [[Edwin Wilson]], folders of Wackenhut annual reports, correspondence, profiles and newsletters, and, in a folder of Department of Defense publications, a magazine article by David Corn on Barcella and the Pan Am 103 bombing.[^6]
The INSLAW folder of the research files includes a *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* report of February 19, 1991 that names Industrias Cardoen and its owner [[Carlos Cardoen]]. It states that [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], in an affidavit filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia, said that Cardoen told him in January 1989 that Cardoen had brokered a deal between Earl Brian and an Iraqi military intelligence representative for the use of PROMIS, and that the sale was consummated in Santiago, Chile.[^7] Brian called the allegations "nonsense," according to the report.[^7] The report of Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]] dates the affidavit February 17, 1991.[^8]
### Bibliography
@ -89,3 +91,5 @@ Casolaro's research files, photographed by [[Christian Hansen]] at the Missouri
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
[^5]: Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," Internet Archive items casolaro-notebooks (PromotionalMaterial.pdf) and PromotionalMaterial, https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks.
[^6]: Danny Casolaro papers, folders "CIA Frank Terpil Renegades," "Wackenhut - Newsletters" and "DOD PUBLICATIONS," https://archive.org/details/ddosecrets_casolaro_files (the Corn item is headed "SPECIAL EDITION - TERRORISM / Did It Blow Up Flight 103?").
[^7]: *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, February 19, 1991, "Stolen Software Scattered: Affidavits Allege Sales To Iraqis And Israelis," clipping in the INSLAW folder, https://archive.org/download/casolaro-notebooks/InslawIi_djvu.txt. Sole source for the affidavit's contents as reported there.
[^8]: Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General regarding the allegations of INSLAW, Inc. (March 1993), pp. 73-74.

12
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dr. Harry Fair.md
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@ -3,17 +3,19 @@ category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- Military
summary: "Fair met with Michael Riconosciuto and Robert Frye (Vice President of Wackenhut Corporation) in May 1981 at Picatinny Arsenal."
summary: "Fair met with Michael Riconosciuto and Robert Frye of Wackenhut Services, Inc. in May 1981 at Picatinny Arsenal."
updated: 2026-10-08
---
[[Dr. Harry Fair]] was the Chief of Propulsion Technology, Applied Sciences Division, at [[ARRADCOM]] (U.S. Army Armament Research & Development Command, Large Caliber Weapons Systems Laboratory) at [[Picatinny Arsenal]] in Dover, [[New Jersey]]. He was involved in the Railgun Project.[^1]
Fair met with [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and [[Robert Frye]] (Vice President of [[Wackenhut Corporation]]) in May 1981 at Picatinny Arsenal. Riconosciuto conducted an extensive and highly technical theoretical blackboard exercise on a Railgun for Army personnel. Fair commented that he was extremely impressed with Riconosciuto's scientific and technical knowledge and termed him a "potential national resource," despite being apprised by [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] that Riconosciuto had been convicted and served time for stabbing a [[DEA|DEA]] agent.[^1]
Fair met with [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and [[Robert Frye]] (president of Wackenhut Services, Inc., a subsidiary of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]])[^2] in May 1981 at Picatinny Arsenal. Riconosciuto conducted an extensive and highly technical theoretical blackboard exercise on a Railgun for Army personnel. Fair commented that he was extremely impressed with Riconosciuto's scientific and technical knowledge and termed him a "potential national resource," despite being apprised by [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] that Riconosciuto had been convicted and served time for stabbing a [[DEA|DEA]] agent.[^1]
[[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] also addressed a letter to Dr. Harry Fair on January 20, 1983, on [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]]/[[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]] letterhead, stating that he would be forwarding a "unique list of agents and production techniques related to biological warfare." The letter mentioned that the [[Storemont Laboratories]] business plan Nichols mailed to Fair was to prepare him for what was to be sent in the area of biological warfare, noting that these products could be used in "small countries bordering [[Albania]] or large countries bordering the [[Soviet Union]]."[^1]
Dr. John Philip Nichols also addressed a letter to Dr. Harry Fair on January 20, 1983, on Wackenhut/[[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]] letterhead, stating that he would be forwarding a "unique list of agents and production techniques related to biological warfare." The letter mentioned that the [[Storemont Laboratories]] business plan Nichols mailed to Fair was to prepare him for what was to be sent in the area of biological warfare, noting that these products could be used in "small countries bordering [[Albania]] or large countries bordering the [[Soviet Union]]."[^1]
[[Robert Booth Nichols]] also wrote a letter to [[Joseph F. Preloznik]] on April 13, 1983, recapitulating the same weapons proposal outlined by [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] to Dr. Harry Fair. [[Robert Booth Nichols]] also mentioned Fair in a February 10, 1984, letter on [[Meridian Arms]] letterhead, referring to the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] visit to Picatinny Arsenal in May 1981 and Riconosciuto's demonstration of electrostatic heat transfer augmentation.[^1]
[[Robert Booth Nichols]] also wrote a letter to [[Joseph F. Preloznik]] on April 13, 1983, recapitulating the same weapons proposal outlined by Dr. John Philip Nichols to Dr. Harry Fair. Robert Booth Nichols also mentioned Fair in a February 10, 1984, letter on [[Meridian Arms]] letterhead, referring to the Wackenhut Corporation visit to Picatinny Arsenal in May 1981 and Riconosciuto's demonstration of electrostatic heat transfer augmentation.[^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]: United States Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, report of Judge Nicholas J. Bua on the INSLAW matter (1993), printed pp. 42 to 43 and 55 to 58, footnote 35. Official finding, placed as the position of the body that issued it. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nsa/DOJ-OIP-INSLAW_1993.pdf

48
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md
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@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ His client [[Lyn Nofziger]], a political adviser to President Reagan, was repres
In August 1988 [[Carter Cornick]], a retired FBI terrorism official, and [[Eugene Propper]], a former prosecutor in the Letelier case, announced [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], which offered governments, airlines and event sponsors counterterrorism strategies and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Barcella, then with Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc, was to be called on for legal consultation on matters such as extradition procedures. The announcement named Robert Scherrer and Barcella as active consultants, and said that the four men had worked together on the Letelier case and on the investigation of Wilson, in which Barcella had obtained information that Wilson was shipping explosives to Libya.[^5]
