vault backup: 2026-10-07 22:19:10
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@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Arif Durrani was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] arms dealer convicted of illegally pro
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### Arms Dealing and BCCI Connections
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Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxury.[^3] He admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]] to release American hostages in the [[Middle East]].[^4] He met with a U.S. official named [[Oliver North]] to obtain HAWK parts.[^5] His arrest on October 3, 1986, occurred one month before the [[U.S. government]]'s secret arms-for-hostages deal with Tehran was revealed.[^6]
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Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxury.[^3] He admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]] to release American hostages in the [[Middle East]].[^4] He met with a U.S. official named [[Oliver North]] to obtain HAWK parts.[^5] His arrest on October 3, 1986, occurred one month before the U.S. government's secret arms-for-hostages deal with Tehran was revealed.[^6]
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Durrani had close connections to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], knowing [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [[Karachi]] with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of Pakistan, including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9]
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@ -51,19 +51,19 @@ created: 2026-10-03
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### Whistleblower Testimony
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In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the [[U.S. government]] is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1]
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In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the [[United States|U.S. government]] is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1]
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Elizondo wrote that Grusch has provided hours of classified testimony to congressional committees and the Inspector General about the so-called "[[Legacy Program]]."[^1]
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### Sworn statement of July 26, 2023
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At the hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], Grusch said: "I was an intelligence officer for 14 years both in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]], both active-duty Air National Guard and Reserve at the rank of Major and most recently from 2021 to 2025, excuse me, 2023, at the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency|National Geospatial Intelligence Agency]], NGA, at the GS-15 civilian level, which is the military equivalent of a full bird colonel." He described himself as "my agency's co-lead in unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans medium object analysis" reporting to the [[UAP Task Force]] and then to the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]]; said he "became a whistleblower through a PPD-19 urgent concern filing in May 2022 with the intelligence community inspector general"; and said that, in his [[National Reconnaissance Office]] reservist capacity, "I was a member of the UAP Task Force from 2019 to 2021," and that "in 2019, the UAP Task Force Director asked me to identify all special access programs and controlled access programs."[^2] He said: "I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access to those additional read-ons when I requested it," and "my testimony is based on information I have been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy and service to this country."[^2] He also said "I have suffered retaliation for my decision."[^2]
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At the hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Grusch said: "I was an intelligence officer for 14 years both in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]], both active-duty Air National Guard and Reserve at the rank of Major and most recently from 2021 to 2025, excuse me, 2023, at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, NGA, at the GS-15 civilian level, which is the military equivalent of a full bird colonel." He described himself as "my agency's co-lead in unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans medium object analysis" reporting to the UAP Task Force and then to the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]]; said he "became a whistleblower through a PPD-19 urgent concern filing in May 2022 with the intelligence community inspector general"; and said that, in his National Reconnaissance Office reservist capacity, "I was a member of the UAP Task Force from 2019 to 2021," and that "in 2019, the UAP Task Force Director asked me to identify all special access programs and controlled access programs."[^2] He said: "I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access to those additional read-ons when I requested it," and "my testimony is based on information I have been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy and service to this country."[^2] He also said "I have suffered retaliation for my decision."[^2]
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The record of the same hearing includes, as a document submitted by Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]], the [[NewsNation]] article "We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks," and, submitted by Representative [[Tim Burchett]], a statement for the record by [[George Knapp]] and a Defense Intelligence Reference Document titled "Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering."[^2]
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### Sol Foundation
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The résumé that David Grusch filed with the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]] for its July 26, 2023 hearing lists, as its first entry under experience, "May 2023-Present, Chief Operating Officer (COO), The Sol Foundation," with the description "Managing day-to-day operations for a 501c3 federally recognized non-profit. The premier center for research in the natural and social sciences, engineering, and the humanities, but also extends activities to advisory and policy work for the U.S. government/public outreach," and lists "Non-Profit Leadership" among his key competencies. The same document lists "November 2021-April 2023, Senior GEOINT Capabilities Requirements Officer, [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA), [[Colorado Springs]], CO (GS-15, Colonel Equiv.)," and describes him as the NGA lead for unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans-medium anomaly issues who "executed new program of record responsive to direct tasking by the Congressional Intelligence Committees."[^3]
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The résumé that David Grusch filed with the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]] for its July 26, 2023 hearing lists, as its first entry under experience, "May 2023-Present, Chief Operating Officer (COO), The Sol Foundation," with the description "Managing day-to-day operations for a 501c3 federally recognized non-profit. The premier center for research in the natural and social sciences, engineering, and the humanities, but also extends activities to advisory and policy work for the U.S. government/public outreach," and lists "Non-Profit Leadership" among his key competencies. The same document lists "November 2021-April 2023, Senior GEOINT Capabilities Requirements Officer, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), [[Colorado Springs]], CO (GS-15, Colonel Equiv.)," and describes him as the NGA lead for unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans-medium anomaly issues who "executed new program of record responsive to direct tasking by the Congressional Intelligence Committees."[^3]
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[[The Debrief]] reported that the existence of the [[Sol Foundation]] first became apparent through that résumé and related documents in early August 2023, and that the foundation was then described as "pending recognition as a 501c3 federal non-profit." [[Garry Nolan]] said in September 2023 that Grusch's title had since become "Senior Founding Advisor," that the earlier title "seemed the right thing at the time," and that Grusch "is a founder of the Sol Foundation."[^4] The foundation's [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date as a 501(c)(3) is June 2024, and its 2024 Form 990 does not list Grusch among its officers or directors; the foundation's website, read October 3, 2026, does not list him among its executive leadership or advisory board either.[^5][^6] On November 18, 2023 Grusch joined the foundation's first symposium in [[Palo Alto, California]] by video from Washington and said, "This is why we have the Sol Foundation. We need to basically create a parallel track of research and independent discovery that aren't necessarily dependent on the U.S. government to provide us all the answers."[^7]
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@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ A March 27, 2025 press release from the office of Representative [[Eric Burlison
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### NewsNation and Skywatcher
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[[Nexstar Media Group]]'s November 14, 2023 announcement of [[Ross Coulthart]] as a NewsNation special correspondent stated that he "will continue to provide reporting on UFO whistleblower David Grusch."[^10] NewsNation wrote in January 2025 that "In June 2023, NewsNation was the first television network to present an interview with Grusch."[^11] Grusch is listed among those interviewed or referenced in the Part I video of [[Sky Watcher]], alongside [[Alex Klokus]], [[Jake Barber]], [[Garry Nolan]], Col. [[Karl Nell]] and [[Fred Baker]].[^12] NewsNation's full special on Barber stated that Grusch and [[Luis Elizondo]] "say they've been told about it, they believe it exists, but they weren't a part of it themselves," and that Barber, "however, is different. He says he was part of that covert program."[^13]
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[[Nexstar Media Group]]'s November 14, 2023 announcement of [[Ross Coulthart]] as a NewsNation special correspondent stated that he "will continue to provide reporting on UFO whistleblower David Grusch."[^10] NewsNation wrote in January 2025 that "In June 2023, NewsNation was the first television network to present an interview with Grusch."[^11] Grusch is listed among those interviewed or referenced in the Part I video of [[Sky Watcher]], alongside [[Alex Klokus]], [[Jake Barber]], Garry Nolan, Col. [[Karl Nell]] and [[Fred Baker]].[^12] NewsNation's full special on Barber stated that Grusch and [[Luis Elizondo]] "say they've been told about it, they believe it exists, but they weren't a part of it themselves," and that Barber, "however, is different. He says he was part of that covert program."[^13]
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### Retaliation and Impact
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@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Edward Jay Epstein (December 6, 1935, to January 9, 2024) was an American invest
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Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth was published by [[Viking Press]] in 1966. It was his master's thesis at Cornell.[^1][^2] In the December 1966 issue of [[Esquire]] he published a further article that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] later described as explaining away objections to the book.[^3]
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A CIA dispatch to chiefs of certain stations and bases, titled "Countering Criticism of the Warren Report" and dated January 1967, stated that the trend of opinion about the [[Warren Commission]] "is a matter of concern to the [[U.S. government]], including our organization." Its sixth paragraph stated that "another kind of criticism has recently emerged, represented by Edward Jay Epstein's Inquest," that he "adopts a scholarly tone, and to the casual reader, he presents what appears to be a more coherent, reasoned case than the writers described above," and that [[Richard Rovere]] and [[Lord Devlin]], "previously backers of the Commission's Report," had changed their minds. The seventh paragraph stated that "Epstein's competence in research has been greatly exaggerated," giving as examples the date on which the CIA passed a [[Mexico City]] photograph to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (November 22, 1963, not November 18 as Inquest had it) and a Secret Service interview report that Inquest said had been withheld from the National Archives; the dispatch stated that an Archives staff member told a CIA officer that Epstein asked for the document, was told it was classified, and ended a two-day visit before the Secret Service declassified it. The eighth paragraph compared Epstein and other "intellectual critics" with [[Richard H. Popkin]], the author of The Second Oswald, whom it described as showing "love of theorizing and lack of common sense and experience." The action paragraph directed that "a useful strategy may be to single out Epstein's theory for attack, using the attached [[Fletcher Knebel]] article and Spectator piece for background."[^4]
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A CIA dispatch to chiefs of certain stations and bases, titled "Countering Criticism of the Warren Report" and dated January 1967, stated that the trend of opinion about the [[Warren Commission]] "is a matter of concern to the [[United States|U.S. government]], including our organization." Its sixth paragraph stated that "another kind of criticism has recently emerged, represented by Edward Jay Epstein's Inquest," that he "adopts a scholarly tone, and to the casual reader, he presents what appears to be a more coherent, reasoned case than the writers described above," and that [[Richard Rovere]] and [[Lord Devlin]], "previously backers of the Commission's Report," had changed their minds. The seventh paragraph stated that "Epstein's competence in research has been greatly exaggerated," giving as examples the date on which the CIA passed a [[Mexico City]] photograph to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (November 22, 1963, not November 18 as Inquest had it) and a Secret Service interview report that Inquest said had been withheld from the National Archives; the dispatch stated that an Archives staff member told a CIA officer that Epstein asked for the document, was told it was classified, and ended a two-day visit before the Secret Service declassified it. The eighth paragraph compared Epstein and other "intellectual critics" with [[Richard H. Popkin]], the author of The Second Oswald, whom it described as showing "love of theorizing and lack of common sense and experience." The action paragraph directed that "a useful strategy may be to single out Epstein's theory for attack, using the attached [[Fletcher Knebel]] article and Spectator piece for background."[^4]
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### Reader's Digest, Angleton and Legend
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@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Dr. Davis was a key scientific contractor for AATIP, working closely with Hal Pu
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Dr. Davis is best known as the alleged author of the Wilson-Davis Memo, a document that details a 2002 conversation with Vice Admiral [[Thomas R. Wilson]], then the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA). The memo describes Admiral Wilson's discovery of and subsequent denial of access to a secret UAP reverse-engineering program. The leak of this memo has been a significant event in the UAP disclosure movement, providing a detailed account of the existence of a "[[Legacy Program]]" operating outside of normal government oversight.[^1]
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In 2020, Dr. Davis made headlines when he told the [[New York Times]] that the [[U.S. government]] was in possession of "off-world vehicles not made on this earth." His public statements and briefings to Congress have been a major factor in the growing momentum for UAP transparency.[^1]
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In 2020, Dr. Davis made headlines when he told the [[New York Times]] that the [[United States|U.S. government]] was in possession of "off-world vehicles not made on this earth." His public statements and briefings to Congress have been a major factor in the growing momentum for UAP transparency.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
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@ -1,17 +1,186 @@
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---
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aliases:
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- McGeorge Bundy
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- Mac Bundy
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- Bundy
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- McG. Bundy
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category: "Intelligence & Government"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Politician
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- Israel
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summary: "McGeorge Bundy served as the National Security Advisor to President John F."
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- NationalSecurity
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- JohnFKennedy
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- Mongoose
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- BayOfPigs
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- Vietnam
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- CovertAction
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- SpecialGroup
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- FordFoundation
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- SkullAndBones
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summary: "McGeorge Bundy, Harvard dean, Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to Kennedy and Johnson (1961 to 1966) and chairman of the Special Group that reviewed CIA covert action, later headed the Ford Foundation."
