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28
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/LAKAM.md
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@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
---
updated: 2026-10-12
tags:
- Organization
- Government
@ -8,32 +9,47 @@ summary: "LAKAM (Hebrew acronym for Science Liaison Bureau) was an Israeli Minis
start: 1957
end: 1985
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
relations:
- type: informant_for
with: "[[Jonathan Pollard]]"
reverse: true
start: 1984-06
end: 1985-11
role: "Handled Pollard as an Israeli agent"
fn: 9
---
[[LAKAM]] (Hebrew acronym for Science Liaison Bureau) was an Israeli Ministry of Defense intelligence agency, previously known as the Office of Special Tasks. It was set up to gather and exchange technology and intelligence with foreign military industries. Under its founding director [[Binyamin Blumberg]], LAKAM agents operated worldwide, collecting technical information and setting up front companies in [[Europe]] and [[Latin America]] to purchase high-tech equipment from the [[United States]] that U.S. export controls would otherwise deny to [[Israel]].[^1][^2]
### Leadership and Operations
In the early 1980s, LAKAM was widely known by its Hebrew acronym. [[Rafael Eitan]], a crony of [[Ariel Sharon]], was appointed its new head, succeeding [[Binyamin Blumberg]]. LAKAM operations in the [[United States]] produced a steady stream of routinely transferred scientific and technical documents, including [[KH-11]] imagery and reporting and assessments from U.S. embassies and intelligence operatives inside [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Jordan]], and [[Egypt]]. Some of this material was marked JUMBO, indicating it was not to be discussed with American counterparts.[^2]
In the early 1980s, LAKAM was widely known by its Hebrew acronym. [[Rafael Eitan]], a crony of [[Ariel Sharon]], was appointed its new head, succeeding Binyamin Blumberg. LAKAM operations in the United States produced a steady stream of routinely transferred scientific and technical documents, including [[KH-11]] imagery and reporting and assessments from U.S. embassies and intelligence operatives inside [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Jordan]], and [[Egypt]]. Some of this material was marked JUMBO, indicating it was not to be discussed with American counterparts.[^2]
### U.S. Spy Network Operations
[[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]]'s operation to build a spy network in the [[United States|United States]] to obtain information about Palestinian terrorists was funded from [[LAKAM|LAKAM's]] budget. [[Iris]], a [[LAKAM]] representative in [[Washington, D.C.]], served as a conduit for intelligence reports between [[Robert McFarlane]], [[Jonathan Pollard]], and [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]].[^1]
Rafi's operation to build a spy network in the United States to obtain information about Palestinian terrorists was funded from LAKAM's budget. [[Iris]], a LAKAM representative in [[Washington, D.C.]], served as a conduit for intelligence reports between [[Robert McFarlane]], [[Jonathan Pollard]], and Rafi.[^1]
### Political Control and Funding
[[LAKAM]] was later controlled by [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] after [[Shimon Peres]] became prime minister in 1984, and its huge slush fund, which had once financed [[Labor Party|Labor]] projects, was then controlled by [[Rafael Eitan|Eitan]].[^1]
LAKAM was later controlled by Rafi after [[Shimon Peres]] became prime minister in 1984, and its huge slush fund, which had once financed [[Labor Party|Labor]] projects, was then controlled by Eitan.[^1]
### PROMIS Software Operation
According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies* (1999), drawing on Israeli intelligence sources, LAKAM's director [[Rafael Eitan]] personally arranged to obtain a copy of the [[PROMIS]] software from the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] through back-channel contacts in the early 1980s. Eitan reportedly met with [[INSLAW]] founder [[Bill Hamilton]] while posing as a representative of the Israeli Ministry of Justice interested in PROMIS as a case management tool. After obtaining the software, Eitan assembled a team of former LAKAM programmers who reconstructed PROMIS and embedded a surveillance trapdoor - described as a $5,000 microchip - that allowed covert remote monitoring of database queries made by any user of the modified software. Eitan's reported statement on receiving PROMIS was: "We can use that program...it could be the most important intelligence tool that Israel has ever had."[^3]
According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies* (1999), drawing on Israeli intelligence sources, LAKAM's director Rafael Eitan personally arranged to obtain a copy of the [[PROMIS]] software from the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] through back-channel contacts in the early 1980s. Eitan reportedly met with [[INSLAW]] founder [[Bill Hamilton]] while posing as a representative of the Israeli Ministry of Justice interested in PROMIS as a case management tool. After obtaining the software, Eitan assembled a team of former LAKAM programmers who reconstructed PROMIS and embedded a surveillance trapdoor - described as a $5,000 microchip - that allowed covert remote monitoring of database queries made by any user of the modified software. Eitan's reported statement on receiving PROMIS was: "We can use that program...it could be the most important intelligence tool that Israel has ever had."[^3]
The modified software was then distributed internationally for use by foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies, channeled through [[Robert Maxwell]] and his Israeli computer company [[Degem]]. Total sales through this network, according to the allegations reviewed by Special Counsel Nicholas Bua, exceeded $500 million. The [[Nicholas J. Bua|Bua Report]] (1993) found no credible evidence to support any of these allegations, concluding that only public-domain versions of PROMIS had ever been distributed to foreign entities.[^4]
LAKAM was formally dissolved following the 1985 exposure of the [[Jonathan Pollard]] espionage case, after which its functions were redistributed to other Israeli intelligence services. Eitan, who had also run Pollard as an asset, left Israeli government service.[^2]
In the weeks after Pollard's arrest, Israeli officials described the bureau as the Liaison Bureau for Scientific Affairs, which was being dismantled while its activities were reorganized.[^5] A press report dated December 6, 1985 gave the Hebrew acronym as LEKEM.[^6] In May 1987 the *Washington Post* reported that the spy agency involved had been disbanded, and the *Christian Science Monitor* reported that its head had been forced to resign and the unit disbanded.[^7][^8] In 1998 the Israeli government stated that Pollard had served as an Israeli agent handled by senior members of the Scientific Liaison Bureau, which it gave in Hebrew as Lekam.[^9]
According to Hersh, LAKAM was formally dissolved following the 1985 exposure of the Jonathan Pollard espionage case, after which its functions were redistributed to other Israeli intelligence services. Eitan, who had also run Pollard as an asset, left Israeli government service.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991.
[^3]: Thomas, Gordon. *Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.* St. Martin's Press, 1999.
[^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.
[^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]: Thomas L. Friedman, *New York Times*, December 22, 1985. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000302120025-0
[^6]: Press item dated December 6, 1985, CIA CREST collection, CIA-RDP90-00965R000201380005-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000201380005-6
[^7]: Glenn Frankel, "Israeli Spy Probes Fault Leadership," *Washington Post*, May 27, 1987. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000302080002-0
[^8]: "Israel hopes that book is now closed on Pollard spy case," *Christian Science Monitor*, May 28, 1987. https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0528/omary.html
[^9]: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Government statement on Jonathan Pollard," May 12, 1998. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB407/docs/EBB-PollardDoc13.PDF

65
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/Mossad.md
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@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ aliases:
- Israeli Secret Intelligence Service
- Israeli intelligence
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-10-08
updated: 2026-10-12
title: Mossad
tags:
- Organization
@ -86,17 +86,17 @@ relations:
start: 1982
end: 1982
role: "the Mossad was made responsible for the link with the Phalangist leadership"
fn: 14
fn: 17
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Kahan Commission]]"
start: 1982-09
end: 1983-02-08
fn: 15
fn: 18
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]]"
start: 1980
role: "joint committee with military intelligence for arms supply to Iran, according to Ari Ben-Menashe"
fn: 17
fn: 20
---
The Mossad (the Institute for Intelligence and Special Assignments, in the words of the 1983 [[Kahan Commission]]) is the foreign intelligence service of [[Israel]]. Its own website carries a directive of [[David Ben-Gurion]] on its creation and lists twelve directors from [[Reuven Shiloah]] in 1949 to [[Yossi Cohen]], who left in 2021: Shiloah (1949 to 1952), [[Isser Harel]] (1952 to 1963), [[Meir Amit]] (1963 to 1968), [[Zvi Zamir]] (1968 to 1974), [[Yitzhak Hofi]] (1974 to 1982), [[Nachum Admoni]] (1982 to 1989), [[Shabtai Shavit]] (1989 to 1996), [[Danny Yatom]] (1996 to 1998), [[Efraim Halevy]] (1998 to 2002), [[Meir Dagan]] (2002 to 2011), [[Tamir Pardo]] (2011 to 2016) and Cohen (2016 to 2021).[^1] The record below follows the service where it touches the American intelligence services, the nuclear program at [[Dimona]], and the Lebanon, Iran and computer-software episodes that run through this vault.[^2]
@ -116,39 +116,43 @@ The CIA's Directorate of Operations name file on [[Adolf Eichmann]], released in
A National Security Archive posting records that in the spring of 1963 "some top officials in Israel, primarily Mossad chief Isser Harel with the support of Foreign Minister [[Golda Meir]]," began through leaks to the Israeli press a public campaign about German scientists in Egypt developing ballistic missiles and radiological weapons, "possibly even nuclear weapons"; that the State Department intelligence chief Thomas Hughes asked the Director of Central Intelligence [[John McCone]] for a special estimate on advanced weapons programs in the United Arab Republic and Israel; and that the estimate of May 8, 1963 concluded that Israel "will attempt to produce a weapon sometime in the next several years" unless deterred, while the United Arab Republic did not have "the capability of producing a nuclear weapon in the foreseeable future."[^7] The same posting dates the correspondence between [[John F. Kennedy]] and Ben-Gurion over Dimona inspections to those months; Mossad's own list ends Harel's term in 1963.[^1][^7]
### The Paris office and Operation Damocles, 1962
From 1962 the Paris office of Mossad was run by [[Yitzhak Shamir]], under the cover name Samuel Singer, according to Roger Howard's account of [[Operation Damocles]], the campaign directed by Isser Harel against German engineers and scientists working on Egypt's rocket program.[^8] Howard writes that Mossad's complicity in the disappearance of a Munich procurement company director in September 1962 "has never been conclusively proven, but almost certainly this was just the beginning of Operation Damocles."[^9] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency's obituary of Shamir states that between 1955 and 1965 he served as a senior Mossad official.[^10]
### The May 1967 estimate and the June 1967 war
[[David S. Robarge]], the CIA's chief historian, writes that on May 25, 1967 Tel Aviv submitted to Washington a Mossad estimate claiming the Israeli military was badly outgunned by a Soviet-backed Arab force. The CIA's [[Office of National Estimates]] appraised the paper within five hours: "We do not believe that the Israeli appreciation . . . was a serious estimate of the sort they would submit to their own high officials. We think it is probably a gambit intended to influence the US to do one or more of the following: (a) provide military supplies, (b) make more public commitments to Israel, (c) approve Israeli military initiatives, and (d) put more pressure on Nasser." [[Walt Rostow]] sent both papers to Johnson with a note that the CIA appraisal "throws a great deal of cold water on the Israeli estimate."[^8][^9] On June 1, 1967, the Mossad chief Meir Amit met Secretary of Defense [[Robert S. McNamara]] in Washington; the memorandum of the conversation was written by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, [[Rufus Taylor]].[^10]
[[David S. Robarge]], the CIA's chief historian, writes that on May 25, 1967 Tel Aviv submitted to Washington a Mossad estimate claiming the Israeli military was badly outgunned by a Soviet-backed Arab force. The CIA's [[Office of National Estimates]] appraised the paper within five hours: "We do not believe that the Israeli appreciation . . . was a serious estimate of the sort they would submit to their own high officials. We think it is probably a gambit intended to influence the US to do one or more of the following: (a) provide military supplies, (b) make more public commitments to Israel, (c) approve Israeli military initiatives, and (d) put more pressure on Nasser." [[Walt Rostow]] sent both papers to Johnson with a note that the CIA appraisal "throws a great deal of cold water on the Israeli estimate."[^11][^12] On June 1, 1967, the Mossad chief Meir Amit met Secretary of Defense [[Robert S. McNamara]] in Washington; the memorandum of the conversation was written by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, [[Rufus Taylor]].[^13]
### Plumbat, 1968
Hersh wrote that Mossad wanted uranium ore of which "hundreds of tons" sat in a warehouse near Antwerp, controlled by Euratom, and that Dimona, "ostensibly a twenty-four-megawatt reactor capable of consuming no more than twenty-four tons of ore in a year," could not openly buy an eight-year supply. In March 1968, he wrote, Mossad approached one of its agents in West Germany to buy the ore for $4 million, allegedly for an Italian chemical company in Milan; Euratom approved the sale in October; the uranium left Antwerp aboard a vessel renamed the Scheersberg A, "purchased, with Mossad funds, by another Israeli agent-in-place in Turkey"; and at sea the ore was transferred to an Israeli freighter guarded by gunboats. The disappearance was known to Euratom within months, American and European agencies reported internally that Israel was involved, and it took nine years for the press to report it; Hersh cited published accounts "confirmed by Israeli officials" and a 1978 book, *The Plumbat Affair*.[^11]
Hersh wrote that Mossad wanted uranium ore of which "hundreds of tons" sat in a warehouse near Antwerp, controlled by Euratom, and that Dimona, "ostensibly a twenty-four-megawatt reactor capable of consuming no more than twenty-four tons of ore in a year," could not openly buy an eight-year supply. In March 1968, he wrote, Mossad approached one of its agents in West Germany to buy the ore for $4 million, allegedly for an Italian chemical company in Milan; Euratom approved the sale in October; the uranium left Antwerp aboard a vessel renamed the Scheersberg A, "purchased, with Mossad funds, by another Israeli agent-in-place in Turkey"; and at sea the ore was transferred to an Israeli freighter guarded by gunboats. The disappearance was known to Euratom within months, American and European agencies reported internally that Israel was involved, and it took nine years for the press to report it; Hersh cited published accounts "confirmed by Israeli officials" and a 1978 book, *The Plumbat Affair*.[^14]
On September 10, 1968, Raphael Eitan, whom the National Security Archive identifies as deputy chief of Mossad operations and the organizer of the Mossad and [[LAKAM]] team in the Plumbat operation, visited the [[Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation]] plant at Apollo, Pennsylvania, with three other Israelis, according to an Atomic Energy Commission security report of September 6, 1968.[^12]
On September 10, 1968, Raphael Eitan, whom the National Security Archive identifies as deputy chief of Mossad operations and the organizer of the Mossad and [[LAKAM]] team in the Plumbat operation, visited the [[Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation]] plant at Apollo, Pennsylvania, with three other Israelis, according to an Atomic Energy Commission security report of September 6, 1968.[^15]
### Osirak and the Lebanon war
Hersh wrote that Hofi, "the director of Mossad," and the chief of military intelligence [[Yehoshua Saguy]] opposed the 1981 attack on [[Osirak bombing|Osirak]] "primarily because there was no evidence that Iraq was as yet capable of building a bomb," and that two weeks after the raid Hofi gave an interview, identified only by title under censorship, complaining about politicians who compromised secret intelligence, which in Hersh's account left "no doubt in the Israeli intelligence community" that Begin was the politician meant; Hersh added that Hofi was also a critic of [[Ariel Sharon]].[^13]
Hersh wrote that Hofi, "the director of Mossad," and the chief of military intelligence [[Yehoshua Saguy]] opposed the 1981 attack on [[Osirak bombing|Osirak]] "primarily because there was no evidence that Iraq was as yet capable of building a bomb," and that two weeks after the raid Hofi gave an interview, identified only by title under censorship, complaining about politicians who compromised secret intelligence, which in Hersh's account left "no doubt in the Israeli intelligence community" that Begin was the politician meant; Hersh added that Hofi was also a critic of [[Ariel Sharon]].[^16]
The Kahan Commission, reporting on the Sabra and Shatila massacres, wrote that Israel had extended aid to the Christian armed forces, that "the Mossad was made responsible for the link with the Phalangists," and that its representatives "maintained a rather close connection with the Phalangist leadership"; that the Mossad "to a not inconsiderable extent under the influence of constant and close contact with the Phalangist elite" favored strengthening the relationship while military intelligence emphasized the Phalangists' unreliability; and that the Mossad's head, in testimony of December 27, 1982, accepted that "subjective, and not only objective, relations also emerged." In the view prevailing among the Mossad agents before the war, the commission wrote, the Phalangists' atrocities were a thing of the past, although in meetings with the heads of the Mossad [[Bashir Gemayel]] had said things that "left no room for doubt" of his intention to eliminate the Palestinian problem in Lebanon even by "aberrant methods."[^14] In cables of September 15 the Mossad representative in Beirut reported the meetings of the chief of staff and the defense minister with the Phalangist leadership and that the Phalangists would enter West Beirut after the Israeli Defense Forces; a cable of September 16 at noon reported a coordination meeting to prepare the Phalangists "for operations to clear the city of terrorists," and another that they would start work at the Burj el-Barajneh camp. The head of the Mossad, who had assumed the post on September 12, 1982 after serving as deputy, learned of the decision to send the Phalangists into the camps only at the cabinet meeting of Thursday evening, did not give an assessment of their entry or express reservations, and was found by the commission to have shown an inaction that "should not be considered serious," and the commission considered it sufficient to determine responsibility without further recommendation.[^15]
The Kahan Commission, reporting on the Sabra and Shatila massacres, wrote that Israel had extended aid to the Christian armed forces, that "the Mossad was made responsible for the link with the Phalangists," and that its representatives "maintained a rather close connection with the Phalangist leadership"; that the Mossad "to a not inconsiderable extent under the influence of constant and close contact with the Phalangist elite" favored strengthening the relationship while military intelligence emphasized the Phalangists' unreliability; and that the Mossad's head, in testimony of December 27, 1982, accepted that "subjective, and not only objective, relations also emerged." In the view prevailing among the Mossad agents before the war, the commission wrote, the Phalangists' atrocities were a thing of the past, although in meetings with the heads of the Mossad [[Bashir Gemayel]] had said things that "left no room for doubt" of his intention to eliminate the Palestinian problem in Lebanon even by "aberrant methods."[^17] In cables of September 15 the Mossad representative in Beirut reported the meetings of the chief of staff and the defense minister with the Phalangist leadership and that the Phalangists would enter West Beirut after the Israeli Defense Forces; a cable of September 16 at noon reported a coordination meeting to prepare the Phalangists "for operations to clear the city of terrorists," and another that they would start work at the Burj el-Barajneh camp. The head of the Mossad, who had assumed the post on September 12, 1982 after serving as deputy, learned of the decision to send the Phalangists into the camps only at the cabinet meeting of Thursday evening, did not give an assessment of their entry or express reservations, and was found by the commission to have shown an inaction that "should not be considered serious," and the commission considered it sufficient to determine responsibility without further recommendation.[^18]
### Iran, 1980 and 1981
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that in the fall of 1980 Begin ordered the military intelligence chief [[Yehoshua Sagi]] and the Mossad's "acting director" Nachum Admoni to create an Iran-Israel Joint Committee of military intelligence and Mossad to supply arms to Iran; that [[David Kimche]], whom he called head of Tevel, was its senior member; and that after [[Yitzhak Shamir]] became prime minister members including Kimche were forced out and Eitan ran the committee.[^16][^17] The Mossad's own list gives Hofi as head from 1974 to 1982 and Admoni from 1982, and the Kahan Commission describes Admoni as deputy head until September 12, 1982.[^1][^14] The House October Surprise Task Force wrote that Eitan and Saguy had told the Israeli government they never met Ben-Menashe and that his Israeli military file showed work as a translator; Ben-Menashe was acquitted in New York in November 1990.[^18] See [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]].
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that in the fall of 1980 Begin ordered the military intelligence chief [[Yehoshua Sagi]] and the Mossad's "acting director" Nachum Admoni to create an Iran-Israel Joint Committee of military intelligence and Mossad to supply arms to Iran; that [[David Kimche]], whom he called head of Tevel, was its senior member; and that after Yitzhak Shamir became prime minister members including Kimche were forced out and Eitan ran the committee.[^19][^20] The Mossad's own list gives Hofi as head from 1974 to 1982 and Admoni from 1982, and the Kahan Commission describes Admoni as deputy head until September 12, 1982.[^1][^17] The House October Surprise Task Force wrote that Eitan and Saguy had told the Israeli government they never met Ben-Menashe and that his Israeli military file showed work as a translator; Ben-Menashe was acquitted in New York in November 1990.[^21] See [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]].
### PROMIS, according to Ben-Menashe
Ben-Menashe wrote that Eitan, as counterterrorism adviser to Begin and then to Shamir, took an interest in the software program [[PROMIS]]; that in 1982 [[Earl Brian]] approached Eitan about selling it to foreign intelligence agencies; that Eitan decided to have a "trap door" installed to give Israeli agents access to the computers of any service that bought it; that Ben-Menashe recruited his childhood friend [[Yehuda Ben-Hanan]], of Software and Engineering Consultants in California, to build the external access; that Eitan selected Jordan to test it and that Brian sold it through his company [[Hadron]]; and that [[Robert Maxwell]] "made a fortune out of it" through his companies.[^19] See [[PROMIS Software Scandal]].
Ben-Menashe wrote that Eitan, as counterterrorism adviser to Begin and then to Shamir, took an interest in the software program [[PROMIS]]; that in 1982 [[Earl Brian]] approached Eitan about selling it to foreign intelligence agencies; that Eitan decided to have a "trap door" installed to give Israeli agents access to the computers of any service that bought it; that Ben-Menashe recruited his childhood friend [[Yehuda Ben-Hanan]], of Software and Engineering Consultants in California, to build the external access; that Eitan selected Jordan to test it and that Brian sold it through his company [[Hadron]]; and that [[Robert Maxwell]] "made a fortune out of it" through his companies.[^22] See [[PROMIS Software Scandal]].
### Vanunu and the Mirror Group, 1986
Hersh wrote that copies of the photographs [[Mordecai Vanunu]] took inside Dimona were made available in London, before the Sunday Times published, to an Israeli intelligence agent masquerading as an American reporter; that they were sent by courier to the office of Prime Minister [[Shimon Peres]], who ordered Mossad to get Vanunu out of London and into Israeli custody; that "no kidnapping could take place in England for diplomatic reasons"; and that Vanunu was enticed by a Mossad agent named Cindy Hanin Bentov (a pseudonym; see [[Cindy Hanin Bentov]]) to leave for Rome a few days before publication, where, according to Vanunu's account to relatives, he was drugged and returned to Israel by ship.[^20]
Hersh wrote that copies of the photographs [[Mordecai Vanunu]] took inside Dimona were made available in London, before the Sunday Times published, to an Israeli intelligence agent masquerading as an American reporter; that they were sent by courier to the office of Prime Minister [[Shimon Peres]], who ordered Mossad to get Vanunu out of London and into Israeli custody; that "no kidnapping could take place in England for diplomatic reasons"; and that Vanunu was enticed by a Mossad agent named Cindy Hanin Bentov (a pseudonym; see [[Cindy Hanin Bentov]]) to leave for Rome a few days before publication, where, according to Vanunu's account to relatives, he was drugged and returned to Israel by ship.[^23]
Ben-Menashe told Hersh that after Vanunu's photographs reached the Israeli leadership he and others were told that "Peres said, 'Let's make him an example'" rather than assassinating him; that the foreign editor of the Daily Mirror, [[Nicholas Davies]], "provided the framework" for the Sunday Mirror's hostile story of September 28, which went to Maxwell, publisher of the Mirror Group; and that Maxwell told him "I know what has to happen. I have already spoken to your bosses."[^21] The Sunday Mirror's reporters Tony Frost and Mark Souster were ordered by their editor to take the photographs to the Israeli embassy; the senior deputy editor John C. Parker understood that Maxwell had given the order; the news editor Peter J. Miller said that "the line we were instructed to take cost the Sunday Mirror a world-beating exclusive"; and the editor Michael Malloy acknowledged discussing the story with Maxwell, said there was "nothing sinister or strange" in it, and recalled that Maxwell ordered the photographs shown to the Israelis.[^21] The Mirror staff statements are those of the persons named.
Ben-Menashe told Hersh that after Vanunu's photographs reached the Israeli leadership he and others were told that "Peres said, 'Let's make him an example'" rather than assassinating him; that the foreign editor of the Daily Mirror, [[Nicholas Davies]], "provided the framework" for the Sunday Mirror's hostile story of September 28, which went to Maxwell, publisher of the Mirror Group; and that Maxwell told him "I know what has to happen. I have already spoken to your bosses."[^24] The Sunday Mirror's reporters Tony Frost and Mark Souster were ordered by their editor to take the photographs to the Israeli embassy; the senior deputy editor John C. Parker understood that Maxwell had given the order; the news editor Peter J. Miller said that "the line we were instructed to take cost the Sunday Mirror a world-beating exclusive"; and the editor Michael Malloy acknowledged discussing the story with Maxwell, said there was "nothing sinister or strange" in it, and recalled that Maxwell ordered the photographs shown to the Israelis.[^24] The Mirror staff statements are those of the persons named.
### Uri Geller
[[Jim Schnabel]] wrote that, according to Geller, [[Moshe Dayan]] asked [[Uri Geller]] "Now, what can you do for Israel?"; that "so the story goes" Geller then met the military intelligence chief [[Aharon Yariv]] and officials of Mossad and [[Shin Bet]], was tested by them and began to work for them, viewing targets in Syria and elsewhere; and that Yariv, in an interview with the science writer John Wilhelm in the mid-1970s, denied ever meeting or consulting with Geller. Schnabel wrote that Geller says he later met secretly in hotel rooms in the United States with Israeli officials to brief them on his experiences at [[Stanford Research Institute]] and was warned "not to do certain things" there; that in one of Geller's stories a tape recorder started to play by itself at a meeting with Mossad officers; and that among the "wild surmises" in the air when CIA officials asked Puthoff about Geller was that he was "part of some Mossad disinformation project, designed to spook the Arabs into believing that Israel possessed a paranormal superman," or that Israeli intelligence wanted to infiltrate SRI. Several Israeli officials came to SRI in the summer of 1973; [[Hal Puthoff|Harold Puthoff]] "had the impression that they were from Israeli military intelligence," and they said that Geller had done "surprisingly good work for them against Middle Eastern military targets" and asked whether it was luck or verifiable psychic ability.[^22]
[[Jim Schnabel]] wrote that, according to Geller, [[Moshe Dayan]] asked [[Uri Geller]] "Now, what can you do for Israel?"; that "so the story goes" Geller then met the military intelligence chief [[Aharon Yariv]] and officials of Mossad and [[Shin Bet]], was tested by them and began to work for them, viewing targets in Syria and elsewhere; and that Yariv, in an interview with the science writer John Wilhelm in the mid-1970s, denied ever meeting or consulting with Geller. Schnabel wrote that Geller says he later met secretly in hotel rooms in the United States with Israeli officials to brief them on his experiences at [[Stanford Research Institute]] and was warned "not to do certain things" there; that in one of Geller's stories a tape recorder started to play by itself at a meeting with Mossad officers; and that among the "wild surmises" in the air when CIA officials asked Puthoff about Geller was that he was "part of some Mossad disinformation project, designed to spook the Arabs into believing that Israel possessed a paranormal superman," or that Israeli intelligence wanted to infiltrate SRI. Several Israeli officials came to SRI in the summer of 1973; [[Hal Puthoff|Harold Puthoff]] "had the impression that they were from Israeli military intelligence," and they said that Geller had done "surprisingly good work for them against Middle Eastern military targets" and asked whether it was luck or verifiable psychic ability.[^25]
### Footnotes
@ -159,18 +163,21 @@ Ben-Menashe told Hersh that after Vanunu's photographs reached the Israeli leade
[^5]: Feinstein, Tamara, ed., "The CIA Names File on Adolf Eichmann," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 150, March 24, 2005, citing the CIA Directorate of Operations file, vol. 1, document 49, and vol. 2, document 7. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB150/index.htm
[^6]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 21, "Israel's Nuclear Spy," pp. 288-289.
[^7]: Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, eds., "The Battle of the Letters, 1963," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 671, May 2, 2019, documents 17 and 22. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2019-05-02/battle-letters-1963-john-f-kennedy-david-ben-gurion-levi-eshkol-us-inspections-dimona
[^8]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf
[^9]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 61, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, May 25, 1967, with attached CIA appraisal. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
[^10]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 124, Memorandum for the Record by Vice Admiral Rufus Taylor, June 1, 1967 (prepared June 2). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d124
[^11]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 13, "An Israeli Decision," pp. 180-181.
[^12]: National Security Archive, "The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program?" (November 2, 2016), Document 10 and commentary. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-11-02/numec-affair-did-highly-enriched-uranium-us-aid-israels-nuclear-weapons-program The identification of Eitan's role is the posting's commentary.
[^13]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 1, pp. 9-11; chapter 21, p. 294 footnote (Hofi and Sharon).
[^14]: Kahan Commission Report, sections on the Phalangists and the Mossad, on the Phalangists' entry into the camps, and on the head of the Mossad (note 2).
[^15]: Kahan Commission Report (note 2), recommendations on the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the head of the Mossad.
[^16]: Ben-Menashe, Ari, *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*, TrineDay, 2015 reprint of the 1992 edition, passages on the Joint Committee for Iran-Israel Relations, Tevel and the Mossad directorship. https://archive.org/details/profits-of-war-1992-ari-ben-menashe
[^17]: Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War*, passage on Begin's order to Sagi and Admoni in the fall of 1980.
[^18]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993, section on Ben-Menashe (p. 97). https://archive.org/details/14148-h.rp.-1102 ; Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 19, p. 260 footnote (acquittal in November 1990).
[^19]: Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War*, chapter on PROMIS.
[^20]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 15, "The Tunnel," pp. 197-198.
[^21]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 22, "An Israeli Asset," pp. 311-315.
[^22]: Schnabel, Jim, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies*, Dell, 1997, chapter 9, "The Trickster." Full text read at https://archive.org/details/jim-schnabel-remote-viewers-the-secret-history-of-americas-psychic-spies_2
[^8]: Roger Howard, _Operation Damocles: Israel's Secret War against Hitler's Scientists in Egypt, 1954-1967_ (2013), chapter 16. https://archive.org/details/operationdamocle0000howa
[^9]: Roger Howard, _Operation Damocles_, chapter 1. https://archive.org/details/operationdamocle0000howa
[^10]: "Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's 7th prime minister, dies at 96," _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, July 2012. https://www.jta.org/?p=1789432
[^11]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf
[^12]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 61, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, May 25, 1967, with attached CIA appraisal. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
[^13]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 124, Memorandum for the Record by Vice Admiral Rufus Taylor, June 1, 1967 (prepared June 2). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d124
[^14]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 13, "An Israeli Decision," pp. 180-181.
[^15]: National Security Archive, "The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program?" (November 2, 2016), Document 10 and commentary. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-11-02/numec-affair-did-highly-enriched-uranium-us-aid-israels-nuclear-weapons-program The identification of Eitan's role is the posting's commentary.
[^16]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 1, pp. 9-11; chapter 21, p. 294 footnote (Hofi and Sharon).
[^17]: Kahan Commission Report, sections on the Phalangists and the Mossad, on the Phalangists' entry into the camps, and on the head of the Mossad (note 2).
[^18]: Kahan Commission Report (note 2), recommendations on the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the head of the Mossad.
[^19]: Ben-Menashe, Ari, *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*, TrineDay, 2015 reprint of the 1992 edition, passages on the Joint Committee for Iran-Israel Relations, Tevel and the Mossad directorship. https://archive.org/details/profits-of-war-1992-ari-ben-menashe
[^20]: Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War*, passage on Begin's order to Sagi and Admoni in the fall of 1980.
[^21]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993, section on Ben-Menashe (p. 97). https://archive.org/details/14148-h.rp.-1102 ; Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 19, p. 260 footnote (acquittal in November 1990).
[^22]: Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War*, chapter on PROMIS.
[^23]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 15, "The Tunnel," pp. 197-198.
[^24]: Hersh, *The Samson Option*, chapter 22, "An Israeli Asset," pp. 311-315.
[^25]: Schnabel, Jim, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies*, Dell, 1997, chapter 9, "The Trickster." Full text read at https://archive.org/details/jim-schnabel-remote-viewers-the-secret-history-of-americas-psychic-spies_2

