disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-14 15:45:14

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-14 15:45:15 -04:00
parent a14e456aba
commit 8db4f8486f
No known key found for this signature in database
38 changed files with 1784 additions and 543 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

70
00 - META/CHANGELOG.md
View file

@ -1,10 +1,43 @@
- 2026-10-14T1440 · [[George Francis Bason, Jr.]]
- 2026-10-14T1541 · [[Cornelius Blackshear]]
- 2026-10-14T1541 · [[PayPal]]
- 2026-10-14T1541 · [[Palantir Technologies]]
- 2026-10-14T1540 · [[George Francis Bason, Jr.]]
- 2026-10-14T1538 · [[Robert Kennedy]]
- 2026-10-14T1538 · [[Joseph McCarthy]]
- 2026-10-14T1538 · [[Odyssey Network]]
- 2026-10-14T1538 · [[Samuel Goudsmit]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Stanley Lovell]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Richard Helms]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Adolf Hitler]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Karl Krafft]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Walter Schellenberg]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[Wilhelm Wulff]]
- 2026-10-14T1537 · [[World War II]]
- 2026-10-14T1536 · [[Robert Owen]]
- 2026-10-14T1536 · [[Felix Rodriguez]]
- 2026-10-14T1536 · [[Eugene Hasenfus]]
- 2026-10-14T1535 · [[Elliott Abrams]]
- 2026-10-14T1533 · [[Dewey Clarridge]]
- 2026-10-14T1533 · [[Iran-Contra Affair]]
- 2026-10-14T1533 · [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
- 2026-10-14T1533 · [[Ivan Gomez]]
- 2026-10-14T1532 · [[MI5]]
- 2026-10-14T1531 · [[Kermit Roosevelt]]
- 2026-10-14T1531 · [[Miles Copeland]]
- 2026-10-14T1531 · [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]
- 2026-10-14T1530 · [[Roy Cohn]]
- 2026-10-14T1530 · [[Karl Baarslag]]
- 2026-10-14T1530 · [[Allen Dulles]]
- 2026-10-14T1529 · [[State Department]]
- 2026-10-14T1529 · [[Phillip Paske]]
- 2026-10-14T1528 · [[Odyssey Foundation]]
- 2026-10-14T1528 · [[Delta Project]]
- 2026-10-14T1528 · [[John David Norman]]
- 2026-10-14T1439 · [[John M. Middleton]]
- 2026-10-14T1439 · [[Robert H. Cain]]
- 2026-10-14T1438 · [[George Hunter White]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[Union Banking Corporation]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[PayPal Mafia]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[Palantir Technologies]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[U.S. Attorney's office]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[Office of Crime Analysis of the District of Columbia]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[National Center for Prosecution Management]]
@ -17,12 +50,10 @@
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[James M. Etheridge]]
- 2026-10-14T1437 · [[Albert Biderman]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Operation Condor]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[World War II]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[PROMIS Software Scandal]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Operation Paperclip]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[PROMIS]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[PayPal]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Kissinger Associates]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[INSLAW]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[LEAA]]
@ -35,7 +66,6 @@
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Charles R. Work]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Rene Schneider]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Walter Langer]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Richard Helms]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Morton H. Halperin]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Max Levchin]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Joan E. Jacoby]]
@ -43,7 +73,6 @@
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Henry A. Kissinger]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Fred L. Lander III]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Bill Hamilton]]
- 2026-10-14T1435 · [[Adolf Hitler]]
- 2026-10-13T2011 · [[Founders Fund]]
- 2026-10-13T2011 · [[Andreessen Horowitz]]
- 2026-10-13T2011 · [[Brian Quintenz]]
@ -69,32 +98,3 @@
- 2026-10-13T1844 · [[Alexandre de Marenches]]
- 2026-10-13T1844 · [[Sam Altman]]
- 2026-10-13T1843 · [[Mukhabarat]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[Ben Horowitz]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[Los Alamos]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[NSO Group]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[Kash Patel]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]]
- 2026-10-13T1842 · [[Jay Clayton]]
- 2026-10-13T1841 · [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil]]
- 2026-10-13T1841 · [[Kamal Adham]]
- 2026-10-13T1839 · [[Saudi Arabia]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Abdulrahman Alfozan]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[RAED Ventures]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[NSPM-11]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Bader al-Asaker]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Ahmad Abouammo]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Twitter Saudi espionage case]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Saud al-Qahtani]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones]]
- 2026-10-13T1838 · [[Echelon (company)]]
- 2026-10-13T1837 · [[General Intelligence Presidency]]
- 2026-10-13T1837 · [[Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud]]
- 2026-10-13T1836 · [[East40 Holding]]
- 2026-10-13T1836 · [[Khalid bin Bader Al Saud]]
- 2026-10-12T2005 · [[Iran-Iraq War]]
- 2026-10-12T2003 · [[Edwin May]]
- 2026-10-12T2003 · [[Arthur Hastings]]
- 2026-10-12T2002 · [[International Signal and Control]]
- 2026-10-12T2002 · [[Capcom]]
- 2026-10-12T2002 · [[Jose Macario]]
- 2026-10-12T2001 · [[Louis Jolyon West]]

63
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Allen Dulles.md
View file

@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-14
title: Allen Dulles
aliases:
- Allen Welsh Dulles
@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ relations:
with: "[[Warren Commission]]"
start: 1963-11-29
end: 1964-09-24
fn: 12
fn: 17
---
Allen Welsh Dulles (April 7, 1893 - January 29, 1969) served as [[Director of Central Intelligence]] from February 26, 1953, to November 29, 1961 - the longest tenure of any DCI, the first civilian DCI, and the only brother of a sitting Secretary of State to hold the position. Dulles built the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] into the instrument of Cold War covert action that executed [[Operation AJAX]] in [[Iran]] (1953), [[Operation PBSUCCESS]] in [[Guatemala]] (1954), and the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion of [[Cuba]] (1961). The Bay of Pigs disaster cost him his position - President [[John F. Kennedy]] forced his resignation, along with [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Charles P. Cabell|C.P. Cabell]] - and his subsequent appointment by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] to the [[Warren Commission]] investigating Kennedy's assassination placed him in the remarkable position of overseeing the investigation of the event that had ended both his patron's life and his own career.[^1]
@ -70,13 +70,19 @@ Operation PBSUCCESS (June 1954): The CIA's overthrow of Guatemalan President [[J
On August 26, 1960 Dulles cabled the Leopoldville station that the station officer was to be given "wider authority," including "even more aggressive action if it can remain covert," and wrote that "we realize that targets of opportunity may present themselves to you."[^8] The cable authorized up to $100,000 "to carry out any crash programs on which you do not have the opportunity to consult HQS," and assured the station officer that the message had been "seen and approved at competent level" in the State Department.[^8] The Church Committee documented the cable as one of a sequence that began with Tweedy's cable of August 18, 1960 and Bissell's of August 19.[^8]
### Correspondence with Senator McCarthy, 1953
In July 1953 [[Joseph McCarthy]], as chairman of the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]], wrote to Dulles about [[William P. Bundy]], an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, whom McCarthy linked to a $400 contribution to the defense of [[Alger Hiss]].[^9] McCarthy's letter of July 27, 1953 said the contribution "raises the gravest question as to his holding a sensitive post in an intelligence agency."[^10] The CIA reply of July 22, 1953, signed by [[Alba W. Doan]] as director, gave the agency's account of Bundy's disclosure on his March 1951 application and of the field investigation and loyalty determinations that followed. It deferred comment on the reasons Bundy gave for the contribution until a review was complete.[^9] A newspaper article by [[Allen Drury]] dated August 4, 1953 reported that Dulles had refused to tell McCarthy Bundy's explanation.[^11] McCarthy replied on August 3 that Bundy's contributions to Hiss predated his CIA employment and that Congress was entitled to information about improper conduct by the agency's top officers.[^12]
On October 22, 1953 Dulles wrote to McCarthy that a check of the agency's reproduction facilities had found that "no classified CIA material is printed in the main GPO plant." The letter answered press reports that CIA classified material had been printed at the [[Government Printing Office]]. It said the agency's legislative counsel had informed the subcommittee's staff of these facts on August 12, 1953, and it asked that the letter be placed in the record.[^13]
### MKULTRA: The Sandoz Panic and the Olson Death
Dulles approved MKULTRA on April 13, 1953, ten days after Richard Helms proposed a program for the "covert use of biological and chemical materials," with an initial $300,000 exempt from normal financial controls and payable blindly on the signatures of Gottlieb and TSS chief [[Willis Gibbons]]. Acting in a climate of Cold War urgency, that same month Dulles approved a $240,000 payment after an intelligence report claimed [[Sandoz]] wanted to sell 10 kilograms of [[LSD]] on the open market; CIA officers flew to Switzerland with a black bag of cash only to learn Sandoz had produced barely 40 grams in fifteen years, the entire panic stemming from a military attaché who confused milligrams with kilograms. When [[Frank Olson]] died in November 1953 after Gottlieb dosed him with LSD at [[Deep Creek Lodge]], Dulles ordered Inspector General [[Lyman Kirkpatrick]] to investigate; the resulting reprimands were softened through six drafts and placed in no personnel file.[^9]
Dulles approved MKULTRA on April 13, 1953, ten days after Richard Helms proposed a program for the "covert use of biological and chemical materials," with an initial $300,000 exempt from normal financial controls and payable blindly on the signatures of Gottlieb and TSS chief [[Willis Gibbons]]. Acting in a climate of Cold War urgency, that same month Dulles approved a $240,000 payment after an intelligence report claimed [[Sandoz]] wanted to sell 10 kilograms of [[LSD]] on the open market; CIA officers flew to Switzerland with a black bag of cash only to learn Sandoz had produced barely 40 grams in fifteen years, the entire panic stemming from a military attaché who confused milligrams with kilograms. When [[Frank Olson]] died in November 1953 after Gottlieb dosed him with LSD at [[Deep Creek Lodge]], Dulles ordered Inspector General [[Lyman Kirkpatrick]] to investigate; the resulting reprimands were softened through six drafts and placed in no personnel file.[^14]
### Rockefeller's Special Group and the Human Ecology Front
Under Eisenhower, Dulles reported all CIA covert operations, including MKULTRA, the coups, and assassination planning, to the NSC "[[Special Group]]" chaired by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], the structure formalized by NSC 5412/2 in December 1955 that gave the president plausible deniability; in a 1955 "Family Jewels" briefing Dulles described the full range of covert programs to Rockefeller's board. When MKULTRA needed a research hospital, Dulles sought Rockefeller's approval for a scheme to channel CIA money through private foundations to win matching federal grants for a wing at [[Georgetown University Hospital]]. The program's primary funding front, the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]], was organized at Dulles's initiative through [[Harold Wolff]], the Cornell neurologist who had treated Dulles's brain-damaged son; Dulles attended one of its first board meetings. His relationship with [[D. Ewen Cameron]] predated the funding: in November 1945, still with the OSS, Dulles had sent Cameron to Nuremberg to assess whether [[Rudolf Hess]] was fit to stand trial.[^10]
Under Eisenhower, Dulles reported all CIA covert operations, including MKULTRA, the coups, and assassination planning, to the NSC "[[Special Group]]" chaired by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], the structure formalized by NSC 5412/2 in December 1955 that gave the president plausible deniability; in a 1955 "Family Jewels" briefing Dulles described the full range of covert programs to Rockefeller's board. When MKULTRA needed a research hospital, Dulles sought Rockefeller's approval for a scheme to channel CIA money through private foundations to win matching federal grants for a wing at [[Georgetown University Hospital]]. The program's primary funding front, the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]], was organized at Dulles's initiative through [[Harold Wolff]], the Cornell neurologist who had treated Dulles's brain-damaged son; Dulles attended one of its first board meetings. His relationship with [[D. Ewen Cameron]] predated the funding: in November 1945, still with the OSS, Dulles had sent Cameron to Nuremberg to assess whether [[Rudolf Hess]] was fit to stand trial.[^15]
### Bay of Pigs and Forced Resignation
@ -84,25 +90,25 @@ The Bay of Pigs invasion of April 17-19, 1961 was the catastrophic failure that
Kennedy publicly accepted responsibility but was privately furious. He reportedly told aide [[Ted Sorensen]] that he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds" - a remark almost certainly apocryphal in its precise wording but consistent with his documented anger. The Taylor Commission's findings and the classified Kirkpatrick IG report both pointed to fundamental CIA failures in planning, execution, and judgment.
Dulles submitted his resignation in September 1961; it was formally accepted November 29, 1961. He was replaced by [[John McCone]]. The CIA's own history states that a "humiliated President Kennedy did not wait for either report before cleaning house at CIA" and that he accepted resignations from Dulles and from Deputy Director for Plans Richard Bissell, who stayed at their posts until their successors were selected a few months later.[^11] Bissell and Cabell were also forced out. CIA veterans viewed their dismissal as Kennedy scapegoating the agency for a failure the [[White House]] had co-created by canceling the air strikes.[^1]
Dulles submitted his resignation in September 1961; it was formally accepted November 29, 1961. He was replaced by [[John McCone]]. The CIA's own history states that a "humiliated President Kennedy did not wait for either report before cleaning house at CIA" and that he accepted resignations from Dulles and from Deputy Director for Plans Richard Bissell, who stayed at their posts until their successors were selected a few months later.[^16] Bissell and Cabell were also forced out. CIA veterans viewed their dismissal as Kennedy scapegoating the agency for a failure the [[White House]] had co-created by canceling the air strikes.[^1]
### The Warren Commission
On November 29, 1963 - exactly two years after Dulles's forced resignation - President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's assassination. Among the seven commissioners Johnson named was Allen Dulles despite Kennedy’s firing of Dulles.[^12]
On November 29, 1963 - exactly two years after Dulles's forced resignation - President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's assassination. Among the seven commissioners Johnson named was Allen Dulles despite Kennedy’s firing of Dulles.[^17]
The investigation was examining whether CIA-connected parties (specifically the anti-Castro exile networks and organized crime figures that Dulles had directly overseen) had any role in the assassination. He was now in a position to shape what evidence the Commission sought, what witnesses it called, and what conclusions it reached regarding the CIA programs he had run.
Dulles was reportedly among the most active commissioners in shaping the investigation's scope. He briefed commissioners on CIA history and procedures. Book V of the Church Committee's final report states that, with the exception of Dulles, it is unlikely anyone on the Warren Commission knew of the CIA's assassination efforts, and that Dulles knew of the plots with underworld figures that had taken place during his tenure as Director of Central Intelligence.[^13] The Church Committee's 1975 interim report states that Dulles "did not inform the other members about the plots that had occurred during his term as DCI,"[^14] and also states that "it is not entirely certain that Dulles was ever made aware of the true nature of the underworld operation."[^15] The [[ZR/RIFLE]] assassination plotting program was, in the same period, not disclosed to the Commission at the agency level by [[Richard Helms]] as Deputy Director for Plans. Helms testified that Dulles "was sitting right there" in the Commission's deliberations and "knew about this," and that he did not know what Dulles had said to the Commission about the plots.[^16] The CIA's failure to disclose the assassination plots to the Warren Commission was documented by the Church Committee in 1975; Dulles's role as both a commissioner and the former DCI who had authorized the programs is the structural conflict of interest the Commission's composition created.
Dulles was reportedly among the most active commissioners in shaping the investigation's scope. He briefed commissioners on CIA history and procedures. Book V of the Church Committee's final report states that, with the exception of Dulles, it is unlikely anyone on the Warren Commission knew of the CIA's assassination efforts, and that Dulles knew of the plots with underworld figures that had taken place during his tenure as Director of Central Intelligence.[^18] The Church Committee's 1975 interim report states that Dulles "did not inform the other members about the plots that had occurred during his term as DCI,"[^19] and also states that "it is not entirely certain that Dulles was ever made aware of the true nature of the underworld operation."[^20] The [[ZR/RIFLE]] assassination plotting program was, in the same period, not disclosed to the Commission at the agency level by [[Richard Helms]] as Deputy Director for Plans. Helms testified that Dulles "was sitting right there" in the Commission's deliberations and "knew about this," and that he did not know what Dulles had said to the Commission about the plots.[^21] The CIA's failure to disclose the assassination plots to the Warren Commission was documented by the Church Committee in 1975; Dulles's role as both a commissioner and the former DCI who had authorized the programs is the structural conflict of interest the Commission's composition created.
Angleton testified that Dulles consulted him before agreeing to President Johnson's request that he serve, that the two were in frequent contact, and that they informally discussed the progress of the investigation and what further work the CIA could do.[^17] At the January 22, 1964 executive session, the Commission took up a report that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] had been a paid FBI informant. Dulles asked whether the purpose of such a hire could have been to penetrate the [[Fair Play for Cuba Committee]]. He said that practically any American could obtain a passport good for anywhere, and that the Passport Bureau had no record of Oswald's defection. Near the end of the meeting, Dulles said: "I think this record ought to be destroyed."[^18] FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s files held an index card on Dulles that cross-referenced a November 29, 1963 memorandum.[^19]
Angleton testified that Dulles consulted him before agreeing to President Johnson's request that he serve, that the two were in frequent contact, and that they informally discussed the progress of the investigation and what further work the CIA could do.[^22] At the January 22, 1964 executive session, the Commission took up a report that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] had been a paid FBI informant. Dulles asked whether the purpose of such a hire could have been to penetrate the [[Fair Play for Cuba Committee]]. He said that practically any American could obtain a passport good for anywhere, and that the Passport Bureau had no record of Oswald's defection. Near the end of the meeting, Dulles said: "I think this record ought to be destroyed."[^23] FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s files held an index card on Dulles that cross-referenced a November 29, 1963 memorandum.[^24]
The [[HSCA|House Select Committee on Assassinations]] (1979) found that the Warren Commission's failure to investigate adequately the possibility of a conspiracy was "attributable in part to the failure of the Commission to receive all the relevant information that was in the possession of other agencies and departments of the Government," and that the CIA "was deficient in its collection and sharing of information both prior to and subsequent to the assassination."[^20] The report does not name Dulles in those findings. It states that the committee did not ignore the possibility that certain CIA officials who knew that close scrutiny of United States-Cuban relations could have exposed the CIA-Mafia plots might have tried to keep the CIA's or the Warren Commission's inquiry from the question of Cuban complicity, and that it determined that only Deputy Director Helms was in a position to have both the knowledge and the power to accomplish such a cover-up and was satisfied, on the basis of its investigation, that it was "highly unlikely he in fact did so."[^21] It found that the details of the AMLASH plot and the CIA-Mafia plots should have been provided to the Warren Commission.[^22]
The [[HSCA|House Select Committee on Assassinations]] (1979) found that the Warren Commission's failure to investigate adequately the possibility of a conspiracy was "attributable in part to the failure of the Commission to receive all the relevant information that was in the possession of other agencies and departments of the Government," and that the CIA "was deficient in its collection and sharing of information both prior to and subsequent to the assassination."[^25] The report does not name Dulles in those findings. It states that the committee did not ignore the possibility that certain CIA officials who knew that close scrutiny of United States-Cuban relations could have exposed the CIA-Mafia plots might have tried to keep the CIA's or the Warren Commission's inquiry from the question of Cuban complicity, and that it determined that only Deputy Director Helms was in a position to have both the knowledge and the power to accomplish such a cover-up and was satisfied, on the basis of its investigation, that it was "highly unlikely he in fact did so."[^26] It found that the details of the AMLASH plot and the CIA-Mafia plots should have been provided to the Warren Commission.[^27]
### Death and Legacy
Dulles spent his post-CIA years writing, lecturing, and defending the covert action programs he had built. His book *The Craft of Intelligence* (1963) was the first major public account of CIA operations by a former director. He died in Washington on January 29, 1969, of influenza complicated by pneumonia, eighteen months before the full extent of MKULTRA and the assassination plots became public.
The 2022 report of the United Nations Eminent Person summarized the argument of Greg Poulgrain's 2020 book, *JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia*, which posits that Dulles formed a motive to remove [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] following a policy conflict over the United Nations' intended intervention in the dispute over the sovereignty of West New Guinea.[^23] The report recorded Poulgrain's proposition that the Operation Celeste documents, which refer to a plan to kill Hammarskjöld by causing his plane to crash, mention Dulles by name, stating: "UNO is becoming troublesome and it is felt that Hammarskjöld should be removed. Allen Dulles agrees and has promised full cooperation from his people."[^23] Poulgrain compared this with the Church Committee's account of Dulles expressing a "wish [to] give every possible support" to a plan to kill Lumumba.[^23] The report stated that it was not necessary at that stage to assess the probative value of Poulgrain's information, and that it underscored the importance of "proving or disproving the veracity of the Operation Celeste hypothesis and Dulles's alleged involvement (as relied on by Poulgrain)."[^24]
The 2022 report of the United Nations Eminent Person summarized the argument of Greg Poulgrain's 2020 book, *JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia*, which posits that Dulles formed a motive to remove [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] following a policy conflict over the United Nations' intended intervention in the dispute over the sovereignty of West New Guinea.[^28] The report recorded Poulgrain's proposition that the Operation Celeste documents, which refer to a plan to kill Hammarskjöld by causing his plane to crash, mention Dulles by name, stating: "UNO is becoming troublesome and it is felt that Hammarskjöld should be removed. Allen Dulles agrees and has promised full cooperation from his people."[^28] Poulgrain compared this with the Church Committee's account of Dulles expressing a "wish [to] give every possible support" to a plan to kill Lumumba.[^28] The report stated that it was not necessary at that stage to assess the probative value of Poulgrain's information, and that it underscored the importance of "proving or disproving the veracity of the Operation Celeste hypothesis and Dulles's alleged involvement (as relied on by Poulgrain)."[^29]
### Footnotes
@ -114,19 +120,24 @@ The 2022 report of the United Nations Eminent Person summarized the argument of
[^6]: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer (Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 230-231.
[^7]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. *Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba.* New Press, 1998. Church Committee. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders." Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975. Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991. Chapter 4.
[^8]: United States Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, section on the Congo, quoting the CIA cables of August 18, August 19 and August 26, 1960. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^9]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 4; "Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification," Joint Senate Hearing, August 3, 1977.
[^10]: Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett, *Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon*. HarperCollins, 1995, Ch. 18; John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9.
[^11]: Warner, Michael, "The CIA's Internal Probe of the Bay of Pigs Affair: Lessons Unlearned," *Studies in Intelligence*, Winter 1998-1999. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Internal-Probe-Bay-Pigs.pdf
[^12]: Executive Order 11130, "Appointing a Commission To Report Upon the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy," November 29, 1963. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11130-appointing-commission-report-upon-the-assassination-president-john-f
[^13]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies*, Book V, Final Report, April 23, 1976, pp. 67-68. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^14]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, p. 269, note 1. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^15]: *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, p. 267. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^16]: Book V, p. 70 (Helms testimony of July 18, 1975). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^17]: Book V, p. 69 (note 134, Angleton testimony of February 6, 1976, pp. 31-34). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^18]: Warren Commission, executive session transcript, January 22, 1964, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. https://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcexec/pdf/WcEx0122.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Assassination Records Review Board, memorandum by Ronald G. Haron, "Assassination Records Among the Files of J. Edgar Hoover (FBI-36)," January 8, 1998. https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB/RHARON/HARON/FBIMEM.002.pdf
[^20]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, 95th Cong., 2d sess. (1979), summary Findings I.D.4 and I.D.5(b) (p. 4). https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^21]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, p. 128. https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^22]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, pp. 112-116. https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^23]: A/76/892, report of the Eminent Person, August 25, 2022, paragraphs 241 to 244. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F76%2F892&l=en&t=pdf
[^24]: A/76/892, paragraph 246. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F76%2F892&l=en&t=pdf
[^9]: Letter from Alba W. Doan, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, to Joseph R. McCarthy, July 22, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080014-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080014-6
[^10]: Letter from Joseph R. McCarthy, Chairman, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, to Allen W. Dulles, July 27, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080022-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080022-7
[^11]: Allen Drury, "McCarthy Warns CIA Head Fight on Bundy Isn't Over," newspaper article, August 4, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP74-00297R000401370024-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74-00297r000401370024-4
[^12]: Letter from Joseph R. McCarthy to Allen W. Dulles, August 3, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080020-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080020-9
[^13]: Letter from Allen W. Dulles to Joseph R. McCarthy, October 22, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP86B00269R000100130103-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000100130103-2
[^14]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 4; "Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification," Joint Senate Hearing, August 3, 1977.
[^15]: Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett, *Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon*. HarperCollins, 1995, Ch. 18; John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9.
[^16]: Warner, Michael, "The CIA's Internal Probe of the Bay of Pigs Affair: Lessons Unlearned," *Studies in Intelligence*, Winter 1998-1999. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Internal-Probe-Bay-Pigs.pdf
[^17]: Executive Order 11130, "Appointing a Commission To Report Upon the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy," November 29, 1963. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11130-appointing-commission-report-upon-the-assassination-president-john-f
[^18]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies*, Book V, Final Report, April 23, 1976, pp. 67-68. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, p. 269, note 1. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^20]: *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders*, p. 267. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^21]: Book V, p. 70 (Helms testimony of July 18, 1975). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^22]: Book V, p. 69 (note 134, Angleton testimony of February 6, 1976, pp. 31-34). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^23]: Warren Commission, executive session transcript, January 22, 1964, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. https://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcexec/pdf/WcEx0122.pdf
[^24]: U.S. Assassination Records Review Board, memorandum by Ronald G. Haron, "Assassination Records Among the Files of J. Edgar Hoover (FBI-36)," January 8, 1998. https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB/RHARON/HARON/FBIMEM.002.pdf
[^25]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, 95th Cong., 2d sess. (1979), summary Findings I.D.4 and I.D.5(b) (p. 4). https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^26]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, p. 128. https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^27]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, pp. 112-116. https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^28]: A/76/892, report of the Eminent Person, August 25, 2022, paragraphs 241 to 244. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F76%2F892&l=en&t=pdf
[^29]: A/76/892, paragraph 246. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F76%2F892&l=en&t=pdf

3
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cornelius Blackshear.md
View file

@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ White had been deposed shortly before Blackshear and had testified that Stanton
What the recantation left standing: Blackshear continued to maintain that White told him the IRS pressured White to move to convert the UPI case, and he disagreed with White about a conversation concerning the assignment of Harry Jones to Washington. In a sworn statement to House investigators on January 25, 1991, he said his earlier information was hearsay, largely from Pasciuto, and said of the choice between his account and White's: "it would become a credibility question." The House committee headed that part of its report "Judge Blackshear's statement to committee lacks credibility."[^2] Pasciuto claimed that Blackshear had admitted giving false testimony in the recantation to avoid hurting people; Blackshear denied it.[^3]
Bason accepted Blackshear's original testimony as true and found the recantation an honest mistake; in January 1991 he filed a complaint with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit stating that Blackshear recanted "not because of an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely."[^5] DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, in a report of March 31, 1989, credited the recantation. The Bua report wrote that "[t]his series of contradictory statements can only be described as troubling," that "[a]t best, it reveals a rather malleable witness," and that "there simply is not sufficient evidence to prove (by any standard) that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony."[^3]
The Associated Press reported in May 1988 that Pasciuto's attorney, Gary Simpson, quoted Blackshear in a March 17 letter to the Justice Department as saying, "I felt less people would be hurt if I just bailed out," and "I thought that by changing my story I would hurt less people."[^6] Bason accepted Blackshear's original testimony as true and found the recantation an honest mistake; in January 1991 he filed a complaint with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit stating that Blackshear recanted "not because of an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely."[^5] DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, in a report of March 31, 1989, credited the recantation. The Bua report wrote that "[t]his series of contradictory statements can only be described as troubling," that "[a]t best, it reveals a rather malleable witness," and that "there simply is not sufficient evidence to prove (by any standard) that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony."[^3]
Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, chose to believe Blackshear's original testimony and found his recantation to be the result of an "honest mistake." However, several years later, in January 1991, Bason filed a complaint against Blackshear with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that he now believed Blackshear recanted not due to an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely. The OPR, however, credited Blackshear's recantation, noting that he had no apparent motive to lie about the matter. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) found Blackshear's recantation implausible, noting that he had stated on four occasions prior to his recantation that White told him about pressure from Stanton to convert the Inslaw case. The PSI also found no evidence to support Blackshear's explanation that he had confused Inslaw with the UPI case. The Special Counsel's investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony. The report acknowledged the confusion arising from Blackshear's various statements but attributed it to poor memory rather than intentional misstatements. The Special Counsel found no reason why Blackshear, a sitting bankruptcy judge, would commit perjury and jeopardize his career.[^1]
@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, chose to believe Blackshear's original
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, pp. 192-194, 195-196, 209, 215-223. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, pp. 229-230. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair.* H. Rept. 102-857, 102d Cong., 2d sess., September 10, 1992, Part V.D, p. 78 (Bason's complaint of January 2, 1991).
[^6]: Associated Press, "U.S. Probing Possible Perjury in Inslaw Case," *Los Angeles Times*, May 6, 1988, Part IV, pp. 9, 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/404305287/

207
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dewey Clarridge.md
View file