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born: 1919-03-30
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died: 1996-09-16
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location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
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relations:
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- type: appointed
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with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
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start: 1961-01-20
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role: "Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs"
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fn: 1
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- type: reported_to
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with: "[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]"
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role: "Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; sent the February 7, 1965 memorandum on Vietnam"
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fn: 2
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- type: head_of
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with: "[[NSC Special Group]]"
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start: 1961
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end: 1966
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role: "chaired the Special Group, renamed the 303 Committee in June 1964, as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs"
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fn: 9
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Operation Mongoose]]"
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role: "took part in the planning that led to the creation of Operation Mongoose and sat on the Special Group (Augmented)"
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fn: 1
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Harvard University]]"
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start: 1949
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role: "lecturer in government; Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from August 1953"
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fn: 6
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
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start: 1946
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fn: 5
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[Skull and Bones]]"
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fn: 4
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- type: head_of
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with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
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start: 1966
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role: "President"
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fn: 34
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- type: relative_of
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with: "[[William P. Bundy]]"
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role: "brother"
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fn: 35
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created: 2026-10-07
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updated: 2026-10-07
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---
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McGeorge Bundy served as the National Security Advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy]]. He desperately sought to cut [[Myer Feldman]] out of the flow of [[Middle East]] paperwork due to Feldman's strong pro-Israel bias, which often resulted in bureaucratic chaos within the [[White House]] staff. Bundy was suspicious of Feldman and also anxious about other Jewish National Security Council staff members handling Israeli issues.[^1]
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McGeorge Bundy served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under [[John F. Kennedy]] and remained in that post under [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], chaired the interagency committee that reviewed [[CIA]] covert operations, and in 1966 became president of the [[Ford Foundation]].[^1][^2]
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### Yale, Skull and Bones, and the Council on Foreign Relations
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Bundy majored in mathematics at [[Yale University]] and returned to [[Harvard University]] and its Society of Fellows after the war.[^3] [[Ron Rosenbaum]]'s 1977 [[Esquire]] article on [[Skull and Bones]] names Bundy among the society's members, together with [[Averell Harriman]], [[Henry L. Stimson]], [[Henry Luce]] and Supreme Court Justice [[Potter Stewart]], and places Bundy's brother [[William P. Bundy]] and [[William F. Buckley]] in the CIA after their years in the society.[^4] The [[Council on Foreign Relations]] lists Bundy among the members who joined in 1946.[^5]
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### Harvard
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Bundy began teaching government and world affairs at Harvard in 1949 and was named Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 1953, at age 34.[^6][^3] [[Kai Bird]], Bundy's biographer, wrote that Harvard negotiated with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] a policy under which the university would terminate the contracts of untenured scholars who refused to name names, would share information, sometimes from its confidential personnel files, with the FBI, and would use confidential FBI information to screen its employees.[^6]
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[[Sigmund Diamond]] stated in 1977 that in 1954, about three weeks after Bundy considered him for the post of Counsellor for Foreign Students and Dean of Special Students, the FBI asked him about his prior Communist Party membership and his associates, and that days later Bundy told him the appointment would be withdrawn if he refused to name names. Bundy responded that he was justified in withdrawing the recommendation because the post was administrative, and that only academic appointments "carried all the immunities of academic freedom."[^7] [[Robert Bellah]] wrote that in 1954 Bundy told him an "officer of the university" had informed Bundy of his political past, that he owed "complete candor," and that his fellowship would be cancelled if he failed to cooperate; the FBI then questioned Bellah, and he later declined a Harvard instructorship conditioned on his answering committees such as the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].[^7] [[Leon Kamin]], subpoenaed by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee under William Jenner and by [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s subcommittee, said Bundy urged him to name names and let him know that Bundy was in close contact with the FBI.[^7]
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### Special Group and 303 Committee
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The Cuba Study Group's June 13, 1961 narrative for President Kennedy described the Special Group (also called the 5412 Committee) as consisting of a Deputy Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence and the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.[^8] The [[Church Committee]] recorded that with the inauguration of Kennedy in January 1961 Special Group meetings were transferred to the White House under the chairmanship of Bundy; that [[Maxwell Taylor]] chaired for a brief period, until Taylor became Chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], after which Bundy resumed the chair; and that in January 1963 NSAM 124 created the Special Group (Counterinsurgency), chaired by Taylor, on which Bundy and [[Robert Kennedy]] served.[^9] A CIA paper prepared in February 1967 for the [[Katzenbach Committee]] lists the chairmen as "first McGeorge Bundy, then General Maxwell Taylor, then back to Bundy, and finally to Walt Rostow."[^10] The Church Committee's account of the 1963 Cuba operations states that review and approval of covert operations against Cuba were the responsibility of the Special Group "chaired by McGeorge Bundy."[^11]
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On May 19, 1964, Peter Jessup of the [[National Security Council]] staff sent Bundy a memorandum proposing a drab new name for the Special Group, warning that if it were surfaced its members would be exposed to speculative publicity such as "Bundy’s Secret Task Force"; a handwritten marginal note, probably by Bundy, reads "McC[one] v. any change."[^12] National Security Action Memorandum 303 of June 2, 1964 provided that "Henceforth, the Special Group 5412 will be known as the 303 Committee"; an undated list in the file names its members as Bundy, [[John McCone]], Acting Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thompson, and Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Cyrus Vance]].[^13]
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Bundy testified before the [[House Select Committee on Intelligence]] on December 10, 1975 that senior officials outside the CIA understood that no covert operation would be undertaken without the explicit approval of "higher authority," and that there was "a general expectation within the Agency that it was its proper business to generate attractive proposals and to stretch them, in operation, to the furthest limit of any authorization actually received."[^9]
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On March 24, 1966, [[Bromley Smith]], Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, drafted a memorandum for President Johnson describing the 303 Committee, whose members were Vance, [[U. Alexis Johnson|Alexis Johnson]], Admiral [[William Raborn]] and formerly Bundy, as "the small four-man group" that had been "meeting weekly since 1963," and asking for a White House representative.[^14] When Johnson named [[Walt Rostow]] Special Assistant on March 31, 1966, he designated Rostow and [[Bill Moyers]] within four days as Bundy's replacement on the 303 Committee; The [[New York Times]] reported on April 1 that the President seemed "reluctant to put in the hands of one man the kind of power within Government that Mr. Bundy had."[^15]
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### Bay of Pigs
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On the evening of April 16, 1961, Bundy telephoned the CIA deputy director [[Charles P. Cabell|C.P. Cabell]]. The Cuba Study Group's June 13, 1961 narrative for President Kennedy states that at about 9:30 p.m. Bundy "telephoned General C.P. Cabell of CIA to inform him that the dawn air strikes the following morning should not be launched until they could be conducted from a strip within the beachhead," and that further consultation "should be with the Secretary of State."[^8] Cabell's own memorandum of May 9, 1961 records that "I was called in the CIA headquarters for the Cuban operation by the Special Assistant to the President, Mr. McGeorge Bundy," who "notified me that we would not be permitted to launch air strikes the next morning until they could be conducted from a strip within the beachhead." [[Richard Bissell]] joined Cabell at the office of Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]], where both arrived at about 10:15 p.m.[^16] In a memorandum to Kennedy of September 1, 1961, Bundy wrote: "I made it very clear to Cabell and Bissell on Sunday evening that if they disagreed, you would be willing to hear arguments from them."[^16]
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### Operation Mongoose
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The Church Committee recorded that Bundy "participated in the planning that led to the creation of [[Operation Mongoose|Operation MONGOOSE]]." He was also a member of the [[NSC Special Group|Special Group (Augmented)]], the body that oversaw the program.[^1] The March 1962 guidelines for the program were "revised slightly in response to suggestions made by McGeorge Bundy and McCone," and they stated that "The Special Group (5412 augmented) is responsible for providing policy guidance to the project, for approving important operations and for monitoring progress."[^17]
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Bundy's handwritten notes of a Special Group (Augmented) meeting on February 26 read, at one point, "[[Edward Lansdale|Lansdale]] Project: Consensus is that we are in no position to say when U.S. commitment."[^18] On October 5, 1961, Bundy issued NSAM 100, "Contingency Planning for [[Cuba]]," addressed to the Secretary of State.[^19]
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On March 29, 1962, Bundy met members of the [[Cuban Revolutionary Council]], [[José Miró Cardona]] and [[Antonio de Varona]], who urged that the council be given the means to invade Cuba. Bundy replied that if the United States supported any military action against [[Fidel Castro|Castro]], "such action must be decisive and complete."[^20]
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Bundy testified before the Church Committee that it was his "conviction" that "no one in the Kennedy Administration, in the White House, or in the cabinet, ever gave any authorization, approval, or instruction of any kind for any effort to assassinate anyone by the CIA." The committee's account records that Bissell and Bundy were personal friends, and that Bissell testified he never told Bundy about the plot, a fact Bundy confirmed.[^21] Earlier in the administration Bissell had discussed with Bundy a "capability" for "executive action," a term Bissell said included various means of "eliminating the effectiveness" of foreign leaders, including assassination.[^22] In later testimony Bissell said he "merely informed Bundy of the capability," and Bundy "said he received a briefing and gave no urging, though he raised no objections."[^23]
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### Middle East
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[[Seymour M. Hersh]] wrote that Bundy tried to cut [[Myer Feldman]] out of the flow of [[Middle East]] paperwork because of Feldman's strong pro-Israel bias, which Hersh said often produced bureaucratic chaos within the [[White House]] staff. Hersh also wrote that Bundy was suspicious of Feldman and anxious about other Jewish National Security Council staff members who handled Israeli issues.[^24] Hersh reported that [[Robert W. Komer]] recalled that Bundy had a standing rule not to send anything to Feldman, because Feldman was involved in issues where he had no business, and that it was hard to tell the difference between what Feldman said and what the Israeli ambassador said.[^24]
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In a December 22, 1969 oral history for the [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]], Komer said: "Bundy, I have reason to believe, always played it square with Mike in clueing him when he was going to send up a recommendation from State." He said Feldman "didn't have any of the intelligence clearances" and that "Kennedy and Bundy didn't give them to him," and, asked whether Feldman was used to communicate with the American Jewish community, answered that "That was a constant maneuver on Bundy's part as well as mine."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 7, 1967, after the [[Six-Day War]] began, Johnson named Bundy, who took a leave of absence from the Ford Foundation, Executive Secretary of a Special Committee of the National Security Council to coordinate United States policy in the Middle East; the committee ended its formal work in mid-August.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### NSAM 273
|
||||
|
||||
On November 20, 1963, officials met in [[Honolulu]] on Vietnam. Bundy wrote the first draft of National Security Action Memorandum 273 and sent copies to [[Roger Hilsman]] and William P. Bundy; the editors of the Foreign Relations series state that his draft was almost identical to the final paper, the major exception being paragraph 7, which in Bundy's draft read: "With respect to action against North Vietnam, there should be a detailed plan for the development of additional Government of Vietnam resources, especially for sea-going activity, and such planning should indicate the time and investment necessary to achieve a wholly new level of effectiveness in this field of action. (Action: DOD and CIA)." Hilsman answered on November 23 that the draft was "fine."[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
At 3 p.m. on November 24, 1963, Johnson met Rusk, [[Robert S. McNamara]], [[George Ball]], Bundy, McCone and Ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] on South Vietnam.[^28] The memorandum issued on November 26, 1963 over Bundy's signature to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, the Administrator of the [[Agency for International Development|AID]] and the Director of the United States Information Agency stated that the President had reviewed the Honolulu discussions and "has discussed the matter further with Ambassador Lodge." Its paragraph 7 read: "Planning should include different levels of possible increased activity, and in each instance there should be estimates of such factors as: A. Resulting damage to North Vietnam; B. The plausibility of denial; C. Possible North Vietnamese retaliation; D. Other international reaction."[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### Assassination of Kennedy
|
||||
|
||||
The Church Committee recorded that on the morning of November 23, 1963, McCone met with Johnson and Bundy to brief them on information that CIA Headquarters had received from its Mexico Station about [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]'s September 1963 visit to [[Mexico City]], and that McCone met the President and Bundy again on December 1 and December 2, 1963; the memorandum of the December 1 meeting indicates they again discussed the story of "D."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brazil
|
||||
|
||||
At a meeting on March 28, 1964, which discussed Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]]'s message of March 27 on [[Brazil]], the group discussed the situation involving [[Joao Goulart]] and the Brazilian military, and Bundy said "we should be worrying that the military will not react." The participants included [[Richard Helms]] and [[Desmond FitzGerald]].[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
### Vietnam
|
||||
|
||||
On February 7, 1965, writing en route from [[Saigon]] to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], Bundy sent President Johnson a memorandum on the situation in [[Vietnam]]; he met the President from 10:48 to 11:25 p.m. that day. Its annex, "A Policy of Sustained Reprisal," opened: "We believe that the best available way of increasing our chance of success in Vietnam is the development and execution of a policy of sustained reprisal against North Vietnam." The annex added that "we may wish at the outset to relate our reprisals to those acts of relatively high visibility."[^2][^30]
|
||||
|
||||
### FBI and CIA domestic programs
|
||||
|
||||
In 1961 [[J. Edgar Hoover]] sent Bundy a report of the Interdepartmental Intelligence Conference on the status of internal security programs.[^31] In April 1965 Bundy asked the FBI for information concerning the Communist role in criticism of American policy in Vietnam; the following day Hoover met the President, and Hoover's account of the meeting refers to "the request he had made through Honorable McGeorge Bundy at the White House" for an over-all memorandum on the Vietnam demonstrations and communist influence in the same.[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1965, after the Long Subcommittee hearings on mail covers raised concern at the CIA about discovery of its New York mail-opening project, [[Thomas Karamessines]], then Acting Deputy Director for Plans, "gave instructions that steps should be taken to arrange to pass through McGeorge Bundy to the President after the subcommittee has completed its investigation." The Church Committee found that Bundy "does not recall ever having been informed of the project," that neither Karamessines nor Helms knew of any attempt to inform him, and that there is no documentary record of one.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ford Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
[[John J. McCloy]] offered Bundy the Ford Foundation presidency on November 7, 1965, and Bundy reported the offer to Johnson the next day. In a memorandum of December 4, 1965, Bundy told Johnson that he had asked the Ford trustees to let him accept "on the understanding that I shall always be free to accept any special assignments from you," that [[Jay Stratton]], McCloy's successor, had agreed in the name of the trustees, and that he would stay in the White House through February 1966; McCloy, for the foundation, had accepted the delay on November 29.[^34] On November 13, 1965, Johnson asked Under Secretary of State [[Thomas C. Mann]] about "Bill Bundy to succeed his brother."[^35] The [[Harvard Crimson]] reported on November 15, 1965 that McCloy, the foundation's chairman, approached Bundy in Washington about succeeding [[Henry T. Heald]] as president beginning January 1.[^36]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1966 the FBI learned that [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] had met with Bundy, "then Director of the Ford Foundation," and had received a tentative offer of a grant for the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]. The FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division decided that if the foundation's officials were briefed on King's advisers "this might preclude any assistance being granted," and Hoover approved a plan to have a former FBI agent, then a vice-president of the [[Ford Motor Company]], approach Bundy. In a memorandum of October 26, 1966, [[Cartha DeLoach]] reported that Bundy had refused to talk with the former agent about King, saying he would only talk with a person having first-hand knowledge; Hoover wrote on the memorandum, "Yes. We would get no where with Bundy."[^37]
|
||||
|
||||
### William P. Bundy
|
||||
|
||||
William P. Bundy, McGeorge Bundy's brother, was Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in November 1965.[^38] He joined the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of National Estimates in 1951 as chief of staff and liaison to the National Security Council staff, and served on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1964 to 1972.[^39]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 8.