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/Unit 8200.md
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@ -1,30 +1,239 @@
---
aliases:
- Unit 8200
- IDF Unit 8200
- Israeli Defense Forces Unit 8200
- Detachment 8200
- Unit S.M. 2
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Program
- IntelligenceOperation
- Organization
- Unit8200
- Israel
category: "Intelligence Operation"
summary: "Unit 8200 is Israel's primary signals intelligence and code-breaking unit, housed at a base near Tel Aviv adjacent to a Mossad facility, operating under strict compartmentalized need-to-know protocols."
- SignalsIntelligence
- NSA
- Snowden
- Stuxnet
- Spyware
- NSOGroup
- Carbyne
- EhudBarak
- JeffreyEpstein
- Lavender
- Refuseniks
- AIMilitary
summary: "Unit 8200 is the Israeli Defense Forces' signals-intelligence and cyber unit whose alumni have founded surveillance and cybersecurity firms and whose commander was exposed as the author of an AI-warfare book in 2024."
start: 1952
location: "near Tel Aviv, Israel"
updated: 2026-10-09
location: "Glilot Camps, Ramat HaSharon, Israel"
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Yoel Ben-Porat]]"
reverse: true
role: "unit commander, per Ben-Menashe's account"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Sasson Yishaek]]"
reverse: true
role: "number-two in the code-breaking department, later commander"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Reuben Yirador]]"
reverse: true
role: "department commander"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Shulamit Ingerman]]"
reverse: true
role: "cryptographer, head of the Iranian desk"
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ari Ben-Menashe]]"
reverse: true
role: "Iranian desk, code-breaking department, per his own account"
start: 1975
end: 1977
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Yosef Zeira]]"
reverse: true
role: "department commander, per Ben-Menashe's account"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Yossi Sariel]]"
reverse: true
role: "commander"
end: 2024-09-12
fn: 23
- type: head_of
with: "[[Pinhas Buchris]]"
reverse: true
role: "commander; later director general of the Ministry of Defense"
fn: 31
- type: head_of
with: "[[Reuven Yerdor]]"
reverse: true
role: "in charge of the unit by early 1982, per Hersh's account"
end: 1982
fn: 34
- type: head_of
with: "[[Nadav Zafrir]]"
reverse: true
role: "commander, who established the Israel Defense Forces Cyber Command"
fn: 16
- type: member_of
with: "[[Aman]]"
fn: 1
- type: partner_of
with: "[[NSA]]"
start: 2009-03
role: "intelligence-sharing memorandum of understanding, reached in principle March 2009"
fn: 9
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Olympic Games]]"
role: "payload development, per Sanger's account"
fn: 5
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Minerva Project]]"
start: 2020-09
role: "admissions page headed Partner: IDF 8200"
fn: 24
---
[[Unit 8200]] is an [[Israel|Israeli]] Signals Intelligence (Sigint) unit, specializing in code-breaking. It is housed in a base located near a country club north of [[Tel Aviv]], with a nearby building known as "the villa" belonging to [[Mossad]], where top-secret security meetings were held. The unit operates on a need-to-know basis, with departments requiring special permission to access each other's areas.[^1]
Key personnel mentioned in connection with [[Unit 8200]] include Col. [[Yoel Ben-Porat]] (unit commander, known as Buffy), Lt. Col. [[Sasson Yishaek]] (number-two in code-breaking, later commander), Col. [[Reuben Yirador]] (department commander), and [[Shulamit Ingerman]] (head of the Iranian desk and a cryptographer).[^1]
[[Unit 8200]] is the signals-intelligence and cyber unit of the [[Israel Defense Forces]], attached to [[Aman]], the military intelligence directorate. Its central base is the Glilot Camps in [[Ramat HaSharon]], north of [[Tel Aviv]], close to the [[Mossad]] headquarters.[^1] Its alumni have founded surveillance and cybersecurity firms. A 2009 intelligence-sharing memorandum with the [[NSA]], disclosed in 2013, names the unit's counterpart only by its acronym. A 2014 refusal letter was signed by 43 of its veterans and reservists, and 2024 reporting tied the unit to AI-assisted targeting in the Gaza war.
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] was stationed in [[Unit 8200]]'s code-breaking department, specifically on the [[Iran|Iranian]] desk, from 1975 to 1977. He claims to have broken the [[Iran|Iranian]] diplomatic code, which allowed [[Israel|Israel]] to read coded messages faster than the [[Iran|Iranians]]. This breakthrough eliminated the need to "acquire" the weekly black book sent by diplomatic pouch to the [[Iran|Iranian]] embassy in [[Ramat Gan]].[^1]
### Glilot base and origins
[[Unit 8200]] was involved in monitoring [[Iran|Iranian]] communications through satellite stations in Bet Ella and listening stations in northern [[Israel]], the [[Sinai]], and overseas (e.g., [[Japan]], [[Italy]], [[Ethiopia]]). These stations intercepted traffic from the [[Iran|Iranian]] Foreign Ministry, Royal Court, [[SAVAK]], and [[Iran|Iranian]] military intelligence.[^1]
Ynet reported in August 2024 that the unit, designated Unit S.M. 2 when it moved to the Glilot base in 1952, was later renamed 8200. Sixteen years before that report, the army decided to evacuate most of the Glilot compound as part of a move to the [[Negev]]. The transition had been delayed repeatedly and was expected to take place in several phases over the following years.[^1]
In 1972, Col. [[Reuben Yirador]] decoded a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] intercept (VENONA) that revealed the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] were bugging the office of [[Golda Meir]], then Prime Minister of [[Israel]]. This discovery, along with [[Golda Meir|Meir's]] meeting with [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and her rejection of a peace settlement, informed [[Anwar Sadat]] and may have prompted the 1973 war.[^1]
In [[Profits of War]] (1992), [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] placed the base near a country club north of Tel Aviv, with a nearby building known as "the villa" that belonged to Mossad and housed top-secret security meetings. He wrote that the unit operated on a need-to-know basis and that its departments required special permission to enter one another's areas.[^2]
In 1976, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], while on duty in [[Unit 8200]], intercepted a telegram detailing [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribes paid to Defense Minister [[Shimon Peres]]. This information was subsequently covered up by superiors, including [[Yoel Ben-Porat|Buffy]] and [[Sasson Yishaek|Lt. Col. Yishaek]].[^1]
### Personnel in the record
Ben-Menashe named the unit's commander as [[Yoel Ben-Porat]], known as Buffy. He named [[Sasson Yishaek]] as the number-two officer in the code-breaking department and later its commander, [[Reuben Yirador]] as a department commander, and [[Shulamit Ingerman]] as a cryptographer who headed the [[Iran|Iranian]] desk.[^2] He also wrote that [[Yosef Zeira]], a department commander in the mid-1970s, briefed a small team on the 1976 rescue at [[Operation Entebbe]] and ordered its members into communications isolation for the duration of the operation.[^2]
[[Seymour Hersh]] wrote in *The Samson Option* (1991) that by early 1982 Brigadier General [[Reuven Yerdor]], known as Rudi, was in charge of the unit. Hersh wrote that Yerdor had been an officer of the Israeli signals-intelligence detachment (then Detachment 515, later 8200), had cracked a Soviet code, and traveled to [[Washington, D.C.]] every three months for liaison meetings with the [[NSA]]. According to Hersh, [[Yehoshua Saguy]], the head of Aman, gave Yerdor two packets of documents over the 1981-82 New Year holiday, one of them daily and weekly summaries of worldwide NSA intercepts, and Yerdor received American technical data on Syrian air defenses in May 1982. The spelling Yerdor differs from the Yirador of Ben-Menashe's account, and the two names may refer to the same officer.[^34]
### The Iranian desk and Ben-Menashe's account
Ben-Menashe wrote that he served on the Iranian desk of the code-breaking department from 1975 to 1977 and that he broke the Iranian diplomatic code. The break, he wrote, made it unnecessary to "acquire" the weekly black book sent by diplomatic pouch to the Iranian embassy in [[Ramat Gan]].[^2] He described satellite stations at [[Bet Ella]] and listening stations in northern [[Israel]], the [[Sinai]], and overseas in [[Japan]], [[Italy]] and [[Ethiopia]]. According to his account, these intercepted traffic from the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the Royal Court, [[SAVAK]] and Iranian military intelligence.[^2]
Ben-Menashe wrote that in 1972 Yirador decoded a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] intercept showing that the Soviets were bugging the office of [[Golda Meir]], then prime minister. The account names the intercept VENONA, the name of a United States program that ran from 1943 until the NSA closed it in 1980 and that decrypted Soviet cables, mostly from 1943 to 1945.[^3] Ben-Menashe linked the discovery, together with Meir's meeting with [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and her rejection of a peace settlement, to [[Anwar Sadat]]'s understanding of Israel's position. He wrote that it may have prompted the 1973 war.[^2]
In 1976, Ben-Menashe wrote, he intercepted while on duty a telegram detailing [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribes paid to Defense Minister [[Shimon Peres]]. The sum was $3.5 million, deposited in one of Peres's brother's business accounts in [[Europe]]. Superiors, including Buffy and Lt. Col. Yishaek, covered the information up, he wrote.[^2]
### Stuxnet and Olympic Games
In June 2012 [[David Sanger]] reported in *The New York Times* that President [[Barack Obama]] had accelerated cyberattacks against Iran's uranium enrichment program. The program had begun under the Bush administration and was code-named Olympic Games. A worm had escaped Iran's [[Natanz]] plant in the summer of 2010 and spread across the Internet. The last attack in the later series, the paper reported, "temporarily took out nearly 1,000 of the 5,000 centrifuges Iran had spinning at the time to purify uranium." The account drew on interviews with current and former American, European and Israeli officials, none of whom would allow their names to be used.[^4]
Sanger's book *Confront and Conceal* (2012) says that development of the payload enlisted Unit 8200, which had "deep intelligence about operations at Natanz", together with the NSA. The excerpt reported that bringing the Israelis on board was meant as a means to discourage a pre-emptive Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.[^5]
### The Kaspersky intrusion
*The New York Times* reported on October 10, 2017 that Israeli intelligence officers had hacked into the network of the Russian antivirus company Kaspersky Lab and watched "in real time as Russian government hackers searched computers around the world for the code names of American intelligence programs." The paper wrote that the Israelis alerted the United States, that they gave their NSA counterparts screenshots and other documentation, and that the Department of Homeland Security's September 13, 2017 order removing Kaspersky products from federal agencies rested in large part on intelligence from Israel's 2014 intrusion. The article drew on people briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Israeli Embassy declined to comment and Kaspersky denied any involvement in the Russian operation.[^33]
Kaspersky had published a report in June 2015 on an intrusion into its own network that it named Duqu 2.0, after the Duqu malware that researchers had linked to the nation states behind Stuxnet. The Times wrote that the company did not name Israel in that report, that the attackers were interested in Kaspersky's work on the "Equation Group," the industry term for the NSA, and that other victims included hotels and venues used for the negotiations on the Iran nuclear agreement, from which Israel was excluded.[^33]
### The 2014 refusal letter
On September 11, 2014, a letter from 43 veterans and reservists of the unit was distributed to the media. Al Jazeera reported that it was addressed to the prime minister, the armed forces chief and the head of military intelligence. The letter declared: "We veterans of Unit 8200, reservists past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in activity against Palestinians and refuse to be tools to deepen the military control in the occupied territories." It was published less than three weeks after the Gaza offensive that killed more than 2,200 people.[^6]
[[Hanan Gefen]], a former commander of the unit, accused the signatories of a grave breach of trust. He said that if he were the serving commander he would put them on trial and remove them from the unit.[^6] Public radio coverage later that month carried the headline "Snowden Reveal Makes Israeli Spies' Protest An American Issue."[^7]
In January 2015 the army dismissed some of the signatories. Ynet reported that the decision ended the reserve service of the refuseniks, who received letters stating they would not be called up for reserve duty in the future. The Military Intelligence Directorate noted that only a small part of the 43 had been called up in recent years, and then for a handful of days. Ynet reported that the dismissals followed the media storm the letter had created.[^8]
### The NSA memorandum of understanding
On September 11, 2013, [[The Guardian]] published the text of an undated, five-page memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart, from a top-secret document "provided to the Guardian by whistleblower [[Edward Snowden]]." The reporters, [[Glenn Greenwald]], [[Laura Poitras]] and [[Ewen MacAskill]], wrote that the deal "was reached in principle in March 2009" and that the memorandum described itself as an agreement "pertaining to the protection of US persons." The full text was published with the article.[^9][^10]
The memorandum states that the NSA "routinely sends ISNU [the Israeli Sigint National Unit] minimized and unminimized raw collection." The counterpart is named ISNU, and the text does not name Unit 8200. The unit's role as the signals-intelligence arm of the Israeli military is the basis for the identification.[^1] Under the memorandum, Israel could keep "any files containing the identities of US persons" for up to a year and was to consult the NSA's special liaison adviser when such data appeared. Communications to or from an official of the US government were to be destroyed "upon recognition." The NSA was to "regularly review a sample of files transferred to ISNU to validate the absence of US persons' identities."[^9]
The memorandum defines raw Sigint as including "unevaluated and unminimized transcripts, gists, facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content." It permits Israel to disseminate foreign intelligence concerning US persons derived from raw Sigint provided it does so "in a manner that does not identify the US person," and to release US person identities to outside parties with the NSA's written permission. The Guardian reported that Israeli personnel agreed not to deliberately target Americans identified in the data, that the NSA declined to say whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had been asked to approve the sharing, and that the NSA spokesperson did not deny that personal data about Americans was included in the material sent.[^9]
The memorandum states that "This agreement is not intended to create any legally enforceable rights" and is neither an international agreement nor a legally binding instrument. An NSA spokesperson said that "Any US person information that is acquired as a result of NSA's surveillance activities is handled under procedures that are designed to protect privacy rights." The Guardian also quoted a top-secret report dated September 2007 that described the relationship as "overwhelmingly one-sided in favor of Israel."[^9]
### Alumni and the surveillance industry
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project wrote that veterans of Unit 8200 "are known to have helped develop" the technology of [[NSO Group]], the spyware company co-founded in 2010 by two high-school friends.[^11] The two, [[Shalev Hulio]] and [[Omri Lavie]], are described by some accounts as unit alumni. In a January 2019 profile by [[Ronen Bergman]], Ynet wrote that Hulio "didn't serve in the IDF's elite Unit 8200," that his final posting was as commander of a Home Front Command search and rescue team, and that one of two friends from Hugim High School in Haifa who developed the technology of an earlier company, CommuniTech, had served in Unit 8200. Bergman quoted a senior intelligence official who said NSO was "another example of Israel's strategic capabilities, which were developed to protect its citizens and its national security, that have been proliferated by former members of the intelligence community." Hulio denied the claim and said that an early employee, the engineer who began building the first offensive tool in August 2010, "may have served in Unit 8200" but that the technology did not come from there.[^26] The profile also names [[Niv Carmi]], who worked at the Prime Minister's Office as a student, as the technical expert the investor Eddy Shalev required the founders to bring in.[^26] The OCCRP quoted [[Gadi Aviran]], who founded the intelligence firm [[Terrogence]], telling The New Yorker in 2019: "There was this huge pipeline of talent coming out of the military every year."[^11]
### NSO Group litigation
[[WhatsApp]] sued NSO in October 2019 in the Northern District of California. A March 2020 order described the defendants, which the plaintiffs had attempted to serve through the Hague Convention, as Israeli entities.[^12] A July 2020 order described NSO as an Israeli limited liability company, described [[Q Cyber Technologies]] as an Israeli corporation and NSO's only active director and majority shareholder, and recorded the complaint's allegation that defendants sent malware through WhatsApp's system to about 1,400 mobile devices.[^13]
On December 20, 2024, Judge [[Phyllis Hamilton]] granted WhatsApp's motion for partial summary judgment on liability under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. She denied NSO's motion for summary judgment and granted the sanctions motion in part. The order considered terminating sanctions, preferred evidentiary sanctions, and called defendants' limitation of Pegasus source-code production "simply impracticable for a lawsuit that is to be litigated in this district." It stated that a trial would proceed only on damages.[^14]
On May 6, 2025 a jury returned a unanimous verdict of $444,719 in compensatory damages, the full amount WhatsApp sought, and $167,254,000 in punitive damages (Dkt. 736), a total of $167,698,719. The jury found that the defendants acted with malice, oppression or fraud.[^15][^27] On October 17, 2025 Judge Hamilton granted WhatsApp's motion for a permanent injunction and granted the defendants' motion for remittitur, reducing the punitive award to $4,002,471, the maximum she found permissible at a ratio of nine to one to compensatory damages under the Ninth Circuit's *Riley* framework. The order stated that the defendants had reverse-engineered WhatsApp's code to create a modified client and had repeatedly redesigned their software to avoid detection.[^27] WhatsApp accepted the remittitur on October 31, 2025. On November 12, 2025 the court entered a permanent injunction, which excluded the defendants' foreign sovereign customers and outside counsel from the parties it binds, and a final judgment of $4,447,190, consisting of $444,719 in compensatory and $4,002,471 in punitive damages.[^15][^28] On December 19, 2025 the court denied the defendants' motion to stay the injunction pending appeal.[^29]
### Alumni in SEC filings
Executive biographies in SEC filings also name the unit. The annual report on Form 20-F filed by [[Check Point Software Technologies]] on March 17, 2025 describes its chief executive, [[Nadav Zafrir]], as having "served as Commander of Unit 8200, Israel's elite military technology unit, where he established the Israel Defense Forces Cyber Command." The report also lists him as a director of [[SolarEdge Technologies]].[^16]
The annual report on Form 20-F for 2022 of [[HUB Cyber Security]] states that the company "was founded in 2017 by veterans of the elite Unit 8200 and Unit 81 of the Israeli Defense Forces."[^17] The 2024 proxy statement of [[Playtika Holding]] describes a vice president for customer relationship management and analytics as having served, before joining the company, "in the elite Israeli military unit 8200."[^18]
### Carbyne and the Epstein investments
Minutes of a meeting of the board of directors of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd. (later [[Carbyne]]) on December 23, 2015 list as directors present Amir Elichai, Alex Dizengof, [[Ehud Barak]] and "Pinchas Bouchris," with the company's lawyer. The minutes record a resolution to seek $10 million from venture funds and a further investment of $500,000 by Barak expected by February 1, 2016. The minutes were among the records released in the Department of Justice's Epstein Library.[^30] Pinhas Buchris, identified in Calcalist's July 2019 reporting as "the former director of Israel's Unit 8200," sat on Carbyne's board in 2017 with Barak, Elichai and [[Nicole Junkermann]].[^31] In a December 2022 interview with Calcalist, Buchris described himself as a former officer of [[Sayeret Matkal]], commander of Unit 81 and of Unit 8200, and director general of the [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]], said he had introduced the unit to cyber operations in 1997, and spoke of his part in the 1976 [[Operation Entebbe]] rescue.[^32]
[[Forbes]] reported in February 2026 that Barak served on the company's board until 2019 and that [[Jeffrey Epstein]] invested through Barak.[^19] Epstein's stake was held through SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership. In a February 28, 2019 email, the partnership's lawyer wrote that at the time of the initial investment it had received warrants for 61,251 Preferred A shares of Carbyne, and that exercising them would raise its holding from about 13 percent to about 26.33 percent. A later message in the chain told Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] that [[Southern Trust Company]] had signed the additional investment agreement.[^35] On March 11, 2019, Barak wrote to Epstein in a thread that carried the subject line "Re: Carbyne warrants" and included a message forwarded by Indyke.[^20]
### Gaza targeting reporting, 2024
On April 3, 2024, [[+972 Magazine]] and [[Local Call]] published a report by [[Yuval Abraham]] describing an AI-based system called [[Lavender (targeting system)]]. The report says six Israeli intelligence officers who served in the Gaza war described its use in generating human targets, and that four of them said it had marked some 37,000 Palestinians as suspected Hamas militants.[^21] The same report describes tracking software, called "Where's Daddy?" in the reporting, that alerted targeting officers when marked individuals entered their homes.[^21]
The report says that the commander of Unit 8200 wrote the 2021 book *The Human-Machine Team* under the pen name "Brigadier General Y.S.", and that five sources in the unit confirmed him as its author. It also cites a 2023 lecture at [[Tel Aviv University]] by a colonel the report calls "Col. Yoav," commander of the unit's Data Science and AI center, whose slides +972 obtained.[^21]
The IDF told +972 and Local Call that it did not use artificial intelligence to incriminate targets, describing its tools as "auxiliary tools that assist officers in the process of incrimination." The army said each target is examined individually.[^21]
### The commander's identity
On April 5, 2024, The Guardian reported that the commander of Unit 8200, [[Yossi Sariel]], was the secret author of *The Human Machine Team*. The Guardian wrote that an electronic version of the book published on Amazon included an anonymous email address that traced to Sariel's name and to a private Google account, which exposed his unique ID and linked maps and calendar profiles. The Guardian reported that Sariel wrote the book with the army's permission after a year as a visiting researcher at the National Defense University in Washington.[^22]
An IDF spokesperson told the Guardian that the email address was not Sariel's personal one, but "dedicated specifically for issues to do with the book itself." The army later described the exposure of Sariel's personal details as "a mistake."[^22]
On September 12, 2024, Sariel announced his resignation as commander. In his letter he wrote: "I did not fulfill the mission as I expected of myself, nor as my subordinates, superiors and the citizens of Israel expected of me." The army said he would be replaced "in the coming period."[^23]
### Minerva University admissions
A page on the admissions site of [[Minerva Project]] was headed "Partner: IDF 8200" in a capture of September 21, 2020. The page states that "IDF unit 8200 alumni have the mature perspective and technological experience to both benefit from and contribute to Minerva's diverse undergraduate experience." It is published under the company's name and carries no statement attributed to [[Ben Nelson]].[^2]
A page on the admissions site of [[Minerva Project]] was headed "Partner: IDF 8200" in a capture of September 21, 2020. The page states that "IDF unit 8200 alumni have the mature perspective and technological experience to both benefit from and contribute to Minerva's diverse undergraduate experience." It is published under the company's name and carries no statement attributed to [[Ben Nelson]].[^24]
### Project 8200
A 2024 book by [[Frederick Atwater]] titled *Project 8200* presents remote-viewing transcripts concerning UAP bases. Records found do not establish whether [[Project 8200]] has any connection to this unit.[^25]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: Minerva Schools at KGI, "Partner: IDF 8200," page captured September 21, 2020. https://www.minerva.kgi.edu/partners/partner-idf-8200/
[^1]: Ynet, "Intelligence and Cyberwarfare: Israeli locations Hezbollah targeted for destruction," August 25, 2024. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/sy3etztic
[^2]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^3]: Wilson Center, "The Venona Project." The program began in 1943, decoded its first cable in 1946, and ran until the NSA shut it down in 1980; most of the cables date from 1943 to 1945. https://wilsoncenter.org/article/venona-project
[^4]: David E. Sanger, "Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran," *The New York Times*, June 1, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html
[^5]: David E. Sanger, *Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power* (2012), excerpt as reported by *The Register*, June 1, 2012. https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/01/stuxnet_joint_us_israeli_op/
[^6]: "Israeli reservists refuse to serve," *Al Jazeera*, September 13, 2014. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/9/13/israeli-reservists-refuse-to-serve
[^7]: "Snowden Reveal Makes Israeli Spies' Protest An American Issue," *WGBH*, September 22, 2014. https://www.wgbh.org/news/2014-09-22/snowden-reveal-makes-israeli-spies-protest-an-american-issue
[^8]: Yoav Zitun, "IDF dismisses several intel reservists over refusenik letter," *Ynetnews*, January 26, 2015. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/4619538
[^9]: Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill, "Secret Deal Allows NSA to Share Americans' Data With Israel," *The Guardian*, September 11, 2013 (reprinted by AlterNet). https://www.alternet.org/2013/09/secret-deal-allows-nsa-share-americans-data-israel
[^10]: "NSA and Israeli intelligence: memorandum of understanding, full document," *The Guardian*, September 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/11/nsa-israel-intelligence-memorandum-understanding-document
[^11]: "Where NSO Group Came From and Why It's Just the Tip of the Iceberg," *OCCRP*, The Pegasus Project (article in the OCCRP series). https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-pegasus-project/where-nso-group-came-from-and-why-its-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
[^12]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order granting in part and denying in part motion to set aside default judgment (Dkt. 41, March 25, 2020), at 1-2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-0.pdf
[^13]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order on motions to dismiss (Dkt. 111, July 16, 2020), pp. 1-2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-5.pdf
[^14]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order re motions for summary judgment and sanctions (Dkt. 494, December 20, 2024), at 16. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-24.pdf
[^15]: *WhatsApp LLC v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Final Judgment (Dkt. 810, November 12, 2025), p. 2, reciting the May 6, 2025 verdict (Dkt. 736) and the October 17, 2025 remittitur. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-44.pdf
[^16]: Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., annual report on Form 20-F, filed March 17, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1015922/000117891325000867/zk2532836.htm
[^17]: HUB Cyber Security Ltd., annual report on Form 20-F for 2022, filed August 15, 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1905660/000121390023067760/f20f2022_hubcyber.htm
[^18]: Playtika Holding Corp., definitive proxy statement, filed April 26, 2024. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1828016/000182801624000011/playtika-20240425.htm
[^19]: Thomas Brewster, "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak," *Forbes*, February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02632339, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 11, 2019, with a forwarded message from Darren Indyke. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf
[^21]: Yuval Abraham, "'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing spree in Gaza," *+972 Magazine* and *Local Call*, April 3, 2024. https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
[^22]: "Exclusive: Yossi Sariel unmasked as head of Unit 8200 and architect of AI strategy after book written under pen name reveals his Google account," *The Guardian*, April 5, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/top-israeli-spy-chief-exposes-his-true-identity-in-online-security-lapse
[^23]: "Head of critical IDF intel unit resigns over Oct. 7 failure," *JNS*, September 12, 2024. https://www.jns.org/israel-news/head-of-critical-idf-intel-unit-resigns-over-oct-7-failure
[^24]: Minerva Schools at KGI, "Partner: IDF 8200," page captured September 21, 2020. https://www.minerva.kgi.edu/partners/partner-idf-8200/ (Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/20200921120000id_/https://www.minerva.kgi.edu/partners/partner-idf-8200/)
[^25]: Frederick Atwater, *Project 8200: UFO/UAP Bases and Activities: The Original Remote Viewing Transcripts* (2024), ISBN-10 3911151047.
[^26]: Ronen Bergman, "Weaving a cyber web," *Ynetnews*, January 11, 2019. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5444998,00.html
[^27]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order re motion for permanent injunction, motion for remittitur or new trial, and motion to seal (Dkt. 802, October 17, 2025), pp. 1-2 and conclusion. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-40.pdf
[^28]: *WhatsApp LLC v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order granting plaintiffs' motion for permanent injunction (Dkt. 809, November 12, 2025), p. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-43.pdf
[^29]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order denying motion to stay permanent injunction (Dkt. 824, December 19, 2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-46.pdf
[^30]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01074544, DataSet 9, minutes of the meeting of the board of directors of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd., December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01074544.pdf
[^31]: "The Ties That Bind: Ehud Barak's Business Network," *CTech (Calcalist)*, July 18, 2019. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3766639,00.html
[^32]: "A Buchris story: The rise, fall, and comeback of an Israeli hero," *CTech (Calcalist)*, December 16, 2022. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/lwigv8m1o
[^33]: Nicole Perlroth and Scott Shane, "How Israel Caught Russian Hackers Scouring the World for U.S. Secrets," *The New York Times*, October 10, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/technology/kaspersky-lab-israel-russia-hacking.html
[^34]: Seymour M. Hersh, *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy* (Random House, 1991), ch. 21.
[^35]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants," February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/Agency for International Development.md
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@ -1,32 +1,220 @@
---
created: 2026-06-13
updated: 2026-06-13
updated: 2026-10-12
title: Agency for International Development
aliases:
- USAID
- AID
- U.S. Agency for International Development
- US Agency for International Development
- Agency for International Development
tags:
- Organization
- USGovernment
- ColdWar
- LatinAmerica
- SoutheastAsia
- PoliceTraining
- OfficeOfPublicSafety
- ZunZuneo
- Vietnam
- Laos
- Uruguay
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "The U.S. Agency for International Development is the federal foreign-aid agency established in 1961 whose Office of Public Safety provided police training in Latin America and Southeast Asia that served as cover for CIA operations and counterinsurgency interrogation programs."
summary: "The U.S. Agency for International Development, created in 1961, ran police training abroad through its Office of Public Safety from 1962 until Congress barred such aid in 1974."
start: 1961
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
reverse: true
start: 1961-09-04
role: "signed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that created the agency"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Byron Engle]]"
reverse: true
role: "Director, Office of Public Safety"
start: 1970
fn: 15
- type: head_of
with: "[[Lauren Goin]]"
reverse: true
role: "Director, AID Office of Public Safety"
start: 1975-01
fn: 21
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Dan Mitrione]]"
reverse: true
role: "public safety adviser; chief public safety adviser in Montevideo"
fn: 15
- type: funded
with: "[[International Police Academy]]"
role: "police academy in Washington, D.C. administered under AID"
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[AIFLD]]"
start: 1962
role: "AID supplied most of the budget of the AFL-CIO's Latin American institute"
fn: 23
- type: investigated
with: "[[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]"
reverse: true
start: 1969
role: "hearing on AIFLD's Latin American programs"
fn: 22
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Air America]]"
reverse: true
start: 1970
role: "air transport contracts with AID in Laos, funded in part by the CIA"
fn: 25
- type: funded
with: "[[ZunZuneo]]"
start: 2009
end: 2012-09
role: "Cuba text-messaging network, carried through contractors"
fn: 39
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Creative Associates International]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009
role: "contractor that obtained Cuban cellphone numbers for the ZunZuneo project"
fn: 39
---
The Agency for International Development (USAID) is the [[United States]] government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance, created in 1961 under the Foreign Assistance Act signed by President [[John F. Kennedy]]. Conceived as an instrument of [[Cold War]] development policy, it operated alongside and at times as cover for U.S. intelligence and counterinsurgency activity.[^1]
### Office of Public Safety
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the [[United States]] government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. It was created in 1961 under the [[Foreign Assistance Act of 1961]], approved September 4, 1961, which was signed by President [[John F. Kennedy]].[^1] Conceived as an instrument of [[Cold War]] development policy, it operated alongside and at times as cover for [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and counterinsurgency activity.[^2] Similar use of academic and development institutions appears in [[Project Camelot]].
From 1962 to 1974 USAID housed the Office of Public Safety (OPS), which trained foreign police forces in more than fifty countries. OPS ran the International Police Academy in [[Washington, D.C.]] and, in [[Latin America]] and Southeast Asia, provided equipment and instruction that extended to interrogation methods. The OPS adviser [[Dan Mitrione]], stationed in [[Uruguay]], became notorious for allegations that he taught torture techniques before his 1970 kidnapping and killing by the Tupamaros. Congress abolished OPS in 1974 after these abuses drew scrutiny.[^2]
### Police Programs Before the Office
### Intelligence Cover
Police assistance predated the Office of Public Safety. A memorandum from Acting Secretary of State [[Chester Bowles]] to President Kennedy in September 1961 describes police training to be administered by the [[International Cooperation Administration]] through its Public Safety program in [[Panama]], [[El Salvador]], [[Honduras]], and [[Guatemala]], with $726,000 obligated in fiscal 1961.[^3] In October 1961 the President's military representative, [[Maxwell Taylor]], reported that "AID is currently considering a proposal to establish a U.S. police academy, preferably in a Caribbean location such as the [[Panama Canal Zone|Canal Zone]]."[^4] In February 1962 Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] informed the President that AID was reviewing its Public Safety program for Latin America.[^5]
USAID missions repeatedly provided official cover for [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officers, and OPS police-training programs gave the agency access to foreign internal-security services. The pattern paralleled the use of academic and development institutions documented in programs such as [[Project Camelot]].[^1][^2]
National Security Action Memorandum 124 of January 18, 1962 created the [[NSC Special Group|Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)]], with the AID administrator among its members. The annex assigned [[Laos]], South [[Vietnam]] and [[Thailand]] to its cognizance.[^6]
An interagency committee chaired at the State Department by [[U. Alexis Johnson]] reported to the President on July 20, 1962. It described police assistance as "a very important but neglected part of our intensified effort to help emerging nations counter subversion and insurgency." It recommended that AID be charged with "operating and funding responsibility for all such programs, except for their covert aspects," that AID set up a senior professional office to manage police work, and that the government establish an international police academy under its own management. National Security Action Memorandum 177 of August 7, 1962 approved the recommendations.[^7]
### Office of Public Safety, 1962 to 1974
On March 14, 1963 the chairman of the Special Group, Johnson, told the President that the worldwide police program had risen from about $14 million in fiscal 1962 to about $30 million in fiscal 1963. He reported that AID had "centralized the administration of the program in a new Office of Public Safety located within AID," with police advisory missions in thirty countries and eight more planned.[^8] The office, usually called OPS, ran police advisers, equipment and training for foreign forces until the Foreign Assistance Acts of 1973 and 1974 ended the funding.
The program's footprint in [[Latin America]] grew through the 1960s. A June 1965 memorandum from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs recommended that the department "continue to push for an expanded Public Safety program to enable the police to deal more effectively with insurgency problems."[^9] A July 1967 review of seven countries with active or potential insurgencies directed that an expanded program for [[Ecuador]]'s rural police be worked out with AID/Public Safety.[^10] In October 1969 the American ambassador in [[Dominican Republic|Santo Domingo]] proposed that responsibility for the Dominican National Police's Department of Special Operations pass to AID's public safety program effective June 30, 1970.[^11] In August 1970 a memorandum to President Nixon reported that "a modest public safety program is being reinstituted in FY 1971 with a proposed budget of $118,000" in [[Bolivia]].[^12]
The public safety program itself began in 1954, with Indonesia the first recipient, and by the end of 1955 it included [[Iran]], South Korea and Cambodia. The Comptroller General reported in 1976 that the Office of Public Safety was set up in AID in 1962 and that the International Police Academy was established the following year. Over the life of the program 52 countries received technical assistance, and more than 10,700 police officers were trained in the United States, 5,204 of them graduates of the academy. The program peaked in fiscal 1968, when 34 countries received about $60 million and the office had about 590 employees; by the end of fiscal 1973 its staff had fallen to 240.[^13]
Senator [[Alan Cranston]] told the Senate in March 1992 that the program had been channelled mostly through the AID Office of Public Safety, and that by 1968 the government was spending $60 million annually to train police in 34 countries. He wrote that reports of torture and murder by U.S.-trained and U.S.-equipped police in Iran, Vietnam, [[Brazil]] and other countries had spurred the 1974 ban.[^14]
### Dan Mitrione in Uruguay
[[Dan Mitrione]] served as the office's chief public safety adviser in [[Montevideo]], [[Uruguay]], where the public safety program had begun in 1964.[^13] On August 11, 1970 Representative [[Gerald R. Ford]] told the House that the death Monday of an American citizen in Montevideo "at the hands of Communist terrorists" was "a senseless, savage, cowardly act." He commended [[Byron Engle]], the director of the Office of Public Safety in AID, for "the leading role he played in this effort" to secure Mitrione's release.[^15] The [[Tupamaro]] urban guerrillas kidnapped Mitrione in 1970 and demanded the release of 150 imprisoned Tupamaros; the government of President [[Jorge Pacheco Areco]] stated that it could not release them, and Mitrione's body was found on Monday, August 10, 1970.[^16]
[[A. J. Langguth]] wrote in Hidden Terrors (1978) that the Montevideo police were torturing prisoners with a rudimentary electric needle from Argentina when Mitrione arrived, that Mitrione arranged newer needles of varying thickness which a Uruguayan police officer understood to have come in through the embassy's diplomatic pouch, and that Mitrione conveyed instructions on the interrogation of Tupamaro suspects through senior Uruguayan officers. Langguth reported that Mitrione advised interrogators to learn a suspect's breaking point and reach it quickly, and that a police officer recalled Mitrione entering a room where a suspect was being given electric shocks. He also wrote that the police commissioner [[Alejandro Otero]] was told by a detainee that Mitrione had watched and assisted at an interrogation, which led Otero to complain to Mitrione.[^16]
[[Manuel Hevia Cosculluela]], a Cuban who had worked alongside Mitrione in Montevideo and who afterward appeared in Havana, gave a separate account in Pasaporte 11333: Ocho años con la CIA (Havana, 1978). Hevia wrote that Mitrione took part in a course for Uruguayan police in which beggars from the outskirts of Montevideo, and a woman, were used for a demonstration of electric shock at different voltages and of drugs, and that "the four of them died." Hevia attributed to Mitrione the maxim "the precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect." In a statement reported in The New York Times of August 5, 1978, Hevia said that Mitrione had personally tortured four beggars to death with electric shocks.[^17] The Comptroller General reported in 1976 that congressional criticism of the public safety program in 1973 centered on charges that its advisers had "approved, advocated, or taught torture techniques to civil police in some countries."[^13]
Cranston's 1992 statement named Iran, Vietnam and Brazil among the countries where such reports arose.[^14]
### Congress Restricts Police Training, 1973 to 1975
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations wrote on August 2, 1973 (Senate Report 93-377) that "United States participation in the highly sensitive area of public safety and police training unavoidably invites criticism from persons who seek to identify the United States with every act of local police brutality or oppression in any country in which this program operates. It matters little whether the charges can be substantiated."[^13] The Foreign Assistance Act of 1973, enacted December 17, 1973, added section 112 to the 1961 act, which prohibited the use of funds made available under the act for police training or related programs in a foreign country; training of foreign police in the United States was not prohibited.[^13] On January 3, 1974 AID notified its missions that all public safety projects were to be phased out by August 17, 1974. At that time there were active programs in 17 countries and 95 advisers overseas. The scheduled phaseout dates included Bolivia and Panama in May, Colombia and Guatemala in June, Ecuador in July, and Laos, Thailand and Uruguay in August 1974.[^13]
In August 1973 the CIA's legislative summary quoted Senate Report 93-189, which explained the Senate bill's police-training prohibition: "The prohibition is meant to cover all advisory or training programs involving all phases of law enforcement, including prison administration." The same report stated that "We have troubles enough with police / community relations in our own society."[^18] The summary recorded that the House had rejected a floor amendment by Representative [[Michael Harrington]] that would have extended the prohibition to other acts.[^18]
Section 30 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, approved December 30, 1974, added section 660 to the 1961 act. From July 1, 1975 no funds made available under the act could "be used to provide training or advice, or provide any financial support, for police, prisons, or other law enforcement forces for any foreign government," with exemptions for certain drug enforcement authorities of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[^19] Cranston later said that "I and others in Congress prevailed and we banned foreign aid to police forces in 1974." He wrote that the ban remained virtually ironclad until 1985, and that a dozen exemptions had been granted in the meantime.[^14]
### International Police Academy
The Inter-American Police Academy in Panama trained 121 Latin American police officers by March 1963, and 272 trainees from other parts of the world received instruction in the United States during the period covered by the same memorandum.[^8] The International Police Academy in [[Washington, D.C.]] was the second training facility the office used.
AID closed the academy on February 28, 1975, and on March 1, 1975 the Customs Service took over the facilities.[^13] In January 1975 the columnist [[Jack Anderson]] reported that the academy had trained more than 5,000 foreign police over eleven years, drawn from 77 governments, and that it operated from an old street-car garage known as the "Car Barn." He reported that Senator [[James Abourezk]] had charged that the academy was a "CIA-controlled police training school under AID cover in Washington, D.C." Anderson wrote that some academy students had written theses "on the use of torture as one technique of interrogation of prisoners." He reported that the investigative reporters [[John Marks]] and [[Taylor Branch]] would report that the CIA had run a commercial cover, International Police Services, Inc., from a Washington brownstone from 1952 until a few months before the column.[^20] An academy spokesman, quoted by Anderson, insisted that "the CIA has never controlled the International Police Academy." The CIA told Anderson that all agency support for the academy had been terminated.[^20]
Anderson also quoted a letter from CIA Director [[William E. Colby]], dated August 1974, describing how "relationships" built with policemen through these programs had been useful in "obtaining foreign intelligence."[^20] A CIA routing sheet dated January 16, 1975 forwarded, for information, the reply that the AID Office of Public Safety, under its director [[Lauren Goin]], had sent to Anderson's inquiry about the CIA's relationship with the academy.[^21]
### Labor Institutes and AFL-CIO Programs
The American Institute for Free Labor Development ([[AIFLD]]), the [[AFL-CIO]]'s Latin American institute, was financed largely by AID. The opening statement at a [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] hearing in 1969 recorded that AIFLD had "received a little over $28 million in foreign aid funds for its operations in Latin America" since 1962.[^22] [[George Meany]], president of the AFL-CIO, testified in the same hearing.[^22]
[[William Greider]] of the [[Washington Post]] reported on April 21, 1969 that AID had supplied $16 million of the roughly $18 million AIFLD received from 1962 through 1967, which he put at 87 per cent of the money from the government. He reported that AID's deputy administrator, [[Rutherford Poats]], described the arrangement as "we are financing a union-to-union relationship."[^23] Greider's article was reprinted in the hearing record.[^22]
### Laos
The Special Group's assignment of Laos under NSAM 124 placed the country under the same interagency counterinsurgency mechanism that included the AID administrator.[^6] The March 1963 progress report records that an internal defense plan had been prepared for every assigned country except Laos, where, "owing to the unique situation, an Internal Defense Plan is not considered to be useful at this time."[^8]
The United States Operations Mission (USOM) was established in Vientiane in January 1955 to administer economic assistance, and at the end of that year a Programs Evaluation Office, staffed by reserve or retired military officers and described by the CIA historian William M. Leary as akin to a Military Assistance Advisory Group, was set up within USOM to handle military aid. Civil Air Transport, the predecessor of [[Air America]], flew its first rice airdrops for USOM in September 1955.[^24] By 1971 the military assistance program was, in the words of a Senate staff report, "operated ostensibly under AID in Laos," and the AID Requirements Office administered it.[^25]
A January 17, 1964 memorandum from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research to the Special Group, reporting on a subcommittee review of support for foreign paramilitary forces, listed Laos as one of two countries then receiving covert U.S. support for paramilitary forces. It described a CIA program that had grown to about 19,000 armed Meo guerrillas (23,000 authorized), with further forces among the Yao, Kha and Lao, at a budget of $11,625,000 for fiscal 1963 and $14,008,000 for fiscal 1964. The memorandum stated that the covert air support, "conducted by an ostensibly private and commercial company, has been able to continue operations in Laos under USAID contractual arrangements and through the flexibility of CIA's cover and funding mechanisms."[^26]
On October 28, 1969 the Director of Central Intelligence appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on United States security agreements and commitments abroad, chaired by Senator [[Stuart Symington]]. A CIA record of the session lists as follow-up that Senator [[Mike Mansfield]] was promised a list of the directors of Air America.[^27] The subcommittee staff members [[James G. Lowenstein]] and [[Richard M. Moose]] visited Laos from April 22 to May 4, 1971, and their report, printed on August 3, 1971 with deletions made at the request of the State and Defense Departments and the CIA, stated that the AID program in fiscal 1971 was estimated at $52 million, that a partial total of estimated U.S. expenditure in Laos in that year was $284.2 million, and that "within Laos, the CIA trains and advises irregular forces, but until last week AID had provided these forces with rice in Military Regions I and II." It stated that the civilian air fleet in Laos, run by Air America, Continental Air Services and Lao Air Transport, operated "under contracts with AID, although funds are provided by AID, the Defense Department, CIA, and the State Department," with air transport contract costs in fiscal 1970 of $5 million for AID, a deleted amount for the CIA and $11.7 million for the AID Requirements Office. Half of AID's fixed-wing contract of $3.5 million was for refugee relief, and part of the CIA contract paid for flights carrying Americans to Long Tieng, Sam Thong and refugee sites.[^25]
On February 6, 1971 the New York Times reported that the General Accounting Office had concluded in two censored reports that much of the money allocated for assisting refugees in Laos had been used to finance paramilitary operations directed by the CIA, and that almost half the funds of AID's village health program were supporting military activities. The reports were released by Senator [[Edward M. Kennedy]], chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on refugees. According to the Times, the subcommittee staff said the reports provided official documentation of the extent to which refugee programs had been used "as a cover by the C.I.A. for financing its military activities." An AID spokesman acknowledged that some assistance went to guerrilla forces but said that a larger percentage went to dependents. Kennedy said about half the refugee funds had gone to guerrilla operations, and the subcommittee estimated that 45 per cent of the more than 280,000 persons receiving refugee assistance in 279 villages in July 1970 were guerrillas and their dependents. Refugee assistance in the last fiscal year was $17 million.[^28]
A CIA memorandum for the record of January 6, 1972 describes a General Accounting Office official showing the CIA the final drafts of two further reports, on medical support and refugee programs in Laos, prepared for Kennedy's subcommittee from a survey in Laos in August and September 1971. At Kennedy's request the General Accounting Office had not submitted them to AID, State or the CIA for review. The memorandum compiled the CIA references in the reports, noted that an "AID/CIA Working Fund Agreement" appeared as an appendix to the medical support report, and set out two options: to accept the references and their classifications, or to insist that references to the CIA be removed from the unclassified sections.[^29] On May 3, 1972 a CIA officer wrote that an AID witness was to testify before Kennedy's subcommittee on May 9, and that "in view of largely unfounded allegations about CIA use of AID funds and facilities, there would be some benefit to a balanced unclassified discussion of these arrangements in open session."[^30] The Laos public safety program was among those phased out in August 1974.[^13]
### Brazil, 1964
[[Lincoln Gordon]], the ambassador in Rio de Janeiro, was in Washington from March 13 to 22, 1964 for consultation and for the conference of U.S. ambassadors and AID mission directors to Latin America. According to a National Security Council staff memorandum of March 19, the AID director for Brazil, [[Jack B. Kubisch]], said at the conference that many people in Washington wanted the United States to stand off from Brazil until the Brazilians behaved, and that this ignored the many segments of Brazilian society that were with the United States.[^31] On March 28, 1964, three days before the coup against President [[Joao Goulart]], a State Department telegram to Gordon, cleared in substance at a White House meeting, stated that it was doubtful the United States could provide "plausible cover for naval operation," raised the attribution of unmarked arms to a U.S. covert operation, and asked: "Should we hold up approval or announcement of AID loans? Are other non-military measures desirable further to polarize situation to Goulart's disadvantage?"[^32]
Gordon replied on March 29 that he saw "no present point in foot-dragging on debt negotiations or hold action on AID loans, unless preceded by some clear indication of United States government concern with basic problem of Brazilian political regime," and that for "AID projects of direct interest to clearly democratic elements, such as Cemat, we believe approvals and announcements should continue." He wrote that suspending aid publicly, which "would be especially dramatic if wheat included," would be better done in response to more obvious political developments. The telegram was forwarded to the White House on March 30.[^33] On March 31 an interagency task force chaired by a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State met to consider economic assistance to Brazil on the assumption that a "democratically-inclined pro-Western group" came to power, and recommended that creditor nations join a voluntary three-month moratorium on Brazil's debt payments.[^34]
After the coup of April 1, 1964, Gordon wrote to Assistant Secretary of State [[Thomas C. Mann]] on August 10, 1964 about the strategy of economic assistance, setting out orders of magnitude for outside support in which AID and the Export-Import Bank accounted for $250 million of a total of $650 million to $700 million, with a complementary program loan from AID.[^35] On November 2, 1964 AID Administrator [[David E. Bell]] approved a proposal to provide Brazil with $100 million for project loans and $150 million for a program loan "on the most concessionary terms legally available," and the United States and Brazil signed the agreement on December 14, 1964.[^36] The loans went to the government of President [[Humberto Castelo Branco]].
### Vietnam: CORDS and the Phoenix Program
The Office of Civil Operations and Rural Support (CORDS) was organized on May 28, 1967 under the commander of the [[U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam]]. Its Public Safety Directorate developed policy for the U.S. public safety program and "advised and assisted the GVN National Police." A CORDS directorate negotiated resource levels with USAID and the Government of Vietnam.[^37] The Phung Hoang Directorate, which supported the Government of Vietnam's [[Phung Hoang Plan]] for intelligence coordination, had as its goal "the neutralization of the Viet Cong infrastructure." The National Archives states that the directorate was "known as the Phoenix program by the Americans assisting in the program."[^37] The Phoenix program is described on its own page, [[Phoenix Program]].
### Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office
Congress appropriated $27 million for humanitarian assistance to the [[Contras]] of [[Nicaragua]] in August 1985. On August 29, 1985 President Reagan created the [[NHAO|Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office]] in the State Department to administer the funds, and Ambassador [[Robert W. Duemling]] set up the office within the department.[^38] The Iran-Contra independent counsel's report states that [[Oliver North]] intruded in the office's operations in at least two ways: by insisting that [[Richard B. Gadd]] be the contractor for NHAO flights, and by persuading Duemling to add [[Robert W. Owen]] to the staff. Duemling's notes also reflect that North volunteered the services of [[Felix Rodriguez]] for the humanitarian resupply.[^38]
### ZunZuneo
In 2009 [[Creative Associates International]], a Washington-based firm, obtained a half-million Cuban cellphone numbers for a text-messaging network called ZunZuneo, slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet. The Associated Press reported on April 3, 2014 that USAID funded the project and that its contractors concealed the American connection through front companies in Spain and the Cayman Islands.[^39] A 2010 memorandum from [[Mobile Accord]], one of the project's creators, stated that "There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement." The network reached at least 40,000 subscribers over more than two years.[^39]
USAID told the Associated Press that ZunZuneo stopped in September 2012 when a government grant ended. The agency said its work was found to be "consistent with U.S. law." Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] said that the program's clandestine nature "was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility." The project was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in [[Cuba]] of [[Alan Gross]], a USAID subcontractor.[^39]
### Closure in 2025
Executive Order 14169 of January 20, 2025, "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid," ordered a 90-day pause in new obligations and disbursements of foreign development assistance, to be enforced by the Office of Management and Budget, pending reviews of each program.[^40] On March 28, 2025 the State Department sent Congress a notification of its intent to realign certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025 and to discontinue the remaining functions. Senators who wrote to Secretary of State [[Marco Rubio]] on April 8, 2025 described the notification as ending USAID's status as an independent establishment in the executive branch and abolishing multiple USAID bureaus and offices.[^41]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Records of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Record Group 286, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
[^2]: Langguth, A.J. *Hidden Terrors: The Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America*. Pantheon, 1978.
[^1]: Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, Public Law 87-195, approved September 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 424. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-75/pdf/STATUTE-75-Pg424.pdf
[^2]: Records of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Record Group 286, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/286.html
[^3]: Memorandum from Acting Secretary of State Bowles to President Kennedy, September 29, 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. XII, American Republics, document 85. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d85
[^4]: Memorandum from the President's Military Representative (Taylor) to President Kennedy, October 7, 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. XII, document 87. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d87
[^5]: Memorandum from Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy, February 20, 1962, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. XII, document 93. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d93
[^6]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 124, January 18, 1962, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. VIII, National Security Policy, document 68. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v08/d68
[^7]: Memorandum from the Interagency Committee on Police Assistance Programs to President Kennedy, July 20, 1962, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. VIII, document 99, citing National Security Action Memorandum 177 of August 7, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v08/d99
[^8]: Memorandum from the Chairman of the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency) (Johnson) to President Kennedy, March 14, 1963, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. VIII, document 128. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v08/d128
[^9]: Memorandum from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Sayre) to the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, June 12, 1965, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, South and Central America; Mexico, document 75. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d75
[^10]: Memorandum from the President's Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson, July 6, 1967, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 61. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d61
[^11]: Telegram 4140 from the Embassy in the Dominican Republic to the Department of State, October 21, 1969, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. E-10, Documents on American Republics, 1969-1972, document 272. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve10/d272
[^12]: Memorandum from Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Johnson to President Nixon, August 22, 1970, with interagency report "Insurgency in Bolivia: A Summary Statement," Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. E-10, document 90. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve10/d90
[^13]: U.S. General Accounting Office, Stopping U.S. Assistance to Foreign Police and Prisons, Report ID-76-5 to the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States, February 19, 1976, chapter 2 (quoting S. Rept. 93-377, August 2, 1973, p. 17, and describing section 112 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1973) and chapter 3 (evolution of the program, phaseout steps, International Police Academy). https://www.gao.gov/assets/id-76-5.pdf
[^14]: Senator Alan Cranston, Senate statement, Congressional Record, March 5, 1992, p. S2874. https://irp.fas.org/gao/920300-train.htm
[^15]: Gerald R. Ford, House floor statement, August 11, 1970, "House Speech Assassination of Dan Mitrione, August 11, 1970," Ford Congressional Papers, Press Secretary and Speech File, Box D30, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0054/4526305.pdf
[^16]: A. J. Langguth, Hidden Terrors: The Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America (New York: Pantheon, 1978), account of Mitrione's Montevideo posting (the Tupamaro demand for 150 prisoners, the discovery of the body on Monday, August 10, 1970, the electric needles, the interrogation of a labor official, and the Otero complaint).
[^17]: Manuel Hevia Cosculluela, Pasaporte 11333: Ocho años con la CIA (Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1978), pp. 284-287; Hevia's later statement reported in The New York Times, August 5, 1978, p. 3.
[^18]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Foreign Aid Legislation: Restrictions and Prohibitions on Foreign Police Training," August 17, 1973, quoting Senate Report 93-189, pages 33-34, and House Report 93-388, page 93. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp75b00380r000600170041-7
[^19]: Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, Public Law 93-559, section 30 (adding section 660, "Prohibiting Police Training"), approved December 30, 1974, 88 Stat. 1804. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-88/pdf/STATUTE-88-Pg1795.pdf
[^20]: Jack Anderson, column, The Washington Post, January 1975, reproduced in CIA reading room file CIA-RDP77M00144R000600140027-5. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp77m00144r000600140027-5
[^21]: Central Intelligence Agency routing and record sheet, January 16, 1975, forwarding the response of the Director, AID Office of Public Safety, Lauren Goin, to Jack Anderson's inquiry concerning the International Police Academy. CIA reading room, CIA-RDP77M00144R000600140027-5. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp77m00144r000600140027-5
[^22]: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, hearing on the American Institute for Free Labor Development, 91st Congress, 1st session, 1969, with statement of George Meany and reprinted press material. Serial CHRG-91shrg33948. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-91shrg33948/pdf/CHRG-91shrg33948.pdf
[^23]: William Greider, "Washington Post," April 21, 1969, reprinted in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing record cited in footnote 22. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-91shrg33948/pdf/CHRG-91shrg33948.pdf
[^24]: William M. Leary, "CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974: Supporting the 'Secret War'," Central Intelligence Agency, Studies in Intelligence (reproduced at https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/nat-sec/Vietnam/air-america.htm).
[^25]: Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Laos: April 1971, a staff report prepared for the Subcommittee on U.S. Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad (James G. Lowenstein and Richard M. Moose), 92d Congress, committee print, August 3, 1971, sections IV (air operations) and VII (the AID program). CIA reading room, CIA-RDP73B00296R000300080001-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp73b00296r000300080001-0
[^26]: Memorandum from the Deputy Director for Coordination, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Scott) to the Special Group, January 17, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXVIII, Laos, document 1. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v28/d1
[^27]: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Legislative Counsel, Memorandum for the Record, "DCI Briefing of Subcommittee on U.S. Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad of Senate Foreign Relations Committee - 28 October 1969," OLC 69-0905. CIA reading room, CIA-RDP72-00337R000100150001-1. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp72-00337r000100150001-1
[^28]: John W. Finney, "U.S. Refugee Aid in Laos Found to Help Guerrillas," The New York Times, Washington, February 6 [1971]. CIA reading room clipping, CIA-RDP73B00296R000200190001-9. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp73b00296r000200190001-9
[^29]: Central Intelligence Agency, Memorandum for the Record, "References to CIA in GAO Reports on Medical Support and Refugee Programs in Laos," January 6, 1972. CIA reading room, CIA-RDP74B00415R000300220041-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp74b00415r000300220041-6
[^30]: Central Intelligence Agency, speed letter, "Senate Hearing on Refugee Problems in Laos," May 3, 1972. CIA reading room, CIA-RDP74B00415R000300210033-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp74b00415r000300210033-6
[^31]: Memorandum from Gordon Chase of the National Security Council Staff to the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy), March 19, 1964, with editorial note on the Chiefs of Mission Conference, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, South and Central America; Mexico, document 185; Telegram from the Embassy in Brazil to the Department of State, March 18, 1964, document 184 (editorial note on Gordon's presence in Washington, March 13-22). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d185
[^32]: Telegram from the Department of State to the Ambassador to Brazil (Gordon), March 28, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 190. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d190
[^33]: Telegram from the Ambassador to Brazil (Gordon) to the Department of State, March 29, 1964 (forwarded to the White House March 30), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 191. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d191
[^34]: Editorial note, March 31, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 196. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d196
[^35]: Letter from the Ambassador to Brazil (Gordon) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mann), August 10, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 215. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d215
[^36]: Memorandum from Robert M. Sayre of the National Security Council Staff to the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy), September 30, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, document 216, editorial note on the November 2, 1964 approval by AID Administrator Bell and the December 14 signing. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d216
[^37]: National Archives and Records Administration, "The Office of Civil Operations and Rural Support (CORDS)," Military Records, Vietnam War. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/civil-operations.html
[^38]: Lawrence E. Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, chapter 25, citing the August 29, 1985 creation of NHAO and the Duemling notes of October 1, 1985. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^39]: Alberto Arce and Desmond Butler, "US secretly built 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest," Associated Press, April 3, 2014. Copy at Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/2014id_/https://www.ajc.com/ap/secretly-built-cuban-twitter-stir-unrest/mukdN97BXrDNcPoxJrS7IM/
[^40]: Executive Order 14169, "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid," January 20, 2025, 90 FR 8619, section 3(a). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/30/2025-02091/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid
[^41]: Letter from Senators Chris Van Hollen, Jeanne Shaheen and others to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, April 8, 2025, describing the State Department's Congressional Notification of March 28, 2025. https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/sfrc_state_reorg_letter.pdf ; United Press International, "State Department formally notifies Congress of dissolving USAID," March 28, 2025, quoting the Department's statement that it would be "realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025." https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/03/28/State-Departmet-dissolving-USAID/8391743188530/