A resume packet circulated by the firm, by then named CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., with a fax header of 1990, lists Barcella among its associates. The others listed were Cornick, Propper, [[Robert Scherrer]], an unnamed former senior CIA counterterrorism officer, [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] of [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation, and a former foreign service officer named Nudell.[^6]
A resume packet circulated by the firm, by then named CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., with a fax header of 1990, lists Barcella among its associates. The others listed were Cornick, Propper, [[Robert Scherrer]], an unnamed former senior CIA counterterrorism officer, [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] of [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation, and [[Mayer Nudell]], a former foreign service officer.[^6]
### BCCI (1988 to 1990)
@ -141,34 +141,36 @@ Hamilton, as chairman, selected Barcella, and a May 29, 1992 press account dated
Asked about the opinion in May 1992, Barcella said, "It was a simple situation where somebody in the government came to me," and said he did not identify the official who sought it. Asked about his past contacts with intelligence agencies, he said, "I don't see where that causes a problem," and "I'm going to do as thorough and independent and professional an investigation as I can." [[Joseph diGenova]], the United States Attorney in Washington in those years, first said, "Assistant U.S. attorneys do not issue legal opinions on arms shipments," and "Larry would never have done that." A week later diGenova said, "Larry was sought out by a lot of people in intelligence and by a lot of people in the marshals service and the FBI who knew that he was creative." diGenova said that Barcella, through his anti-terrorism work, knew [[Oliver North]]; Barcella said he had met North once and that North was not the official who sought the opinion.[^3] Hamilton said he had learned of the opinion after the newspaper's inquiries, and when asked whether he would look into it, said, "I will investigate all aspects of criticisms of staff, including Larry or anybody else."[^3]
Studley's October 30, 1985 memorandum to North, an exhibit to the deposition of [[Daniel O. Graham]], refers to a shipment that left on June 20, 1985, and ends: "General John K. Singlaub has been advised of this information."[^13] The congressional report states that a purchase Singlaub arranged for [[Adolfo Calero]] through a European dealer arrived in Central America on July 8, 1985.[^14] Graham testified on May 26, 1987 that he had arranged a meeting between Studley and [[William J. Casey]] at Langley toward the end of 1985; Singlaub testified in 1987 that he had set up that meeting.[^3][^13]
### House October Surprise Task Force (1992 to 1993)
The task force's chairman was Hamilton and its ranking Republican was Hyde. The Democrats were [[Stephen Solarz]], [[Sam Gejdenson]], [[Mervyn Dymally]], [[Robert Torricelli]], [[Howard Berman]], [[Edward Feighan]] and [[Ted Weiss]]. The Republicans were [[Jim Leach]], [[Olympia Snowe]], [[Doug Bereuter]] and [[Porter Goss]].[^12] Barcella and [[Richard J. Leon]], the chief minority counsel, selected the legal staff.[^12]
The majority staff included [[Michael F. Zeldin]] as deputy chief counsel, the former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer [[Sotiris Planzos]], and two lawyers from the Katten office, [[Nancy Luque]] and [[Anne Pings]]. The minority staff included Greg Kehoe, deputy chief minority counsel, who had been first assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida and joined the task force on June 18, 1992.[^12] The Senate report, published in December 1992, stated that Barcella "has been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee" and that Kehoe was "on leave from the Justice Department to assist Barcella in his investigation."[^7]
On October 2, 1992, the House considered House Resolution 585, which authorized the task force to file its final report with the Clerk after adjournment sine die and before noon on January 3, 1993, and limited its expenses to the amounts in House Resolution 512. Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing the resolution, said its purpose was to make clear that the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year," and that the budget would be no higher than $1.35 million. In the same debate a member speaking for the resolution said that Hamilton and Hyde had told the Rules Committee that the work would be finished "by probably the middle of November."[^13] The task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. The transmittal letter to Speaker [[Thomas S. Foley]] is dated January 3, 1993, and cites House Resolutions 258 and 585.[^12]
On October 2, 1992, the House considered House Resolution 585, which authorized the task force to file its final report with the Clerk after adjournment sine die and before noon on January 3, 1993, and limited its expenses to the amounts in House Resolution 512. Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing the resolution, said its purpose was to make clear that the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year," and that the budget would be no higher than $1.35 million. In the same debate a member speaking for the resolution said that Hamilton and Hyde had told the Rules Committee that the work would be finished "by probably the middle of November."[^15] The task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. The transmittal letter to Speaker [[Thomas S. Foley]] is dated January 3, 1993, and cites House Resolutions 258 and 585.[^12]
The report concludes that the allegations were either "wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate" them.[^12] Its transmittal letter says the report "was approved unanimously by the Task Force on December 10, 1992." Dymally later told [[Robert Parry]] that he knew of no such vote on that date or any other. Hamilton told Parry that he would not have claimed a unanimous vote if there had not been one. A House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman, [[David Barnes]], wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^14] The printed report states that Dymally "has declined to sign the report."[^12]
The report concludes that the allegations were either "wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate" them.[^12] Its transmittal letter says the report "was approved unanimously by the Task Force on December 10, 1992." Dymally later told [[Robert Parry]] that he knew of no such vote on that date or any other. Hamilton told Parry that he would not have claimed a unanimous vote if there had not been one. A House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman, [[David Barnes]], wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^16] The printed report states that Dymally "has declined to sign the report."[^12]
The report states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people."[^12] The report describes the October Surprise Group as "a group of individuals who provided foreign policy and defense advice to the campaign," and lists ten members: [[Richard V. Allen]], [[Fred C. Ikle]], [[Charles M. Kupperman]], [[John R. Lehman, Jr.]], [[Thomas H. Moore]], [[Robert G. Neumann]], [[Eugene V. Rostow]], [[Laurence Silberman]], [[William R. Van Cleave]] and [[Seymour Weiss]].[^12] Parry wrote that Barcella and [[Michael Ledeen]] were personal friends, that Barcella had sold Ledeen a house and that the two shared a housekeeper, citing Peter Maas's book *Manhunt* for a 1982 night visit by Ledeen to Barcella, during the Wilson investigation, about two associates who had come under suspicion in the Wilson case, [[Ted Shackley]] and [[Erich von Marbod]].[^15] Parry wrote that the secret draft report named six informal members of the group, among them Ledeen, and that "the final report deleted the names of six informal members" of the group. The six were Ledeen, [[Richard Stillwell]], [[William Middendorf]], [[Richard Perle]], General [[Louis Walt]] and Admiral [[James Holloway]].[^15]