|
||||
[^1]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 156 (Bundy testimony of July 11, 1975), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: McGeorge Bundy, memorandum to President Lyndon B. Johnson, "The Situation in Vietnam," with Annex A, "A Policy of Sustained Reprisal," February 7, 1965, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. II, doc. 84 (source note: Bundy met the President from 10:48 to 11:25 p.m. on February 7), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d84
|
||||
[^3]: "Mac Bundy," *The Harvard Crimson*, November 10, 1956, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1956/11/10/mac-bundy-pwhen-mcgeorge-bundy-became/
|
||||
[^4]: Ron Rosenbaum, "The Last Secrets of Skull and Bones," *Esquire*, September 1977.
|
||||
[^5]: Council on Foreign Relations, "Celebrating a Century: Changing Membership," entry for McGeorge Bundy ("Joined in 1946"), https://www.cfr.org/celebrating-a-century/changing-membership
|
||||
[^6]: Kai Bird, excerpt from *The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms* (Simon & Schuster, 1998), "Open Book: Dean Bundy Deals with McCarthyism," *Harvard Magazine*, https://www.harvardmagazine.com/so98/browse.open2.html
|
||||
[^7]: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, "Harvard's Troubled History with Free Association, Part 2" (summarizing Sigmund Diamond's 1977 and Robert Bellah's accounts in *The New York Review of Books*, including the Bellah quotations, and Leon Kamin's account), https://www.fire.org/harvards-troubled-history-with-free-association-part-2/ Sole source for the Diamond, Bellah and Kamin accounts so cited.
|
||||
[^8]: Memorandum No. 1 from the Cuba Study Group to President Kennedy, "Narrative of the Anti-Castro Cuban Operation Zapata," June 13, 1961, paragraph 43 and footnote on the Special Group, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, doc. 231, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d231
|
||||
[^9]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, *Foreign and Military Intelligence*, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), Part II, sections on the National Security Council and the Special Group (chairmanship 1961 to 1966; NSAM 124; Special Group (Augmented)), and the section on maintaining a covert capability quoting Bundy's House Select Committee on Intelligence testimony of December 10, 1975, Hearings, vol. 5, pp. 1794-1795, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_I.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Paper prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency, "Coordination and Policy Approval of Covert Operations," February 23, 1967 (Appendix C to the report of the Katzenbach Committee), paragraph A.7, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 263, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d263
|
||||
[^11]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book V, *The Investigation of the Assassination of President Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies*, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), sections on the CIA's Cuba operations in 1963, the November 23 McCone briefing, and the chronology for December 1 and 2, 1963, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: Memorandum from Peter Jessup of the National Security Council staff to Bundy, "Proposed Name Change for Special Group (5412)," May 19, 1964, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 203, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d203
|
||||
[^13]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 303, June 2, 1964, with editorial footnote on the undated membership list, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 204, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d204
|
||||
[^14]: Draft memorandum from the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Smith) to President Johnson, "Need for White House Representation on 303 Committee," March 24, 1966, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 249, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d249
|
||||
[^15]: Editorial note on the appointment of Walt W. Rostow, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 164, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d164
|
||||
[^16]: Memorandum from the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (Cabell) to General Maxwell D. Taylor, "Cuban Operation," May 9, 1961, paragraphs 1 to 3, with editorial footnote quoting Bundy's memorandum to Kennedy of September 1, 1961, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, doc. 108, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d108
|
||||
[^17]: "Guidelines for Operation Mongoose," with editorial note, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, doc. 314, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d314
|
||||
[^18]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, doc. 307, footnote citing Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Special Group (Augmented), Operation Mongoose, 2/62 to 4/62, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d307
|
||||
[^19]: Senate Select Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 136 (NSAM 100, October 5, 1961), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: Memorandum of conversation, March 29, 1962, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. X, doc. 317, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d317
|
||||
[^21]: Senate Select Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 119 (Bundy testimony of July 11, 1975, pp. 41, 54, 63; Bissell testimony), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Senate Select Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), p. 121 (Bissell testimony of July 22, 1975, p. 32), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: Senate Select Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), pp. 182 to 183, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
|
||||
[^24]: Seymour M. Hersh, *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy* (Random House, 1991), ch. 8. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^25]: Robert W. Komer, recorded interview by Dennis J. O'Brien, December 22, 1969, JFK #5, pp. 38 to 39 (Feldman as minorities adviser; Bundy "played it square"), p. 81 (intelligence clearances), p. 82 (communicating with the Jewish community), John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkoh-rowk-05
|
||||
[^26]: Editorial note on the Special Committee of the National Security Council, June 7, 1967, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 178, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d178
|
||||
[^27]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 273, November 26, 1963, with editorial note on the Bundy draft and Hilsman's reply of November 23, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, doc. 331, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d331
|
||||
[^28]: Memorandum for the Record of meeting, November 24, 1963, 3 p.m. (drafted by McCone), *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. IV, doc. 330, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d330
|
||||
[^29]: Memorandum of conversation, March 28, 1964, National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 465, document 11, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB465/docs/Document%2011%20brazilnscdocument.pdf
|
||||
[^30]: *Pentagon Papers*, Part IV.C.3, reproduction of the February 7, 1965 Bundy memorandum with Annex A, https://archive.org/details/204285-pentagon-papers-part-iv-c-3
|
||||
[^31]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, *Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans*, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 465 (Hoover to Bundy, July 25, 1961, enclosing Interdepartmental Intelligence Conference report), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^32]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 483 (April 1965 request and Hoover's account), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^33]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), chapter on CIA mail opening, section "1965 Proposal to Inform President Johnson" (citing Karamessines testimony of October 8, 1975 and a staff summary of a Bundy interview of April 19, 1976), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^34]: Memorandum from Bundy to President Johnson, "Letter of resignation," December 4, 1965, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 159, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d159
|
||||
[^35]: Memorandum of telephone conversation between President Johnson and Under Secretary of State Mann, November 13, 1965, 12:15 p.m., *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 157, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d157
|
||||
[^36]: "Bundy, Bell Up for Key Posts," *The Harvard Crimson*, November 15, 1965, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1965/11/15/bundy-bell-up-for-key-posts/
|
||||
[^37]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 178 (October 1966 FBI plan concerning a Ford Foundation grant to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; DeLoach memorandum of October 26, 1966), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^38]: Memorandum from Gordon Chase to Bundy, "World Disarmament Conference," November 20, 1965, footnote identifying "your brother William Bundy, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs," *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 373, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d373
|
||||
[^39]: William P. Bundy Papers (MC189), Biography/History, Public Policy Papers, Princeton University Library, https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/PRIN_MUDD_MC189
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Abdul Qadeer Khan was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] scientist "closely associated wit
|
|||
|
||||
### Kahuta and the Procurement Network
|
||||
|
||||
In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the [[U.S. government]] regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
|
||||
In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the U.S. government regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Pervez Case
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -82,19 +82,19 @@ Jones served as Special Assistant to Pell from January 1985 until March 1991 "wi
|
|||
|
||||
### The White Paper of 1992
|
||||
|
||||
"Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," dated February 20, 1992 and credited to [[Robert J. Durant]], appears in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] reading room as CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300004-7; a note at its end states that [[George P. Hansen]] co-authored it without his name appearing.[^3] It opens by describing Jones as "the Renaissance Man of the Paranormal." Its claims, attributed to Durant, include that Jones chaired a panel and acted as liaison to "the Prince of Liechtenstein who was the major benefactor of the conference," at the [[TREAT II]] abduction conference at [[Virginia Tech]] in January 1990 organized by Rima Laibow; that [[MUFON]] appointed him Special Consultant in International Relations in 1989; that in 1991 he told the Chinese officials he visited about UFOs, in a story he later told at the Omega conference, that his questions were taken for pretense, and that metal given to him there proved to be debris from an electrical transmission tower; that he delivered "Government UFO Connections" at the 1991 MUFON symposium and there said he "honestly did not know of any activity of the [[U.S. government]]" on UFOs; and that he spoke approvingly of [[William L. Moore]] and met Moore and [[Richard Doty]] while on Pell's payroll.[^3]
|
||||
"Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," dated February 20, 1992 and credited to [[Robert J. Durant]], appears in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] reading room as CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300004-7; a note at its end states that [[George P. Hansen]] co-authored it without his name appearing.[^3] It opens by describing Jones as "the Renaissance Man of the Paranormal." Its claims, attributed to Durant, include that Jones chaired a panel and acted as liaison to "the Prince of Liechtenstein who was the major benefactor of the conference," at the [[TREAT II]] abduction conference at [[Virginia Tech]] in January 1990 organized by Rima Laibow; that [[MUFON]] appointed him Special Consultant in International Relations in 1989; that in 1991 he told the Chinese officials he visited about UFOs, in a story he later told at the Omega conference, that his questions were taken for pretense, and that metal given to him there proved to be debris from an electrical transmission tower; that he delivered "Government UFO Connections" at the 1991 MUFON symposium and there said he "honestly did not know of any activity of the [[United States|U.S. government]]" on UFOs; and that he spoke approvingly of [[William L. Moore]] and met Moore and [[Richard Doty]] while on Pell's payroll.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The paper also relates a story that [[Lee Graham]], an [[Aerojet]] technician, told [[Don Ecker]] and Durant: after an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent and an unidentified man visited Graham in 1987 and discussed the [[Majestic-12|MJ-12]] papers, Jones telephoned Graham, said they had "a mutual acquaintance," and sent on Senate letterhead the Air Force biography of Major General [[Michael Kerby]], the Air Force legislative liaison director, whom Graham recognized as the visitor. In the paper's account Jones explained that Kerby had called on Pell, noticed Jones, and told him of the visit because "Kerby knew of my interest in these matters"; Jones declined to elaborate. Durant also wrote that an unnamed informant learned that [[Jaime Shandera]] and Moore were in contact with Jones, and listed rumors, which the paper attributes to unnamed "Scott watchers," that Jones had asked parapsychologists about recruiting psychics for military intelligence, had been involved for years in classified research on electronic mind control, and had approached media representatives in 1986 about a UFO program offering secret government information. The paper also describes dolphin telepathy experiments by Jones with Colonel [[John B. Alexander]] and [[Theodore Rockwell]]. The paper states of Jones's organizations that the Human Potential Foundation was established in 1989, was housed in the [[Vienna, Virginia]], offices of the law firm [[Sandground Barondess and West]] with [[Mark Sandground]] and Pell on its board, and was "reportedly funded by Laurance Rockefeller."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Human Potential Foundation, 1989 to 1998
|
||||
|
||||