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---
created: 2026-06-13
updated: 2026-06-13
updated: 2026-10-12
title: Joint Chiefs of Staff
aliases:
- JCS
- Joint Chiefs
- Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)
tags:
- Organization
- USGovernment
- Military
- ColdWar
- JointChiefs
- OperationNorthwoods
- OperationMongoose
- BrotherSam
- GulfOfTonkin
- MoorerRadford
- IranContra
- CovertAction
- Counterinsurgency
- UAP
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "The Joint Chiefs of Staff are the senior uniformed leaders of the U.S. armed forces who advise the president and secretary of defense, a body whose Cold War proposals included the 1962 Operation Northwoods plan for staged provocations against Cuba."
summary: "Senior uniformed advisers to the president and defense secretary, whose 1961-62 Northwoods papers proposed staged incidents to justify war with Cuba and whose members appear in the Moorer-Radford and Iran-Contra records."
start: 1942
location: "Arlington, Virginia"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Lyman Lemnitzer]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1960-10-01
end: 1962-10-01
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Maxwell Taylor]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1962-10-01
end: 1964-07-01
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Earle G. Wheeler]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1964-07-03
end: 1970-07-02
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Thomas H. Moorer]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1970-07-02
end: 1974-06-30
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Arthur W. Radford]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1953-08-15
end: 1957-08-15
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[John W. Vessey, Jr.]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1982
end: 1985-09-30
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[William J. Crowe, Jr.]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
start: 1985-10-01
fn: 5
- type: member_of
with: "[[Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)]]"
role: "Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, named member under NSAM 124"
start: 1962-01-18
fn: 10
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation NORTHWOODS]]"
role: "submitted JCS 1969/321 pretext memorandum to Secretary of Defense McNamara"
start: 1962-03-13
fn: 16
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Mongoose]]"
role: "Joint Staff pretext list, and JCS answer of April 10, 1962 that a Cuba invasion was needed"
start: 1961-11
end: 1962-04-10
fn: 15
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Brother Sam]]"
role: "JCS assigned the code name and issued the implementing instructions"
start: 1964-03-31
fn: 22
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Gulf of Tonkin Incident]]"
role: "JCS orders for the DeSoto patrol and attendance at the August 4, 1964 Pentagon meeting"
start: 1964-08-02
end: 1964-08-04
fn: 24
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Moorer-Radford Affair]]"
role: "JCS liaison office at the National Security Council received documents taken from briefcases"
start: 1970-09
end: 1971-12
fn: 26
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
role: "chairmen and senior officers in 1985 Iran and hostage-rescue discussions"
start: 1985-03
end: 1985-11
fn: 37
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Project Azorian]]"
role: "Chairman Moorer's August 28, 1972 memorandum to the 40 Committee stated he could not support the mission"
start: 1972-08-28
fn: 36
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Paperclip]]"
role: "Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency, a subcommittee agency of its Joint Intelligence Committee, operated the program; the 1946 policy statement was based on JCS recommendations"
start: 1945
end: 1962-10-15
fn: 6
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Grill Flame]]"
role: "Joint Staff Special Operations Division evaluated the unit's Iran hostage reports"
start: 1979-11-23
end: 1981-01-13
fn: 51
---
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) are the body of senior uniformed leaders of the [[United States]] armed forces who serve as the principal military advisers to the president, the [[National Security Council]], and the secretary of defense. Formed during [[World War II]] and given statutory basis by the [[National Security Act of 1947]], the JCS comprise a chairman, a vice chairman, and the chiefs of the military services.[^1]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) are the senior uniformed leaders of the [[United States]] armed forces who advise the president, the [[National Security Council]], and the secretary of defense. The JCS took shape during [[World War II]] and were given a statutory basis by the [[National Security Act of 1947]], which named the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force as its members. A chairman was added in 1949 and a vice chairman in 1986.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Statutory basis
Section 211 of the 1947 act established the Joint Chiefs of Staff within the National Military Establishment, composed of the Army chief of staff, the chief of naval operations, the Air Force chief of staff, and the chief of staff to the commander in chief if there was one. Its duties included preparing strategic plans, providing strategic direction of the armed forces, and establishing unified commands, and the Joint Chiefs "shall act as the principal military advisers to the President and the Secretary of Defense."[^1] The chairmanship was created by the National Security Act Amendments of 1949, and [[Omar N. Bradley]] was sworn in as the first chairman on August 16, 1949.[^2] The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 created the vice chairman position, and [[Robert T. Herres]] took office as the first vice chairman on February 6, 1987.[^3]
### Chairmen
The Joint History Office of the chairman's office records that [[Arthur W. Radford]] succeeded Bradley in August 1953, that [[Nathan F. Twining]] succeeded Radford in August 1957, and that [[Lyman Lemnitzer]] became chairman on October 1, 1960. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] chose Lemnitzer, in the president's judgment less parochial than his two predecessors.[^5] After the failure of the [[Bay of Pigs invasion]], Lemnitzer's standing at the White House "dropped sharply," and [[John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] recalled [[Maxwell Taylor]] to serve as military representative of the president. Kennedy appointed Taylor chairman on October 1, 1962.[^5] [[Earle G. Wheeler]] became chairman on July 3, 1964, and [[Thomas H. Moorer]] on July 2, 1970. The history says Moorer sometimes acted on behalf of the Joint Chiefs, informing the service chiefs only afterward, if at all.[^5] [[John W. Vessey, Jr.]] followed in 1982 and retired on September 30, 1985. [[William J. Crowe, Jr.]] became chairman on October 1, 1985.[^5]
### Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency and Operation Paperclip
The [[Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency]] (JIOA) was established in 1945 as a subcommittee of the Joint Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a committee composed of the Army's director of intelligence, the chief of naval intelligence, the assistant chief of Air Staff-2 and a representative of the [[Department of State]]. The JIOA was given direct responsibility for operating the foreign scientist program, code-named Overcast and then [[Operation Paperclip|Paperclip]]. Its duties included administering the program's policies and procedures, compiling dossiers, and liaison with British intelligence officers operating a similar project, and it took over many of the activities of the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee when that body ended.[^6]
On August 30, 1946 Acting Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] sent [[Harry S. Truman|President Truman]] a memorandum, "Interim Exploitation of German and Austrian Specialists in the United States," presenting a statement of policy to expand Paperclip to between 800 and 1,000 specialists, with the War Department responsible "for excluding from the program persons with Nazi or militaristic records." The memorandum stated: "This statement is based on recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and has been approved by the State, War and Navy Departments." Truman's notation reads "approved 9/3/46."[^7] Appendix B of the policy paper, SWNCC 257/22, provided that the specialists selected by the War and Navy Departments and those nominated by the Commerce Department would be consolidated, coordinated with the British, and "certified by a designated agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" (identified in the text as the JIOA) as the list of German and Austrian specialists in science and technology, and that the War Department would supply biographical and professional data on specialists arriving in the United States to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], the JIOA and the technical services.[^8]
The JIOA's foreign scientist case files, 1945 to 1958, comprise personnel dossiers on more than 1,500 German and other foreign scientists, technicians and engineers brought to the United States under Paperclip and similar programs, among them the dossiers of Georg Rickhey, Walter Schreiber and [[Arthur Rudolph]]; the dossier of [[Wernher von Braun]] was never transferred to the National Archives. The JIOA was disbanded in 1962, and its records passed from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Office of the Secretary of Defense on October 15, 1962.[^6][^9]
### Special Activities and the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)
On January 18, 1962, National Security Action Memorandum 124 established the [[Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)]] under the military representative of the president as chairman. Its members included the attorney general, the deputy under secretary of state for political affairs, the deputy secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of central intelligence, the special assistant to the president for national security affairs, and the administrator of the Agency for International Development.[^10] The Joint Staff's counterinsurgency office, the Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities, is described in the JCS history as recently created in 1962. [[Victor H. Krulak]], a Marine major general, held that post and attended the September 1962 conference in the Panama Canal Zone with [[Robert S. McNamara]] and Lemnitzer.[^11]
### Operation Northwoods
In March 1962 the Joint Chiefs, under Chairman [[Lyman Lemnitzer]], approved and forwarded to Secretary of Defense [[Robert S. McNamara]] a plan code-named Operation Northwoods, which proposed manufacturing pretexts for war with [[Cuba]], including staged terrorist attacks on American soil and the faked shoot-down of civilian aircraft to be blamed on the [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] government. The civilian leadership rejected the plan, and it remained classified until its release in 1997 through the [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] [[Assassination Records Review Board]].[^2]
The [[Operation NORTHWOODS|Northwoods]] papers had an earlier origin. On April 26, 1961, a Joint Chiefs memorandum to Secretary of Defense McNamara, JCSM-278-61, reviewed the Bay of Pigs invasion and recommended a military plan to overthrow the [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] government in [[Cuba]]. The memorandum cited Operation Plan 312-61 as one "which has previously been reviewed and approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff," and said: "One action that is recommended is the creation of an incident which will provide justification for the overthrow of the Castro government by the United States."[^12] The memorandum was signed for the Joint Chiefs by Earle G. Wheeler, who signed above the typed signature of [[Arleigh Burke]], the chief of naval operations.[^12]
### Counterinsurgency Oversight
On March 6, 1962, [[Edward Lansdale]], chief of operations of [[Operation Mongoose]] and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, wrote to the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, [[Richard Goodwin]], that he was asking the Defense representative, [[William H. Craig|General Craig]], "to give me a brief but precise description of pretexts which the JCS believes desirable if a decision is ultimately made to use direct military intervention."[^13] Brigadier General William H. Craig, U.S. Army, was the Defense Department's project officer for Operation Mongoose until June 1962 and the Joint Chiefs' representative on Lansdale's interagency group; a member of the Joint Staff's Plans and Policy Division (J-5), he transmitted that group's requests to the Joint Staff and, when more help was needed, passed tasks to staff elements not cleared for Mongoose without stating their origin or purpose. In July 1962 he was succeeded by Brigadier General Benjamin Harris, who worked in the recently created office of the Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities.[^14] The JCS history records that the Joint Staff then drew up a list of manufactured incidents: attacks, riots and sabotage at Guantanamo, a blown-up unmanned ship near Havana or Santiago de Cuba, faked assassination attempts and terrorist bombings in Florida and Washington, the sinking of a boatload of Cuban refugees, a staged filibuster against a Caribbean state, the downing of a civilian airliner that was in fact a drone, and the apparent shootdown of a U.S. Air Force fighter. According to the history, none of these incidents was supposed to involve actual killing.[^15]
Through the Cold War the JCS sat at the center of covert-action oversight, providing military representation on the interagency bodies that supervised counterinsurgency policy and reviewed [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] paramilitary operations.[^1]
Lemnitzer signed the response, dated March 13, 1962, a memorandum entitled "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba (TS)." The Joint Chiefs recommended that the proposed memorandum "be forwarded as a preliminary submission suitable for planning purposes," and that responsibility "for both overt and covert military operations be assigned the Joint Chiefs of Staff."[^16] The Joint Secretariat's cover note of March 12, 1962, numbered JCS 1969/321, records that the Joint Chiefs approved the recommendations that month.[^17] The March 5 request from the Chief of Operations, Cuba Project, for pretexts was followed on March 8 by a memorandum from the chief of naval operations, "Instances to Provoke Military Actions in Cuba (TS)," which the Joint Chiefs' submission cites in its discussion of a course of action the Navy had proposed for generated instances in the Guantanamo area.[^18]
The enclosure states that its courses of action are "arranged neither chronologically nor in ascending order." They include a series of incidents in and around Guantanamo meant to give "genuine appearance of being done by hostile Cuban forces": rumors on clandestine radio, Cuban exiles in uniform staging an attack over the fence, mortar shells lobbed into the base, and mock funerals for victims of a staged attack.[^19] A "Remember the Maine" incident was proposed in several forms, among them the destruction of a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay or of an unmanned vessel near Havana or Santiago, and a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington. The annex also proposed that a duplicate, prepared at Eglin Air Force Base, of an aircraft registered to a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] proprietary company in Miami would carry passengers under aliases on a chartered flight whose route would cross Cuba, while the real aircraft flew on as a drone that broadcast a "MAY DAY" report of attack by Cuban MiGs before it was destroyed.[^19]
James Bamford wrote that McNamara rejected the proposals and that Kennedy, meeting with Lemnitzer soon after the document reached him, left no doubt about his reaction. The paper remained classified until its release in 1997 under the [[Assassination Records Review Board]].[^20] In July 1962 Kennedy declined to reappoint Lemnitzer, who was assigned to command NATO forces in Europe.[^5]
On April 5, 1962, the Special Group concluded that Mongoose should re-examine its "basic philosophy with particular reference to the possibility of finding a pretext for early... intervention." Maxwell Taylor put two questions to the service chiefs, whether the United States should invade Cuba and whether it had the capacity to do so. The JCS history records that the Joint Chiefs answered yes to both five days later.[^15] On April 12, [[John McCone]] recorded in his notes of the April 11 Special Group (Augmented) meeting that a JCS paper on pretext or provocative actions had been discussed and added: "We should have and review this paper as it is considered to be a very thoughtful and useful document."[^21]
### Operation Brother Sam and the Gulf of Tonkin
On March 31, 1964, the Joint Chiefs assigned the code name "[[Operation Brother Sam|Brother Sam]]" to the planned support of anti-Goulart forces in Brazil, under instructions implementing decisions in a State Department telegram to the embassy at Rio de Janeiro. The code name appears in telegram 5591 from the JCS to the Atlantic Command the same day.[^22]
On July 27, 1964, the Joint Chiefs sent McNamara a memorandum on actions relevant to South Vietnam. Only three options met its criteria, one of which was "selected air missions using non-US unmarked aircraft against prime military targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam."[^23] On August 2, 1964, Chairman Wheeler sent Admiral [[Ulysses S. Grant Sharp|Sharp]], commander in chief of the Pacific, telegram JCS 7680 authorizing the continuation of the DeSoto patrol in the [[Gulf of Tonkin Incident|Gulf of Tonkin]], with the closest approach to the North Vietnamese coast set at 11 miles. A follow-up message, JCS 7681, that evening stated that if the destroyers were attacked in international waters the commander should destroy the attacking forces, and that "pursuit into hostile waters or air space is not authorized."[^24] On August 4, at 11:40 a.m., McNamara, Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]], [[McGeorge Bundy]] and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs [[Marshall Green]] met with the Joint Chiefs at the [[Pentagon]], while the destroyer [[USS Maddox]] reported that an attack from unidentified vessels appeared imminent.[^25] At 12:04 p.m. the civilians moved to McNamara's office, where the options were refined to three, while the Joint Chiefs stayed in the dining room until 1:49 p.m. At their direction, General Burchinal telephoned McNamara at the White House to recommend the sharp limited response option.[^25]
### The Moorer-Radford affair
The [[Moorer-Radford Affair]] began with an inquiry into leaks of material to the columnist [[Jack Anderson]] in December 1971. The inquiry identified a Navy yeoman, [[Charles Radford]], assigned since September 1970 to the Joint Chiefs liaison office at the National Security Council, as the source of papers taken from the briefcases of [[Henry A. Kissinger]] and [[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]] and passed to the Joint Chiefs through the liaison office heads, Rear Admiral [[Rembrandt Robinson]] and his successor, Rear Admiral [[Robert O. Welander]].[^26] The Foreign Relations volume records that [[H. R. Haldeman]] wrote in his diary that the yeoman was "the almost certain source" of the leaks, and that the president was shocked and agreed that strong action had to be taken, "but very carefully, since we don't want to blow up the whole relationship with the Joint Chiefs of Staff."[^26] At the December 21, 1971 meeting, [[John N. Mitchell]] warned that prosecution or a public confrontation would mean "You would have the Joint Chiefs allied on that side directly against you," and urged that the liaison office be moved out of the NSC and back to the Pentagon.[^26] A December 22 editorial note records the subsequent discussion of the Radford-Joint Chiefs pipeline.[^27] On December 24, 1971, [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] told Mitchell that "Our best interests are served by not, you know, raising holy hell," and Radford was transferred to the Northwest.[^28]
On February 20, 1974, Radford testified before the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] that he had taken secret White House documents on the Vietnam peace talks and other matters at the request of two Pentagon admirals, beginning in 1970. The [[United Press International]] report says Radford named Robinson, who had been killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam, as the officer who first taught him to take information the Joint Chiefs wanted, and said that Welander continued passing information to the office of Moorer. It quotes one of Moorer's aides telling him in the Pentagon: "Radford, you do good work." The same report says Moorer and Kissinger had both dismissed the pilfering as the independent work of an overzealous enlisted man. [[Harold Hughes]] said the testimony should trigger a deeper investigation and that "We must track down the other parties who were involved in this and question them to verify Radford's testimony." The committee chairman was [[John C. Stennis]].[^29] The Chairmanship history records that during the 1971 and 1972 operations the commanders were in direct telephone contact with the Chairman several times a day, and that the directions relayed were carried out without informing the Chiefs in advance.[^30]
On March 7, 1974, [[J. Fred Buzhardt]], formerly general counsel of the Defense Department and then counsel to the president, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the report he had delivered to Secretary of Defense [[Melvin Laird]] on January 10, 1972. He testified that on December 14, 1971, the day Anderson's column appeared, Welander reported that its information came from four documents to which, he believed, only persons in his office had access, and that within the office access to all of them belonged to Welander, Radford and Chief Yeoman William R. Sessoms; that six persons were polygraphed, Welander and Sessoms with negative reactions and Radford with what he called "a positive reaction" on questions about disclosures to Anderson; that Radford's access to classified material was terminated on December 16, 1971; and that Radford was transferred to the Naval Reserve Training Center in Salem, Oregon.[^31] Buzhardt testified that Radford told investigators that he had routinely obtained information for Welander by surreptitious means from the National Security Council staff, including documents taken on Kissinger's first trip to China and on several of Haig's trips to Southeast Asia, that Welander said he had informed the chairman generally of the way the trip documents were obtained, and that Moorer told him he had assumed he had authorized access to all that came through the liaison staff.[^32] Questioned by Senator [[Sam Nunn]], Buzhardt said of Moorer: "He did not specifically recall having ever been told how they were obtained."[^33] Asked by Senator [[Stuart Symington]] whether he knew where the decision against prosecuting Radford was made, Buzhardt answered: "It was communicated to me by Mr. Laird. Mr. Ehrlichman was involved in the investigation, the Attorney General was involved, as I know now, the matter was discussed with the President. But where the decision was actually made I don't know."[^34] Questioned by Senator Harold Hughes about an attempt to have Welander sign a statement of fact, Buzhardt said: "I guess I am not surprised that, not particularly surprised that Mr. Ehrlichman would ask Admiral Welander to sign a statement. I am no more surprised that Admiral Welander refused."[^35]
### Project Azorian
The CIA's own account of [[Project Azorian]], the Hughes Glomar Explorer program, records that on August 15, 1972 Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Kenneth Rush]] forwarded to [[Richard Helms]] copies of three memoranda on the project from the chief of naval operations, [[Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.]], the assistant secretary of defense for intelligence, Dr. Hall, and the Defense Intelligence Agency director, Vice Admiral de Poix. All three, to varying degrees, judged the expected intelligence gain lower than the ad hoc committee's estimate, pointed to escalating costs and political risks, and generally felt that the program should be terminated; Zumwalt, while not recommending immediate termination, stated strong reservations. On August 28, 1972, Moorer, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, wrote to the 40 Committee that he could not support the proposed mission. He cited the reduced intelligence value of the target after the sinking of the submarine in March 1968, the escalating costs, and the possibility of a strong Soviet reaction if the nature of the activity became known. Helms answered on September 14 with a memorandum urging that the program continue. On September 18, 1972, Rush wrote that, because of continuing relationships and negotiations with the Soviet Union, he believed it undesirable to execute the mission as then planned, estimated the chances of technical success at 20 to 30 percent, and believed that the program should be terminated. On December 11, 1972, the President decided to continue the project, with the 40 Committee exercising policy supervision, in a memorandum from Henry A. Kissinger to the committee's principals.[^36]
### Iran-Contra
The [[Iran-Contra Affair|Iran-Contra]] record in [[Lawrence Walsh]]'s report on Defense Department officers places Vessey, then chairman, in several conversations. Vessey recalled that [[Caspar Weinberger]] told him "incredulously," after a White House meeting in the summer of 1985, that someone had proposed contacts with Iran.[^37] Vessey also recalled that Prince [[Bandar bin Sultan]] told him on two occasions that the Saudis were funding the contras, that on each occasion he reported the statement to Weinberger, and that Weinberger responded that he did not want the issue to become public; Vessey recalled as well that he or Weinberger, in a White House conversation with [[Robert McFarlane]], urged McFarlane to support a proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia because the Saudis were funding the contras. In his April 17, 1987 deposition to the Select Committees Vessey described one occasion on which Bandar told him of a contribution to the contras.[^38] Weinberger's daily notes for March 13, 1985, made after a meeting with Vessey ("Jack Vessey in office alone"), record that he "passed on to him Jack Vessey's report that Bandar is giving $25 million to Contras" in a call to McFarlane the same day, and that he suggested "covert non-lethal aid of $14 mil."[^39] The memorandum for the record of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[John N. McMahon]] on the breakfast of March 15, 1985 among Weinberger, [[William J. Casey]] and McMahon records Weinberger's statement that he had heard that Bandar had earmarked $25 million for the contras in $5 million increments.[^40] Walsh dates a meeting in Weinberger's office, attended by McFarlane, [[Colin Powell]] and [[Charles Gabriel]], the acting chairman, to August 22, 1985, on the basis of Weinberger's diary, which records an Israeli message that two Iranians had offered to return some hostages.[^41] Weinberger's diary for November 21, 1985 records William J. Crowe, Jr. in office, regarding the president's decisions at Geneva and hostage rescue attempts.[^42]
### Unidentified anomalous phenomena
The Joint Chiefs of Staff published JANAP 146, the joint communication instructions for reporting vital intelligence sightings. An Air Force memorandum of October 20, 1948 to the Secretary of the Joint Intelligence Committee, stamped received October 26, 1948, and titled "Communication Instructions for Reporting Military Intelligence Sightings (CIRMIS) - JANAP 146," states that the Director of Communications had requested that the document be tabled for review and that "subject document was published without prior coordination with any intelligence agency."[^43] A chronology of the publication compiled for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena lists JANAP 146(A) of September 25, 1950 as the start of CIRVIS reporting for commercial and military pilots and the first edition to add unidentified flying objects to the sighting categories.[^44]
JANAP 146(C), promulgated by the Joint Communications-Electronics Committee on March 10, 1954 as an unclassified publication superseding 146(B), directs under article 201 that sightings of "Unidentified flying objects" be reported by aircraft while airborne, and under article 301 that the same category be reported "Immediately" by waterborne sources. Article 308 provides that all persons aware of the contents or existence of a MERINT report are governed by the Communications Act of 1934 and the Espionage Laws, that such reports "contain information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, 18 U.S. Code, 793 and 794," and that the unauthorized transmission or revelation of their contents "in any manner is prohibited."[^45] JANAP 146(E), issued in March 1966 as a Canadian-United States publication, lists "Unidentified flying objects" among the CIRVIS sightings and states in article 208 that reports "contain information affecting the national defense of the United States and Canada" and that "Any person who makes an unauthorized transmission or disclosure of such a report may be liable to prosecution under Title 18 of the US Code 793, Chapter 37, or the Canadian Official Secrets Act of 1939, as amended," adding that "This should not be construed as requiring classification of CIRVIS messages." Change No. 2 of May 17, 1977 directs CIRVIS-related photography to the Director, Defense Intelligence Agency.[^46]
A December 1973 newspaper article in the CIA reading room, reviewing [[Donald Keyhoe]]'s book on the subject, describes the directive as a Joint Chiefs of Staff secrecy directive covering armed forces airmen and airliner pilots, which directs immediate transmission of sighting data to the aerospace command and the nearest military command. Keyhoe is quoted on the directive: "Under the provisions of JANAP-146," Keyhoe explains, "hundreds of pilots reporting UFOs have been strictly muzzled and are still officially silenced."[^47]
[[Luis Elizondo]] wrote that in 2016 the Joint Staff declined to give [[Jay Stratton]]'s OPLAN Interloper an Alternative Compensatory Control Measures designation.[^48] The Department of Homeland Security special access program proposal for [[KONA BLUE]], prepared in 2011 and released by DHS to the Department of Defense in February 2024, describes an Oral History Initiative to identify sources, and states: "Over past decades a number of high-level individuals in the military, intelligence, and even political sectors of our government have had various level of exposure/access to this subject area. This has included agency directors, members of the JCS and very senior individuals in the Executive Branch." The proposal adds that "Oral histories from individuals of the caliber referenced above are critical to this mission."[^49]
### Grill Flame evaluations
On November 21, 1979 Jackie Keith of the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command]], who represented the command on a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force established for the Iran hostage crisis, asked Lieutenant Colonel [[Murray Watt]] whether the [[Grill Flame|GRILL FLAME]] remote viewing unit's assets could be used on the crisis.[^50] The final evaluation of the unit's hostage-situation reports, covering November 23, 1979 through January 13, 1981, was prepared by Lieutenant Colonel Roderick Lenahan of the Operations Directorate of the Joint Staff, Special Operations Division. In a memorandum of March 16, 1981 Watt wrote that the Joint Chiefs rated 37 percent of the reports as having some correlation or use and that his office, studying Lenahan's comments, raised the figure "to only 45%."[^51]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Record Group 218, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
[^2]: Bamford, James. *Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency*. Doubleday, 2001, Chapter 2 (reproducing JCS memorandum 1969/321, 13 March 1962).
[^1]: National Security Act of 1947, Public Law 80-253, sections 211 and 212, 61 Stat. 495, 1947. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-61/pdf/STATUTE-61-Pg495.pdf
[^2]: Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, *The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-1999* (Washington, 2000), chapter "The First Chairman" and Appendix 1 (extracts of Public Law 81-216, National Security Act Amendments of 1949, August 10, 1949). https://archive.org/details/chairmanshipofjoOOunit
[^3]: Joint History Office, *The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-1999*, chapter "The Vice Chairmen" and Appendix 2 (extracts of Public Law 99-433, Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, October 1, 1986). https://archive.org/details/chairmanshipofjoOOunit
[^4]: Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Record Group 218, National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/218.html
[^5]: Joint History Office, *The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-1999*, chapter "The 1960s: Civilian Encroachment" (pp. 17-19, on Lemnitzer, Taylor and the second-term decision), chapter "The 1970s: Dealing with the Impact of Vietnam" (pp. 26-28, on Wheeler and Moorer), and the chairman sketches for Radford, Twining, Vessey and Crowe. https://archive.org/details/chairmanshipofjoOOunit
[^6]: National Archives and Records Administration, Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group, "Records of the Secretary of Defense (RG 330): Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency," notice and description of "Foreign Scientist Case Files 1945-1958 (Entry A1-1B)." https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-330-defense-secretary
[^7]: Acheson, memorandum for the President, "Interim Exploitation of German and Austrian Specialists in the United States," stamped August 30, 1946, with the notation "approved 9/3/46," Harry S. Truman Library document set on Operation Paperclip (FOIA release printed April 21, 2009), PDF page 13. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/trumanlibrary-paperclip.pdf
[^8]: SWNCC 257/22, Appendix B, "Interim Exploitation of German and Austrian Specialists under Project Paperclip," paragraphs 2a and 3, Harry S. Truman Library document set on Operation Paperclip (PDF page 14). https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/trumanlibrary-paperclip.pdf
[^9]: National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, entry 330.11.2, "Records of the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency" (transferred to OSD from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, October 15, 1962; general correspondence 1946-52, foreign scientist case files 1945-58, Defense Scientist Immigration Program records 1958-70). https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/330.html
[^10]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 124, "Establishment of the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)," January 18, 1962, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. II, document 26. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v02/d26
[^11]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, vol. VIII, *The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1961-1964*, chapter 11 and notes, including the September 1962 Panama Canal Zone conference with Major General Victor H. Krulak, USMC, Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities; the note on the office "recently created" in 1962; and "SACSA-M 18-62 to DJS, 6 Mar 62, CJCS 334 Special Group (Counterinsurgency)." https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA551509
[^12]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, JCSM-278-61, "Cuba," April 26, 1961, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, document 178. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d178
[^13]: Lansdale to Goodwin, March 6, 1962, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, document 310. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d310
[^14]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, vol. VIII, *The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1961-1964*, chapter 11 and note 2 (Craig as JCS representative on Lansdale's group; member of J-5; succeeded in July 1962 by Brigadier General Benjamin Harris); and *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, list of persons ("Craig, Brigadier General William H., Department of Defense Project Officer for Operation Mongoose until June 1962"). https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA551509 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10
[^15]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, vol. VIII, *The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1961-1964*, chapter 11, "The Cuban Missile Crisis," pp. 158-160 (Operation Mongoose, the list of manufactured incidents, the April 5, 1962 Special Group conclusion, and the Joint Chiefs' answer five days later, April 10). https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA551509
[^16]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, JCS 1969/321, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba (TS)," March 13, 1962, signed by L. L. Lemnitzer, Chairman, with Enclosure A (PDF pp. 1, 4 and 6). Declassified 1997. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
[^17]: Joint Secretariat (F. J. Blouin and M. J. Ingelido), "Note by the Secretaries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Northwoods (S)," JCS 1969/321, March 12, 1962, page 2165, with the approval note (PDF pp. 2-3). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
[^18]: Chief of Operations, Cuba Project, memorandum for General Craig, "Operation MONGOOSE," March 5, 1962, and Chief of Naval Operations, memorandum for the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Instances to Provoke Military Actions in Cuba (TS)," March 8, 1962, both cited in the footnotes to the Joint Chiefs' submission (PDF p. 5), and paragraph 3 of the submission (PDF p. 1). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
[^19]: JCS 1969/321, Enclosure A, appendix and annex "Pretexts to Justify US Military Intervention in Cuba" (PDF pp. 5-10), including the Guantanamo incidents, the "Remember the Maine" items, and paragraph 8 on the chartered airliner and the duplicate aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
[^20]: James Bamford, *Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency* (New York: Doubleday, 2001), chapter 2, reproducing JCS memorandum 1969/321 of March 13, 1962.
[^21]: John A. McCone, memorandum for the record on the April 11, 1962 Special Group (Augmented) meeting, April 12, 1962, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, document 325. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d325
[^22]: Department of State to Embassy in Brazil, telegram 1301, March 31, 1964, with editorial note that the JCS assigned the code name "Brother Sam" (telegram 5591, JCS to CINCLANT, March 31, 1964), *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, document 198. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d198
[^23]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Actions Relevant to South Vietnam," July 27, 1964, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, document 252. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d252
[^24]: Wheeler to Sharp, JCS 7680, August 2, 1964, 12:25 p.m., and JCS 7681, August 2, 1964, 6:49 p.m., *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, documents 259 and 261. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d259 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d261
[^25]: Editorial note on the destroyer Maddox report of August 4, 1964, and the Pentagon meeting of McNamara, Rusk, Bundy, Green and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. I, documents 272 and 276. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01/d276
[^26]: Editorial note on the Radford-Joint Chiefs of Staff case, citing The Haldeman Diaries and the White House tape of the conversation among Nixon, Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichman on December 21, 1971, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. II, document 164. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d164
[^27]: Editorial note on the December 22, 1971 Oval Office exchange between Nixon and Haldeman, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. II, document 165. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d165
[^28]: Transcript of the telephone conversation between Nixon and Haig, December 24, 1971, with the Nixon-Mitchell conversation of the same date cited in the editorial material, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. II, document 166. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d166
[^29]: "Pentagon spied on White House?," United Press International report from Washington, February 20, 1974, published in the *Oregon Daily Emerald* (Eugene, Oregon), February 21, 1974, p. 8. https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1974-02-21/ed-1/seq-8/
[^30]: Joint History Office, *The Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1949-1999*, chapter "The 1970s: Dealing with the Impact of Vietnam" (pp. 26-28, on the Moorer chairmanship and the operations of 1971 and 1972). https://archive.org/details/chairmanshipofjoOOunit
[^31]: Senate Committee on Armed Services, *Transmittal of Documents from the National Security Council to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff*, hearing, 93d Cong., 2d sess., part 3, March 7, 1974 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974), testimony of J. Fred Buzhardt, pp. 4-7. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31536p3/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31536p3.pdf
[^32]: Hearing, part 3, March 7, 1974, pp. 7-8 (Radford's statements in his first polygraph examination; Welander's and Moorer's accounts to Buzhardt). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31536p3/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31536p3.pdf
[^33]: Hearing, part 3, March 7, 1974, p. 34. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31536p3/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31536p3.pdf
[^34]: Hearing, part 3, March 7, 1974, pp. 15-16. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31536p3/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31536p3.pdf
[^35]: Hearing, part 3, March 7, 1974, pp. 24-25. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg31536p3/pdf/CHRG-93shrg31536p3.pdf
[^36]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Project Azorian: The Story of the Hughes Glomar Explorer," section "Early Political Feasibility Evaluation by 40 Committee," CIA reading room item 0005301269. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0005301269
[^37]: Lawrence E. Walsh, *Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, Part VIII, notes 10 and 165 (Vessey, Select Committees deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 30-31; Weinberger diary, March 13, 1985, ALZ 0039320B-C). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^38]: Walsh, Part VIII, note 168 (Vessey, FBI 302, June 11, 1992, pp. 6-7, and Select Committees Deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 5-8), note 169 (Vessey, FBI 302, June 11, 1992, p. 7, and February 11, 1987, p. 1) and note 170 (Vessey, FBI 302, June 11, 1992, p. 7, and deposition pp. 8-9). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^39]: Walsh, Part VIII, text and note 165 (Weinberger diary, March 13, 1985, ALZ 0039320B-C). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^40]: Walsh, Part VIII, text and note 167 (McMahon, memorandum for the record, March 15, 1985, ER 26,187-88 and ER 92-00116-17). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^41]: Walsh, Part VIII, citing the Weinberger diary of August 22, 1985 (ALZ 0039606-07) and the calendar corroboration, and Colin Powell's deposition of June 19, 1987 on the summer 1985 meeting. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^42]: Walsh, Part VIII, citing the Weinberger diary of November 21, 1985 (ALZ 0039802-03). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^43]: Air Force memorandum (AFOIR-CO) for the Secretary, Joint Intelligence Committee, "Communication Instructions for Reporting Military Intelligence Sightings (CIRMIS) - JANAP 146," October 20, 1948, received October 26, 1948, declassified, National Archives (NN3 941612). http://www.nicap.org/directives/Tabling%20of%20JANAP%20146%20by%20Joint%20Intel%20Committee%201948-10-26%20NARA.pdf
[^44]: "JANAP 146; History and Evolution," chronology (US Regulation, date issued, key differences) circulated by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, November 20, 2006, compiled from A. F. Rullan. http://www.nicap.org/directives/146hist.htm
[^45]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Communications-Electronics Committee, JANAP 146(C), *Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings from Airborne and Waterborne Sources*, March 10, 1954, letter of promulgation and articles 201, 301 and 308. http://www.nicap.org/directives/JANAP-146C%20March%201954.htm
[^46]: Joint Chiefs of Staff, JANAP 146(E), *Canadian-United States Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings (CIRVIS/MERINT)*, March 1966, with Change No. 2, May 17, 1977, articles 201 and 208 and the photography instructions. http://www.nicap.org/directives/JANAP-146E_March%201966.htm
[^47]: CIA reading room item cia-rdp90-00552r000303250002-8, newspaper article "U.S. Officials Persist in Secrecy, But UFOs Real, Claims Authority," December 1, 1973, reviewing Donald E. Keyhoe's *Aliens from Space* (1973). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000303250002-8
[^48]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 147 to 202 (Interloper at pp. 147 and 186).
[^49]: Department of Homeland Security, KONA BLUE prospective special access program records, Special Access Program proposal, Oral History Initiative, pp. 8-9 of 17 (DHS-003-6-0006/11), released with the letter of Acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, February 5, 2024. https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/AARO_DHS_Kona_Blue.pdf
[^50]: Murray B. Watt, "INSCOM GRILL FLAME Involvement in Iran," memorandum for the record, December 3, 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000240018-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r002000240018-6
[^51]: Murray B. Watt, memorandum for Colonel Chad B. White, "GRILL FLAME Evaluation in Support of Iranian Hostage Situation," March 16, 1981, CIA-RDP96-00788R001000340001-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001000340001-4