The report states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people."[^12] The report describes the October Surprise Group as "a group of individuals who provided foreign policy and defense advice to the campaign," and lists ten members: [[Richard V. Allen]], [[Fred C. Ikle]], [[Charles M. Kupperman]], [[John R. Lehman, Jr.]], [[Thomas H. Moore]], [[Robert G. Neumann]], [[Eugene V. Rostow]], [[Laurence Silberman]], [[William R. Van Cleave]] and [[Seymour Weiss]].[^12] Parry wrote that Barcella and [[Michael Ledeen]] were personal friends, that Barcella had sold Ledeen a house and that the two shared a housekeeper, citing Peter Maas's book *Manhunt* for a 1982 night visit by Ledeen to Barcella, during the Wilson investigation, about two associates who had come under suspicion in the Wilson case, [[Ted Shackley]] and [[Erich von Marbod]].[^17] Parry wrote that the secret draft report named six informal members of the group, among them Ledeen, and that "the final report deleted the names of six informal members" of the group. The six were Ledeen, [[Richard G. Stilwell|Richard Stilwell]], [[William Middendorf]], [[Richard Perle]], General [[Louis Walt]] and Admiral [[James Holloway]].[^17]
Parry reported that Barcella told him, years after the report, that so much incriminating evidence arrived in the final month of the inquiry that he asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months, and that Hamilton declined.[^16] Barcella said Hamilton "declined to go through the necessary reauthorization of the task force and instead ordered him to proceed with the final report."[^17] In Meldon's 2008 article, with a Parry addendum, Barcella is quoted as saying that Hamilton cited the complexity of getting the task force reauthorized in a new Congress.[^18] Hamilton told Parry in 2010, as Parry reported in 2013, that he might have explained the problem of the authorization running out at the end of the session: "All I could have done is go before the next Congress and request reauthorization."[^19] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he had no recollection of such a proposal, and in 2011 that he had no recollection of Barcella's request.[^16][^17] Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed, titled "Case Closed," stated that the task force's staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions." A 2008 article by [[Jerry Meldon]], with an addendum by Parry, quoted the op-ed as saying that the report "should put the controversy to rest once and for all." The addendum says that Barcella recommended the extension to Hamilton.[^18]
Parry reported that Barcella told him, years after the report, that so much incriminating evidence arrived in the final month of the inquiry that he asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months, and that Hamilton declined.[^18] Barcella said Hamilton "declined to go through the necessary reauthorization of the task force and instead ordered him to proceed with the final report."[^19] In Meldon's 2008 article, with a Parry addendum, Barcella is quoted as saying that Hamilton cited the complexity of getting the task force reauthorized in a new Congress.[^20] Hamilton told Parry in 2010, as Parry reported in 2013, that he might have explained the problem of the authorization running out at the end of the session: "All I could have done is go before the next Congress and request reauthorization."[^21] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he had no recollection of such a proposal, and in 2011 that he had no recollection of Barcella's request.[^18][^19] Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed, titled "Case Closed," stated that the task force's staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions." A 2008 article by [[Jerry Meldon]], with an addendum by Parry, quoted the op-ed as saying that the report "should put the controversy to rest once and for all." The addendum says that Barcella recommended the extension to Hamilton.[^20]
The Russian report was requested by Hamilton on October 21, 1992, and reached the task force on January 11, 1993.[^20] Parry identified it as provided by [[Sergey V. Stepashin]], chairman of the Supreme Soviet's Committee on Defense and Security Issues. As Parry described it, the report said that the 1980 hostage negotiations amounted to a competition between the Carter administration and the Reagan campaign.[^17] Hamilton presided over a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^18] Parry wrote that Hamilton told him, "I don't recall seeing it." Barcella first said he did not recall whether he showed Hamilton the report, then wrote, "I do specifically recall discussing it with Lee."[^20] Barcella told Parry that the task force did not want to be bothered with trying to get the report declassified.[^18]
In a memo dated December 8, 1992, which Parry quotes, Barcella instructed his deputies "to put some language in, as a trap door" in case later disclosures disproved parts of it or complaints arose about selective omission of evidence. The memo language quoted by Parry states that "This report does not and could not reflect every single lead that was investigated."[^15][^21]
The Russian report was requested by Hamilton on October 21, 1992, and reached the task force on January 11, 1993.[^22] Parry identified it as provided by [[Sergey V. Stepashin]], chairman of the Supreme Soviet's Committee on Defense and Security Issues. As Parry described it, the report said that the 1980 hostage negotiations amounted to a competition between the Carter administration and the Reagan campaign.[^19] Hamilton presided over a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^20] Parry wrote that Hamilton told him, "I don't recall seeing it." Barcella first said he did not recall whether he showed Hamilton the report, then wrote, "I do specifically recall discussing it with Lee."[^22] Barcella told Parry that the task force did not want to be bothered with trying to get the report declassified.[^20]
In a memo dated December 8, 1992, which Parry quotes, Barcella instructed his deputies "to put some language in, as a trap door" in case later disclosures disproved parts of it or complaints arose about selective omission of evidence. The memo language quoted by Parry states that "This report does not and could not reflect every single lead that was investigated."[^17][^23]
Parry wrote in 1996 that Barcella and Hamilton pressed Dymally to withdraw a dissent. According to sources who saw it, the dissent argued that "just because phones ring and planes fly doesn't mean that someone is there to answer the phone or is on the plane."[^22] In the same article Parry wrote that Barcella and his law firm had earned more than $2 million from BCCI, that the Laxalt and BCCI links were left out of the public report, and that the conflict "was handled simply by purging any reference to BCCI and Barcella's associates from the final report."[^22] In 2005 Parry wrote that Barcella told him he did not believe his work for BCCI created a conflict of interest, and that the Senate report said Barcella worked directly with Laxalt on the BCCI account.[^15] Parry also wrote that Henry Hyde denounced the allegations as a "myth" in a House special order on February 3, 1993.[^22]