Jones left Pell's staff in March 1991 and ran the Foundation until its dissolution in 1998.[^2] The Foundation's primary donor in its first two and a half years was Laurance Rockefeller, "whose support was conditional with a program designed to get the [[United States]] government to acknowledge the existence of alien life."[^2] Jones wrote as its president to [[John Gibbons]] at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] from 1993 to 1995, to Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and in August 1995 to the congressional leadership; the letters are described under the [[Rockefeller Initiative]].[^10] [[Dinah Eng]]'s wire story of May 1995 on the Foundation's conference "[[When Cosmic Cultures Meet]]" (May 27 to 29, Washington) identified Jones as the Foundation's president and as a former naval intelligence officer who served on Pell's staff; it reported that the program would examine contact with extraterrestrials rather than debate whether intelligent life exists elsewhere, and quoted Jones as saying he had "no doubt that intelligent life exists elsewhere" and that there was "an extraordinary amount of fear associated with this phenomena."[^11] In a letter of February 17, 1994 he wrote to Gibbons: "My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena."[^12] In his letter of August 11, 1994, after describing a conference of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] in [[Chicago]] and Pell's seat on its board, he advised Gibbons to speak with [[James Woolsey]]; the passage that follows (the scan is torn) reports that Woolsey had a document search under way in his agency that had found nothing of significance, and quotes the statement: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's [...] and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within [the] aerospace community, or perhaps [[General Motors]]."[^13] A handwritten note signed "JHG" and dated 3/29/94 on the same letter reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^12]
|
||||
Jones left Pell's staff in March 1991 and ran the Foundation until its dissolution in 1998.[^2] The Foundation's primary donor in its first two and a half years was Laurance Rockefeller, "whose support was conditional with a program designed to get the United States government to acknowledge the existence of alien life."[^2] Jones wrote as its president to [[John Gibbons]] at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] from 1993 to 1995, to Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and in August 1995 to the congressional leadership; the letters are described under the [[Rockefeller Initiative]].[^10] [[Dinah Eng]]'s wire story of May 1995 on the Foundation's conference "[[When Cosmic Cultures Meet]]" (May 27 to 29, Washington) identified Jones as the Foundation's president and as a former naval intelligence officer who served on Pell's staff; it reported that the program would examine contact with extraterrestrials rather than debate whether intelligent life exists elsewhere, and quoted Jones as saying he had "no doubt that intelligent life exists elsewhere" and that there was "an extraordinary amount of fear associated with this phenomena."[^11] In a letter of February 17, 1994 he wrote to Gibbons: "My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena."[^12] In his letter of August 11, 1994, after describing a conference of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] in [[Chicago]] and Pell's seat on its board, he advised Gibbons to speak with [[James Woolsey]]; the passage that follows (the scan is torn) reports that Woolsey had a document search under way in his agency that had found nothing of significance, and quotes the statement: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's [...] and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within [the] aerospace community, or perhaps [[General Motors]]."[^13] A handwritten note signed "JHG" and dated 3/29/94 on the same letter reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
Jones presented a talk on exopolitics in [[Hawaii]] in June 2006.[^14] He founded the [[Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth]] in 1998, which received its [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling in October 1998.[^2][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Series 4 and 6 container titles
|
||||
|
||||
The finding aid lists Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation, with subseries for Pell, the Foundation Board, Grants and Funding, Projects and Events) and Series 6 ("Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell," with Legislation, Symposium on Consciousness and Survival 1985, Soviet-American Relations, Paranormal Aide, Reports and organizations, Unidentified Flying Objects, Speeches and Subject Files subseries). Among the titles are "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "National Science Foundation: [[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones; the full title lists are on the pages for [[Human Potential Foundation]] and [[Claiborne Pell]].[^16]
|
||||
The finding aid lists Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation, with subseries for Pell, the Foundation Board, Grants and Funding, Projects and Events) and Series 6 ("Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell," with Legislation, Symposium on Consciousness and Survival 1985, Soviet-American Relations, Paranormal Aide, Reports and organizations, Unidentified Flying Objects, Speeches and Subject Files subseries). Among the titles are "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "National Science Foundation: [[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones; the full title lists are on the pages for Human Potential Foundation and Claiborne Pell.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ A Form D filed on February 9, 2023 by 1789 Capital Fund I, LP of Palm Beach, Flo
|
|||
[^15]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2019 to 2024, Part XV (grants and contributions paid), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: 2019 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202012559349100501/IRS990PF; 2020 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202212639349100101/IRS990PF; 2021 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202213199349104431/IRS990PF; 2022 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202303189349100610/IRS990PF; 2023 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF; 2024 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202513169349100411/IRS990PF. The 2016 and 2017 DonorsTrust grants are from the Part XV lists in the returns for those years. The Part XV list for 2020 totals $26,031,269 including $6,772,269 to the Hospital for Special Surgery; the grants-paid field in the ProPublica summary for 2020 reads $19,259,000.
|
||||
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for ART ROBINSON FOR CONGRESS (C00481341), 2251 Dick George Rd, Cave Junction, Oregon; Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica of $20,000 in three payments, June to November 2014. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00481341/
|
||||
[^17]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for 2014, Part XV (Job Creators Alliance, Addison, Texas, 100,000 dollars, "non profit donation"). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas; related items EFTA01398726, EFTA01398757, EFTA01398924 and EFTA01398965 not reopened). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), Form 990 for 2012, Part III (mission), Part VII Section A (officers and compensation), Schedule O; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer record (recognition date January 1, 2013). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201212_990.pdf and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912
|
||||
[^20]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2013, 2014 and 2015, Schedule L Part IV (business transactions involving interested persons) and Part VII: https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201312_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201412_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201512_990.pdf (amount for 2013 as read from the scanned return)
|
||||
[^21]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2016 (Part VII Section A), 2017, 2020 and 2022, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912/201743179349306999/IRS990 ; /201833199349301453/IRS990 ; /202111759349300306/IRS990 ; /202343009349300814/IRS990
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
|
|||
aliases:
|
||||
- Sam the Barber
|
||||
- Salvatore LaRussa
|
||||
- Salvatore La Russa
|
||||
- Sam La Russa
|
||||
- Sam LaRussa
|
||||
- Samuel LaRussa
|
||||
- Salvatore LaRusso
|
||||
- Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa
|
||||
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- AbuseNetworks
|
||||
|
|
@ -11,7 +16,8 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- ScarfoFamily
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
summary: "Sicilian-born Philadelphia barber, bar owner and restaurateur, a friend of mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo, whom R.C. Horsch named as the main backer of his 1973 pornographic feature."
|
||||
- BustOutBars
|
||||
summary: "Philadelphia barber, bust-out bar operator and restaurateur who was a friend of mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo and, according to R.C. Horsch, financed his 1973 film."
|
||||
born: 1938
|
||||
died: 1996-08-18
|
||||
location: "Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,31 +28,88 @@ relations:
|
|||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[La Cucina Ristorante]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]"
|
||||
role: "financier, per R.C. Horsch"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael LaRussa]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 17
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-07
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa (1938 to August 18, 1996) was a [[Philadelphia]] barber, bar owner and restaurateur known, in the words of his *Inquirer* obituary, as "a restaurateur and associate of local mobsters," chiefly through his friendship with the boss [[Nicodemo Scarfo]]. [[R.C. Horsch]] said that most of the budget of his 1973 pornographic feature *[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]* came from LaRussa.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa (1938 to August 18, 1996) was a [[Philadelphia]] barber, bust-out bar operator, restaurateur and club owner who gained notoriety in law enforcement and underworld circles through his friendship with [[Nicodemo Scarfo]].[^1] [[R.C. Horsch]] said that most of the budget of the 1973 pornographic feature *[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]* came from LaRussa.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Locust Street and South Street
|
||||
### Early life and barbering
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa was born in "Campobella dell Gatto, near Palermo," in [[Sicily]], as the *Daily News* gave it, the eldest of five children, and emigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1950s, living on Sheridan Street near Porter in South Philadelphia. He left home at 19 to become a barber and cut hair at the Camac Baths. In the early 1960s he opened what became known as "bust-out bars," among them the Phone Booth, the HMS Pinafore and the ZuZu Club, featuring strippers in the red-light district around 13th and Locust Streets; he was arrested several times for liquor-code violations. In the early 1970s he bought the Piccadilly Club on South Street near Front, reopened it as Scruples and later Christine's, and next door opened La Cucina Ristorante, which became a gathering place for members and associates of the Scarfo family. In the 1990s he built and operated clubs on the Delaware waterfront, among them Club Vegas, the South Beach Club and the Aztec Club.[^2]
|
||||
LaRussa was born in Campobella dell Gatto, near Palermo, in [[Sicily]], in 1938, the eldest of five children of Marianne and Joseph LaRussa.[^3] He emigrated to Philadelphia with his mother and sister in the early 1950s, and his three brothers and his father followed three years later. The family lived on Sheridan Street near Porter in [[South Philadelphia]].[^3] One account dates his immigration to 1951.[^1] He left home at 19 to become a barber and cut men's hair at the now closed [[Camac Baths]], where he met the jeweler [[Bobby Stone]], a friend of thirty years.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Scarfo
|
||||
### Bust-out bars and Locust Street
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa said under oath that he had first met Scarfo as a teenager around 11th and Carpenter Streets. In the mid-1980s Scarfo and his senior associates were frequent customers at La Cucina, and a Christmas party Scarfo held there in 1985 drew intense police surveillance. The mob informants [[Nicholas Caramandi]] and [[Thomas DelGiorno]] testified that LaRussa had allowed Scarfo to use his house in [[Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania|Whitemarsh Township]] for initiation ceremonies; Caramandi said that he and two others were "made" there one afternoon after LaRussa had left. Questioned by a federal grand jury in 1987, LaRussa said he had been called away to work that day, that he was a frequent guest at Scarfo's waterfront house in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] and had supervised construction work there, and that he knew nothing of Scarfo's criminal activities: "I never ask him any questions. We go out. We have dinner. We eat. We drink. We laugh. Christmas, we exchange gifts."[^1][^2]
|
||||
In the early 1960s, while in his early twenties, LaRussa began opening what came to be known as "bust-out bars." They included the Phone Booth, the [[HMS Pinafore]] and the [[ZuZu Club]], which featured strippers in the then red-light district around 13th and [[Locust Street]].[^3] His dozen after-hours clubs and bars usually served until dawn, and he was arrested several times for liquor-code violations.[^3] He once described the Locust Street bars as "bust-out" joints, and was also in the construction business.[^1] The [[Pennsylvania Crime Commission]]'s 1990 report listed him among associates of the Bruno/Scarfo family, with prior arrests for liquor law violations at "bust-out bars" he had operated around 13th and Locust Streets.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1973 Film
|
||||