@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ title: Dewey Clarridge
aliases:
- Dewey Clarridge
- Duane Clarridge
- Duane R. Clarridge
- Duane R. "Dewey" Clarridge
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-14
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
@ -12,25 +14,210 @@ tags:
- UnitedStates
- Contra
- 1980s
- IranContra
- EclipseGroup
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
summary: "Chief of the CIA Latin American Division from 1981 to 1984 who oversaw the creation of the Contra project, recruited Contra leaders including Eden Pastora, and was later indicted for perjury during the Iran-Contra investigation."
summary: "Chief of the CIA Latin American Division from 1981 to 1984, who directed the Contra support program and was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush before he could be tried for perjury."
born: 1932-04-16
died: 2016-04-09
location: "Nashua, New Hampshire"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "chief, Latin American Division"
start: 1981
end: 1984
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "chief, European Division"
start: 1985
end: 1986
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Counterterrorism Center]]"
role: "chief"
start: 1986
fn: 41
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
role: "CIA officer who arranged support for the November 1985 HAWK shipment; indicted in 1991, pardoned 1992"
start: 1985
end: 1992
fn: 20
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
role: "NSC staff counterpart on Contra support and the November 1985 HAWK shipment"
start: 1984
end: 1986
fn: 20
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Lawrence Walsh]]"
reverse: true
start: 1991
end: 1992
fn: 36
- type: head_of
with: "[[Eclipse Group]]"
role: "ran the private intelligence network"
start: 2009
fn: 43
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[U.S. Department of Defense]]"
role: "Eclipse network in Afghanistan and Pakistan, contract arranged through Michael Furlong"
start: 2009
fn: 43
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "career officer; stations in Istanbul (1968 to 1971) and Rome (1979 to 1981)"
start: 1955
end: 1987
fn: 41
- type: reported_to
with: "[[William J. Casey]]"
role: "Latin American Division chief under the Director of Central Intelligence"
start: 1981
end: 1986
fn: 17
---
Duane "Dewey" Clarridge was the chief of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s Latin American Division from 1981 to 1984 and oversaw the creation of the Contra project.[^1] He recruited many of the Contra leaders, including [[Eden Pastora]] in 1981.[^1]
### Contra Project Leadership
Duane R. "Dewey" Clarridge was a career officer of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] who served as chief of the [[Latin American Division]] from 1981 to 1984, as chief of the [[European Division]], and as head of the [[Counterterrorism Center]].[^1] As chief of the Latin American Division he directed the agency's support for the [[Contras]], the [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] rebel force, and in November 1985 he helped [[Oliver North]] obtain the clearances for a shipment of HAWK missiles to [[Iran]].[^2] He was indicted in 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements connected to the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] and was pardoned by President [[George H.W. Bush]] before trial.[^3]
Clarridge headed the CIA effort to organize, fund, and direct the [[Contras]] from the project's inception. Under his leadership, the agency assembled the scattered anti-[[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] factions into a unified fighting force, created the [[FDN]], and established the Costa Rican-based Southern Front under Eden Pastora.[^2]
### Latin American Division and the Contras
When asked by a British television crew in late 1996 about [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], the pseudonymous CIA agent in [[Costa Rica]] whom [[Carlos Cabezas]] identified as supervising Contra drug money, Clarridge said he had never heard of him. The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report confirmed that Gómez was indeed assigned to Costa Rica in 1982, largely corroborating Cabezas's account.[^2]
Clarridge headed the CIA effort to organize, fund, and direct the Contras. [[Gary Webb]] wrote that under Clarridge the agency assembled the scattered anti-[[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] factions into a unified force, created the [[FDN]], and established the Costa Rican-based Southern Front under [[Eden Pastora]], whom Clarridge recruited in 1981 to command it.[^4]
### Iran-Contra Indictment
[[Alan Fiers]], the CIA officer who ran the Central American Task Force, testified that in early November 1984 Clarridge told him to cooperate with North, a directive Fiers said took him beyond the limits of the [[Boland Amendment|Boland]] restriction on aid.[^5] According to the [[Office of the Independent Counsel|Independent Counsel]], [[Vincent Cannistraro]] testified as a defense witness that in June 1984 a meeting in the office of CIA director [[William J. Casey]], attended by Clarridge, [[Joseph Fernandez]] and the contra leader [[Adolfo Calero]], produced an assurance to Calero that the government would find a way to continue support after the Boland Amendment took effect.[^6]
Clarridge was indicted in 1991 on seven counts of perjury and providing false information to Congress during the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] investigation. He was pardoned before trial by former CIA director [[George H.W. Bush]].[^1]
In late 1996 Clarridge told a British television crew that he had never heard of [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], the pseudonymous CIA agent in [[Costa Rica]] whom [[Carlos Cabezas]] identified as supervising Contra drug money.[^7] The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report stated that CIA records show a CIA independent contractor used the alias "Ivan Gomez" in Costa Rica in the 1980s, that the contractor's physical description differs significantly from the one Cabezas gave, that CIA records place the contractor in the United States during April and May 1982 when Cabezas placed the meeting, and that the contractor denied meeting Cabezas. The report added that a Nicaraguan newspaper had published a photograph of an individual named "Ivan Gomez" captioned as a CIA employee on August 8, 1984.[^8]
Clarridge wrote in his memoir that at a National Security Planning Group meeting in the summer of 1983 the participants considered ways to destroy the MiG-21 aircraft the Sandinistas were expected to receive, including an AC-130 gunship strike and mines dropped into the Rio Escondido, and that President [[Ronald Reagan]] afterward took him aside and asked, "Dewey, can't you get those vandals of yours to do this job?" He answered, "I'm sorry, Mr. President, I don't think my vandals are quite up to the job."[^9]
### Harbor mining, 1984
Clarridge wrote that the idea of mining Nicaraguan ports came to him at the end of January 1984: "Sea mines were the solution. We should mine the harbors of Nicaragua, Corinto and the oil facility at Puerto Sandino in particular." He wrote that the devices were called firecracker mines "because they made a lot of noise but would not do much damage," and that the FDN was to notify [[Lloyd's of London]] after each insertion of mines.[^10] The agency leased an offshore oil-support ship, called the Mother Ship, which carried three Hughes 500 helicopters and two Q-boats below deck. Clarridge wrote: "On February 7, we mined the oil facility at Puerto Sandino." Two Q-boats released four mines and fired on the oil storage tanks, with helicopters standing by.[^10]
On April 7, 1984, the [[Associated Press]] reported, citing congressional sources, that CIA personnel directly supervised the mining of Nicaraguan harbors from a ship 12 miles off the coast, with the mines laid by Latin American commandos operating from speedboats.[^11] A [[Wall Street Journal]] report of the period described units operating from a CIA-controlled ship, composed of Salvadorans and other Latin Americans, and said the anti-Sandinista insurgents claimed credit for the mining; it placed mines in the harbors of [[Corinto]] and Puerto Sandino and at [[El Bluff]].[^12] Clarridge wrote that on the evening of April 5 Senator [[Barry Goldwater]], who had been shown a Senate Intelligence Committee staff memo stating that CIA contract employees, not Nicaraguan contras, were involved in the mining, read the classified memo into the [[Congressional Record]].[^13]
### The Argentine arrangement
Clarridge wrote that CIA intelligence showed the Legion, by then the FDN, was being trained, advised and equipped by a small group of Argentines from the Argentine Military Intelligence Directorate, whose presence in [[Honduras]] was facilitated by Col. Gustavo Alvarez, commander of the Honduran uniformed police and a graduate of the Argentine Army's Command and General Staff School. He described his own first step as cementing a relationship with the Argentines, a trip he made with the chief of the Central American Task Force, Jerry Svat, and two other officers. He wrote that the Argentines brought a psychologist and anthropologist to study the Miskito Indians, and that he suspected the Argentine interest in Honduras was related to the Sandinista haven given to Argentine Montoneros.[^14] [[Nicholas Schou]]'s 2016 interview with Clarridge for [[Newsweek]] reported that the idea of a Contra force assembled and trained by [[Argentina]]'s military government came to Clarridge almost immediately after he became chief of the Latin American Division, and that Clarridge counted the Contras' growth into the largest rebel army in the hemisphere as his proudest accomplishment.[^15] Clarridge also wrote of a visit by Brig. Gen. Mario Davico, director of Argentine Military Intelligence, and of his own question, "why would the chief of Argentine Military Intelligence be sitting in my office when the Argentine invasion went down?"[^16]
### The Tayacan manual, 1984
Clarridge wrote that the division contracted John Kirkpatrick, an ex-Army officer who had served in Vietnam, to prepare a course on how the contras should treat the civilian population and to train Nicaraguan instructors, and that the course was converted into a Spanish-language manual, with authorship attributed to Tayacan, a legendary Central American Indian warrior.[^17] He wrote that a copy of the original, unrevised manual was leaked to the Associated Press in mid-October 1984 and that he suspected the FDN director Edgar Chamorro, who denied it.[^17] In his account, he told CIA director William J. Casey, with [[Clair George]] present, "If you give me the reprimand, Congress will back off," while Casey was attempting to limit the effect of what he called the "Murder Manual" on Reagan's re-election campaign and Clarridge was concerned about morale in the Latin America Division.[^17] On November 9, 1984, President Reagan wrote to Casey that he had reviewed the report of the CIA investigation of the publication and distribution of the Tayacan manual and approved its findings and recommendations, and directed that within the agency one individual be accountable for each covert action and that field personnel operate under the supervision of the station chief.[^18]
### Iran-Contra and the November 1985 HAWK shipment
In the summer of 1985 the Reagan administration approved an [[Israel|Israeli]] plan to ship weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages held in [[Lebanon]]. Israel shipped 504 U.S.-made TOW missiles to Iran in August and September 1985, and the hostage [[Benjamin Weir]] was released.[^19]
In November 1985 Israel planned to fly 80 HAWK missiles on an El Al 747 into a European country, transfer them to other aircraft, and fly them into Iran. North enlisted retired Air Force major general [[Richard Secord]] to obtain the landing clearances and brought Clarridge into the mission to get a senior CIA field officer in that country to assist Secord.[^20]
Late on November 21, 1985, Clarridge sent flash cables to the field officer and his deputy. After the first flight was denied landing rights and forced to abort, the [[El Al]] aircraft was turned back, and Clarridge pursued a CIA proprietary airline for the flight, and he cabled CIA officers in an Asian country asking for help with overflight clearances. The cables identified the mission as a National Security Council initiative. Secord was known in the traffic by the code name "Copp."[^21]
The [[Tower Commission]] recorded that Clarridge told its members he first became involved on the evening of November 21, 1985, when North called him for help obtaining an overflight clearance for an El Al 747. Clarridge also told a U.S. official trying to obtain flight clearance to contact a man named "Copp," whom Clarridge had been told was an alias for Secord.[^22]
On November 23, 1985, the field officer sent a cable reporting that the cargo Secord had described was HAWK missiles. Four people in the field officer's office recalled it, and the Independent Counsel found that the cable had been sent, although it was never located in the record. Clarridge and Clair George, then deputy director for operations, testified that they did not recall receiving it. Clarridge's secretary had kept carbon copies of the weekend's cables in an unofficial file, which she sent to him after the affair became public in November 1986.[^23]
Cannistraro testified that on November 19, 1985, North summoned him and Clarridge to a restaurant in [[McLean, Virginia|McLean]], Virginia, and said he needed Clarridge's help to fly military equipment to Iran from a European country. Cannistraro testified that Clarridge said he already knew of the shipment. The Independent Counsel wrote that Cannistraro's testimony established that Clarridge knew of the arms shipment by November 19, two days before he testified that he first learned of the operation.[^24]
On November 23, 1985, at North's request, [[Charles Allen]] of the CIA showed Clarridge a packet of intelligence reports on Iranian arms negotiations, the A-K reports, and left them with him for about half an hour. Clarridge said that he recalled nothing in them about weapons. The Independent Counsel found that the reports referred repeatedly to HAWK, TOW, Phoenix, Harpoon and Sidewinder missiles and that none referred to oil-drilling equipment, the cover story North gave for the cargo.[^25]
One flight was completed. It reached Iran on November 25, 1985, carrying 18 HAWK missiles, which the Iranians rejected as the wrong type of missile. No hostages were released. Walsh's report states that Clarridge's action in the operation caused CIA officials to insist, after that weekend, that the President sign a covert-action Finding retroactively authorizing a CIA role.[^26]
### Testimony and the case against Clarridge
Clarridge testified before the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] on December 2, 1986, before the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] on December 11, 1986, and before the Tower Commission on December 18, 1986. He gave a deposition to the Select Committees on August 4, 1987. He testified that he did not get "a fix on" the cargo until January 1986, when Allen debriefed the Iranian go-between in the affair.[^27] The 1987 congressional report lists him in its index of witnesses.[^28]
Clarridge described the use of the CIA proprietary as a straight commercial deal, a phrase that became the basis of one of the counts against him. Asked whether North had ever told him the cargo was military equipment, he answered, "No, and I can't say that he knew. I can't say for sure that he knew."[^29]
[[Robert Oakley]], then director of the State Department's counter-terrorism unit, was asked by North to authorize involving the embassy in the European country. Oakley then telephoned Clarridge to say the State Department knew of the operation and that Clarridge should seek help from the foreign minister there. Oakley told investigators he had no doubt that Clarridge knew the cargo was weapons.[^30]
[[Edward Juchniewicz]], the acting deputy director for operations, whom Clarridge said had approved use of the proprietary, told investigators that Clarridge "never told anyone a full story." Juchniewicz said Clarridge would dance around a question and would not tell Congress anything unless specifically asked.[^31]
At the 1992 trial of Clair George, Senator [[Thomas Eagleton]], who had questioned Clarridge extensively, was asked whether he assumed everyone testifying for the CIA would lie to Congress. He answered: "I didn't trust Dewey Clarridge. We knew he was lying."[^32]
The husband of a CIA employee who worked for Clarridge recalled that at a December 1986 CIA Christmas party Clarridge wore an "Ollie North is an American Hero" T-shirt. The employee recalled that Clarridge said he had "slipped something by Congress." She was not certain the remark was made at the party, but said he had made it a day or two after his congressional testimony.[^33]
On December 16, 1987, CIA director [[William H. Webster]] wrote to Clarridge formally reprimanding him. Webster told him he was "culpable in respect to his testimony before Congress" and for failing to keep his senior officials informed about the use of the proprietary airline. Clarridge retired from the CIA in 1987.[^34]
The Independent Counsel, [[Lawrence Walsh]], also examined Clarridge's role in soliciting funds for the contras from a third country during a spring 1984 trip. Walsh wrote that CIA cables about the trip contradicted Clarridge's testimony that he had not solicited such funds, but the Independent Counsel declined to bring false statement or perjury charges on that point, for reasons set out in a classified appendix.[^35]
### Indictment and pardon
On November 26, 1991, a federal grand jury indicted Clarridge on seven counts of perjury and false statements. Counts One through Three charged perjury before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on December 2, 1986. Count Four charged perjury before the House committee on December 11, 1986. Count Five charged false statements to the Tower Commission on December 18, 1986. Count Six charged perjury before the Select Iran/contra Committees, and Count Seven charged false statements in a deposition before committee staff.[^36]
[[Harold H. Greene]], the district judge, ruled on December 10, 1992 that several of the counts were multiplicitous and ordered the Independent Counsel to choose between them. The trial had been set for March 15, 1993.[^37]
On December 24, 1992, President George H.W. Bush, who had earlier directed the CIA, pardoned six Iran-Contra defendants including Clarridge. Walsh's report says the pardon precluded a trial that "would have been the final Iran/contra prosecution."[^38] The Independent Counsel's summary of prosecutions lists Clarridge among the "pre-trial pardons."[^3]
In 1990 the Independent Counsel's inquiry named three subjects, Clarridge, [[Elliott Abrams]] and [[Donald Gregg]].[^39]
### Drug trafficking allegations, 1988
In April 1988 two staff members of the [[House Judiciary Committee]]'s Subcommittee on Crime interviewed Clarridge about allegations of Contra involvement in drug trafficking and about a [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] operation in June 1984 that photographed Nicaraguan officials loading cocaine onto a plane piloted by [[Barry Seal]]. A CIA Office of Congressional Affairs memorandum of May 3, 1988 records that "the hidden cameras were installed by the Agency on the plane in Miami." It also records that Clarridge recalled being asked by the DEA to install a hidden camera, that one of the men photographed was [[Federico Vaughan]], an aide to the Nicaraguan interior minister, and that Clarridge was present at a briefing arranged by the DEA in North's office. The memorandum says Clarridge recalled that [[Paula Hawkins]] used the photographs in her re-election campaign, and that he said the allegations of Contra drug smuggling arose after he left the Latin American Division.[^40]
### Later career and memoir
Walsh's report describes Clarridge as having left the European Division to become chief of the Counterterrorism Center. His former secretary still held his file of the November 1985 cables when the affair became public in November 1986.[^23]
His memoir, [[A Spy for All Seasons]] ([[Scribner]], 1997, written with Digby Diehl), was described by [[Publishers Weekly]] as covering a 33-year CIA career that began in 1955 and ended in forced retirement.[^41] In it Clarridge wrote that he was posted to [[Istanbul]] as chief in July 1968, with a tour there from 1968 to 1971, and that in late 1977 a group of senior officers decided he would be assigned to [[Rome]] as chief in the summer of 1979, after a year as deputy chief of European Division/South and Italian-language training; the Rome chapter covers 1979 to 1981.[^42] He wrote that he proposed the Counterterrorist Center, drawing personnel from the Directorates of Operations, Intelligence and Science and Technology, and then became its head.[^42] [[The New York Times]] reported in 2011 that he used the pseudonyms Dewey Marone and Dax Preston LeBaron, that his memoir described efforts to engineer pro-American governments in Italy in the late 1970s, and that Richard N. Gardner, the former American ambassador to Rome, called him "shallow and devious."[^43]
### Eclipse Group
In March 2010 [[Dexter Filkins]] and [[Mark Mazzetti]] reported in The New York Times that [[Michael Furlong]], a Defense Department official, had set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan under the cover of an information-gathering program, and that the contractors gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and insurgent camps for possible lethal action. A photograph caption with the report names Clarridge among the people connected to the network.[^44]
In October 2010 Mazzetti reported that a Pentagon investigation, carried out by [[Michael Decker]], an intelligence adviser to Defense Secretary [[Robert Gates]], concluded that Furlong had set up an "unauthorized" intelligence network and "deliberately misled" senior generals. The network operated under a $22 million contract run by [[Lockheed Martin]], and one of its companies used American, Afghan and Pakistani agents overseen by Clarridge. The results of the inquiry were classified. Furlong said that nobody from the Defense Department interviewed him and called the inquiry "kangaroo court justice"; the Air Force inspector general was conducting a separate investigation into whether he broke laws or committed contract fraud.[^45]
In January 2011 Mazzetti reported that Clarridge ran the [[Eclipse Group]] from his home near San Diego, with agents code-named Willi and Waco, and had continued after the Pentagon ended his contract in May 2010. Clarridge declined to be interviewed but issued a statement likening the operation to the [[Office of Strategic Services]]. The report said that the security firm Clarridge was affiliated with, the American International Security Corporation, won a Pentagon contract ultimately worth about $6 million, which American officials said was arranged by Furlong, then the subject of a criminal investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general. It said Clarridge had been subcontracted in December 2008 by a security consulting firm working for the Times to assist in the release of the kidnapped reporter David Rohde, that his dispatches went to Oliver North and to the author Brad Thor, and that associates said he planned to have agents collect DNA samples from the Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai]]. Charles Allen, who worked with Clarridge at the CIA, was quoted as saying "We don't need privateers."[^43]
The Associated Press reported in September 2011 that Furlong and his boss Mark Johnson resigned in July 2011 after the Air Force inspector general told them they would face official censure, and quoted Furlong's August 12 resignation letter: "After 17 months of DOD investigations and an FBI investigation, it was determined that no criminal laws were broken." The AP reported that the CIA had alleged in late 2009 that the contractors were running an illegal covert spying network managed by Clarridge, that Furlong and Clarridge maintained to investigators that they were operating a legal network of paid informants, and that inquiries by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service continued.[^46]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^1]: Lawrence Walsh, Office of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "United States v. Duane R. Clarridge," introduction. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^2]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Clarridge's Role" section on his Latin American Division posts, 1981 to 1984, and his role in the November 1985 shipment. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^3]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, Summary of Prosecutions, "Pre-trial Pardons" (Clarridge entry). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm
[^4]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion* (Seven Stories Press, 1998), ch. 5, "God, Fatherland and Freedom."
[^5]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 15, "William J. Casey," account of Alan Fiers's testimony on Clarridge's 1984 directive. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_15.htm
[^6]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 15, "William J. Casey," testimony of Vincent Cannistraro on the June 1984 meeting in Casey's office. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_15.htm
[^7]: Webb, *Dark Alliance*, ch. 5, account of Carlos Cabezas and the British television interview with Clarridge (1996). Sole source for the interview statement as written here.
[^8]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Volume I, January 29, 1998, findings on Cabezas and "Ivan Gomez." https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine/findings2.html
[^9]: Duane R. Clarridge with Digby Diehl, *A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA* (Scribner, 1997), pp. 243-245. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^10]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, pp. 264, 270-272. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^11]: James Rowley, Associated Press, April 7, 1984 (CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570109-5). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000303570109-5
[^12]: "U.S. Role in Mining Nicaraguan Harbors Reportedly Is Larger Than First Thought," Wall Street Journal, 1984 (CIA reading room copy, document CIA-RDP86B00420R000501180013-3). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00420r000501180013-3
[^13]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, p. 276. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^14]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, pp. 201-203, 208-209. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^15]: Nicholas Schou, "The 'October Surprise' Was Real, Legendary Spymaster Hints in Final Interview," *Newsweek*, April 24, 2016 (updated June 7, 2016). https://www.newsweek.com/duane-dewey-clarridge-october-surprise-spies-cia-451611
[^16]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, pp. 221-222. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^17]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, pp. 244, 291-294. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^18]: President Ronald Reagan, memorandum for William J. Casey, "Tayacan Psychological Warfare Manual," November 9, 1984, with National Security Council transmittal of November 10, 1984 (CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP90B01370R001601970016-1). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90b01370r001601970016-1
[^19]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Clarridge's Role in the November 1985 HAWK Shipment," opening section. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^20]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, HAWK shipment section, citing North's testimony of July 7, 1987 and Grand Jury testimony of February 1, 1991. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^21]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, HAWK shipment section, DIRECTOR cables of November 22 and 23, 1985 (notes 16 to 26). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^22]: *The Tower Commission Report* (Bantam/Times Books, 1987), Clarridge section, citing his testimony of December 18, 1986. https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^23]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "The 'Missing' Cable" section, including the note on the privacy-channel file kept by Clarridge's secretary. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^24]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Discussions With North" section, Cannistraro testimony and the Independent Counsel's conclusion. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^25]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "The A-K Reports" section. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^26]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 1, "Overview," note 119 (HAWK shipment and the CIA role). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm
[^27]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Count One" discussion, quoting Clarridge, SSCI testimony, December 2, 1986, p. 20. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^28]: *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, with Supplemental, Minority, and Additional Views* (1987), index of witnesses, "Clarridge, Dewey R." https://archive.org/details/reportofcongress8701unit
[^29]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Count Two" and "Count Three" discussions, quoting Clarridge, SSCI testimony, December 2, 1986, pp. 14 and 73. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^30]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Discussions With North" section, Oakley's account of his call to Clarridge. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^31]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Admission Evidence" section, quoting Juchniewicz, FBI 302, March 20, 1991, p. 14. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^32]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Admission Evidence" section, quoting Eagleton, testimony at the trial of Clair George, November 5, 1992, p. 2317. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^33]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Admission Evidence" section, account of the December 1986 Christmas party. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^34]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, Count discussion and reprimand, quoting Webster's letter to Clarridge of December 16, 1987 and the memorandum for the record of the meeting. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^35]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, "Soliciting Third-Country Support for the Contras" section. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^36]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, opening section and "Counts" discussion (indictment of November 26, 1991). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^37]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, note 1 (ruling of December 10, 1992 by Judge Harold H. Greene) and note 9 (trial date of March 15, 1993). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^38]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 18, introduction to the "Counts" discussion (trial precluded by the December 24, 1992 pardon of six Iran/contra defendants; the trial "would have been the final Iran/contra prosecution"). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^39]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 24, "The Investigation of State Department Officials: Shultz, Hill and Platt," account of the 1990 review naming Abrams, Clarridge and Gregg as subjects. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_24.htm
[^40]: CIA Office of Congressional Affairs, memorandum for the record, "Interview of Dewey Clarridge by House Judiciary Committee Staff," OCA 88-1404, May 3, 1988 (CIA Reading Room 0001289872). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289872
[^41]: Publishers Weekly, review and book description of *A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA* (Scribner). https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780684800684
[^42]: Clarridge, *A Spy for All Seasons*, pp. 108-110, 168-172, 324-326. https://archive.org/details/spyforallseasons00clar
[^43]: Mark Mazzetti, "Former spy with agenda operates private CIA," *The New York Times*, January 23, 2011 (reprinted by NBC News). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna41218490
[^44]: Dexter Filkins and Mark Mazzetti, "Contractors tied to effort to track, kill militants," *The New York Times*, March 14, 2010 (reprinted by NBC News). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna35867435
[^45]: Mark Mazzetti, "Inquiry Finds U.S. Official Set Up Spy Ring in Asia," *The New York Times*, October 28, 2010 (reprinted by RAWA News). https://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/10/28/inquiry-finds-u-s-official-set-up-spy-ring-in-asia.phtml
[^46]: Kimberly Dozier, "Air Force employee resigns over alleged spy ring," Associated Press, September 27, 2011 (reprinted by NBC News). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44683587

231
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Elliott Abrams.md
View file

@ -2,20 +2,233 @@
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- IranContra
- person
- u.s.-government
- contra-war
summary: Elliott Abrams was the Assistant Secretary of State who oversaw Central American policy and pressured NHAO officials to hire Oliver North's associates for Contra supply operations.
- Contras
- ElSalvador
- Venezuela
- Person
- USGovernment
- ContraWar
summary: "Elliott Abrams was the Assistant Secretary of State who chaired the Restricted Interagency Group on Central America, pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress, and was pardoned by President Bush in 1992."
aliases:
- Elliot Abrams
- Eliot Abrams
born: 1948-01-24
location: "New York City, New York"
created: 2026-05-13
updated: 2026-10-14
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[State Department]]"
start: 1981-01
end: 1989-01
role: "Assistant Secretary for international organization affairs, then human rights, then inter-American affairs"
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
start: 1985-07
end: 1991-10
role: "Chairman of the Restricted Interagency Group; pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress"
fn: 2
- type: reported_to
with: "[[George P. Shultz]]"
start: 1985-07
end: 1989-01
role: "Assistant Secretary reporting to the Secretary of State"
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
start: 1985-07
end: 1986-11
role: "Principal members of the Restricted Interagency Group on Contra resupply"
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Alan Fiers]]"
start: 1985-07
end: 1986-11
role: "Principal members of the Restricted Interagency Group"
fn: 2
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Lawrence Walsh]]"
reverse: true
start: 1991-10-07
fn: 34
- type: employed_by
with: "[[National Security Council]]"
start: 2001-06
end: 2009-01
role: "Senior director for democracy, human rights and international organizations; senior director for Near East and North African affairs; deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy"
fn: 39
- type: head_of
with: "[[Ethics and Public Policy Center]]"
start: 1996
end: 2001
fn: 39
- type: member_of
with: "[[U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom]]"
start: 1999
end: 2001
role: "Member, chairman in 2001; reappointed 2012"
fn: 39
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
role: "Senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies"
fn: 39
- type: employed_by
with: "[[State Department]]"
start: 2019-01-25
end: 2021-01
role: "Special Representative for Venezuela"
fn: 44
- type: employed_by
with: "[[State Department]]"
start: 2020-08
end: 2021-01
role: "Special Representative for Iran"
fn: 46
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Midge Decter]]"
role: "Mother-in-law"
start: 1980
fn: 48
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Norman Podhoretz]]"
role: "Stepfather-in-law"
start: 1980
fn: 48
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Rachel Abrams]]"
start: 1980
end: 2013-06-07
fn: 48
---
Elliott Abrams was the Assistant Secretary of State who oversaw Central American policy and pressured [[NHAO]] officials to hire [[Oliver North]]'s associates for Contra supply operations. Abrams served as the political point man for the Reagan administration's [[Contras|Contra]] funding strategy.[^1]
Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948, New York City) was an Assistant Secretary of State in the Reagan administration who chaired the [[Restricted Interagency Group]] on Central America and served as the administration's chief advocate on Capitol Hill for aid to the [[Contras]].[^1] With [[Oliver North]] he persuaded the director of the [[NHAO]] to add North's courier to the office staff. He pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress and was pardoned by [[George H.W. Bush]] in December 1992.
### NHAO Pressure
### Assistant Secretary, 1981 to 1989
When NHAO director Robert Duemling opposed hiring a $6,000-per-month "facilitator" for Contra supply operations, Abrams lobbied Duemling's superior. After one meeting, Abrams told Duemling: "Well, he works for me." The facilitator position was created to channel funds through North's network while maintaining the appearance of humanitarian aid. Abrams's intervention demonstrated how the State Department facilitated the covert supply chain that kept the Contra war alive after Congress cut off military aid.[^2]
Abrams joined the Reagan administration in January 1981 as assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs and later became assistant secretary for human rights.[^2] On April 19, 1985 [[George P. Shultz]] offered him the post of assistant secretary for inter-American affairs, and a note by [[Charles Hill]] recorded Shultz's promise to "manage the emergence of E[lliott] A[brams] as King of L[atin] A[merica]."[^3] Abrams assumed the post in July 1985 and became responsible for Central America. The [[Boland Amendment]] had cut off aid to the Contras in October 1984, and Abrams became the administration's chief advocate on Capitol Hill for aid to the rebels.[^2]
Abrams's notes of a September 4, 1985 meeting with Shultz record the instruction to "monitor Ollie," meaning North.[^4] Abrams later testified that his "working assumption" was that the Boland Amendment applied to the NSC staff.[^5] He chaired the Restricted Interagency Group, the interagency body that coordinated policy on the region, with [[Alan Fiers]] of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s Central American Task Force and North as its principal members.[^6]
### Guatemala, 1983
As assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, Abrams said in January 1983 that the administration was "quite encouraged" by the initial steps of Guatemala's President [[Efrain Rios Montt]], who had come to power in March 1982. He said that under Ríos Montt "There are many fewer abuses than there used to be," that the army's behavior had improved, and that the resumption of military sales should be viewed as "encouragement" to the new government. Asked about accounts by Guatemalan refugees in Mexico of massacres by the army, he said: "There are certainly refugees in Mexico whose towns suffered massacres by the military, but our sense is that this kind of gross behavior by the military is very substantially reduced under Rios Montt."[^7]
### El Mozote and the 1982 certification
The [[Atlacatl Battalion]] detained the inhabitants of [[El Mozote]] in Morazán on December 10, 1981 and executed them on December 11, according to the [[United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador]]. The Commission identified more than 200 victims at El Mozote, and more than 500 identified victims across El Mozote and the other villages hit in the same operation.[^8] The massacre became public knowledge on January 27, 1982, when [[New York Times|The New York Times]] and [[Washington Post|The Washington Post]] published reports by [[Raymond Bonner]] and [[Alma Guillermoprieto]]. The Salvadoran authorities "categorically denied that a massacre had taken place."[^9]
On February 8, 1982 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony on the President's January 28, 1982 certification of military aid to El Salvador. [[Thomas O. Enders]] read a summary of an embassy report on the village. The two officers who wrote it had approached El Mozote and interviewed refugees, and they concluded that it was "certain that the guerrilla forces who established defensive positions in El Mozote did nothing to remove them from the path of battle."[^10] Enders's prepared statement said that the embassy found no evidence that government forces systematically massacred civilians, and that the number killed did not approach the 733 or 926 victims cited in press reports. The statement also said that insurgents had repeatedly fabricated or inflated mass-murder allegations.[^10]
Abrams told the committee that the affair "appears to be an incident which is at least being significantly misused, at the very best, by the guerrillas." He added: "Where the truth lies we are still attempting to find out."[^11] The Truth Commission later reported that the 1992 exhumation at El Mozote recovered 245 cartridge cases studied by ballistics analysts, 184 with headstamps identifying ammunition manufactured for the United States Government at Lake City, Missouri, and that all projectiles but one appeared to have been fired from United States-manufactured M-16 rifles.[^12]
### The NHAO and North's network
Congress appropriated $27 million in humanitarian assistance for the Contras in August 1985. On August 29, 1985 President [[Ronald Reagan]] created the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO) inside the [[State Department]] to administer the money, and [[Robert W. Duemling]] set up the office.[^13] [[Lawrence Walsh]] wrote that North intruded in the office in two ways: he insisted that [[Richard Gadd]], who was assisting [[Richard Secord]] and North in lethal resupply, be the contractor for NHAO flights, and, with Abrams, he persuaded Duemling to add North's Central American courier, [[Robert Owen]], to the NHAO staff.[^13] Owen, in addition to handling traveler's checks for contra leaders, picked up and delivered $16,500 in cash.[^14]
The congressional committees' 1987 report records that Owen applied to Duemling for an NHAO position in mid-September 1985 and that North recommended him as a "can do" person "who knows the scene." Duemling declined, and declined again after the three directors of the United Nicaraguan Opposition wrote asking for Owen's help. At a Restricted Interagency Group meeting on October 11, 1985, North complained about the NHAO flight impounded on October 10, saying it would not have happened had Owen been working for the NHAO. Duemling then agreed to fund a UNO contract with Owen's company, the Institute for Democracy, Education and Assistance, Inc.[^15]
[[Gary Webb]] wrote in [[Dark Alliance]] that Duemling testified in a deposition to the Iran-Contra committees that he saw no necessity for a middleman, that North had Contra leaders write letters demanding Owen's hiring and lobbied Duemling's superior at the State Department, Assistant Secretary Abrams, and that after one stormy meeting with North and Abrams, Abrams turned to Duemling and said: "Well, Bob, I suppose you probably ought to hire Owen." Webb wrote that Owen was given a $50,000 contract as a "facilitator" and that the minutes of the November 1985 meeting record Abrams and North agreeing that Owen "will be expendable if he becomes a political or diplomatic liability."[^16] A second version attributed to Webb gives the facilitator's pay as $6,000 a month and has Abrams telling Duemling, when Duemling opposed the hiring: "Well, he works for me." In that version the facilitator position was created to channel funds through North's network while maintaining the appearance of humanitarian aid.[^17]
On October 10, 1985 an NHAO aircraft flew directly from the United States to Honduras with a television crew on board. The Honduran government then rescinded its permission for NHAO planes to fly directly there from the United States. North proposed the [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango air base]] in El Salvador as a transshipment point, and the NHAO planes were routed there.[^13]
### Costa Rican airstrip and the RIG
Within days after Shultz's "monitor Ollie" instruction, Abrams, North and Fiers met in Abrams's office, and Fiers briefed Abrams on a secret airfield in Costa Rica that the contra supply network was building.[^18] After the Costa Rican announcement of the airstrip, Abrams drafted a harshly worded cable to the Costa Rican government. Walsh recorded that a cable containing his message was stopped by Shultz aide Hill.[^19]
In September 1986 North proposed that Panamanian leader [[Manuel Noriega]] pay for sabotage inside Nicaragua, at a RIG meeting in the office of Assistant Secretary of Defense [[Richard Armitage]] on September 19. Walsh wrote that the decision was ultimately made not to have North cause the $1 million to be paid to Noriega. On September 20 Abrams met [[Nicholas Platt]] and Hill, and Hill's notes recorded the Noriega offer and "Wants our go-ahead."[^20]
### Brunei solicitation
After a May 16, 1986 National Security Planning Group meeting, Abrams raised with Shultz the solicitation of third countries. Shultz instructed him not to approach a large recipient of U.S. aid or a right-wing dictatorship such as Taiwan or South Korea.[^21] Abrams suggested the Sultan of [[Brunei]], and North told him to send no papers and say nothing further until North had talked with [[John Poindexter]]. Abrams lunched with Poindexter on June 11, 1986 and they discussed Brunei as a possible donor.[^21]
In June 1986 Abrams obtained bank account information from North on a card typed by his secretary, [[Fawn Hall]]. Two account numbers were transposed, and the money went into the wrong account.[^21] Abrams solicited $10 million from the Sultan's defense minister, General Ibnu, in London on August 9, 1986, calling him under the name "Kenilworth." The Sultan ordered the transfer on August 19 from a Citibank account to [[Credit Suisse]] in Geneva, account 368430-22-1. A North notebook entry of September 15 refers to a deposit made about a week earlier and to a meeting with the Sultan the next day. On September 26 Ibnu told the U.S. ambassador that the Sultan had handled the transfer personally and that the recipient was "quite clear."[^22]
The account North had supplied was for the Enterprise's Lake Resources account at Credit Suisse, 386.430.22.1. The number Abrams passed on was 368.430.22.1, and the deposit went there. Swiss authorities reported that the money was returned to Brunei.[^23] Walsh recorded that the Brunei contribution passed through accounts "controlled by or on behalf of" [[Bruce Rappaport]], a Swiss businessman, and that Credit Suisse disclaimed him as the recipient in 1989. Questioned under an immunity agreement in October 1990, Rappaport said the account was not his and that he did not know whose account received the deposit. He also said he did not know North or Abrams.[^24]
The congressional committees' 1987 report recorded that Abrams described his late 1986 answers on third-country funding as "misleading." It also recorded his explanation that he had been promised confidentiality for Brunei and that "I did not believe I was authorized to" reveal the solicitation.[^25]
### Hasenfus and the October 1986 testimony
A C-123 aircraft carrying supplies to the contras was shot down over Nicaragua on October 5, 1986, and [[Eugene Hasenfus]] was captured. Abrams chaired a RIG meeting on the downed aircraft on October 8. The group discussed demands for access to Hasenfus, Salvadoran denials of contra support, press guidance, and [[Southern Air Transport]], which had been used for NHAO deliveries. Walsh recorded that Abrams phoned North about the incident and asked about the retrieval of the bodies of the two American crew members killed in the crash, but did not explicitly ask North whether he was connected with the aircraft.[^26]
On October 10, 1986 Abrams testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Walsh's report calls a closed session and the congressional committees' 1987 report calls an open hearing. He said that "there clearly is an elaborate supply system," and added: "It is not our supply system." He said that the administration's attitude was that the people supplying the contras were doing "a very good thing," and that "we do generally approve of what they are doing."[^27] Asked by [[John Kerry]] about foreign government assistance, Abrams said that "we have not received a dime from a foreign government, not a dime, from any foreign government."[^28] He told the committee that his "injunction from the Secretary of State is never to lie."[^28]
On October 14 Abrams told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that "that story about the Saudis to my knowledge is false," and that the claim of foreign government support was false as to 1985 and 1986.[^29] On October 15 he told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that the U.S. government did not know who organized and paid for the flight. Asked whether anyone in the government did know, he said: "I wouldn't separate myself from the Government. We don't know."[^30]
Walsh's report concluded: "Abrams was not truthful with the congressional committees."[^31] On October 14 Abrams told HPSCI that it was his understanding that [[Donald Gregg]] knew [[Felix Rodriguez]] and had introduced him to the Salvadorans in 1984 to work with the Salvadoran Air Force. He added that the Vice President was aware of Rodriguez's involvement with the Salvadoran Air Force, but that there was no knowledge that Rodriguez had moved on to activities on behalf of the contras.[^32] After his plea, Abrams told the grand jury that he was concerned that Rodriguez "talked too much about the Vice President."[^33]
### Guilty plea and pardon
On October 7, 1991 Abrams pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress. The counts concerned his October 10, 1986 Senate testimony and his October 14, 1986 testimony to HPSCI about the Brunei solicitation.[^34] Abrams admitted that it was his belief "that disclosure of Lt. Col. North's activities in the resupply of the Contras would jeopardize final enactment" of a $100 million appropriation then pending.[^34] U.S. District Chief Judge [[Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr.]] sentenced him on November 15, 1991 to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service.[^35]
Walsh's report described Abrams as the leading official of the denials, who "steadfastly denied before Congress and the public that the United States was involved in the resupply effort."[^36] On December 24, 1992 President Bush granted clemency to Abrams, [[Caspar Weinberger]], [[Robert McFarlane]], [[Clair George]], Fiers and [[Dewey Clarridge|Duane Clarridge]]. Bush described the prosecutions as the "criminalization of policy differences."[^37] [[William Barr]] later said of Abrams that he was "very unjustly treated."[^38]
### Later posts, 2001 to 2009
Abrams joined the George W. Bush administration in June 2001 as senior director of the [[National Security Council]] for democracy, human rights and international organizations. From December 2002 to February 2005 he was senior director for Near East and North African affairs. From February 2005 to January 2009 he was deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy and supervised both the Near East and North African directorate and the democracy directorate.[^39]
Abrams had led the [[Ethics and Public Policy Center]] from 1996 until he joined the White House staff. He served on the [[U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom]] from 1999 to 2001, chairing it in 2001, and was reappointed in 2012. He was also a member of the [[U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council]].[^39] Abrams was one of the signers of the [[Project for the New American Century]] Statement of Principles of June 3, 1997, whose other signers included [[Dick Cheney]], [[Donald Rumsfeld]], [[Paul Wolfowitz]], [[I. Lewis Libby]], [[Zalmay Khalilzad]], [[Jeb Bush]], [[Midge Decter]] and [[Norman Podhoretz]].[^40] He also signed the Project's letter of January 26, 1998 to President [[Bill Clinton]], which stated that American strategy toward Iraq "should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power." Its other signers included Armitage, [[John Bolton]], Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, [[Richard Perle]], [[Robert Kagan]], [[William Kristol]], [[R. James Woolsey]] and [[Robert Zoellick]].[^41]
In April 2002 the Venezuelan government of [[Hugo Chavez|Hugo Chávez]] was briefly removed while Abrams was on the NSC staff. Democracy Now's 2020 summary stated that Abrams "was also linked to the 2002 attempted coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez."[^42] The State Department's [[Office of Inspector General]], reviewing U.S. policy toward Venezuela from November 2001 to April 2002 at the request of Senator [[Christopher Dodd]], reported in July 2002 that "the embassy's and Department's contacts were heavily weighted toward individuals and groups known to be opponents of the Chávez government," and that "The opposition's willingness to talk to Embassy Caracas in detail about their plans against President Chávez and the embassy's willingness to listen may have left doubts about the sincerity of our professed opposition to undemocratic and unconstitutional means of removing President Chávez." The report limited the identities of those met to a classified annex, and concluded that the Inspector General "finds nothing to indicate that the Department or Embassy Caracas planned, participated in, aided, or encouraged the brief ouster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in April."[^43]
### Venezuela and Iran appointments, 2019 to 2021
Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] announced on January 25, 2019 that Abrams would be the United States envoy for Venezuela, with the task of helping "restore democracy," two days after the United States recognized [[Juan Guaido]] as interim president.[^44] He served as special representative for Venezuela.[^45] On August 6, 2020 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named him special representative for Iran, replacing [[Brian Hook]], and he kept the Venezuela post.[^46]
### Commission and family
In July 2023 President [[Joe Biden]] nominated Abrams to the [[U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy]].[^47]
Abrams married Rachel Decter in 1980. She was the daughter of Midge Decter by her first marriage, and Midge Decter married Norman Podhoretz in 1956, making Rachel his stepdaughter.[^48] A Times of Israel obituary of Rachel Abrams describes Podhoretz as Abrams's father.[^49] Rachel Abrams died on June 7, 2013.[^49]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 16.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 16.
[^1]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^2]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, opening section (appointments as assistant secretary, Central American and Contra aid). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^3]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, n. 1, quoting Hill note of April 19, 1985 (ANS 0001039). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^4]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "Abrams' Knowledge of North's Activities," nn. 4 to 5, quoting Abrams note of September 4, 1985 (ALW 0041285). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^5]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, n. 2, quoting Abrams, Select Committees testimony, June 2, 1987, p. 8. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^6]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, opening section and "Abrams, North and the RIG." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^7]: Christian Science Monitor, "Administration defends plans to aid Guatemalan military," January 10, 1983 (interview with Assistant Secretary Elliott Abrams). https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0110/011050.html
[^8]: Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, *From Madness to Hope: The 12-Year War in El Salvador*, S/25500 (1993), "Illustrative case: El Mozote," pp. 114 to 115. https://www.derechos.org/nizkor/salvador/informes/truth.html
[^9]: Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, S/25500 (1993), El Mozote, "Subsequent events," pp. 116 to 117. https://www.derechos.org/nizkor/salvador/informes/truth.html
[^10]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, *Certification Concerning Military Aid to El Salvador: Hearings*, 97th Cong., 2d sess., February 8 and March 11, 1982, testimony of Ambassador Thomas O. Enders and prepared statement. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152817_0062
[^11]: Same hearing, February 8, 1982, testimony of Assistant Secretary Elliott Abrams. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152817_0062
[^12]: Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, S/25500 (1993), El Mozote, forensic report on the November 1992 exhumation, p. 119. https://www.derechos.org/nizkor/salvador/informes/truth.html
[^13]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "Abrams, North and NHAO." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^14]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, description of the Enterprise couriers (Owen). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm
[^15]: U.S. Congress, *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair* (1987), chapter on the NHAO program, discussion of Robert Owen. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152829_0391
[^16]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998, ch. 12, citing the Duemling deposition (Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, August 30, 1987) and the Arcos deposition.
[^17]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998.
[^18]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "Abrams' Knowledge of the Costa Rican Airstrip and the Southern Front." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^19]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, Costa Rican airstrip section (announcement and cable). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^20]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, meetings of September 19 and 20, 1986, citing Hill notes of September 20, 1986 (ANS). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^21]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "The Brunei Solicitation" (instructions of May 1986, June 11 lunch, account card). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^22]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "The Brunei Solicitation" (August 9 London meeting, August 19 transfer, North notebook of September 15, Bandar cables of September 15 to 26, 1986). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^23]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, Brunei account and Swiss response. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm
[^24]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, Rappaport passages and n. 42. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm
[^25]: U.S. Congress, *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, With Supplemental, Minority, and Additional Views* (1987), section "Abrams' Brunei Testimony" and the Brunei solicitation section. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152829_0391
[^26]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "The Hasenfus Shootdown" and RIG meeting of October 8, 1986. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^27]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony of October 10, 1986, nn. 70 to 74 (Abrams transcript, pp. 3 to 11, 48). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm U.S. Congress, *Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair* (1987), describing "an October 10 open hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152829_0391
[^28]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, Brunei section and nn. 107, 112 (Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony, October 10, 1986, pp. 49, 75 to 76). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^29]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, n. 108 (HPSCI testimony, October 14, 1986, p. 21). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^30]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, nn. 75 to 76 (House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, October 15, 1986, pp. 31 to 33). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^31]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, closing section on the October 1986 testimony. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^32]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 29, "Donald P. Gregg," text and n. 137 (Abrams, HPSCI testimony, October 14, 1986, pp. 23 to 24). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_29.htm
[^33]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 29, "Abrams and North's General Recollections of Discussions with Gregg," n. 113 (Abrams grand jury testimony, November 6, 1991, p. 45). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_29.htm
[^34]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, plea section and n. 3 (Government's Statement of the Factual Basis for the Guilty Plea, October 7, 1991, p. 4). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^35]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, Summary of Prosecutions, entry for Elliott Abrams (sentence by U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., November 15, 1991). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm
[^36]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 27, "President Reagan," text and n. 66. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_27.htm
[^37]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 28, "George Bush," pardon section and n. 1. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_28.htm
[^38]: Miller Center, University of Virginia, "William P. Barr Oral History," interview of April 5, 2001, George H.W. Bush Oral History Project. https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/william-p-barr-oral-history
[^39]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, biography of Ambassador Elliott Abrams, hearing of November 19, 2014. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20141119/102753/HHRG-113-FA13-Bio-AbramsE-20141119.pdf
[^40]: Project for the New American Century, "Statement of Principles," June 3, 1997, Wayback Machine capture of April 7, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20020407145529/http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
[^41]: Project for the New American Century, letter to President Clinton, January 26, 1998, Wayback Machine capture. https://web.archive.org/web/2003/http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
[^42]: Democracy Now, headline and summary of August 7, 2020, "State Department Taps Elliott Abrams as Special Representative to Iran." https://democracynow.org/2020/8/7/headlines/state_department_taps_elliott_abrams_as_special_representative_to_iran
[^43]: U.S. Department of State, Office of Inspector General, *A Review of U.S. Policy Toward Venezuela, November 2001 - April 2002*, Report No. 02-OIG-003 (July 2002), pp. 15 to 16 and Conclusion. https://www.stateoig.gov/uploads/report/report_pdf_file/13682.pdf
[^44]: Voice of America, "US Appoints New Venezuela Envoy to Help 'Restore Democracy,'" January 25, 2019. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2019/01/mil-190125-voa05.htm
[^45]: CBS News, "Elliott Abrams, convicted of lying about Iran-Contra, named special representative for Iran," August 6, 2020 (Abrams "has been serving as the special representative for Venezuela"). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elliott-abrams-iran-contra-named-special-representative-iran
[^46]: Democracy Now, August 7, 2020 (announcement that Abrams becomes special representative for Iran and "will also continue as special representative for Venezuela"). https://democracynow.org/2020/8/7/headlines/state_department_taps_elliott_abrams_as_special_representative_to_iran
[^47]: Democracy Now, headline of July 6, 2023, "Biden Nominates Elliott Abrams, Death Squad Backer Convicted of Lying to Congress, to Gov't Commission" (President Biden "has nominated Elliott Abrams to the bipartisan U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy"). https://democracynow.org/2023/7/6/headlines/biden_nominates_elliott_abrams_death_squad_backer_convicted_of_lying_to_congress_to_govt_commission
[^48]: Jewish Chronicle, obituary of Midge Decter (marriage to Moshe Decter in 1947, daughters Rachel and Naomi; marriage to Norman Podhoretz in 1956; Rachel Decter's marriage to Elliott Abrams in 1980). https://thejc.com/news/obituary-leading-commentator-thinker-and-writer-midge-decter-uzeijpmg
[^49]: Times of Israel, obituary of Rachel Abrams, June 10, 2013 ("Abrams died June 7 after battling stomach cancer for three years. She was 62."). https://www.timesofisrael.com/artist-and-writer-rachel-abrams-succumbs-to-cancer/

5
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/George Francis Bason, Jr..md
View file