Parry wrote in 1996 that Barcella and Hamilton pressed Dymally to withdraw a dissent. According to sources who saw it, the dissent argued that "just because phones ring and planes fly doesn't mean that someone is there to answer the phone or is on the plane."[^24] In the same article Parry wrote that Barcella and his law firm had earned more than $2 million from BCCI, that the Laxalt and BCCI links were left out of the public report, and that the conflict "was handled simply by purging any reference to BCCI and Barcella's associates from the final report."[^24] In 2005 Parry wrote that Barcella told him he did not believe his work for BCCI created a conflict of interest, and that the Senate report said Barcella worked directly with Laxalt on the BCCI account.[^17] Parry also wrote that Henry Hyde denounced the allegations as a "myth" in a House special order on February 3, 1993.[^24]
### Later career (1993 to 2010)
The alumni magazine of Dartmouth published a cover profile in March 1993 that listed Barcella as a partner of Katten, Muchin, Zavis & Dombroff. The profile described his private clients as including BCCI and Reagan's former press secretary, who was charged with ethics violations.[^23] Parry reported that the Clinton administration considered Barcella "at the top of the list" for under-secretary of the Treasury for law enforcement, and that others in the administration opposed the appointment.[^24]
The alumni magazine of Dartmouth published a cover profile in March 1993 that listed Barcella as a partner of Katten, Muchin, Zavis & Dombroff. The profile described his private clients as including BCCI and Reagan's former press secretary, who was charged with ethics violations.[^25] Parry reported that the Clinton administration considered Barcella "at the top of the list" for under-secretary of the Treasury for law enforcement, and that others in the administration opposed the appointment.[^26]
At his death he was a partner in the Washington office of [[Paul Hastings]], Janofsky and Walker, where he specialized in cases involving bribery, political corruption, fraud and government contract violations.[^2]
### Dispute with Parry
In an e-mail to Parry in 2010, Barcella wrote: "You're no longer merely cherry-picking facts and misrepresenting events, but flat out lying." He wrote that he would not go "line by line" through Parry's work.[^20]
In an e-mail to Parry in 2010, Barcella wrote: "You're no longer merely cherry-picking facts and misrepresenting events, but flat out lying." He wrote that he would not go "line by line" through Parry's work.[^22]
### Death
@ -188,15 +190,17 @@ Barcella died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010, at a hospital near his home
[^10]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Journal of the House*, February 5, 1992, pp. T 9.18 to T 9.19 (H. Res. 258 agreed to, 247 yeas, 158 nays). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HJOURNAL-1992/pdf/HJOURNAL-1992-02-05-para9-18.pdf
[^11]: Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, *Rules of the Task Force*, adopted March 11, 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992), Rule 9. https://archive.org/details/RulesOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce
[^12]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, transmittal letter dated January 3, 1993 (Part I, sections "Task Force Organization and Structure" and "Staff"; Task Force Members; the October Surprise Group discussion in the chapter on Reagan campaign activities). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force
[^13]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (H. Res. 585, "Providing for completion of activities of Task Force to investigate certain allegations concerning holding of Americans as hostages in Iran in 1980"; text of the resolution and floor statements of Representative Beilenson and another member speaking for it). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm
[^14]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010 (article on the task force report's cover letter). https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html Sole source for the Dymally, Barnes and Hamilton statements as reported by Parry.
[^15]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups," *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html Sole source for the trap door memo, the Ledeen and October Surprise Group claims, and the Laxalt account, as reported by Parry.
[^16]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up," *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the extension request and the Hamilton response as reported by Parry.
[^17]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries," *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Barcella and Hamilton statements, the Stepashin identification and the January 11, 1993 transmittal as reported by Parry.
[^18]: Meldon, Jerry. "Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Hyde," *Consortium News*, March 27, 2008, with addendum from Robert Parry. https://consortiumnews.com/2008/032608c.html Sole source for the quoted phrase "should put the controversy to rest once and for all" attributed to the op-ed and for the addendum account of the extension and the declassification remark. Hamilton, Lee H., "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed," *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993, Section 4, p. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html
[^19]: Parry, Robert. "Second Thoughts on October Surprise," *Consortium News*, June 8, 2013. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/06/08/second-thoughts-on-october-surprise/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry.
[^20]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton and Barcella statements about the Russian report and the e-mail quoted. Request date and transmittal per the Parry translation page, https://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html
[^21]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files: The Ladies' Room Secrets," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile2.html Sole source for the memo quotation as reported by Parry.
[^22]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the Dymally dissent, the BCCI and Laxalt omissions, and the Hyde special order as reported by Parry.
[^23]: "Lawrence Barcella '67," cover story, *Dartmouth Alumni Magazine*, March 1993. https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1993/3/1/lawrence-barcella-67
[^24]: Parry, Robert. "Clinton & a BCCI Lawyer," *Consortium News* (undated archive article, 1993). https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/story3.html Sole source for the Treasury consideration as reported by Parry.
[^13]: Graham Exhibit 1 and deposition of Daniel O. Graham, May 26, 1987, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, vol. 12 (Internet Archive item micro_IA41152840_0234).
[^14]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, ch. 2, p. 51 (HathiTrust full view, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173017837367&seq=75).
[^15]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (H. Res. 585, "Providing for completion of activities of Task Force to investigate certain allegations concerning holding of Americans as hostages in Iran in 1980"; text of the resolution and floor statements of Representative Beilenson and another member speaking for it). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm
[^16]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010 (article on the task force report's cover letter). https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html Sole source for the Dymally, Barnes and Hamilton statements as reported by Parry.
[^17]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups," *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html Sole source for the trap door memo, the Ledeen and October Surprise Group claims, and the Laxalt account, as reported by Parry.