The Crime Commission listed bust-out operations at several Locust Street addresses in its 1974 report on police corruption in Philadelphia, among them the Skabidoo/AU in the Family at 1301 Locust Street, the Why Not Lounge at 1305 Locust Street and the RD Club on the second floor at 1301 Locust Street.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Horsch said in a 2013 interview that 60 to 70 percent of the roughly 20,000 dollar budget of *The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig* came from LaRussa, who ran the Bag of Nails bar at 13th and Locust Streets, from "money that he had laying around in a shoebox behind the bar. We're talking about organized crime," and that LaRussa arranged the film's distribution through Philadelphia organized crime to [[Sam Lake]]. No other source ties LaRussa to the film; his obituaries do not mention it.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
In the early 1970s LaRussa bought the [[Piccadilly Club]] on [[South Street (Philadelphia)|South Street]] near Front, reopened it as Scruples and later renamed it Christine's, after his granddaughter.[^3] Next door he opened [[La Cucina Ristorante]], a restaurant near Second and South Streets that he owned.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
### La Cucina and the Scarfo circle
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa had undergone three open-heart operations and was awaiting a heart transplant, according to his godson. He died of a heart attack at Chestnut Hill Hospital on August 18, 1996, at 58, and was buried at [[Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham)|Holy Sepulchre Cemetery]] in [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham]] after a Mass at Epiphany of Our Lord Church.[^1][^2]
|
||||
The Crime Commission's 1990 report describes La Cucina Ristorante, 121 South Street, as having "long been a hangout for members of Scarfo's LCN Family."[^4] [[Philip Leonetti]], Scarfo's nephew, said that "There was a place on South Street called La Cucina that we used to go to. Sam the Barber, who was with us, owned it. We rented the place out and threw a big party," and placed there the Christmas party that Scarfo threw for himself after he became boss.[^6] In the mid-1980s Scarfo and several of his senior associates were frequent customers at La Cucina.[^1] In a 1987 account, [[Thomas DelGiorno]] said that on one night he met Scarfo, Leonetti and [[Salvatore Merlino]] at La Cucina, "a restaurant on South Street near Front," and told the three men that [[Salvatore Testa]] had been murdered.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
Scarfo's 1985 Christmas party at the restaurant drew police attention.[^1] The journalist [[George Anastasia]] quoted an unnamed participant describing Scarfo hosting "this big thing" at La Cucina that Christmas, with "forty, maybe fifty" members present from about two o'clock and invited nonmembers arriving after four o'clock.[^8] In the 1987 extortion trial, prosecutors showed the jury an FBI videotape of [[Leland Beloff]], [[Robert Rego]] and former state senator [[Henry Cianfrani]] entering "LaCucina Ristorante Extraordinaire, 117 South Street," at 4:30 p.m. on December 19, 1985, when a Scarfo Christmas party allegedly was under way inside.[^9] [[George Anastasia]] wrote that during a celebration at La Cucina, Scarfo offered [[Nicholas Caramandi]] his personal congratulations.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: [Obituary of Salvatore LaRussa], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 21, 1996, sec. B, p. 4, as transcribed on Find a Grave, memorial 123805574. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123805574/salvatore-la_russa
|
||||
[^2]: Caparella, Kitty. [Obituary of Salvatore LaRussa], *Philadelphia Daily News,* August 20, 1996, p. 16, as transcribed on Find a Grave, memorial 123805574. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123805574/salvatore-la_russa
|
||||
[^3]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio (republishing interviews recorded in 2013). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
|
||||
### The Whitemarsh house
|
||||
|
||||
In the 1987 trial, Caramandi described an alleged event on November 25, 1984, "in a house in [[Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania|Whitemarsh]], [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]]," with some 30 Mafia members standing around a dining-room table, at which he was initiated into the Mafia. He testified that Scarfo put a piece of tissue paper in his palm and lit it.[^11] The Third Circuit's 1990 opinion in [[United States v. Pungitore]] states that in the fall of 1984 [[Charles Iannece]] and [[Joseph Grande]], along with government witness Caramandi, became made members.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
Caramandi told Anastasia that "Finally, we get to the house and it's Sam the Barber's house," in Whitemarsh, which he said LaRussa built himself and was later offered about nine hundred thousand dollars for. Anastasia wrote that thirty-five members of the Philadelphia mob looked on as Scarfo administered the oath, and that LaRussa had left his house before the ceremony began; by four o'clock that afternoon, he wrote, the ceremonies were over and the drinks and food were served.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa's own account, given to a federal grand jury in 1987, concerned his home in Whitemarsh. He said he had invited Scarfo to his home several times and that Scarfo finally accepted. LaRussa said he was called away to work that day and did not share in a catered meal for about 40 people that he had brought in from his restaurant. He told the grand jury: "I told him it's my pleasure to have him there."[^1] Caramandi later testified that he and two other mob figures were formally initiated, or "made," that afternoon, after LaRussa had left the house.[^1] DelGiorno and Caramandi testified that LaRussa allowed Scarfo to use his Whitemarsh home for Mafia initiation ceremonies.[^3] The Crime Commission's 1990 report states the same of the two witnesses' testimony.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Fort Lauderdale and the grand jury
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa told the grand jury that he was a frequent guest at Scarfo's waterfront home in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], had supervised construction work there, and usually picked up the check when Scarfo ate at La Cucina. He said he was in the dark about Scarfo's mob activities: "I never ask him any questions," he said. "We go out. We have dinner. We eat. We drink. We laugh. Christmas, we exchange gifts."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Leonetti said that Scarfo had him pay $650,000 in cash for a Fort Lauderdale house on the water, which Scarfo named Casablanca South. He said that "Sam wasn't a made guy, but he was with us," that Scarfo put LaRussa in charge of the renovations, and that Scarfo ended up spending close to $100,000 on them.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1973 film
|
||||
|
||||
Horsch said in an interview recorded in 2013 that LaRussa put up "about 60, 70% of the money" for the film, money "that he had laying around in a shoebox behind the bar. We're talking about organized crime."[^2] Horsch said that LaRussa ran a bar called the [[Bag of Nails]] at 13th and Locust Streets and that the production cost "a little over $20,000." Horsch said that the contact with [[Sam Lake]] for distribution was arranged through the mafia in Philadelphia, through LaRussa, and that the film was sold to "Sam" for exactly $50,000.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Horsch then said that "Sam was always complaining that it didn't make any money," and that the figure he had been given was that Sam ended up making four or five million dollars from the film, adding: "I don't know how true it was or not." Asked whether Sam the Barber was happy with his share of the profits, Horsch answered: "No, because he never really made as much money as he thought he was going to make."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Waterfront clubs
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa operated establishments along South Street and, most recently, along [[Delaware Avenue]].[^1] In the 1990s he opened clubs along the [[Delaware River]] waterfront, among them [[Club Vegas]], the [[South Beach Club]] and the [[Aztec Club]]. The Aztec Club was one he built, operated and later sold. A correction published August 21, 1996 stated that he constructed Club Vegas and South Beach but did not own the building or the liquor license of either.[^3] In May 1992 the Aztec Club was among the waterfront's old showplace standbys, with the [[Riverfront Dinner Theater]] and the Barbary.[^15] In May 1995 Club Vegas was new that year among about a dozen clubs along the waterfront.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa was married twice.[^3] His brother [[Michael LaRussa]] was described in 2012 as the owner of [[Dante & Luigi's]] at 10th and Catharine Streets in Bella Vista, where he said: "I do still have people that are 'connected' come in here. I don't make a fuss about it."[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death and survivors
|
||||
|
||||
LaRussa died of a heart attack on Sunday, August 18, 1996. The Inquirer gave the place as [[Chestnut Hill Hospital]]; the Daily News gave it as Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County. He was 58 and lived in Whitemarsh.[^1][^3] His godson, [[Angelo Borgesi]], said that LaRussa had three open-heart surgeries, three or four heart attacks, and was awaiting a heart transplant.[^3] A viewing was scheduled for Thursday, August 22, at [[Leonetti Funeral Home]] at Broad and Wolf Streets, at 9 a.m. in one account and 9:30 a.m. in the other, followed by an 11 a.m. Mass at [[Epiphany of Our Lord Church]] on Jackson Street near 11th Street, and he was buried at [[Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham)|Holy Sepulchre Cemetery]] in [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham]].[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Inquirer listed four sons, Joseph, Salvatore Jr., Michael and Giovanni, a daughter, Sharlene Pantisano, and five grandchildren.[^1] The Daily News listed three sons and a daughter besides the fifth child, and said that his companion of eight years, [[Nadeen Seuss]], had recently borne him that child, Giovanni, named for a brother who had died 19 years earlier.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Anastasia, George, "Salvatore Larussa, 58, Friend Of Mob Figures," *Philadelphia Inquirer*, August 21, 1996, Wayback copy of the articles.philly.com page: https://web.archive.org/web/20150928205738id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-21/news/25645305_1_nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-grand-jury-mob-activities
|
||||
[^2]: West, Ashley, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report*, Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio transcript at 20:33 to 21:07 and 28:59 to 29:49 (republishing interviews recorded in 2013): https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/ Sole source for the passages so cited. In the transcript, "Sam" without a surname follows the reference to Sam Lake and is used for the buyer, the person complaining and the person said to have made four or five million dollars.
|
||||
[^3]: Caparella, Kitty, "Heart Attack Claims `Sam The Barber'," *Philadelphia Daily News*, August 20, 1996, with the correction published August 21, 1996, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-20/news/25645508_1_heart-transplant-heart-attack-mob
|
||||
[^4]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change, 1990 Report* (1991), p. 159 (entry for Salvatore LaRussa, also known as Samuel LaRussa, Salvatore LaRusso and "Sam the Barber"; the index also lists La Cucina Ristorante, 121 South Street, at p. 159), NCJ 133208: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), public document on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
|
||||
[^6]: Leonetti, Philip, with Scott Burnstein, *Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra* (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2012), pp. 131-133 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/mafiaprinceinsid0000leon
|
||||
[^7]: Daughen, Joseph R., "It All Began With Bug On One Mobster's Pad," *Philadelphia Daily News*, April 10, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-04-10/news/26194567_1_salvatore-testa-scarfo-family-mob-members
|
||||
[^8]: Anastasia, George, *Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia's Most Violent Family* (New York: William Morrow, 1991), p. 277 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas Sole source for the passage so cited; the passage does not name the quoted speaker.
|
||||
[^9]: Smith, Jim, "Prosecution Rests Case In Scarfo Trial," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 4, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-05-04/news/26163517_1_philadelphia-south-jersey-extortion-case-nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo
|
||||
[^10]: Anastasia, *Blood and Honor*, p. 211 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas
|
||||
[^11]: Smith, Jim, "Big Scores Easy For Caramandi," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 1, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-05-01/news/26161878_1_nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-mafia-members-knife
|
||||
[^12]: *United States v. Pungitore*, 910 F.2d 1084 (3d Cir. 1990), text from the Caselaw Access Project: https://static.case.law/f2d/910/cases/1084-01.json
|
||||
[^13]: Anastasia, *Blood and Honor*, pp. 214-215, 217, quoting Caramandi (lending copy; the book's index lists LaRussa at pp. 214 and 215): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas
|
||||
[^14]: Leonetti, *Mafia Prince*, pp. 191, 193 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/mafiaprinceinsid0000leon
|
||||
[^15]: de la Vina, Mark, "Riverfront Jam Once Just Wet, It's Getting Wild," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 22, 1992, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1992-05-22/news/26015302_1_waterfront-entertainment-aztec-club
|
||||
[^16]: Weiner, Jennifer, "Checking Out The Clubs . . .," *Philadelphia Inquirer*, May 19, 1995, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-19/entertainment/25672572_1_club-vegas-waterfront-family-reunion-day
|
||||
[^17]: Bender, William, "Dante & Luigi's: Still a longtime hit," *Philadelphia Daily News*, January 30, 2012: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/hp/news_update/20120130_Dante___Luigi_s__Still_a_longtime_hit.html
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ born: 1918-02-19
|
|||
died: 1995-01-03
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918-1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the [[U.S. government]]'s investigations into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] during the [[Cold War]]. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural[^1].