@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ In a July 17, 1987 letter to Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]] transmitting one o
On February 25, 1987, INSLAW applied to the bankruptcy court for independent handling of its adversary proceeding, asking that the Department conduct the case "completely and entirely independent of any Department of Justice officials who are involved in the allegations." The petition charged that [[C. Madison Brewer]] was biased against the company.[^11] In March 1987 [[Bill Hamilton]] and [[Nancy Hamilton]] met [[Anthony Pasciuto]], deputy director of the [[Executive Office for United States Trustees]]. Pasciuto testified to the Senate subcommittee staff that he told them he had heard from the U.S. Trustee [[William White]] that the office's director, [[Thomas Stanton]], had called White repeatedly to express displeasure with his handling of the case and had pressured him to act against INSLAW. Nancy Hamilton's contemporaneous notes read "St call Wh & sd had to be convertd," while Pasciuto told the staff he did not remember using the word "convert."[^12]
[[Cornelius Blackshear]], the former U.S. Trustee for the Southern District of New York, testified in a March 25, 1987 deposition that White had told him Stanton thought the case should be converted or dismissed and wanted one of Blackshear's assistants detailed to Washington, and answered "Yes" when asked whether White had said he had received pressure from Stanton to have the case converted to Chapter 7. Within two days he signed an affidavit recanting that testimony, stating that after two telephone conversations with White he now recalled that no such discussion took place. White, Stanton and the assistant, Harold Jones, contradicted Pasciuto's account.[^13] The Senate subcommittee staff wrote that facts it obtained, including tape recordings of an American Bar Association conference session, "severely undercut the credibility of Blackshear's recantation."[^14]
[[Cornelius Blackshear]], the former U.S. Trustee for the Southern District of New York, testified in a March 25, 1987 deposition that White had told him Stanton thought the case should be converted or dismissed and wanted one of Blackshear's assistants detailed to Washington, and answered "Yes" when asked whether White had said he had received pressure from Stanton to have the case converted to Chapter 7. Within two days he signed an affidavit recanting that testimony, stating that after two telephone conversations with White he now recalled that no such discussion took place. White, Stanton and the assistant, Harold Jones, contradicted Pasciuto's account.[^13] The Senate subcommittee staff wrote that facts it obtained, including tape recordings of an American Bar Association conference session, "severely undercut the credibility of Blackshear's recantation."[^14] The Associated Press reported in May 1988 that the attorney for Pasciuto, Gary Simpson, quoted Blackshear in a March 17 letter to the Justice Department as saying, "I felt less people would be hurt if I just bailed out," and "I thought that by changing my story I would hurt less people." Ruling from the bench on June 12, 1987, Bason said, "I believe that Judge Blackshear's original testimony is accurate and his recanted testimony is inaccurate," and that "people do have a capacity to forget things when it is painful for them to remember, or maybe even inconvenient for them to remember."[^79]
At the close of the hearing in June 1987, Bason gave oral findings that Brewer had obtained a commitment from the Executive Office for United States Trustees to convert INSLAW's Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation.[^15] The written findings of January 25, 1988 state that DOJ "unlawfully, intentionally and willfully sought to cause the conversion of INSLAW's Chapter 11 reorganization case to a Chapter 7 liquidation case without justification and by improper means."[^16] Bason found that Stanton had struck a bargain with Brewer under which Stanton would make efforts to liquidate the company, and that Brewer "sought and obtained assistance for his unlawful plan from Thomas Stanton, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees."[^17]
Deputy Attorney General [[Arnold Burns]] referred allegations of misconduct against Pasciuto to the [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] in July 1987, and on December 18, 1987 the office recommended that Pasciuto be fired. Its memorandum stated: "Mr. Pasciuto's recantation notwithstanding, Judge Bason relied on [Pasciuto's] testimony about his remarks at the breakfast meeting to support his conclusion that Mr. Stanton engaged in misconduct. We have found no evidence that this conclusion was at all correct."[^18] The Special Counsel's report states that the office recommended termination primarily because of Pasciuto's admitted decision to harm Stanton by any means possible, including providing false information to the Hamiltons.[^19] A House Judiciary Committee report states that Pasciuto recanted at trial under strong pressure from senior Department officials, and that his attorney wrote on March 17, 1988 that what Pasciuto had told the Hamiltons was true and that he had backed away at trial because Blackshear and White would not acknowledge the truth and Stanton was pressuring him over an appointment as an Assistant U.S. Trustee.[^20] The Office of Professional Responsibility reported on March 31, 1989 that Bason's independent-handling findings were "clearly erroneous" and that no evidence showed Department employees had tried to pressure White to convert the case.[^21]
Deputy Attorney General [[Arnold Burns]] referred allegations of misconduct against Pasciuto to the [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] in July 1987, and on December 18, 1987 the office recommended that Pasciuto be fired. Its memorandum stated: "Mr. Pasciuto's recantation notwithstanding, Judge Bason relied on [Pasciuto's] testimony about his remarks at the breakfast meeting to support his conclusion that Mr. Stanton engaged in misconduct. We have found no evidence that this conclusion was at all correct."[^18] The Special Counsel's report states that the office recommended termination primarily because of Pasciuto's admitted decision to harm Stanton by any means possible, including providing false information to the Hamiltons.[^19] The Associated Press reported that Pasciuto, "on the verge of tears in Bason's courtroom," testified that he had made up the story because he was angry with Stanton about delaying his promotion.[^79] A House Judiciary Committee report states that Pasciuto recanted at trial under strong pressure from senior Department officials, and that his attorney wrote on March 17, 1988 that what Pasciuto had told the Hamiltons was true and that he had backed away at trial because Blackshear and White would not acknowledge the truth and Stanton was pressuring him over an appointment as an Assistant U.S. Trustee.[^20] The Office of Professional Responsibility reported on March 31, 1989 that Bason's independent-handling findings were "clearly erroneous" and that no evidence showed Department employees had tried to pressure White to convert the case.[^21]
### The Adversary Proceeding (September 1987)
@ -207,3 +207,4 @@ A September 27, 1994 report of the Department of Justice reviewing Bua's report
[^76]: Bua report, p. 13 (executive summary conclusion); p. 188 (§ VIII.F).
[^77]: Bua report, p. 131.
[^78]: U.S. Department of Justice, *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report on the Allegations of INSLAW, Inc.* (Sept. 27, 1994), Part VII, pp. 185-186 (quoting *In re INSLAW*, 83 B.R. at 156, on Hamilton's testimony), printed in the same volume as the Bua report. https://archive.org/stream/InslawPROMISBuaReport/Inslaw%3APROMIS%20Bua%20Report_djvu.txt
[^79]: Associated Press, "U.S. Probing Possible Perjury in Inslaw Case," *Los Angeles Times*, May 6, 1988, Part IV, pp. 9, 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/404305287/

7
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ivan Gomez.md
View file

@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- Ivan Gomez
- Iván Gómez
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-14
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ summary: "Pseudonym of a Venezuelan CIA contract agent who handled logistics on
In April or May 1982, [[Horacio Pereira]] and [[Troilo Sanchez|Troilo Sánchez]] introduced Carlos Cabezas to Gómez at a San José hotel. Gómez told Cabezas he was with the CIA - the agency's "man in Costa Rica" - and was there to "ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket." Cabezas saw Gómez only once more, in late summer 1982, when he was met at the San José airport by Pereira and the CIA agent, but Gómez did not speak during the second meeting.[^2]
### CIA Confirmation
### Clarridge and the Inspector General
Former CIA official [[Dewey Clarridge]], who headed the Contra project from 1981 to 1984, told a British television crew in late 1996 he had never heard of Iván Gómez. The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report, however, confirmed that an agent using the name "Iván Gómez" was assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Costa Rican Contra armies.[^2]
Former CIA official [[Dewey Clarridge]], who headed the Contra project from 1981 to 1984, told a British television crew in late 1996 he had never heard of Iván Gómez. Webb wrote that an agent using the name "Iván Gómez" was assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Costa Rican Contra armies.[^2] The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report stated that CIA records show a CIA independent contractor used the alias "Ivan Gomez" in Costa Rica in the 1980s, that the contractor's physical description differs significantly from the one Cabezas gave, that CIA records place the contractor in the United States during April and May 1982 when Cabezas placed the meeting, and that the contractor denied meeting Cabezas.[^3]
Gómez, a former Venezuelan military officer, admitted during CIA-administered polygraph tests in 1987 that he had been involved in laundering funds for drug dealers in March or April 1982, but claimed the drug dealers were relatives. The CIA Inspector General dismissed Cabezas's story as an invention, suggesting the timing didn't match, but the report failed to explain how a San Francisco cocaine dealer could accurately identify the alias of an undercover CIA agent stationed in Costa Rica, describe his role precisely, and pinpoint to within 30 days the period when the agent admitted laundering drug money.[^2]
@ -38,3 +38,4 @@ Gómez married the former girlfriend of Meneses lieutenant [[Marcos Aguado]] and
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^3]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Volume I, January 29, 1998, findings on Carlos Cabezas and "Ivan Gomez." https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine/findings2.html

11
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Karl Baarslag.md
View file

@ -11,13 +11,20 @@ tags:
- ChurchLeagueOfAmerica
summary: "Naval intelligence officer and professional anticommunist researcher for Joseph McCarthy and the American Legion, whose name files passed to the Wackenhut Corporation and then to the Church League of America."
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-10-14
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]]"
role: "director of research"
start: 1953
fn: 2
---
Karl Baarslag served in the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]] and afterward "worked as a professional anti-communist researcher for Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]], the [[American Legion]], and the [[Church League of America]]." He "closely monitored individuals and organizations for potential Communist ties, and ultimately transferred many of his research files to the like-minded [[Wackenhut Corporation]]," by gift or sale. The company had files on 2.5 million people by 1971. In 1975 it passed most of what it still held to the Church League.[^1]
Karl Baarslag served in the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]] and afterward "worked as a professional anti-communist researcher for Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]], the [[American Legion]], and the [[Church League of America]]." He "closely monitored individuals and organizations for potential Communist ties, and ultimately transferred many of his research files to the like-minded [[Wackenhut Corporation]]," by gift or sale. The company had files on 2.5 million people by 1971. In 1975 it passed most of what it still held to the Church League.[^1] The subcommittee's roster for 1953 and 1954 lists "Karl H. W. Baarslag" as director of research, under chief counsel [[Roy Cohn]] and chief consultant [[G. David Schine]].[^2]
His papers form the third series of the Church League collection at the [[Tamiment Library]] of [[New York University]], and an alphabetical Baarslag name file closes the Wackenhut series. Its last folder, X to Z, includes [[Darryl Zanuck]], [[Mark Zborowski]], General [[Ralph Zwicker]], and Mayor [[Sam Yorty]] of [[Los Angeles]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University, finding aid to the Church League of America Collection of the Research Files of Counterattack, the Wackenhut Corporation, and Karl Baarslag, TAM 148. https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/tam_148/
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84 (2003), Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations roster. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf

27
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Miles Copeland.md
View file

@ -10,13 +10,34 @@ summary: "Retired CIA officer who helped restore the Shah in 1953 and later gath
born: 1916-07-16
died: 1991-01-14
location: "Birmingham, Alabama"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Suez Crisis]]"
role: "attendee, State Department meeting on Suez"
start: 1956-07-29
end: 1956-07-29
fn: 3
updated: 2026-10-14
---
[[Miles Copeland]] was a well-known retired [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer. In December 1979, he gathered a group of [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-connected officers and associates who were unhappy with the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration and the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] leadership.[^1]
[[Miles Copeland]] was a well-known retired [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer. In December 1979, he gathered a group of CIA-connected officers and associates who were unhappy with the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration and the CIA leadership.[^1]
[[Miles Copeland|Copeland]] had previously helped [[Kermit Roosevelt]] and the [[Iran|Iranian]] military restore the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] of [[Iran]] to power in 1953 after he had been overthrown by [[Mohammed Mossadegh]]. He was a friend of the late [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and was known for his anti-[[Israel|Israel]] stance. [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence believed him responsible for [[United States|U.S.]] pressure on [[Israel]], [[Britain]], and [[France]] to withdraw from the [[Suez Canal]] area in 1956, and for pushing [[Israel|Israelis]] to withdraw from the [[Sinai Desert|Sinai]].[^1]
Copeland had previously helped [[Kermit Roosevelt]] and the [[Iran|Iranian]] military restore the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] of Iran to power in 1953 after he had been overthrown by [[Mohammed Mossadegh]]. He was a friend of the late [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and was known for his anti-[[Israel|Israel]] stance. Israeli intelligence believed him responsible for [[United States|U.S.]] pressure on Israel, [[Britain]], and [[France]] to withdraw from the [[Suez Canal]] area in 1956, and for pushing Israelis to withdraw from the [[Sinai Desert|Sinai]].[^1]
[[Miles Copeland|Copeland's]] group, along with the [[Israel|Israeli]] government, sought to prevent the [[Iran|Iranians]] from being defeated in [[Khuzistan]] if [[Iraq]] attacked, and to avoid a repeat of [[Jimmy Carter|President Carter's]] blunders. A meeting between [[Miles Copeland|Copeland]] and [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence officers, including [[David Kimche]], was held in [[Washington, D.C.]].[^1]
Copeland's group, along with the Israeli government, sought to prevent the Iranians from being defeated in [[Khuzistan]] if [[Iraq]] attacked, and to avoid a repeat of President Carter's blunders. A meeting between Copeland and Israeli intelligence officers, including [[David Kimche]], was held in [[Washington, D.C.]].[^1]
### Nasser and the Suez record
In the Foreign Relations record Copeland appears in connection with Nasser at three points. An editorial note in the volume for September 1955 cites his later account, at pages 160 to 165 of *The Game of Nations*, of the circumstances in which a message of September 28, 1955 was sent to the State Department.[^2] On July 29, 1956, at the height of the Suez question, he was among the participants in a meeting with [[Allen Dulles]] and other officials.[^3] On May 21, 1967, the American embassy in the United Arab Republic reported that an Egyptian official named Aziz had told Copeland that UAR forces had been ordered to "hit Israelis with everything they have" if fighting broke out along the border.[^4]
Copeland wrote in *The Game of Nations* that he told Nasser's associate [[Hassan Touhami]] that $3,000,000 in American funds was available, that Touhami answered "We can always find some use for $3,000,000. Let's see what it looks like," and that Nasser received $2,999,990 and used it to build the [[Cairo Tower]] on Gezira island.[^5] Egyptian government documents published by Maj. Gen. Adel Shaheen state that the American government gave Nasser between $1 million and $3 million as a "personal gift," which Nasser put into the state treasury and spent on the tower.[^6] In *The Game Player* Copeland wrote that Kermit Roosevelt and Nasser held a series of meetings in March 1952, four months before the coup against King Farouk, which Copeland did not attend and wrote up from Roosevelt's oral account.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955, Document 318, editorial note on the message of September 28, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d318
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Suez Crisis, Document 23, July 29, 1956, listing the participants. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d23
[^4]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, Document 28, telegram from the Embassy in the United Arab Republic, May 21, 1967, including the editorial note on Aziz and Copeland. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d28
[^5]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics.* London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969, pp. 148-150.
[^6]: Shariff, Omar. "Cairo Tower: Symbol of Egyptian pride, and Cold War politics." Gulf News, updated October 27, 2021. https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/cairo-tower-symbol-of-egyptian-pride--and-cold-war-politics-1.83250980
[^7]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's Original Political Operative.* London: Aurum Press, 1989, pp. 153-155.