[^18]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up," *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the extension request and the Hamilton response as reported by Parry.
[^19]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries," *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Barcella and Hamilton statements, the Stepashin identification and the January 11, 1993 transmittal as reported by Parry.
[^20]: Meldon, Jerry. "Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Hyde," *Consortium News*, March 27, 2008, with addendum from Robert Parry. https://consortiumnews.com/2008/032608c.html Sole source for the quoted phrase "should put the controversy to rest once and for all" attributed to the op-ed and for the addendum account of the extension and the declassification remark. Hamilton, Lee H., "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed," *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993, Section 4, p. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html
[^21]: Parry, Robert. "Second Thoughts on October Surprise," *Consortium News*, June 8, 2013. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/06/08/second-thoughts-on-october-surprise/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry.
[^22]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton and Barcella statements about the Russian report and the e-mail quoted. Request date and transmittal per the Parry translation page, https://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html
[^23]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files: The Ladies' Room Secrets," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile2.html Sole source for the memo quotation as reported by Parry.
[^24]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the Dymally dissent, the BCCI and Laxalt omissions, and the Hyde special order as reported by Parry.
[^25]: "Lawrence Barcella '67," cover story, *Dartmouth Alumni Magazine*, March 1993. https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1993/3/1/lawrence-barcella-67
[^26]: Parry, Robert. "Clinton & a BCCI Lawyer," *Consortium News* (undated archive article, 1993). https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/story3.html Sole source for the Treasury consideration as reported by Parry.

38
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Earl Brian.md
View file

@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- Earl Brian
- Earl W. Brian
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-08
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- KeyFigure
@ -28,43 +28,47 @@ Brian's relationship with Meese predated their time in state government. Both me
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]
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.[^2]
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed in a March 1991 affidavit that Brian made a copy of the PROMIS software available to him at the [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]]-[[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]] joint venture in Indio, California, after acquiring it from Videnieks. Riconosciuto stated he subsequently modified PROMIS for global implementation in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including specific adaptations for Canada's [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) and [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS), and that it was his understanding Brian had sold the modified version to the Canadian government.[^3]
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed in a March 1991 affidavit that Brian made a copy of the PROMIS software available to him at the [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]]-[[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]] joint venture in Indio, California, after acquiring it from Videnieks. Riconosciuto stated he subsequently modified PROMIS for global implementation in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including specific adaptations for Canada's [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) and [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS), and that it was his understanding Brian had sold the modified version to the Canadian government.[^2]
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]], in affidavits submitted to the [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] in 1991, alleged that Brian brought PROMIS versions to [[Israel]], and that Brian received several million dollars for selling enhanced PROMIS to Israeli intelligence and to the Singapore Armed Forces. Ben-Menashe also stated that Brian sold public-domain versions of PROMIS to [[Iraq]] and [[Jordan]].[^1]
In the first of his two affidavits in the bankruptcy court, dated February 17, 1991, Ben-Menashe said that [[Carlos Cardoen]] told him in January 1989 that Cardoen had brokered a deal between Brian and an Iraqi military intelligence representative for the use of PROMIS.[^3] A *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* report of February 19, 1991 says the sale was consummated in Santiago, Chile, at the headquarters of Cardoen's company, [[Industrias Cardoen]]. Brian called the allegations "nonsense," said he had never been to Santiago or Tel Aviv and did not know of Cardoen or Ben-Menashe, and said he had acquired the property rights to the software and sold it to Israel in 1987.[^4]
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report (House Report 102-857) described Brian's alleged role as "intriguing...but without the requisite degree of causation," raising concerns while stopping short of the direct evidentiary finding it reached regarding DOJ's treatment of INSLAW. The committee found that Brian and Meese's long association, Meese's wife's stock purchase, and Brian's position to profit from INSLAW's destruction constituted circumstantial grounds for concern.[^1]
### 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.[^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]
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.[^5]
### October Surprise Allegations
Riconosciuto further claimed that he and Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to persuade them not to release the U.S. hostages before Reagan's inauguration - an allegation that would link Brian directly to the [[October Surprise]] conspiracy. This claim created what Riconosciuto described as a "domino effect" in Washington and generated additional investigations and media attention.[^3]
Riconosciuto further claimed that he and Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to persuade them not to release the U.S. hostages before Reagan's inauguration - an allegation that would link Brian directly to the [[October Surprise]] conspiracy. This claim created what Riconosciuto described as a "domino effect" in Washington and generated additional investigations and media attention.[^2]
The Bua Report found no credible evidence to support the Iran trip allegation. Evidence placed Brian in New York at the time of the alleged journey. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had separately found "no proof" of any connection between Brian or Hadron and DOJ with regard to the INSLAW contract as early as September 1989.[^2][^4] Brian gave a closed deposition on July 28, 1992, to the Senate Foreign Relations special counsel investigating the October Surprise allegations, Reid H. Weingarten, on the same day as Judge [[Laurence Silberman]], and the counsel's report of November 1992 reproduced his passports among its exhibits.[^8]
The Bua Report found no credible evidence to support the Iran trip allegation. Evidence placed Brian in New York at the time of the alleged journey. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had separately found "no proof" of any connection between Brian or Hadron and DOJ with regard to the INSLAW contract as early as September 1989.[^5][^6] Brian gave a closed deposition on July 28, 1992, to the Senate Foreign Relations special counsel investigating the October Surprise allegations, Reid H. Weingarten, on the same day as Judge [[Laurence Silberman]], and the counsel's report of November 1992 reproduced his passports among its exhibits.[^7]