|
||||
Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918-1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the [[United States|U.S. government]]'s investigations into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] during the [[Cold War]]. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Born in [[Chicago]] on February 19, 1918, to poor [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslavian]] immigrants, Puharich had an early experience that shaped his future. As a milk delivery boy, he claimed to have calmed a vicious dog by sending "feelings of calmness and peace," leading him to believe in [[Telepathy|mind-to-mind telepathy]] and inspiring him to pursue medicine to understand the biological basis of such phenomena[^1]. He excelled academically, attending [[Northwestern University]] for philosophy and premedical studies before entering medical school. During his studies, he deeply contemplated the nature of the mind and consciousness, stating, "Understanding the nature of man’s consciousness... is my lifelong quest"[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Augusto Pinochet
|
||||
- Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
|
||||
- Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte
|
||||
- Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte
|
||||
- General Pinochet
|
||||
- General Augusto Pinochet
|
||||
- Senator Pinochet
|
||||
- Pinochet
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- KeyFigure
|
||||
|
|
@ -6,37 +15,168 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Chile
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- OperationCondor
|
||||
- TrackII
|
||||
- DINA
|
||||
- Letelier
|
||||
- RiggsBank
|
||||
- ColoniaDignidad
|
||||
- Cardoen
|
||||
- LondonArrest
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
summary: "Augusto Pinochet was Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army who, with CIA backing, led the September 11, 1973 coup against President Salvador Allende and governed Chile as dictator until 1990; his regime participated in Operation Condor, a CIA-coordinated transnational assassination program targeting leftists across Latin America."
|
||||
summary: "Chilean Army commander who led the September 11, 1973 coup against Salvador Allende and ruled Chile until 1990, with the Letelier assassination and Operation Condor documented in declassified US records."
|
||||
location: "Valparaiso, Chile"
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-07
|
||||
born: 1915-11-25
|
||||
died: 2006-12-10
|
||||
location: "Valparaiso, Chile"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Chile]]"
|
||||
start: 1973-09-11
|
||||
end: 1990-03-11
|
||||
role: "leader of the military junta that took power in the coup of September 11, 1973; resigned March 11, 1990"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Operation Condor]]"
|
||||
start: 1975
|
||||
role: "Chile named as the center of Operation Condor in the FBI legal attache's cable of September 28, 1976"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Manuel Contreras]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "DIA report of April 15, 1975 states that the DINA director reported exclusively to and received orders only from Pinochet"
|
||||
start: 1975-04-15
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Letelier-Moffitt assassination]]"
|
||||
start: 1976-09-21
|
||||
role: "a 1987 CIA assessment concluded that he personally ordered the murders of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2000-04
|
||||
end: 2000-05
|
||||
role: "formal FBI investigation into his guilt for the Letelier-Moffitt murders, as described in the 2016 release of CIA records"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Riggs Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
role: "customer whose accounts the 2004 Senate subcommittee report found the bank helped conceal from regulators and courts"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[House of Lords]]"
|
||||
start: 1998-10-16
|
||||
end: 1999-03-24
|
||||
role: "extradition proceedings on a Spanish warrant, decided by the Lords on March 24, 1999"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte was born on November 25, 1915, in Valparaiso, [[Chile]]. He entered the military in 1933, rising through the Army officer corps to become Commander-in-Chief in August 1973, appointed to that post by President [[Salvador Allende]] - a decision Allende would not survive. Pinochet died on December 10, 2006, in [[Santiago]], Chile, from heart failure, without having been convicted of any of the human rights charges against him.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### CIA Support and the 1973 Coup
|
||||
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was born on November 25, 1915, in [[Valparaiso]], [[Chile]], and entered the military in 1933. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army in August 1973 by President [[Salvador Allende]]. He was the leader of the military junta that evicted Allende on September 11, 1973, and the junta remained in power until March 11, 1990, when he resigned.[^1] He died on December 10, 2006, in [[Santiago]], Chile, of complications from a heart attack, which the [[National Security Archive]] notes was International Human Rights Day.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s involvement in Chilean politics preceded the coup by years. Following Allende's election in September 1970, President [[Richard Nixon]] ordered CIA Director [[Richard Helms]] to prevent Allende from taking office ("make the economy scream"). The CIA funded opposition media and political parties, supported business strikes, and made contact with military officers. CIA Station Chief [[Henry Hecksher]] and other operatives were in contact with coup plotters including Pinochet and General [[Gustavo Leigh]].
|
||||
### Track II and the killing of René Schneider
|
||||
|
||||
On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military - led by Pinochet, Leigh, and Admiral [[Jose Merino]] - launched a coordinated coup. The presidential palace, [[La Moneda]], was bombed by [[Chilean Air Force]] jets. Allende died during the assault, either by suicide or homicide. The military junta established a dictatorship with Pinochet emerging as the dominant figure and head of state by June 1974.[^1]
|
||||
On September 15, 1970, President [[Richard Nixon]] directed the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to organize a military coup in Chile to prevent the inauguration of Allende. The [[Church Committee]], whose successor body was the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]], wrote that the CIA was to take this action "without coordination with the Departments of State or Defense and without informing the U.S. Ambassador." The Committee's account of the meeting cites the handwritten notes of CIA director [[Richard Helms]], which contain the words "Make the economy scream."[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The 2000 [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Church Committee]] successor investigation and subsequent declassified documents confirmed the CIA's extensive involvement in destabilizing the Allende government, though the CIA disputed direct operational involvement in the coup itself. Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] was documented as aware of and approving the coup conspiracy; the "[[Track II]]" operation to prevent Allende from assuming the presidency in 1970 was a CIA operation authorized by Nixon and Kissinger.[^2]
|
||||
On October 16, 1970, CIA deputy director of plans [[Thomas Karamessines]] cabled the Santiago station chief, [[Henry Hecksher]], conveying [[Henry Kissinger]]'s orders: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup." The cable directed that the operations be run so as to hide the "American hand," and that the station ignore orders to the contrary from Ambassador [[Edward Korry]], who had not been told of the operations.[^4] A memorandum of an October 15, 1970 meeting of Kissinger, Karamessines and [[Alexander Haig]] records a discussion of promoting a coup, known as [[Track II]], and the possibility that the plot of Chilean officer [[Roberto Viaux]] might fail with "unfortunate repercussions."[^4] Between October 5 and October 20, 1970, the CIA made 21 contacts with key Chilean military and Carabinero officials.[^5] Henry Hecksher and other operatives were in contact with coup plotters including Pinochet and General [[Gustavo Leigh]].
|
||||
|
||||
The Church Committee's interim report on assassination plots records that the removal of the Army commander-in-chief, General [[Rene Schneider]], who insisted that the constitutional process be followed, became a necessary ingredient in the plans of the Chilean conspirators, and that the conspirators decided to kidnap him. It records unsuccessful attempts on October 19 and 20, 1970, a delivery of three submachine guns and ammunition by a CIA attache on October 22, 1970, and a third attempt that day in which Schneider was shot; he died on October 25.[^5] The report states that the guns used were "in all probability" not those supplied by the CIA, that the Chilean military court found Schneider had been shot with handguns, and that the Committee could not determine whether the machine gun at the scene was one of the three the CIA supplied.[^5] The Committee also records that a station cable of October 22, 1970 said the station had instructed the attache to "hand over $50,000 if Gen. Valenzuela requests."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The National Security Archive's description of the October 1970 cables states that the CIA supplied a group of officers led by General [[Camilo Valenzuela]] with "sterile" weapons for the operation, which was to be blamed on Allende supporters, and that Schneider was killed by another group the CIA had been collaborating with, led by retired General Roberto Viaux.[^4] The CIA's 2000 report on its Chile activities, prepared under the Hinchey amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2000, states that the Viaux group acted "independently of the CIA at that time" on October 22, that the three submachine guns, ammunition and tear gas grenades given to the Valenzuela group were "later returned unused to the Station," and that Valenzuela's representative insisted his group had nothing to do with Schneider's killing.[^6] The Church Committee also records that Kissinger and Haig testified that the White House stood down the CIA effort on October 15, 1970, while CIA officials, especially Karamessines, testified that they acted with White House knowledge and approval before and after that date.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The 2000 report states that in November 1970 a member of the Viaux group who had avoided capture recontacted the CIA and requested financial assistance on behalf of the group. The report continues: "Although the Agency had no obligation to the group because it acted on its own, in an effort to keep the prior contact secret, maintain the good will of the group, and for humanitarian reasons, $35,000 was passed."[^6] The National Security Archive describes the payment as one made to a group of coup plotters after that group had murdered Schneider, and states that it was apparently withheld in 1975 from the Senate committee investigating CIA involvement in assassinations.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1973 coup and US knowledge
|
||||
|
||||
On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, led by Pinochet, Gustavo Leigh and Admiral [[Jose Merino]], launched a coordinated coup. The presidential palace, [[La Moneda]], was bombed by [[Chilean Air Force]] jets. Allende died during the assault; the CIA's 2000 report describes La Moneda as under bombardment from tanks and airplanes and states that Allende took his own life.[^6] The junta, composed of Pinochet, Leigh, Merino and [[Carabineros of Chile|Carabinero]] chief General [[Cesar Mendoza]], was sworn in on the evening of September 11, 1973, and Pinochet was designated its first president; the report states that the CIA actively supported the junta but did not assist Pinochet to assume the presidency.[^6] By June 1974 Pinochet had become the dominant figure and head of state.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A State Department cable of September 13, 1973, titled "USG Attitude Toward Junta," states that the "US government wishes to make clear its desire to cooperate with the military Junta and to assist in any appropriate way."[^2] A [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] biographic profile of Pinochet, dated August or September 1973, survives in a version with heavy deletions.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
A November 1973 State Department memorandum on executions, sent to the Secretary of State by [[Jack Kubisch]], records that summary executions in the nineteen days after the coup totaled 320, more than three times the publicly acknowledged figure.[^2] A CIA intelligence report of October 27, 1973 records that 13,500 prisoners had been registered as detained by the armed forces between September 11 and October 10, 1973, and estimates 1,600 civilian deaths from the coup.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The 2000 report states that within a year after the coup the CIA and other US agencies were aware of bilateral cooperation among regional intelligence services to track the activities of and, in at least a few cases, kill political opponents, which it calls the precursor to Operation Condor.[^6] After Pinochet's arrest in London in October 1998, the Clinton administration released a collection of about 24,000 declassified records.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### DINA and Manuel Contreras
|
||||
|
||||
A Defense Intelligence Agency report of April 15, 1975 describes the [[DINA]] as "the sole responsible agency for internal subversive matters." It states that the head of DINA, Colonel [[Manuel Contreras]], "has reported exclusively to, and received orders only from, President Pinochet."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's 2000 report states that between 1974 and 1977 the CIA maintained contact with Contreras, and that the policy community approved the contact despite concerns that it might lay the agency open to charges of aiding internal political repression. It records that in December 1974 the CIA concluded that Contreras was not going to improve his human rights performance, and that by April 1975 intelligence reporting showed that he was "the principal obstacle to a reasonable human rights policy within the Junta," but that an interagency committee directed the CIA to continue the relationship.[^6] In August 1975, with interagency approval, Contreras met Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[Vernon Walters]] in Washington.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On the payment, the report states: "In May and June 1975, elements within the CIA recommended establishing a paid relationship with Contreras to obtain intelligence based on his unique position and access to Pinochet." It continues that the proposal was overruled, citing US policy on clandestine relations with the head of an intelligence service notorious for human rights abuses, and that "given miscommunications in the timing of this exchange, a one-time payment was given to Contreras."[^6] The National Security Archive's summary of the report states that the CIA made Contreras a paid asset only several months after concluding that he was the principal obstacle to a reasonable human rights policy.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The report records that the CIA sought information from Contreras on Operation Condor, that by October 1976 the CIA decided to approach him on the matter, and that he confirmed Condor's existence as an intelligence-sharing network but denied that it had a role in extra-judicial killings. It states that during October 1976 "Contreras' possible role in the Letelier assassination became an issue," that the CIA met him about half a dozen times during 1977 (three of them to request information on the Letelier assassination), and that on November 3, 1977 Contreras was transferred to a function unrelated to intelligence and the CIA severed all contact.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Operation Condor