15
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/NHAO.md → 20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/NHAO.md
View file

@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
category: "U.S. Government"
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Robert Owen]]"
reverse: true
role: "staff member added at Oliver North's urging"
start: 1985
fn: 2
start: 1985
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
tags:
@ -14,7 +22,9 @@ The Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO) was created in mid-1985 to
### North's Control
North pressured the NHAO to hire his aide [[Robert Owen|Rob Owen]] as a $50,000 "facilitator" - a move opposed by NHAO director Robert Duemling, who said he didn't see the need for a middleman. North had Contra leaders write letters demanding Owen's hiring and lobbied Duemling's superior, Assistant Secretary [[Elliott Abrams]]. After one meeting, Abrams told Duemling: "Well, Bob, I suppose you probably ought to hire Owen." Meeting minutes show Abrams and North agreed Owen "will be expendable if he becomes a political or diplomatic liability" and could be dismissed as "an experiment that hadn't worked out."[^1]
President [[Ronald Reagan]] created the office in the State Department on August 29, 1985 to administer the $27 million in humanitarian assistance that Congress appropriated that month, and Ambassador [[Robert W. Duemling]] set up the office within the department.[^2] Independent Counsel [[Lawrence Walsh]] reported that North also intruded in the office's operations by insisting that [[Richard B. Gadd]], who was assisting [[Richard Secord]] and North in the lethal resupply, be the contractor to transport NHAO flights and, with [[Elliott Abrams]], persuading Duemling to add North's Central American courier, [[Robert Owen]], to the staff.[^2]
North pressured the NHAO to hire his aide Rob Owen as a $50,000 "facilitator" - a move opposed by NHAO director Robert Duemling, who said he didn't see the need for a middleman. North had Contra leaders write letters demanding Owen's hiring and lobbied Duemling's superior, Assistant Secretary Elliott Abrams. After one meeting, Abrams told Duemling: "Well, Bob, I suppose you probably ought to hire Owen." Meeting minutes show Abrams and North agreed Owen "will be expendable if he becomes a political or diplomatic liability" and could be dismissed as "an experiment that hadn't worked out."[^1]
### Drug Trafficker Contractors
@ -27,3 +37,4 @@ Fiers confirmed the CIA guided the selection of these carriers: "I believe we gu
### Footnotes
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 12: "This guy talks to God"
[^2]: Lawrence E. Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, chapter 25. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm

27
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/NSA.md
View file

@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2025-03-05
updated: 2026-10-08
updated: 2026-10-12
title: NSA
aliases:
- NSA
@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ relations:
start: 1975
end: 1975
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Unit 8200]]"
start: 2009-03
role: "memorandum of understanding on raw signals-intelligence sharing, reached in principle March 2009 (counterpart named ISNU)"
fn: 18
---
- type: head_of
with: "[[Bobby Ray Inman]]"
@ -93,9 +98,15 @@ In [[Ground Saucer Watch]] v. CIA (D.D.C., Civil Action 78-859) the Central Inte
[[Seymour Hersh]] wrote in *The Samson Option* that a former NSA official told him the KH-11 satellite, launched in December 1976, was considered the most important advance of its time in reconnaissance photography, that every military and civilian intelligence agency had an urgent requirement for its imagery, and that the NSA, responsible for all communications intelligence, had a role in scheduling the satellite to maximize collection. Hersh wrote that [[Jimmy Carter]]'s decision in March 1979 to give [[Israel]] direct access to KH-11 photographs disrupted that scheduling and was unpopular within the NSA and other agencies, and that during the [[Ronald Reagan]] administration it was learned that Israeli military officers were permitted to attend Pentagon meetings where future KH-11 missions and orbital paths were discussed, which dismayed some NSA officials.[^17]
### Memorandum of understanding with the Israeli signals unit
On September 11, 2013, [[The Guardian]] published the text of an undated, five-page memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart, from a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by [[Edward Snowden]]. The Guardian reported that the deal "was reached in principle in March 2009." The memorandum says that the NSA "routinely sends ISNU [the Israeli Sigint National Unit] minimized and unminimized raw collection," so that the material is not filtered in advance to remove communications of US citizens. The memorandum defines raw Sigint as including "unevaluated and unminimized transcripts, gists, facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content," and permits Israel to release US person identities to outside parties with the NSA's written permission. Israel could keep "any files containing the identities of US persons" for up to a year.[^18] The memorandum states that "This agreement is not intended to create any legally enforceable rights" and is neither an international agreement nor a legally binding instrument. The NSA was to "regularly review a sample of files transferred to ISNU to validate the absence of US persons' identities." The text does not name [[Unit 8200]]; the unit is the signals-intelligence arm of the Israeli military.[^19]
The Guardian reported that the NSA declined to say whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had been asked to approve the sharing. A top-secret report dated September 2007, also quoted by the Guardian, described the relationship as "overwhelmingly one-sided in favor of Israel."[^18]
### USS Liberty intercepts, 2003 to 2007
The NSA released transcripts of intercepts made after the June 8, 1967, attack on the [[USS Liberty Incident|USS Liberty]] in July 2003, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by [[A. Jay Cristol]] filed April 26, 2001. The letter of July 2, 2003, enclosed three recordings of Israeli communications in Hebrew, three transcripts and two summary reports, and states that "No communications of the attacking aircraft or torpedo boats were available" and that an EC-121 aircraft had collected conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hazor Airfield; it states that portions were withheld under Executive Order 12958 and under statutes including 18 U.S.C. 798 and Section 6 of Public Law 86-36.[^18] In January 2004 the agency's historian, [[David Hatch]], said the new material "doesn't settle much," according to the Financial Times, and that his reading of the air controller's conversations with two helicopter pilots "suggested strongly" that the Israelis did not know at first that the ship was American.[^19] On June 8, 2007, the NSA announced that it had finished its review of all material relating to the attack and had posted additional documents, stating: "It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material."[^20] [[Oliver Kirby]], the NSA deputy director for operations/production in 1967, said in an interview of February 14, 2003 that within weeks of the attack he read transcripts of the Israeli pilots' conversations that made it "absolutely certain" the Israelis knew the ship was American.[^21] The Chicago Tribune reported on October 2, 2007 that the NSA's position was that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots; quoted Kirby as saying "I'm willing to swear on a stack of Bibles that we knew they knew"; quoted Michael Prostinak, a Hebrew linguist aboard the EC-121, as saying "there were more tapes than just the three on the Internet"; and reported that the posted tape designated A1104/A-02 begins at 2:29 p.m. local time and that a preceding tape designated A1104/A-01 is absent. An NSA media adviser did not respond to the Tribune's question about the difference.[^22]
The NSA released transcripts of intercepts made after the June 8, 1967, attack on the [[USS Liberty Incident|USS Liberty]] in July 2003, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by [[A. Jay Cristol]] filed April 26, 2001. The letter of July 2, 2003, enclosed three recordings of Israeli communications in Hebrew, three transcripts and two summary reports, and states that "No communications of the attacking aircraft or torpedo boats were available" and that an EC-121 aircraft had collected conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hazor Airfield; it states that portions were withheld under Executive Order 12958 and under statutes including 18 U.S.C. 798 and Section 6 of Public Law 86-36.[^20] In January 2004 the agency's historian, [[David Hatch]], said the new material "doesn't settle much," according to the Financial Times, and that his reading of the air controller's conversations with two helicopter pilots "suggested strongly" that the Israelis did not know at first that the ship was American.[^21] On June 8, 2007, the NSA announced that it had finished its review of all material relating to the attack and had posted additional documents, stating: "It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material."[^22] [[Oliver Kirby]], the NSA deputy director for operations/production in 1967, said in an interview of February 14, 2003 that within weeks of the attack he read transcripts of the Israeli pilots' conversations that made it "absolutely certain" the Israelis knew the ship was American.[^23] The Chicago Tribune reported on October 2, 2007 that the NSA's position was that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots; quoted Kirby as saying "I'm willing to swear on a stack of Bibles that we knew they knew"; quoted Michael Prostinak, a Hebrew linguist aboard the EC-121, as saying "there were more tapes than just the three on the Internet"; and reported that the posted tape designated A1104/A-02 begins at 2:29 p.m. local time and that a preceding tape designated A1104/A-01 is absent. An NSA media adviser did not respond to the Tribune's question about the difference.[^24]
### Footnotes
@ -116,8 +127,10 @@ The NSA released transcripts of intercepts made after the June 8, 1967, attack o
[^15]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, *The INSLAW Affair*, H. Rept. 102-857, September 10, 1992, pp. 67 to 68, https://archive.org/details/InslawAffairInvestigativeReport. The report records these statements as Aviv's account to committee investigators.
[^16]: Affidavit of Eugene F. Yeates, Chief, Office of Policy, National Security Agency, *Citizens Against Unidentified Flying Objects Secrecy v. National Security Agency*, Civil Action No. 80-1562 (D.D.C. 1980), https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/ufo/assets/files/affadavit_yeates.pdf (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/ufo/assets/files/affadavit_yeates.pdf).
[^17]: Seymour M. Hersh, *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy* (Random House, 1991). Hersh attributes the account of the KH-11 scheduling to an unnamed former NSA official.
[^18]: National Security Agency, letter from Louis F. Giles, Director of Policy, to A. Jay Cristol, FOIA Case 40039A, July 2, 2003. https://irp.fas.org/nsa/liberty.html
[^19]: Guy Dinmore, *Financial Times*, January 13, 2004, reprinted by the History News Network. https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/3027
[^20]: National Security Agency, "U.S.S. Liberty," release page (Wayback Machine 2007 capture). http://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.nsa.gov/liberty
[^21]: David C. Walsh, "Former NSA Officials Agree," *U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings*, June 2003. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2003/june/former-nsa-officials-agree
[^22]: "New revelations in attack on American spy ship," *Chicago Tribune*, October 2, 2007. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/10/02/new-revelations-in-attack-on-american-spy-ship/
[^18]: Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill, "Secret Deal Allows NSA to Share Americans' Data With Israel," *The Guardian*, September 11, 2013 (reprinted by AlterNet). https://www.alternet.org/2013/09/secret-deal-allows-nsa-share-americans-data-israel ; memorandum full-text page, *The Guardian*, http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/11/nsa-israel-intelligence-memorandum-understanding-document
[^19]: Ynet, "Intelligence and Cyberwarfare: Israeli locations Hezbollah targeted for destruction," August 25, 2024. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/sy3etztic
[^20]: National Security Agency, letter from Louis F. Giles, Director of Policy, to A. Jay Cristol, FOIA Case 40039A, July 2, 2003. https://irp.fas.org/nsa/liberty.html
[^21]: Guy Dinmore, *Financial Times*, January 13, 2004, reprinted by the History News Network. https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/3027
[^22]: National Security Agency, "U.S.S. Liberty," release page (Wayback Machine 2007 capture). http://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.nsa.gov/liberty
[^23]: David C. Walsh, "Former NSA Officials Agree," *U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings*, June 2003. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2003/june/former-nsa-officials-agree
[^24]: "New revelations in attack on American spy ship," *Chicago Tribune*, October 2, 2007. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/10/02/new-revelations-in-attack-on-american-spy-ship/

34
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PARAMILITARY/LEHI.md
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@ -1,20 +1,46 @@
---
updated: 2026-10-12
tags:
- Organization
- Paramilitary
- Israel
- Terrorism
category: "Paramilitary"
summary: "LEHI (Lohamei Herut Israel), also known as the Stern Gang, was a Jewish paramilitary organization founded by Avraham Stern and later led by Yitzhak Shamir that conducted assassinations and bombings against British Mandate authorities and Arab targets in Palestine."
summary: "LEHI (Lohamei Herut Israel), also called the Stern Gang, was a Jewish paramilitary group founded by Avraham Stern in 1940 and later led by Yitzhak Shamir, which assassinated British officials and others in Palestine."
start: 1940
end: 1948
location: "Palestine"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Yitzhak Shamir]]"
reverse: true
start: 1940
end: 1948
role: "founder, member and one of three leaders of the Stern Group"
fn: 2
---
[[LEHI]] (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of [[Israel]]), also known as the [[Stern Gang]], was a Jewish terrorist group. It was founded by [[David Stern]] and later led by [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^1]
[[LEHI]] (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of [[Israel]]), also known as the [[Stern Gang]], was a Jewish terrorist group. It was founded by [[Avraham Stern]] and later led by [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^1]
[[Gourdji]], the father of [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], was involved with [[LEHI]] in [[Palestine]] during 1940. Although the organization had a reputation as right-wing, many of its members were formerly part of the communist movement. [[LEHI]] was virulently anti-British, and [[Yitzhak Shamir]] was even willing to negotiate with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] for Jewish lives, offering to fight alongside German troops against the British if the Germans would allow interned Jews to emigrate to [[Palestine]].[^1]
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that his father, [[Gourdji]], was involved with LEHI in [[Palestine]] during 1940. Although the organization had a reputation as right-wing, many of its members were formerly part of the communist movement. LEHI was virulently anti-British, and Ben-Menashe wrote that Yitzhak Shamir was even willing to negotiate with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] for Jewish lives, offering to fight alongside German troops against the British if the Germans would allow interned Jews to emigrate to Palestine.[^1]
[[LEHI]] members were persecuted and hunted down, even by other Jews in [[Palestine]], due to opposition from the British, [[United States|U.S.]] governments, and the Jewish labor movement. Most individuals affiliated with the [[Stern Gang]] were not welcomed in the State of [[Israel]] after its establishment. [[Yitzhak Shamir]] was an exception, becoming a prominent figure in [[Mossad]].[^1]
LEHI members were persecuted and hunted down, even by other Jews in Palestine, due to opposition from the British, [[United States|U.S.]] governments, and the Jewish labor movement. Most individuals affiliated with the Stern Gang were not welcomed in the State of Israel after its establishment. Yitzhak Shamir was an exception, becoming a prominent figure in [[Mossad]].[^1]
### Founding and Leadership
LEHI was founded in 1940 as a splinter of the [[Irgun Zvai Leumi|Irgun]], which Yitzhak Shamir had joined in 1937; Shamir was one of its founders. After the death of Avraham Stern in 1942 the group was led by three men, Shamir, [[Israel Eldad]] and [[Nathan Yellin-Mor]].[^2][^3]
### Lord Moyne and Folke Bernadotte
On November 6, 1944 two members of LEHI, Eliahu Bet-Tsuri and Eliahu Hakim, shot [[Lord Moyne]], the British minister resident in the Middle East, outside his house in [[Cairo]], killing his driver as well. They admitted the killing in court and were executed in early 1945.[^4] [[Anthony Eden]] told the House of Commons on November 9, 1944 that the prisoners had confessed: "We are members of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel organisation and what we have done was done on the instructions of this organisation. The organisation is that known as the Stern Group."[^5]
On September 9, 1988 Yehoshua Zettler (also spelled Zeitler) said on Israeli radio that he directed the September 17, 1948 assassination of the United Nations Mediator in Palestine, [[Folke Bernadotte]], and Meshulam Markover said he led the four-man squad. They said Yehoshua Cohen fired the shots. A spokesman for Shamir, then prime minister, said Shamir had played no role because the group had disbanded six months earlier.[^6] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Zeitler said Shamir was not directly implicated in the act, while Eldad said Shamir was one of four men who planned assassinations but could not confirm that he attended the meeting that ordered this one. Sweden's demand for a second apology was refused.[^7] The Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem states that the three leaders met in June and September 1948 to decide on the killing.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: "Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's 7th prime minister, dies at 96," _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, July 2012. https://www.jta.org/?p=1789432
[^3]: Issa Nakhleh, _Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem_, vol. 1 (1991), entries on the Stern Gang, Lord Moyne and Count Bernadotte. https://archive.org/details/encyclopedia-of-the-palestine-problem-volume-i
[^4]: "The Assassination of Lord Moyne," _Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England_. https://www.jhse.org/pre-2015articles/the-assassination-of-lord-moyne
[^5]: "Assassination of Lord Moyne," HC Deb 9 November 1944, vol. 404, cols. 1538-41. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1944/nov/09/assassination-of-lord-moyne
[^6]: John Kifner, "2 Recount '48 Killing in Israel," _The New York Times_, 12 September 1988, p. A3. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/world/2-recount-48-killing-in-israel.html
[^7]: "Israel refuses to apologize for 1948 assassination," _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, September 1988. https://jta.org/archive/israel-refuses-to-apologize-for-1948-assassination

18
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PARAMILITARY/Stern Gang.md
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@ -1,18 +1,30 @@
---
updated: 2026-10-12
tags:
- Organization
- Paramilitary
- Israel
- Terrorism
category: "Paramilitary"
summary: "The Stern Gang was another name for LEHI (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of Israel), a Jewish terrorist group founded by David Stern and later led by Yitzhak Shamir.[^1]"
summary: "The Stern Gang was another name for LEHI (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of Israel), a Jewish terrorist group founded by Avraham Stern and later led by Yitzhak Shamir."
start: 1940
end: 1948
location: "Palestine"
---
The [[Stern Gang]] was another name for [[LEHI]] (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of [[Israel]]), a Jewish terrorist group founded by [[David Stern]] and later led by [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^1]
The [[Stern Gang]] was another name for [[LEHI]] (Lohamei Herut Israel, Hebrew for Fighters for the Liberation of [[Israel]]), a Jewish terrorist group founded by [[Avraham Stern]] and later led by [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^1]
[[Gourdji]], the father of [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], was involved with the [[Stern Gang]] in [[Palestine]] in 1940. The group was known for its virulently anti-British stance, with [[Yitzhak Shamir]] even willing to negotiate with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] for Jewish lives. They were persecuted by British and [[United States|U.S.]] governments and the Jewish labor movement.[^1]
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that his father, [[Gourdji]], was involved with the Stern Gang in [[Palestine]] in 1940. The group was known for its virulently anti-British stance, and Ben-Menashe wrote that Yitzhak Shamir was even willing to negotiate with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] for Jewish lives. They were persecuted by British and [[United States|U.S.]] governments and the Jewish labor movement.[^1]
On September 17, 1948 the United Nations Mediator in Palestine, [[Folke Bernadotte]], was assassinated in a Jewish-controlled part of [[Jerusalem]].[^2] A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] weekly summary of October 1948 reported that the Provisional Government of Israel had not apprehended the assassins and that many members of the Stern Gang were still at large.[^3]
Yehoshua Zettler (also spelled Zeitler) and Meshulam Markover described the Bernadotte killing on Israeli television and radio on September 9, 1988. Zeitler said he directed it, Markover said he led the squad, and they said Yehoshua Cohen fired the shots.[^4] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Zeitler said Shamir was not directly implicated in the act, while [[Israel Eldad]] said Shamir was one of four men who planned assassinations but could not confirm that he attended the meeting that ordered this one. Sweden's demand for a second apology was refused.[^5] The Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem describes the Stern Gang as led after 1942 by a triumvirate of Eldad, [[Nathan Yellin-Mor]] and Shamir, and reports that the decision to kill the mediator was taken at meetings in June and September 1948.[^6] Shamir's role in founding LEHI in 1940, and as one of the three leaders after Stern's death in 1942, is recorded in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's obituary of him.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: _Yearbook of the United Nations 1947-48_, "Tributes to Count Bernadotte and Colonel Serot." https://archive.org/details/yearbook-of-the-united-nations_1947-1948
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency, weekly summary, October 1948 (CIA-RDP78-01617A002100020001-5). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-01617a002100020001-5
[^4]: John Kifner, "2 Recount '48 Killing in Israel," _The New York Times_, 12 September 1988, p. A3. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/world/2-recount-48-killing-in-israel.html
[^5]: "Israel refuses to apologize for 1948 assassination," _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, September 1988. https://jta.org/archive/israel-refuses-to-apologize-for-1948-assassination
[^6]: Issa Nakhleh, _Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem_, vol. 1 (1991). https://archive.org/details/encyclopedia-of-the-palestine-problem-volume-i
[^7]: "Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's 7th prime minister, dies at 96," _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, July 2012. https://www.jta.org/?p=1789432

89
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/AIFLD.md
View file

@ -14,10 +14,17 @@ tags:
- CovertOperations
- BritishGuiana
- Chile
summary: "The CIA-funded American Institute for Free Labor Development, the AFL-CIO's Latin American arm, which organized anticommunist labor unions throughout the hemisphere and whose operatives played a documented role in the 1964 Brazilian coup and other Cold War regime changes."
summary: "The CIA-funded American Institute for Free Labor Development, the AFL-CIO's Latin American arm, organized anticommunist unions and played a documented role in the 1964 Brazilian coup and other Cold War regime changes."
location: Washington, DC / Latin America
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Agency for International Development]]"
reverse: true
start: 1962
role: "supplied $16 million of the roughly $18 million AIFLD received from 1962 through 1967 (87 per cent, per Greider)"
fn: 7
created: 2026-06-05
updated: 2026-06-05
updated: 2026-10-12
---
The American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD) was established in 1962 as the [[AFL-CIO]]'s Latin American arm, jointly funded by the US government (through [[USAID]]), major US corporations, and the CIA. Its stated mission was to build democratic trade unions throughout [[Latin America]] as a counterweight to communist labor organizing. In practice, AIFLD played a documented role in the destabilization campaigns that preceded the 1964 Brazilian coup deposing President [[Joao Goulart]], the 1963 general strike that toppled [[Cheddi Jagan]]'s elected government in [[British Guiana]], and the 1973 Chilean coup against President [[Salvador Allende]].[^1]
@ -32,23 +39,25 @@ George Meany served as president of AIFLD while simultaneously serving as presid
### Funding Structure and CIA Connection
AIFLD's funding was almost entirely governmental. USAID provided approximately 93 percent of AIFLD's budget from 1962 to 1974, totaling at least $15 million annually by the organization's peak years. The AFL-CIO's own contribution varied between 2.5 and 4.5 percent of the total budget. The corporate board's financial contribution was modest but its membership was strategically significant.[^5]
AIFLD's funding was almost entirely governmental. Fred Hirsch's 1974 analysis, citing USAID budget data for 1962 to 1974, put USAID's share of AIFLD's budget at approximately 93 percent, totaling at least $15 million annually by the organization's peak years. The AFL-CIO's own contribution varied between 2.5 and 4.5 percent of the total budget. The corporate board's financial contribution was modest but its membership was strategically significant.[^5]
Corporate members of AIFLD's board included W.R. Grace & Co., [[Pan American Airways]], [[Anaconda Copper]] (the Anaconda Company), [[Standard Oil]] affiliates (including Exxon and Shell), [[Chase Manhattan Bank]], [[IBM]], [[Koppers]], [[Gillette]], and [[Johnson & Johnson]]. These corporations shared a common interest in stable, anticommunist labor conditions across Latin America, where their investments were concentrated. [[Berent Friele]], the Norwegian-born coffee dealer who served as [[Nelson Rockefeller]]'s personal representative on Latin American affairs and was on Rockefeller's payroll at [[Rockefeller Center]], also sat on the board, providing a direct link between AIFLD's governance and the Rockefeller network.[^6]
The opening statement at an August 1969 hearing of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] stated that AIFLD had "received a little over $28 million in foreign aid funds for its operations in Latin America" since 1962.[^6] [[William Greider]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] on April 21, 1969 that the [[Agency for International Development]] (AID) had supplied $16 million of the roughly $18 million AIFLD received from 1962 through 1967, and he put the government share of that money at 87 per cent; the remaining $2 million came from the AFL-CIO and 70 business firms.[^7] Greider also reported that AID's deputy administrator, [[Rutherford Poats]], questioned about AID's policy toward the AFL-CIO's African institute, said that AID took the same attitude it took toward other private groups it supported because "we are financing a union-to-union relationship."[^7]
The CIA's role was channeled through USAID and through a series of pass-through foundations. The Andrew Hamilton Foundation was identified as a CIA conduit at an August 31, 1964 hearing of a House Select Small Business Subcommittee chaired by Representative Wright Patman (D-TX). The Foundation channeled $25,000 per month to the International Federation of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers for use in Latin America in cooperation with AIFLD. A February 24, 1967, Drew Pearson column estimated CIA money flowing to labor organizations at approximately $100 million per year across all programs.[^7]
Corporate members of AIFLD's board included W.R. Grace & Co., [[Pan American Airways]], [[Anaconda Copper]] (the Anaconda Company), [[Standard Oil]] affiliates (including Exxon and Shell), [[Chase Manhattan Bank]], [[IBM]], [[Koppers]], [[Gillette]], and [[Johnson & Johnson]]. These corporations shared a common interest in stable, anticommunist labor conditions across Latin America, where their investments were concentrated. [[Berent Friele]], the Norwegian-born coffee dealer who served as [[Nelson Rockefeller]]'s personal representative on Latin American affairs and was on Rockefeller's payroll at [[Rockefeller Center]], also sat on the board, providing a direct link between AIFLD's governance and the Rockefeller network.[^8]
Philip Agee, the CIA case officer who served in Ecuador and Uruguay during the early 1960s before becoming the agency's most prominent defector, identified Romualdi as "the principal CIA agent for labor operations in Latin America" and described AIFLD as "a CIA controlled labor center financed through AID." Agee identified Doherty as a CIA agent in labor operations. In CIA records, Romualdi's operational pseudonym was "Charles Guymers."[^8]
The CIA's role was channeled through USAID and through a series of pass-through foundations. The Andrew Hamilton Foundation was identified as a CIA conduit at an August 31, 1964 hearing of a House Select Small Business Subcommittee chaired by Representative Wright Patman (D-TX). The Foundation channeled $25,000 per month to the International Federation of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers for use in Latin America in cooperation with AIFLD. A February 24, 1967, Drew Pearson column estimated CIA money flowing to labor organizations at approximately $100 million per year across all programs.[^9]
The CIA's [[International Organizations Division]], which ran relationships with international labor, student, and cultural organizations throughout the Cold War period, exercised operational control over AIFLD's activities through the local CIA station in each country where AIFLD operated, while nominal administrative control remained with AIFLD's Washington headquarters.[^9]
Philip Agee, the CIA case officer who served in Ecuador and Uruguay during the early 1960s before becoming the agency's most prominent defector, identified Romualdi as "the principal CIA agent for labor operations in Latin America" and described AIFLD as "a CIA controlled labor center financed through AID." Agee identified Doherty as a CIA agent in labor operations. In CIA records, Romualdi's operational pseudonym was "Charles Guymers."[^10]
The CIA's [[International Organizations Division]], which ran relationships with international labor, student, and cultural organizations throughout the Cold War period, exercised operational control over AIFLD's activities through the local CIA station in each country where AIFLD operated, while nominal administrative control remained with AIFLD's Washington headquarters.[^11]
### Training Operations
AIFLD's Washington training school opened in June 1962 and provided three-month residential courses to Latin American trade union leaders. The curriculum included instruction on anticommunist union organizing, collective bargaining, and what were described internally as techniques for countering Communist influence within unions. Trainees received monthly stipends and per diem payments that typically exceeded their normal wages, creating material incentives for continued cooperation with AIFLD after their return home.
AIFLD also operated a residential training facility in Front Royal, Virginia, which was used for more intensive courses for selected Latin American labor leaders. By 1972, AIFLD claimed to have trained 133,755 trade unionists across its programs.[^10]
AIFLD also operated a residential training facility in Front Royal, Virginia, which was used for more intensive courses for selected Latin American labor leaders. By 1972, AIFLD claimed to have trained 133,755 trade unionists across its programs.[^12]
After completing their coursework, selected graduates received nine-month internship stipends to continue organizing work in their home countries. AIFLD also ran a network of in-country programs across eleven Latin American nations and conducted development projects, including the construction of affordable worker housing in cities where ORIT-affiliated (Inter-American Regional Labor Organization) unions operated. Prospective residents of the AIFLD housing projects were required to complete detailed questionnaires about their union affiliations and activities.[^11]
After completing their coursework, selected graduates received nine-month internship stipends to continue organizing work in their home countries. AIFLD also ran a network of in-country programs across eleven Latin American nations and conducted development projects, including the construction of affordable worker housing in cities where ORIT-affiliated (Inter-American Regional Labor Organization) unions operated. Prospective residents of the AIFLD housing projects were required to complete detailed questionnaires about their union affiliations and activities.[^13]
### British Guiana: 1962-1964
@ -56,43 +65,43 @@ AIFLD's operations in British Guiana were among the earliest and most extensivel
Eight Guyanese trade union leaders participated in AIFLD's inaugural Washington training course in June 1962 and six returned to British Guiana in September 1962 on AIFLD internship stipends. When the [[British Guiana Trades Union Council]] (BGTUC) called a general strike in April 1963 against Jagan's labor relations bill, AIFLD interns were placed at the disposal of the strike committee and their stipends were extended. The 1963 general strike, which lasted approximately eighty days, has been described as one of the longest general strikes in modern history.
Financial support for the strike, coordinated through CIA channels, reached approximately $800,000 (equivalent to roughly $6.7 million in 2019 dollars), averaging around $10,000 per day. The funds were channeled through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Retail Clerks International Union, the American Newspaper Guild, and AIFLD. The CIA operative Howard McCabe worked directly with the strike committee; Sidney Lens documented that at least six AFL-CIO representatives were sent to Guyana carrying approximately $1 million in CIA funds. Richard Ishmael, leader of the BGTUC, was an AIFLD-trained operative. Jagan's government ultimately fell in 1964 when electoral rules were changed under British pressure coordinated with Washington.[^12]
Financial support for the strike, coordinated through CIA channels, reached approximately $800,000 (equivalent to roughly $6.7 million in 2019 dollars), averaging around $10,000 per day. The funds were channeled through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Retail Clerks International Union, the American Newspaper Guild, and AIFLD. The CIA operative Howard McCabe worked directly with the strike committee; Sidney Lens documented that at least six AFL-CIO representatives were sent to Guyana carrying approximately $1 million in CIA funds. Richard Ishmael, leader of the BGTUC, was an AIFLD-trained operative. Jagan's government ultimately fell in 1964 when electoral rules were changed under British pressure coordinated with Washington.[^14]
### Brazil: Andrew McLellan and the 1964 Coup
AIFLD's Brazil representative was [[Andrew McLellan]], the AFL-CIO's Inter-American representative. McLellan operated in Brazil from the early 1960s, cultivating relationships with Brazilian labor leaders willing to organize against Goulart's proposed structural reforms, which included land redistribution and nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises.
In early 1963, AIFLD convened a special all-Brazilian training class of thirty-three unionists at its Washington facility. The course included approximately fifty hours of instruction on techniques for fighting Communist influence within unions, taught by Romualdi and Jay Lovestone (the AFL-CIO's international affairs director, himself a former Communist Party USA leader who became a CIA asset). The class then traveled to Western Europe and Israel with Romualdi before returning to Brazil.[^13]
In early 1963, AIFLD convened a special all-Brazilian training class of thirty-three unionists at its Washington facility. The course included approximately fifty hours of instruction on techniques for fighting Communist influence within unions, taught by Romualdi and Jay Lovestone (the AFL-CIO's international affairs director, himself a former Communist Party USA leader who became a CIA asset). The class then traveled to Western Europe and Israel with Romualdi before returning to Brazil.[^15]
These thirty-three graduates returned to Brazil and participated in organizing employer lockouts, street demonstrations, and worker actions that destabilized the Goulart government in the months before the coup. On the night of March 31 - April 1, 1964, when the military moved against Goulart, AIFLD-trained union officials worked to ensure that calls for a general strike went unanswered. In the coup's immediate aftermath, the new military regime placed leftist-led unions into government trusteeships, with some AIFLD graduates installed as "intervenors" to purge these unions of Goulart sympathizers.[^14]
These thirty-three graduates returned to Brazil and participated in organizing employer lockouts, street demonstrations, and worker actions that destabilized the Goulart government in the months before the coup. On the night of March 31 - April 1, 1964, when the military moved against Goulart, AIFLD-trained union officials worked to ensure that calls for a general strike went unanswered. In the coup's immediate aftermath, the new military regime placed leftist-led unions into government trusteeships, with some AIFLD graduates installed as "intervenors" to purge these unions of Goulart sympathizers.[^16]
At an AFL-CIO Labor News Conference in July 1964, three months after the coup, Doherty stated publicly that the Brazilian trainees "were very active in organizing workers" and that "some of them were so active that they became intimately involved in some of the clandestine operations of the revolution before it took place on April 1." This statement was notable for its candor. Doherty subsequently acknowledged that AIFLD's Brazilian program "was planned, and planned months in advance."[^15]
At an AFL-CIO Labor News Conference in July 1964, three months after the coup, Doherty stated publicly that the Brazilian trainees "were very active in organizing workers" and that "some of them were so active that they became intimately involved in some of the clandestine operations of the revolution before it took place on April 1." This statement was notable for its candor. Doherty subsequently acknowledged that AIFLD's Brazilian program "was planned, and planned months in advance."[^17]
McLellan acknowledged in statements to [[NACLA]] (the [[North American Congress on Latin America]]) that AIFLD had been active in Brazil's labor politics during the coup period, while disputing characterizations of AIFLD as a CIA instrument.[^16]
McLellan acknowledged in statements to [[NACLA]] (the [[North American Congress on Latin America]]) that AIFLD had been active in Brazil's labor politics during the coup period, while disputing characterizations of AIFLD as a CIA instrument.[^18]
After the coup, the AFL-CIO encouraged Brazilian workers to accept a military-imposed wage freeze. AIFLD-trained officials who had been installed as union intervenors cooperated with the regime's labor policies. NACLA documented AIFLD's subsequent role in Argentina in its 1975 report "AIFLD Losing Its Grip," tracking the pattern across the southern cone.[^17]
After the coup, the AFL-CIO encouraged Brazilian workers to accept a military-imposed wage freeze. AIFLD-trained officials who had been installed as union intervenors cooperated with the regime's labor policies. NACLA documented AIFLD's subsequent role in Argentina in its 1975 report "AIFLD Losing Its Grip," tracking the pattern across the southern cone.[^19]
The AFL-CIO's own archives on Brazil for the period following the 1964 coup are notably sparse. An investigation of the AFL-CIO archives found the Chile file for 1973 and the Brazil file for 1964 both remarkably thin compared to surrounding years, with the archive director acknowledging "it sounds like there was a pattern of people looking through and pulling things."[^18]
The AFL-CIO's own archives on Brazil for the period following the 1964 coup are notably sparse. An investigation of the AFL-CIO archives found the Chile file for 1973 and the Brazil file for 1964 both remarkably thin compared to surrounding years, with the archive director acknowledging "it sounds like there was a pattern of people looking through and pulling things."[^20]
### Chile: 1971-1973
From 1971 to 1973, AIFLD channeled millions of dollars to right-wing unions and business associations opposing President Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular government. AIFLD's Chile program was closely coordinated with the US Embassy in [[Santiago]] and dovetailed with the CIA's objective of splitting the Chilean labor movement, where workers overwhelmingly supported Allende.
AIFLD supported the gremios (associations of right-wing middle-class professionals) and the country's conservative maritime workers union. In 1972 and 1973, with CIA financial support, truck owners and merchants staged a series of strikes aimed at creating economic chaos and undermining Allende's government. AIFLD contributed to gathering information on Chilean unionists and their political affiliations. After the September 11, 1973 coup, hundreds of trade unionists were rounded up, some of whom had worked with AIFLD.[^19]
AIFLD supported the gremios (associations of right-wing middle-class professionals) and the country's conservative maritime workers union. In 1972 and 1973, with CIA financial support, truck owners and merchants staged a series of strikes aimed at creating economic chaos and undermining Allende's government. AIFLD contributed to gathering information on Chilean unionists and their political affiliations. After the September 11, 1973 coup, hundreds of trade unionists were rounded up, some of whom had worked with AIFLD.[^21]
Following revelations of AIFLD's role in the Chilean coup, rank-and-file union members across the United States began demanding transparency about AIFLD's operations in the mid-1970s, with several union locals and labor councils calling on the AFL-CIO to fund its foreign programs independently rather than through USAID.[^20]
Following revelations of AIFLD's role in the Chilean coup, rank-and-file union members across the United States began demanding transparency about AIFLD's operations in the mid-1970s, with several union locals and labor councils calling on the AFL-CIO to fund its foreign programs independently rather than through USAID.[^22]
### Operational Pattern
AIFLD's activities followed a pattern of parallel unionism: using the AFL-CIO's institutional credibility and labor movement relationships to organize anticommunist "parallel" unions in Latin American countries where US corporate and government interests faced nationalist labor movements. This pattern repeated in British Guiana (1962-1964), Brazil (1964), the Dominican Republic, and Chile (1973).
George Meany described AIFLD publicly as "a working agency of the United States government," a characterization that aligned with J. Peter Grace's description of AIFLD as a joint government-business-labor venture whose purpose was, in Grace's words, to make "the investment climate more attractive and inviting" for US corporate interests and to teach "workers to increase their company's business." Doherty echoed this framing in his own public statements: "Our collaboration [with business] takes the form of trying to make the investment climate more attractive and inviting."[^21]
George Meany described AIFLD publicly as "a working agency of the United States government," a characterization that aligned with J. Peter Grace's description of AIFLD as a joint government-business-labor venture whose purpose was, in Grace's words, to make "the investment climate more attractive and inviting" for US corporate interests and to teach "workers to increase their company's business." Doherty echoed this framing in his own public statements: "Our collaboration [with business] takes the form of trying to make the investment climate more attractive and inviting."[^23]
AIFLD's training programs went beyond labor organizing to include civic and political organization techniques. Graduates moved into business associations, political parties, and government positions in the military governments that followed coups in which AIFLD had been active.[^22]
AIFLD's training programs went beyond labor organizing to include civic and political organization techniques. Graduates moved into business associations, political parties, and government positions in the military governments that followed coups in which AIFLD had been active.[^24]
### Congressional Scrutiny
The [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] held hearings on AIFLD on August 1, 1969, examining its structure, funding, and activities. The Church Committee (the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 1975-1976) examined the CIA's use of private organizational structures, including labor institutions, as pass-throughs for covert operations funding. Victor Reuther, a senior official of the United Auto Workers, told reporters in 1966 that [[Jay Lovestone]] and the AFL-CIO were "involved" with the CIA, criticizing AIFLD's role in the Brazilian coup; journalistic exposés the following year substantiated his claims by revealing the CIA's ties to the labor federation.[^23]
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on AIFLD on August 1, 1969, examining its structure, funding, and activities. The Church Committee (the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 1975-1976) examined the CIA's use of private organizational structures, including labor institutions, as pass-throughs for covert operations funding. Victor Reuther, a senior official of the United Auto Workers, told reporters in 1966 that [[Jay Lovestone]] and the AFL-CIO were "involved" with the CIA, criticizing AIFLD's role in the Brazilian coup; journalistic exposés the following year substantiated his claims by revealing the CIA's ties to the labor federation.[^25]
### Footnotes
@ -101,21 +110,23 @@ The [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] held hearings on AIFLD on August 1, 1
[^3]: Comptroller General of the United States report on AIFLD, cited in Fred Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role in Latin America; or, Under the Covers with the CIA" (San Jose, CA, January 25, 1974); Stanley Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America," *The Nation*, February 10, 1964.
[^4]: Mary Ferrell Foundation, Cryptonym Database, ZRSIGN (Serafino Romualdi, pseudonym "Charles Guymers"), CIA cables October-December 1963; Philip Agee, *Inside the Company: CIA Diary* (Penguin, 1975), identifying Romualdi as "the principal CIA agent for labor operations in Latin America" and Doherty as a CIA agent in labor operations.
[^5]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role," citing USAID budget data 1962-1974; Socialist Action, "Latin American Cloak and Daggers: The AFL-CIO and the CIA," May 2002.
[^6]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28; Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; Rockefeller Archive Center, Berent Friele papers; Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History," January 2020.
[^7]: House Select Small Business Subcommittee, hearing of August 31, 1964 (chaired by Rep. Wright Patman, D-TX), identifying the Andrew Hamilton Foundation as a CIA front; Drew Pearson syndicated column, February 24, 1967; Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role."
[^8]: Agee, *Inside the Company: CIA Diary* (1975); Mary Ferrell Foundation, ZRSIGN cryptonym database, confirming Romualdi pseudonym "Charles Guymers."
[^9]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; Agee, *Inside the Company.*
[^10]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (133,755 trainees by 1972); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (first Washington course June 1962); Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History."
[^11]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (nine-month stipends and housing questionnaires); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (eleven-country programs).
[^12]: National Security Archive, "CIA Covert Operations: The Overthrow of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana, 1964," April 6, 2020 (documents on AFSCME, RCIU, ANG, and AIFLD roles; $800,000 figure; Richard Ishmael); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (eight Guyanese in June 1962 class, six returned September 1962); Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (Sidney Lens, *Partners: Labor and the CIA*; Howard McCabe; $1 million figure).
[^13]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (33-trainee class, 50 hours of instruction, Western Europe and Israel trip); Brasilwire, "1964: Brasil & CIA" (class composition and timing); Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^14]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29; Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (graduates preventing general strike, intervenors installed in unions).
[^15]: Doherty statement at AFL-CIO Labor News Conference, July 1964, quoted in multiple secondary sources including Brasilwire, "1964: Brasil & CIA" and Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History"; Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29 ("planned months in advance").
[^16]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29.
[^17]: NACLA, "AIFLD Losing Its Grip," in *Argentina in the Hour of the Furnaces* (New York: NACLA, 1975); Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (wage freeze cooperation).
[^18]: *The Nation*, "Labor's Cold War," citing AFL-CIO archive investigation; archive director quoted on pattern of document removal.
[^19]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (gremios support, maritime workers union, 1972-1973 truckers strikes, information gathering, post-coup roundups of unionists).
[^20]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (rank-and-file demands for transparency, union locals calling for independent funding).
[^21]: George Meany quoted in Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; J. Peter Grace and Doherty quotes from Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" and cosmonautmag.com, "Solidarity Sometimes."
[^22]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^23]: University of Maryland Special Collections, Archives finding aid, "Senate Foreign Relations Committee, American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), 1969 Aug 1"; Church Committee (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence), 1975-76; Victor Reuther statements to reporters, 1966, cited in Jacobin, "How the 'AFL-CIA' Undermined Labor Movements Abroad," September 2024.
[^6]: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, hearing on the American Institute for Free Labor Development, 91st Congress, 1st session, 1969, opening statement of the chairman and statement of George Meany. Serial CHRG-91shrg33948. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-91shrg33948/pdf/CHRG-91shrg33948.pdf
[^7]: William Greider, "Washington Post," April 21, 1969, reprinted in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing record, Serial CHRG-91shrg33948. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-91shrg33948/pdf/CHRG-91shrg33948.pdf
[^8]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28; Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; Rockefeller Archive Center, Berent Friele papers; Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History," January 2020.
[^9]: House Select Small Business Subcommittee, hearing of August 31, 1964 (chaired by Rep. Wright Patman, D-TX), identifying the Andrew Hamilton Foundation as a CIA front; Drew Pearson syndicated column, February 24, 1967; Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role."
[^10]: Agee, *Inside the Company: CIA Diary* (1975); Mary Ferrell Foundation, ZRSIGN cryptonym database, confirming Romualdi pseudonym "Charles Guymers."
[^11]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; Agee, *Inside the Company.*
[^12]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (133,755 trainees by 1972); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (first Washington course June 1962); Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History."
[^13]: Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (nine-month stipends and housing questionnaires); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (eleven-country programs).
[^14]: National Security Archive, "CIA Covert Operations: The Overthrow of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana, 1964," April 6, 2020 (documents on AFSCME, RCIU, ANG, and AIFLD roles; $800,000 figure; Richard Ishmael); Meisler, "Meddling in Latin America" (eight Guyanese in June 1962 class, six returned September 1962); Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role" (Sidney Lens, *Partners: Labor and the CIA*; Howard McCabe; $1 million figure).
[^15]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (33-trainee class, 50 hours of instruction, Western Europe and Israel trip); Brasilwire, "1964: Brasil & CIA" (class composition and timing); Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^16]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29; Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (graduates preventing general strike, intervenors installed in unions).
[^17]: Doherty statement at AFL-CIO Labor News Conference, July 1964, quoted in multiple secondary sources including Brasilwire, "1964: Brasil & CIA" and Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History"; Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29 ("planned months in advance").
[^18]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29.
[^19]: NACLA, "AIFLD Losing Its Grip," in *Argentina in the Hour of the Furnaces* (New York: NACLA, 1975); Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (wage freeze cooperation).
[^20]: *The Nation*, "Labor's Cold War," citing AFL-CIO archive investigation; archive director quoted on pattern of document removal.
[^21]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (gremios support, maritime workers union, 1972-1973 truckers strikes, information gathering, post-coup roundups of unionists).
[^22]: Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" (rank-and-file demands for transparency, union locals calling for independent funding).
[^23]: George Meany quoted in Hirsch, "An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role"; J. Peter Grace and Doherty quotes from Jacobin, "Reckoning With the AFL-CIO's Imperialist History" and cosmonautmag.com, "Solidarity Sometimes."
[^24]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^25]: University of Maryland Special Collections, Archives finding aid, "Senate Foreign Relations Committee, American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), 1969 Aug 1"; Church Committee (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence), 1975-76; Victor Reuther statements to reporters, 1966, cited in Jacobin, "How the 'AFL-CIA' Undermined Labor Movements Abroad," September 2024.