### Official Findings
Both Brian and Videnieks categorically denied ever meeting one another or meeting Riconosciuto, denied having visited Indio, California, and denied any involvement in the alleged PROMIS distribution. The Bua Report found both men to be credible witnesses and concluded there was "overwhelming" evidence of no connection between Brian and anything related to INSLAW or PROMIS. Bua found Riconosciuto's account a "tale of total fiction woven against the background of accurate historical facts" and Ben-Menashe's affidavits contradicted by his own subsequent testimony to Bua investigators.[^2]
Both Brian and Videnieks categorically denied ever meeting one another or meeting Riconosciuto, denied having visited Indio, California, and denied any involvement in the alleged PROMIS distribution. The Bua Report found both men to be credible witnesses and concluded there was "overwhelming" evidence of no connection between Brian and anything related to INSLAW or PROMIS. Bua found Riconosciuto's account a "tale of total fiction woven against the background of accurate historical facts" and Ben-Menashe's affidavits contradicted by his own subsequent testimony to Bua investigators.[^5]
Brian was never charged with any crime in connection with the PROMIS affair. His libel suit against [[Elliot Richardson]] over the former attorney general's [[New York Times]] article of October 21, 1991, "A High-Tech Watergate," which accused him of taking part in an illegal conspiracy, was dismissed; the New York Court of Appeals held on November 29, 1995, that because Richardson had disclosed at the outset that he was INSLAW's own lawyer, because the article's "predominant tone" was "rife with rumor, speculation and seemingly tenuous inferences," and because its purpose was to call for an independent investigation, "a reasonable reader would understand the statements... as mere allegations to be investigated rather than as facts."[^5]
Brian was never charged with any crime in connection with the PROMIS affair. His libel suit against [[Elliot Richardson]] over the former attorney general's [[New York Times]] article of October 21, 1991, "A High-Tech Watergate," which accused him of taking part in an illegal conspiracy, was dismissed; the New York Court of Appeals held on November 29, 1995, that because Richardson had disclosed at the outset that he was INSLAW's own lawyer, because the article's "predominant tone" was "rife with rumor, speculation and seemingly tenuous inferences," and because its purpose was to call for an independent investigation, "a reasonable reader would understand the statements... as mere allegations to be investigated rather than as facts."[^8]
### 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. 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]
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.[^9] Hadron continued as a public company, was renamed Analex Corporation in 2002 and ceased reporting in 2007.[^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* House Report 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992.
[^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.
[^3]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^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.
[^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".
[^8]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The "October Surprise" Allegations and the Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the American Hostages Held in Iran: Report of the Special Counsel to Senator Terry Sanford and Senator James M. Jeffords,* S. Prt. 102-125, November 19, 1992, pp. v, 17 and appendix 22, "Earl Brian Passports," p. 287. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000021071829
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^3]: Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General regarding the allegations of INSLAW, Inc. (March 1993), pp. 73-74.
[^4]: *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, February 19, 1991, "Stolen Software Scattered: Affidavits Allege Sales To Iraqis And Israelis," clipping in the INSLAW folder of the Casolaro papers, https://archive.org/download/casolaro-notebooks/InslawIi_djvu.txt. Sole source for the contents as reported there.
[^5]: 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.
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. *The Inslaw Affair.* September 1989.
[^7]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The "October Surprise" Allegations and the Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the American Hostages Held in Iran: Report of the Special Counsel to Senator Terry Sanford and Senator James M. Jeffords,* S. Prt. 102-125, November 19, 1992, pp. v, 17 and appendix 22, "Earl Brian Passports," p. 287. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000021071829
[^8]: *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
[^9]: *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".
[^10]: "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.

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Norman Antokol.md Normal file
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---
aliases:
- Norman Antokol
- Phillip Norman Antokol
- N. Antokol
- Antokol
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- NormanAntokol
- Counterterrorism
- HostageNegotiation
- ForeignService
- MayerNudell
summary: "State Department officer listed in the counterterrorism office in 1984 and 1985, later deputy coordinator of the Foreign Service Institute Political Training Division, co-author with Mayer Nudell of two books."
created: 2026-10-08
updated: 2026-10-08
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[State Department]]"
role: "foreign service officer"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Office for Combatting Terrorism]]"
start: 1984-01
end: 1985-01
role: "International Relations Officer for Europe and Africa, office symbol M/CT"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Foreign Service Institute]]"
start: 1988-10
role: "Professional Studies, later deputy coordinator of the Political Training Division"
fn: 3
---
Norman Antokol is an officer of the [[State Department]] who was listed in the department's counterterrorism office in 1984 and 1985, transferred from [[Barbados]] to the [[Foreign Service Institute]] in 1988, and co-wrote two books with [[Mayer Nudell]].
### State Department career
The department's telephone directory for January 1984 lists "Norman Antokol" as International Relations Officer for Europe and Africa under the Assistant Coordinator for Security Policies and Programs, with Mayer Nudell listed for Near East and South Asia. The January 1985 directory lists "Antokol; Norman" under the office symbol M/CT.[^1] The department's magazine [[State (magazine)|State]] reports that Antokol, Nudell, [[John Coffman]] and Deven McConnell took part in a hostage negotiation seminar taught by an [[FBI Academy]] instructor on November 9 to 11.[^2]
The October 1988 issue of State lists, under transfers, "Antokol, Phillip Norman, Barbados to Foreign Service Institute, Professional Studies." A notice in the same volume on the institute's Political Training Division names Norman Antokol as its deputy coordinator and as co-author of a book titled Emergency Planning and Crisis Management, and reports a talk by Antokol on "Terrorism and the Media" to a class on terrorism in late September.[^3] A 1990 notice in State calls him "Political training deputy director."[^4]
### Writings
He is first author of No One a Neutral: Political Hostage-Taking in the Modern World (Medina, Ohio: [[Alpha Publications of Ohio]], 1990), and second author, after Nudell, of The Handbook for Effective Emergency and Crisis Management ([[Lexington Books]], 1988).[^5] With Nudell he wrote "Negotiating for Life," [[Security Management]] 34 (July 1990), pages 57 to 64 and 66.[^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of State, Telephone Directory, January 1984, scan pages 40 and 88, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435067603464; Telephone Directory, January 1985, scan page 11, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435067603514.
[^2]: U.S. Department of State, State, no. 263-273 (1984), "Office for Combatting Terrorism" column, p. 66, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066730094 (scan page 70).
[^3]: U.S. Department of State, State, no. 307-317 (1988), October 1988 issue, "Transfers," p. 41, and Political Training Division notice, p. 47, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076208282 (scan pages 559 and 707). The transfer list gives the name as Phillip Norman Antokol; the notice names Norman Antokol; records found do not state in so many words that they are the same person.