154
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roy Cohn.md
View file

@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ summary: "Assistant United States attorney in the Rosenberg prosecution, chief c
born: 1927-02-20
location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-14
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Albert Cohn]]"
@ -61,20 +61,20 @@ relations:
role: "chief counsel to the subcommittee; witness from May 26, 1954"
start: 1954
end: 1954
fn: 11
fn: 13
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1963
end: 1964
role: "United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, who indicted Cohn on perjury, conspiracy and obstruction counts; acquitted July 16, 1964"
fn: 13
fn: 15
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1969
role: "United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, whose office brought the conspiracy, bribery and extortion indictment"
fn: 17
fn: 19
- type: investigated
with: "[[Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department]]"
reverse: true
@ -85,33 +85,33 @@ relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Thomas A. Bolan]]"
role: "law partner at Saxe, Bacon & Bolan"
fn: 28
fn: 30
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Saxe, Bacon & Bolan]]"
role: "partner, later of counsel"
fn: 20
fn: 22
- type: head_of
with: "[[American Jewish League Against Communism]]"
role: "president, as stated in the program of a B'nai B'rith tribute dinner for Cohn, May 2, 1983"
end: 1983
fn: 36
fn: 38
- type: represented
with: "[[Carmine Galante]]"
start: 1970
end: 1977
role: "counsel in habeas corpus and parole revocation proceedings"
fn: 33
fn: 35
- type: represented
with: "[[Anthony Salerno]]"
start: 1986
end: 1986
role: "counsel on the brief in the Second Circuit appeal from his pretrial detention"
fn: 40
fn: 42
- type: represented
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
start: 1973
role: "counsel to Donald Trump and Trump Management in the federal housing discrimination suit"
fn: 43
fn: 45
---
Roy Marcus Cohn (February 20, 1927 to August 2, 1986) was a New York lawyer who worked as an assistant United States attorney on the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, served as chief counsel to the Senate investigations subcommittee chaired by [[Joseph McCarthy]] from January 1953 to August 1954, and was disbarred in New York in June 1986, about six weeks before his death. Federal juries acquitted him in three prosecutions between 1964 and 1971.[^1][^2]
@ -130,71 +130,73 @@ According to the Senate introduction, McCarthy considered [[Robert Morris]], [[R
The subcommittee's staff included [[G. David Schine]] as chief consultant.[^2] On April 2, 1953 Cohn telephoned the legislative counsel of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to say that he and Schine were leaving the next morning on a trip to examine the Voice of America and the overseas information services. Cohn asked for contact with CIA officers abroad, and the agency's memorandum records that the CIA would have cables sent to its overseas stations.[^9]
In 1954 the subcommittee's investigation of the Army became the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, which named Secretary of the Army [[Robert T. Stevens]], [[John G. Adams]], [[H. Struve Hensel]], McCarthy, Cohn and [[Francis P. Carr]]. McCarthy stepped aside as chairman and [[Karl Mundt]] presided.[^10] The published hearing record for May 26, 1954 (Part 41) indexes the testimony of Cohn as chief counsel of the subcommittee.[^11]
On August 11, 1953 Cohn telephoned the CIA's [[Office of Legislative Counsel]] to say that the subcommittee had received additional testimony indicating that CIA classified material had been printed at the main [[Government Printing Office]] plant. The agency's journal entry for the call records the conversation.[^10] On October 22, 1953 [[Allen Dulles]] wrote to Joseph McCarthy that a check of the agency's reproduction facilities had found no classified CIA material printed there.[^11]
On June 9, 1954 (Part 59), Army special counsel [[Joseph Welch]] told McCarthy that he had asked a young lawyer of his Boston firm to leave the case because of a past membership in the National Lawyers Guild, and that McCarthy had raised the matter in the hearing. The exchange that became the best known of the hearings was addressed to McCarthy and not to Cohn. Welch said: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" Immediately before, Welch had turned to Cohn, who had nodded to him, and said: "I did you, I think, no personal injury, Mr. Cohn." Cohn answered: "No, sir." Welch added: "I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, I beg your pardon." McCarthy replied that Welch had been "baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours" and went on to quote a House Un-American Activities Committee description of the Guild as a legal bulwark of the Communist Party.[^12] The Senate censured McCarthy on December 2, 1954, and Cohn's term as chief counsel had ended on August 13, 1954, before the censure.[^2][^10]
In 1954 the subcommittee's investigation of the Army became the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, which named Secretary of the Army [[Robert T. Stevens]], [[John G. Adams]], [[H. Struve Hensel]], McCarthy, Cohn and [[Francis P. Carr]]. McCarthy stepped aside as chairman and [[Karl Mundt]] presided.[^12] The published hearing record for May 26, 1954 (Part 41) indexes the testimony of Cohn as chief counsel of the subcommittee.[^13]
On June 9, 1954 (Part 59), Army special counsel [[Joseph Welch]] told McCarthy that he had asked a young lawyer of his Boston firm to leave the case because of a past membership in the National Lawyers Guild, and that McCarthy had raised the matter in the hearing. The exchange that became the best known of the hearings was addressed to McCarthy and not to Cohn. Welch said: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" Immediately before, Welch had turned to Cohn, who had nodded to him, and said: "I did you, I think, no personal injury, Mr. Cohn." Cohn answered: "No, sir." Welch added: "I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, I beg your pardon." McCarthy replied that Welch had been "baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours" and went on to quote a House Un-American Activities Committee description of the Guild as a legal bulwark of the Communist Party.[^14] The Senate censured McCarthy on December 2, 1954, and Cohn's term as chief counsel had ended on August 13, 1954, before the censure.[^2][^12]
### Federal prosecutions, 1964 to 1971
A federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Cohn and a co-defendant on September 3, 1963. The counts charged perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in connection with grand jury proceedings on dealings in the securities of [[United Dye and Chemical Corporation]]. Three counts charged Cohn with perjury and four with obstructing justice; a conspiracy count against both defendants was dismissed by the trial judge, Judge Dawson, before the first jury began deliberating.[^13] The first trial ended in a mistrial on April 19, 1964, when the father of a juror died during deliberations, and the district court set a retrial for June 9, 1964.[^13] Before the retrial, the Second Circuit declined to order a continuance or a change of venue, noting that Cohn had received "considerable attention in the press" since the early 1950s.[^14]
A federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Cohn and a co-defendant on September 3, 1963. The counts charged perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in connection with grand jury proceedings on dealings in the securities of [[United Dye and Chemical Corporation]]. Three counts charged Cohn with perjury and four with obstructing justice; a conspiracy count against both defendants was dismissed by the trial judge, Judge Dawson, before the first jury began deliberating.[^15] The first trial ended in a mistrial on April 19, 1964, when the father of a juror died during deliberations, and the district court set a retrial for June 9, 1964.[^15] Before the retrial, the Second Circuit declined to order a continuance or a change of venue, noting that Cohn had received "considerable attention in the press" since the early 1950s.[^16]
The retrial jury returned verdicts of not guilty on all nine counts on July 16, 1964.[^15] The same FBI file describes the underlying allegation as a bribe said to have been paid in 1959 to control an indictment in a Securities and Exchange Commission case.[^15]
The retrial jury returned verdicts of not guilty on all nine counts on July 16, 1964.[^17] The same FBI file describes the underlying allegation as a bribe said to have been paid in 1959 to control an indictment in a Securities and Exchange Commission case.[^17]
At the retrial [[Louis B. Nichols]], formerly an assistant to [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and then executive vice president of [[Schenley Industries]], testified on July 9, 1964. In a letter to Hoover the next day, preserved in the Bureau's file, Nichols wrote that when the United States Attorney asked on cross-examination whether he had contacted the Bureau at Cohn's request to halt its investigation at Schenley, he replied: "That's an unmitigated lie." Nichols wrote that Bureau agents had come to Schenley seeking cancelled checks for fees paid to Cohn; that Schenley had given its papers to the [[Internal Revenue Service]], which was then investigating Cohn; and that when he heard agents were approaching other Cohn clients he telephoned [[Cartha DeLoach]] because he feared "another 'steel pricing case'" in which the Bureau would come under criticism. He also wrote that he had been told Judge Dawson asked the United States Attorney's office to instruct the Treasury Department to stop its inquiries about Cohn until the trial was over, and he enclosed the related memoranda for the Bureau's information.[^16]
At the retrial [[Louis B. Nichols]], formerly an assistant to [[J. Edgar Hoover]] and then executive vice president of [[Schenley Industries]], testified on July 9, 1964. In a letter to Hoover the next day, preserved in the Bureau's file, Nichols wrote that when the United States Attorney asked on cross-examination whether he had contacted the Bureau at Cohn's request to halt its investigation at Schenley, he replied: "That's an unmitigated lie." Nichols wrote that Bureau agents had come to Schenley seeking cancelled checks for fees paid to Cohn; that Schenley had given its papers to the [[Internal Revenue Service]], which was then investigating Cohn; and that when he heard agents were approaching other Cohn clients he telephoned [[Cartha DeLoach]] because he feared "another 'steel pricing case'" in which the Bureau would come under criticism. He also wrote that he had been told Judge Dawson asked the United States Attorney's office to instruct the Treasury Department to stop its inquiries about Cohn until the trial was over, and he enclosed the related memoranda for the Bureau's information.[^18]
On January 17, 1969 a grand jury indicted Cohn and three others on charges of conspiracy, bribery and extortion. The charges were tied to [[Fifth Avenue Coach Lines]], the New York bus company.[^17][^18] In September 1969 Cohn petitioned the Second Circuit for a writ of mandamus directing the trial judge, [[Inzer B. Wyatt]], to postpone the trial set for September 23, 1969. He argued that advance publicity, including a [[Life (magazine)|Life]] article titled "The Hotshot One-Man Roy Cohn Lobby," made an impartial jury impossible. The court denied the petition on September 17, 1969. The government's brief on the petition was signed by [[Paul L. Perito]] and Peter L. Truebner, assistant United States attorneys.[^17] An FBI memorandum of January 1975 describes Cohn as indicted in 1969 "and subsequently acquitted," and records that before that trial he had publicly charged [[Robert Morgenthau]] with a "personal vendetta" against him.[^18] Schwarz wrote that Cohn's lawyer suffered an apparent heart attack at the close of the proof, that Cohn, who had not testified, delivered the closing argument himself over two days, speaking for seven hours without notes, and that he was acquitted.[^7]
On January 17, 1969 a grand jury indicted Cohn and three others on charges of conspiracy, bribery and extortion. The charges were tied to [[Fifth Avenue Coach Lines]], the New York bus company.[^19][^20] In September 1969 Cohn petitioned the Second Circuit for a writ of mandamus directing the trial judge, [[Inzer B. Wyatt]], to postpone the trial set for September 23, 1969. He argued that advance publicity, including a [[Life (magazine)|Life]] article titled "The Hotshot One-Man Roy Cohn Lobby," made an impartial jury impossible. The court denied the petition on September 17, 1969. The government's brief on the petition was signed by [[Paul L. Perito]] and Peter L. Truebner, assistant United States attorneys.[^19] An FBI memorandum of January 1975 describes Cohn as indicted in 1969 "and subsequently acquitted," and records that before that trial he had publicly charged [[Robert Morgenthau]] with a "personal vendetta" against him.[^20] Schwarz wrote that Cohn's lawyer suffered an apparent heart attack at the close of the proof, that Cohn, who had not testified, delivered the closing argument himself over two days, speaking for seven hours without notes, and that he was acquitted.[^7]
The third prosecution was a separate ten-count indictment charging willful violations of sections 13(a) and 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with the annual reports and proxy statements of Fifth Avenue Coach Lines. Six of the ten counts were dismissed on the government's motion before trial and a conspiracy count was dismissed during the trial. The Securities and Exchange Commission's News Digest of October 22, 1971 reported that on October 15, 1971 a federal jury in New York returned verdicts of acquittal on the three remaining counts.[^19] Schwarz described it as the last federal prosecution of Cohn, after three unsuccessful attempts.[^7]
The third prosecution was a separate ten-count indictment charging willful violations of sections 13(a) and 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with the annual reports and proxy statements of Fifth Avenue Coach Lines. Six of the ten counts were dismissed on the government's motion before trial and a conspiracy count was dismissed during the trial. The Securities and Exchange Commission's News Digest of October 22, 1971 reported that on October 15, 1971 a federal jury in New York returned verdicts of acquittal on the three remaining counts.[^21] Schwarz described it as the last federal prosecution of Cohn, after three unsuccessful attempts.[^7]
In a separate civil action the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an injunction against Cohn and others arising from the same company. The district court found that Cohn had violated section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in a transaction between Fifth Avenue Coach and an affiliated company, [[Gray Line Corporation]], and enjoined him. The Second Circuit decided his appeal on December 8, 1970. The appellate opinion records that as of December 12, 1966 Cohn owned 7 percent of a company named Defiance, which owned about 32 percent of a registered investment company, and that shares bought from another holder were held through a nominee attorney at [[Saxe, Bacon & Bolan]], where Cohn was "of counsel."[^20] In October 1973 the district court in the same receivership overruled Cohn's objection, as a shareholder, to an award of $489,924 in counsel fees to the receiver's lawyers.[^21]
In a separate civil action the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an injunction against Cohn and others arising from the same company. The district court found that Cohn had violated section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in a transaction between Fifth Avenue Coach and an affiliated company, [[Gray Line Corporation]], and enjoined him. The Second Circuit decided his appeal on December 8, 1970. The appellate opinion records that as of December 12, 1966 Cohn owned 7 percent of a company named Defiance, which owned about 32 percent of a registered investment company, and that shares bought from another holder were held through a nominee attorney at [[Saxe, Bacon & Bolan]], where Cohn was "of counsel."[^22] In October 1973 the district court in the same receivership overruled Cohn's objection, as a shareholder, to an award of $489,924 in counsel fees to the receiver's lawyers.[^23]
### The Hoover and FBI connection
The Bureau's file on Cohn runs from the 1962 background report through 1985. In the March 11, 1985 letter to Director Webster, Cohn wrote that since 1950 he had "a first-rate relationship with and respect for the Bureau," and described it as including "a close friendship with Mr. Hoover, speeches at Bureau gatherings, delivering the eulogy at Lou Nichols' funeral along with Deke DeLoach, representing Wally LaPrade when he was unfairly attacked, testifying for Mark Felt and Ed Miller at their trial in Washington, urging their immediate pardon and honoring them the day after our great President took that action." The occasion for the letter was a story he said a Bureau representative had planted in the New York Post.[^8] A 1971 FBI file note concerns a letter from an attorney who had written commentary on events mentioned in Cohn's book, [[A Fool for a Client]], which the note says was not in the Bureau library.[^22]
The Bureau's file on Cohn runs from the 1962 background report through 1985. In the March 11, 1985 letter to Director Webster, Cohn wrote that since 1950 he had "a first-rate relationship with and respect for the Bureau," and described it as including "a close friendship with Mr. Hoover, speeches at Bureau gatherings, delivering the eulogy at Lou Nichols' funeral along with Deke DeLoach, representing Wally LaPrade when he was unfairly attacked, testifying for Mark Felt and Ed Miller at their trial in Washington, urging their immediate pardon and honoring them the day after our great President took that action." The occasion for the letter was a story he said a Bureau representative had planted in the New York Post.[^8] A 1971 FBI file note concerns a letter from an attorney who had written commentary on events mentioned in Cohn's book, [[A Fool for a Client]], which the note says was not in the Bureau library.[^24]
In September 1969 a private correspondent wrote to Senator [[Abraham Ribicoff]] that newspapers had reported that Hoover transferred three agents from the New York office "rather summarily because they were involved in a case with Mr. Roy Cohen, who happens to be a particular favorite of Mr. Hoover's." Hoover's reply, quoted in the correspondent's later letter, stated that the transfers "resulted solely from their failure to comply with long-standing rules and regulations of this bureau and had nothing what-so-ever to do with the merits of the Roy M. Cohen case." After checking through acquaintances in law enforcement the correspondent withdrew the suggestion on March 3, 1970 and apologized to Hoover; the Bureau answered Ribicoff on March 16, 1970.[^23]
In September 1969 a private correspondent wrote to Senator [[Abraham Ribicoff]] that newspapers had reported that Hoover transferred three agents from the New York office "rather summarily because they were involved in a case with Mr. Roy Cohen, who happens to be a particular favorite of Mr. Hoover's." Hoover's reply, quoted in the correspondent's later letter, stated that the transfers "resulted solely from their failure to comply with long-standing rules and regulations of this bureau and had nothing what-so-ever to do with the merits of the Roy M. Cohen case." After checking through acquaintances in law enforcement the correspondent withdrew the suggestion on March 3, 1970 and apologized to Hoover; the Bureau answered Ribicoff on March 16, 1970.[^25]
On January 6, 1971 Cohn wrote to Jerry Finkelstein, chairman of the New York City Democratic Committee, that he would not take part in a dinner for Comptroller [[Abraham Beame]] because [[Ramsey Clark]] was toastmaster, and that Clark was identified with "his unprincipled attack on J. Edgar Hoover whose service to this nation over a lifetime has earned him unique universal respect." Finkelstein's reply of January 19, 1971 referred to the stories he had written at Cohn's request for Hoover in the New York Law Journal and other papers. The copy of Cohn's January 25, 1971 follow-up in the Bureau's file is marked "bcc: Honorable J. Edgar Hoover."[^24]
On January 6, 1971 Cohn wrote to Jerry Finkelstein, chairman of the New York City Democratic Committee, that he would not take part in a dinner for Comptroller [[Abraham Beame]] because [[Ramsey Clark]] was toastmaster, and that Clark was identified with "his unprincipled attack on J. Edgar Hoover whose service to this nation over a lifetime has earned him unique universal respect." Finkelstein's reply of January 19, 1971 referred to the stories he had written at Cohn's request for Hoover in the New York Law Journal and other papers. The copy of Cohn's January 25, 1971 follow-up in the Bureau's file is marked "bcc: Honorable J. Edgar Hoover."[^26]
[[Susan Rosenstiel]], the fourth wife of [[Lewis S. Rosenstiel]], told the author [[Anthony Summers]], in the account he published in Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1993), that at a party at the Plaza Hotel in 1958 she saw Hoover in women's clothing in Cohn's company, that Cohn introduced him to her as "Mary," and that she saw him in a similar state at a second party a year later. The account rests on her statements; Christopher Hitchens, reviewing the book in the London Review of Books, called it "the freelance testimony of Susan Rosenstiel."[^25]
[[Susan Rosenstiel]], the fourth wife of [[Lewis S. Rosenstiel]], told the author [[Anthony Summers]], in the account he published in Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1993), that at a party at the Plaza Hotel in 1958 she saw Hoover in women's clothing in Cohn's company, that Cohn introduced him to her as "Mary," and that she saw him in a similar state at a second party a year later. The account rests on her statements; Christopher Hitchens, reviewing the book in the London Review of Books, called it "the freelance testimony of Susan Rosenstiel."[^27]
### Disbarment
The [[Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department]] brought four charges against Cohn in the fall of 1982. On June 23, 1986 the [[Appellate Division, First Department]] sustained all four in a per curiam opinion joined by Justices Sandler, Fein, Lynch, Rosenberger and Ellerin, and disbarred him effective immediately. His counsel were [[Michael Mukasey]] and [[Harold R. Tyler Jr.]][^3][^26]
The [[Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department]] brought four charges against Cohn in the fall of 1982. On June 23, 1986 the [[Appellate Division, First Department]] sustained all four in a per curiam opinion joined by Justices Sandler, Fein, Lynch, Rosenberger and Ellerin, and disbarred him effective immediately. His counsel were [[Michael Mukasey]] and [[Harold R. Tyler Jr.]][^3][^28]
The first charge concerned the answers on Cohn's application of July 28, 1982 for admission to the District of Columbia Bar. To question 8(b), which asked whether any charges or complaints concerning his conduct as an attorney were pending, Cohn answered "No," and added: "Except usual crackpot complaint letters following media appearances, etc. Know of none pending." The court found the answer untruthful, because three complaints of a disciplinary nature were then pending against him. The court also noted that in answer to question 8(a) he had volunteered a 1960 admonition by the Grievance Committee for releasing to the press a statement that a client was about to bring a lawsuit.[^27]
The first charge concerned the answers on Cohn's application of July 28, 1982 for admission to the District of Columbia Bar. To question 8(b), which asked whether any charges or complaints concerning his conduct as an attorney were pending, Cohn answered "No," and added: "Except usual crackpot complaint letters following media appearances, etc. Know of none pending." The court found the answer untruthful, because three complaints of a disciplinary nature were then pending against him. The court also noted that in answer to question 8(a) he had volunteered a 1960 admonition by the Grievance Committee for releasing to the press a statement that a client was about to bring a lawsuit.[^29]
The second charge concerned a $100,000 loan from a client in 1966. Cohn and his partner, [[Thomas A. Bolan]], had been paid in full for the client's divorce matter, and the client's loan was documented in Cohn's handwriting as a loan. The obligation was not satisfied until 1984, after the disciplinary proceedings began. In a January 1981 deposition Cohn was asked whether the transaction could be characterized as a loan, and answered: "I would say that's an incorrect characterization." The court sustained the charge.[^28]
The second charge concerned a $100,000 loan from a client in 1966. Cohn and his partner, [[Thomas A. Bolan]], had been paid in full for the client's divorce matter, and the client's loan was documented in Cohn's handwriting as a loan. The obligation was not satisfied until 1984, after the disciplinary proceedings began. In a January 1981 deposition Cohn was asked whether the transaction could be characterized as a loan, and answered: "I would say that's an incorrect characterization." The court sustained the charge.[^30]
The third charge concerned a codicil to the will of Lewis S. Rosenstiel, the founder of the Schenley distilling company. The codicil was signed in Rosenstiel's hospital room in Miami on December 6, 1975, about six weeks before he died there on January 21, 1976, and named Cohn as an additional executor and trustee. The hearing panel had recommended exoneration on this charge, and the court rejected that recommendation. On June 24, 1976 a Florida probate judge, [[Frank B. Dowling]], revoked, annulled and set aside the codicil.[^29]
The third charge concerned a codicil to the will of Lewis S. Rosenstiel, the founder of the Schenley distilling company. The codicil was signed in Rosenstiel's hospital room in Miami on December 6, 1975, about six weeks before he died there on January 21, 1976, and named Cohn as an additional executor and trustee. The hearing panel had recommended exoneration on this charge, and the court rejected that recommendation. On June 24, 1976 a Florida probate judge, [[Frank B. Dowling]], revoked, annulled and set aside the codicil.[^31]
The fourth charge concerned an escrow order in a securities action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a corporate client in December 1971. Cohn's firm was escrow agent for $25,000 in cash and two yachts. In January 1972 $94,000 was released from the escrow on the strength of an indemnity bond that was not an equivalent bond, and the money was never recovered. The court found Cohn's account of having no direct knowledge of these events "incredible."[^30]
The fourth charge concerned an escrow order in a securities action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a corporate client in December 1971. Cohn's firm was escrow agent for $25,000 in cash and two yachts. In January 1972 $94,000 was released from the escrow on the strength of an indemnity bond that was not an equivalent bond, and the money was never recovered. The court found Cohn's account of having no direct knowledge of these events "incredible."[^32]
The court concluded that "the evidence so compelling on each of these four charges as to leave us no recourse but to order disbarment," and wrote that "for an attorney practicing for nearly 40 years in this State, such misconduct is inexcusable."[^26]
The court concluded that "the evidence so compelling on each of these four charges as to leave us no recourse but to order disbarment," and wrote that "for an attorney practicing for nearly 40 years in this State, such misconduct is inexcusable."[^28]
### Clients
In 1962 a federal jury convicted [[Carmine Galante]] in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws, and he was sentenced to twenty years. Cohn appeared as his counsel in a habeas corpus proceeding in the [[United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania]] in 1970, in an appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] in 1971, and in a 1977 Second Circuit appeal from the dismissal of a habeas petition challenging the revocation of Galante's parole. Galante had been mandatorily released in 1974, and the Parole Commission proceeded on a charge that he associated with a person who had a criminal record.[^31][^32][^33] Schwarz wrote that during his summer at the firm in 1979 Galante came to the townhouse office to meet Cohn about legal problems, accompanied by bodyguards, and that the next day's New York Post carried the front-page photograph of Galante after his killing in Brooklyn.[^7]
In 1962 a federal jury convicted [[Carmine Galante]] in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws, and he was sentenced to twenty years. Cohn appeared as his counsel in a habeas corpus proceeding in the [[United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania]] in 1970, in an appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] in 1971, and in a 1977 Second Circuit appeal from the dismissal of a habeas petition challenging the revocation of Galante's parole. Galante had been mandatorily released in 1974, and the Parole Commission proceeded on a charge that he associated with a person who had a criminal record.[^33][^34][^35] Schwarz wrote that during his summer at the firm in 1979 Galante came to the townhouse office to meet Cohn about legal problems, accompanied by bodyguards, and that the next day's New York Post carried the front-page photograph of Galante after his killing in Brooklyn.[^7]
On January 18, 1983 Cohn attended an Oval Office meeting with [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Rupert Murdoch]], [[Charles Wick]] and Thomas Bolan. The Reagan Library's photograph record for the meeting names the same four men and gives the event as "Meeting with Rupert Murdoch."[^34] On January 27, 1983 Cohn wrote on the letterhead of Saxe, Bacon & Bolan to [[Edwin Meese]], [[James A. Baker III]] and [[Michael Deaver]] at the White House: "I had one interest when Tom and I first brought Rupert Murdoch and Governor Reagan together - and that was that at least one major publisher in this country ... would become and remain pro-Reagan." He listed Murdoch's papers, enclosed the New York Post editorial praising a presidential speech, complained that Murdoch's Washington bureau chief had been slighted, and protested that White House staff had not returned Murdoch's calls when he offered to turn the Boston Herald over to Reagan during a visit to Boston. A deputy assistant to the President, [[Michael McManus]], answered on February 4, 1983 on behalf of the three, writing that he had called Murdoch and apologized, and of "our continued high regard for Mr. Murdoch personally."[^35]
On January 18, 1983 Cohn attended an Oval Office meeting with [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Rupert Murdoch]], [[Charles Wick]] and Thomas Bolan. The Reagan Library's photograph record for the meeting names the same four men and gives the event as "Meeting with Rupert Murdoch."[^36] On January 27, 1983 Cohn wrote on the letterhead of Saxe, Bacon & Bolan to [[Edwin Meese]], [[James A. Baker III]] and [[Michael Deaver]] at the White House: "I had one interest when Tom and I first brought Rupert Murdoch and Governor Reagan together - and that was that at least one major publisher in this country ... would become and remain pro-Reagan." He listed Murdoch's papers, enclosed the New York Post editorial praising a presidential speech, complained that Murdoch's Washington bureau chief had been slighted, and protested that White House staff had not returned Murdoch's calls when he offered to turn the Boston Herald over to Reagan during a visit to Boston. A deputy assistant to the President, [[Michael McManus]], answered on February 4, 1983 on behalf of the three, writing that he had called Murdoch and apologized, and of "our continued high regard for Mr. Murdoch personally."[^37]
On May 2, 1983 Reagan sent a message to Cohn, in care of the chairman of the B'nai B'rith Banking and Finance Lodge dinner committee at Bank Leumi Trust Company, congratulating him on the lodge's State of Israel Bonds tribute. The dinner program in the same White House file describes Cohn as the senior member of Saxe, Bacon & Bolan, an adjunct professor at New York Law School, and "president of the American Jewish League Against Communism." Its list of dinner sponsors includes Rupert Murdoch, as chairman of News America Publishing, and Donald J. Trump, as president of The Trump Organization.[^36] A Los Angeles chapter letterhead of July 1956 in the FBI's file on the American Jewish League Against Communism lists [[George Sokolsky]] as chairman and [[Alfred Kohlberg]] as honorary chairman and treasurer.[^37]
On May 2, 1983 Reagan sent a message to Cohn, in care of the chairman of the B'nai B'rith Banking and Finance Lodge dinner committee at Bank Leumi Trust Company, congratulating him on the lodge's State of Israel Bonds tribute. The dinner program in the same White House file describes Cohn as the senior member of Saxe, Bacon & Bolan, an adjunct professor at New York Law School, and "president of the American Jewish League Against Communism." Its list of dinner sponsors includes Rupert Murdoch, as chairman of News America Publishing, and Donald J. Trump, as president of The Trump Organization.[^38] A Los Angeles chapter letterhead of July 1956 in the FBI's file on the American Jewish League Against Communism lists [[George Sokolsky]] as chairman and [[Alfred Kohlberg]] as honorary chairman and treasurer.[^39]
In 1985 Cohn wrote to Webster that a Bureau representative had planted a story in the New York Post, published March 5, 1985, reporting that agents were surveilling his office to develop grounds for a wiretap on his telephone. The Bureau's New York office confirmed in an April 1985 teletype that it had conducted surveillances to ascertain the feasibility of a monitoring device to intercept the conversations of [[Anthony Salerno]], identified in the teletype as a Genovese boss, with a Teamsters contact.[^8][^38] The Bureau's reply of May 13, 1985 said that it would not "plant" a story and that it had checked with its New York office.[^39] Salerno and Vincent Cafaro were arrested on March 21, 1986 on a 29-count racketeering indictment, and the government moved for their pretrial detention as danger to the community under the Bail Reform Act of 1984. On July 3, 1986, about four weeks before Cohn died, the Second Circuit vacated the detention orders in United States v. Salerno; the court's listing of counsel gives "Anthony M. Cardinale, Boston, Mass. (Roy Cohn, New York City, on brief), for defendant-appellant Salerno." The Supreme Court reversed on May 26, 1987.[^40]
In 1985 Cohn wrote to Webster that a Bureau representative had planted a story in the New York Post, published March 5, 1985, reporting that agents were surveilling his office to develop grounds for a wiretap on his telephone. The Bureau's New York office confirmed in an April 1985 teletype that it had conducted surveillances to ascertain the feasibility of a monitoring device to intercept the conversations of [[Anthony Salerno]], identified in the teletype as a Genovese boss, with a Teamsters contact.[^8][^40] The Bureau's reply of May 13, 1985 said that it would not "plant" a story and that it had checked with its New York office.[^41] Salerno and Vincent Cafaro were arrested on March 21, 1986 on a 29-count racketeering indictment, and the government moved for their pretrial detention as danger to the community under the Bail Reform Act of 1984. On July 3, 1986, about four weeks before Cohn died, the Second Circuit vacated the detention orders in United States v. Salerno; the court's listing of counsel gives "Anthony M. Cardinale, Boston, Mass. (Roy Cohn, New York City, on brief), for defendant-appellant Salerno." The Supreme Court reversed on May 26, 1987.[^42]
[[Roger Stone]] told The Weekly Standard in 2007 that he started working with Cohn around the time he became northeast chairman of Reagan's 1980 campaign, and described a 1979 meeting at Cohn's townhouse at which Cohn introduced him to Salerno. By Stone's account Cohn said "Tony, everything's fixed. Everything can be handled," Salerno answered "Roy, the Supreme Court," and Cohn replied "Cost a few more dollars."[^41] Stone told FRONTLINE that he and Donald Trump "became very good friends"; FRONTLINE reported that Cohn arranged his first meeting with Trump in 1979. In 1980 Stone, [[Paul Manafort]] and [[Charles Black]] opened a Washington lobbying firm, [[Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly]]; Stone said that Trump was among its first clients, and Newsweek reported that the most widely told version of how Trump met Manafort has Cohn introducing them.[^42]
[[Roger Stone]] told The Weekly Standard in 2007 that he started working with Cohn around the time he became northeast chairman of Reagan's 1980 campaign, and described a 1979 meeting at Cohn's townhouse at which Cohn introduced him to Salerno. By Stone's account Cohn said "Tony, everything's fixed. Everything can be handled," Salerno answered "Roy, the Supreme Court," and Cohn replied "Cost a few more dollars."[^43] Stone told FRONTLINE that he and Donald Trump "became very good friends"; FRONTLINE reported that Cohn arranged his first meeting with Trump in 1979. In 1980 Stone, [[Paul Manafort]] and [[Charles Black]] opened a Washington lobbying firm, [[Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly]]; Stone said that Trump was among its first clients, and Newsweek reported that the most widely told version of how Trump met Manafort has Cohn introducing them.[^44]
In the federal government's 1973 housing discrimination suit against [[Fred Trump]], [[Donald Trump]] and Trump Management, Cohn acted for the defendants. The docket records an affidavit of Roy M. Cohn filed in the case and letters from him to the court and to opposing counsel in 1974. The docket shows that the defendants filed a counterclaim on December 12, 1973, that the government moved to dismiss it on January 8, 1974, and that the motions were argued before Judge [[Edward R. Neaher]] on January 25, 1974. The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse summary states that Neaher dismissed the counterclaim, which sought $100 million in damages for defamation; The Nation reported that the judge dismissed it about two months after it was filed.[^43][^44]
In the federal government's 1973 housing discrimination suit against [[Fred Trump]], [[Donald Trump]] and Trump Management, Cohn acted for the defendants. The docket records an affidavit of Roy M. Cohn filed in the case and letters from him to the court and to opposing counsel in 1974. The docket shows that the defendants filed a counterclaim on December 12, 1973, that the government moved to dismiss it on January 8, 1974, and that the motions were argued before Judge [[Edward R. Neaher]] on January 25, 1974. The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse summary states that Neaher dismissed the counterclaim, which sought $100 million in damages for defamation; The Nation reported that the judge dismissed it about two months after it was filed.[^45][^46]
### Tax disputes and the 1988 suit
In 1969 the Second Circuit affirmed a Tax Court decision that $27,247 Cohn received in 1958 was compensation for his services as co-executor of an estate rather than a gift.[^45]
In 1969 the Second Circuit affirmed a Tax Court decision that $27,247 Cohn received in 1958 was compensation for his services as co-executor of an estate rather than a gift.[^47]
In the spring of 1986 the United States filed suit to collect about $7 million in taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 1959 through 1983, on assessments made between 1972 and 1984. The government sought to foreclose tax liens under 26 U.S.C. sections 6321 and 6322 on a Manhattan townhouse that it alleged was held by a corporation as Cohn's nominee, and on fees earned by Cohn that his firm had retained or paid to third parties on his behalf. The court summarized the government's theory as resting in part on a book by Cohn, [[How to Stand Up for Your Rights and Win]], and quoted him as writing: "I decided to have no assets." A memorandum opinion of March 23, 1988 addressed motions by the firm, the townhouse corporation and several of the firm's lawyers, and noted that Cohn had been disbarred in June 1986, had apparently served an answer that he never filed with the court, and had died on August 2, 1986, with no motion to substitute his estate having been filed or granted.[^46] Schwarz wrote that in 1979 the firm owned the townhouse and the cars in which Cohn was driven, that Cohn drew a minimal salary, and that Cohn was reported to owe the Internal Revenue Service over $7,000,000.[^7]
In the spring of 1986 the United States filed suit to collect about $7 million in taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 1959 through 1983, on assessments made between 1972 and 1984. The government sought to foreclose tax liens under 26 U.S.C. sections 6321 and 6322 on a Manhattan townhouse that it alleged was held by a corporation as Cohn's nominee, and on fees earned by Cohn that his firm had retained or paid to third parties on his behalf. The court summarized the government's theory as resting in part on a book by Cohn, [[How to Stand Up for Your Rights and Win]], and quoted him as writing: "I decided to have no assets." A memorandum opinion of March 23, 1988 addressed motions by the firm, the townhouse corporation and several of the firm's lawyers, and noted that Cohn had been disbarred in June 1986, had apparently served an answer that he never filed with the court, and had died on August 2, 1986, with no motion to substitute his estate having been filed or granted.[^48] Schwarz wrote that in 1979 the firm owned the townhouse and the cars in which Cohn was driven, that Cohn drew a minimal salary, and that Cohn was reported to owe the Internal Revenue Service over $7,000,000.[^7]
### Death
Cohn died on August 2, 1986, about four months after the government filed its suit in the spring of 1986 and about six weeks after his disbarment. He was undergoing treatment at the [[National Institutes of Health]] in Bethesda, Maryland, when he died. UPI reported that he died of complications brought on by AIDS, and an NIH spokeswoman named a heart attack as the immediate cause.[^47]
Cohn died on August 2, 1986, about four months after the government filed its suit in the spring of 1986 and about six weeks after his disbarment. He was undergoing treatment at the [[National Institutes of Health]] in Bethesda, Maryland, when he died. UPI reported that he died of complications brought on by AIDS, and an NIH spokeswoman named a heart attack as the immediate cause.[^49]
### Footnotes
@ -207,41 +209,43 @@ Cohn died on August 2, 1986, about four months after the government filed its su
[^7]: Stephen G. Schwarz, "Roy M. Cohn: My Personal Experiences and Reflections on His Connections to the Forty-Fifth President of the United States," Journal of the American College of Trial Lawyers, no. 87 (Summer 2018), pp. 79 to 86 (recollection by a summer associate at Saxe, Bacon & Bolan, June to August 1979; Greenglass, the Rosenberg verdict, the 1964, Fifth Avenue Coach and 1971 trials, Galante, the townhouse and the Internal Revenue Service). https://web.archive.org/web/2022/https://www.actl.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/default-document-library/journal_87_summer_2018_cohn_article.pdf
[^8]: Roy M. Cohn to William Webster, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, letter dated March 11, 1985, received August 27, 1985, in the FBI file on Cohn ("magnificent investigative help" in the Rosenberg case; "a close friendship with Mr. Hoover"; the complaint about a planted story in the New York Post of March 5, 1985). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^9]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Request from Mr. Roy Cohn, Counsel for the McCarthy Committee," April 2, 1953, signed by the Legislative Counsel, CIA-RDP91-00682R000300090129-1 (CIA CREST, released 2004). https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP91-00682R000300090129-1
[^10]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings" (Senate Historical Office), describing the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, the acting chairmanship of Karl Mundt, and the December 2, 1954 censure. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^11]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges Involving Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens, John G. Adams, H. Struve Hensel and Senator Joe McCarthy, Roy M. Cohn, and Francis P. Carr, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Res. 189, Part 41 (May 26, 1954) (index: "Testimony of Cohn, Roy M., chief counsel, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations"). https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv4146unit
[^12]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, Hearings, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Res. 189, Part 59 (June 9, 1954), pp. 2428 to 2429 (Welch to McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"; Welch to Cohn: "I did you, I think, no personal injury, Mr. Cohn."; Cohn: "No, sir."; McCarthy: "he has been baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours"). https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv59unit
[^13]: United States v. Cohn, 230 F. Supp. 587 (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 1964) (Bonsal, J.) (first trial before Judge Dawson; mistrial April 19, 1964; conspiracy count dismissed; nine counts remaining; retrial set for June 9, 1964). https://static.case.law/f-supp/230/cases/0587-01.json ; FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, memorandum reporting the indictment returned September 3, 1963. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^14]: In re Cohn, 332 F.2d 976 (2d Cir. June 2, 1964) (petition for mandamus denied; "considerable attention in the press"). https://static.case.law/f2d/332/cases/0976-01.json
[^15]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, New York office teletypes and closing memorandum, July 1964 (jury verdict of acquittal on July 16, 1964 before Judge Bonsal; description of the underlying alleged payment in 1959). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^16]: Louis B. Nichols to J. Edgar Hoover, letter of July 10, 1964 forwarding his testimony of July 9, 1964 at the Cohn trial ("That's an unmitigated lie"; Internal Revenue Service investigation of Cohn; call to DeLoach; "another 'steel pricing case'"; Judge Dawson and the Treasury inquiries), in the FBI file on Cohn. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^17]: In re Cohn, 416 F.2d 440 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 1969) (per curiam; indictment dated January 17, 1969 charging conspiracy, bribery and extortion; trial set for September 23, 1969; Life article of September 1969; "Paul L. Perito and Peter L. Truebner, Asst. U. S. Attys., on the brief"). https://static.case.law/f2d/416/cases/0440-01.json
[^18]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, memorandum of January 22, 1975 concerning the Barry Farber radio program of January 14, 1975 (Cohn "indicted by the Federal Grand Jury in New York (and subsequently acquitted) on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and extortion in connection with ... the city's Fifth Avenue Coach Lines"; Cohn's charge of a "personal vendetta" against Robert Morgenthau). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^19]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, News Digest, October 22, 1971, "Cohn Acquitted" (Litigation Release LR-5194: verdicts of acquittal on October 15 on three remaining counts of a ten-count indictment under Sections 13(a) and 14(a); six counts dismissed on the government's motion before trial and a conspiracy count dismissed during the trial). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1971/dig102271.pdf
[^20]: SEC v. Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc., 435 F.2d 510 (2d Cir. Dec. 8, 1970) (Adams, J.) (appeal from injunction against Victor Muscat and Roy M. Cohn; section 10(b) violation in transaction with Gray Line Corporation; Cohn's 7% holding in Defiance as of December 12, 1966; nominee attorney; "of counsel"). https://static.case.law/f2d/435/cases/0510-01.json
[^21]: SEC v. Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc., 364 F. Supp. 1220 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 16, 1973) (fee application of $489,924 granted in full over the objection of Roy M. Cohn as a shareholder). https://static.case.law/f-supp/364/cases/1220-01.json
[^22]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, note of July 1971 on a letter of June 29, 1971 from a correspondent regarding Cohn's book "A Fool For A Client," which the note says was not in the Bureau library. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^23]: Letter of March 3, 1970 from a private correspondent to Senator Abraham Ribicoff (quoting his letter of September 8, 1969 and J. Edgar Hoover's reply), and Hoover to Ribicoff, March 16, 1970, in the FBI file on Cohn; the correspondent's name is redacted in the release. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^24]: Roy M. Cohn to Jerry Finkelstein, letters of January 6 and January 25, 1971 (the latter marked "bcc: Honorable J. Edgar Hoover"), and Finkelstein to Cohn, January 19, 1971, in the FBI file on Cohn. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^25]: Christopher Hitchens, "Mary, Mary," London Review of Books, vol. 15, no. 7 (April 8, 1993), reviewing Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1993) and quoting Susan Rosenstiel's account of the 1958 and 1959 parties at the Plaza Hotel. https://www.lrb.co.uk/v15/n07/christopher-hitchens/mary-mary
[^26]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), disposition ("no recourse but to order disbarment"; "for an attorney practicing for nearly 40 years in this State, such misconduct is inexcusable"); counsel Michael B. Mukasey and Harold R. Tyler, Jr. https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6021889/in-re-cohn/
[^27]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge I (application to the District of Columbia Bar of July 28, 1982; question 8(b); answer "No" and "Except usual crackpot complaint letters following media appearances, etc. Know of none pending"; three complaints pending; question 8(a) and the May 1960 admonition). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^28]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge II (1966 loan from a client, $100,000, documented as a loan; settlement in 1984 of a $127,584.76 judgment; deposition of January 8, 1981, "I would say that's an incorrect characterization"; loan written by "Respondent and his partner, Thomas A. Bolan"; "Saxe Bacon & Bolan" as law firm). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^29]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge III (codicil executed December 6, 1975 in Rosenstiel's hospital room; hearing panel recommendation of exoneration rejected; Florida probate order of June 24, 1976, Circuit Judge Frank B. Dowling, revoking the codicil). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^30]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge IV (December 1971 SEC escrow order; $25,000 and two yachts; $94,000 released January 1972 on a substituted indemnity bond; "incredible"). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^31]: In re Galante, 311 F. Supp. 732 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 26, 1970) (habeas petition of Carmine Galante, convicted in the Southern District of New York on June 25, 1962 of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws, sentenced to twenty years; counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn). https://static.case.law/f-supp/311/cases/0732-01.json
[^32]: Application of Carmine Galante, 437 F.2d 1164 (3d Cir. Jan. 14, 1971) (habeas appeal from Lewisburg; counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn, Saxe, Bacon & Bolan). https://static.case.law/f2d/437/cases/1164-01.json
[^33]: Galante v. Warden, Metropolitan Correctional Center, 573 F.2d 707 (2d Cir. Dec. 9, 1977) (per curiam) (mandatory release in 1974 after twelve years of a twenty-year sentence; revocation for associating with a person with a criminal record, 28 C.F.R. section 2.40(a)(10); counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn). https://static.case.law/f2d/573/cases/0707-01.json
[^34]: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, photograph roll C12463 (01), Oval Office, January 18, 1983, "Meeting with Rupert Murdoch," personal references Rupert Murdoch, Roy Cohn, Charles Wick and Thomas Bolan. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/photo/c12463-01
[^35]: Roy M. Cohn to Edwin Meese III, James A. Baker III and Michael K. Deaver, letter of January 27, 1983 on Saxe, Bacon & Bolan letterhead, and Michael A. McManus Jr. to Cohn, February 4, 1983, White House files (reproduced at https://trumpfile.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Murdoch-Reagan-Cohn-letter.pdf ).
[^36]: Ronald Reagan to Roy Cohn, message of May 2, 1983, with the program of the B'nai B'rith Banking and Finance Lodge State of Israel Bond tribute dinner for Roy M. Cohn (describing Cohn as "president of the American Jewish League Against Communism"; sponsors including Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, News America Publishing Inc., and Donald J. Trump, President, The Trump Organization), Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, White House Office of Records Management subject file ME001. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/digitallibrary/whormsubject/me001/40-654-12019891-024-009-2018.pdf
[^37]: FBI Los Angeles file 80-236, American Jewish League Against Communism, Inc., released under FOIPA No. 1010124-000 (June 22, 2005), letterhead of the Los Angeles Chapter, July 1956 (national officers Alfred Kohlberg, honorary chairman and treasurer; George Sokolsky, chairman; Rabbi Benjamin Schultz, national executive director). https://archive.org/details/AmericanJewishLeagueAgainstCommunismLosAngeles80236
[^38]: FBI, New York office teletype, April 17, 1985, in the FBI file on Cohn (Cohn's letter to FBIHQ about the New York Post article of March 5, 1985; feasibility of a monitoring device to intercept the conversations of Genovese boss Anthony Salerno with a Teamsters contact). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^39]: FBI, letter from the Director's office to Roy M. Cohn, Esq., Saxe, Bacon and Bolan, dated May 13, 1985 (no policy of discussing ongoing investigations with the press or planting stories; check with the New York office). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^40]: United States v. Salerno, 794 F.2d 64 (2d Cir. July 3, 1986) (Kearse, J.) (arrests of March 21, 1986; 29-count indictment; pretrial detention under the Bail Reform Act of 1984 vacated; counsel for defendant-appellant Salerno: "Anthony M. Cardinale, Boston, Mass. (Roy Cohn, New York City, on brief)"). https://static.case.law/f2d/794/cases/0064-01.json ; reversed, United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739 (May 26, 1987). https://static.case.law/us/481/cases/0739-01.json
[^41]: "A Timeline of Paul Manafort's Relationship With the Trump World," Slate (October 2017), quoting The Weekly Standard, Nov. 5, 2007 (Roger Stone on working with Roy Cohn and the 1979 meeting with Anthony Salerno). https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/10/a-timeline-of-paul-manaforts-relationship-with-the-trump-world.html
[^42]: "Roger Stone Indicted," PBS FRONTLINE (January 2019) (Stone's statement that he and Trump "became very good friends"; Cohn's arrangement of the 1979 meeting; Stone's co-founding of a consulting firm with Charles Black and Paul Manafort), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/roger-stone-indicted-donald-trump-russia-investigation ; Newsweek, "How Close Are Trump and Manafort? They Go Way, Way Back" (2017) (Black, Manafort and Stone opening a Washington lobbying shop in 1980; the account that Cohn introduced Manafort to Trump), https://www.newsweek.com/how-close-are-trump-and-manafort-they-go-way-way-back-697195 ; Slate timeline (Stone on Trump as an early client).
[^43]: United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump and Trump Management, Inc., No. 73 C 1529 (E.D.N.Y.), civil docket (affidavit of Roy M. Cohn; his letters of 1974; counterclaim filed 12-12-73; government motion to dismiss counterclaim 1-8-74; motions argued before Neaher, J., 1-25-74). Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, document 82945. https://clearinghouse-umich-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/doc/82945.pdf
[^44]: "United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump, and Trump Management, Inc.," case summary, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse ("He dismissed the counterclaim and allowed the Fair Housing Act suit to proceed"), https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/ ; The Nation, "Trump Sues the Justice Department for $100 Million" (the judge "dismissed the counterclaim two months after it was filed"), https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/justice-department-trump-lawsuit/
[^45]: Cohn v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 410 F.2d 399 (2d Cir. May 22, 1969) (per curiam) (affirming Tax Court; $27,247 received in 1958 treated as compensation for services as co-executor, not a gift). https://static.case.law/f2d/410/cases/0399-01.json
[^46]: United States v. Cohn, 682 F. Supp. 209 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 23, 1988) (Haight, J.) (action under 26 U.S.C. section 7401 for about $7,000,000 in taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 1959 to 1983, assessed 1972 to 1984; foreclosure of tax liens under 26 U.S.C. sections 6321, 6322; townhouse held by a corporation as nominee; Cohn's book "How To Stand Up For Your Rights And Win," quoting "I decided to have no assets"; disbarment June 1986; death August 2, 1986). https://static.case.law/f-supp/682/cases/0209-01.json
[^47]: United Press International, "Roy Cohn dies at 59," dateline Bethesda, Md., August 4, 1986 (death on Saturday, August 2, 1986, of complications brought on by AIDS, at the National Institutes of Health; NIH spokeswoman on the immediate cause). Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/04/Roy-Cohn-dies-at-59/1617523512000/
[^10]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry for Tuesday, August 11, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00682R000200090091-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00682r000200090091-4
[^11]: Letter from Allen W. Dulles to Joseph R. McCarthy, October 22, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP86B00269R000100130103-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000100130103-2
[^12]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings" (Senate Historical Office), describing the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, the acting chairmanship of Karl Mundt, and the December 2, 1954 censure. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^13]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges Involving Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens, John G. Adams, H. Struve Hensel and Senator Joe McCarthy, Roy M. Cohn, and Francis P. Carr, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Res. 189, Part 41 (May 26, 1954) (index: "Testimony of Cohn, Roy M., chief counsel, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations"). https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv4146unit
[^14]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, Hearings, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Res. 189, Part 59 (June 9, 1954), pp. 2428 to 2429 (Welch to McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"; Welch to Cohn: "I did you, I think, no personal injury, Mr. Cohn."; Cohn: "No, sir."; McCarthy: "he has been baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours"). https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv59unit
[^15]: United States v. Cohn, 230 F. Supp. 587 (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 1964) (Bonsal, J.) (first trial before Judge Dawson; mistrial April 19, 1964; conspiracy count dismissed; nine counts remaining; retrial set for June 9, 1964). https://static.case.law/f-supp/230/cases/0587-01.json ; FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, memorandum reporting the indictment returned September 3, 1963. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^16]: In re Cohn, 332 F.2d 976 (2d Cir. June 2, 1964) (petition for mandamus denied; "considerable attention in the press"). https://static.case.law/f2d/332/cases/0976-01.json
[^17]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, New York office teletypes and closing memorandum, July 1964 (jury verdict of acquittal on July 16, 1964 before Judge Bonsal; description of the underlying alleged payment in 1959). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^18]: Louis B. Nichols to J. Edgar Hoover, letter of July 10, 1964 forwarding his testimony of July 9, 1964 at the Cohn trial ("That's an unmitigated lie"; Internal Revenue Service investigation of Cohn; call to DeLoach; "another 'steel pricing case'"; Judge Dawson and the Treasury inquiries), in the FBI file on Cohn. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^19]: In re Cohn, 416 F.2d 440 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 1969) (per curiam; indictment dated January 17, 1969 charging conspiracy, bribery and extortion; trial set for September 23, 1969; Life article of September 1969; "Paul L. Perito and Peter L. Truebner, Asst. U. S. Attys., on the brief"). https://static.case.law/f2d/416/cases/0440-01.json
[^20]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, memorandum of January 22, 1975 concerning the Barry Farber radio program of January 14, 1975 (Cohn "indicted by the Federal Grand Jury in New York (and subsequently acquitted) on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and extortion in connection with ... the city's Fifth Avenue Coach Lines"; Cohn's charge of a "personal vendetta" against Robert Morgenthau). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^21]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, News Digest, October 22, 1971, "Cohn Acquitted" (Litigation Release LR-5194: verdicts of acquittal on October 15 on three remaining counts of a ten-count indictment under Sections 13(a) and 14(a); six counts dismissed on the government's motion before trial and a conspiracy count dismissed during the trial). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1971/dig102271.pdf
[^22]: SEC v. Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc., 435 F.2d 510 (2d Cir. Dec. 8, 1970) (Adams, J.) (appeal from injunction against Victor Muscat and Roy M. Cohn; section 10(b) violation in transaction with Gray Line Corporation; Cohn's 7% holding in Defiance as of December 12, 1966; nominee attorney; "of counsel"). https://static.case.law/f2d/435/cases/0510-01.json
[^23]: SEC v. Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc., 364 F. Supp. 1220 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 16, 1973) (fee application of $489,924 granted in full over the objection of Roy M. Cohn as a shareholder). https://static.case.law/f-supp/364/cases/1220-01.json
[^24]: FBI file on Roy M. Cohn, note of July 1971 on a letter of June 29, 1971 from a correspondent regarding Cohn's book "A Fool For A Client," which the note says was not in the Bureau library. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^25]: Letter of March 3, 1970 from a private correspondent to Senator Abraham Ribicoff (quoting his letter of September 8, 1969 and J. Edgar Hoover's reply), and Hoover to Ribicoff, March 16, 1970, in the FBI file on Cohn; the correspondent's name is redacted in the release. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^26]: Roy M. Cohn to Jerry Finkelstein, letters of January 6 and January 25, 1971 (the latter marked "bcc: Honorable J. Edgar Hoover"), and Finkelstein to Cohn, January 19, 1971, in the FBI file on Cohn. https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^27]: Christopher Hitchens, "Mary, Mary," London Review of Books, vol. 15, no. 7 (April 8, 1993), reviewing Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1993) and quoting Susan Rosenstiel's account of the 1958 and 1959 parties at the Plaza Hotel. https://www.lrb.co.uk/v15/n07/christopher-hitchens/mary-mary
[^28]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), disposition ("no recourse but to order disbarment"; "for an attorney practicing for nearly 40 years in this State, such misconduct is inexcusable"); counsel Michael B. Mukasey and Harold R. Tyler, Jr. https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6021889/in-re-cohn/
[^29]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge I (application to the District of Columbia Bar of July 28, 1982; question 8(b); answer "No" and "Except usual crackpot complaint letters following media appearances, etc. Know of none pending"; three complaints pending; question 8(a) and the May 1960 admonition). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^30]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge II (1966 loan from a client, $100,000, documented as a loan; settlement in 1984 of a $127,584.76 judgment; deposition of January 8, 1981, "I would say that's an incorrect characterization"; loan written by "Respondent and his partner, Thomas A. Bolan"; "Saxe Bacon & Bolan" as law firm). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^31]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge III (codicil executed December 6, 1975 in Rosenstiel's hospital room; hearing panel recommendation of exoneration rejected; Florida probate order of June 24, 1976, Circuit Judge Frank B. Dowling, revoking the codicil). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^32]: Matter of Cohn, 118 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep't 1986), Charge IV (December 1971 SEC escrow order; $25,000 and two yachts; $94,000 released January 1972 on a substituted indemnity bond; "incredible"). https://static.case.law/ad2d/118/cases/0015-01.json
[^33]: In re Galante, 311 F. Supp. 732 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 26, 1970) (habeas petition of Carmine Galante, convicted in the Southern District of New York on June 25, 1962 of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws, sentenced to twenty years; counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn). https://static.case.law/f-supp/311/cases/0732-01.json
[^34]: Application of Carmine Galante, 437 F.2d 1164 (3d Cir. Jan. 14, 1971) (habeas appeal from Lewisburg; counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn, Saxe, Bacon & Bolan). https://static.case.law/f2d/437/cases/1164-01.json
[^35]: Galante v. Warden, Metropolitan Correctional Center, 573 F.2d 707 (2d Cir. Dec. 9, 1977) (per curiam) (mandatory release in 1974 after twelve years of a twenty-year sentence; revocation for associating with a person with a criminal record, 28 C.F.R. section 2.40(a)(10); counsel listing includes Roy M. Cohn). https://static.case.law/f2d/573/cases/0707-01.json
[^36]: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, photograph roll C12463 (01), Oval Office, January 18, 1983, "Meeting with Rupert Murdoch," personal references Rupert Murdoch, Roy Cohn, Charles Wick and Thomas Bolan. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/photo/c12463-01
[^37]: Roy M. Cohn to Edwin Meese III, James A. Baker III and Michael K. Deaver, letter of January 27, 1983 on Saxe, Bacon & Bolan letterhead, and Michael A. McManus Jr. to Cohn, February 4, 1983, White House files (reproduced at https://trumpfile.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Murdoch-Reagan-Cohn-letter.pdf ).
[^38]: Ronald Reagan to Roy Cohn, message of May 2, 1983, with the program of the B'nai B'rith Banking and Finance Lodge State of Israel Bond tribute dinner for Roy M. Cohn (describing Cohn as "president of the American Jewish League Against Communism"; sponsors including Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, News America Publishing Inc., and Donald J. Trump, President, The Trump Organization), Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, White House Office of Records Management subject file ME001. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/digitallibrary/whormsubject/me001/40-654-12019891-024-009-2018.pdf
[^39]: FBI Los Angeles file 80-236, American Jewish League Against Communism, Inc., released under FOIPA No. 1010124-000 (June 22, 2005), letterhead of the Los Angeles Chapter, July 1956 (national officers Alfred Kohlberg, honorary chairman and treasurer; George Sokolsky, chairman; Rabbi Benjamin Schultz, national executive director). https://archive.org/details/AmericanJewishLeagueAgainstCommunismLosAngeles80236
[^40]: FBI, New York office teletype, April 17, 1985, in the FBI file on Cohn (Cohn's letter to FBIHQ about the New York Post article of March 5, 1985; feasibility of a monitoring device to intercept the conversations of Genovese boss Anthony Salerno with a Teamsters contact). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^41]: FBI, letter from the Director's office to Roy M. Cohn, Esq., Saxe, Bacon and Bolan, dated May 13, 1985 (no policy of discussing ongoing investigations with the press or planting stories; check with the New York office). https://archive.org/details/6434449-Roy-Cohn-FBI-file-OCR
[^42]: United States v. Salerno, 794 F.2d 64 (2d Cir. July 3, 1986) (Kearse, J.) (arrests of March 21, 1986; 29-count indictment; pretrial detention under the Bail Reform Act of 1984 vacated; counsel for defendant-appellant Salerno: "Anthony M. Cardinale, Boston, Mass. (Roy Cohn, New York City, on brief)"). https://static.case.law/f2d/794/cases/0064-01.json ; reversed, United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739 (May 26, 1987). https://static.case.law/us/481/cases/0739-01.json
[^43]: "A Timeline of Paul Manafort's Relationship With the Trump World," Slate (October 2017), quoting The Weekly Standard, Nov. 5, 2007 (Roger Stone on working with Roy Cohn and the 1979 meeting with Anthony Salerno). https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/10/a-timeline-of-paul-manaforts-relationship-with-the-trump-world.html
[^44]: "Roger Stone Indicted," PBS FRONTLINE (January 2019) (Stone's statement that he and Trump "became very good friends"; Cohn's arrangement of the 1979 meeting; Stone's co-founding of a consulting firm with Charles Black and Paul Manafort), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/roger-stone-indicted-donald-trump-russia-investigation ; Newsweek, "How Close Are Trump and Manafort? They Go Way, Way Back" (2017) (Black, Manafort and Stone opening a Washington lobbying shop in 1980; the account that Cohn introduced Manafort to Trump), https://www.newsweek.com/how-close-are-trump-and-manafort-they-go-way-way-back-697195 ; Slate timeline (Stone on Trump as an early client).
[^45]: United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump and Trump Management, Inc., No. 73 C 1529 (E.D.N.Y.), civil docket (affidavit of Roy M. Cohn; his letters of 1974; counterclaim filed 12-12-73; government motion to dismiss counterclaim 1-8-74; motions argued before Neaher, J., 1-25-74). Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, document 82945. https://clearinghouse-umich-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/doc/82945.pdf
[^46]: "United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump, and Trump Management, Inc.," case summary, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse ("He dismissed the counterclaim and allowed the Fair Housing Act suit to proceed"), https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/ ; The Nation, "Trump Sues the Justice Department for $100 Million" (the judge "dismissed the counterclaim two months after it was filed"), https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/justice-department-trump-lawsuit/
[^47]: Cohn v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 410 F.2d 399 (2d Cir. May 22, 1969) (per curiam) (affirming Tax Court; $27,247 received in 1958 treated as compensation for services as co-executor, not a gift). https://static.case.law/f2d/410/cases/0399-01.json
[^48]: United States v. Cohn, 682 F. Supp. 209 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 23, 1988) (Haight, J.) (action under 26 U.S.C. section 7401 for about $7,000,000 in taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 1959 to 1983, assessed 1972 to 1984; foreclosure of tax liens under 26 U.S.C. sections 6321, 6322; townhouse held by a corporation as nominee; Cohn's book "How To Stand Up For Your Rights And Win," quoting "I decided to have no assets"; disbarment June 1986; death August 2, 1986). https://static.case.law/f-supp/682/cases/0209-01.json
[^49]: United Press International, "Roy Cohn dies at 59," dateline Bethesda, Md., August 4, 1986 (death on Saturday, August 2, 1986, of complications brought on by AIDS, at the National Institutes of Health; NIH spokeswoman on the immediate cause). Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/04/Roy-Cohn-dies-at-59/1617523512000/

5
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Samuel Goudsmit.md
View file

@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ summary: "Samuel Goudsmit was a Dutch-American nuclear physicist who served as t
born: 1902-07-11
died: 1978-12-04
location: "The Hague, Netherlands"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Samuel Goudsmit was a Dutch-American nuclear physicist who served as the scientific head of [[Operation Alsos]], an elite U.S. scientific intelligence effort during [[World War II]]. The mission of Operation Alsos was to investigate the German nuclear energy project and to prevent German scientific and technological knowledge from falling into Soviet hands[^1].
@ -19,5 +20,9 @@ In July 1945, after the defeat of [[Nazi Germany]], Goudsmit and his team sought
Goudsmit emphasized the critical importance of preventing the Ahnenerbe's supernatural secrets from becoming part of the [[Cold War]] arms race. He ensured that the Ahnenerbe relics were crated up and sent to U.S. Army headquarters in Frankfurt[^1].
Goudsmit wrote that when [[Boris Pash]] and a general entered the Hechingen office of [[Werner Heisenberg]], the first thing they saw was a photograph of Heisenberg and Goudsmit standing side by side, taken when Heisenberg was Goudsmit's guest, and that Pash later took six men to Urfeld, south of Munich, to take Heisenberg.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^2]: Goudsmit, Samuel A. *Alsos*. Woodbury, N.Y.: American Institute of Physics Press, 1996 (first published New York: Henry Schuman, 1947), pp. 99 and 111.

139
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Adolf Hitler.md
View file