|
||||
|
||||
Pinochet's Chile was a founding participant in [[Operation Condor]], the CIA-facilitated transnational network of South American military intelligence services (Chile, [[Argentina]], [[Paraguay]], [[Uruguay]], [[Bolivia]], [[Brazil]]) that coordinated the identification, tracking, and assassination of leftist dissidents across borders and in third countries. Condor's operations killed thousands of people across the continent; documented Condor assassinations include the 1974 car bombing of General [[Carlos Prats]] in [[Buenos Aires]] and the 1976 car bombing in [[Washington, D.C.]] of former Chilean diplomat [[Orlando Letelier]] - a rare Condor operation on American soil. The Letelier assassination was carried out by the [[DINA]] (Chilean secret police) under [[Manuel Contreras]]; Contreras was convicted in Chile in 1995.[^2]
|
||||
The 2000 report describes Operation Condor as an intelligence-sharing arrangement among Chile, [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Paraguay]] and [[Uruguay]] established in 1975.[^6] A cable of September 28, 1976 from the FBI legal attache in [[Buenos Aires]], [[Robert Scherrer]], reports information from a "confidential source abroad" that Operation Condor was the code name for the collection, exchange and storage of intelligence on "leftists," communists and Marxists, recently established between cooperating intelligence services in South America "in order to eliminate Marxist terrorist activities in the area." The cable states that Chile is the center for Operation Condor and that its members include Argentina, [[Bolivia]], Paraguay and Uruguay, with Brazil tentatively agreed to supply intelligence input; that Argentina, Uruguay and Chile had engaged in joint operations, primarily in Argentina; and that a third and most secret phase involves special teams from member countries who are "to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions up to assassination against terrorists or supporters of terrorist organizations." France and Portugal are named as European countries specifically mentioned for possible third-phase operations. The cable states that no information had been developed indicating that third-phase sanctions were planned for the United States, and adds: "however, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the recent assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. may have been carried out as a third phase action of 'Operation Condor.'" Several passages about the special teams are excised.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Arms and Carlos Cardoen
|
||||
Scherrer also wrote to Chilean General [[Ernesto Baeza]] on June 6, 1975, reporting intelligence obtained through the interrogation of a captured Chilean leftist, Jorge Isaac Fuentes, who the National Security Archive states was detained through Operation Condor.[^4] An FBI summary dated January 21, 1982 of letters written from prison by [[Michael Townley]] reports, among other things, meetings between Pinochet and Italian terrorists and spies.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Chilean arms manufacturer [[Carlos Cardoen]] operated with CIA connections during the Pinochet era, developing cluster munitions and other weapons that were supplied to [[Iraq]] during the [[Iran-Iraq War]]. Cardoen's operations blended private arms manufacturing with intelligence relationships cultivated under Pinochet's government. Cardoen's companies were investigated by the U.S. government following the Persian Gulf War for their role in Iraq's weapons procurement.[^1]
|
||||
The Archives of Terror, the Paraguayan police files from the dictatorship of [[Alfredo Stroessner]], are listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register. The register entry states that on December 23 and 24, 1991, judges José Agustín Fernández and Luis María Benítez Riera searched and seized the files of the production department of the police in Asunción and the technical section of the Ministry of the Interior, following the investigation of the human rights defender Martín Almada; it dates the documents from 1927 to February 1989 and states that the files provide evidence of Operation Condor.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### London Arrest and Extradition Battle
|
||||
### Letelier and Moffitt
|
||||
|
||||
Pinochet traveled to [[London]] for back surgery in September 1998. On October 16, 1998, Spanish judge [[Baltasar Garzon]] issued an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, and British police arrested Pinochet at the London Clinic. The 16-month extradition battle involved rulings by the [[House of Lords]] (which held that former heads of state have no immunity for torture) before British Home Secretary [[Jack Straw]] released Pinochet on medical grounds in March 2000. He returned to Chile where he faced numerous criminal and civil charges until his death.[^1]
|
||||
On September 21, 1976, a car bomb in [[Washington, D.C.]] killed the former Chilean ambassador [[Orlando Letelier]] and his American colleague [[Ronni Moffitt]].[^9] According to the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the government's principal witness, Michael Townley, a United States citizen who entered the employ of DINA in 1974, admitted his complicity in the killings and struck a plea bargain with the government in return for his testimony.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
A CIA cable of October 6, 1976 reports that its source "believes that the Chilean government is directly involved in Letelier's death and feels that investigation into the incident will so indicate."[^2] The 2000 CIA report states that this was the CIA's first intelligence report containing the allegation.[^6] The indictments of August 1, 1978 named [[Guillermo Novo Sampol]], Alvin Ross Diaz, Juan Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, [[Armando Fernandez Larios]], [[Jose Dionisio Suarez Esquivel]] and [[Virgilio Paz Romero]]. Guillermo Novo, Ross and Ignacio Novo Sampol were tried by jury beginning January 8, 1979, and were found guilty on February 14, 1979. The Court of Appeals decided the appeal on September 15, 1980 (rehearing denied December 9, 1980) and reversed the convictions of Guillermo Novo and Ross, because informant testimony was inadmissible under the Supreme Court's decision of June 16, 1980 in [[United States v. Henry]], and remanded for retrial.[^9] The killing was carried out by the DINA, under Contreras, and was a rare Condor operation on American soil. On May 30, 1995, the Chilean Supreme Court upheld the prison sentences of Contreras (seven years) and Espinoza (six years) for ordering the assassination.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Augusto Pinochet," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Augusto-Pinochet
|
||||
[^2]: Kornbluh, Peter. *The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability.* The New Press, 2003.
|
||||
A CIA special intelligence assessment dated 1987 concluded that there was "convincing evidence that President Pinochet personally ordered his intelligence chief to carry out the murder." The assessment added that Pinochet later "decided to stonewall on the case to hide his involvement and, ultimately, to protect his hold on the presidency."[^11] A memorandum from [[George Shultz]] to [[Ronald Reagan]] dated October 6, 1987 reported the CIA conclusion to the president as part of an effort to terminate US support for the regime.[^12] The assessment and related documents were handed to Chilean President [[Michelle Bachelet]] by Deputy Secretary of State [[Heather Higginbottom]] on September 23, 2016. The National Security Archive states that the Justice Department had identified the intelligence records as evidence during a formal FBI investigation into Pinochet's guilt in April and May 2000, and that the FBI reportedly concluded there was enough circumstantial evidence to indict Pinochet.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's 1978 intelligence report on Pinochet's strategy, as summarized by the National Security Archive, describes a four-point plan to protect Contreras from successful prosecution, stonewall US requests for evidence, prevent the Chilean Supreme Court from honoring US extradition requests, and persuade Chileans that the investigation was a politically motivated tool against the regime.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Colonia Dignidad
|
||||
|
||||
A 2017 motion of the German [[Bundestag]] describes the [[Colonia Dignidad]] settlement in southern Chile, founded by the German [[Paul Schaefer]], as the scene of systematic, serious human rights violations during the Pinochet dictatorship, committed in part together with DINA.[^13] The crimes it lists include unlawful deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearance, forced labour and slavery, child abuse, and bodily harm.[^13] The motion records that Schaefer was arrested in 2005.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1987 the Green Party group in the Bundestag asked the federal government what it knew of cooperation between the colony and DINA, and whether Contreras visited West Germany in the winter of 1975 and 1976, including stops in Augsburg, Wiesbaden, Nuremberg and Cologne.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
In April 2016 the then German Foreign Minister, [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]], stated on behalf of the whole [[Auswärtiges Amt]] that German diplomats had clearly done too little to protect their compatriots in the colony; he said the ministry was not to blame for the military coup or the seventeen years of dictatorship and bore no responsibility for the colony's activities, but that it should have more decisively given Germans counsel and assistance. The Foreign Office states that political prisoners were tortured and murdered in the colony during the Pinochet dictatorship, that since 2018 the Bundestag and the federal government have worked in a joint commission to help victims, and that a victims' aid concept was presented in May 2019.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Carlos Cardoen and Iraq
|
||||
|
||||
[[Carlos Cardoen]], a Chilean arms manufacturer who returned to Santiago after the 1973 coup to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]], is described by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] as selling cluster bombs to [[Iraq]] by 1985 with the help of individuals connected to the CIA, and as having been charged in Miami in April 1992 by the US Customs Service.[^16] [[Alan Friedman]] reports that Cardoen's plant at [[Iquique]] produced about a thousand cluster bombs a month, with a first shipment worth 21 million dollars reaching Iraq early in 1984 during the [[Iran-Iraq War]]; a former CIA contractor described Cardoen to Friedman as "an all-purpose asset, designed to be one of those offshore stockpilers of military equipment who could be used by the CIA to ship arms to the Afghan rebels, to the boys in Angola, or anywhere the U.S. needed some help." The White House said in July 1991 that there "never were any sales, overt or covert, to Iraq or Iran through a third country." The British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who was inquiring into Cardoen's helicopter project, was found dead in a Santiago hotel on March 31, 1990.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### London arrest and the House of Lords
|
||||
|
||||
Pinochet landed at Heathrow on September 22, 1998, and underwent back surgery in [[London]]. On October 16, 1998 a Spanish warrant was issued by judge [[Baltasar Garzon]] and a London magistrate issued a provisional warrant the same day. The Lords judgment states that Pinochet was arrested in a London hospital on October 17, 1998; Home Secretary [[Jack Straw]] told the House of Commons that he was arrested "that evening" after the Bow Street warrant was issued on October 16.[^1][^18] On October 28, 1998 the Divisional Court quashed both provisional warrants, on the ground for the second that Pinochet was entitled to state immunity as former head of state.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The House of Lords first ruled on November 25, 1998, by majority that Pinochet was not immune for crimes under international law. That judgment was set aside on January 15, 1999, because the committee that heard it was not properly constituted, and the appeal was reheard from January 18, 1999.[^1] In the judgment of March 24, 1999, [[Lord Browne-Wilkinson]] wrote: "I do not consider that torture committed outside the United Kingdom before 29 September 1988 was a crime under U.K. law." He would allow the appeal "so as to permit the extradition proceedings to proceed on the allegation that torture in pursuance of a conspiracy to commit torture, including the single act of torture which is alleged in charge 30, was being committed by Senator Pinochet after 8 December 1988 when he lost his immunity."[^1] Straw described the key majority finding of the second Lords hearing as being that torture was an international crime over which parties to the torture convention had universal jurisdiction and that a former head of state did not have immunity from such crimes.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
Straw issued a second authority to proceed on April 14, 1999; on October 8, 1999 a Bow Street magistrate committed Pinochet to await the Home Secretary's decision. On October 14, 1999 the Chilean embassy made representations supported by medical reports, and Straw commissioned an examination by Professor Sir John Grimley Evans, Professor Andrew Lees and Dr. Michael Denham, joined by the neuropsychologist Dr. Maria Wyke. Straw informed the interested parties on January 11, 2000 that he was minded to conclude that no purpose would be served by continuing the Spanish extradition request, and on January 25, 2000 Belgium and [[Amnesty International]] applied for judicial review of the refusal to disclose the medical report.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 2, 2000, Straw told the Commons that he had discharged Pinochet from the Spanish request "on the grounds that he was unfit to stand trial and that no significant improvement in his condition could be expected," and that he would not issue an authority to proceed on the Belgian, French and Swiss requests because none disclosed an extradition crime. He stated: "All the decisions which I have taken have been mine alone, and have not been decisions of Her Majesty's Government." A plane provided by the Chilean government carrying Pinochet left RAF Waddington at about 1.10 pm that day.[^18] The Solicitor-General stated in a written answer of the same date, on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, that there was no realistic prospect of convicting Pinochet in England and Wales and that no court there would allow a trial of Pinochet to take place.[^18] A 35-page Home Office statement handed out in London set out reasons for the conclusion that Pinochet was not mentally or physically fit to stand trial in Britain or anywhere else.[^19] He returned to Chile, where he faced numerous criminal and civil charges until his death.