18
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Air America.md
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@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: Air America
aliases:
- Air America
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-12
tags:
- Organization
- CIA
@ -30,9 +30,13 @@ Air America's role in heroin trafficking during the Vietnam War was well-documen
The 1993 Department of Justice inquiry into CIA involvement with The Finders examined these connections. The Washington Times reported in December 1993 that investigators had uncovered multiple links between the group and the intelligence community, including the Air America employment, the CIA training at Future Enterprises, and [[Isabelle Pettie]]'s employment with the CIA. The convergence of these connections suggested a pattern of overlap between The Finders and intelligence operations that went beyond coincidence.[^1]
### Laos and AID Contracts
[[Civil Air Transport]], the predecessor of Air America, flew its first rice airdrops for the [[United States Operations Mission]] in [[Laos]] in September 1955.[^3] A January 17, 1964 memorandum from the [[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] to the [[Special Group]] stated that the CIA's covert air support in Laos, "conducted by an ostensibly private and commercial company, has been able to continue operations in Laos under USAID contractual arrangements and through the flexibility of CIA's cover and funding mechanisms."[^4] A CIA record of the October 28, 1969 session of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee chaired by Senator [[Stuart Symington]] lists as follow-up that Senator [[Mike Mansfield]] was promised a list of the directors of Air America.[^5] A Senate staff report printed August 3, 1971 stated that Air America, [[Continental Air Services]] and [[Lao Air Transport]] "operate under contracts with [[Agency for International Development|AID]], although funds are provided by AID, the Defense Department, CIA, and the State Department," with fiscal 1970 air transport contract costs of $5 million for AID, an amount deleted from the published text for the CIA, and $11.7 million for the AID Requirements Office.[^6]
### Nugan Hand Bank
In 1969 four men who gave their business address as Air America were among the shareholders of [[Australasian and Pacific Holding]], which was described as a "tourism" company and through which [[Frank Nugan]] and [[Michael Hand]] began their business partnership.[^3] The Progressive described the founders of the [[Nugan Hand Bank]] as listing their addresses as "c/o Air America, San Francisco," and described Air America as a wholly owned CIA subsidiary.[^4] The New York Times reported in 1987 that [[Richard Secord]] "played a large role in directing Air America's operations" in the period when Hand served in Laos.[^5]
In 1969 four men who gave their business address as Air America were among the shareholders of [[Australasian and Pacific Holding]], which was described as a "tourism" company and through which [[Frank Nugan]] and [[Michael Hand]] began their business partnership.[^7] The Progressive described the founders of the [[Nugan Hand Bank]] as listing their addresses as "c/o Air America, San Francisco," and described Air America as a wholly owned CIA subsidiary.[^8] The New York Times reported in 1987 that [[Richard Secord]] "played a large role in directing Air America's operations" in the period when Hand served in Laos.[^9]
### From Vietnam to Central America
@ -42,6 +46,10 @@ In 1969 four men who gave their business address as Air America were among the s
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 16.
[^3]: "Failed Bank Linked to CIA Ripoffs." New York Daily News, February 13, 1981, Washington News Bureau report. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820040-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820040-5
[^4]: "December Briefing" (items "Fighting words" and "Troubled waters"), The Progressive, December 1980. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820041-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820041-4
[^5]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
[^3]: William M. Leary, "CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974: Supporting the 'Secret War'," Central Intelligence Agency, Studies in Intelligence (reproduced at https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/nat-sec/Vietnam/air-america.htm).
[^4]: Memorandum from the Deputy Director for Coordination, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Scott) to the Special Group, January 17, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXVIII, Laos, document 1. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v28/d1
[^5]: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Legislative Counsel, Memorandum for the Record, "DCI Briefing of Subcommittee on U.S. Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad of Senate Foreign Relations Committee - 28 October 1969," OLC 69-0905. CIA reading room, CIA-RDP72-00337R000100150001-1. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp72-00337r000100150001-1
[^6]: Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Laos: April 1971, a staff report prepared for the Subcommittee on U.S. Security Agreements and Commitments Abroad (James G. Lowenstein and Richard M. Moose), 92d Congress, committee print, August 3, 1971, section IV (air operations). CIA reading room, CIA-RDP73B00296R000300080001-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp73b00296r000300080001-0
[^7]: "Failed Bank Linked to CIA Ripoffs." New York Daily News, February 13, 1981, Washington News Bureau report. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820040-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820040-5
[^8]: "December Briefing" (items "Fighting words" and "Troubled waters"), The Progressive, December 1980. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820041-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820041-4
[^9]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.md
View file

@ -25,20 +25,27 @@ relations:
role: "sole bidder and awardee, firm fixed price order HHM402-08-C-0072 (Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications)"
start: 2008-09-22
end: 2010-12-21
fn: 8
fn: 12
- type: investigated
with: "[[Marc Cecotti]]"
reverse: true
start: 2021-12-08
end: 2023-06-20
role: "filed FOIA request to the Department of Homeland Security for records mentioning AAWSAP and BAASS (2008 to 2012); one responsive document, 'BAASS Goals 2011/2012', released June 20, 2023 under case 2022-HQFO-00386"
fn: 6
fn: 10
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Department of Homeland Security]]"
start: 2023-06-20
role: "the Office of the Chief Information Officer's search for BAASS and AAWSAP records dated 2008 to 2012 returned one document, released in full without exemptions"
fn: 6
updated: 2026-10-04
fn: 10
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Colm Kelleher]]"
reverse: true
role: "deputy administrator, 2008 to 2011 (offering circular); deputy administrator running day-to-day AAWSAP operations (Micah Hanks Program description, May 2023)"
start: 2008
end: 2011
fn: 2
updated: 2026-10-12
---
Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) was a subsidiary of [[Robert Bigelow]]'s aerospace and real estate enterprise, established as a scientific research and contracting organization to pursue anomalous phenomena investigation, including unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). It was the primary contractor for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]'s [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program|AATIP]]-related research program (formally designated the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, AAWSAP) from 2008 to approximately 2010.[^1]
@ -55,25 +62,27 @@ In 2008, the Defense Intelligence Agency awarded a firm fixed price order to BAA
BAASS employed approximately 50 full-time researchers and contracted hundreds more to staff the program. The chief scientist was [[Hal Puthoff]], the physicist who had directed the original [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] remote viewing program in the 1970s and maintained decades of research interest in advanced propulsion and UAP physics. BAASS investigators conducted site visits to UAP encounter locations, collected witness testimony, analyzed materials, and commissioned studies on advanced propulsion, exotic physics, and human physiological effects from UAP encounters.[^1]
[[Colm Kelleher]], a biochemist who had led the National Institute for Discovery Science team at Skinwalker Ranch, is described in the September 29, 2017 offering circular of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] as having served from 2008 to 2011 as "Deputy Administrator of a United States Government funded threat assessment program focused on advanced aerospace technology." The circular does not name BAASS, the program or the agency.[^2] The description of a May 2023 episode of [[The Micah Hanks Program]], published by [[The Debrief]], states that in 2008 Kelleher became deputy administrator of BAASS, "where he led the day-to-day operations in executing the AAWSAP contract with Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)."[^3] In written testimony to the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets for its hearing of September 9, 2025, [[George Knapp]] described Kelleher as the principal manager of AAWSAP in Las Vegas, said that Kelleher worked for Bigelow, and said that BAASS was awarded the DIA contract.[^4] The Black Vault's AAWSAP archive describes [[James Lacatski]] as the director of the program.[^5]
### Skinwalker Ranch and Anomalous Phenomena
BAASS investigators conducted detailed ongoing research at Skinwalker Ranch during the contract period. The ranch had been the site of continued anomalous events since NIDS's initial investigation, and BAASS deployed instrumented observation posts, camera systems, and resident researchers. The scope of reported phenomena at the ranch - which [[Colm Kelleher]] and [[George Knapp]] documented in *[[Hunt for the Skinwalker]]* (Paraview Pocket Books, 2005) - included UAP, cattle mutilations, poltergeist-type effects, and what researchers described as a "hitchhiker effect," in which phenomena reportedly followed investigators home.[^1]
BAASS investigators conducted detailed ongoing research at Skinwalker Ranch during the contract period. The ranch had been the site of continued anomalous events since NIDS's initial investigation, and BAASS deployed instrumented observation posts, camera systems, and resident researchers. The scope of reported phenomena at the ranch - which Colm Kelleher and George Knapp documented in *[[Hunt for the Skinwalker]]* (Paraview Pocket Books, 2005) - included UAP, cattle mutilations, poltergeist-type effects, and what researchers described as a "hitchhiker effect," in which phenomena reportedly followed investigators home.[^1]
### Reports and DIRD Studies
BAASS produced a series of Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) - technical reports on advanced aerospace science topics relevant to UAP propulsion and performance. Hal Puthoff and other contributors addressed topics including warp drives, traversable wormholes, high-frequency gravitational wave communications, and exotic materials. The reports, produced between 2009 and 2010, were contracted at $25,000 each from subject matter experts in theoretical physics and advanced engineering. Several were later declassified and released as part of the post-2017 UAP transparency process.[^1]
A document titled "BAASS Ten Month Report," 530 pages, dated July 30, 2009, circulated online from May 30, 2025, when researchers including [[Jonathan Davies]] received an email from the [[Phenomainon]] website announcing a function called PhenomGPT through which two BAASS files could be retrieved. A second file, 141 pages, carries the title "BAASS Summary Report on BAASS' UAP Analysis Capabilities" and the date November 23, 2010. [[Keith Basterfield]] wrote on June 5, 2025 that he used no images from these documents and gave no links, and noted that Appendix 1 of [[James Lacatski]], Colm Kelleher and George Knapp's [[Skinwalkers at the Pentagon]] (2021) lists "BAASS July 2009 Ten Month report" (530 pages) and "Summary Report on BAASS UAP Analysis Capabilities" (141 pages) among the BAASS deliverables lodged with the Defense Intelligence Agency.[^2]
A document titled "BAASS Ten Month Report," 530 pages, dated July 30, 2009, circulated online from May 30, 2025, when researchers including [[Jonathan Davies]] received an email from the [[Phenomainon]] website announcing a function called PhenomGPT through which two BAASS files could be retrieved. A second file, 141 pages, carries the title "BAASS Summary Report on BAASS' UAP Analysis Capabilities" and the date November 23, 2010. [[Keith Basterfield]] wrote on June 5, 2025 that he used no images from these documents and gave no links, and noted that Appendix 1 of James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp's [[Skinwalkers at the Pentagon]] (2021) lists "BAASS July 2009 Ten Month report" (530 pages) and "Summary Report on BAASS UAP Analysis Capabilities" (141 pages) among the BAASS deliverables lodged with the Defense Intelligence Agency.[^6]
Basterfield wrote on June 28, 2025, citing page 3 of the Ten Month Report, that the first BAASS monthly report (for September 22 to October 2008) records two employees, "Robert Bigelow and senior analyst [[John Schuessler]] (In September 2008, a BAASS administrator was hired, but shortly thereafter resigned.)"[^3]
Basterfield wrote on June 28, 2025, citing page 3 of the Ten Month Report, that the first BAASS monthly report (for September 22 to October 2008) records two employees, "Robert Bigelow and senior analyst [[John Schuessler]] (In September 2008, a BAASS administrator was hired, but shortly thereafter resigned.)"[^7]
Basterfield wrote on July 7, 2025, quoting the Ten Month Report, that its description of Project Campus gives the objective as "to stimulate, motivate and encourage the senior levels of the academic community within the [[United States]] to involve themselves in study and research of very advanced aerial spacecraft that is presently considered phenomenological." As a "test case" BAASS approached senior management at the [[University of Nevada, Las Vegas]], which "responded positively"; BAASS proposed ten scenarios, including announcements by the [[United States Air Force]] or other officials that unidentified aerial phenomena were real and extraterrestrial, for the university to study with regard to "the media, economy, department of defense, political groups, science, the general public, religion, public health and academia." The report states: "Dr. Smith and four others have expressed strong interest in submitting a specific proposal to BAASS by August 2009."[^4]
Basterfield wrote on July 7, 2025, quoting the Ten Month Report, that its description of Project Campus gives the objective as "to stimulate, motivate and encourage the senior levels of the academic community within the [[United States]] to involve themselves in study and research of very advanced aerial spacecraft that is presently considered phenomenological." As a "test case" BAASS approached senior management at the [[University of Nevada, Las Vegas]], which "responded positively"; BAASS proposed ten scenarios, including announcements by the [[United States Air Force]] or other officials that unidentified aerial phenomena were real and extraterrestrial, for the university to study with regard to "the media, economy, department of defense, political groups, science, the general public, religion, public health and academia." The report states: "Dr. Smith and four others have expressed strong interest in submitting a specific proposal to BAASS by August 2009."[^8]
According to Basterfield's quotation, BAASS also sought proposals from [[Battelle Memorial Institute]], Southwestern Research Institute, the [[Center for American Progress]] and [[Sandia National Laboratories]] for a study budgeted at 400,000 dollars. The request for proposals states: "For the purpose of the proposed study we take the presence of such advanced exotic aerospace craft as a given." It asks whether "by 2050 there will be confirmation to the public by the U.S. government and its military authorities" of craft "beyond those of our own most advanced military craft," what format such a confirmation should take and what its effects would be on the military and "the U.S. body politic in the areas of commerce, religion, academia and so forth," and what steps could be taken to "soften the societal blow." As of the report date: "BAASS has not received a reply from CAP or SWRI regarding the RFP. Sandia National Laboratories volunteered that they did not have the expertise for the project and Battelle Memorial Institute declined the RFP."[^4]
According to Basterfield's quotation, BAASS also sought proposals from [[Battelle Memorial Institute]], Southwestern Research Institute, the [[Center for American Progress]] and [[Sandia National Laboratories]] for a study budgeted at 400,000 dollars. The request for proposals states: "For the purpose of the proposed study we take the presence of such advanced exotic aerospace craft as a given." It asks whether "by 2050 there will be confirmation to the public by the U.S. government and its military authorities" of craft "beyond those of our own most advanced military craft," what format such a confirmation should take and what its effects would be on the military and "the U.S. body politic in the areas of commerce, religion, academia and so forth," and what steps could be taken to "soften the societal blow." As of the report date: "BAASS has not received a reply from CAP or SWRI regarding the RFP. Sandia National Laboratories volunteered that they did not have the expertise for the project and Battelle Memorial Institute declined the RFP."[^8]
### Medical Effects Research
BAASS research included investigation of physiological effects reported by individuals claiming proximity to UAP, building on a database of cases with reported biological effects. [[Kit Green]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] neurophysiologist who had overseen the original SRI remote viewing program from 1972, contributed to this aspect of the research, applying forensic neurological analysis to reported injury patterns. The physiological effects research represented a continuity between the 1970s government anomalous phenomena programs and the AATIP-era research.[^5]
BAASS research included investigation of physiological effects reported by individuals claiming proximity to UAP, building on a database of cases with reported biological effects. [[Kit Green]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] neurophysiologist who had overseen the original SRI remote viewing program from 1972, contributed to this aspect of the research, applying forensic neurological analysis to reported injury patterns. The physiological effects research represented a continuity between the 1970s government anomalous phenomena programs and the AATIP-era research.[^9]
### Termination and Legacy
@ -81,9 +90,9 @@ The BAASS contract was not renewed after its initial two-year period. The AAWSAP
### Department of Homeland Security Records, Case 2022-HQFO-00386
[[Marc Cecotti]] submitted a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request to the [[Department of Homeland Security]] on December 8, 2021 for "a copy of all records, including but not limited to e-mails, reports, memorandum, presentations, mentioning: 'Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program' or the acronym 'AAWSAP' 'Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies' or the acronym 'BAASS.'" with a record-search date range of January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012. The department's final response, dated June 20, 2023 and signed by Jimmy Wolfrey, Senior Director, FOIA Operations and Management, was assigned case number 2022-HQFO-00386. It states: "Following a search of the Office of the Chief Information officer (OCIO), we are granting your request under FOIA ... After carefully reviewing the responsive document, we have determined that it is appropriate for public release. The documents are enclosed in their entirety; DHS has claimed no deletions or exemptions."[^6]
[[Marc Cecotti]] submitted a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request to the [[Department of Homeland Security]] on December 8, 2021 for "a copy of all records, including but not limited to e-mails, reports, memorandum, presentations, mentioning: 'Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program' or the acronym 'AAWSAP' 'Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies' or the acronym 'BAASS.'" with a record-search date range of January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012. The department's final response, dated June 20, 2023 and signed by Jimmy Wolfrey, Senior Director, FOIA Operations and Management, was assigned case number 2022-HQFO-00386. It states: "Following a search of the Office of the Chief Information officer (OCIO), we are granting your request under FOIA ... After carefully reviewing the responsive document, we have determined that it is appropriate for public release. The documents are enclosed in their entirety; DHS has claimed no deletions or exemptions."[^10]
Cecotti posted the letter and its enclosure on [[X]] on June 20, 2023, writing: "According to Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, AAWSAP officials tried to find alternative locations to house the program and attempts were made to transfer it to the Dept of Homeland Security in 2011. I went after DHS records, this is what they found."[^6]
Cecotti posted the letter and its enclosure on [[X]] on June 20, 2023, writing: "According to Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, AAWSAP officials tried to find alternative locations to house the program and attempts were made to transfer it to the Dept of Homeland Security in 2011. I went after DHS records, this is what they found."[^10]
The enclosure is a single page headed "BAASS Goals 2011/2012." It has no author, date or letterhead on its face. Its text reads in full:
@ -107,67 +116,71 @@ Area 3
NOTE: Unclassified separate organization
1. Create an open organization for collection of data on AAV performance.
2. Liaison with civilian groups for AAV data collection.[^6]
2. Liaison with civilian groups for AAV data collection.[^10]
Basterfield transcribed the page on June 22, 2023 and set beside it the nine areas of work in BAASS's original proposal to the DIA as listed in *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon* (global data collection; contact with people who know of novel technologies; a laboratory program with Skinwalker Ranch as a "living lab"; oral history; use of Bigelow space platforms; existing DIA data; biological effects; remote sensing; expert analysis and synthesis), of which the DIA approved areas 1 to 4, 6 and 9 for the first year. His comments on the DHS page were: "Area 1:1. Analyze recovered AAV technolgy - to my knowledge, no such recovered material ever found its way to AAWSAP, and therefore none was ever analyzed"; and "Areas 2:1 and 2:2. These read very much like the current goals of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)." On November 30, 2023 he called it "a very overlooked BAASS document."[^7]
Basterfield transcribed the page on June 22, 2023 and set beside it the nine areas of work in BAASS's original proposal to the DIA as listed in *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon* (global data collection; contact with people who know of novel technologies; a laboratory program with Skinwalker Ranch as a "living lab"; oral history; use of Bigelow space platforms; existing DIA data; biological effects; remote sensing; expert analysis and synthesis), of which the DIA approved areas 1 to 4, 6 and 9 for the first year. His comments on the DHS page were: "Area 1:1. Analyze recovered AAV technolgy - to my knowledge, no such recovered material ever found its way to AAWSAP, and therefore none was ever analyzed"; and "Areas 2:1 and 2:2. These read very much like the current goals of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)." On November 30, 2023 he called it "a very overlooked BAASS document."[^11]
### Solicitation and award
The Defense Intelligence Agency published its request for proposals on August 18, 2008, listing twelve technical areas: lift, propulsion, control, armament (radio-frequency and directed energy), spatial and temporal translation, signature reduction, materials, configuration and structure, power generation, human effects, human interface, and technology integration. A DIA talking paper dated May 4, 2009 states that DIA "received only one bid, from Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), in response to the RFP," determined the proposal responsive, and signed the contract on September 22, 2008.[^8] A second DIA memorandum describes BAASS as "the only bid, headquartered in [[North Las Vegas]], Nevada." The November 17, 2009 talking points describe the award to "the sole bidder" as covering "unclassified research in 11 technical areas" with technical reports due July 31, 2009.[^9][^10] The solicitation number is HHM402-08-R-0211, and the awarded contract number appears on DIA's own forms as HHM402-08-C-0072.[^11][^12] Block 6 of the order form gives the solicitation issue date as September 1, 2008, block 8 gives an offer due date of September 10, 2008, and the order incorporates the BAASS proposal dated September 3, 2008; the DIA talking paper dates the request for proposals August 18, 2008.[^8][^11]
The Defense Intelligence Agency published its request for proposals on August 18, 2008, listing twelve technical areas: lift, propulsion, control, armament (radio-frequency and directed energy), spatial and temporal translation, signature reduction, materials, configuration and structure, power generation, human effects, human interface, and technology integration. A DIA talking paper dated May 4, 2009 states that DIA "received only one bid, from Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), in response to the RFP," determined the proposal responsive, and signed the contract on September 22, 2008.[^12] A second DIA memorandum describes BAASS as "the only bid, headquartered in [[North Las Vegas]], Nevada." The November 17, 2009 talking points describe the award to "the sole bidder" as covering "unclassified research in 11 technical areas" with technical reports due July 31, 2009.[^13][^14] The solicitation number is HHM402-08-R-0211, and the awarded contract number appears on DIA's own forms as HHM402-08-C-0072.[^15][^16] Block 6 of the order form gives the solicitation issue date as September 1, 2008, block 8 gives an offer due date of September 10, 2008, and the order incorporates the BAASS proposal dated September 3, 2008; the DIA talking paper dates the request for proposals August 18, 2008.[^12][^15]
The award document is a Standard Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) issued by the [[Virginia Contracting Activity]] at [[Bolling Air Force Base]] (issuing office code HHQ402, administered by ZD50). It names "Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC, 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas NV 89119" as contractor (CAGE 54JU7) and designates the [[NSA]] Finance and Accounting Office at [[Fort Meade|Fort George G. Meade]], Maryland as the paying office. Block 26 of this copy gives the total award amount as 21,948,810 dollars. The copy of the same Standard Form 1449 reproduced at the front of the modification P00001 package (block 3 award date September 22, 2008, block 6 solicitation issue date September 1, 2008) gives the total award amount in block 26 as 10,000,000 dollars.[^13] The contract type is firm fixed price, with a base year of September 22, 2008 to September 29, 2009 and an option year of September 22, 2009 to September 21, 2010; the order incorporates BAASS's proposal dated September 3, 2008. The line items are monthly status reports, project management plans for the tasks listed as 3.a.1 through 3.a.12, research reports for the same tasks, a "Comprehensive Integrated Threat Assessment," travel, and other direct costs; the unit prices and line amounts are redacted under FOIA Exemption 4.[^11] The statement of work (section 5.1) required the contractor to provide a work facility with a Top Secret facility clearance granted by the [[Defense Security Service]], and states that cleared facilities "are not required at contract inception."[^12] Modification P00001 refers to the order as dated September 22, 2008.[^13]
The award document is a Standard Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) issued by the [[Virginia Contracting Activity]] at [[Bolling Air Force Base]] (issuing office code HHQ402, administered by ZD50). It names "Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC, 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas NV 89119" as contractor (CAGE 54JU7) and designates the [[NSA]] Finance and Accounting Office at [[Fort Meade|Fort George G. Meade]], Maryland as the paying office. Block 26 of this copy gives the total award amount as 21,948,810 dollars. The copy of the same Standard Form 1449 reproduced at the front of the modification P00001 package (block 3 award date September 22, 2008, block 6 solicitation issue date September 1, 2008) gives the total award amount in block 26 as 10,000,000 dollars.[^17] The contract type is firm fixed price, with a base year of September 22, 2008 to September 29, 2009 and an option year of September 22, 2009 to September 21, 2010; the order incorporates BAASS's proposal dated September 3, 2008. The line items are monthly status reports, project management plans for the tasks listed as 3.a.1 through 3.a.12, research reports for the same tasks, a "Comprehensive Integrated Threat Assessment," travel, and other direct costs; the unit prices and line amounts are redacted under FOIA Exemption 4.[^15] The statement of work (section 5.1) required the contractor to provide a work facility with a Top Secret facility clearance granted by the [[Defense Security Service]], and states that cleared facilities "are not required at contract inception."[^16] Modification P00001 refers to the order as dated September 22, 2008.[^17]
DIA's response letter in case FOIA-00269-2018, which released a single six-page document, is dated June 26, 2023; its response letter in case FOIA-00349-2018, a request that cited contract HHM402-08-R-0211, is dated October 13, 2022 and covers nine documents (36 pages).[^11][^12] Two documents (13 pages) were withheld in full under 10 U.S.C. 424 and 41 U.S.C. 2102(a)(1) (contract source selection information).[^12]
DIA's response letter in case FOIA-00269-2018, which released a single six-page document, is dated June 26, 2023; its response letter in case FOIA-00349-2018, a request that cited contract HHM402-08-R-0211, is dated October 13, 2022 and covers nine documents (36 pages).[^15][^16] Two documents (13 pages) were withheld in full under 10 U.S.C. 424 and 41 U.S.C. 2102(a)(1) (contract source selection information).[^16]
### Payments, funding and modifications
A DIA contract status briefing dated December 16, 2008 for contract HHM402-08-C-0072 states that "equal amount monthly payments to contractor have commenced and allow for research subcontracts to be put into place quickly," that the technical approaches were "established, traditional techniques within intended scope of contract," and that the effort was "on track, on schedule, and within cost." It records that the first contract status brief was given on November 10, that Senator Harry Reid raised the subject in a meeting on November 13, and that BAASS submitted program management plans for the twelve technical areas on November 21, 2008.[^14]
A DIA contract status briefing dated December 16, 2008 for contract HHM402-08-C-0072 states that "equal amount monthly payments to contractor have commenced and allow for research subcontracts to be put into place quickly," that the technical approaches were "established, traditional techniques within intended scope of contract," and that the effort was "on track, on schedule, and within cost." It records that the first contract status brief was given on November 10, that Senator Harry Reid raised the subject in a meeting on November 13, and that BAASS submitted program management plans for the twelve technical areas on November 21, 2008.[^18]
A briefing of August 24, 2009 states that BAASS was "in full compliance," had delivered 12 project management plans and 26 detailed research reports ("twice minimum requirement") by June 30, 2009, that DIA should proceed with option year 1 "subject to available funding," and that 12 million dollars for continuation had been submitted in the fiscal 2010 defense budget. It records that the contracting officer would extend the contract through September 30 to use fiscal 2010 funds in option year 1 at no additional cost to the government, and that BAASS had indicated it was "willing to operate 'at risk' in option year 1 until FY10 funding arrives."[^15] A later briefing states that the 12 million dollars "also covers BAASS overhead, staff, facilities, IT, security, databases, etc."[^16]
A briefing of August 24, 2009 states that BAASS was "in full compliance," had delivered 12 project management plans and 26 detailed research reports ("twice minimum requirement") by June 30, 2009, that DIA should proceed with option year 1 "subject to available funding," and that 12 million dollars for continuation had been submitted in the fiscal 2010 defense budget. It records that the contracting officer would extend the contract through September 30 to use fiscal 2010 funds in option year 1 at no additional cost to the government, and that BAASS had indicated it was "willing to operate 'at risk' in option year 1 until FY10 funding arrives."[^19] A later briefing states that the 12 million dollars "also covers BAASS overhead, staff, facilities, IT, security, databases, etc."[^20]
The modifications released in FOIA-00349-2018 are:
Modification P00001, effective September 2, 2009 (signed September 4, 2009): extended the period of performance to September 30, 2009, revised the option year to October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, and exercised option year 1 "subject to availability of funds" under FAR 52.217-9, with a modification amount of 0.00 dollars. The contractor address on this form is 1899 W Brooks Ave, North Las Vegas.[^13]
Modification P00001, effective September 2, 2009 (signed September 4, 2009): extended the period of performance to September 30, 2009, revised the option year to October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, and exercised option year 1 "subject to availability of funds" under FAR 52.217-9, with a modification amount of 0.00 dollars. The contractor address on this form is 1899 W Brooks Ave, North Las Vegas.[^17]
Modification P00002, effective February 2, 2010: provided funding (amount redacted) for the exercise of option year 1, removed the availability-of-funds clause of P00001, and directed BAASS to "identify impacts to deliverables as a result of reduced funding for Option Year 1" and to identify "technical risks of reduced funding."[^17]
Modification P00002, effective February 2, 2010: provided funding (amount redacted) for the exercise of option year 1, removed the availability-of-funds clause of P00001, and directed BAASS to "identify impacts to deliverables as a result of reduced funding for Option Year 1" and to identify "technical risks of reduced funding."[^21]
Modifications P00003 and P00004, both distributed May 18, 2010: administrative changes concerning the contracting officer's representative.[^17]
Modifications P00003 and P00004, both distributed May 18, 2010: administrative changes concerning the contracting officer's representative.[^21]
Modification P00005, September 28, 2010: extended the period of performance from September 21, 2010 to December 21, 2010 under FAR 52.217-8, with no funding required.[^17]
Modification P00005, September 28, 2010: extended the period of performance from September 21, 2010 to December 21, 2010 under FAR 52.217-8, with no funding required.[^21]
DIA's October 30, 2009 memorandum lists 26 technical reports delivered in fiscal 2009. It states that eight reviews were performed by other authors listed in its table and five by outside reviewers, among them three research staff members at Sandia National Laboratories, and that "based on draft budget guidance, [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] apparently will fund the contract's option year one at $12 million."[^10] A 2010 memorandum to the [[Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics]] states that the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act "included a $12 million add for the project," that twelve additional reports were produced and delivered, and that one of the 26 reports, "Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering," was published in March 2010.[^10]
DIA's October 30, 2009 memorandum lists 26 technical reports delivered in fiscal 2009. It states that eight reviews were performed by other authors listed in its table and five by outside reviewers, among them three research staff members at Sandia National Laboratories, and that "based on draft budget guidance, [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] apparently will fund the contract's option year one at $12 million."[^14] A 2010 memorandum to the [[Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics]] states that the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act "included a $12 million add for the project," that twelve additional reports were produced and delivered, and that one of the 26 reports, "Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering," was published in March 2010.[^14]
### Counterintelligence notation
Talking points prepared for the Deputy Secretary of Defense's November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Reid contain the entry "August 2008: DIA learned of counter-intelligence concerns with Bigelow Aerospace, the parent company of Bigelow Aerospace Advance Space Studies. These concerns do not appear to be directly related to Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program (AAWSAP)." The next entry reads "September 2008: DIA awarded the contract to the sole bidder." The document does not state the nature of the concerns. The talking points are attached to a memorandum signed by [[James Clapper|James R. Clapper Jr.]], [[Under Secretary of Defense]] for Intelligence, recommending against a Special Access Program; it states that the program manager and his leadership "saw no justification for Special Access protections based on the content of the FY09 deliverables or the anticipated FY10 work."[^9]
Talking points prepared for the Deputy Secretary of Defense's November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Reid contain the entry "August 2008: DIA learned of counter-intelligence concerns with Bigelow Aerospace, the parent company of Bigelow Aerospace Advance Space Studies. These concerns do not appear to be directly related to Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program (AAWSAP)." The next entry reads "September 2008: DIA awarded the contract to the sole bidder." The document does not state the nature of the concerns. The talking points are attached to a memorandum signed by [[James Clapper|James R. Clapper Jr.]], [[Under Secretary of Defense]] for Intelligence, recommending against a Special Access Program; it states that the program manager and his leadership "saw no justification for Special Access protections based on the content of the FY09 deliverables or the anticipated FY10 work."[^13]
The redactions leave the nature of the concerns and the component that learned of them unstated.
### Appropriation as described in DIA papers
The talking points state that "Senators Reid and Inouye co-sponsored a $10M earmark in the July 2008 supplemental" and that "a $12M earmark has been allocated to support the program in FY2010," and record that Reid met a DIA analyst "at a technical conference" in early 2008. They list that a Reid staff member, [[Robert T. Herbert|Bob Herbert]], made "multiple phone calls" between July and October 2009 to [[Marcel Lettre]] (listed as "PDASDILA"), asking about the status of the response to Reid's June 24, 2009 letter, and that DIA met Herbert on November 4, 2009, who "relayed the Senator's impatience."[^9]
The talking points state that "Senators Reid and Inouye co-sponsored a $10M earmark in the July 2008 supplemental" and that "a $12M earmark has been allocated to support the program in FY2010," and record that Reid met a DIA analyst "at a technical conference" in early 2008. They list that a Reid staff member, [[Robert T. Herbert|Bob Herbert]], made "multiple phone calls" between July and October 2009 to [[Marcel Lettre]] (listed as "PDASDILA"), asking about the status of the response to Reid's June 24, 2009 letter, and that DIA met Herbert on November 4, 2009, who "relayed the Senator's impatience."[^13]
### Foundations at the contractor's address
The [[Robert Thomas Bigelow Educational Foundation]] Inc (EIN 93-3962948) and the [[Robert Thomas Bigelow Medical Foundation]] Inc (EIN 93-3974535), both with a March 2024 [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date as 501(c)(3) organizations, list their address as 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, Nevada, the contractor address on the 2008 order. Their Forms 990-PF for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 report contributions of 62,000 dollars to each, all from Robert Thomas Bigelow, expenses of 105 and 8,158 dollars, and year-end assets of 61,895 and 53,953 dollars. The returns list Robert Thomas Bigelow as president and director and as treasurer and director, [[Donna Stauch]] as secretary and director, and Colm Kelleher and [[Jody Erickson]] as directors.[^18]
The [[Robert Thomas Bigelow Educational Foundation]] Inc (EIN 93-3962948) and the [[Robert Thomas Bigelow Medical Foundation]] Inc (EIN 93-3974535), both with a March 2024 [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date as 501(c)(3) organizations, list their address as 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, Nevada, the contractor address on the 2008 order. Their Forms 990-PF for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 report contributions of 62,000 dollars to each, all from Robert Thomas Bigelow, expenses of 105 and 8,158 dollars, and year-end assets of 61,895 and 53,953 dollars. The returns list Robert Thomas Bigelow as president and director and as treasurer and director, [[Donna Stauch]] as secretary and director, and Colm Kelleher and [[Jody Erickson]] as directors.[^22]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Lacatski, James T., Kelleher, Colm A., and Knapp, George. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insider's Account of the Secret Government UAP Program*. RTMA, 2021. Elizondo, Luis. *IMMINENT: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs*. Morrow, 2024.
[^2]: Keith Basterfield, "More BAASS AAWSAP documents emerge," June 5, 2025. https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/06/more-baass-aawsap-documents-emerge.html . Lacatski, James T., Kelleher, Colm A., and Knapp, George. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon*. RTMA, 2021, Appendix 1 (as described by Basterfield).
[^3]: Keith Basterfield, "There was a BAASS AAWSAP administrator before Robert Bigelow," June 28, 2025. https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/06/there-was-baass-aawsap-administrator.html .
[^4]: Keith Basterfield, "The BAASS 'Project Campus,'" July 7, 2025, quoting the BAASS Ten Month Report (July 30, 2009). https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-baass-project-campus.html .
[^5]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^6]: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, final response letter of June 20, 2023, case 2022-HQFO-00386, to Marc Cecotti, signed Jimmy Wolfrey, Senior Director, FOIA Operations and Management, and one-page enclosure "BAASS Goals 2011/2012," as posted by Marc Cecotti on X, June 20, 2023. https://x.com/MC05A/status/1671217484685246478 ; images https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzFa762X0AA4b7W.jpg (letter) and https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzFa76yXwAE4d8N.png (enclosure).
[^7]: Keith Basterfield, "Was the Department of Homeland Security keen to take on the AAWSAP?," June 22, 2023, https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/06/was-department-of-homeland-security.html ; "Lockheed Martin and BAASS," November 30, 2023, https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/11/lockheed-martin-and-baass.html .
[^8]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Talking Paper, "Senator Reid Visit to Director, DIA," May 4, 2009, released by DIA to The Black Vault. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DR_Reid_Mtg_May09.pdf
[^9]: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, final packet for the Deputy Secretary of Defense's November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Harry Reid, including the memorandum signed by James R. Clapper Jr. and the talking points. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/09117-Final_Packet_Presented_to_DepSecDef.pdf
[^10]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Info Memo U-10-2552CE to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, "Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program," 2010; and Info Memo U-429-09 of October 30, 2009, "Review of Advanced Aerospace Contract Deliverables." https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/U-10-2552CE-IM-ATL.pdf and https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/U-429-09-DWO-IM.pdf
[^11]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Standard Form 1449, order HHM402-08-C-0072, signed September 22, 2008, released with a DIA letter dated June 26, 2023 in FOIA-00269-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00269-2018-.pdf
[^12]: DIA letter U-22-8017/IMO-2 (FOIA) of October 13, 2022 and attached records (statement of work sections 5.1 and 9; modifications), FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf ; document index with release notes: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-advanced-aerospace-weapon-system-applications-program-aawsap-documentation/
[^13]: Modification P00001 (Standard Form 30), effective September 2, 2009, with the attached copy of Standard Form 1449 for order HHM402-08-C-0072. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_FY10.pdf
[^14]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Contract Status," contract HHM402-08-C-0072, December 16, 2008. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DI_Brief_2008.pdf
[^15]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Aerospace Contract Status," August 24, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_24Aug09.pdf
[^16]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Contract Status," 2009 (undated), slide on option year 1 deliverables. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_Briefing.pdf
[^17]: Modifications P00002 (February 2, 2010), P00003 and P00004 (May 18, 2010) and P00005 (September 28, 2010), contract HHM402-08-C-0072, in FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf
[^18]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-PF, The Robert Thomas Bigelow Educational Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3962948, object ID 202403379349100410) and The Robert Thomas Bigelow Medical Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3974535, object ID 202413379349100411), tax period ended January 31, 2024, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2024/2024_TEOS_XML_12A.zip ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API records for the same EINs. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/933962948.json and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/933974535.json
[^2]: To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, Form 253G2 offering circular, September 29, 2017, biography of Dr. Colm Kelleher. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417050693/
[^3]: Micah Hanks, "Colm Kelleher: AAWSAP and the Skinwalker Enigma," The Debrief, May 25, 2023, description of The Micah Hanks Program episode. https://thedebrief.org/colm-kelleher-aawsap-and-the-skinwalker-enigma/
[^4]: George Knapp, written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, hearing "Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection," Serial No. 119-44, September 9, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/George-Knapp-Written-Testimony.pdf ; https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-119hhrg61718/html/CHRG-119hhrg61718.htm
[^5]: John Greenewald, The Black Vault, AAWSAP documentation archive. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/?p=16063
[^6]: Keith Basterfield, "More BAASS AAWSAP documents emerge," June 5, 2025. https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/06/more-baass-aawsap-documents-emerge.html . Lacatski, James T., Kelleher, Colm A., and Knapp, George. *Skinwalkers at the Pentagon*. RTMA, 2021, Appendix 1 (as described by Basterfield).
[^7]: Keith Basterfield, "There was a BAASS AAWSAP administrator before Robert Bigelow," June 28, 2025. https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/06/there-was-baass-aawsap-administrator.html .
[^8]: Keith Basterfield, "The BAASS 'Project Campus,'" July 7, 2025, quoting the BAASS Ten Month Report (July 30, 2009). https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-baass-project-campus.html .
[^9]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^10]: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, final response letter of June 20, 2023, case 2022-HQFO-00386, to Marc Cecotti, signed Jimmy Wolfrey, Senior Director, FOIA Operations and Management, and one-page enclosure "BAASS Goals 2011/2012," as posted by Marc Cecotti on X, June 20, 2023. https://x.com/MC05A/status/1671217484685246478 ; images https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzFa762X0AA4b7W.jpg (letter) and https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzFa76yXwAE4d8N.png (enclosure).
[^11]: Keith Basterfield, "Was the Department of Homeland Security keen to take on the AAWSAP?," June 22, 2023, https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/06/was-department-of-homeland-security.html ; "Lockheed Martin and BAASS," November 30, 2023, https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/11/lockheed-martin-and-baass.html .
[^12]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Talking Paper, "Senator Reid Visit to Director, DIA," May 4, 2009, released by DIA to The Black Vault. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DR_Reid_Mtg_May09.pdf
[^13]: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, final packet for the Deputy Secretary of Defense's November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Harry Reid, including the memorandum signed by James R. Clapper Jr. and the talking points. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/09117-Final_Packet_Presented_to_DepSecDef.pdf
[^14]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Info Memo U-10-2552CE to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, "Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program," 2010; and Info Memo U-429-09 of October 30, 2009, "Review of Advanced Aerospace Contract Deliverables." https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/U-10-2552CE-IM-ATL.pdf and https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/U-429-09-DWO-IM.pdf
[^15]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Standard Form 1449, order HHM402-08-C-0072, signed September 22, 2008, released with a DIA letter dated June 26, 2023 in FOIA-00269-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00269-2018-.pdf
[^16]: DIA letter U-22-8017/IMO-2 (FOIA) of October 13, 2022 and attached records (statement of work sections 5.1 and 9; modifications), FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf ; document index with release notes: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-advanced-aerospace-weapon-system-applications-program-aawsap-documentation/
[^17]: Modification P00001 (Standard Form 30), effective September 2, 2009, with the attached copy of Standard Form 1449 for order HHM402-08-C-0072. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_FY10.pdf
[^18]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Contract Status," contract HHM402-08-C-0072, December 16, 2008. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DI_Brief_2008.pdf
[^19]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Aerospace Contract Status," August 24, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_24Aug09.pdf
[^20]: Defense Intelligence Agency, briefing "Contract Status," 2009 (undated), slide on option year 1 deliverables. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_Briefing.pdf
[^21]: Modifications P00002 (February 2, 2010), P00003 and P00004 (May 18, 2010) and P00005 (September 28, 2010), contract HHM402-08-C-0072, in FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf
[^22]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-PF, The Robert Thomas Bigelow Educational Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3962948, object ID 202403379349100410) and The Robert Thomas Bigelow Medical Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3974535, object ID 202413379349100411), tax period ended January 31, 2024, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2024/2024_TEOS_XML_12A.zip ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API records for the same EINs. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/933962948.json and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/933974535.json