@ -34,140 +34,145 @@ relations:
with: "[[Eva Braun]]"
start: 1945-04-29
role: "married in the Berlin bunker on the date of his private will, which names her as his wife"
fn: 20
fn: 21
- type: appointed
with: "[[Karl Dönitz]]"
start: 1945-04-29
role: "named President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in the political testament"
fn: 21
fn: 22
- type: appointed
with: "[[Martin Bormann]]"
start: 1945-04-29
role: "named executor of the private will with full legal authority, and Party Minister in the testament's cabinet list"
fn: 20
fn: 21
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Office of Strategic Services]]"
start: 1943
role: "subject of the 1943 psychoanalytic profile by Walter Langer and the October 1943 personality analysis by Henry Murray, both prepared for the OSS"
fn: 10
fn: 11
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
start: 1945-09-21
role: "Los Angeles report titled Hitler Hideout, file 105-410, on a claim that he was in hiding in Argentina"
fn: 29
fn: 30
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
start: 1955-10-03
role: "Maracaibo station dispatch forwarding a claim that he was alive in South America"
fn: 32
fn: 33
---
Adolf Hitler (born April 20, 1889, in [[Braunau am Inn]], Austria; died April 30, 1945, in [[Berlin]]) was the leader of the [[Nazi Party]] and the dictator of [[Nazi Germany]] from 1934 to 1945.[^1] He was the central figure in the rise of Nazism, the Holocaust, and World War II.[^2]
The International Military Tribunal at [[Nuremberg]] described the [[SS]] as created in 1925 "nominally to act as his personal bodyguard, but in reality to terrorise political opponents."[^2] The tribunal recorded that [[Hermann Göring]] founded the [[Gestapo]] in [[Prussia]] on April 26, 1933, and confided to its deputy leader that the main task was to eliminate political opponents of National Socialism and Hitler.[^3]
### Nuremberg luncheon, 1936
[[Richard Helms]], then a [[United Press]] correspondent sent alone to cover the 1936 Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg, received an invitation from Hitler's press representative to a light luncheon with the Fuehrer at the Nuremberg Castle. Helms was introduced to [[Rudolf Hess]] and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]. Asked why he staged the annual congress, Hitler answered that the party leaders worked hard all year, that "Money prizes would break the Treasury," and that he brought them to the congress to give them the show and a chance to meet one another.[^4]
### Occult milieu and the Hess flight
Hitler was reportedly dismissive of mysticism. [[Albert Speer]] wrote that when [[Heinrich Himmler]] mythologized the SS, Hitler remarked: "What nonsense! Here we have at last reached an age that has left all mysticism behind it, and now he wants to start that all over again. We might just as well have stayed with the church."[^4] Himmler was deeply invested in paranormal research. The [[Ahnenerbe]], the research body he founded in 1935, investigated extrasensory perception, astrology and map dowsing, according to [[Annie Jacobsen]].[^5] The regime had a complex relationship with the occult, and the Nazi government's use of astrology and other forms of divination for propaganda purposes is well-documented.[^5]
Hitler was reportedly dismissive of mysticism. [[Albert Speer]] wrote that when [[Heinrich Himmler]] mythologized the SS, Hitler remarked: "What nonsense! Here we have at last reached an age that has left all mysticism behind it, and now he wants to start that all over again. We might just as well have stayed with the church."[^5] Himmler was deeply invested in paranormal research. The [[Ahnenerbe]], the research body he founded in 1935, investigated extrasensory perception, astrology and map dowsing, according to [[Annie Jacobsen]].[^6] The regime had a complex relationship with the occult, and the Nazi government's use of astrology and other forms of divination for propaganda purposes is well-documented.[^6]
Jacobsen wrote that Hitler's reaction to [[Rudolf Hess]]'s flight to [[Scotland]], which he attributed to the influence of astrologers, led to a crackdown on occult practices in Germany.[^5] Accounts of the flight name two astrologers. [[Karl Krafft]], a Swiss astrologer, is said to have produced a star chart that fixed the date of the flight, and [[Sybil Leek]], a British astrologer working for British intelligence, is said to have written a phony horoscope that drew Hess toward Scotland.[^5] The arrests that followed, under the name [[Special Action Hess|Sonderaktion Heß]], reportedly took in more than 600 astrologers, fortune tellers, clairvoyants and faith healers, among them [[Wilhelm Wulff]], who had become Himmler's personal astrologer.[^5] The historian [[Eric Kurlander]] wrote that the action had the Gestapo round up astrologers, clairvoyants and occultists, that hundreds were detained or arrested, and that thousands of books and items of esoteric paraphernalia were confiscated.[^6]
Jacobsen wrote that Hitler's reaction to Rudolf Hess's flight to [[Scotland]], which he attributed to the influence of astrologers, led to a crackdown on occult practices in Germany.[^6] Accounts of the flight name two astrologers. [[Karl Krafft]], a Swiss astrologer, is said to have produced a star chart that fixed the date of the flight, and [[Sybil Leek]], a British astrologer working for British intelligence, is said to have written a phony horoscope that drew Hess toward Scotland.[^6] The arrests that followed, under the name [[Special Action Hess|Sonderaktion Heß]], reportedly took in more than 600 astrologers, fortune tellers, clairvoyants and faith healers, among them [[Wilhelm Wulff]], who had become Himmler's personal astrologer.[^6] The historian [[Eric Kurlander]] wrote that the action had the Gestapo round up astrologers, clairvoyants and occultists, that hundreds were detained or arrested, and that thousands of books and items of esoteric paraphernalia were confiscated.[^7]
A CIA-released survey of parapsychology research states that [[Louis Pauwels]] and [[Jacques Bergier]], in [[The Morning of the Magicians]] (1960), maintained that Hitler was clairvoyant and surrounded himself with astrologers and prophets. The same survey says that [[Erik Jan Hanussen]], a stage clairvoyant, was assassinated by the Nazis because his ability to see their secret projects threatened the regime.[^7] A 1930 and 1931 report by the Dutch researcher [[P.A. Dietz]] on a test of Hanussen's psychometric ability appears in an annotated CIA-released abstract. The annotator described Hanussen, who visited the [[Netherlands]] in 1930, as someone who "later would often be consulted by Adolph Hitler."[^8]
A CIA-released survey of parapsychology research states that [[Louis Pauwels]] and [[Jacques Bergier]], in [[The Morning of the Magicians]] (1960), maintained that Hitler was clairvoyant and surrounded himself with astrologers and prophets. The same survey says that [[Erik Jan Hanussen]], a stage clairvoyant, was assassinated by the Nazis because his ability to see their secret projects threatened the regime.[^8] A 1930 and 1931 report by the Dutch researcher [[P.A. Dietz]] on a test of Hanussen's psychometric ability appears in an annotated CIA-released abstract. The annotator described Hanussen, who visited the [[Netherlands]] in 1930, as someone who "later would often be consulted by Adolph Hitler."[^9]
### Profiles by the OSS and Harvard
In 1943 [[William J. Donovan|William Donovan]] of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] asked the [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] psychoanalyst [[Walter Langer]] to analyze Hitler without direct access to him. Langer wrote in his 1972 book that Donovan asked, "What light could psychoanalysis shed on these pressing problems?" and then, "And how would you go about getting it?"[^9] The OSS report of 1943, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend, lists as collaborators [[Henry Murray]] of the Harvard Psychological Clinic, [[Ernst Kris]] of the [[New School for Social Research]] and [[Bertram Lewin]] of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.[^10]
In 1943 [[William J. Donovan|William Donovan]] of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] asked the [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] psychoanalyst [[Walter Langer]] to analyze Hitler without direct access to him. Langer wrote in his 1972 book that Donovan asked, "What light could psychoanalysis shed on these pressing problems?" and then, "And how would you go about getting it?"[^10] The OSS report of 1943, A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend, lists as collaborators [[Henry Murray]] of the Harvard Psychological Clinic, [[Ernst Kris]] of the [[New School for Social Research]] and [[Bertram Lewin]] of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.[^11]
The 1943 report stated that there was "unanimous agreement among the four psychoanalysts who have studied the material that Hitler is an hysteric bordering on schizophrenia and not a true paranoiac as so frequently supposed."[^11] In the 1972 book the same passage reads "general agreement among the collaborators that Hitler is probably a neurotic psychopath bordering on schizophrenia."[^12] The 1943 report described his behavior as "masochistic in the extreme" and stated that "there is a large feminine component in his physical makeup."[^13] Its eighth prediction read: "Hitler might commit suicide. This is the most plausible outcome."[^14]
The 1943 report stated that there was "unanimous agreement among the four psychoanalysts who have studied the material that Hitler is an hysteric bordering on schizophrenia and not a true paranoiac as so frequently supposed."[^12] In the 1972 book the same passage reads "general agreement among the collaborators that Hitler is probably a neurotic psychopath bordering on schizophrenia."[^13] The 1943 report described his behavior as "masochistic in the extreme" and stated that "there is a large feminine component in his physical makeup."[^14] Its eighth prediction read: "Hitler might commit suicide. This is the most plausible outcome."[^15]
In October 1943 Murray of the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] Psychological Clinic completed a memorandum titled *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, marked "O.S.S. Confidential," with predictions of his future behavior and suggestions for dealing with him now and after [[Germany]]'s surrender.[^15] Murray wrote that Hitler's neurotic spells would increase in frequency and duration, and that there was some evidence his mental powers had been deteriorating since November 1942.[^16] He considered it possible that the military command or a revolutionary faction might seize Hitler and immure him in a prison fortress, an outcome that would end the myth of the invincible hero. He judged that Hitler being shot by a German was "possible but not very likely."[^16]
In October 1943 Murray of the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] Psychological Clinic completed a memorandum titled *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, marked "O.S.S. Confidential," with predictions of his future behavior and suggestions for dealing with him now and after [[Germany]]'s surrender.[^16] Murray wrote that Hitler's neurotic spells would increase in frequency and duration, and that there was some evidence his mental powers had been deteriorating since November 1942.[^17] He considered it possible that the military command or a revolutionary faction might seize Hitler and immure him in a prison fortress, an outcome that would end the myth of the invincible hero. He judged that Hitler being shot by a German was "possible but not very likely."[^17]
Murray proposed that Hitler might arrange to be killed by a German, perhaps by a Jew, completing the myth of the hero's death at the hand of a trusted follower, on the pattern of Siegfried stabbed by Hagen, Caesar by Brutus, and Christ betrayed by Judas.[^17] On suicide, Murray wrote that Hitler had often vowed he would kill himself if his plans miscarried, but that if he chose that course he would do it at the last moment and in the most dramatic possible manner.[^17] In the closing section Murray named insanity to some extent, dramatic suicide and death at the front as the outcomes that seemed most probable, on the assumption that Hitler's chief concern was the immortality of his legend.[^18]
Murray proposed that Hitler might arrange to be killed by a German, perhaps by a Jew, completing the myth of the hero's death at the hand of a trusted follower, on the pattern of Siegfried stabbed by Hagen, Caesar by Brutus, and Christ betrayed by Judas.[^18] On suicide, Murray wrote that Hitler had often vowed he would kill himself if his plans miscarried, but that if he chose that course he would do it at the last moment and in the most dramatic possible manner.[^18] In the closing section Murray named insanity to some extent, dramatic suicide and death at the front as the outcomes that seemed most probable, on the assumption that Hitler's chief concern was the immortality of his legend.[^19]
### Assassination schemes
[[Stanley Lovell]], who headed OSS Research and Development, wrote in his memoir of several schemes to kill Hitler. He took up Langer's idea that Hitler had feminine tendencies and got permission to try to push him over the gender line with female hormones, hoping his moustache would fall off and his voice would rise. The OSS agent network was used to try to slip the hormones into Hitler's food. Other plans included blinding him with mustard gas and a drug to aggravate his suspected epilepsy, and a plan to hypnotize a German prisoner into assassinating him, which a consulting psychiatrist judged unworkable. Lovell also reported that the main problem in these operations was getting Hitler to take the medicine.[^19]
[[Stanley Lovell]], who headed OSS Research and Development, wrote in his memoir of several schemes to kill Hitler. He took up Langer's idea that Hitler had feminine tendencies and got permission to try to push him over the gender line with female hormones, hoping his moustache would fall off and his voice would rise. The OSS agent network was used to try to slip the hormones into Hitler's food. Other plans included blinding him with mustard gas and a drug to aggravate his suspected epilepsy, and a plan to hypnotize a German prisoner into assassinating him, which a consulting psychiatrist judged unworkable. Lovell also reported that the main problem in these operations was getting Hitler to take the medicine.[^20]
### Marriage, will and testament, April 1945
The document the prosecution at Nuremberg numbered 3569-PS is a translation of a private will and a political testament dated April 29, 1945, with a covering note from Martin Bormann of the same date. In the private will Hitler wrote that he had decided to take as his wife the woman who had entered the besieged city to share his fate, that at her desire she went with him into death, and that he and his wife chose death "in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation" and wished to be burnt on the spot. He named Bormann executor, and left his picture collections to a gallery in [[Linz]]. The will bears the signatures of Bormann, Dr. Fuhr and [[Nicolaus von Below]] as witnesses.[^20]
The document the prosecution at Nuremberg numbered 3569-PS is a translation of a private will and a political testament dated April 29, 1945, with a covering note from Martin Bormann of the same date. In the private will Hitler wrote that he had decided to take as his wife the woman who had entered the besieged city to share his fate, that at her desire she went with him into death, and that he and his wife chose death "in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation" and wished to be burnt on the spot. He named Bormann executor, and left his picture collections to a gallery in [[Linz]]. The will bears the signatures of Bormann, Dr. Fuhr and [[Nicolaus von Below]] as witnesses.[^21]
In the political testament Hitler attributed the outbreak of the war to international statesmen of Jewish descent or working for Jewish interests, and stated that he would remain in Berlin and choose death. In the second part he expelled Göring and Himmler from the party for secret negotiations with the enemy, appointed Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, [[Joseph Goebbels]] Chancellor, Bormann Party Minister, and named [[Karl Hanke]] to succeed Himmler as Reichsführer-SS. The testament is witnessed by Josef Fuhr, [[Wilhelm Burgdorf]], Bormann and [[Hans Krebs]]. The editors of the Nuremberg volume noted that the document was not introduced into evidence because there was not sufficient time to verify its authenticity.[^21]
In the political testament Hitler attributed the outbreak of the war to international statesmen of Jewish descent or working for Jewish interests, and stated that he would remain in Berlin and choose death. In the second part he expelled Göring and Himmler from the party for secret negotiations with the enemy, appointed Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, [[Joseph Goebbels]] Chancellor, Bormann Party Minister, and named [[Karl Hanke]] to succeed Himmler as Reichsführer-SS. The testament is witnessed by Josef Fuhr, [[Wilhelm Burgdorf]], Bormann and [[Hans Krebs]]. The editors of the Nuremberg volume noted that the document was not introduced into evidence because there was not sufficient time to verify its authenticity.[^22]
The FBI file on Hitler contains a March 6, 1946 memorandum recording that the Army's Military Intelligence Service had prepared a bound brochure of the marriage certificate, private will and political testament from captured documents, that General Vandenberg wanted the Bureau to compare the signatures with captured official documents, and that the Army asked that its possession of the documents be kept secret until the President announced it. The Bureau's laboratory report of March 13, 1946, addressed to the Chief of Staff, G-2, War Department, analyzed paper, condition, typewriting and handwriting. It stated that the paper was consistent in every respect with the ostensible source, that the marriage form had been completed in ink by a registrar, Walter Wagner, and that entries in other inks and hands were evidence of the impromptu nature of the ceremony.[^22]
The FBI file on Hitler contains a March 6, 1946 memorandum recording that the Army's Military Intelligence Service had prepared a bound brochure of the marriage certificate, private will and political testament from captured documents, that General Vandenberg wanted the Bureau to compare the signatures with captured official documents, and that the Army asked that its possession of the documents be kept secret until the President announced it. The Bureau's laboratory report of March 13, 1946, addressed to the Chief of Staff, G-2, War Department, analyzed paper, condition, typewriting and handwriting. It stated that the paper was consistent in every respect with the ostensible source, that the marriage form had been completed in ink by a registrar, Walter Wagner, and that entries in other inks and hands were evidence of the impromptu nature of the ceremony.[^23]
In notes that Bormann took during the final months, published by [[François Genoud]], Hitler recalled [[Frederick the Great]]'s winter of 1762, when Frederick resolved to take poison if no change came by a date he had fixed. A few days before that date the Tsarina died, and the situation reversed.[^23]
In notes that Bormann took during the final months, published by [[François Genoud]], Hitler recalled [[Frederick the Great]]'s winter of 1762, when Frederick resolved to take poison if no change came by a date he had fixed. A few days before that date the Tsarina died, and the situation reversed.[^24]
### Death in Berlin and the Soviet record
[[Morris Leikind]], whose medical study of Hitler was released by the CIA, wrote that it is generally believed he shot himself, and that information published in [[Russia]] alleged death by cyanide poisoning rather than a gunshot wound.[^1] Leikind wrote that Hitler died by suicide in his bunker beneath the ruins of the Chancellery on April 30, 1945, with his newly wedded wife, [[Eva Braun]].[^1]
A Soviet forensic commission sitting at [[Berlin-Buch]] on May 8, 1945 examined a fire-damaged male corpse presumed to be Hitler's. It concluded that death was caused by poisoning with cyanide compounds, and the identification that followed rested in part on dental bridgework and jawbone fragments.[^24] The commission's summary reached the same conclusion for the female corpse presumed to be Braun's.[^25] Leikind wrote that, contrary to other published reports, the protocols showed poisoning, with the odor of cyanide still detectable in the mouth and slivers of glass from a capsule present, and that the protocols seemed to have been "edited."[^26]
A Soviet forensic commission sitting at [[Berlin-Buch]] on May 8, 1945 examined a fire-damaged male corpse presumed to be Hitler's. It concluded that death was caused by poisoning with cyanide compounds, and the identification that followed rested in part on dental bridgework and jawbone fragments.[^25] The commission's summary reached the same conclusion for the female corpse presumed to be Braun's.[^26] Leikind wrote that, contrary to other published reports, the protocols showed poisoning, with the odor of cyanide still detectable in the mouth and slivers of glass from a capsule present, and that the protocols seemed to have been "edited."[^27]
An OSS cable of August 7, 1945 discussed transmitting a report on Hitler's dentition to Soviet officers, and suggested that [[Allen Dulles]] be instructed to give copies of the reports directly to Russian officers in Berlin. According to the OSS message, the War Department was disturbed over the exchange of communications through [[John R. Deane]].[^27] A related message in the same file concerns fingerprints that were to be obtained from [[Munich]] police records.[^27]
An OSS cable of August 7, 1945 discussed transmitting a report on Hitler's dentition to Soviet officers, and suggested that [[Allen Dulles]] be instructed to give copies of the reports directly to Russian officers in Berlin. According to the OSS message, the War Department was disturbed over the exchange of communications through [[John R. Deane]].[^28] A related message in the same file concerns fingerprints that were to be obtained from [[Munich]] police records.[^28]
### Claims of survival
On September 21, 1945, the Los Angeles office of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] filed a report titled "Hitler Hideout" on information obtained from a [[Hollywood]] source in July 1945. The source reported that a friend, talking in front of the Melody Lane restaurant, said he was one of four men who met Hitler when he landed from two submarines in [[Argentina]] about two and a half weeks after the fall of Berlin. The account described a ranch in the foothills of the southern Andes, six Argentine officials who had aided the party, and a payment of $15,000 for helping in the hiding place. According to the source, Hitler suffered from asthma and ulcers and had shaved off his mustache.[^28] The information was given to a reporter for the [[Los Angeles Examiner]] on July 29, 1945.[^28] The Bureau's summary says that the information could not be verified, that efforts to locate the friend were negative, and that there was no record of Hitler in police or [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] files.[^29]
On September 21, 1945, the Los Angeles office of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] filed a report titled "Hitler Hideout" on information obtained from a [[Hollywood]] source in July 1945. The source reported that a friend, talking in front of the Melody Lane restaurant, said he was one of four men who met Hitler when he landed from two submarines in [[Argentina]] about two and a half weeks after the fall of Berlin. The account described a ranch in the foothills of the southern Andes, six Argentine officials who had aided the party, and a payment of $15,000 for helping in the hiding place. According to the source, Hitler suffered from asthma and ulcers and had shaved off his mustache.[^29] The information was given to a reporter for the [[Los Angeles Examiner]] on July 29, 1945.[^29] The Bureau's summary says that the information could not be verified, that efforts to locate the friend were negative, and that there was no record of Hitler in police or [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] files.[^30]
The same file holds translations dated July 28, 1948 of two newspaper items from [[Bogotá]], [[Colombia]]. The first summarized a letter dated April 27, 1948 from [[Oranjestad]], [[Aruba]], addressed to the newspaper [[El Tiempo]] and signed "Amigo, amigo, amigo," which stated that Hitler was in Bogotá, had landed from a submarine on the coast of the Guajira on July 19, 1945 with six men and three million dollars, and intended after a war between the United States and the Soviet Union to head a western crusade against Bolshevism.[^30] In El Tiempo of June 20, 1948, under a headline connecting the story to the assassination of [[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]], a second correspondent who claimed to be Colombian wrote that he had known of Hitler's plans since January 1945 and that the death of Gaitán would have been a master coup against Communism on Hitler's part; the newspaper reported that the first writer had demanded 50,000 dollars to reveal more.[^30] The Director of the Bureau forwarded translations of the clippings to the State Department's Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, with a copy to the Director of Central Intelligence.[^30]
The same file holds translations dated July 28, 1948 of two newspaper items from [[Bogotá]], [[Colombia]]. The first summarized a letter dated April 27, 1948 from [[Oranjestad]], [[Aruba]], addressed to the newspaper [[El Tiempo]] and signed "Amigo, amigo, amigo," which stated that Hitler was in Bogotá, had landed from a submarine on the coast of the Guajira on July 19, 1945 with six men and three million dollars, and intended after a war between the United States and the Soviet Union to head a western crusade against Bolshevism.[^31] In El Tiempo of June 20, 1948, under a headline connecting the story to the assassination of [[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]], a second correspondent who claimed to be Colombian wrote that he had known of Hitler's plans since January 1945 and that the death of Gaitán would have been a master coup against Communism on Hitler's part; the newspaper reported that the first writer had demanded 50,000 dollars to reveal more.[^31] The Director of the Bureau forwarded translations of the clippings to the State Department's Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, with a copy to the Director of Central Intelligence.[^31]
On October 3, 1955, the acting chief of a CIA station forwarded a report to the chief of the [[Western Hemisphere Division]] from a source in [[Maracaibo]], identified by the codename MELODY-3. In the latter part of September 1955 a friend who had served under the source in Europe told him that a former German SS trooper, identified by the codename CITROEN, had said that Hitler was still alive. CITROEN was said to have contacted Hitler about once a month in Colombia while working for a Dutch shipping company in Maracaibo, and to have said that Hitler left Colombia for Argentina around January 1955.[^31] The friend obtained a photograph that CITROEN referred to. On September 29 the source was shown it to obtain his reaction to the possible veracity of the story, and the station made photostats before the photograph went back to its owner the next day. The station's assessment was that the man on the right is "undoubtedly the person which CITROEN claims is HITLER." The reverse carried an inscription with the first name Adolf, a town in Colombia and the year 1954.[^31] The station wrote that neither it nor the source was in a position to give an intelligent evaluation of the information, which was forwarded as of possible interest.[^32]
On October 3, 1955, the acting chief of a CIA station forwarded a report to the chief of the [[Western Hemisphere Division]] from a source in [[Maracaibo]], identified by the codename MELODY-3. In the latter part of September 1955 a friend who had served under the source in Europe told him that a former German SS trooper, identified by the codename CITROEN, had said that Hitler was still alive. CITROEN was said to have contacted Hitler about once a month in Colombia while working for a Dutch shipping company in Maracaibo, and to have said that Hitler left Colombia for Argentina around January 1955.[^32] The friend obtained a photograph that CITROEN referred to. On September 29 the source was shown it to obtain his reaction to the possible veracity of the story, and the station made photostats before the photograph went back to its owner the next day. The station's assessment was that the man on the right is "undoubtedly the person which CITROEN claims is HITLER." The reverse carried an inscription with the first name Adolf, a town in Colombia and the year 1954.[^32] The station wrote that neither it nor the source was in a position to give an intelligent evaluation of the information, which was forwarded as of possible interest.[^33]
### Neo-Nazi veneration
[[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, the collected newsletters of the [[National Socialist Liberation Front]], names Hitler throughout. In an issue dated August 1980 Mason wrote that [[Joseph Tommasi]] "did the very same thing as Adolf Hitler" and that "perhaps his is the closest comparison to Hitler's methodology to date."[^33] The 2021 edition carries a foreword by Mason that closes "Heil Hitler!"[^33] The [[International Centre for Counter-Terrorism]] study by Bethan Johnson and Matthew Feldman states that propaganda of the "Siege Culture" milieu falls into three categories, the first being praise of Nazi and neo-Nazi predecessors, in which images of Hitler, Mason, Tommasi and Charles Manson are often featured in imposing stances.[^34] The same study records that activists of the [[Iron March]] forum released what became the third edition of Siege in 2015, and that [[Atomwaffen Division]], which publicly emerged that year, made the book required reading for new members.[^35] The [[Counter Extremism Project]] reports that the original Siege Culture website's library included Hitler's *Mein Kampf*, and that Atomwaffen Division posted a video in 2017 of masked members raising their arms in a "Heil Hitler" salute before a swastika flag with the message "Join your local Nazis."[^36]
[[James Mason]]'s *[[Siege]]*, the collected newsletters of the [[National Socialist Liberation Front]], names Hitler throughout. In an issue dated August 1980 Mason wrote that [[Joseph Tommasi]] "did the very same thing as Adolf Hitler" and that "perhaps his is the closest comparison to Hitler's methodology to date."[^34] The 2021 edition carries a foreword by Mason that closes "Heil Hitler!"[^34] The [[International Centre for Counter-Terrorism]] study by Bethan Johnson and Matthew Feldman states that propaganda of the "Siege Culture" milieu falls into three categories, the first being praise of Nazi and neo-Nazi predecessors, in which images of Hitler, Mason, Tommasi and Charles Manson are often featured in imposing stances.[^35] The same study records that activists of the [[Iron March]] forum released what became the third edition of Siege in 2015, and that [[Atomwaffen Division]], which publicly emerged that year, made the book required reading for new members.[^36] The [[Counter Extremism Project]] reports that the original Siege Culture website's library included Hitler's *Mein Kampf*, and that Atomwaffen Division posted a video in 2017 of masked members raising their arms in a "Heil Hitler" salute before a swastika flag with the message "Join your local Nazis."[^37]
[[Combat 18]], founded in early 1992 by [[Charlie Sargent]] and [[Wilf Browning]] as a stewarding group for the [[British National Party]], takes its name from the initials of Adolf Hitler (A=1, H=8), according to [[Nick Lowles]].[^37] The German [[Federal Ministry of the Interior]] banned the association Combat 18 Deutschland on January 23, 2020; Combat 18 does not appear in Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000.[^38] [[Jack Reed]] described himself in writing as a "natural sadist" and expressed admiration for Hitler, according to press reports of his case.[^39] [[Jacek Tchorzewski]] kept a collection of extreme right-wing material that praised Hitler, neo-Nazism and Satanism, including antisemitic content calling for genocide, according to the [[Campaign Against Antisemitism]].[^40]
[[Combat 18]], founded in early 1992 by [[Charlie Sargent]] and [[Wilf Browning]] as a stewarding group for the [[British National Party]], takes its name from the initials of Adolf Hitler (A=1, H=8), according to [[Nick Lowles]].[^38] The German [[Federal Ministry of the Interior]] banned the association Combat 18 Deutschland on January 23, 2020; Combat 18 does not appear in Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000.[^39] [[Jack Reed]] described himself in writing as a "natural sadist" and expressed admiration for Hitler, according to press reports of his case.[^40] [[Jacek Tchorzewski]] kept a collection of extreme right-wing material that praised Hitler, neo-Nazism and Satanism, including antisemitic content calling for genocide, according to the [[Campaign Against Antisemitism]].[^41]
### Postwar continuities
[[Edwin Black]] wrote that after the Nazi government awarded [[Thomas J. Watson]], chairman of [[IBM]], the Merit Cross of the German Eagle with Star in 1937, Watson on May 16, 1940 asked Secretary of State [[Cordell Hull]] whether the government wanted him to return the medal. Hull replied that the decision "will have to rest entirely with you, and is not one upon which this Government would be able to take a position." Watson returned the medal to Hitler on June 6, 1940 with a letter, released to the newspapers, stating that "the present policies of your government are contrary to the causes for which I have been working and for which I received the decoration."[^41]
[[Edwin Black]] wrote that after the Nazi government awarded [[Thomas J. Watson]], chairman of [[IBM]], the Merit Cross of the German Eagle with Star in 1937, Watson on May 16, 1940 asked Secretary of State [[Cordell Hull]] whether the government wanted him to return the medal. Hull replied that the decision "will have to rest entirely with you, and is not one upon which this Government would be able to take a position." Watson returned the medal to Hitler on June 6, 1940 with a letter, released to the newspapers, stating that "the present policies of your government are contrary to the causes for which I have been working and for which I received the decoration."[^42]
[[Reinhard Gehlen]], who had headed the [[Wehrmacht]]'s [[Fremde Heere Ost]] directorate, wrote in his memoir that Hitler ordered his dismissal about a month after March 5, 1945, that his staff held a farewell party on April 12, and that he supervised the microfilming and burying of the directorate's files in secret locations in the Bavarian mountains, with three hideouts for his staff in the Alps.[^42] A statement by his deputy [[Gerhard Wessel]], reproduced in a CIA documentary history, records that Hitler relieved Gehlen on April 9, 1945 after Gehlen was presented to him in February or March, and that the microfilmed files were moved to three sites in southern Germany, near Schliersee, the Wilder Kaiser and Marquartstein.[^43]
[[Reinhard Gehlen]], who had headed the [[Wehrmacht]]'s [[Fremde Heere Ost]] directorate, wrote in his memoir that Hitler ordered his dismissal about a month after March 5, 1945, that his staff held a farewell party on April 12, and that he supervised the microfilming and burying of the directorate's files in secret locations in the Bavarian mountains, with three hideouts for his staff in the Alps.[^43] A statement by his deputy [[Gerhard Wessel]], reproduced in a CIA documentary history, records that Hitler relieved Gehlen on April 9, 1945 after Gehlen was presented to him in February or March, and that the microfilmed files were moved to three sites in southern Germany, near Schliersee, the Wilder Kaiser and Marquartstein.[^44]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Leikind, Morris. "Studies in Pathography II: Adolph Hitler." CIA Reading Room document C00416336, released under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416336
[^2]: International Military Tribunal, Judgment, October 1, 1946. Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judnazi.asp
[^3]: International Military Tribunal, Judgment, October 1, 1946, section on the Gestapo. Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judnazi.asp
[^4]: Speer, Albert. *Inside the Third Reich*. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Macmillan, 1970, pp. 94-95. https://archive.org/details/inside-the-third-reich-memoirs-by-albert-speer
[^5]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^6]: Kurlander, Eric. "The Nazi Magicians' Controversy: Enlightenment, 'Border Science,' and Occultism in the Third Reich." *Central European History* 48, no. 4 (December 2015): 498-522, as quoted in Frey, Angelica. "Border Science vs. Commercial Occultism: A Nazi Debate." JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/border-science-vs-commercial-occultism-a-nazi-debate/
[^7]: CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230018-6, p. 208, chapter "New Psychic Frontiers," citing Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, *The Morning of the Magicians* (1960).
[^8]: Dietz, P.A. "A successful psychometric experiment with the clairvoyant E. Hanussen." *Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie*, 1930/31, 3, 70-76, as annotated in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP96-00792R000700700002-2, item 01377. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00792r000700700002-2
[^9]: Langer, Walter C. *The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report*. Basic Books, 1972, chapter on the OSS request.
[^10]: Langer, Walter C. *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend*. Office of Strategic Services, 1943 (title page). CIA Reading Room document C02571145. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^11]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, p. 86 as paginated in the CIA copy. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^12]: Langer, *The Mind of Adolf Hitler*, 1972, chapter on the collaborators' diagnosis.
[^13]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, section "Femininity," p. 122 as paginated in the CIA copy. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^14]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, p. 155 as paginated in the CIA copy; repeated in *The Mind of Adolf Hitler*, 1972, section "Hitler's Death." https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^15]: Murray, Henry A. *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler, with Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and after Germany's Surrender*. Harvard Psychological Clinic, October 1943. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler. Same text in CIA Reading Room document 02617886.
[^16]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, pp. 29-30. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^17]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, pp. 30-32. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^18]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, p. 33. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^19]: Lovell, Stanley P. *Of Spies and Stratagems*. Prentice-Hall, 1963. https://archive.org/details/ofspiesstratagem0000stan
[^20]: Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. *Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression*, vol. VI. Government Printing Office, 1946. Document 3569-PS, translation of the covering letter of Martin Bormann, April 29, 1945, and Hitler's "Private Will and Testament," pp. 257-259. https://archive.org/details/naziconspiracyag06unit
[^21]: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. VI, document 3569-PS, "My political Testament" and "Second Part of the Political Testament," pp. 259-262, with the editors' note on authentication. https://archive.org/details/naziconspiracyag06unit
[^22]: FBI Vault, Adolf Hitler file: office memorandum of March 6, 1946 and Laboratory report of March 13, 1946 on the examination of the bound "Adolf Hitler: Certificate of Marriage, Private Will and Political Testament" for the War Department. https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^23]: Martin Bormann's notes of Hitler's conversations, February to April 1945, published as *The Political Testament of Adolf Hitler*, edited by François Genoud (1961 edition). https://archive.org/details/PoliticalTestamentOfAdolfHitler
[^24]: CIA Reading Room document C00416337, "The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives," Document No. 12, forensic examination of a male corpse at Berlin-Buch, May 8, 1945. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416337
[^25]: CIA Reading Room document C00416337, "The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives," Document No. 13 and the commission summary. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416337
[^26]: Leikind, Morris. "Studies in Pathography II: Adolph Hitler," p. 32. CIA Reading Room document C00416336. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416336
[^27]: OSS cable of August 7, 1945, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP13X00001R000100200005-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp13x00001r000100200005-7
[^28]: FBI Vault, "Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)," Part 01 of 04, "Report on Hitler Hideout," Los Angeles file 105-410, September 21, 1945, p. 2. https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^29]: FBI Vault, "Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)," Part 01 of 04, "Report on Hitler Hideout," Los Angeles file 105-410, September 21, 1945, p. 1 (synopsis). https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^30]: FBI Vault, Adolf Hitler file: translations summarized July 28, 1948 of "Nueva York al Dia," May 22, 1948, and *El Tiempo* (Bogotá), June 20, 1948, with the Director's transmittal to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, State Department, copy to the Director of Central Intelligence. https://archive.org/details/fbi-hitler-adolf-ocr
[^31]: CIA Reading Room document C00460209, dispatch No. 2592 from the acting chief of station to the Chief, WHD, dated October 3, 1955. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00460209
[^32]: CIA Reading Room document C00460209, dispatch of October 3, 1955, closing paragraph. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00460209
[^33]: Mason, James. *Siege: The Collected Writings of James Mason*, 2021 edition, foreword and "Serious Steps," *Siege* vol. IX, no. 4 (August 1980). https://archive.org/details/siege-the-collected-writings-james-mason
[^34]: Johnson, Bethan, and Matthew Feldman. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, p. 12. https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf
[^35]: Johnson and Feldman, "Siege Culture After Siege," pp. 12-13. https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf
[^36]: Counter Extremism Project. "James Mason's Siege: Ties to Extremists," March 4, 2022. https://www.counterextremism.com/themes/custom/cep/templates/reports/sieges_ties_to_extremists/files/James_Mason_Siege_Ties_to_Extremists_030422.pdf
[^37]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18*. Milo Books, 2001.
[^38]: Beck-aktuell. "Seehofer verbietet rechtsextremistischen Verein 'Combat 18 Deutschland,'" January 23, 2020. https://www.beck-aktuell.de/heute-im-recht/rechtsgeschehen/seehofer-verbietet-rechtsextremistischen-verein-combat-18-deutschland-2020-01-23; Terrorism Act 2000, Schedule 2, as amended, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2; Home Office, "Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations," updated July 7, 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2
[^39]: Enfield Independent. "Nazi terrorist named after judge rejects anonymity bid." 2021. https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/19002125.nazi-terrorist-named-judge-rejects-anonymity-bid/
[^40]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison
[^41]: Black, Edwin. *IBM and the Holocaust*. Crown, 2001, chapters on 1940. https://archive.org/details/ibm-and-the-holocaust-the-strategic-alliance-between-nazi-germany-and-americas-m
[^42]: Gehlen, Reinhard. *The Service: The Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen*. World Publishing, 1972. https://archive.org/details/theservicethememoirsofgeneralreinhardgehlen
[^43]: Central Intelligence Agency. *Forging an Intelligence Partnership: CIA and the Origins of the BND, 1945-49*, vol. I, Document 1, "Statement of Gerhard Wessel on Development of the German Organization," and chronology. https://archive.org/details/CIAANDTHEORIGINSOFTHEBND1945-49VOL1-0001
[^4]: Helms, Richard, with William Hood. *A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency*. New York: Random House, 2003, pp. 22-25.
[^5]: Speer, Albert. *Inside the Third Reich*. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Macmillan, 1970, pp. 94-95. https://archive.org/details/inside-the-third-reich-memoirs-by-albert-speer
[^6]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^7]: Kurlander, Eric. "The Nazi Magicians' Controversy: Enlightenment, 'Border Science,' and Occultism in the Third Reich." *Central European History* 48, no. 4 (December 2015): 498-522, as quoted in Frey, Angelica. "Border Science vs. Commercial Occultism: A Nazi Debate." JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/border-science-vs-commercial-occultism-a-nazi-debate/
[^8]: CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230018-6, p. 208, chapter "New Psychic Frontiers," citing Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, *The Morning of the Magicians* (1960).
[^9]: Dietz, P.A. "A successful psychometric experiment with the clairvoyant E. Hanussen." *Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie*, 1930/31, 3, 70-76, as annotated in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP96-00792R000700700002-2, item 01377. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00792r000700700002-2
[^10]: Langer, Walter C. *The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report*. Basic Books, 1972, chapter on the OSS request.
[^11]: Langer, Walter C. *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend*. Office of Strategic Services, 1943 (title page). CIA Reading Room document C02571145. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^12]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, p. 86 as paginated in the CIA copy. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^13]: Langer, *The Mind of Adolf Hitler*, 1972, chapter on the collaborators' diagnosis.
[^14]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, section "Femininity," p. 122 as paginated in the CIA copy. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^15]: Langer, *A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler*, 1943, p. 155 as paginated in the CIA copy; repeated in *The Mind of Adolf Hitler*, 1972, section "Hitler's Death." https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-02571145
[^16]: Murray, Henry A. *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler, with Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and after Germany's Surrender*. Harvard Psychological Clinic, October 1943. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler. Same text in CIA Reading Room document 02617886.
[^17]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, pp. 29-30. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^18]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, pp. 30-32. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^19]: Murray, *Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler*, p. 33. https://archive.org/details/AnalysisOfThePersonalityOfAdolphHitler
[^20]: Lovell, Stanley P. *Of Spies and Stratagems*. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963, pp. 84-85 and 89-90. https://archive.org/details/ofspiesstratagem0000stan
[^21]: Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. *Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression*, vol. VI. Government Printing Office, 1946. Document 3569-PS, translation of the covering letter of Martin Bormann, April 29, 1945, and Hitler's "Private Will and Testament," pp. 257-259. https://archive.org/details/naziconspiracyag06unit
[^22]: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. VI, document 3569-PS, "My political Testament" and "Second Part of the Political Testament," pp. 259-262, with the editors' note on authentication. https://archive.org/details/naziconspiracyag06unit
[^23]: FBI Vault, Adolf Hitler file: office memorandum of March 6, 1946 and Laboratory report of March 13, 1946 on the examination of the bound "Adolf Hitler: Certificate of Marriage, Private Will and Political Testament" for the War Department. https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^24]: Martin Bormann's notes of Hitler's conversations, February to April 1945, published as *The Political Testament of Adolf Hitler*, edited by François Genoud (1961 edition). https://archive.org/details/PoliticalTestamentOfAdolfHitler
[^25]: CIA Reading Room document C00416337, "The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives," Document No. 12, forensic examination of a male corpse at Berlin-Buch, May 8, 1945. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416337
[^26]: CIA Reading Room document C00416337, "The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives," Document No. 13 and the commission summary. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416337
[^27]: Leikind, Morris. "Studies in Pathography II: Adolph Hitler," p. 32. CIA Reading Room document C00416336. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00416336
[^28]: OSS cable of August 7, 1945, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP13X00001R000100200005-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp13x00001r000100200005-7
[^29]: FBI Vault, "Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)," Part 01 of 04, "Report on Hitler Hideout," Los Angeles file 105-410, September 21, 1945, p. 2. https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^30]: FBI Vault, "Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)," Part 01 of 04, "Report on Hitler Hideout," Los Angeles file 105-410, September 21, 1945, p. 1 (synopsis). https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler
[^31]: FBI Vault, Adolf Hitler file: translations summarized July 28, 1948 of "Nueva York al Dia," May 22, 1948, and *El Tiempo* (Bogotá), June 20, 1948, with the Director's transmittal to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation, State Department, copy to the Director of Central Intelligence. https://archive.org/details/fbi-hitler-adolf-ocr
[^32]: CIA Reading Room document C00460209, dispatch No. 2592 from the acting chief of station to the Chief, WHD, dated October 3, 1955. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00460209
[^33]: CIA Reading Room document C00460209, dispatch of October 3, 1955, closing paragraph. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00460209
[^34]: Mason, James. *Siege: The Collected Writings of James Mason*, 2021 edition, foreword and "Serious Steps," *Siege* vol. IX, no. 4 (August 1980). https://archive.org/details/siege-the-collected-writings-james-mason
[^35]: Johnson, Bethan, and Matthew Feldman. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, p. 12. https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf
[^36]: Johnson and Feldman, "Siege Culture After Siege," pp. 12-13. https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf
[^37]: Counter Extremism Project. "James Mason's Siege: Ties to Extremists," March 4, 2022. https://www.counterextremism.com/themes/custom/cep/templates/reports/sieges_ties_to_extremists/files/James_Mason_Siege_Ties_to_Extremists_030422.pdf
[^38]: Lowles, Nick. *White Riot: The Violent Story of Combat 18*. Milo Books, 2001.
[^39]: Beck-aktuell. "Seehofer verbietet rechtsextremistischen Verein 'Combat 18 Deutschland,'" January 23, 2020. https://www.beck-aktuell.de/heute-im-recht/rechtsgeschehen/seehofer-verbietet-rechtsextremistischen-verein-combat-18-deutschland-2020-01-23; Terrorism Act 2000, Schedule 2, as amended, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2; Home Office, "Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations," updated July 7, 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2
[^40]: Enfield Independent. "Nazi terrorist named after judge rejects anonymity bid." 2021. https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/19002125.nazi-terrorist-named-judge-rejects-anonymity-bid/
[^41]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison
[^42]: Black, Edwin. *IBM and the Holocaust*. Crown, 2001, chapters on 1940. https://archive.org/details/ibm-and-the-holocaust-the-strategic-alliance-between-nazi-germany-and-americas-m
[^43]: Gehlen, Reinhard. *The Service: The Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen*. World Publishing, 1972. https://archive.org/details/theservicethememoirsofgeneralreinhardgehlen
[^44]: Central Intelligence Agency. *Forging an Intelligence Partnership: CIA and the Origins of the BND, 1945-49*, vol. I, Document 1, "Statement of Gerhard Wessel on Development of the German Organization," and chronology. https://archive.org/details/CIAANDTHEORIGINSOFTHEBND1945-49VOL1-0001

10
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Eugene Hasenfus.md
View file

@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases:
- Gene Hasenfus
- Eugene H. Hasenfus
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-10-05
updated: 2026-10-14
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
@ -64,17 +64,20 @@ The identity of the airframe is recorded differently by different sources. A DEA
### Press conference and the names Gomez and Medina
On October 9, 1986 Hasenfus said in [[Managua]] that he had made ten flights supplying the contras, four from [[Aguacate]] air base in [[Honduras]] and six from [[Ilopango Airbase]] in El Salvador, that 24 to 26 "company people" assisted in El Salvador including "two Cuban nationalized Americans that worked for the CIA," and that he was to be paid $3,000 a month plus housing. He named "Max Gomez" and "Ramon Medina" as overseers of housing, transportation, refueling and flight plans.[^10][^7] Gomez was Felix Rodriguez and Medina was [[Luis Posada Carriles]].[^6] The independent counsel's chapter on Clair George records that Hasenfus had publicly identified Gomez, and that [[Clair George]] was charged with falsely denying before Congress that he knew Gomez's true identity.[^12] [[Gary Webb]] wrote in *Dark Alliance* that [[Alan Fiers]], then in charge of the CIA's Contra program, said the [[Sandinistas]] found among the crew's effects "all sorts of pocket litter that identified and connected them back to Ilopango," including cards of [[NHAO]] employees and flight logs.[^13]
On October 9, 1986 Hasenfus said in [[Managua]] that he had made ten flights supplying the contras, four from [[Aguacate]] air base in [[Honduras]] and six from [[Ilopango Airbase]] in El Salvador, that 24 to 26 "company people" assisted in El Salvador including "two Cuban nationalized Americans that worked for the CIA," and that he was to be paid $3,000 a month plus housing. He named "Max Gomez" and "Ramon Medina" as overseers of housing, transportation, refueling and flight plans.[^7][^10] Gomez was Felix Rodriguez and Medina was [[Luis Posada Carriles]].[^6] The independent counsel's chapter on Clair George records that Hasenfus had publicly identified Gomez, and that [[Clair George]] was charged with falsely denying before Congress that he knew Gomez's true identity.[^12] [[Gary Webb]] wrote in *Dark Alliance* that [[Alan Fiers]], then in charge of the CIA's Contra program, said the [[Sandinistas]] found among the crew's effects "all sorts of pocket litter that identified and connected them back to Ilopango," including cards of [[NHAO]] employees and flight logs.[^13]
### The CIA and State statements
On October 10, 1986 the CIA and the [[State Department]] briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for three hours. Assistant Secretary of State [[Elliott Abrams]] stated that "there is no U.S. Government involvement" in the supply system; Clair George and Fiers gave a statement denying a CIA connection with the C-123 or its crew; and the briefing record states that "no one knows why Mr. Hasenfus has claimed that he worked for CIA," that "he might have been exposed to pressure by the Sandinistas," or that he "might have been hired under 'false-flag' circumstances."[^3] The same day Fiers briefed House intelligence committee staff and described Rodriguez as a twenty-year Agency veteran who retired in 1978.[^14] In *Dark Alliance* Webb wrote that administration officials sent false press advisories, booked spokesmen on talk shows and sent CIA officials to give false testimony to congressional committees, and that this delayed congressional investigation long enough to pass the $100 million aid bill.[^13]
On October 8, 1986 Elliott Abrams chaired a Restricted Interagency Group meeting on the downed aircraft. North did not attend. The group discussed demands for access to Hasenfus, Salvadoran denials of contra support, press guidance and legal counsel for Hasenfus. It was agreed that Abrams would ask North to have the contra umbrella organization assume responsibility for the flight.[^15] On October 15, 1986 Abrams told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that no one in the U.S. government knew who organized and paid for the flight. Asked whether anyone in the government did know, he said: "I wouldn't separate myself from the Government. We don't know."[^16] The independent counsel's report concluded that "Abrams was not truthful with the congressional committees."[^17]
### Trial and release
Hasenfus was tried in Nicaragua and sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges related to delivering arms to the contras; he was pardoned a month later by President [[Daniel Ortega]].[^1] The independent counsel found that [[Oliver North]]'s notebooks of October 8 to 15, 1986 record conversations with [[Richard Secord]] and others about getting a lawyer for Hasenfus and about death benefits and funerals for the dead pilots; the Enterprise's manager [[Edward de Garay]] and North's friend [[William Haskell]] went to [[Panama]] to find a lawyer, without success, and Secord and [[Albert Hakim]] had [[Willard Zucker]] hire a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] lawyer who could not reach Nicaraguan officials. After the shootdown Secord told [[Rafael Quintero]] to set aside a $75,000 check and a $50,000 check to establish a defense fund; Quintero endorsed the first with a forged signature and sent both to a [[Bahamas]] bank. In December 1986 the Enterprise's air-support manager John Piowaty carried $6,000 in cash from Southern Air Transport in Miami to Hasenfus's wife Sally, two months of his salary, and the Enterprise arranged $3,000 in cash for Sawyer's burial at a funeral home in [[Magnolia, Arkansas]].[^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Associated Press, "Key figure in the 1980s Iran-Contra affair dies," December 2025 (citing the Hansen-Onion-Martell Funeral Home obituary), as printed by the *Tribune Chronicle*. https://www.tribtoday.com/obituaries/2025/12/key-figure-in-the-1980s-iran-contra-affair-dies/
[^2]: Alfonso Chardy, "Brother says captured kin once worked on CIA airline," *The Philadelphia Inquirer*, October 8, 1986 (CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880028-6). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000200880028-6
[^3]: CIA Office of Congressional Affairs, memorandum for the record, "Briefing on the C-123 Crash in Nicaragua: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 10 October," OCA 86-3575, October 10, 1986, paragraphs 7, 9, 14 and 16. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00788192
@ -89,3 +92,6 @@ Hasenfus was tried in Nicaragua and sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges r
[^12]: Walsh, chapter 17, "United States v. Clair E. George." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm
[^13]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998, chapter 18, "We bust our ass and the government's involved."
[^14]: CIA Office of Congressional Affairs, memorandum for the record, "HPSCI Staff Briefing on Crash of C-123 in Nicaragua," OCA 86-3489, October 16, 1986, paragraph 12. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90b01390r000400550034-9
[^15]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams," section "The Hasenfus Shootdown" (RIG meeting of October 8, 1986), citing PROFs note from Cannistraro to Poindexter, October 8, 1986, and Fiers FBI 302, July 22, 1991. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^16]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams," n. 75 (House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs testimony, October 15, 1986, pp. 31 to 33). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^17]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams," closing section on the October 1986 testimony. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm

134
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Joseph McCarthy.md
View file

@ -3,40 +3,152 @@ category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- Politician
- AntiCommunism
- Censure
- ArmyMcCarthyHearings
- LavenderScare
- WheelingSpeech
- PermanentSubcommittee
aliases:
- "Joseph McCarthy"
- "Joseph R. McCarthy"
- "Joe McCarthy"
- "Senator McCarthy"
summary: "U.S. Senator known for his anti-communist crusade and frequent visits to Clint Murchison's Hotel Del Charro alongside Nixon and Hoover."
born: 1908-11-14
died: 1957-05-02
location: "Grand Chute, Wisconsin"
created: 2025-08-05
updated: 2026-10-14
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]]"
role: "chairman"
start: 1953
fn: 3
fn: 13
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Roy Cohn]]"
reverse: true
role: "chief counsel"
start: 1953-01-15
end: 1954-08-13
fn: 2
fn: 16
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Army-McCarthy hearings]]"
role: "subcommittee chairman until stepping aside; Welch exchange of June 9, 1954"
start: 1954
end: 1954
fn: 4
fn: 35
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Select Committee to Study Censure Charges]]"
role: "subject of the committee's inquiry under S. Res. 301; censure recommended on two categories"
start: 1954
end: 1954
fn: 37
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Tydings Committee]]"
role: "subject of the subcommittee's inquiry into his Wheeling charges"
start: 1950
end: 1950
fn: 7
---
[[Joseph McCarthy]] was a [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] known for his anti-communist crusade in the 1950s. [[Clint Murchison, Sr.]] was an ardent supporter of McCarthy. McCarthy was a frequent visitor to the exclusive Hotel Del Charro in La Jolla, California, which Murchison, Sr. opened in the early 1950s. He was often seen there alongside [[Richard Nixon]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover]].[^1]
[[Joseph McCarthy]] (1908 to 1957) was a Republican [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Wisconsin]] who led the anti-communist investigations of the early 1950s. He chaired the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] in 1953 and 1954, and the Senate censured him on December 2, 1954.[^1] Seymour wrote that [[Clint Murchison, Sr.]] was an ardent supporter of McCarthy and that McCarthy was a frequent visitor to the [[Hotel Del Charro]] in [[La Jolla, California]], which Murchison opened in the early 1950s. Seymour also wrote that McCarthy was often seen there alongside [[Richard Nixon]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover]].[^2]
### Subcommittee counsel and the Army hearings
### The Wheeling charges and the Tydings subcommittee
McCarthy offered the chief counsel post of the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] to [[Roy Cohn|Roy M. Cohn]] in December 1952, after considering [[Robert Morris]], [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]] and [[John J. Sirica]]. Cohn served as chief counsel from January 15, 1953 to August 13, 1954.[^2] In 1954 the subcommittee's investigation of the Army became the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, and McCarthy stepped aside as chairman while [[Karl Mundt]] presided.[^3] On June 9, 1954 (Part 59 of the hearings) Army special counsel [[Joseph Welch]] told McCarthy, after McCarthy raised the National Lawyers Guild membership of a young lawyer from Welch's firm: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" The remark was addressed to McCarthy; immediately before it Welch had told Cohn "I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, I beg your pardon," and McCarthy answered that Welch had been "baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours."[^4] The Senate censured McCarthy on December 2, 1954.[^3]
On February 9, 1950, McCarthy spoke at a Lincoln Day gathering in [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]] as the guest of the [[Ohio County Republican Women's Club]], at the [[Hotel McLure]]. A tape recording made by the radio station [[WWVA]] was certified by its news editor as matching the prepared script of a speech delivered that evening.[^3] The [[Wheeling Intelligencer]] reported the speech on February 10 under the headline "McCarthy Charges Reds Hold United States Jobs," over the byline of [[Frank Desmond]].[^4] In the speech McCarthy said: "I have here in my hand a list of 205," adding that it was "a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members" of the Communist Party.[^5]
The [[State Department]] denied the charge. In a telegram to [[Harry S. Truman]] that McCarthy read into the Senate record on February 20, 1950, he wrote that he had "the names of 57 Communists who are in the State Department at present."[^6] The Senate referred the charges to a subcommittee of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] under [[Senate Resolution 231]], chaired by [[Millard Tydings|Millard E. Tydings]] of [[Maryland]]. The subcommittee's hearings were printed as [[State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation]].[^7] On July 20, 1950, Tydings presented the subcommittee's majority report to the Senate, with [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] filing individual views as a minority member. Summarizing the 81 cases before the subcommittee on the Senate floor, Tydings said of McCarthy's statements: "Then what is there other than a fraud and a hoax and a deceit about this whole matter?"[^8] On July 21, 1950 Senator [[Irving Ives]] of [[New York]] told the Senate that "yesterday the Senate was treated to the spectacle of a blistering demonstration" meant to prove that a fraud and a hoax had been committed on one of its members, and said that some might feel that if "a fraud and a hoax have been perpetrated on the Senate of the United States and the American people," the perpetration was evident in the subcommittee's disregard of the terms of Senate Resolution 231.[^9] The subcommittee's staff director, [[Edward P. Morgan]], was later among the figures McCarthy attacked in his own subcommittee's hearings, which the record describes as an effort to settle personal scores. The same record states that the Wheeling speech of 1950 had accused the department of harboring known Communists.[^10]
### Homosexuality and the 1950 Hoey report
In 1950 McCarthy denounced "those Communists and queers who have sold 400 million Asiatic people into atheistic slavery," in remarks the [[New York Times]] reported on April 21, 1950. He had also complained that the State Department reinstated homosexuals suspended for moral turpitude.[^11] A subcommittee of the [[Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments]], whose report was submitted by [[Clyde Hoey]], issued an interim report in December 1950 titled "Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government." The report said that "the presence of a sex pervert in a Government agency tends to have a corrosive influence upon his fellow employees," and that homosexuals "are frequently victimized by blackmailers."[^12] The report stated that persons who bring disrepute to the Federal service by infamous or scandalous personal conduct "are not suitable for Government positions."[^12] The Senate's historical introduction describes its conclusion as being that homosexuals' vulnerability to blackmail made them security risks.[^11]
### The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 1953
McCarthy's chairmanship of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a unit of the [[Committee on Government Operations]], held its hearings from February 16, 1953 to March 10, 1954.[^13] For chief counsel he considered [[Robert Morris]], [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]] and [[John J. Sirica]].[^14] In December 1952 he offered the post to [[Roy Cohn]], then twenty-six years old, who had briefly served in 1952 as special assistant to Attorney General [[James McGranery]]. In that post Cohn prepared a perjury indictment against [[Owen Lattimore]], and he had taken part in the prosecution of [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]].[^15] Cohn served as chief counsel from January 15, 1953 to August 13, 1954.[^16]
The subcommittee's roster listed [[G. David Schine]] as chief consultant, [[Karl Baarslag|Karl H. W. Baarslag]] as director of research, [[Francis P. Carr]] as executive director and [[Ruth Young Watt]] as chief clerk. [[John F. Kennedy]] of Massachusetts appeared on the full Committee on Government Operations roster.[^16] In July 1953 a dispute over the chairman's ability to hire staff without consultation caused the three Democrats on the subcommittee to resign, and they did not return until January 1954.[^17] McCarthy named [[J. B. Matthews]] executive director in June 1953. Matthews's article "Reds in Our Churches," published in the [[American Mercury]], caused a public uproar, and Matthews resigned voluntarily. McCarthy then appointed Carr.[^18]
Schine, the subcommittee's only unpaid staff member, went with Cohn on a much-publicized April 1953 tour of United States information libraries in [[Europe]]. Schine was inducted into the [[U.S. Army|Army]] in November 1953, an event that led to the chairman's confrontation with the Army the following year.[^19] Robert F. Kennedy resigned as assistant counsel in August 1953 after coming to blows with Cohn, telling the chairman the subcommittee was "headed for disaster." He returned as minority counsel in 1954.[^20] Later in the 1950s Kennedy served as chief counsel of a special committee on labor racketeering formed by members and staff of the subcommittee together with the [[Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee]].[^21] The term "McCarthyism" was coined by the [[Washington Post]] cartoonist [[Herblock]] in 1950.[^22]
The subcommittee held most of its hearings in Room 357 of the [[Senate Office Building]], held extensive hearings in [[New York City]] at the [[Foley Square]] federal courthouse and the [[Waldorf-Astoria]], and held other executive sessions at [[Fort Monmouth]], [[New Jersey]], and in [[Boston]].[^23]
### The State Department, the Voice of America and the overseas libraries
The closed hearings moved to two subsidiaries of the State Department, the [[Voice of America]] and the United States information libraries overseas. Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] regarded the Voice of America as an unwanted appendage to the department and was not unsympathetic to some housecleaning. The [[Eisenhower administration]] came to worry that McCarthy's effort to clean out the "left-wing debris" was disrupting its own reorganization of the government.[^24] The subcommittee subpoenaed the authors of books in the overseas libraries rather than calling the officials who administered them. Cohn complained that "we subpoena maybe fifty and five show up."[^25] Investigators also examined State Department personnel files. A security officer, [[John E. Matson]], reported in 1953 that personnel files had been "looted" of derogatory information, and McCarthy contended that the files had been manipulated.[^26]
Testimony in the closed sessions also reached the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. A State Department file-room employee, identified in the record as Mrs. Balog, testified that an FBI agent had come to ask for the file of [[Frank Schuler]], a young Foreign Service officer whom Owen Lattimore had requested as his representative for the [[Office of War Information]] in the Far East. The agent asked whether the file was complete.[^27] Assistant counsel Robert F. Kennedy also staffed a separate investigation into the illegal trade with the [[People's Republic of China]].[^25]
### William P. Bundy and the CIA, 1953
In July 1953 McCarthy wrote to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] about [[William P. Bundy]], then an agency employee. McCarthy's information was that Bundy had contributed $400 to the defense of [[Alger Hiss]] and had been a member of the [[United Public Workers of America]].[^28] On July 27, 1953 McCarthy, as chairman of the subcommittee, wrote to [[Allen Dulles]] that the contribution "raises the gravest question as to his holding a sensitive post in an intelligence agency," given the agency's work in detecting people such as Hiss.[^29]
The CIA reply, signed by [[Alba W. Doan]] as director, stated that Bundy had disclosed the $400 contribution on his March 1951 application for employment, and that the reasons he gave for it were not in accord, in certain respects, with those in McCarthy's letter. It recorded that Bundy had joined the union in the summer of 1940 while working at the [[Library of Congress]], attended one meeting and resigned after two months. It said the three allegations had been the subject of a complete field investigation, a personal interview and favorable determinations by the [[CIA Loyalty Board|CIA Loyalty Board]] and the [[Loyalty Review Board]] of the [[Civil Service Commission]]. Bundy had been attached to the agency's Office of Estimates since joining in 1951.[^28]
[[Allen Drury]] reported on August 4, 1953 that in the exchange of letters Dulles had refused to tell McCarthy Bundy's explanation for the contribution.[^30] McCarthy's reply of August 3 argued that Bundy's contacts with and contributions to Hiss predated his CIA employment, and that Congress was entitled to information about improper conduct by the agency's top officers.[^31]
The dispute widened to the printing of CIA material. On August 11, 1953 the CIA's [[Office of Legislative Counsel]] recorded that Cohn had telephoned about testimony that CIA classified material had been printed in the main [[Government Printing Office]] plant.[^32] On October 22, 1953 Dulles wrote to McCarthy that a check of the agency's reproduction facilities had found that "no classified CIA material is printed in the main GPO plant." He said the agency's legislative counsel, [[Walter Fforzheimer]], had informed the subcommittee's staff of these facts on August 12, and he asked that the letter be placed in the record.[^33]
### The Marshall speech, 1951
On June 14, 1951 McCarthy addressed the Senate on the career of General [[George C. Marshall]], then Secretary of Defense and formerly Secretary of State. The printed speech has sections headed "The Gospel of Fear," "They Planned It That Way," "Infamy So Black" and "Review of Marshall's Activities." It states: "How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this Government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy, a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man." It names [[Dean Acheson]] as one of those who "must be high on the roster" of the conspiracy.[^34]
### The Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954
The Army alleged that McCarthy had sought special treatment for one of his former staff members. The subcommittee's investigation of the Army became the [[Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges|Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges]] involving [[Robert T. Stevens]], [[John G. Adams]], [[H. Struve Hensel]], McCarthy, Cohn and Carr. The [[Army-McCarthy hearings]] ran from March 16 to June 17, 1954 and were broadcast on national television. McCarthy temporarily stepped down as chairman and as a member, [[Karl Mundt]] presided as acting chairman, and [[Henry Dworshak]] was seated in McCarthy's place. The Senate report on the hearings was dated August 31, 1954.[^35]
On June 9, 1954 (Part 59 of the hearings) Army special counsel [[Joseph Welch]] told McCarthy, after McCarthy raised the [[National Lawyers Guild]] membership of a young lawyer from Welch's firm: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" The remark was addressed to McCarthy. Immediately before it Welch had told Cohn "I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, I beg your pardon," and McCarthy answered that Welch had been "baiting Mr. Cohn here for hours."[^36]
### Censure, 1954
The Senate created the [[Select Committee to Study Censure Charges]] under [[Senate Resolution 301|S. Res. 301]], chaired by [[Arthur V. Watkins]] of [[Utah]], with [[Edwin C. Johnson]] as vice chairman and members including [[John C. Stennis]], [[Frank Carlson]], [[Francis Case]] and [[Sam J. Ervin Jr.]].[^37] The committee's report divided the charges into five categories. It recommended censure on the category of contempt of the Senate or a senatorial committee and on the category concerning the treatment of [[Ralph W. Zwicker]], a brigadier general of the Army. It recommended against censure on the other three categories.[^37]
The contempt category arose from McCarthy's dealings with the subcommittee on privileges and elections of the [[Senate Committee on Rules and Administration]], which had acted on a resolution introduced in 1951 by [[William Benton]] and on the 1950 Maryland senatorial election. The Senate had voted 60 to 0 in [[Senate Resolution 300]] to affirm that subcommittee's jurisdiction and the integrity of its members.[^38] On the category concerning classified information, the committee found that McCarthy had offered, in the course of his defense before the subcommittee, to make public a document bearing the markings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Personal and Confidential via Liaison," concerning possible espionage at a defense installation. It found that the 2¼-page document had been taken in part from a 15-page interdepartmental memorandum from the FBI to the Army dated January 15, 1951, marked confidential, and that McCarthy knew in May 1953, when he acquired it, that it had been extracted in part from a document containing security information.[^39] The committee wrote that McCarthy "committed grave error" in offering to make public a classified document, but that "[t]hese mitigating circumstances are such that we do not recommend censure on the specifications included in category III."[^40]
On the Zwicker category the committee concluded that "the conduct of Senator McCarthy toward General Zwicker was reprehensible, and that for this conduct he should be censured by the Senate."[^41] The Senate condemned McCarthy by a vote of 67 to 22 on December 2, 1954, for abuse and noncooperation with the subcommittee on privileges and elections.[^42]
---
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84 (made public January 2003), historical introduction (pp. XV to XVI) and "Subcommittee Staff Appointed in 1953-1954" (Roy M. Cohn, chief counsel, January 15, 1953 to August 13, 1954). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^3]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings" (Senate Historical Office), describing the Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges, the acting chairmanship of Karl Mundt, and the December 2, 1954 censure. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^4]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges Involving Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens, John G. Adams, H. Struve Hensel and Senator Joe McCarthy, Roy M. Cohn, and Francis P. Carr, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Res. 189, Part 59 (June 9, 1954), pp. 2428 to 2429. https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv59unit
[^1]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings," Senate Historical Office, identifying McCarthy as Wisconsin Republican (R-WI), the subcommittee chairmanship and the censure of December 2, 1954. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^3]: Affidavit of the news editor of radio station WWVA certifying the tape recording of McCarthy's speech at the Hotel McLure, Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, reproduced in U.S. Senate, Hearings, State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation, Part 2 (Appendix), 81st Cong., 2d sess. (Washington: GPO, 1950), p. 1763. https://archive.org/details/statedepartmente195002unit
[^4]: Frank Desmond, "McCarthy Charges Reds Hold United States Jobs," Wheeling (W. Va.) Intelligencer, February 10, 1950, reprinted in State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation, Part 2 (Appendix), p. 1756. https://archive.org/details/statedepartmente195002unit
[^5]: McCarthy speech at Wheeling, February 9, 1950, as reproduced in State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation, Part 2 (Appendix), pp. 1761 and 1765. https://archive.org/details/statedepartmente195002unit
[^6]: Congressional Record, vol. 96, pt. 2, February 20, 1950, Senate proceedings, "Communists in Government Service," McCarthy's remarks including the text of his telegram to President Truman, beginning at p. 1952. https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_february-03-march-04-1950_96
[^7]: State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation, Part 2 (Appendix), cover page and committee roster, Subcommittee Appointed Under Senate Resolution 231, Chairman Millard E. Tydings, Committee on Foreign Relations, 81st Cong., 2d sess. (1950). https://archive.org/details/statedepartmente195002unit
[^8]: Congressional Record, vol. 96, pt. 8, July 20, 1950, Senate proceedings, remarks of Senator Millard E. Tydings on the report of the subcommittee under S. Res. 231. https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_july-12-31-1950_96
[^9]: Congressional Record, vol. 96, pt. 8, July 21, 1950, Senate proceedings, remarks of Senator Irving M. Ives on the majority report and the individual views of Senator Lodge, p. 10773. https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_july-12-31-1950_96
[^10]: Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84 (2003), historical introduction by Donald A. Ritchie, pp. XIX (Morgan, Tydings subcommittee) and XXIV (Wheeling speech). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^11]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XXV, including note 23 citing New York Times, April 21, 1950, and the report Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government, 81st Cong., 2d sess. (1950). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^12]: Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government, Interim Report, S. Doc. 241, 81st Cong., 2d sess. (December 15, 1950), pp. 2 to 3 of the printed report. https://archive.org/details/glassgovernment-senate-doc-241-hoey-1950
[^13]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings," listing the McCarthy hearings as February 16, 1953 to March 10, 1954 and the subcommittee chairmanship. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^14]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XV. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^15]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVI. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^16]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, committee and subcommittee rosters (Committee on Government Operations; Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Chief Counsel Roy M. Cohn, Chief Consultant G. David Schine, Director of Research Karl H. W. Baarslag) and the appendix "Subcommittee Staff Appointed in 1953-1954" (Cohn, January 15, 1953 to August 13, 1954). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^17]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XV. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^18]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVIII, citing G. F. Goodwin, "Joseph Brown Matthews," Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 8 (1988). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^19]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVII. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^20]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVII. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^21]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XXVIII. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^22]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVIII. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^23]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVII. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^24]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XXV. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^25]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XXVI, including note 26 and the investigation of the illegal trade with the People's Republic of China staffed by Robert F. Kennedy. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^26]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XXV, citing "The Raided Files," Newsweek, February 16, 1953. https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^27]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, testimony of Mrs. Balog in the closed session, p. 191 of the printed volume (questioning by Donald A. Surine on the file of Frank Schuler and the Owen Lattimore letter). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^28]: Letter from Alba W. Doan, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, to Joseph R. McCarthy, July 22, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080014-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080014-6
[^29]: Letter from Joseph R. McCarthy, Chairman, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, to Allen W. Dulles, July 27, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080022-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080022-7
[^30]: Allen Drury, "McCarthy Warns CIA Head Fight on Bundy Isn't Over," newspaper article, August 4, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP74-00297R000401370024-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74-00297r000401370024-4
[^31]: Letter from Joseph R. McCarthy to Allen W. Dulles, August 3, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP80M01009A000100080020-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80m01009a000100080020-9
[^32]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry for Tuesday, August 11, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00682R000200090091-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00682r000200090091-4
[^33]: Letter from Allen W. Dulles to Joseph R. McCarthy, October 22, 1953, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP86B00269R000100130103-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000100130103-2
[^34]: Congressional Record, vol. 97, pt. 5, June 14, 1951, Senate proceedings, remarks of Senator McCarthy on General Marshall, passage "Infamy So Black" at p. 6602. https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_may-28-june-27-1951_97
[^35]: U.S. Senate, "McCarthy and Army-McCarthy Hearings," describing the Army allegation, the Special Senate Investigation, the hearing dates of March 16 to June 17, 1954, the broadcast, Mundt as acting chairman, Dworshak's seating and the August 31, 1954 report. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-and-army-mccarthy-hearings.htm
[^36]: Special Senate Investigation on Charges and Countercharges Involving Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens, John G. Adams, H. Struve Hensel and Senator Joe McCarthy, Roy M. Cohn, and Francis P. Carr, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Investigations, 83d Cong., 2d sess., Part 59 (June 9, 1954), pp. 2428 to 2429. https://archive.org/details/specialsenateinv59unit
[^37]: Select Committee to Study Censure Charges, Report on Resolution to Censure, S. Rept. 83-2508, 83d Cong., 2d sess. (1954), roster and recommendations pursuant to S. Res. 301. Copy in CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00965R000500040014-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00965r000500040014-7
[^38]: Select Committee to Study Censure Charges, S. Rept. 83-2508, Category I, Part A and Part B (findings on Senate Resolution 187, introduced by Senator Benton on August 6, 1951, and Senate Resolution 300, adopted 60 to 0). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00965r000500040014-7
[^39]: Select Committee to Study Censure Charges, Report on Resolution to Censure, Category III, Parts B and C (document with FBI markings; 15-page FBI memorandum of January 15, 1951), pp. 42 to 44. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00965r000500040014-7
[^40]: Select Committee to Study Censure Charges, S. Rept. 83-2508, Category III and its conclusions, pp. 44 to 45 ("grave error" on p. 44, "[t]hese mitigating circumstances" on p. 45). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00965r000500040014-7
[^41]: Select Committee to Study Censure Charges, S. Rept. 83-2508, Category V, Conclusions, p. 61, concerning Brigadier General Ralph W. Zwicker. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00965r000500040014-7
[^42]: U.S. Senate, "Senate Censure Table," entry for Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI), December 2, 1954, condemned 67 to 22, with the stated charge of abuse and noncooperation with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/censure.htm

6
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Karl Krafft.md
View file

@ -8,13 +8,15 @@ summary: "Karl Krafft was a Swiss astrologer known for his influence on high-ran
born: 1900-05-10
died: 1945-01-08
location: "Basel, Switzerland"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Karl Krafft was a Swiss astrologer known for his influence on high-ranking Nazi officials. He is particularly noted for constructing star charts that allegedly influenced [[Rudolf Hess]]'s decision to undertake his rogue flight to Scotland in May 1941. Hess, the Deputy Führer of [[Nazi Germany]], reportedly chose this date based on astrological advice, as the star chart allegedly indicated that the six planets were in Taurus and the moon would be full[^1].
Following Hess's flight, [[Adolf Hitler]] declared Hess legally insane and responded with "[[Special Action Hess]]", a mass arrest of more than 600 astrologers, fortune-tellers, clairvoyants, faith healers, and other German practitioners of the supernatural or occult. Krafft was among those ensnared in this crackdown[^1]. [[Wilhelm Wulff]], another astrologer who became [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s personal astrologer, noted that a decree was issued making it illegal to "predict future events, the divination of the present or the past, and all other forms of revelation not based on natural processes of perception"[^1].
Despite the official suppression, the Nazi head of foreign intelligence, [[Walter Schellenberg]], made an important point to [[Wilhelm Wulff]] about the power of mystical belief systems, stating they were "a suitable vehicle for the propagation of political concepts and for the political control of a nation"[^1]. This suggests that while publicly condemned, such practices were understood for their potential manipulative power, a manipulation also seen in the Allied use of [[Louis de Wohl]] during [[World War II]][^1].
Despite the official suppression, the Nazi head of foreign intelligence, [[Walter Schellenberg]], made an important point to Wilhelm Wulff about the power of mystical belief systems, stating they were "a suitable vehicle for the propagation of political concepts and for the political control of a nation"[^1]. This suggests that while publicly condemned, such practices were understood for their potential manipulative power, a manipulation also seen in the Allied use of [[Louis de Wohl]] during [[World War II]][^1].
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. New York: Little, Brown, 2017, p. 17, citing Wilhelm Wulff, *Zodiac and Swastika* (1973), p. 94.

89
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Richard Helms.md
View file

@ -27,14 +27,14 @@ relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Mohammed Rahim Motaghi Irvani]]"
role: "principal partner in Safeer, the consulting firm Helms founded; Irvani was also its chief financier"
fn: 22
fn: 28
---
Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 - October 22, 2002) served as [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[Director of Central Intelligence]] from June 30, 1966, to February 2, 1973 - the only career CIA clandestine officer ever to hold that position, and the only DCI ever convicted of a criminal offense related to his service. A professional intelligence officer who entered the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] during [[World War II]] and spent thirty years in the CIA, Helms authorized [[Operation CHAOS]] domestic surveillance, approved continuation of the [[MKULTRA]] human experimentation program, ordered the destruction of both programs' records before congressional investigators could access them, and in 1977 pleaded no contest to making false statements to Congress about CIA operations against Chilean President [[Salvador Allende]]. He simultaneously held the personal conviction, disclosed to his deputies, that [[Israel]] was using American intelligence as "an open pipeline for pumping intelligence to [[Moscow]]" - a view he never officially reported.[^1]
### OSS and Early CIA Career
Helms attended Williams College and briefly worked as a journalist in [[Germany]], interviewing [[Adolf Hitler]] for United Press in 1936. Commissioned into the [[U.S. Navy]] during World War II, he was transferred to the OSS and worked in London and the European theater on propaganda and agent operations. He joined the [[Central Intelligence Group]] (the CIA's predecessor organization) in 1947 and transferred into the CIA at its founding.
Helms attended Williams College and briefly worked as a journalist in [[Germany]], interviewing [[Adolf Hitler]] for United Press in 1936. Sent alone to the Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg that year, he received an invitation to a luncheon with Hitler at the Nuremberg Castle, where he was introduced to [[Rudolf Hess]] and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]].[^2] Commissioned into the [[U.S. Navy]] during World War II, he was transferred to the OSS and worked in London and the European theater on propaganda and agent operations. He joined the [[Central Intelligence Group]] (the CIA's predecessor organization) in 1947 and transferred into the CIA at its founding.
His career progressed through the CIA's clandestine service. By the late 1950s he was serving as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP), the agency's chief of covert operations - a position he held through the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion of 1961 and the early Kennedy years. As DDP he oversaw the [[ZR/RIFLE]] assassination planning program targeting [[Fidel Castro]] through the CIA-organized crime connection, and he personally knew about the CIA-Mafia assassination plots that he subsequently failed to disclose to the [[Warren Commission]] investigating Kennedy's death.
@ -42,33 +42,33 @@ President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]] appointed Helms as DCI in 1966, t
### The Warren Commission and ZR/RIFLE
When the Warren Commission was established in November 1963 to investigate Kennedy's assassination, Helms as DDP was the CIA officer most directly responsible for the ZR/RIFLE program - the CIA's ongoing assassination plots against Castro using organized crime intermediaries [[Johnny Roselli]], [[Sam Giancana]], and [[Santos Trafficante, Jr.|Santo Trafficante Jr.]] Helms did not disclose the existence of these plots to the Commission. The [[Church Committee]]'s final report states that neither the CIA nor the FBI told the Commission about the CIA attempts to assassinate Castro, and that none of the testimony or documents the Commission received mentioned them.[^2] [[David Belin]], the Commission's counsel, wrote in 1975 that "[a]t no time did the CIA disclose to the Warren Commission any facts which pertained to alleged assassination plans to kill Fidel Castro."[^3]
When the Warren Commission was established in November 1963 to investigate Kennedy's assassination, Helms as DDP was the CIA officer most directly responsible for the ZR/RIFLE program - the CIA's ongoing assassination plots against Castro using organized crime intermediaries [[Johnny Roselli]], [[Sam Giancana]], and [[Santos Trafficante, Jr.|Santo Trafficante Jr.]] Helms did not disclose the existence of these plots to the Commission. The [[Church Committee]]'s final report states that neither the CIA nor the FBI told the Commission about the CIA attempts to assassinate Castro, and that none of the testimony or documents the Commission received mentioned them.[^3] [[David Belin]], the Commission's counsel, wrote in 1975 that "[a]t no time did the CIA disclose to the Warren Commission any facts which pertained to alleged assassination plans to kill Fidel Castro."[^4]
The Church Committee's 1975 interim report states that Helms "failed to inform the Warren Commission of the plots because the precise question was not asked."[^4] Helms testified to the committee in July 1975. Asked by Senator Morgan whether he was charged with furnishing the Commission information from the CIA that he thought was relevant, he answered: "No sir. I was instructed to reply to inquiries from the Warren Commission for information from the Agency. I was not asked to initiate any particular thing." To Morgan's statement "if you weren't asked for it, you didn't give it," he answered: "That's right, sir." He said he did not recall being instructed, or deciding on his own, to cover the precise details of the Agency's operations with the Commission, and that his recollection at the time was that it was public knowledge the United States was trying to get rid of Castro.[^5] He said that [[Allen Dulles]] "was sitting right there" in the Commission's deliberations and "knew about this," and that he did not know what Dulles had said to the Commission about the plots.[^5] Book V records that Helms was the only CIA official who was both in contact with the Commission and knowledgeable of the AMLASH operation, although he would not characterize that operation as an assassination plot.[^5][^6]
The Church Committee's 1975 interim report states that Helms "failed to inform the Warren Commission of the plots because the precise question was not asked."[^5] Helms testified to the committee in July 1975. Asked by Senator Morgan whether he was charged with furnishing the Commission information from the CIA that he thought was relevant, he answered: "No sir. I was instructed to reply to inquiries from the Warren Commission for information from the Agency. I was not asked to initiate any particular thing." To Morgan's statement "if you weren't asked for it, you didn't give it," he answered: "That's right, sir." He said he did not recall being instructed, or deciding on his own, to cover the precise details of the Agency's operations with the Commission, and that his recollection at the time was that it was public knowledge the United States was trying to get rid of Castro.[^6] He said that [[Allen Dulles]] "was sitting right there" in the Commission's deliberations and "knew about this," and that he did not know what Dulles had said to the Commission about the plots.[^6] Book V records that Helms was the only CIA official who was both in contact with the Commission and knowledgeable of the AMLASH operation, although he would not characterize that operation as an assassination plot.[^6][^7]
The Church Committee's final report of 1976 states that why senior FBI and CIA officials permitted the Commission to reach its conclusion without all relevant information "is still unclear," and that "the possibility exists that senior officials in both agencies made conscious decisions not to disclose potentially important information."[^7] The House Select Committee on Assassinations reported that Helms indicated he did not inform the Commission of the anti-Castro plots because he was never asked to testify before it about operations, and stated in a note that it considered this an unacceptable explanation, since the Commission was unaware of the plots and could not make a specific request about them. The same committee stated that only Helms would have been in a position to have both the knowledge and the power to cover up the plots, and that it was satisfied, on the basis of its investigation, that it was highly unlikely he did.[^8][^9]
The Church Committee's final report of 1976 states that why senior FBI and CIA officials permitted the Commission to reach its conclusion without all relevant information "is still unclear," and that "the possibility exists that senior officials in both agencies made conscious decisions not to disclose potentially important information."[^8] The House Select Committee on Assassinations reported that Helms indicated he did not inform the Commission of the anti-Castro plots because he was never asked to testify before it about operations, and stated in a note that it considered this an unacceptable explanation, since the Commission was unaware of the plots and could not make a specific request about them. The same committee stated that only Helms would have been in a position to have both the knowledge and the power to cover up the plots, and that it was satisfied, on the basis of its investigation, that it was highly unlikely he did.[^9][^10]
The CIA Inspector General's report of May 23, 1967 on plots to assassinate Castro, which according to its covering memorandum had been read only by Helms, the Inspector General and two of its authors, records that according to [[Desmond FitzGerald]], he discussed the planned October 29, 1963 meeting with the Cuban official code-named AMLASH with Helms, who decided it was not necessary to seek [[Robert Kennedy]]'s approval for FitzGerald to speak in his name.[^10] It states that "it is likely that at the very moment President Kennedy was shot a CIA officer was meeting with a Cuban agent in Paris and giving him an assassination device for use against Castro," and that "The AMLASH project was probably about as widely known within the Clandestine Services as any other project of a similar nature."[^11]
The CIA Inspector General's report of May 23, 1967 on plots to assassinate Castro, which according to its covering memorandum had been read only by Helms, the Inspector General and two of its authors, records that according to [[Desmond FitzGerald]], he discussed the planned October 29, 1963 meeting with the Cuban official code-named AMLASH with Helms, who decided it was not necessary to seek [[Robert Kennedy]]'s approval for FitzGerald to speak in his name.[^11] It states that "it is likely that at the very moment President Kennedy was shot a CIA officer was meeting with a Cuban agent in Paris and giving him an assassination device for use against Castro," and that "The AMLASH project was probably about as widely known within the Clandestine Services as any other project of a similar nature."[^12]
### Operation CHAOS Authorization and Records Destruction
In August 1967, Helms received President Johnson's instruction to determine whether foreign powers were directing the American antiwar movement. He tasked [[James Jesus Angleton|James Angleton]]'s Counterintelligence Staff with establishing the Special Operations Group that became MHCHAOS. He subsequently expanded the program under President Nixon's administration, approving Project MERRIMAC (domestic infiltration of antiwar organizations) and [[Project RESISTANCE]] (coordination with campus administrators and local police to compile dossiers on student organizations).
In December 1972, knowing that Watergate-related congressional investigations were expanding, Helms ordered the operational records of MHCHAOS destroyed. A partial cache of budget and administrative documents survived only because it had been misfiled in a different location. The records of MKULTRA, the CIA's two-decade human experimentation program using LSD and other substances on unwitting subjects, were destroyed in January 1973. Technical Services Division personnel destroyed them on the verbal orders of [[Sidney Gottlieb]]. Gottlieb testified that he was carrying out a verbal order from Helms in doing so, and Helms confirmed that the order was his.[^12] The Church Committee found that these records destructions had permanently deprived investigators of a complete documentary record of both programs.[^1]
In December 1972, knowing that Watergate-related congressional investigations were expanding, Helms ordered the operational records of MHCHAOS destroyed. A partial cache of budget and administrative documents survived only because it had been misfiled in a different location. The records of MKULTRA, the CIA's two-decade human experimentation program using LSD and other substances on unwitting subjects, were destroyed in January 1973. Technical Services Division personnel destroyed them on the verbal orders of [[Sidney Gottlieb]]. Gottlieb testified that he was carrying out a verbal order from Helms in doing so, and Helms confirmed that the order was his.[^13] The Church Committee found that these records destructions had permanently deprived investigators of a complete documentary record of both programs.[^1]
### Proposing and Protecting MKULTRA
Helms was the program's originator as much as its protector. On April 3, 1953 he formally proposed to Director Allen Dulles a program under Sidney Gottlieb for the "covert use of biological and chemical materials," arguing that "the development of a comprehensive capability in this field gives us a thorough knowledge of the enemy's theoretical potential" against "a foe who might not be as restrained ... as we are"; Dulles approved it as MKULTRA ten days later. Helms nurtured Gottlieb as his personal specialist and, bypassing the layers of command between them, dealt with him directly, embodying the conviction he later voiced in Senate testimony, that a clandestine operator "can't count on the honesty of your agent ... unless you own him body and soul." When the program needed a new charter in 1964 he agreed to rename it [[MKSEARCH]] on the condition that its substance remain the same.[^13]
Helms was the program's originator as much as its protector. On April 3, 1953 he formally proposed to Director Allen Dulles a program under Sidney Gottlieb for the "covert use of biological and chemical materials," arguing that "the development of a comprehensive capability in this field gives us a thorough knowledge of the enemy's theoretical potential" against "a foe who might not be as restrained ... as we are"; Dulles approved it as MKULTRA ten days later. Helms nurtured Gottlieb as his personal specialist and, bypassing the layers of command between them, dealt with him directly, embodying the conviction he later voiced in Senate testimony, that a clandestine operator "can't count on the honesty of your agent ... unless you own him body and soul." When the program needed a new charter in 1964 he agreed to rename it [[MKSEARCH]] on the condition that its substance remain the same.[^14]
### MKULTRA Continuation and Psychic Research
Helms had approved continuation of MKULTRA through his DDP years and as DCI. He was aware of the program's scope, including the experiments conducted on unconsenting patients at Canadian psychiatric facilities under the direction of Dr. [[D. Ewen Cameron]] at McGill University's [[Allan Memorial Institute]] (Subproject 68), and the experiments using unwitting American subjects in safe houses operated through the Sexual Freedom Project in [[San Francisco]] and [[New York]].
Separately, Helms authorized and expanded the CIA's psychic research program based in part on assessments of Soviet parapsychology research. He approved testing of [[Uri Geller]] at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] and the broader program that evolved into [[Project Stargate]]. His authorization reflected a characteristically pragmatic judgment: if the Soviets were investing in the capability, the CIA needed to assess whether it was real.[^14]
Separately, Helms authorized and expanded the CIA's psychic research program based in part on assessments of Soviet parapsychology research. He approved testing of [[Uri Geller]] at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] and the broader program that evolved into [[Project Stargate]]. His authorization reflected a characteristically pragmatic judgment: if the Soviets were investing in the capability, the CIA needed to assess whether it was real.[^15]
### Chile: Covert Action and Congressional Perjury
In September 1970, following the election of Socialist candidate Salvador Allende in [[Chile]], President Nixon instructed Helms in a meeting at the [[White House]] to conduct covert operations to prevent Allende from assuming the presidency. At the White House meeting of September 15, 1970, attended by [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] and Attorney General [[John N. Mitchell]], Helms's notes record "1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!", "$10,000,000 available, more if necessary" and "game plan make the economy scream." The Church Committee wrote that Nixon instructed the CIA at that meeting to play a direct role in organizing a military coup.[^24][^25] In his August 12, 1975 testimony Kissinger said that at that meeting "President Nixon did almost all of the talking."[^26] On September 12, 1970, Kissinger told Helms by telephone that he was calling a [[40 Committee]] meeting for the following Monday, and said: "We will not let Chile go down the drain."[^27] A CIA memorandum for the record of September 16, 1970, "Genesis of Project FUBELT," records Helms telling CIA officials that "President Nixon had decided that an Allende regime in Chile was not acceptable to the United States."[^28]
In September 1970, following the election of Socialist candidate Salvador Allende in [[Chile]], President Nixon instructed Helms in a meeting at the [[White House]] to conduct covert operations to prevent Allende from assuming the presidency. At the White House meeting of September 15, 1970, attended by [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] and Attorney General [[John N. Mitchell]], Helms's notes record "1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!", "$10,000,000 available, more if necessary" and "game plan make the economy scream." The Church Committee wrote that Nixon instructed the CIA at that meeting to play a direct role in organizing a military coup.[^16][^17] In his August 12, 1975 testimony Kissinger said that at that meeting "President Nixon did almost all of the talking."[^18] On September 12, 1970, Kissinger told Helms by telephone that he was calling a [[40 Committee]] meeting for the following Monday, and said: "We will not let Chile go down the drain."[^19] A CIA memorandum for the record of September 16, 1970, "Genesis of Project FUBELT," records Helms telling CIA officials that "President Nixon had decided that an Allende regime in Chile was not acceptable to the United States."[^20]
The CIA subsequently funded opposition media, political parties, and military factions. General [[Augusto Pinochet]] seized power in a coup on September 11, 1973 - the same year Helms was replaced as DCI and sent as U.S. Ambassador to [[Iran]].
@ -76,19 +76,19 @@ In February 1973, when Helms testified before the [[Senate Foreign Relations Com
### The Israeli estimate and the June 1967 warning
On May 25, 1967, Helms had the [[Office of National Estimates]] appraise an Israeli intelligence estimate within five hours. The appraisal stated: "We do not believe that the Israeli appreciation . . . was a serious estimate of the sort they would submit to their own high officials. We think it is probably a gambit intended to influence the US to do one or more of the following: (a) provide military supplies, (b) make more public commitments to Israel, (c) approve Israeli military initiatives, and (d) put more pressure on Nasser." [[David S. Robarge]], the CIA's chief historian, describes the Israeli paper as a [[Mossad]] estimate and writes that the Israelis may have been exploiting their special relationship with James Jesus Angleton.[^15][^16]
On May 25, 1967, Helms had the [[Office of National Estimates]] appraise an Israeli intelligence estimate within five hours. The appraisal stated: "We do not believe that the Israeli appreciation . . . was a serious estimate of the sort they would submit to their own high officials. We think it is probably a gambit intended to influence the US to do one or more of the following: (a) provide military supplies, (b) make more public commitments to Israel, (c) approve Israeli military initiatives, and (d) put more pressure on Nasser." [[David S. Robarge]], the CIA's chief historian, describes the Israeli paper as a [[Mossad]] estimate and writes that the Israelis may have been exploiting their special relationship with James Jesus Angleton.[^21][^22]
On June 1, 1967, Helms's deputy, Vice Admiral [[Rufus Taylor]], wrote the memorandum of the conversation between Major General [[Meir Amit]] and Secretary of Defense [[Robert S. McNamara]], captioned "Personal and Eyes Only for the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence."[^17] Robarge writes that Helms met a senior Israeli official on June 1 who hinted that Israel could no longer avoid a decision, that the official left the United States on June 2, and that that morning Helms wrote an "Eyes Only" letter to President Johnson forewarning that Israel probably would start a war within a few days.[^18] Helms was awakened at 3:00 a.m. on June 5 by a call from the CIA Operations Center. He recalled that "in the midst of one meeting" during the war Johnson asked how accurate his intelligence on the progress of the war was, and that he answered: "It's accurate just as long as the Israelis are winning."[^16]
On June 1, 1967, Helms's deputy, Vice Admiral [[Rufus Taylor]], wrote the memorandum of the conversation between Major General [[Meir Amit]] and Secretary of Defense [[Robert S. McNamara]], captioned "Personal and Eyes Only for the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence."[^23] Robarge writes that Helms met a senior Israeli official on June 1 who hinted that Israel could no longer avoid a decision, that the official left the United States on June 2, and that that morning Helms wrote an "Eyes Only" letter to President Johnson forewarning that Israel probably would start a war within a few days.[^24] Helms was awakened at 3:00 a.m. on June 5 by a call from the CIA Operations Center. He recalled that "in the midst of one meeting" during the war Johnson asked how accurate his intelligence on the progress of the war was, and that he answered: "It's accurate just as long as the Israelis are winning."[^22]
### NUMEC letter, April 1968
On April 2, 1968, Helms wrote to Attorney General [[Ramsey Clark]] asking that the FBI "initiate a discreet intelligence investigation of an all source nature of Dr. Shapiro in order to establish the nature and extent of his relationship with the Government of Israel," and asked that the letter be returned to him once the Attorney General had acted, because the subject matter was "so sensitive for obvious reasons." A twelve-line passage before the request remains redacted.[^19] The subject was [[Zalman Mordecai Shapiro]] of the [[Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation]].
On April 2, 1968, Helms wrote to Attorney General [[Ramsey Clark]] asking that the FBI "initiate a discreet intelligence investigation of an all source nature of Dr. Shapiro in order to establish the nature and extent of his relationship with the Government of Israel," and asked that the letter be returned to him once the Attorney General had acted, because the subject matter was "so sensitive for obvious reasons." A twelve-line passage before the request remains redacted.[^25] The subject was [[Zalman Mordecai Shapiro]] of the [[Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation]].
### Israel: The "Open Pipeline" Assessment
Helms developed a personal conviction, disclosed to his deputies, that Israel was providing American satellite intelligence to the [[Soviet Union]] as part of an undisclosed intelligence exchange - characterizing Israel as "an open pipeline for pumping intelligence to Moscow." He never officially reported this assessment or commissioned a formal investigation, and he took no documented action on it. His reluctance reflected both the sensitivity of accusing an ally and the particular weight of any assessment that ran against the interests managed by Angleton's [[KK MOUNTAIN]] Israeli liaison program.
When President Johnson sought an intelligence assessment of whether Israel had manufactured nuclear weapons, Helms provided the estimate (four warheads) and then obeyed Johnson's instruction that the finding be buried rather than formally reported. Johnson did not want intelligence conclusions that would require him to act on them politically. Helms's willingness to suppress an accurate intelligence product at presidential direction exemplified the institutional failure the Church Committee later documented.[^20]
When President Johnson sought an intelligence assessment of whether Israel had manufactured nuclear weapons, Helms provided the estimate (four warheads) and then obeyed Johnson's instruction that the finding be buried rather than formally reported. Johnson did not want intelligence conclusions that would require him to act on them politically. Helms's willingness to suppress an accurate intelligence product at presidential direction exemplified the institutional failure the Church Committee later documented.[^26]
### Iran, Retirement, and Memoirs
@ -98,39 +98,40 @@ He published his memoirs, *A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intell
### Irvani, Safeer and the 1978 Financial General Bid
Helms was dismissed as director of central intelligence by President Richard Nixon in February 1973 and was then appointed ambassador to Iran until 1977, where he met [[Mohammed Rahim Motaghi Irvani]], an Iranian industrialist who had founded the Melli Industrial Group in 1949.[^21] On October 31, 1977 Helms pleaded no contest to two charges, in return for a government recommendation that he not be sentenced to prison. In the fall of 1977 [[Clark Clifford]] visited a senior Justice Department official to argue against an indictment, saying that such charges could damage the U.S. intelligence community.[^21]
Helms was dismissed as director of central intelligence by President Richard Nixon in February 1973 and was then appointed ambassador to Iran until 1977, where he met [[Mohammed Rahim Motaghi Irvani]], an Iranian industrialist who had founded the Melli Industrial Group in 1949.[^27] On October 31, 1977 Helms pleaded no contest to two charges, in return for a government recommendation that he not be sentenced to prison. In the fall of 1977 [[Clark Clifford]] visited a senior Justice Department official to argue against an indictment, saying that such charges could damage the U.S. intelligence community.[^27]
Helms ran an international consulting firm, Safeer, which the Senate report says was named for the Iranian word for "Ambassador." Irvani financed the firm at the time the presiding federal judge described Helms as "in disgrace and shame." According to corporate records and documents filed in civil litigation in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Irvani capitalized and owned 80 percent of Safeer, and [[Roy P. M. Carlson]], a former Bank of America officer whom [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] had introduced to Irvani, became its vice president and handled much of its early business.[^22]
Helms ran an international consulting firm, Safeer, which the Senate report says was named for the Iranian word for "Ambassador." Irvani financed the firm at the time the presiding federal judge described Helms as "in disgrace and shame." According to corporate records and documents filed in civil litigation in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Irvani capitalized and owned 80 percent of Safeer, and [[Roy P. M. Carlson]], a former Bank of America officer whom [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] had introduced to Irvani, became its vice president and handled much of its early business.[^28]
The original 1978 filing with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] listed Irvani as a 5 percent shareholder of [[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]] (CCAH), and the Senate report describes him as BCCI's lead front man in the early 1978 takeover attempt against [[Financial General Bankshares]]. The report says that Helms advised Irvani on how to be protected from any liability in that role, and that several documents introduced in litigation in Georgia describe Abedi recruiting Irvani in early 1978 to act as a front man.[^23]
The original 1978 filing with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] listed Irvani as a 5 percent shareholder of [[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]] (CCAH), and the Senate report describes him as BCCI's lead front man in the early 1978 takeover attempt against [[Financial General Bankshares]]. The report says that Helms advised Irvani on how to be protected from any liability in that role, and that several documents introduced in litigation in Georgia describe Abedi recruiting Irvani in early 1978 to act as a front man.[^29]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Powers, Thomas. *The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA.* Knopf, 1979 (the essential biography, based on extensive interviews). Church Committee (Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities). Final Report, S. Rept. 94-755, April 26, 1976.
[^2]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies*, Book V, Final Report, April 23, 1976, p. 5. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^3]: Book V, p. 73 (Belin memorandum to the Rockefeller Commission, May 20, 1975, p. 1). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^4]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, p. 269 and note 1. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^5]: Book V, pp. 70-72 (Helms testimony of July 17 and 18, 1975; testimony of 7/17/75, pp. 118-119, and 7/18/75, pp. 36-37). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^6]: Book V, p. 69. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^7]: Book V, p. 7. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^8]: U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations*, 1979, Part I-D, p. 253 and note 8. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1d.html
[^9]: Same report, Part I-C, p. 128. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1c.html
[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, Inspector General (J. S. Earman), "Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro," May 23, 1967, covering memorandum and pp. 88-89 (JFK record 104-10213-10101). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10213-10101.pdf
[^11]: Same report, p. 94. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10213-10101.pdf
[^12]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, S. Rept. 94-755, April 26, 1976, p. 389 (MKULTRA records destroyed January 1973 on Gottlieb's verbal orders; Gottlieb testifying that he carried out Helms's verbal order; Helms confirming).
[^13]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapters 1, 4, 12.
[^14]: Church Committee. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders." Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975 (documents ZR/RIFLE). Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown, 2017.
[^15]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 61, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, May 25, 1967, with attached CIA appraisal. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
[^16]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf
[^17]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 124, Memorandum for the Record by Vice Admiral Rufus Taylor, June 1, 1967 (prepared June 2). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d124
[^18]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf For the June 1 to 2 meeting Robarge relies on published accounts, among them Michael B. Oren's, which rest on Amit's interviews and writings.
[^19]: National Security Archive, "The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program?" (November 2, 2016), Document 8, Letter from Richard Helms to Ramsey Clark, April 2, 1968 (ISCAP Appeal No. 2013-062). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-11-02/numec-affair-did-highly-enriched-uranium-us-aid-israels-nuclear-weapons-program
[^20]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991. Chapters 11, 14, 16.
[^21]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence" (the section on Richard Helms and Mohammed Irvani; text preceding notes 49 to 51). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^22]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11 (Safeer's name, its capitalization and the Carlson passages; text following note 51 through note 57; *G&H Montage GmbH v. Irvani*, Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia, 88-A-03571-6). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^23]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry" (Irvani listed in the original SEC filing as a 5 percent shareholder of CCAH; recruitment by Abedi in early 1978, note 49); ch. 11 (Helms's advice to Irvani on liability). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^24]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973*, Staff Report, December 1975, PDF pages 29 and 37. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94chile.pdf
[^25]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, Chile, 1969-1973, document 93, Editorial Note, with Helms's notes. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d93
[^26]: Kissinger testimony of August 12, 1975, as quoted in *FRUS 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, document 93, Editorial Note: "President Nixon did almost all of the talking."
[^27]: National Security Archive, "Kissinger and Chile: The Declassified Record on Regime Change," Electronic Briefing Book No. 437, document 1, Helms-Kissinger telephone conversation, September 12, 1970, 12:00 noon. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB437/
[^28]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, document 94, Memorandum for the Record, Washington, September 16, 1970. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d94
[^2]: Helms, Richard, with William Hood. *A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency*. New York: Random House, 2003, pp. 22-25.
[^3]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies*, Book V, Final Report, April 23, 1976, p. 5. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^4]: Book V, p. 73 (Belin memorandum to the Rockefeller Commission, May 20, 1975, p. 1). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, p. 269 and note 1. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^6]: Book V, pp. 70-72 (Helms testimony of July 17 and 18, 1975; testimony of 7/17/75, pp. 118-119, and 7/18/75, pp. 36-37). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^7]: Book V, p. 69. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^8]: Book V, p. 7. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_V.pdf
[^9]: U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations*, 1979, Part I-D, p. 253 and note 8. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1d.html
[^10]: Same report, Part I-C, p. 128. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1c.html
[^11]: Central Intelligence Agency, Inspector General (J. S. Earman), "Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro," May 23, 1967, covering memorandum and pp. 88-89 (JFK record 104-10213-10101). https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10213-10101.pdf
[^12]: Same report, p. 94. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10213-10101.pdf
[^13]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, S. Rept. 94-755, April 26, 1976, p. 389 (MKULTRA records destroyed January 1973 on Gottlieb's verbal orders; Gottlieb testifying that he carried out Helms's verbal order; Helms confirming).
[^14]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapters 1, 4, 12.
[^15]: Church Committee. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders." Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975 (documents ZR/RIFLE). Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown, 2017.
[^16]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973*, Staff Report, December 1975, PDF pages 29 and 37. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94chile.pdf
[^17]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, Chile, 1969-1973, document 93, Editorial Note, with Helms's notes. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d93
[^18]: Kissinger testimony of August 12, 1975, as quoted in *FRUS 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, document 93, Editorial Note: "President Nixon did almost all of the talking."
[^19]: National Security Archive, "Kissinger and Chile: The Declassified Record on Regime Change," Electronic Briefing Book No. 437, document 1, Helms-Kissinger telephone conversation, September 12, 1970, 12:00 noon. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB437/
[^20]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, Volume XXI, document 94, Memorandum for the Record, Washington, September 16, 1970. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d94
[^21]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 61, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, May 25, 1967, with attached CIA appraisal. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
[^22]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf
[^23]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 124, Memorandum for the Record by Vice Admiral Rufus Taylor, June 1, 1967 (prepared June 2). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d124
[^24]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf For the June 1 to 2 meeting Robarge relies on published accounts, among them Michael B. Oren's, which rest on Amit's interviews and writings.
[^25]: National Security Archive, "The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program?" (November 2, 2016), Document 8, Letter from Richard Helms to Ramsey Clark, April 2, 1968 (ISCAP Appeal No. 2013-062). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-11-02/numec-affair-did-highly-enriched-uranium-us-aid-israels-nuclear-weapons-program
[^26]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991. Chapters 11, 14, 16.
[^27]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence" (the section on Richard Helms and Mohammed Irvani; text preceding notes 49 to 51). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^28]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11 (Safeer's name, its capitalization and the Carlson passages; text following note 51 through note 57; *G&H Montage GmbH v. Irvani*, Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia, 88-A-03571-6). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^29]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry" (Irvani listed in the original SEC filing as a 5 percent shareholder of CCAH; recruitment by Abedi in early 1978, note 49); ch. 11 (Helms's advice to Irvani on liability). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm

162
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Robert Kennedy.md
View file

@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ tags:
- SirhanSirhan
- Assassination
created: 2026-10-07
updated: 2026-10-07
updated: 2026-10-14
summary: "Robert F. Kennedy was chief counsel of the McClellan Committee, Attorney General under John F. Kennedy, and a United States senator and presidential candidate shot in Los Angeles in 1968."
born: 1925-11-20
died: 1968-06-06
@ -31,6 +31,18 @@ relations:
start: 1957
role: "chief counsel"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]]"
role: "assistant counsel"
start: 1953-01-15
end: 1953-08
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]]"
role: "minority counsel"
start: 1954
end: 1954
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Department of Justice]]"
start: 1961
@ -40,113 +52,117 @@ relations:
with: "[[Jimmy Hoffa]]"
start: 1957-08-20
role: "chief counsel examining Hoffa in committee hearings"
fn: 5
fn: 7
- type: informant_for
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "voluntary informant, per CIA file 201-211732"
fn: 7
fn: 9
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Mongoose]]"
start: 1961-11
role: "member, Special Group (Augmented)"
fn: 10
fn: 12
- type: relative_of
with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 10
fn: 12
---
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 to June 6, 1968) was chief counsel of the [[Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field]], known as the [[McClellan Committee]], and served as [[Attorney General of the United States]] under his brother [[John F. Kennedy]] from 1961.[^1][^2] As a United States senator and candidate for president he was shot in [[Los Angeles]] on June 5, 1968.[^3]
[[Seymour Hersh]] writes that in an interview published in 1988 by the [[John F. Kennedy Library]], Kennedy said of [[Myer Feldman]] that his older brother had valued Feldman's work, but that Feldman's major interest was [[Israel]] rather than the [[United States]].[^4]
### Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 1953 and 1954
Robert F. Kennedy served as an assistant counsel to the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] under [[Joseph McCarthy]] and chief counsel [[Roy Cohn]] in 1953. McCarthy had considered Kennedy for the chief counsel post before offering it to Cohn.[^5] The subcommittee's roster lists Kennedy among its assistant counsels, alongside [[G. David Schine]] as chief consultant.[^5] In August 1953 Kennedy resigned after coming to blows with Cohn, telling the chairman that the subcommittee was "headed for disaster."[^6] He returned as minority counsel in 1954.[^6]
### McClellan Committee and the Hoffa hearings
Kennedy joined the McClellan Committee as chief counsel in 1957, under the committee chairman, [[John L. McClellan]]; Senator John F. Kennedy was among its members.[^1] At the hearing that opened July 31, 1957, McClellan's opening statement said the committee expected evidence that [[Jimmy Hoffa]], "through the help of racketeers," had supported [[John O'Rourke]] in obtaining control of joint council No. 16 of New York, and that Hoffa was going to tie up with the [[International Longshoremen's Association]]. "Hoffa would have a stranglehold over the port of New York," the statement said. Kennedy then explained the committee's charts to the members.[^1]
Hoffa was sworn on August 20, 1957, with the attorney [[George S. Fitzgerald]] at his side. After reading a prepared statement reserving the right to review the transcript and to decline questions outside the committee's authority, Hoffa answered Kennedy's examination, which began with his career in the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters]] since about 1932 and his presidency of a Detroit local. Kennedy asked about a federal antitrust charge arising from a wastepaper organizing drive (Hoffa said it ended in a nolo contendere plea and a $1,000 fine), a 1946 extortion indictment (Hoffa said it was reduced to a misdemeanor under a Michigan statute), and the J & H Sales Co. Kennedy told the witness: "I am not saying whether you are guilty or not guilty."[^5]
Hoffa was sworn on August 20, 1957, with the attorney [[George S. Fitzgerald]] at his side. After reading a prepared statement reserving the right to review the transcript and to decline questions outside the committee's authority, Hoffa answered Kennedy's examination, which began with his career in the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters]] since about 1932 and his presidency of a Detroit local. Kennedy asked about a federal antitrust charge arising from a wastepaper organizing drive (Hoffa said it ended in a nolo contendere plea and a $1,000 fine), a 1946 extortion indictment (Hoffa said it was reduced to a misdemeanor under a Michigan statute), and the J & H Sales Co. Kennedy told the witness: "I am not saying whether you are guilty or not guilty."[^7]
Hoffa returned as president of the Teamsters on August 5, 1958, with the attorneys [[Edward Bennett Williams]], Fitzgerald and [[David Previant]], and was examined by Kennedy again in the August 13 to 20 and September 11 to November 17, 1958 sessions and in June and July 1959.[^6]
Hoffa returned as president of the Teamsters on August 5, 1958, with the attorneys [[Edward Bennett Williams]], Fitzgerald and [[David Previant]], and was examined by Kennedy again in the August 13 to 20 and September 11 to November 17, 1958 sessions and in June and July 1959.[^8]
### Central Intelligence Agency personality file, 1958 to 1964
The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] opened a personality file on Kennedy on January 7, 1958, when he was counsel to the Senate investigations subcommittee. The file's summary lists documents on his 1955 trip to the [[Soviet Union]] with Justice [[William O. Douglas]], a list of questions on which the Soviet Russia Division wanted information ("Requirements for US Citizens Travelling in South Central Asia"), reports of agency contacts with Kennedy or Douglas, and "Information Reports" based on information Kennedy supplied on his return, published by the Office of Operations from January to April 1956. A July 20, 1955 field dispatch (NITA-4680) reports a contact with Kennedy in Tehran by station personnel.[^7]
The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] opened a personality file on Kennedy on January 7, 1958, when he was counsel to the Senate investigations subcommittee. The file's summary lists documents on his 1955 trip to the [[Soviet Union]] with Justice [[William O. Douglas]], a list of questions on which the Soviet Russia Division wanted information ("Requirements for US Citizens Travelling in South Central Asia"), reports of agency contacts with Kennedy or Douglas, and "Information Reports" based on information Kennedy supplied on his return, published by the Office of Operations from January to April 1956. A July 20, 1955 field dispatch (NITA-4680) reports a contact with Kennedy in Tehran by station personnel.[^9]
On March 16, 1964, Branch 4 of the Covert Action Staff requested covert security approval for Kennedy to serve on the Planning and Guidance Committee for the [[Practical Politics Institute]] under Project ORSENSE, which was designed to train U.S. trade unionists being sent overseas to work with foreign trade unionists. The request form states that Kennedy "will be witting of Agency interest in the Institute and will know the students to be employed by the Agency," and the summary says it was planned for him to be "a lecturer and 'front' man" for the institute. The summary adds that the institute was apparently never established and that there is no record that the approval was granted or that a formal relationship with him existed. Its closing sentence reads: "In short this file reflects only that Mr. Kennedy served the Agency as a voluntary informant."[^7]
On March 16, 1964, Branch 4 of the Covert Action Staff requested covert security approval for Kennedy to serve on the Planning and Guidance Committee for the [[Practical Politics Institute]] under Project ORSENSE, which was designed to train U.S. trade unionists being sent overseas to work with foreign trade unionists. The request form states that Kennedy "will be witting of Agency interest in the Institute and will know the students to be employed by the Agency," and the summary says it was planned for him to be "a lecturer and 'front' man" for the institute. The summary adds that the institute was apparently never established and that there is no record that the approval was granted or that a formal relationship with him existed. Its closing sentence reads: "In short this file reflects only that Mr. Kennedy served the Agency as a voluntary informant."[^9]
### Attorney General, Marcello and Operation Mongoose
A [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] deportation sent [[Carlos Marcello]] to [[Guatemala]] on April 4, 1961. A May 24, 1961 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] memorandum from R. O. Lallier to A. H. Belmont, reporting a May 12 interview in Guatemala City, records the account of [[Paul Loeb]], chief of the CIA station there. Loeb said it was his understanding that Attorney General Kennedy had conferred with [[Allen Dulles]] and asked for the CIA director's help in making certain Guatemala accepted Marcello as a citizen, and that he received instructions from headquarters to give the matter special handling. Loeb said he then approached President [[Miguel Ydigoras]], who insisted that the matter be handled quietly, and that he was at the airport when Marcello arrived on a U.S. Border Patrol plane to find 15 to 20 reporters waiting. According to the memorandum, Marcello was to be returned to the United States on or about May 10 but did not appear at the airport, and Loeb was convinced he was living on a farm in the interior of Guatemala.[^8]
A [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] deportation sent [[Carlos Marcello]] to [[Guatemala]] on April 4, 1961. A May 24, 1961 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] memorandum from R. O. Lallier to A. H. Belmont, reporting a May 12 interview in Guatemala City, records the account of [[Paul Loeb]], chief of the CIA station there. Loeb said it was his understanding that Attorney General Kennedy had conferred with [[Allen Dulles]] and asked for the CIA director's help in making certain Guatemala accepted Marcello as a citizen, and that he received instructions from headquarters to give the matter special handling. Loeb said he then approached President [[Miguel Ydigoras]], who insisted that the matter be handled quietly, and that he was at the airport when Marcello arrived on a U.S. Border Patrol plane to find 15 to 20 reporters waiting. According to the memorandum, Marcello was to be returned to the United States on or about May 10 but did not appear at the airport, and Loeb was convinced he was living on a farm in the interior of Guatemala.[^10]
On November 1, 1961, the White House aide [[Richard Goodwin]] wrote to President Kennedy that "the Attorney General would be the most effective commander" of a "command operation" for Cuba. After a White House meeting on November 3, 1961 on a new program against [[Fidel Castro]], Kennedy's handwritten notes read: "My idea is to stir things up on island with espionage, sabotage, general disorder, run & operated by Cubans themselves with every group but Batistaites & Communists." A presidential memorandum of November 22 assigned the direction of the program to the Attorney General, with [[Edward Lansdale]] as his chief of operations; the version issued on November 30 placed the program "under the general guidance of General Lansdale, acting as Chief of Operations," and assigned the Attorney General no direction role.[^9]
On November 1, 1961, the White House aide [[Richard Goodwin]] wrote to President Kennedy that "the Attorney General would be the most effective commander" of a "command operation" for Cuba. After a White House meeting on November 3, 1961 on a new program against [[Fidel Castro]], Kennedy's handwritten notes read: "My idea is to stir things up on island with espionage, sabotage, general disorder, run & operated by Cubans themselves with every group but Batistaites & Communists." A presidential memorandum of November 22 assigned the direction of the program to the Attorney General, with [[Edward Lansdale]] as his chief of operations; the version issued on November 30 placed the program "under the general guidance of General Lansdale, acting as Chief of Operations," and assigned the Attorney General no direction role.[^11]
The program, [[Operation Mongoose]], was overseen by a group called the Special Group (Augmented) ([[NSC Special Group|Special Group (Augmented)]]), consisting of the regular Special Group members ([[McGeorge Bundy]], [[U. Alexis Johnson]], [[Roswell Gilpatric]], [[John McCone]] and [[Lyman Lemnitzer]]) augmented by Robert Kennedy and General [[Maxwell Taylor]]. President Kennedy appointed Taylor chairman of the group. The State Department editors of the Foreign Relations series wrote that Robert Kennedy "was the principal motive force within the group and the informal link between the group and the President," and the [[Church Committee]] wrote that Kennedy "played an active role in the MONGOOSE Operation, a role unrelated to his position as Attorney General."[^9][^10] The Church Committee also records Goodwin's proposal that Kennedy head Mongoose and the President's decision to give Lansdale the coordinating task instead.[^10]
The program, [[Operation Mongoose]], was overseen by a group called the Special Group (Augmented) ([[NSC Special Group|Special Group (Augmented)]]), consisting of the regular Special Group members ([[McGeorge Bundy]], [[U. Alexis Johnson]], [[Roswell Gilpatric]], [[John McCone]] and [[Lyman Lemnitzer]]) augmented by Robert Kennedy and General [[Maxwell Taylor]]. President Kennedy appointed Taylor chairman of the group. The State Department editors of the Foreign Relations series wrote that Robert Kennedy "was the principal motive force within the group and the informal link between the group and the President," and the [[Church Committee]] wrote that Kennedy "played an active role in the MONGOOSE Operation, a role unrelated to his position as Attorney General."[^11][^12] The Church Committee also records Goodwin's proposal that Kennedy head Mongoose and the President's decision to give Lansdale the coordinating task instead.[^12]
In October 1962 the CIA project officer for Mongoose, [[William Harvey]], asked Lansdale to put before the Special Group (Augmented) a request for policy approval to sabotage Cuban-owned vessels "wherever and whenever secure access to them can be attained," normally in non-Bloc ports, as "targets of opportunity."[^11] At the group's meeting on October 4, 1962, Kennedy stated that the President "is concerned about progress on the MONGOOSE program and feels that more priority should be given to trying to mount sabotage operations," and urged "massive activity"; the group decided that "considerably more sabotage" should be undertaken.[^12] At the group's meeting of October 26, 1962, with the Attorney General present, it was agreed that agent-team dispatches be suspended and that no major acts of sabotage be undertaken for the time being.[^13] The Church Committee records that on October 30, 1962 the group ordered a halt to all sabotage operations, and its chronology lists November 1962 as the end of Mongoose.[^12] On January 4, 1963 Bundy wrote to the President that "there is well nigh universal agreement that Mongoose is at a dead end" and proposed that the Mongoose office be disbanded, naming [[Nicholas Katzenbach]] as the Attorney General's delegate to the interdepartmental group that had drafted the reorganization.[^14]
In October 1962 the CIA project officer for Mongoose, [[William Harvey]], asked Lansdale to put before the Special Group (Augmented) a request for policy approval to sabotage Cuban-owned vessels "wherever and whenever secure access to them can be attained," normally in non-Bloc ports, as "targets of opportunity."[^13] At the group's meeting on October 4, 1962, Kennedy stated that the President "is concerned about progress on the MONGOOSE program and feels that more priority should be given to trying to mount sabotage operations," and urged "massive activity"; the group decided that "considerably more sabotage" should be undertaken.[^14] At the group's meeting of October 26, 1962, with the Attorney General present, it was agreed that agent-team dispatches be suspended and that no major acts of sabotage be undertaken for the time being.[^15] The Church Committee records that on October 30, 1962 the group ordered a halt to all sabotage operations, and its chronology lists November 1962 as the end of Mongoose.[^14] On January 4, 1963 Bundy wrote to the President that "there is well nigh universal agreement that Mongoose is at a dead end" and proposed that the Mongoose office be disbanded, naming [[Nicholas Katzenbach]] as the Attorney General's delegate to the interdepartmental group that had drafted the reorganization.[^16]
In October 1963 [[Desmond FitzGerald]] met the Cuban official [[AM/LASH]] and represented himself as Robert Kennedy's personal representative; the contact plan stated that FitzGerald "will represent self as personal representative of Robert F. Kennedy." The Inspector General's report states that, according to FitzGerald, [[Richard Helms]] decided "it was not necessary to seek approval from Robert Kennedy for Fitzgerald to speak in his name." Helms testified that he did not recall such a discussion and that he "felt so sure that if I went to see Mr. Kennedy that he would have said yes, that I don't think there was any need to." The case officer present, identified as Case Officer 2, "did not recall whether Robert Kennedy's name was used."[^15]
In October 1963 [[Desmond FitzGerald]] met the Cuban official [[AM/LASH]] and represented himself as Robert Kennedy's personal representative; the contact plan stated that FitzGerald "will represent self as personal representative of Robert F. Kennedy." The Inspector General's report states that, according to FitzGerald, [[Richard Helms]] decided "it was not necessary to seek approval from Robert Kennedy for Fitzgerald to speak in his name." Helms testified that he did not recall such a discussion and that he "felt so sure that if I went to see Mr. Kennedy that he would have said yes, that I don't think there was any need to." The case officer present, identified as Case Officer 2, "did not recall whether Robert Kennedy's name was used."[^17]
### The May 7, 1962 briefing on the Giancana and Maheu operation
On May 7, 1962, [[Sheffield Edwards]], the agency's director of security, and its general counsel, [[Lawrence Houston]], briefed Kennedy on the operation that had used [[Johnny Roselli]], [[Sam Giancana]] and [[Robert Maheu]] against Castro. The agency wanted the prosecution of Maheu's wiretappers in [[Las Vegas]] dropped. The Attorney General's calendar for that day lists a 1:00 meeting with Helms and a 4:00 meeting, and Helms testified that he did not recall meeting the Attorney General on May 7.[^16]
On May 7, 1962, [[Sheffield Edwards]], the agency's director of security, and its general counsel, [[Lawrence Houston]], briefed Kennedy on the operation that had used [[Johnny Roselli]], [[Sam Giancana]] and [[Robert Maheu]] against Castro. The agency wanted the prosecution of Maheu's wiretappers in [[Las Vegas]] dropped. The Attorney General's calendar for that day lists a 1:00 meeting with Helms and a 4:00 meeting, and Helms testified that he did not recall meeting the Attorney General on May 7.[^18]
Edwards wrote a memorandum to the Attorney General dated May 14, 1962. On April 24, 1962, [[Herbert J. Miller]], Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, had advised that the "national interest" would preclude prosecution based on the tap. After the CIA briefing, a decision was made not to prosecute.[^16]
Edwards wrote a memorandum to the Attorney General dated May 14, 1962. On April 24, 1962, [[Herbert J. Miller]], Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, had advised that the "national interest" would preclude prosecution based on the tap. After the CIA briefing, a decision was made not to prosecute.[^18]
[[J. Edgar Hoover]] recorded a May 9, 1962 meeting with Kennedy in a memorandum dated May 10. In it the Attorney General is quoted as saying that the CIA had assisted Maheu in the installation and that the agency "could not afford to have any action taken against Giancana and Maheu." Hoover also recorded Kennedy's awareness that the "gutter gossip" linked the failure to act against Giancana to Giancana's relationship with [[Frank Sinatra]].[^16]
[[J. Edgar Hoover]] recorded a May 9, 1962 meeting with Kennedy in a memorandum dated May 10. In it the Attorney General is quoted as saying that the CIA had assisted Maheu in the installation and that the agency "could not afford to have any action taken against Giancana and Maheu." Hoover also recorded Kennedy's awareness that the "gutter gossip" linked the failure to act against Giancana to Giancana's relationship with [[Frank Sinatra]].[^18]
Houston testified: "If you have seen Mr. Kennedy's eyes get steely and his jaw set and his voice get low and precise, you get a definite feeling of unhappiness." Edwards testified that Kennedy said at the end of the briefing, "I want you to let me know about these things," or words to that effect.[^16] The agency's Inspector General concluded that the Attorney General "was not told that the gambling syndicate operation had already been reactivated," and was never told that the CIA had a continuing involvement with gangster elements.[^16]
Houston testified: "If you have seen Mr. Kennedy's eyes get steely and his jaw set and his voice get low and precise, you get a definite feeling of unhappiness." Edwards testified that Kennedy said at the end of the briefing, "I want you to let me know about these things," or words to that effect.[^18] The agency's Inspector General concluded that the Attorney General "was not told that the gambling syndicate operation had already been reactivated," and was never told that the CIA had a continuing involvement with gangster elements.[^18]
### Bolshakov channel and the Cuban Missile Crisis
A Khrushchev letter of September 29, 1961 reached the White House through [[Georgi Bolshakov]], who handed it to [[Pierre Salinger]] at the Carlyle Hotel in New York on September 30.[^17] A second Khrushchev letter, dated November 9, 1961, was delivered to Salinger by Bolshakov, identified as editor of the magazine USSR, on November 11.[^18]
A Khrushchev letter of September 29, 1961 reached the White House through [[Georgi Bolshakov]], who handed it to [[Pierre Salinger]] at the Carlyle Hotel in New York on September 30.[^19] A second Khrushchev letter, dated November 9, 1961, was delivered to Salinger by Bolshakov, identified as editor of the magazine USSR, on November 11.[^20]
[[Justin Chandler]] writes that the New York Daily News correspondent [[Frank Holeman]], a friend of Bolshakov, asked him on April 29, 1961 whether it would be better to meet Robert Kennedy directly; that Bolshakov, whom Chandler describes as a member of the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate, met Kennedy outside the Justice Department gate on May 9, 1961; and that they met repeatedly afterward, including at the Kennedy home in Hickory Hill. Kennedy said in an oral history interview that "most of the major matters dealing with the Soviet Union in the United States were discussed," and that "arrangements were made, really, between Georgi Bolshakov and myself. He was Khrushchev's representative."[^19] The Foreign Relations editorial note on a later meeting describes Bolshakov as "ostensibly Press Attache of the Soviet Union but reputedly one of the leading KGB officials in Washington and a direct link to Chairman Khrushchev."[^20]
[[Justin Chandler]] writes that the New York Daily News correspondent [[Frank Holeman]], a friend of Bolshakov, asked him on April 29, 1961 whether it would be better to meet Robert Kennedy directly; that Bolshakov, whom Chandler describes as a member of the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate, met Kennedy outside the Justice Department gate on May 9, 1961; and that they met repeatedly afterward, including at the Kennedy home in Hickory Hill. Kennedy said in an oral history interview that "most of the major matters dealing with the Soviet Union in the United States were discussed," and that "arrangements were made, really, between Georgi Bolshakov and myself. He was Khrushchev's representative."[^21] The Foreign Relations editorial note on a later meeting describes Bolshakov as "ostensibly Press Attache of the Soviet Union but reputedly one of the leading KGB officials in Washington and a direct link to Chairman Khrushchev."[^22]
Chandler writes that on October 22, 1962 Khrushchev sent a message through Bolshakov saying "no missile capable of reaching the United States would be placed in Cuba," that Robert Kennedy was "reported to say" of Bolshakov, "that son of a bitch has got to go," and that there is no evidence Bolshakov knew the exact nature of the weapons in Cuba. Chandler attributes the first passage to [[Richard Ned Lebow]] and [[Janice Gross Stein]] and the second to [[Dino Brugioni]].[^21]
Chandler writes that on October 22, 1962 Khrushchev sent a message through Bolshakov saying "no missile capable of reaching the United States would be placed in Cuba," that Robert Kennedy was "reported to say" of Bolshakov, "that son of a bitch has got to go," and that there is no evidence Bolshakov knew the exact nature of the weapons in Cuba. Chandler attributes the first passage to [[Richard Ned Lebow]] and [[Janice Gross Stein]] and the second to [[Dino Brugioni]].[^23]
At 9:30 p.m. on October 23, 1962 Kennedy met the Soviet ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] on the third floor of the Soviet embassy. His memorandum to the President of October 24 states that he told the ambassador he was there "on my own and not on the instructions of the President," and that "the duplicity of the Russians had been a major contributing factor." He recorded Dobrynin's answer that he had told Kennedy no missiles were in Cuba, that Khrushchev had given similar assurances through [[TASS]], and that as far as Dobrynin knew there were still none.[^2]
On the afternoon of November 19, 1962 Kennedy met Bolshakov and warned that unless the Soviet Union withdrew its IL-28 bombers from Cuba the United States was prepared to resume low-level reconnaissance; the Foreign Relations editorial note states that the Robert Kennedy Papers were not open to its historians and cites [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]]'s biography for the meeting.[^20] On December 14, 1962 President Kennedy wrote to Khrushchev that "we have been very glad to have opportunities for private exchanges with and through Mr. Bolshakov, and I am sorry to learn that he is returning to Moscow."[^22]
On the afternoon of November 19, 1962 Kennedy met Bolshakov and warned that unless the Soviet Union withdrew its IL-28 bombers from Cuba the United States was prepared to resume low-level reconnaissance; the Foreign Relations editorial note states that the Robert Kennedy Papers were not open to its historians and cites [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]]'s biography for the meeting.[^22] On December 14, 1962 President Kennedy wrote to Khrushchev that "we have been very glad to have opportunities for private exchanges with and through Mr. Bolshakov, and I am sorry to learn that he is returning to Moscow."[^24]
### Wiretaps on Martin Luther King Jr.
In September 1963 Assistant Director William Sullivan recommended to Hoover wiretaps on [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s home and the offices of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]; a note by Associate Director [[Clyde Tolson]] on the memorandum observed that the Attorney General "turned down a similar recommendation on July 22, 1963." On October 7, 1963, citing "possible communist influence in the racial situation," Hoover requested the Attorney General's permission for a wiretap "on King at his current address or at any future address to which he may move" and on the SCLC office in New York. Kennedy signed the request on October 10 and on October 21 approved coverage of the SCLC office in Atlanta.[^23]
In September 1963 Assistant Director William Sullivan recommended to Hoover wiretaps on [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s home and the offices of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]; a note by Associate Director [[Clyde Tolson]] on the memorandum observed that the Attorney General "turned down a similar recommendation on July 22, 1963." On October 7, 1963, citing "possible communist influence in the racial situation," Hoover requested the Attorney General's permission for a wiretap "on King at his current address or at any future address to which he may move" and on the SCLC office in New York. Kennedy signed the request on October 10 and on October 21 approved coverage of the SCLC office in Atlanta.[^25]
Two memoranda by [[Courtney Evans]] describe the Attorney General's reaction. On October 10 he summoned Evans and, according to Evans, "noted that the last thing we could afford to have would be a discovery of a wiretap on King's residence," then said the FBI should go ahead "on a trial basis." Evans's second memorandum records that Kennedy was "apparently still vacillating" and asked that the coverage be evaluated after thirty days. Wiretaps were installed on the SCLC's New York office on October 24, 1963 and on King's home and the SCLC's Atlanta office on November 8, 1963.[^23]
Two memoranda by [[Courtney Evans]] describe the Attorney General's reaction. On October 10 he summoned Evans and, according to Evans, "noted that the last thing we could afford to have would be a discovery of a wiretap on King's residence," then said the FBI should go ahead "on a trial basis." Evans's second memorandum records that Kennedy was "apparently still vacillating" and asked that the coverage be evaluated after thirty days. Wiretaps were installed on the SCLC's New York office on October 24, 1963 and on King's home and the SCLC's Atlanta office on November 8, 1963.[^25]
The Church Committee wrote that it was not able to ascertain why Kennedy approved in October 1963 a request he had refused in July. [[Burke Marshall]] testified that he had assumed Kennedy authorized the tap because King had not kept a commitment to cease communication with a person the committee calls Adviser A.[^24] [[Edwin Guthman]], Kennedy's press chief at the Justice Department, testified that Kennedy told him in 1968 that his "clear recollection" was that Kennedy's "feeling was that if he did not do it, Mr. Hoover would move to impede or block the passage of the civil rights bill," and that Kennedy felt he might as well settle whether Adviser A had the influence on King the FBI contended.[^25]
The Church Committee wrote that it was not able to ascertain why Kennedy approved in October 1963 a request he had refused in July. [[Burke Marshall]] testified that he had assumed Kennedy authorized the tap because King had not kept a commitment to cease communication with a person the committee calls Adviser A.[^26] [[Edwin Guthman]], Kennedy's press chief at the Justice Department, testified that Kennedy told him in 1968 that his "clear recollection" was that Kennedy's "feeling was that if he did not do it, Mr. Hoover would move to impede or block the passage of the civil rights bill," and that Kennedy felt he might as well settle whether Adviser A had the influence on King the FBI contended.[^27]
### Marilyn Monroe
An FBI report on [[Marilyn Monroe]]'s February 1962 stay in Mexico, relaying accounts from sources, states that she "reportedly spent some time with" Kennedy at the Hollywood home of [[Peter Lawford]], and that she "reportedly challenged Mr. Kennedy on some points proposed to her by" [[Arthur Miller]].[^26]
An FBI report on [[Marilyn Monroe]]'s February 1962 stay in Mexico, relaying accounts from sources, states that she "reportedly spent some time with" Kennedy at the Hollywood home of [[Peter Lawford]], and that she "reportedly challenged Mr. Kennedy on some points proposed to her by" [[Arthur Miller]].[^28]
A 1973 FBI memorandum in file 105-40018 summarizes [[Norman Mailer]]'s book on Monroe. It records rumors that Monroe was having an affair with the then Attorney General and that her death was related to a plot, and says these allegations "were branded false and no factual support existed for them." It records Mailer's suggestion that "'right-wing' FBI and CIA Agents had a 'huge motivation' to murder Marilyn Monroe in order to embarrass the Kennedy family," and notes that the rumors had been repeated in a July 1964 book by [[Frank Capell]].[^27]
A 1973 FBI memorandum in file 105-40018 summarizes [[Norman Mailer]]'s book on Monroe. It records rumors that Monroe was having an affair with the then Attorney General and that her death was related to a plot, and says these allegations "were branded false and no factual support existed for them." It records Mailer's suggestion that "'right-wing' FBI and CIA Agents had a 'huge motivation' to murder Marilyn Monroe in order to embarrass the Kennedy family," and notes that the rumors had been repeated in a July 1964 book by [[Frank Capell]].[^29]
### The 1968 shooting and the investigation files
A Department of State telegram drafted June 5, 1968 and sent to the American embassy in Amman and other posts reported that the "Person currently held by Los Angeles police connection Kennedy shooting" was "now tentatively identified as Sharif Bishary Sirhan," born in Jordan on March 19, 1944 and admitted at New York on January 12, 1957. The telegram instructed all posts to "institute maximum security precautions" and to refrain from comment.[^28]
A Department of State telegram drafted June 5, 1968 and sent to the American embassy in Amman and other posts reported that the "Person currently held by Los Angeles police connection Kennedy shooting" was "now tentatively identified as Sharif Bishary Sirhan," born in Jordan on March 19, 1944 and admitted at New York on January 12, 1957. The telegram instructed all posts to "institute maximum security precautions" and to refrain from comment.[^30]
Governor [[Gavin Newsom]]'s 2022 decision states that [[Sirhan Sirhan]] shot Kennedy at close range in the [[Ambassador Hotel]] and wounded five bystanders (Elizabeth Evans, Ira Goldstein, Paul Schrade, Irwin Stroll and William Weisel); that a jury convicted him of first degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon; and that he was condemned to death on May 22, 1969, a sentence modified in 1972 to life with the possibility of parole.[^3]
A June 14, 1968 CIA memorandum for the record concerns a June 12 meeting with [[John Joseph Boles]], political adviser to the executive officers of [[Occidental Petroleum]]. Boles, who held a doctorate in economics and had twenty years' experience as an area specialist on the Arab Middle East, was convinced that the assassination was the product of a Palestinian group and listed it among fifteen or more political assassinations he attributed to Al-Fateh. The memorandum describes the information as consisting largely of impressions and as inconclusive, and Boles promised to bring back supporting facts after a Middle East trip in early July 1968.[^29]
A June 14, 1968 CIA memorandum for the record concerns a June 12 meeting with [[John Joseph Boles]], political adviser to the executive officers of [[Occidental Petroleum]]. Boles, who held a doctorate in economics and had twenty years' experience as an area specialist on the Arab Middle East, was convinced that the assassination was the product of a Palestinian group and listed it among fifteen or more political assassinations he attributed to Al-Fateh. The memorandum describes the information as consisting largely of impressions and as inconclusive, and Boles promised to bring back supporting facts after a Middle East trip in early July 1968.[^31]
A July 23, 1968 memorandum to the FBI, captioned "Sirhan Investigation," reports that a usually reliable source told the agency's Beirut representative that on June 22, 1968 [[Salim Lawzi]], publisher of the Beirut newspaper Hawadith, told [[Anwar Jamal]], press counselor of the United Arab Republic, that he had met Lebanese figures to study and organize Sirhan's defense. Lawzi said he had received promises of 10,000 Lebanese pounds from [[Kamil Abd al-Rahman]] and 5,000 from [[Hani Salem]] and expected to collect 200,000 to 300,000 Lebanese pounds in Lebanon. The memorandum adds that, according to a reliable source, the United Arab Republic considers Lawzi a strong pro-Nasserist, although he "sometimes strays for opportunistic reasons."[^30]
A July 23, 1968 memorandum to the FBI, captioned "Sirhan Investigation," reports that a usually reliable source told the agency's Beirut representative that on June 22, 1968 [[Salim Lawzi]], publisher of the Beirut newspaper Hawadith, told [[Anwar Jamal]], press counselor of the United Arab Republic, that he had met Lebanese figures to study and organize Sirhan's defense. Lawzi said he had received promises of 10,000 Lebanese pounds from [[Kamil Abd al-Rahman]] and 5,000 from [[Hani Salem]] and expected to collect 200,000 to 300,000 Lebanese pounds in Lebanon. The memorandum adds that, according to a reliable source, the United Arab Republic considers Lawzi a strong pro-Nasserist, although he "sometimes strays for opportunistic reasons."[^32]
A July 1968 memorandum to the FBI on [[Moshe Yaacov Eldar]] records that Eldar, in correspondence with [[Mordechai Stein]], wrote that he had been "summoned" as a witness in the Robert Kennedy murder trial; the agency had no record of him in its central files.[^31]
A July 1968 memorandum to the FBI on [[Moshe Yaacov Eldar]] records that Eldar, in correspondence with [[Mordechai Stein]], wrote that he had been "summoned" as a witness in the Robert Kennedy murder trial; the agency had no record of him in its central files.[^33]
The [[Los Angeles Police Department]]'s investigation was conducted by [[Special Unit Senator]]. Its records, estimated at 50,000 pages with a card index of over 8,200 entries, over 4,800 interviews and 155 items of physical evidence, passed to the [[California State Archives]] in August 1987; the finding aid records that the investigation consumed over 6,400 personnel hours over thirteen months and cost in excess of $289,000, and that the collection includes re-investigative files of 1974 to 1978 on "second-gun" theories and records of the Wolfer Board, an internal police inquiry into allegations against the ballistics examiner [[DeWayne Wolfer]]. The finding aid's index lists interview files for Thane Cesar and for [[Stus Pruszynski]].[^32]
The [[Los Angeles Police Department]]'s investigation was conducted by [[Special Unit Senator]]. Its records, estimated at 50,000 pages with a card index of over 8,200 entries, over 4,800 interviews and 155 items of physical evidence, passed to the [[California State Archives]] in August 1987; the finding aid records that the investigation consumed over 6,400 personnel hours over thirteen months and cost in excess of $289,000, and that the collection includes re-investigative files of 1974 to 1978 on "second-gun" theories and records of the Wolfer Board, an internal police inquiry into allegations against the ballistics examiner [[DeWayne Wolfer]]. The finding aid's index lists interview files for Thane Cesar and for [[Stus Pruszynski]].[^34]
[[Philip M. Van Praag]] presented a 2008 paper to the [[American Academy of Forensic Sciences]] on a "recently re-discovered audio recording (the only known recording of the actual shots)" made during the shooting. His abstract says that some of the original evidence "suggested the presence of a second gun," that the second gun "could not be proven" because of premature destruction of evidence, and that the recording "reveals the presence of two guns as a result of a unique forensic analysis methodology."[^33]