[^4]: U.S. Department of State, State, no. 329-339 (1990), book notice, scan page 28, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066730151.
[^5]: Catalog records (LCCN 87045997; archive.org items handbookforeffec0000nude and nooneneutralpoli0000anto_w1w9).
[^6]: Stephen W. Di Rito, "Response to Hostage Taking for Medium and Small Size Law Enforcement Agencies" (AFIT/CI thesis, Fall 1992), bibliography, Defense Technical Information Center accession ADA265597, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA265597.pdf.

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ralph E. Caudle.md Normal file
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---
aliases:
- Ralph E. Caudle
- Ralph Caudle
- Ralph E. Caudle, Sr.
- Colonel Ralph E. Caudle
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- RalphECaudle
- Wackenhut
- WATCO
- NuclearSafeguards
- DepartmentOfEnergy
- USAirForce
summary: "Retired Air Force colonel who headed the Department of Energy Office of Safeguards and Security from 1981 and became president of Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation in 1984."
created: 2026-10-08
updated: 2026-10-08
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Air Force]]"
end: 1975
role: "colonel; pilot, flight test engineer and nuclear weapons program officer"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Atomic Energy Commission]]"
role: "Director of Safeguard and Security of Nuclear Weapons, Germantown, Maryland, per his obituary"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of Energy]]"
start: 1975
end: 1984
role: "Director, Division of Operations, Office of Military Application (1975); head of the Office of Safeguards and Security (1981 to 1984)"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]"
start: 1984
end: 1987
role: "president"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Institute of Nuclear Materials Management]]"
start: 1984
end: 1986
role: "chairman of the awards committee (1984 to 1985); nominee for executive committee member at large (1986)"
fn: 3
---
Ralph E. Caudle, Sr. (January 5, 1927 to October 26, 2007) was a retired United States Air Force colonel who directed the [[Department of Energy]] Office of Safeguards and Security from 1981 and from 1984 was president of [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]], the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] subsidiary at [[Reston, Virginia]].[^1][^2]
### Air Force and nuclear weapons program
His obituary states that he flew 103 missions in F-84 aircraft in the Korean War, was a flight test engineer in the Air Research and Development Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base from 1956, taught at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base from 1961, and was assigned in 1965 to Sandia Base, Albuquerque, "involved with the nuclear weapons program." After a year as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War beginning in 1968, the obituary states, he was assigned to the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] as Director of Safeguard and Security of Nuclear Weapons at Germantown, Maryland, followed by a tour at the Pentagon in charge of weapon systems, and he retired from the Air Force in 1975.[^2]
### Department of Energy
The Journal of the [[Institute of Nuclear Materials Management]] reported in 1984 that Caudle joined the Department of Energy in 1975 as Director, Division of Operations, in the Office of Military Application, and in 1981 was promoted to head the Office of Safeguards and Security, with responsibility for protection of nuclear weapons materials and facilities and all Department of Energy classified information.[^1] His obituary states that from 1975 to 1981 he was program director and director of operations for development and production of nuclear weapons, responsible for liaison and testimony to the Office of Management and Budget and Congress on budget requirements, that he was Director of Safeguards and Securities of Nuclear Weapons at the Department of Energy from 1981 to 1984, and that he received a Meritorious Service Silver Medal in 1983 and Senior Executive Service performance awards in 1983 and 1984.[^2]
### Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, 1984 to 1987
The 1984 notice in the Institute's journal states that Caudle had been named president of Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, a newly created subsidiary based at Reston into which the Systems Division, the Advanced Technologies Division, the Security Programs Division and NUSAC, Incorporated, had been merged.[^1] His obituary gives his years as president as 1984 to 1987 and describes the company as providing high-level security systems for nuclear power plants and facilities.[^2] The Wackenhut annual reports for 1985 and 1986 state that the company's Security Programs Division was selected to design the security system of the nuclear device assembly facility at the [[Nevada Test Site]] of the Department of Energy.[^4] The Wackenhut annual report covering 1984 states that the Department of Energy chose Wackenhut Services, Inc., in 1984 to establish and operate a Safeguards and Security Central Training Academy at Albuquerque.[^5]
Caudle was chairman of the Institute's awards committee, writing from the company's Reston address, in 1985 and was among the nominees for member at large of its executive committee in 1986 with the affiliation Wackenhut Corporation.[^3] His obituary states that from 1987 to 1999 he consulted privately for government and private clients on safeguards and security policy.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Nuclear Materials Management (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management), vol. 13, no. 1 (Spring 1984), "Ralph E. Caudle Heads Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation." https://resources.inmm.org/system/files/jnmm/vol_13/V-13_1.pdf
[^2]: Obituary of Ralph E. Caudle, Sr., Colonel, USAF (Ret.), Pumphrey Funeral Homes, Rockville, Maryland. https://www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Ralph-E-Caudle-Sr-COL-USAF-Ret?obId=2465865
[^3]: Nuclear Materials Management, vol. 14, no. 1 (1985), awards committee notice with the Reston address; vol. 14, no. 2 (1986), slate of nominees for the executive committee. https://resources.inmm.org/system/files/jnmm/vol_14/V-14_1.pdf and https://resources.inmm.org/system/files/jnmm/vol_14/V-14_2.pdf
[^4]: The Wackenhut Corporation, annual reports for 1985 and 1986, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-CompanyReportsannualQuarterly," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks.
[^5]: The Wackenhut Corporation, annual report covering 1984, same folder.

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Robert Frye.md
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---
aliases:
- A. Robert Frye
- A. R. Frye
- Bob Frye
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- PROMIS
summary: "Frye met with Michael Riconosciuto and Dr."
summary: "President of Wackenhut Services, Inc. who signed the April 1981 Wackenhut joint venture with the Cabazon Indian reservation and toured Picatinny Arsenal with John Philip Nichols in May 1981."
updated: 2026-10-08
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Wackenhut Corporation]]"
start: 1981
role: "president, Wackenhut Services, Inc."