79
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Carbyne.md
View file

@ -16,94 +16,103 @@ tags:
summary: "Carbyne, founded as Reporty, is an Israeli emergency-call and surveillance technology company in which Jeffrey Epstein invested through Ehud Barak in 2015, and which Axon Enterprise bought for 625 million dollars."
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel; New York, New York"
created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "about one million dollars invested in Reporty, arranged through Ehud Barak"
start: 2015
fn: 1
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
reverse: true
role: "Series B investor"
fn: 3
fn: 4
- type: owned
with: "[[Axon Enterprise]]"
reverse: true
role: "acquired for 625 million dollars"
start: 2026-02
fn: 4
fn: 5
- type: funded
with: "[[Nicole Junkermann]]"
reverse: true
role: "limited partner through NJF Capital in SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership; 1.2 million dollars toward the warrant exercise"
start: 2019-03
fn: 8
fn: 11
- type: member_of
with: "[[Pinhas Buchris]]"
reverse: true
role: "director of Reporty Homeland Security, present at the December 23, 2015 board meeting; listed as a Carbyne director in 2017"
start: 2015-12
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Amir Elichai]]"
reverse: true
role: "founder and chief executive"
fn: 1
fn: 2
---
Carbyne (originally incorporated as [[Reporty|Reporty Homeland Security]]) is an Israeli-American technology company that develops cloud-native emergency-communication and 911-response platforms providing real-time video, location, and data transmission from callers to emergency dispatchers. [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported in February 2026 that [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] quietly invested approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015 through an arrangement brokered by [[Ehud Barak|former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak]], after Epstein was already a registered sex offender. Carbyne has also received backing from [[Founders Fund]], the [[Peter Thiel|Peter Thiel]] venture firm, and has been deployed by U.S. police departments including the [[Miami-Dade Police Department|Miami-Dade Police Department]]. Its board included [[Pinhas Buchris]], a former commander of the Israeli signals-intelligence [[Unit 8200]]. The police-technology company [[Axon Enterprise]] agreed to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
Carbyne (originally incorporated as [[Reporty|Reporty Homeland Security]]) is an Israeli-American technology company that develops cloud-native emergency-communication and 911-response platforms providing real-time video, location, and data transmission from callers to emergency dispatchers. [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported in February 2026 that [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] quietly invested approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015 through an arrangement brokered by [[Ehud Barak|former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak]], after Epstein was already a registered sex offender. Carbyne has also received backing from [[Founders Fund]], the [[Peter Thiel|Peter Thiel]] venture firm, and has been deployed by U.S. police departments including the [[Miami-Dade Police Department|Miami-Dade Police Department]]. Its board included [[Pinhas Buchris]], a former commander of the Israeli signals-intelligence [[Unit 8200]].[^1] The police-technology company [[Axon Enterprise]] agreed to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash.[^2][^3][^4][^5]
### The Epstein-Barak Investment Arrangement (2015)
Forbes reported in February 2026 (Thomas Brewster) that Barak helped Epstein invest approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015, an investment that could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. The arrangement was made after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] and his subsequent [[Florida|Florida]] sex-offender registration. Barak was a key figure in the company and channeled Epstein's money into the startup. The [[Miami Herald|Miami Herald]] reported separately that Epstein secretly funded the startup subsequently used by the Miami-Dade Police Department.[^1][^2]
Forbes reported in February 2026 (Thomas Brewster) that Barak helped Epstein invest approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015, an investment that could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. The arrangement was made after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] and his subsequent [[Florida|Florida]] sex-offender registration. Barak was a key figure in the company and channeled Epstein's money into the startup. The [[Miami Herald|Miami Herald]] reported separately that Epstein secretly funded the startup subsequently used by the Miami-Dade Police Department.[^2][^3]
Through the Barak-Epstein-Carbyne arrangement, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance-adjacent technology. Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. The company's emergency-response product integrates smartphone location, live video, and incident data into a centralized dispatcher view, and the same architecture supports population-level monitoring.[^1][^5]
Through the Barak-Epstein-Carbyne arrangement, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance-adjacent technology. Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. The company's emergency-response product integrates smartphone location, live video, and incident data into a centralized dispatcher view, and the same architecture supports population-level monitoring.[^2][^6]
### The Founders Fund Backing
Founders Fund is a documented backer of Carbyne, placing the company in the Thiel venture portfolio alongside [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]], [[Anduril Industries|Anduril]], and [[Clearview AI|Clearview]]. The Founders Fund backing and the Epstein-Barak investment ran alongside each other, meaning the company simultaneously held Epstein investment (brokered by the former Israeli prime minister Barak) and Thiel-network venture backing.[^1][^2][^3]
Founders Fund is a documented backer of Carbyne, placing the company in the Thiel venture portfolio alongside [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]], [[Anduril Industries|Anduril]], and [[Clearview AI|Clearview]]. The Founders Fund backing and the Epstein-Barak investment ran alongside each other, meaning the company simultaneously held Epstein investment (brokered by the former Israeli prime minister Barak) and Thiel-network venture backing.[^2][^3][^4]
Carbyne has been deployed in U.S. emergency-response systems including [[New Orleans|New Orleans]], where the platform was integrated into the city's 911 dispatch infrastructure. The Miami-Dade Police Department used the product that Epstein's money had funded, per the Miami Herald reporting on the Epstein-Carbyne investment chain. The documented deployment of an Epstein-funded product by a U.S. law-enforcement agency is the concrete operational outcome of the investment arrangement.[^1][^2]
Carbyne has been deployed in U.S. emergency-response systems including [[New Orleans|New Orleans]], where the platform was integrated into the city's 911 dispatch infrastructure. The Miami-Dade Police Department used the product that Epstein's money had funded, per the Miami Herald reporting on the Epstein-Carbyne investment chain. The documented deployment of an Epstein-funded product by a U.S. law-enforcement agency is the concrete operational outcome of the investment arrangement.[^2][^3]
The simultaneous Epstein-Barak and Founders Fund backing of a single Israeli surveillance-tech startup connects three networks through one company: the Epstein-Barak Israeli-intelligence channel, the Thiel commercial network, and the Israeli surveillance-technology export sector (documented on the [[NSO Group|NSO Group]] and Barak pages). Carbyne is the node where all three converge in a single corporate entity.[^1][^2][^3]
The simultaneous Epstein-Barak and Founders Fund backing of a single Israeli surveillance-tech startup connects three networks through one company: the Epstein-Barak Israeli-intelligence channel, the Thiel commercial network, and the Israeli surveillance-technology export sector (documented on the [[NSO Group|NSO Group]] and Barak pages). Carbyne is the node where all three converge in a single corporate entity.[^2][^3][^4]
### The Israeli Surveillance-Technology Export Context
[[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reported in July 2023 that [[Israel|Israel]]'s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories has functioned as a "laboratory" for surveillance and security technology, giving Israeli firms specialized know-how in monitoring civilian populations. The Carbyne/Reporty emergency-response platform sits within this broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, and the [[Reason|Reason]] reporting on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) documented that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria|Nigeria]], with technology reportedly tested on Palestinian populations.[^5][^6]
[[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reported in July 2023 that [[Israel|Israel]]'s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories has functioned as a "laboratory" for surveillance and security technology, giving Israeli firms specialized know-how in monitoring civilian populations. The Carbyne/Reporty emergency-response platform sits within this broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, and the [[Reason|Reason]] reporting on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) documented that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria|Nigeria]], with technology reportedly tested on Palestinian populations.[^6][^7]
The [[Black Agenda Report|Black Agenda Report]] documented a parallel pipeline in which Israel's Gaza-tested biometric and surveillance scanners were routed into a Nigerian ports deal through [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] channels. Nigeria is documented as [[Africa|Africa]]'s largest customer of surveillance-technology contracts, spending at least 470 million dollars on AI-powered surveillance devices. The Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, of which Carbyne is a part, operates across the documented chain from Palestinian-population testing through international marketing to deployment in authoritarian and democratic states alike.[^6][^7]
The [[Black Agenda Report|Black Agenda Report]] documented a parallel pipeline in which Israel's Gaza-tested biometric and surveillance scanners were routed into a Nigerian ports deal through [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] channels. Nigeria is documented as [[Africa|Africa]]'s largest customer of surveillance-technology contracts, spending at least 470 million dollars on AI-powered surveillance devices. The Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, of which Carbyne is a part, operates across the documented chain from Palestinian-population testing through international marketing to deployment in authoritarian and democratic states alike.[^7][^8]
### Board and Investors
Barak served on the board of Reporty and Carbyne and left the board in 2019, the year Epstein was arrested and died.[^1] The board also included Pinhas Buchris, who commanded Unit 8200 and later served as director general of the Israeli [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]].[^4] The investment firm of [[Nicole Junkermann]] took part in Carbyne's Series A round. Forbes reported that Carbyne's website listed her as a director until 2020; Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], said that "she is not and was never a board member," attributed the listing to a mistake by the company's marketing team, and said she no longer held a stake.[^1]
Barak served on the board of Reporty and Carbyne and left the board in 2019, the year Epstein was arrested and died.[^2] The board also included Pinhas Buchris, who commanded Unit 8200 and later served as director general of the Israeli [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]].[^1][^9] Minutes of the December 23, 2015 meeting of Reporty's board list Elichai, [[Alex Dizengof]], Barak and Buchris as directors present, and record Barak's expected additional investment of $500,000 by February 1, 2016.[^10] The investment firm of [[Nicole Junkermann]] took part in Carbyne's Series A round. Forbes reported that Carbyne's website listed her as a director until 2020; Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], said that "she is not and was never a board member," attributed the listing to a mistake by the company's marketing team, and said she no longer held a stake.[^2]
### The Investment Structure and the 2019 Warrants
Epstein's stake was held through an Israeli limited partnership, SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. On February 28, 2019 the partnership's lawyer, [[Tomer Toor]] of the [[Tel Aviv]] firm Furth, Wilensky, Mizrachi, Knaani, wrote to Epstein's attorney [[Darren Indyke]] and to NJF Capital, the renamed Montilla International Corporation of Nicole Junkermann, that "At the time of the initial investment in Carbyne Ltd. (formerly Reporty Ltd.), SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership received Warrants to purchase additional 61,251 Preferred A Shares of Carbyne for an aggregate exercise price of US$ 3,500,000," and that exercising them would "increase the holdings % of SUM in Carbyne - from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis."[^8] On March 7 Toor confirmed that [[Southern Trust Company]], Epstein's Virgin Islands company, had signed the Additional Investment Agreement and "transferred its share in the investment (US$2.4mm)," and on March 11 that the full 3.6 million dollars had reached Ergo's account.[^8]
Epstein's stake was held through an Israeli limited partnership, SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. On February 28, 2019 the partnership's lawyer, [[Tomer Toor]] of the [[Tel Aviv]] firm Furth, Wilensky, Mizrachi, Knaani, wrote to Epstein's attorney [[Darren Indyke]] and to NJF Capital, the renamed Montilla International Corporation of Nicole Junkermann, that "At the time of the initial investment in Carbyne Ltd. (formerly Reporty Ltd.), SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership received Warrants to purchase additional 61,251 Preferred A Shares of Carbyne for an aggregate exercise price of US$ 3,500,000," and that exercising them would "increase the holdings % of SUM in Carbyne - from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis."[^11] On March 7 Toor confirmed that [[Southern Trust Company]], Epstein's Virgin Islands company, had signed the Additional Investment Agreement and "transferred its share in the investment (US$2.4mm)," and on March 11 that the full 3.6 million dollars had reached Ergo's account.[^11]
The receiving bank then asked, under what Toor called "its own anti money laundry regulations," for a list of "the controlling person(s) of each limited partner, name and his/her citizenship" and a recommendation letter from each partner's transferring bank.[^8] Epstein forwarded the request to Barak, who replied on March 11, 2019: "Jeff, That's the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes. According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy. We have to follow on it. On a minimal but satisfying base."[^9] On March 12 Indyke wrote to Epstein: "Not sure how to respond. I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment? Also, Tomer is asking for a bank rec letter from the transferring bank which is DB," referring to [[Deutsche Bank]]. Epstein answered "ok," and on March 14, asked whether that meant Indyke could confirm that Epstein was "the controlling person of the STC," replied, "Yes."[^10]
The receiving bank then asked, under what Toor called "its own anti money laundry regulations," for a list of "the controlling person(s) of each limited partner, name and his/her citizenship" and a recommendation letter from each partner's transferring bank.[^11] Epstein forwarded the request to Barak, who replied on March 11, 2019: "Jeff, That's the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes. According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy. We have to follow on it. On a minimal but satisfying base."[^12] On March 12 Indyke wrote to Epstein: "Not sure how to respond. I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment? Also, Tomer is asking for a bank rec letter from the transferring bank which is DB," referring to [[Deutsche Bank]]. Epstein answered "ok," and on March 14, asked whether that meant Indyke could confirm that Epstein was "the controlling person of the STC," replied, "Yes."[^13]
A month earlier, on February 18, 2019, Junkermann had written to Epstein: "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is3.9m your share, Ehud carry1.5 m and my share 2m." Epstein had written that he had "litle idea of carbyne results to date."[^11]
A month earlier, on February 18, 2019, Junkermann had written to Epstein: "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is3.9m your share, Ehud carry1.5 m and my share 2m." Epstein had written that he had "litle idea of carbyne results to date."[^14]
### The Qatar Pitch
On May 21, 2018 Epstein wrote to Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund was a Carbyne investor: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^12] On January 1, 2019 Barak forwarded Carbyne's Qatar presentation, prepared by Elichai, to [[Jabor Al Thani]] with Epstein copied: "Please find attached short presentation of Carbine. Public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor. We are interested in participating in the security effort for the 2022 Games. We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile."[^13] In a reply of January 20 quoted in the same thread, Jabor Al Thani wrote that his "security services company" wanted to begin discussions on the presentation "for the Qatar 2022 Games" and asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies." On February 3 Barak, signing "Ehud Barak, Carbyne, Chairman," named Elichai as contact and promised a separate email on "the anti-drone issue"; Elichai wrote, "Ehud, thanks for the intro." On February 4 Jabor Al Thani named the country manager of [[Lysys WLL]] as the Qatari contact. Epstein was shown as a recipient of the January 1, February 3, and February 4 messages.[^14]
On May 21, 2018 Epstein wrote to Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund was a Carbyne investor: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^15] On January 1, 2019 Barak forwarded Carbyne's Qatar presentation, prepared by Elichai, to [[Jabor Al Thani]] with Epstein copied: "Please find attached short presentation of Carbine. Public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor. We are interested in participating in the security effort for the 2022 Games. We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile."[^16] In a reply of January 20 quoted in the same thread, Jabor Al Thani wrote that his "security services company" wanted to begin discussions on the presentation "for the Qatar 2022 Games" and asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies." On February 3 Barak, signing "Ehud Barak, Carbyne, Chairman," named Elichai as contact and promised a separate email on "the anti-drone issue"; Elichai wrote, "Ehud, thanks for the intro." On February 4 Jabor Al Thani named the country manager of [[Lysys WLL]] as the Qatari contact. Epstein was shown as a recipient of the January 1, February 3, and February 4 messages.[^17]
### The Axon Acquisition
Axon Enterprise, the maker of Taser weapons and police body cameras, announced that it would acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash, with the transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2026; it closed in February 2026.[^4][^15] Axon, led by its founder and chief executive [[Rick Smith]], described the purchase as "uniting cloud infrastructure and AI to redefine the 911 experience."[^15] Epstein's 2015 stake of about one million dollars was the one Forbes estimated could have grown to as much as one hundred million dollars.[^1]
Axon Enterprise, the maker of Taser weapons and police body cameras, announced that it would acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash, with the transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2026; it closed in February 2026.[^5][^18] Axon, led by its founder and chief executive [[Rick Smith]], described the purchase as "uniting cloud infrastructure and AI to redefine the 911 experience."[^18] Epstein's 2015 stake of about one million dollars was the one Forbes estimated could have grown to as much as one hundred million dollars.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
[^2]: "Epstein secretly funded start-up used by Miami-Dade police." *Miami Herald,* 2020.
[^3]: "Founders Fund Invests in a 911 Startup Backed by Ehud Barak." *CTech (Calcalist),* documenting Peter Thiel's Founders Fund joining a Series B round in Carbyne/Reporty, the firm's first Israeli investment. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744302,00.html
[^4]: *Coverager,* on Axon's agreement to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars. https://coverager.com/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-for-625-million/ ; *CTech (Calcalist),* on the Axon acquisition. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rj4vnuokwg
[^5]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/
[^6]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export
[^7]: "Epstein Flipped Israel's Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal." *Black Agenda Report.* For the Nigeria surveillance-technology spending, see the IDS Sussex and Punch Nigeria reporting.
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke, and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02632339, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 11, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email exchange between Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, March 12-14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02630791, DataSet 11, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02628648, DataSet 11, email thread "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1 to February 4, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
[^15]: Axon Enterprise. "Axon to Acquire Carbyne, Uniting Cloud Infrastructure and AI to Redefine the 911 Experience." Press release, *PR Newswire.* https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-uniting-cloud-infrastructure-and-ai-to-redefine-the-911-experience-302604614.html
[^1]: "The Ties That Bind: Ehud Barak's Business Network," *CTech (Calcalist)*, July 18, 2019. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3766639,00.html
[^2]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
[^3]: "Epstein secretly funded start-up used by Miami-Dade police." *Miami Herald,* 2020.
[^4]: "Founders Fund Invests in a 911 Startup Backed by Ehud Barak." *CTech (Calcalist),* documenting Peter Thiel's Founders Fund joining a Series B round in Carbyne/Reporty, the firm's first Israeli investment. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744302,00.html
[^5]: *Coverager,* on Axon's agreement to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars. https://coverager.com/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-for-625-million/ ; *CTech (Calcalist),* on the Axon acquisition. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rj4vnuokwg
[^6]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/
[^7]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export
[^8]: "Epstein Flipped Israel's Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal." *Black Agenda Report.* For the Nigeria surveillance-technology spending, see the IDS Sussex and Punch Nigeria reporting.
[^9]: "A Buchris story: The rise, fall, and comeback of an Israeli hero," *CTech (Calcalist)*, December 16, 2022. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/lwigv8m1o
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01074544, DataSet 9, minutes of the meeting of the board of directors of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd., December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01074544.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke, and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02632339, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 11, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email exchange between Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, March 12-14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02630791, DataSet 11, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
[^17]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02628648, DataSet 11, email thread "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1 to February 4, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
[^18]: Axon Enterprise. "Axon to Acquire Carbyne, Uniting Cloud Infrastructure and AI to Redefine the 911 Experience." Press release, *PR Newswire.* https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-uniting-cloud-infrastructure-and-ai-to-redefine-the-911-experience-302604614.html