|
||||
|
||||
### Riggs Bank accounts
|
||||
|
||||
The minority staff of the Senate [[Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] released its report on [[Riggs Bank]] with a hearing on July 15, 2004. The report's title is "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank." Its first finding states that Riggs "assisted Augusto Pinochet, former president of Chile, to evade legal proceedings related to his Riggs bank accounts and resisted OCC oversight of these accounts."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
The report finds that Pinochet was a Riggs customer for at least eight years, with total deposits that varied from about $4 million to $8 million. In July 1996 a Spanish indictment charged him with crimes against humanity. In 1996 and again in 1998, Riggs helped him set up two Bahamian shell companies, Ashburton Company Ltd. and Althorp Investment Co., Ltd., listed as nominal owners of accounts and certificates of deposit benefiting him and his family.[^20] The report also states that the bank delivered over $1.9 million in cashier's checks to Pinochet in Chile.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### Carlos Prats and Enrique Arancibia Clavel
|
||||
|
||||
On September 30, 1974, a car bomb in Buenos Aires killed the exiled Chilean general [[Carlos Prats]] and his wife, [[Sofía Cuthbert]].[^21] Kornbluh's 2024 compilation states that Pinochet met Contreras in June 1974 and ordered him to eliminate Prats. The task first went to the DINA station chief in Argentina, [[Enrique Arancibia Clavel]], and then to DINA deputy director [[Pedro Espinoza]], who gave it to Townley, who constructed, placed and detonated the bomb.[^21]
|
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On August 24, 2004, the [[Supreme Court of Argentina]] upheld the life sentence that a federal tribunal had imposed on Arancibia Clavel for association and necessary participation in the double aggravated homicide of Prats and Cuthbert. The court held that the crimes could not be time-barred, because crimes against humanity are imprescriptible.[^22]
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[^1]: *Regina v. Evans and Another and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Others, Ex Parte Pinochet (No. 3)* [1999] UKHL 17 (24 March 1999), speech of Lord Browne-Wilkinson, paras. 7-12 (facts, warrants of October 16, 17, 18 and 22, 1998, Divisional Court of October 28, 1998, Lords judgments of November 25, 1998, set aside January 15, 1999, rehearing January 18, 1999) and conclusion. https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1999/17.html
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[^2]: National Security Archive, "Pinochet: A Declassified Documentary Obit," Electronic Briefing Book No. 212, Peter Kornbluh and Yvette White, posted December 12, 2006, with descriptions of documents including the September 13, 1973 State Department cable, the November 1973 "Chilean Executions" memorandum, the October 27, 1973 CIA report, the October 6, 1976 CIA cable, and the June 23, 1978 CIA report. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB212/index.htm
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[^3]: United States Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, "Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973" (staff report, 1975), section "2. Track II" and the chronology. https://archive.org/details/Covert-Action-In-Chile-1963-1973
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[^4]: National Security Archive, "Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973," Electronic Briefing Book No. 8, Peter Kornbluh, 1998, document descriptions including the September 15, 1970 Helms notes, the October 15 and 16, 1970 CIA records, the October 18, 1970 cables on the Schneider plot, the April 15, 1975 DIA report, the June 6, 1975 FBI letter and the January 21, 1982 FBI report on Townley; and FBI Buenos Aires cable to the Director, September 28, 1976 (reproduced in the briefing book as document 23, pp. 1-4). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm and https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc23.pdf
|
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[^5]: United States Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, Interim Report, S. Rept. 94-465 (1975), Chile chapter beginning at p. 225 (Schneider sections, including the findings and the discussion of the shooting of General Schneider and CIA/White House communication during Track II). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
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[^6]: Central Intelligence Agency, "CIA Activities in Chile," September 18, 2000 (report under Section 311 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, the Hinchey Amendment), sections "Relationship with Contreras," "The Schneider Assassination," "Accession of General Augusto Pinochet to the Presidency," "Knowledge of 'Operation Condor'" and "Knowledge of Human Rights Violations." https://permanent.fdlp.gov/websites/www.cia.gov/www.cia.gov/cia/reports/chile/index.html
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[^7]: National Security Archive, "CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression," Chile Documentation Project, September 19, 2000, summary of the Hinchey report. Sole source for the characterization of the Contreras payment as making him a "paid asset" and for the statement that the Schneider-related payment was apparently withheld from the Senate committee in 1975. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/20000919/index.html
|
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[^8]: UNESCO, Memory of the World Regional Register for Latin America and the Caribbean, "Archives of Terror, XXth Century" (Paraguay, registration ID 66/2011; institution: Centro de Documentación y Archivos para la defensa de los derechos humanos, Corte Suprema de Justicia). https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/lac/archives-terror-xxth-century
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[^9]: *United States v. Sampol*, 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (per curiam), argued June 10, 1980, decided September 15, 1980, rehearing denied December 9, 1980. https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/u-s-v-sampol-886429361
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[^10]: "Chile Officers To Go To Prison For '76 Murder," Los Angeles Times, reprinted in The Spokesman-Review (Spokane), May 31, 1995. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/may/31/chile-officers-to-go-to-prison-for-76-murder/
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[^11]: National Security Archive, "CIA: 'Pinochet personally ordered' Letelier bombing," Electronic Briefing Book No. 560, September 23, 2016, quoting the CIA special intelligence assessment of 1987. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/node/3081
|
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[^12]: National Security Archive, "The Pinochet File: U.S. Declassifies Missing Documents in the Letelier-Moffitt Case," Electronic Briefing Book No. 532, October 8, 2015, describing the October 6, 1987 Shultz memorandum to Reagan. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/node/2899
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[^13]: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 18/12943 (2017), motion on Colonia Dignidad (German; paraphrased). https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/18/129/1812943.pdf
|
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[^14]: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 11/1409 (1987), minor interpellation of the Green Party group on Colonia Dignidad (German; paraphrased). https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/11/014/1101409.pdf
|
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[^15]: Auswärtiges Amt, "'Colonia Dignidad': Bilanzbericht der Gemeinsamen Kommission," September 21, 2021 (German; paraphrased), including the account of Steinmeier's April 2016 statement. https://auswaertiges-amt.de/de/aussenpolitik/laender/chile-node/bilanzbericht-colonia-dignidad/2483426
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[^16]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. Sole source for the passages so cited.
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[^17]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 46-54, 64. Sole source for the passages so cited.
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[^18]: UK House of Commons, *Hansard*, "Senator Pinochet," HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc571-88 (statement of the Home Secretary, Jack Straw), and written answer of the Solicitor-General, HC Deb 02 March 2000 vol 345 cc336-7W. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet and https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/2000/mar/02/senator-pinochet
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[^19]: CNN, transcript of March 2, 2000 (report on Home Secretary Jack Straw's decision and the 35-page statement). https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/02/nd.03.html
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[^20]: United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minority staff, "Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Case Study Involving Riggs Bank" (report released with the July 15, 2004 hearing), Finding 1 (p. 7) and Section B (p. 18). https://archive.org/details/SenateSubcommitteeReportOnMoneyLaunderingAndRiggsBank
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[^21]: National Security Archive, "The Pinochet Regime at 50: The Assassination of General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert," Electronic Briefing Book, Peter Kornbluh, October 1, 2024, narrative and CIA and DINA documents. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-10-01/pinochet-regime-50-assassination-general-carlos-prats-and-sofia
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[^22]: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nacion (Argentina), *Arancibia Clavel, Enrique Lautaro s/ homicidio calificado y asociacion ilicita y otros*, recurso de hecho, Buenos Aires, August 24, 2004. https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/userfiles/ut/fallo_arancibia_clavel_2004_01.pdf
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@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ relations:
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fn: 16
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---
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Harold E. "Hal" Puthoff (born June 20, 1936) is a physicist and engineer who co-founded the [[Stanford Research Institute]] remote viewing research program with [[Russell Targ]] in 1972 under [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] contract and served as its principal investigator through 1985. The program, which operated under the code names SCANATE, Gondola Wish, and [[Stargate Project|Grill Flame]] before consolidating as STAR GATE under [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] oversight, represented the primary [[U.S. government]] institutional effort to investigate anomalous cognition for intelligence applications over two decades. Puthoff subsequently contributed technical research to the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program|AATIP]] [[Pentagon]] program and became a founding member of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science|To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science]].
|
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Harold E. "Hal" Puthoff (born June 20, 1936) is a physicist and engineer who co-founded the [[Stanford Research Institute]] remote viewing research program with [[Russell Targ]] in 1972 under [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] contract and served as its principal investigator through 1985. The program, which operated under the code names SCANATE, Gondola Wish, and [[Stargate Project|Grill Flame]] before consolidating as STAR GATE under [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] oversight, represented the primary [[United States|U.S. government]] institutional effort to investigate anomalous cognition for intelligence applications over two decades. Puthoff subsequently contributed technical research to the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program|AATIP]] [[Pentagon]] program and became a founding member of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science|To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science]].
|
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|
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### Early Career
|
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|
||||
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@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ updated: 2026-09-25
|
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|
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Peter Thiel (born October 11, 1967, in [[Frankfurt]], [[West Germany]]) is a German-born American billionaire investor and the central figure of the [[PayPal Mafia]], the informal network of founders and early executives of [[PayPal]] who went on to found or lead much of the subsequent generation of [[Silicon Valley]] companies. Thiel cofounded PayPal, founded the venture capital firm [[Founders Fund]], and cofounded and chairs the data-analytics and defense contractor [[Palantir Technologies]]. In 2006 he cofounded the secret society [[Dialog]] with [[Auren Hoffman]]. He is the most prominent documented financial patron of the neoreactionary philosopher [[Curtis Yarvin]], the founder of [[Neoreaction]] (NRx) and co-originator of the [[Dark Enlightenment]], and his political investments extended to funding the covert lawsuit that destroyed [[Gawker Media]] and bankrolling the U.S. Senate and subsequent vice-presidential campaigns of [[JD Vance]].[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Across these activities Thiel has built a coordinated program for the privatization and concentration of state-adjacent capacity: payments (PayPal), intelligence and law-enforcement data integration (Palantir Technologies), elite convening (Dialog), and the ideological framework that argues this concentration is both desirable and inevitable (the Yarvin patronage and the neoreactionary current). The political donations placed figures aligned with the thesis (Vance, [[Blake Masters]]) inside the [[U.S. government]]. The set of activities is mutually reinforcing rather than a portfolio of separate bets.
|
||||
Across these activities Thiel has built a coordinated program for the privatization and concentration of state-adjacent capacity: payments (PayPal), intelligence and law-enforcement data integration (Palantir Technologies), elite convening (Dialog), and the ideological framework that argues this concentration is both desirable and inevitable (the Yarvin patronage and the neoreactionary current). The political donations placed figures aligned with the thesis (Vance, [[Blake Masters]]) inside the [[United States|U.S. government]]. The set of activities is mutually reinforcing rather than a portfolio of separate bets.
|
||||
|
||||
### PayPal and the PayPal Mafia
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Thiel acknowledged the funding in a *Forbes* interview, framing it as retaliatio
|
|||
|
||||
### Political Investments: Vance, Masters, and Trump
|
||||
|
||||
Thiel's political activity moved from libertarian advocacy to direct electoral investment in the 2020s. He was the largest single donor to the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of JD Vance in [[Ohio]], contributing approximately fifteen million dollars through a super PAC, and to the concurrent Senate campaign of Masters in [[Arizona]], who had served as president of [[Thiel Capital]] and as coauthor with Thiel of *Zero to One*. Vance won and, in 2024, was elected Vice President of the [[United States]] on the Republican ticket with [[Donald Trump]].[^2]
|
||||
Thiel's political activity moved from libertarian advocacy to direct electoral investment in the 2020s. He was the largest single donor to the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of JD Vance in [[Ohio]], contributing approximately fifteen million dollars through a super PAC, and to the concurrent Senate campaign of Masters in [[Arizona]], who had served as president of [[Thiel Capital]] and as coauthor with Thiel of *Zero to One*. Vance won and, in 2024, was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with [[Donald Trump]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention endorsing Trump and was a significant contributor to his 2016 and 2024 campaigns. The Vance outcome compressed an unusually short cycle from investment to return: a single donor's fifteen million dollars in primary-cycle super PAC spending produced a sitting U.S. senator who became vice president within three years. The Masters campaign lost. Both candidates had been backed by Thiel and had worked under him (Masters as Thiel Capital president and *Zero to One* coauthor; Vance as a Thiel-funded political entrant).[^2]
|
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Add table
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Reference in a new issue