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Cabazon Indian Reservation]]"
start: 1981-04
end: 1984-10
role: "signed the April 1981 joint venture agreement for Wackenhut"
fn: 1
---
[[Robert Frye]] was the Executive Vice President of [[Wackenhut Corporation]] in Indio, [[California]]. He was involved in the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]]/[[Wackenhut Corporation]] Joint Venture, which aimed to develop and manufacture arms on the reservation.[^1]
A. Robert Frye was president of Wackenhut Services, Inc., a subsidiary of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]], in 1981, and represented the corporation in the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]]/Wackenhut joint venture with [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]], the tribal administrator, which aimed to develop and manufacture arms on the reservation.[^1] The writer Cheri Seymour describes him as Executive Vice President of the Wackenhut Corporation in Indio, [[California]].[^2]
Frye met with [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] at Picatinny Arsenal in May 1981, where Riconosciuto conducted a theoretical blackboard exercise on a Railgun for [[Dr. Harry Fair]]. Frye was present when Dr. Fair commented on Riconosciuto's scientific and technical knowledge, terming him a "potential national resource."[^1]
The 1993 report of Judge [[Nicholas J. Bua]] for the Department of Justice states that Frye, then president of Wackenhut Services, Inc., responded for Wackenhut when the Cabazon Security Corporation solicited capability statements from security firms in early 1981; that Frye signed the April 1981 joint venture agreement for Wackenhut and Tribal Chairman [[Arthur Welmas]] signed for the Cabazon Security Corporation; and that the joint venture had no employees at any time and "the only individual employed by Wackenhut was Frye."[^1] The report quotes Frye's account that he first met Riconosciuto on a trip to the Picatinny Arsenal, which Frye placed in May 1981, and states that [[Peter Zokosky]] recalled a second trip in October 1981 on which Frye met Riconosciuto.[^1]
Frye suffered a heart attack in early April 1983 and was hospitalized. After this, he never traveled to [[California]] to meet with [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]] or the Cabazons again. [[Wackenhut Corporation]]'s involvement with the Cabazon Joint Venture virtually ceased, and it was formally terminated in October 1984.[^1]
An inter-office memorandum from A. R. Frye to R. E. Chasen of the "S & S Group," headed "DIV/AREA: WSI" and dated May 25, 1981, reports a trip of May 11 to 22, 1981 to New Jersey, Indiana and Washington, D.C., made with Nichols. It lists three purposes: to explore the manufacture of 120 mm combustible cartridge cases and other armament activities on Cabazon land, to have the joint venture placed on bidders' lists for set-aside contracts, and to contact government agencies about the export of Munitions List items, specifically night vision goggles. The memorandum records visits to the Picatinny Arsenal with Zokosky, a meeting with the Army's R. Scott Westley and [[Dr. Harry Fair]], and a May 13, 1981 meeting with Victor Guadagno of Flinchbaugh Products, a retired colonel of the Arsenal, who said Flinchbaugh would be interested in a joint venture with Cabazon-WSI.[^3]
[[Robert Chasen]], Executive Vice President of [[Wackenhut Corporation]] in Coral Gables, stated that Frye went behind his back in facilitating the biological warfare technology project at the Indio facility. Chasen believed Frye and [[Dick Wilson]] were "dazzled" with [[Robert Booth Nichols]], despite Chasen's own distrust of Nichols.[^1]
A letter in the Casolaro papers whose signature is not legible refers to a planned meeting with "Robert Frye, President of Wackenhut Services, Inc." to review a nitrocellulose proposal for NATO and DARPA ammunition, and states that Frye "will be privy to these conversations, as always."[^4] A Cabazon Arms letter of Arthur Welmas to a San Diego firm lists "Bob Frye" and "Dr. Myron Malkin" among the names that follow the signature.[^5]
[[John Connolly]] wrote in *Spy* in 1992 that [[Eden Pastora]], who had been seen at a test of night-vision goggles at a firing range near the Cabazon reservation with Nichols and a Wackenhut executive, identified that executive, "A. Robert Frye," as "the man from the CIA," and that Pastora later said in a conversation that he did not know Frye.[^6]
In Cheri Seymour's account, Frye met with [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and Nichols at Picatinny Arsenal in May 1981, where Riconosciuto conducted a theoretical blackboard exercise on a Railgun for Dr. Harry Fair. Frye was present when Dr. Fair commented on Riconosciuto's scientific and technical knowledge, terming him a "potential national resource."[^2]
Frye suffered a heart attack in early April 1983 and was hospitalized. After this, he never traveled to California to meet with Dr. John Philip Nichols or the Cabazons again. Wackenhut Corporation's involvement with the Cabazon Joint Venture virtually ceased, and it was formally terminated in October 1984.[^2]
[[Robert Chasen]], Executive Vice President of Wackenhut Corporation in Coral Gables, stated that Frye went behind his back in facilitating the biological warfare technology project at the Indio facility. Chasen believed Frye and [[Dick Wilson]] were "dazzled" with [[Robert Booth Nichols]], despite Chasen's own distrust of Nichols.[^2]
---
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^1]: United States Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, report of Judge Nicholas J. Bua on the INSLAW matter (1993), section on the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture, printed pp. 55 to 58 and footnotes 32 and 35. Official finding, placed as the position of the body that issued it. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nsa/DOJ-OIP-INSLAW_1993.pdf
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^3]: A. R. Frye, inter-office memorandum to R. E. Chasen (the scan text prints "Crasen"), S & S Group, "Trip Report (May 11-22, 1981)," May 25, 1981 (the scan text prints the year as "1531"; the trip dates and the Bua report place it in 1981), Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Correspondence," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks.
[^4]: Undated letter to Patrick Moriarty, Pyrotronics Corp./Red Devil/Wildcat, headed "CSC/WSI Joint Venture," Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Correspondence."
[^5]: Arthur Welmas, letter dated May 1 (year not printed) to La France Specialties, San Diego, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Correspondence."
[^6]: John Connolly, "Inside the Shadow CIA," *Spy,* September 1992, pp. 46-54. Sole source for the Pastora identification and the retraction. https://www.prop1.org/legal/prisons/92wack.htm