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@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
---
updated: 2026-10-12
tags:
- Organization
- Media
@ -6,7 +7,9 @@ tags:
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "Esquire is an American magazine whose October 1991 article by Craig Unger repeated Ari Ben-Menashe's allegations that Robert McFarlane was recruited by Rafi Eitan and identified McFarlane as 'Mr. X' in the Jonathan Pollard case."
---
*[[Esquire]]* is an [[United States|American]] magazine. In October 1991, it published an article by [[Craig Unger]] that repeated [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] allegations that [[Robert McFarlane]] had been recruited by [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] and named [[Robert McFarlane|McFarlane]] as "Mr. X" in the [[Jonathan Pollard]] case. [[Robert McFarlane|McFarlane]] subsequently sued the magazine, but the suit was dismissed in June 1994.[^1]
*[[Esquire]]* is an [[United States|American]] magazine. In October 1991, it published an article by [[Craig Unger]] that repeated [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] allegations that [[Robert McFarlane]] had been recruited by [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] and named McFarlane as "Mr. X" in the [[Jonathan Pollard]] case.[^1] The article was the subject of a libel suit by McFarlane. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the judgment for the magazine on January 30, 1996.[^2] The opinion records that the magazine's editor, William Blythe, approved the phrase "Yet it's almost impossible to dismiss him" directly after the passage listing Ben-Menashe's vulnerabilities. Explaining the decision, Blythe testified: "We wouldn't have used him as a source unless we thought he had some knowledgeability."[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: *McFarlane v. Esquire Magazine*, 74 F.3d 1296 (D.C. Cir. 1996), No. 94-7137, decided January 30, 1996. https://static.case.law/f3d/74/cases/1296-01.json

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@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ On July 26, 2023 the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]] held a
[^18]: George Knapp and Matt Adams, "I-Team Exclusive: Nevada senator fought to save secret UFO program," originally posted on 8NewsNow.com June 28, 2018, republished on Mystery Wire September 27, 2019, https://www.mysterywire.com/ufo/i-team-exclusive-nevada-senator-fought-to-save-secret-ufo-program/
[^19]: George Knapp and Matt Adams, "EXCLUSIVE: I-Team obtains some key documents related to Pentagon UFO study," originally aired July 25, 2018, KLAS-TV, republished on Mystery Wire September 27, 2019, https://www.mysterywire.com/ufo/exclusive-i-team-obtains-some-key-documents-related-to-pentagon-ufo-study/
[^20]: John Forest, "Bob Lazar's UFO claims gain traction with 'S4' success," KLAS 8 News Now (Mystery Wire), posted April 16, 2026, https://digital-release.8newsnow.com/mystery-wire/bob-lazars-ufo-claims-gain-traction-with-s4-success/
[^21]: George Knapp, written testimony "For the Record," Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing on "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena," September 9, 2025, https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/George-Knapp-Written-Testimony.pdf
[^21]: George Knapp, written testimony "For the Record" (headed Hearing on "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena"), House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, hearing "Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection," Serial No. 119-44, September 9, 2025, https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/George-Knapp-Written-Testimony.pdf
[^22]: George Knapp, "Statement to Congress," submitted by Rep. Burchett for the record, hearing of July 26, 2023, 4 pp., House Committee Repository, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-20230726-SD004.pdf
[^23]: National Institute for Discovery Science, "Personnel," nidsci.org, Internet Archive capture of December 6, 2000, https://web.archive.org/web/20001206032200/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html ; capture of December 14, 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20011214082825/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html
[^24]: Open Library, work records for "Hunt for the skinwalker" (2005, Paraview Pocket Books, ISBN 9781416505211), https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5850693W ; "Hunt for the Skinwalker" audio edition (2017, Dreamscape Media, credits Colm A. Kelleher, George Knapp and David Bendena), https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24850199W ; work record for "Skinwalkers at the Pentagon" (2021, Independently published, ISBN 9798487639653, credits James T Lacatski, Colm A. Kelleher and George Knapp), https://openlibrary.org/works/OL37495767W

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@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ tags:
- Aerospace
- USA
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Lockheed Aircraft Company is an USA aerospace manufacturer that developed advanced military aircraft and became involved in a bribe scandal affecting Israel politics."
summary: "The Lockheed Aircraft Company is a U.S. aerospace manufacturer that built the U-2, named in Ari Ben-Menashe's account of a bribe in Israeli politics and in 1970s SEC disclosures of questionable overseas payments."
updated: 2026-10-12
start: 1926
end: 1995
location: "Burbank, California, USA"
@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ relations:
start: 1975
fn: 3
---
The [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]] is an [[United States|American]] aerospace manufacturer that developed advanced military aircraft and became involved in a bribe scandal affecting [[Israel|Israeli]] politics.
The [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]] is an [[United States|American]] aerospace manufacturer that developed advanced military aircraft and is named in [[Ari Ben-Menashe]]'s account of a bribe affecting [[Israel|Israeli]] politics.
### U-2 Spy Plane Development
@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ Lockheed built the revolutionary [[U-2 Spy Plane]] under cover in Burbank, Calif
### Israeli Bribery Scandal
In 1976, a telegram intercepted by [[Unit 8200]] revealed details of bribes paid by a Lockheed representative in Israel to Defense Minister [[Shimon Peres]]. The sum involved was $3.5 million, deposited in one of Peres's brother's business accounts in [[Europe]]. This information, discovered by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], was subsequently covered up by Israeli military intelligence superiors, including [[Yoel Ben-Porat|Col. Ben-Porat]] and [[Sasson Yishaek|Lt. Col. Yishaek]].[^2]
Ari Ben-Menashe wrote that in 1976 he intercepted, as a duty officer in [[Unit 8200]], a telegram that revealed details of bribes paid by a Lockheed representative in Israel to Defense Minister [[Shimon Peres]]. He wrote that the sum involved was $3.5 million, deposited in one of Peres's brother's business accounts in [[Europe]], and that the information was subsequently covered up by Israeli military intelligence superiors, including [[Yoel Ben-Porat|Col. Ben-Porat]] and [[Sasson Yishaek|Lt. Col. Yishaek]].[^2]
### Disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission, 1975 to 1977

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@ -13,50 +13,74 @@ tags:
- MBS
- PrivateIntelligence
- Surveillance
summary: "NSO Group is an Israeli cyber-intelligence company founded in 2010 by Unit 8200 alumni Omri Lavie, Shalev Hulio, and Niv Karmi, developer of the Pegasus spyware capable of zero-click mobile-phone compromise, whose government clients used the product to surveil over 50,000 targets including Jamal Khashoggi's family, 180 journalists, Catalan independence leaders, and Mexican activists before the July 2021 Pegasus Project exposure."
summary: "Israeli spyware company founded in 2010 by Omri Lavie, Shalev Hulio, and Niv Carmi, developer of Pegasus, whose government clients selected over 50,000 potential targets, including Khashoggi's family, before the July 2021 Pegasus Project exposure."
location: "Herzliya, Israel"
created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Unit 8200]]"
reverse: true
role: "veterans of the unit helped develop NSO technology, per OCCRP; founder Hulio did not serve in the unit, per Ynet"
fn: 1
---
NSO Group is an Israeli cyber-intelligence company founded in 2010 in [[Herzliya]], [[Israel]], by [[Omri Lavie|Omri Lavie]], [[Shalev Hulio|Shalev Hulio]], and [[Niv Karmi|Niv Karmi]] (the company name derives from their first initials: N-S-O). The founders are alumni of [[Unit 8200|Unit 8200]], Israel's elite military intelligence signals-and-cyber unit that serves as the incubator of the Israeli private surveillance-technology sector. NSO developed [[Pegasus (spyware)|Pegasus]], a spyware capable of zero-click mobile-phone compromise that extracts messages, emails, photos, location data, and activates cameras and microphones without the target's knowledge. The [[Pegasus Project|Pegasus Project]] investigation (July 2021), coordinated by [[Forbidden Stories|Forbidden Stories]] and [[Amnesty International|Amnesty International]] across 80 journalists from 17 media outlets, documented a leaked list of over 50,000 phone numbers selected as potential surveillance targets by NSO's government clients.[^1][^2][^3]
NSO Group is an Israeli cyber-intelligence company founded in 2010 in [[Herzliya]], [[Israel]], by [[Omri Lavie|Omri Lavie]], [[Shalev Hulio|Shalev Hulio]], and [[Niv Carmi]] (the company name derives from their first initials: N-S-O). [[Unit 8200]] is Israel's elite military intelligence signals-and-cyber unit, described as the incubator of the Israeli private surveillance-technology sector. Veterans of the unit are known to have helped develop the company's technology, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.[^1] Ynet reported in 2019 that Hulio did not serve in the unit and that Hulio said an early engineer may have.[^2] NSO developed [[Pegasus (spyware)|Pegasus]], a spyware capable of zero-click mobile-phone compromise that extracts messages, emails, photos, location data, and activates cameras and microphones without the target's knowledge. The [[Pegasus Project|Pegasus Project]] investigation (July 2021), coordinated by [[Forbidden Stories|Forbidden Stories]] and [[Amnesty International|Amnesty International]] across 80 journalists from 17 media outlets, documented a leaked list of over 50,000 phone numbers selected as potential surveillance targets by NSO's government clients.[^3][^4][^5]
### The Unit 8200 Pipeline
Unit 8200 is the IDF signals-intelligence and cyber-warfare unit that functions as the documented talent pipeline for the Israeli private cybersecurity and surveillance industry. NSO Group's founders are alumni of the unit, as are the founders of a documented network of Israeli surveillance-technology firms that collectively constitute the "tip of the iceberg" of what the [[OCCRP|OCCRP]] and the [[Boston Review|Boston Review]] describe as a largely unregulated transnational Israeli surveillance industry. Former IDF intelligence officers and former NSO employees have gone on to found additional firms developing zero-click weapons and offensive cyber tools, extending the Unit 8200 pipeline into the broader commercial-surveillance sector.[^4][^5]
Unit 8200 is the IDF signals-intelligence and cyber-warfare unit that functions as the documented talent pipeline for the Israeli private cybersecurity and surveillance industry. Founders of a documented network of Israeli surveillance-technology firms are alumni of the unit; those firms, with NSO, constitute the "tip of the iceberg" of what the [[OCCRP|OCCRP]] and the [[Boston Review|Boston Review]] describe as a largely unregulated transnational Israeli surveillance industry. Former IDF intelligence officers and former NSO employees have gone on to found additional firms developing zero-click weapons and offensive cyber tools, extending the Unit 8200 pipeline into the broader commercial-surveillance sector.[^1][^6]
The Unit 8200 pipeline connects the NSO Group to the broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector documented on the [[Carbyne|Carbyne]] page (the Epstein-Barak-Israeli surveillance-tech investment chain) and to the [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]-Israel strategic partnership. The sector operates on the model documented by the [[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reporting: Israeli surveillance technology developed through the occupation of Palestinian territories is exported commercially, with the occupied territories functioning as what critics describe as a testing laboratory.[^5][^6]
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project wrote that veterans of Unit 8200 "are known to have helped develop" the company's technology, and that its workforce had risen to more than 700. OCCRP quoted [[Gadi Aviran]], who founded the intelligence firm [[Terrogence]], telling *The New Yorker* in 2019: "There was this huge pipeline of talent coming out of the military every year."[^1]
In a January 2019 profile, [[Ronen Bergman]] wrote in Ynet that Hulio "didn't serve in the IDF's elite Unit 8200," that his last IDF posting was commander of a Home Front Command search and rescue team, and that he met Lavie at Hugim High School in Haifa. Hulio told Bergman that an early NSO engineer "may have served in Unit 8200" but that the technology did not come from there. A senior intelligence official told Bergman that NSO's capabilities had been "proliferated by former members of the intelligence community." The profile names Niv Carmi, who worked at the Prime Minister's Office as a student, as the technical expert brought in when the founders were recruited.[^2]
The Unit 8200 pipeline connects the NSO Group to the broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector documented on the [[Carbyne|Carbyne]] page (the Epstein-Barak-Israeli surveillance-tech investment chain) and to the [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]-Israel strategic partnership. The sector operates on the model documented by the [[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reporting: Israeli surveillance technology developed through the occupation of Palestinian territories is exported commercially, with the occupied territories functioning as what critics describe as a testing laboratory.[^6][^7]
### Pegasus and the Government-Client Model
NSO licensed Pegasus exclusively to government clients, framing the product as a counterterrorism tool. The documented deployment went far beyond counterterrorism. The Pegasus Project investigation documented that NSO's clients used Pegasus against heads of state, government officials, journalists, activists, political opponents, and the family members of targeted individuals. The leaked list of 50,000+ phone numbers includes targets across multiple countries.[^1][^3]
NSO licensed Pegasus exclusively to government clients, framing the product as a counterterrorism tool. The documented deployment went far beyond counterterrorism. The Pegasus Project investigation documented that NSO's clients used Pegasus against heads of state, government officials, journalists, activists, political opponents, and the family members of targeted individuals. The leaked list of 50,000+ phone numbers includes targets across multiple countries.[^3][^5]
The documented deployment patterns include: [[Mexico|Mexico]] (one of NSO's largest clients, where multiple administrations used Pegasus against journalists including [[Cecilio Pineda Brito|Cecilio Pineda Brito]], activists, lawyers, and even a child, per the [[Citizen Lab|Citizen Lab]] investigation); [[Catalonia|Catalonia]] (the "[[CatalanGate|CatalanGate]]" finding by Citizen Lab in 2022 documenting dozens of Catalan independence politicians and activists targeted by the Spanish state); [[El Salvador|El Salvador]] (surveillance continuing through 2022 despite NSO's reform pledges); and the [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] targeting of [[Jamal Khashoggi|Khashoggi]]'s associates.[^1][^7][^8][^9]
The documented deployment patterns include: [[Mexico|Mexico]] (one of NSO's largest clients, where multiple administrations used Pegasus against journalists including [[Cecilio Pineda Brito|Cecilio Pineda Brito]], activists, lawyers, and even a child, per the [[Citizen Lab|Citizen Lab]] investigation); [[Catalonia|Catalonia]] (the "[[CatalanGate|CatalanGate]]" finding by Citizen Lab in 2022 documenting dozens of Catalan independence politicians and activists targeted by the Spanish state); [[El Salvador|El Salvador]] (surveillance continuing through 2022 despite NSO's reform pledges); and the [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] targeting of [[Jamal Khashoggi|Khashoggi]]'s associates.[^3][^8][^9][^10]
### The Khashoggi Surveillance
Pegasus was deployed against the associates of Jamal Khashoggi before the October 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul|Istanbul]]. [[The Guardian|The Guardian]] reported in July 2021, based on the Pegasus Project leak, that Pegasus was found on the phone of Khashoggi's wife [[Hanan Elatr|Hanan Elatr]] months before the killing. An Emirati government agency separately placed NSO spyware on the phone of a Khashoggi associate, [[Al Jazeera|Al Jazeera]] reported. Khashoggi's friend [[Omar Abdul Aziz|Omar Abdul Aziz]] sued NSO Group, claiming the spyware enabled the murder by mapping Khashoggi's network and communications. A federal judge dismissed the widow's lawsuit against NSO in October 2023.[^10]
Pegasus was deployed against the associates of Jamal Khashoggi before the October 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul|Istanbul]]. [[The Guardian|The Guardian]] reported in July 2021, based on the Pegasus Project leak, that Pegasus was found on the phone of Khashoggi's wife [[Hanan Elatr|Hanan Elatr]] months before the killing. An Emirati government agency separately placed NSO spyware on the phone of a Khashoggi associate, [[Al Jazeera|Al Jazeera]] reported. Khashoggi's friend [[Omar Abdul Aziz|Omar Abdul Aziz]] sued NSO Group, claiming the spyware enabled the murder by mapping Khashoggi's network and communications. A federal judge dismissed the widow's lawsuit against NSO in October 2023.[^11]
The Khashoggi surveillance ran through the same [[Mohammed bin Salman|MBS]]-[[WhatsApp|WhatsApp]] channel that [[Jared Kushner|Jared Kushner]] used to communicate with the Saudi crown prince, and through the broader Saudi-Emirati intelligence network that operated Pegasus against the targets. The NSO Group sits at the intersection of the documented surveillance infrastructure that enabled the Khashoggi assassination and the Kushner-MBS relationship that shaped the Trump administration's response to it.[^10]
The Khashoggi surveillance ran through the same [[Mohammed bin Salman|MBS]]-[[WhatsApp|WhatsApp]] channel that [[Jared Kushner|Jared Kushner]] used to communicate with the Saudi crown prince, and through the broader Saudi-Emirati intelligence network that operated Pegasus against the targets. The NSO Group sits at the intersection of the documented surveillance infrastructure that enabled the Khashoggi assassination and the Kushner-MBS relationship that shaped the Trump administration's response to it.[^11]
### Ownership and the Novalpina Deal
NSO was acquired by [[Francisco Partners|Francisco Partners]], a technology-focused private equity firm, in 2014. Francisco Partners's ownership period covered the initial expansion of the Pegasus client base across multiple governments, including the documented deployments in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the [[United Arab Emirates|United Arab Emirates]]. The Francisco Partners ownership placed a standard private-equity firm in operational control of a cyber-arms company in its portfolio.[^1][^11]
NSO was acquired by [[Francisco Partners|Francisco Partners]], a technology-focused private equity firm, in 2014. Francisco Partners's ownership period covered the initial expansion of the Pegasus client base across multiple governments, including the documented deployments in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the [[United Arab Emirates|United Arab Emirates]]. The Francisco Partners ownership placed a standard private-equity firm in operational control of a cyber-arms company in its portfolio.[^3][^12]
In 2019, the co-founders Hulio and Lavie re-acquired NSO from Francisco Partners with funding from [[Novalpina Capital|Novalpina Capital]], a London-based private equity firm founded by [[Stephen Peel|Stephen Peel]]. The Novalpina acquisition valued NSO at approximately 1 billion dollars. The re-acquisition coincided with the period of intensifying scrutiny on NSO's government-client deployments, and the Novalpina ownership became itself a subject of controversy when Novalpina's limited partners raised concerns about the ethical implications of owning a cyber-arms company. Novalpina subsequently underwent its own internal crisis, and the ownership structure of NSO entered a period of documented instability.[^1][^11]
In 2019, the co-founders Hulio and Lavie re-acquired NSO from Francisco Partners with funding from [[Novalpina Capital|Novalpina Capital]], a London-based private equity firm founded by [[Stephen Peel|Stephen Peel]]. The Novalpina acquisition valued NSO at approximately 1 billion dollars. The re-acquisition coincided with the period of intensifying scrutiny on NSO's government-client deployments, and the Novalpina ownership became itself a subject of controversy when Novalpina's limited partners raised concerns about the ethical implications of owning a cyber-arms company. Novalpina subsequently underwent its own internal crisis, and the ownership structure of NSO entered a period of documented instability.[^3][^12]
The Pegasus Project investigation (July 2021) and the subsequent regulatory and legal pressure (including [[Apple|Apple]]'s lawsuit against NSO, the U.S. Commerce Department's addition of NSO to the [[Entity List|Entity List]] in November 2021, and the WhatsApp v. NSO litigation) have constrained the company's operations. The ownership trajectory from startup to Francisco Partners portfolio company to Novalpina-controlled entity to a constrained and legally challenged operation documents the arc of a private intelligence firm that operated with limited accountability through multiple ownership regimes.[^1][^11]
The Pegasus Project investigation (July 2021) and the subsequent regulatory and legal pressure (including [[Apple|Apple]]'s lawsuit against NSO, the U.S. Commerce Department's addition of NSO to the [[Entity List|Entity List]] in November 2021, and the WhatsApp v. NSO litigation) have constrained the company's operations. The ownership trajectory from startup to Francisco Partners portfolio company to Novalpina-controlled entity to a constrained and legally challenged operation documents the arc of a private intelligence firm that operated with limited accountability through multiple ownership regimes.[^3][^12]
### WhatsApp Litigation
WhatsApp sued NSO in October 2019 in the Northern District of California. A July 16, 2020 order described NSO as an Israeli limited liability company, described [[Q Cyber Technologies]] as an Israeli corporation and NSO's only active director and majority shareholder, and recorded the complaint's allegation that defendants sent malware through WhatsApp's system to about 1,400 mobile devices.[^13]
On December 20, 2024, Judge Phyllis Hamilton granted WhatsApp's motion for partial summary judgment on liability under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, and denied NSO's motion for summary judgment. The order granted the sanctions motion in part, considered terminating sanctions, preferred evidentiary sanctions, and stated that a trial would proceed only on damages.[^14]
On May 6, 2025 a jury returned a unanimous verdict of $444,719 in compensatory damages and $167,254,000 in punitive damages (Dkt. 736), a total of $167,698,719.[^15] On October 17, 2025 Judge Hamilton granted a permanent injunction and remitted the punitive award to $4,002,471 (a nine-to-one ratio to compensatory damages); WhatsApp accepted the remittitur on October 31, 2025; on November 12, 2025 the court entered the permanent injunction, which excludes NSO's foreign sovereign customers, and a final judgment of $4,447,190.[^15][^16] On December 19, 2025 the court denied a stay of the injunction pending appeal.[^17]
### Footnotes
[^1]: For NSO Group founding, ownership history, and the founders' Unit 8200 background, see the published NSO Group documentation and the Wikipedia record.
[^2]: "The Pegasus Project." *Amnesty International,* July 2021. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/the-pegasus-project-2/
[^3]: "Pegasus: The New Global Weapon for Silencing Journalists." *Forbidden Stories.* https://forbiddenstories.org/pegasus-the-new-global-weapon-for-silencing-journalists/
[^4]: "Where NSO Group Came From and Why It's Just the Tip of the Iceberg." *OCCRP.* https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-pegasus-project/where-nso-group-came-from-and-why-its-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
[^5]: "Cyberespionage with Benefits." *Boston Review.* https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/cyberespionage-with-benefits/
[^6]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export
[^7]: "Reckless Exploit: Mexican Journalists, Lawyers, and a Child Targeted with NSO Spyware." *Citizen Lab.* https://citizenlab.ca/research/reckless-exploit-mexico-nso/
[^8]: For the Catalonia (CatalanGate) finding, see the Citizen Lab 2022 CatalanGate report.
[^9]: "NSO Group's Continued Surveillance." *Rest of World,* 2022 (El Salvador). https://restofworld.org/2022/nso-pegasus-el-salvador/
[^10]: "NSO spyware used to target family of Jamal Khashoggi, leaked data shows." *The Guardian,* July 18, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/nso-spyware-used-to-target-family-of-jamal-khashoggi-leaked-data-shows-saudis-pegasus
[^11]: For the Novalpina Capital ownership deal, see the published NSO Group and Novalpina Capital documentation.
[^1]: "Where NSO Group Came From and Why It's Just the Tip of the Iceberg." *OCCRP.* https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-pegasus-project/where-nso-group-came-from-and-why-its-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
[^2]: Ronen Bergman, "Weaving a cyber web," *Ynetnews*, January 11, 2019. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5444998,00.html
[^3]: Co-founders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie were high-school friends who founded the company in 2010, according to OCCRP, "Where NSO Group Came From and Why It's Just the Tip of the Iceberg," The Pegasus Project. https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-pegasus-project/where-nso-group-came-from-and-why-its-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
[^4]: "The Pegasus Project." *Amnesty International,* July 2021. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/the-pegasus-project-2/
[^5]: "Pegasus: The New Global Weapon for Silencing Journalists." *Forbidden Stories.* https://forbiddenstories.org/pegasus-the-new-global-weapon-for-silencing-journalists/
[^6]: "Cyberespionage with Benefits." *Boston Review.* https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/cyberespionage-with-benefits/
[^7]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export
[^8]: "Reckless Exploit: Mexican Journalists, Lawyers, and a Child Targeted with NSO Spyware." *Citizen Lab.* https://citizenlab.ca/research/reckless-exploit-mexico-nso/
[^9]: For the Catalonia (CatalanGate) finding, see the Citizen Lab 2022 CatalanGate report.
[^10]: "NSO Group's Continued Surveillance." *Rest of World,* 2022 (El Salvador). https://restofworld.org/2022/nso-pegasus-el-salvador/
[^11]: "NSO spyware used to target family of Jamal Khashoggi, leaked data shows." *The Guardian,* July 18, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/nso-spyware-used-to-target-family-of-jamal-khashoggi-leaked-data-shows-saudis-pegasus
[^12]: For the Novalpina Capital ownership deal, see the published NSO Group and Novalpina Capital documentation.
[^13]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order on motions to dismiss (Dkt. 111, July 16, 2020), pp. 1-2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-5.pdf
[^14]: *WhatsApp Inc. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Order re motions for summary judgment and sanctions (Dkt. 494, December 20, 2024), at 16. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-24.pdf
[^15]: *WhatsApp LLC v. NSO Group Technologies Limited*, No. 4:19-cv-07123-PJH (N.D. Cal.), Final Judgment (Dkt. 810, November 12, 2025), p. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-44.pdf
[^16]: Same case, Order re permanent injunction and remittitur (Dkt. 802, October 17, 2025), pp. 1-2 and conclusion. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-40.pdf ; Order granting permanent injunction (Dkt. 809, November 12, 2025), p. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-43.pdf
[^17]: Same case, Order denying motion to stay permanent injunction (Dkt. 824, December 19, 2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123/pdf/USCOURTS-cand-4_19-cv-07123-46.pdf

20
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/National Institute for Discovery Science.md
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@ -9,7 +9,15 @@ summary: "The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) was a privately fu
start: 1995
end: 2004
location: "Las Vegas, Nevada, USA"
updated: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Colm Kelleher]]"
reverse: true
role: "deputy administrator, molecular biology and biochemistry (2000 to 2003 captures); administrator (February 2004 capture)"
start: 1996
end: 2004
fn: 6
---
The [[National Institute for Discovery Science]] (NIDS) was a privately funded research organization founded by billionaire [[Robert Bigelow]] in 1995. The organization was dedicated to the scientific study of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) and other paranormal phenomena.[^1]
@ -25,9 +33,11 @@ One of the most well-known projects undertaken by NIDS was the investigation of
The institute's personnel page as captured on December 6, 2000 listed a Science Advisory Board of [[Warren Burggren]] (chairman), [[Douglas P. Ferraro]], [[Albert A. Harrison]], [[Edgar Mitchell]], [[Melvin Morse]], [[Martin Piltch]], [[Hal Puthoff]], [[Theodore Rockwell]], [[John F. Schuessler]], [[Jessica Utts]], [[Jacques Vallee]] and [[Jim Whinnery]]. The staff list named Robert Bigelow as president and founder, [[Colm Kelleher]] as deputy administrator (molecular biology and biochemistry), [[John B. Alexander]] as "Discrete Project Scout," [[Eric W. Davis]] (aerospace physics and astrophysics), [[George E. Onet]] (veterinary pathology) and [[Marcel Kuijsten]] (communications officer and webmaster).[^3]
The capture of October 21, 2001 lists Colm Kelleher with the same title and Hal Puthoff as chairman of the board.[^4] The capture of February 6, 2003 still lists Kelleher as deputy administrator. The capture of February 4, 2004 lists him as administrator for molecular biology and biochemistry, names [[Bruce Cornet]] as deputy administrator for geology, botany and earth history, names Marcel Kuijsten as the only other staff member, and moves John B. Alexander to the science advisory board; Puthoff is again chairman.[^5] The 2017 offering circular of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] states that Kelleher "worked for eight years as Deputy Director of the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS)."[^6] His Goodreads author biography and a May 2023 episode description of the Micah Hanks Program give 1996 to 2004 as the years he led the NIDS team at Skinwalker Ranch.[^7]
### Press Report of April 1997
The *[[Deseret News]]* reporter [[Zack Van Eyck]] wrote in April 1997 (reprinted in *The [[Uintah Basin Standard]]* on April 29) that research scientists who had taken control of a 480-acre [[Uintah County, Utah|Uintah County]] ranch near [[Randlett, Utah|Randlett]] the previous fall remained there although they had not seen the phenomena that its former owners, [[Terry Sherman|Terry]] and [[Gwen Sherman|Gwen]] Sherman, described. A spokesman for the [[Las Vegas]]-based institute said the researchers had yet to see flying craft, cattle mutilations or the "balls of light" that the Shermans said killed dogs. John B. Alexander, identified as the institute's director for scientific liaison, was quoted: "There have been some minor observations, but nothing you would stand behind." The story described Bigelow as a Las Vegas real estate magnate who founded the institute and who bought the ranch in September 1996, three months after the Shermans first told their account publicly in the *Deseret News*; it said two scientists and a veterinarian had set up an observation post, that the institute had not released details to other UFO researchers who were frustrated by that, and that Alexander said findings would be posted on the institute's web page (accessnv.com/nids).[^4]
The *[[Deseret News]]* reporter [[Zack Van Eyck]] wrote in April 1997 (reprinted in *The [[Uintah Basin Standard]]* on April 29) that research scientists who had taken control of a 480-acre [[Uintah County, Utah|Uintah County]] ranch near [[Randlett, Utah|Randlett]] the previous fall remained there although they had not seen the phenomena that its former owners, [[Terry Sherman|Terry]] and [[Gwen Sherman|Gwen]] Sherman, described. A spokesman for the [[Las Vegas]]-based institute said the researchers had yet to see flying craft, cattle mutilations or the "balls of light" that the Shermans said killed dogs. John B. Alexander, identified as the institute's director for scientific liaison, was quoted: "There have been some minor observations, but nothing you would stand behind." The story described Bigelow as a Las Vegas real estate magnate who founded the institute and who bought the ranch in September 1996, three months after the Shermans first told their account publicly in the *Deseret News*; it said two scientists and a veterinarian had set up an observation post, that the institute had not released details to other UFO researchers who were frustrated by that, and that Alexander said findings would be posted on the institute's web page (accessnv.com/nids).[^8]
### Connection to AATIP
@ -38,4 +48,8 @@ The work of NIDS was a precursor to the research conducted by the [[Advanced Aer
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
[^2]: George Knapp, "Statement to Congress," July 26, 2023 hearing record, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-20230726-SD004.pdf
[^3]: National Institute for Discovery Science, "Personnel," capture of December 6, 2000, https://web.archive.org/web/20001206032200/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html
[^4]: Zack Van Eyck, "No UFOs or ETs have dropped in at spooky ranch," *The Uintah Basin Standard* (Roosevelt, Utah; reprinted from the *Deseret News*), April 29, 1997, p. 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/725294178/.
[^4]: National Institute for Discovery Science, "Personnel and Science Advisory Board," Internet Archive capture of October 21, 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20011021020155/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html
[^5]: National Institute for Discovery Science, "Personnel and Science Advisory Board," captures of February 6, 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/20030206081535/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html) and February 4, 2004 (https://web.archive.org/web/20040204181441/http://www.nidsci.org/personnel.html)
[^6]: To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, Form 253G2 offering circular, September 29, 2017, EDGAR accession 0001144204-17-050693. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417050693/
[^7]: Colm A. Kelleher, author biography, Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/162220 ; Micah Hanks, "Colm Kelleher: AAWSAP and the Skinwalker Enigma," The Debrief, May 25, 2023, https://thedebrief.org/colm-kelleher-aawsap-and-the-skinwalker-enigma/
[^8]: Zack Van Eyck, "No UFOs or ETs have dropped in at spooky ranch," *The Uintah Basin Standard* (Roosevelt, Utah; reprinted from the *Deseret News*), April 29, 1997, p. 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/725294178/.