[[Philip M. Van Praag]] presented a 2008 paper to the [[American Academy of Forensic Sciences]] on a "recently re-discovered audio recording (the only known recording of the actual shots)" made during the shooting. His abstract says that some of the original evidence "suggested the presence of a second gun," that the second gun "could not be proven" because of premature destruction of evidence, and that the recording "reveals the presence of two guns as a result of a unique forensic analysis methodology."[^35]
The writer [[Dan Moldea]] wrote that eyewitnesses saw the security guard [[Thane Eugene Cesar]] with his gun drawn, that Cesar told police he was carrying a .38-caliber revolver, that he stood directly behind Kennedy, and that he had owned a .22 which he sold after the shooting and which disappeared. Moldea wrote that Cesar answered "No" when asked in a March 27, 1987 interview whether he had shot Kennedy, and that Cesar passed a polygraph examination administered by [[Edward Gelb]]; Moldea wrote that he then accepted Cesar's innocence.[^34] [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]] wrote on December 14, 2021: "I believe Cesar killed my father," and that "Three witnesses saw him draw his gun" and that "one saw him fire it."[^35]
The writer [[Dan Moldea]] wrote that eyewitnesses saw the security guard [[Thane Eugene Cesar]] with his gun drawn, that Cesar told police he was carrying a .38-caliber revolver, that he stood directly behind Kennedy, and that he had owned a .22 which he sold after the shooting and which disappeared. Moldea wrote that Cesar answered "No" when asked in a March 27, 1987 interview whether he had shot Kennedy, and that Cesar passed a polygraph examination administered by [[Edward Gelb]]; Moldea wrote that he then accepted Cesar's innocence.[^36] [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]] wrote on December 14, 2021: "I believe Cesar killed my father," and that "Three witnesses saw him draw his gun" and that "one saw him fire it."[^37]
An Associated Press report of February 28, 2011, by Linda Deutsch, says that [[William F. Pepper]], Sirhan's attorney, had Sirhan examined several times by the psychologist [[Daniel P. Brown]] of Harvard University, "an expert in hypnosis of trauma victims." The report quotes Pepper: "There have been substantial breakthroughs." Pepper would not disclose what was accomplished in the sessions and said of Sirhan's memory: "There is no doubt he does not remember the critical events."[^36]
An Associated Press report of February 28, 2011, by Linda Deutsch, says that [[William F. Pepper]], Sirhan's attorney, had Sirhan examined several times by the psychologist [[Daniel P. Brown]] of Harvard University, "an expert in hypnosis of trauma victims." The report quotes Pepper: "There have been substantial breakthroughs." Pepper would not disclose what was accomplished in the sessions and said of Sirhan's memory: "There is no doubt he does not remember the critical events."[^38]
The Director of National Intelligence released more than 60,000 pages on the case on May 7, 2025, including audio recordings of Los Angeles Police Department interviews with Sirhan and recordings of eyewitness interviews. The release states that some of the files had previously been released by the Los Angeles Police Department or to individuals under the Freedom of Information Act.[^37]
The Director of National Intelligence released more than 60,000 pages on the case on May 7, 2025, including audio recordings of Los Angeles Police Department interviews with Sirhan and recordings of eyewitness interviews. The release states that some of the files had previously been released by the Los Angeles Police Department or to individuals under the Freedom of Information Act.[^39]
### Sirhan parole decisions
The Board of Parole Hearings found Sirhan suitable for parole in 1975 and rescinded the grant; it found him unsuitable at fifteen subsequent hearings. On August 27, 2021, at the sixteenth hearing, it found him suitable. On January 13, 2022, Newsom reversed that decision, writing that Sirhan "currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison" and "has failed to develop the insight necessary to mitigate his current dangerousness."[^3] The governor's press release cited his "refusal to accept responsibility for his crime" and "lack of insight and accountability required to support his safe release."[^38] On March 1, 2023, a new board denied parole and set the next hearing for three years later, stating that Sirhan "still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968." His attorney, [[Angela Berry]], said: "I do feel the board bent to the political whim of the governor."[^39]
The Board of Parole Hearings found Sirhan suitable for parole in 1975 and rescinded the grant; it found him unsuitable at fifteen subsequent hearings. On August 27, 2021, at the sixteenth hearing, it found him suitable. On January 13, 2022, Newsom reversed that decision, writing that Sirhan "currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison" and "has failed to develop the insight necessary to mitigate his current dangerousness."[^3] The governor's press release cited his "refusal to accept responsibility for his crime" and "lack of insight and accountability required to support his safe release."[^40] On March 1, 2023, a new board denied parole and set the next hearing for three years later, stating that Sirhan "still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968." His attorney, [[Angela Berry]], said: "I do feel the board bent to the political whim of the governor."[^41]
### Footnotes
@ -154,38 +170,40 @@ The Board of Parole Hearings found Sirhan suitable for parole in 1975 and rescin
[^2]: _Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963_, vol. XI, Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, doc. 53, Memorandum From Attorney General Kennedy to President Kennedy, October 24, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d53
[^3]: Governor Gavin Newsom, Indeterminate Sentence Parole Release Review, Sirhan Sirhan, B-21014, decision of January 13, 2022 (statement of facts; board hearings of 1975 and August 27, 2021). https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/1.13.22-Sirhan-Reverse-Decision.pdf
[^4]: Hersh, Seymour M. _The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy_. Random House, 1991, chapter 8, pp. 99-100.
[^5]: "Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field," Hearings, Part 13, August 20-23, 1957, testimony of James R. Hoffa, pp. 4927-4937 (oath, p. 4927; prepared statement, pp. 4929-4930; examination by Kennedy begins p. 4930; antitrust, extortion and nolo contendere exchange, pp. 4931-4932). https://archive.org/details/investigationofi13unit
[^6]: Hearings, Part 36 (August 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12, 1958; Hoffa sworn as president of the Teamsters, p. 13278); Part 37 (August 13-20, 1958); Part 40 (September 11-November 17, 1958); Part 54 (June 25-30, 1959); Part 56 (July 10, 13 and 14, 1959; Hoffa "Resumed" with counsel Edward Bennett Williams, pp. 19693 ff.). https://archive.org/details/investigationofi36unit and the corresponding items investigationofi37unit, investigationofi40unit, investigationofi54unit and investigationofi56unit.
[^7]: CIA Reading Room, "Summary of DDO File on Robert F. Kennedy, 201-211732," with the request for approval of March 16, 1964 (Project ORSENSE), CIA Reading Room document 07164990. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07164990
[^8]: FBI memorandum, R. O. Lallier to A. H. Belmont, May 24, 1961, file 92-2713-175,176, NARA record 124-10210-10327 (JFK release), reporting Paul Loeb's account of a May 12, 1961 interview by Agent Papich in Guatemala City. The April 4, 1961 deportation date is from the report of Blakey, Cornwell and Ewing on Carlos Marcello, House Select Committee on Assassinations, _Report_, vol. IX, pp. 69-75, as summarized by Laura Denk, Assassination Records Review Board, file 4.0.1.3. https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/jfk2022/124-10210-10327.pdf and https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB/LDENK/WP-DOCS/ORGCRIME/MARCELLO.RTP.PDF
[^9]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. X, Cuba, January 1961-September 1962, doc. 269 (Goodwin to President Kennedy, November 1, 1961), doc. 270 (editorial note: November 3, 1961 meeting; Robert Kennedy's handwritten notes of 11/7/61; the Special Group (Augmented)), and doc. 278 (memorandum of November 30, 1961, and editorial note on the November 22 version). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d270
[^10]: Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, _Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report_ (1975), p. 140 (Special Group (Augmented); Taylor named chairman; Goodwin's proposal; Robert Kennedy's role). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^11]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 10, Memorandum From the CIA Project Officer for Operation Mongoose (Harvey) to the Chief of Operations, Operation Mongoose (Lansdale), October 8, 1962, "Sabotage of Cuban-Owned Ship." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d10
[^12]: Church Committee interim report (1975), pp. 147-148 (Special Group (Augmented) meeting of October 4, 1962, citing the minutes of the meeting; halt of sabotage ordered October 30, 1962, citing Lansdale's memorandum for the record) and chronology, pp. 293-294 ("November: Operation MONGOOSE ends"). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^13]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 82, Minutes of Meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) on Operation Mongoose, October 26, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d82
[^14]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 261, Memorandum From the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Kennedy, January 4, 1963. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d261
[^15]: Church Committee interim report (1975), p. 87 n. 3 (contact plan; Case Officer 2 testimony of August 1, 1975, p. 60) and pp. 174-175 (Inspector General's Report, pp. 88-89; Helms testimony of June 13, 1975, pp. 117-118 and 132). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^16]: Church Committee interim report (1975), section on the May 7, 1962 briefing of the Attorney General, pp. 131-134, citing Houston testimony of June 2, 1975, p. 14; Edwards testimony of May 30, 1975, p. 17; Edwards memorandum to the Attorney General, May 14, 1962; Hoover memorandum, May 10, 1962; Miller memorandum, April 24, 1962; Helms testimony of September 16, 1975, p. 8; and the Inspector General's Report, pp. 65 and 118. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^17]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. VI, Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges, doc. 21, Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, September 29, 1961, editorial note on delivery by Bolshakov to Salinger, September 30. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v06/d21
[^18]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. VI, doc. 23, Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, November 9, 1961, editorial note on delivery by Bolshakov to Salinger, November 11. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v06/d23
[^19]: Justin Chandler, "'Thank God for Bobby': Robert Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis," Air University, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, June 2017, pp. 95-96 (citing Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, _One Hell of a Gamble_ (1997), pp. 110-113; Larry Tye, _Bobby Kennedy_ (2016), p. 247; and the Robert F. Kennedy oral history for the John F. Kennedy Library, as cited there). https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1047161
[^20]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 194, Editorial Note (meeting of November 19, 1962, citing Memorandum by Robert Kennedy, November 30, as cited in Schlesinger, _Robert Kennedy and His Times_, p. 550). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d194
[^21]: Chandler, "Thank God for Bobby," pp. 98-101 (citing Lebow and Stein, _We All Lost the Cold War_ (1994), p. 68; Brugioni, _Eyeball to Eyeball_, p. 178; and Fursenko and Naftali, _One Hell of a Gamble_, pp. 194 and 197). The Kennedy remark rests on Brugioni as cited by Chandler. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1047161
[^22]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 247, Message From President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev, December 14, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d247
[^23]: Church Committee, _Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans_ (Book III, 1976), Section IV.B, "Wiretap Surveillance of Dr. King and the SCLC: October 1963-June 1966," pp. 115-116, citing Bland to Sullivan memorandum of 9/6/63, Hoover to the Attorney General of 10/7/63 and 10/18/63, and Evans to Belmont memoranda of 10/10/63 and 10/21/63; installation table, p. 116. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^24]: Church Committee, Book III (1976), p. 117, citing Burke Marshall testimony of March 3, 1976, pp. 20 and 55. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^25]: Church Committee, Book III (1976), pp. 117-118, citing Edwin O. Guthman testimony of March 16, 1976, pp. 5 and 15-17. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^26]: FBI, Marilyn Monroe file, Mexico City report covering her February 1962 visit to Mexico (text dated February 21 and 23, 1962), in the Marilyn Monroe FBI Files. https://archive.org/details/MarilynMonroeFBI
[^27]: FBI memorandum, stamped August 1, 1973, file 105-40018 (Marilyn Monroe), concerning Norman Mailer's book on Monroe, in the Marilyn Monroe FBI Files. https://archive.org/details/MarilynMonroeFBI
[^28]: Department of State outgoing telegram to American embassy Amman and other posts, drafted by NEA (Lucius D. Battle) June 5, 1968, CIA Reading Room document 05161067. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-05161067
[^29]: CIA Reading Room document 07169750, memorandum for the record, "Suspicion of 'Palestinian' Conspiracy Behind Kennedy Assassination," June 14, 1968. The archived OCR is partly illegible at the passage naming the group, so that wording is a paraphrase. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169750
[^30]: CIA Reading Room document 07169746, Deputy Director to FBI, "Sirhan Investigation," July 23, 1968. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169746
[^31]: CIA Reading Room document 07169734, memorandum to the FBI Director regarding Moshe Yaacov Eldar, July 1968. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169734
[^32]: California State Archives, Los Angeles Police Department Records of the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Investigation, ca. 1968-1978 (collection rfkguide), finding aid, Online Archive of California, scope and content and index of interviewees (Cesar, Thane: CSA-K7, K8, K24; Pruszynski, Stus: CSA-K123). https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf387002h3/
[^33]: Philip M. Van Praag, "Acoustic Analysis of Gunshot Recordings Utilizing Frequency Selective Integrated Loudness Envelope Evaluation," American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Engineering Sciences Section, abstract C20, 2008. https://www.aafs.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/AAFS-2008-C20.pdf
[^34]: Dan E. Moldea, account of his investigation, excerpted from _Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer_ (chapters on Gene Cesar and the polygraph) and his 1987 _Regardie's_ article; http://www.moldea.com/DEM-on-RFK.pdf
[^35]: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "Governor Newsom Should Not Block," Substack, December 14, 2021. https://robertfkennedyjr.substack.com/p/governor-newsom-should-not-block
[^36]: Linda Deutsch, Associated Press, February 28, 2011, report on Sirhan's parole hearing, as reprinted by Salon. https://www.salon.com/2011/02/28/assassin_can_t_remember_shooting_robert_kennedy/
[^37]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, News Release No. 11-25, "DNI Gabbard Releases More Than 60,000 Additional Pages Related to Senator Robert F. Kennedy Assassination," May 7, 2025. https://www.odni.gov/3532/pr-11-25/
[^38]: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, "Governor Newsom Grants Executive Clemency, Reverses Parole Decision for Sirhan Sirhan," press release, January 2022. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/01/13/governor-newsom-grants-executive-clemency-reverses-parole-decision-for-sirhan-sirhan/
[^39]: "California board denies parole for RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan," KTVU, March 1, 2023. https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-board-denies-parole-for-rfk-killer-sirhan-sirhan
[^5]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84 (2003), committee and subcommittee rosters (assistant counsels, including Robert F. Kennedy), and historical introduction by Donald A. Ritchie, p. XV (candidates for chief counsel). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^6]: Executive Sessions, vol. 1, S. Prt. 107-84, historical introduction, p. XVII (resignation in August 1953 "after literally coming to blows with Roy Cohn," telling the chairman the subcommittee was "headed for disaster"; return as minority counsel in 1954). https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/mccarthy-hearings-volume1.pdf
[^7]: "Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field," Hearings, Part 13, August 20-23, 1957, testimony of James R. Hoffa, pp. 4927-4937 (oath, p. 4927; prepared statement, pp. 4929-4930; examination by Kennedy begins p. 4930; antitrust, extortion and nolo contendere exchange, pp. 4931-4932). https://archive.org/details/investigationofi13unit
[^8]: Hearings, Part 36 (August 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12, 1958; Hoffa sworn as president of the Teamsters, p. 13278); Part 37 (August 13-20, 1958); Part 40 (September 11-November 17, 1958); Part 54 (June 25-30, 1959); Part 56 (July 10, 13 and 14, 1959; Hoffa "Resumed" with counsel Edward Bennett Williams, pp. 19693 ff.). https://archive.org/details/investigationofi36unit and the corresponding items investigationofi37unit, investigationofi40unit, investigationofi54unit and investigationofi56unit.
[^9]: CIA Reading Room, "Summary of DDO File on Robert F. Kennedy, 201-211732," with the request for approval of March 16, 1964 (Project ORSENSE), CIA Reading Room document 07164990. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07164990
[^10]: FBI memorandum, R. O. Lallier to A. H. Belmont, May 24, 1961, file 92-2713-175,176, NARA record 124-10210-10327 (JFK release), reporting Paul Loeb's account of a May 12, 1961 interview by Agent Papich in Guatemala City. The April 4, 1961 deportation date is from the report of Blakey, Cornwell and Ewing on Carlos Marcello, House Select Committee on Assassinations, _Report_, vol. IX, pp. 69-75, as summarized by Laura Denk, Assassination Records Review Board, file 4.0.1.3. https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/jfk2022/124-10210-10327.pdf and https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB/LDENK/WP-DOCS/ORGCRIME/MARCELLO.RTP.PDF
[^11]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. X, Cuba, January 1961-September 1962, doc. 269 (Goodwin to President Kennedy, November 1, 1961), doc. 270 (editorial note: November 3, 1961 meeting; Robert Kennedy's handwritten notes of 11/7/61; the Special Group (Augmented)), and doc. 278 (memorandum of November 30, 1961, and editorial note on the November 22 version). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d270
[^12]: Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, _Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report_ (1975), p. 140 (Special Group (Augmented); Taylor named chairman; Goodwin's proposal; Robert Kennedy's role). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^13]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 10, Memorandum From the CIA Project Officer for Operation Mongoose (Harvey) to the Chief of Operations, Operation Mongoose (Lansdale), October 8, 1962, "Sabotage of Cuban-Owned Ship." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d10
[^14]: Church Committee interim report (1975), pp. 147-148 (Special Group (Augmented) meeting of October 4, 1962, citing the minutes of the meeting; halt of sabotage ordered October 30, 1962, citing Lansdale's memorandum for the record) and chronology, pp. 293-294 ("November: Operation MONGOOSE ends"). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^15]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 82, Minutes of Meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) on Operation Mongoose, October 26, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d82
[^16]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 261, Memorandum From the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Kennedy, January 4, 1963. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d261
[^17]: Church Committee interim report (1975), p. 87 n. 3 (contact plan; Case Officer 2 testimony of August 1, 1975, p. 60) and pp. 174-175 (Inspector General's Report, pp. 88-89; Helms testimony of June 13, 1975, pp. 117-118 and 132). https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^18]: Church Committee interim report (1975), section on the May 7, 1962 briefing of the Attorney General, pp. 131-134, citing Houston testimony of June 2, 1975, p. 14; Edwards testimony of May 30, 1975, p. 17; Edwards memorandum to the Attorney General, May 14, 1962; Hoover memorandum, May 10, 1962; Miller memorandum, April 24, 1962; Helms testimony of September 16, 1975, p. 8; and the Inspector General's Report, pp. 65 and 118. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit
[^19]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. VI, Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges, doc. 21, Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, September 29, 1961, editorial note on delivery by Bolshakov to Salinger, September 30. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v06/d21
[^20]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. VI, doc. 23, Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, November 9, 1961, editorial note on delivery by Bolshakov to Salinger, November 11. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v06/d23
[^21]: Justin Chandler, "'Thank God for Bobby': Robert Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis," Air University, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, June 2017, pp. 95-96 (citing Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, _One Hell of a Gamble_ (1997), pp. 110-113; Larry Tye, _Bobby Kennedy_ (2016), p. 247; and the Robert F. Kennedy oral history for the John F. Kennedy Library, as cited there). https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1047161
[^22]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 194, Editorial Note (meeting of November 19, 1962, citing Memorandum by Robert Kennedy, November 30, as cited in Schlesinger, _Robert Kennedy and His Times_, p. 550). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d194
[^23]: Chandler, "Thank God for Bobby," pp. 98-101 (citing Lebow and Stein, _We All Lost the Cold War_ (1994), p. 68; Brugioni, _Eyeball to Eyeball_, p. 178; and Fursenko and Naftali, _One Hell of a Gamble_, pp. 194 and 197). The Kennedy remark rests on Brugioni as cited by Chandler. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1047161
[^24]: _FRUS 1961-1963_, vol. XI, doc. 247, Message From President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev, December 14, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v11/d247
[^25]: Church Committee, _Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans_ (Book III, 1976), Section IV.B, "Wiretap Surveillance of Dr. King and the SCLC: October 1963-June 1966," pp. 115-116, citing Bland to Sullivan memorandum of 9/6/63, Hoover to the Attorney General of 10/7/63 and 10/18/63, and Evans to Belmont memoranda of 10/10/63 and 10/21/63; installation table, p. 116. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^26]: Church Committee, Book III (1976), p. 117, citing Burke Marshall testimony of March 3, 1976, pp. 20 and 55. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^27]: Church Committee, Book III (1976), pp. 117-118, citing Edwin O. Guthman testimony of March 16, 1976, pp. 5 and 15-17. https://archive.org/details/ChurchCommittee
[^28]: FBI, Marilyn Monroe file, Mexico City report covering her February 1962 visit to Mexico (text dated February 21 and 23, 1962), in the Marilyn Monroe FBI Files. https://archive.org/details/MarilynMonroeFBI
[^29]: FBI memorandum, stamped August 1, 1973, file 105-40018 (Marilyn Monroe), concerning Norman Mailer's book on Monroe, in the Marilyn Monroe FBI Files. https://archive.org/details/MarilynMonroeFBI
[^30]: Department of State outgoing telegram to American embassy Amman and other posts, drafted by NEA (Lucius D. Battle) June 5, 1968, CIA Reading Room document 05161067. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-05161067
[^31]: CIA Reading Room document 07169750, memorandum for the record, "Suspicion of 'Palestinian' Conspiracy Behind Kennedy Assassination," June 14, 1968. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169750
[^32]: CIA Reading Room document 07169746, Deputy Director to FBI, "Sirhan Investigation," July 23, 1968. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169746
[^33]: CIA Reading Room document 07169734, memorandum to the FBI Director regarding Moshe Yaacov Eldar, July 1968. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-07169734
[^34]: California State Archives, Los Angeles Police Department Records of the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Investigation, ca. 1968-1978 (collection rfkguide), finding aid, Online Archive of California, scope and content and index of interviewees (Cesar, Thane: CSA-K7, K8, K24; Pruszynski, Stus: CSA-K123). https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf387002h3/
[^35]: Philip M. Van Praag, "Acoustic Analysis of Gunshot Recordings Utilizing Frequency Selective Integrated Loudness Envelope Evaluation," American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Engineering Sciences Section, abstract C20, 2008. https://www.aafs.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/AAFS-2008-C20.pdf
[^36]: Dan E. Moldea, account of his investigation, excerpted from _Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer_ (chapters on Gene Cesar and the polygraph) and his 1987 _Regardie's_ article; http://www.moldea.com/DEM-on-RFK.pdf
[^37]: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "Governor Newsom Should Not Block," Substack, December 14, 2021. https://robertfkennedyjr.substack.com/p/governor-newsom-should-not-block
[^38]: Linda Deutsch, Associated Press, February 28, 2011, report on Sirhan's parole hearing, as reprinted by Salon. https://www.salon.com/2011/02/28/assassin_can_t_remember_shooting_robert_kennedy/
[^39]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, News Release No. 11-25, "DNI Gabbard Releases More Than 60,000 Additional Pages Related to Senator Robert F. Kennedy Assassination," May 7, 2025. https://www.odni.gov/3532/pr-11-25/
[^40]: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, "Governor Newsom Grants Executive Clemency, Reverses Parole Decision for Sirhan Sirhan," press release, January 2022. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/01/13/governor-newsom-grants-executive-clemency-reverses-parole-decision-for-sirhan-sirhan/
[^41]: "California board denies parole for RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan," KTVU, March 1, 2023. https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-board-denies-parole-for-rfk-killer-sirhan-sirhan

7
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Stanley Lovell.md
View file

@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ born: c. 1890
died: c. 1976
location: Boston, Massachusetts
created: 2026-06-03
updated: 2026-06-03
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Stanley Lovell was a [[Cornell University|Cornell]] graduate, self-described "saucepan chemist," and Boston industrialist whom General [[William Donovan]] appointed to head [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] Research and Development and to serve as the secret agency's liaison with the government scientific community. A confident, energetic man with a particular knack for coming up with offbeat ideas and selling them to others, Lovell was an outspoken patriot who wrote in his diary shortly after [[Pearl Harbor]]: "As James Hilton said, 'Once at war, to reason is treason.' My job is clear, to do all that is in me to help America."[^1]
@ -32,9 +32,11 @@ Lovell encouraged OSS behavioral scientists to find something that would offend
Lovell pursued multiple schemes to assassinate [[Adolf Hitler]]. He seized upon one of [[Walter Langer]]'s ideas, that Hitler might have feminine tendencies, and got permission to try to push the Führer over the gender line: "The hope was that his moustache would fall off and his voice become soprano." Lovell used the OSS agent network to try to slip female sex hormones into Hitler's food, but nothing apparently came of it. Nor was there any payoff to other schemes to blind Hitler permanently with mustard gas or to use a drug to exacerbate his suspected epilepsy. The main problem in all these operations, which were all tried, was getting Hitler to take the medicine. Failure of the delivery schemes also kept Hitler alive, as the OSS was simultaneously trying to poison him. Lovell later wrote that he "supplied now and then a carbamate or other quietus medication, all to be injected into der Führer's carrots, beets, or whatever."[^1]
Lovell wrote that his "favorite attack on Adolf Hitler" was a glandular approach, that America's top diagnosticians and gland experts agreed with him that Hitler was close to the male-female line, and that a plan to place an OSS agent among the gardeners who supplied the vegetable garden at Berchtesgaden ended, as far as he could tell, with the gardener taking the money and discarding the syringes and medications.[^2]
### Hypnosis Proposal
Lovell reasoned that a good way to kill Hitler would be to hypnotically control a German prisoner to hate the [[Gestapo]] and the Nazi regime and then give the subject a hypnotic suggestion to assassinate the Führer. The candidate would be let loose in [[Germany]] where he would take the desired action, "being under a compulsion that might not be denied." Lovell sought advice on whether this scheme would work from New York psychiatrist [[Lawrence Kubie]] and from the famed [[Menninger brothers]], Karl and William. The Menningers reported that the weight of the evidence showed hypnotism incapable of making people do anything they would not otherwise do. Equally negative, Dr. Kubie added that if a German prisoner had a logical reason to kill Hitler, he would not need hypnotism to motivate him.[^1]
Lovell reasoned that a good way to kill Hitler would be to hypnotically control a German prisoner to hate the [[Gestapo]] and the Nazi regime and then give the subject a hypnotic suggestion to assassinate the Führer. The candidate would be let loose in [[Germany]] where he would take the desired action, "being under a compulsion that might not be denied." Lovell sought advice on whether this scheme would work from New York psychiatrist [[Lawrence Kubie]] and from the famed [[Menninger brothers]], Karl and William. The Menningers reported that the weight of the evidence showed hypnotism incapable of making people do anything they would not otherwise do. Equally negative, Dr. Kubie added that if a German prisoner had a logical reason to kill Hitler, he would not need hypnotism to motivate him.[^1][^2]
### The Gottlieb Continuity
@ -43,3 +45,4 @@ Lovell reasoned that a good way to kill Hitler would be to hypnotically control
### Footnotes
[^1]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, Chapter 1.
[^2]: Lovell, Stanley P. *Of Spies and Stratagems*. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963, pp. 84-85 and 89-90. https://archive.org/details/ofspiesstratagem0000stan

16
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Felix Rodriguez.md
View file

@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ aliases:
- Felix Ramos
- Félix Ramos Medina
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-05
updated: 2026-10-14
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
@ -119,11 +119,11 @@ On July 29, 1986 Watson noted a whispered message from North at a White House me
Rodriguez was in Miami on October 5, 1986 when the Enterprise C-123K carrying [[Eugene Hasenfus]] was shot down over Nicaragua. He telephoned the Office of the Vice President that night; Watson's notes of October 6 record "C-123 = Ollie's." Gregg's immediate assumption, he testified, was that the plane belonged to the operation Rodriguez had described in August.[^3] On October 9, Hasenfus named "Max Gomez" and "Ramon Medina" as CIA employees who oversaw housing, transportation, refueling and flight plans, and on October 10 *The San Francisco Examiner* reported that Gomez had been placed at Ilopango by Gregg after being introduced to Bush. Bush's press office said no one on the Vice President's staff was directing an operation in Central America. On October 11 Bush said "I know Felix Gomez," acknowledged meeting him twice, in January 1985 and May 1986, and said they discussed only El Salvador.[^3]
On October 10, 1986 [[Clair George]] and Fiers briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the committee memorandum records the statement that it "appeared possible that Gomez was an alias used by a former Agency contact," with identifying information to follow; later that day Fiers briefed House intelligence committee staff on Rodriguez, and the staff memorandum records that he explained it might appear Rodriguez was still working for the CIA because "they used a house." Abrams told the House intelligence committee on October 14 that Gregg had introduced Rodriguez to the Salvadorans in about 1984. Gregg sent the CIA buttons reading "Who is Max Gomez?" and "I'm Max Gomez."[^4][^9][^3] On October 13 Gregg cabled Corr that Rodriguez intended to keep a low profile in Miami and suggested Steele keep him informed, and on October 16 a note by [[Charles Hill]], aide to Secretary of State [[George Shultz]], recorded Abrams saying "A yr ago Pdx + Ollie told VP staff stop protecting FR as a friend."[^3] George was charged with falsely denying before Congress that he knew the true identity of Max Gomez.[^10] Kerry's staff had already written on October 14, 1986 that Max Gomez was "managing contra supply operations out of Ilopango having allegedly been placed there by NSC."[^11]
On October 10, 1986 [[Clair George]] and Fiers briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the committee memorandum records the statement that it "appeared possible that Gomez was an alias used by a former Agency contact," with identifying information to follow; later that day Fiers briefed House intelligence committee staff on Rodriguez, and the staff memorandum records that he explained it might appear Rodriguez was still working for the CIA because "they used a house." Abrams told the House intelligence committee on October 14 that Gregg had introduced Rodriguez to the Salvadorans in about 1984. Abrams added that the Vice President was aware of Rodriguez's involvement with the Salvadoran Air Force, but that there was no knowledge that Rodriguez had moved on to activities on behalf of the contras.[^9] Gregg sent the CIA buttons reading "Who is Max Gomez?" and "I'm Max Gomez."[^3][^4][^10] On October 13 Gregg cabled Corr that Rodriguez intended to keep a low profile in Miami and suggested Steele keep him informed, and on October 16 a note by [[Charles Hill]], aide to Secretary of State [[George Shultz]], recorded Abrams saying "A yr ago Pdx + Ollie told VP staff stop protecting FR as a friend."[^3] George was charged with falsely denying before Congress that he knew the true identity of Max Gomez.[^11] Kerry's staff had already written on October 14, 1986 that Max Gomez was "managing contra supply operations out of Ilopango having allegedly been placed there by NSC."[^12]
### Ramon Milian Rodriguez
In a June 25, 1987 closed session of the Kerry subcommittee, [[Ramon Milian Rodriguez]], a Medellin Cartel money launderer, testified that at a meeting arranged by the Miami private detective Raoul Diaz he offered Felix Rodriguez drug money for the contras and help entrapping the [[Sandinistas]] in a drug sting, in return for dropping charges against him, and that $10 million was provided through couriers. Felix Rodriguez strenuously denied this and said he reported the offer to the FBI and CIA, which took no action; Diaz refused a subpoena, and the subcommittee could not resolve the difference.[^12]
In a June 25, 1987 closed session of the Kerry subcommittee, [[Ramon Milian Rodriguez]], a Medellin Cartel money launderer, testified that at a meeting arranged by the Miami private detective Raoul Diaz he offered Felix Rodriguez drug money for the contras and help entrapping the [[Sandinistas]] in a drug sting, in return for dropping charges against him, and that $10 million was provided through couriers. Felix Rodriguez strenuously denied this and said he reported the offer to the FBI and CIA, which took no action; Diaz refused a subpoena, and the subcommittee could not resolve the difference.[^13]
### Ilopango and cocaine
@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ In *Dark Alliance* Webb wrote that Enrique Miranda, a former aide to [[Norwin Me
The Independent Counsel investigated Gregg and Watson for false testimony about their knowledge of Rodriguez's role. Walsh's final report stated that despite unresolved conflicts between documents and testimony, the Independent Counsel could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt a criminal case against Gregg, and that Watson's immunized grand jury testimony in 1991 and 1992 did not advance the inquiry. The same report notes that Bush said in March 1987 Gregg had "forgotten" the August 8 meeting.[^3] Gregg was confirmed as ambassador to South Korea on September 12, 1989.[^3] Rodriguez later published *Shadow Warrior* (1989, with John Weisman), a source the Independent Counsel cited for his 1985 movements.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Doyle McManus and William R. Long, "Crash Puts Shadow Warrior in Spotlight," *Los Angeles Times*, October 16, 1986 (copy in CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130024-6). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000504130024-6
[^2]: CIA Inspector General, memorandum for the Deputy Inspector General, "Interview of [redacted] concerning his assignment to Bolivia in 1967 and his role in the capture of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara de la Serna," June 3, 1975 (CIA Historical Review Program), published with a summary in Peter Kornbluh, ed., "The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 5, 1997, document 15. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/docs/doc15.pdf and https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/index.html (The memorandum's name fields are redacted and its scan is poorly legible; the identification with Rodriguez is the National Security Archive's.)
[^3]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters (Lawrence E. Walsh, August 4, 1993), chapter 29, "Donald P. Gregg" (citing Gregg, Rodriguez, North, Watson, Fiers and Abrams grand jury and Select Committee testimony, North's notebooks, Office of the Vice President chronology of December 15, 1986, and CIA and State cables), and chapter 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams" (Hill note of October 16, 1986; Abrams HPSCI testimony of October 14, 1986). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_29.htm and https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
@ -142,7 +143,8 @@ The Independent Counsel investigated Gregg and Watson for false testimony about
[^6]: Walsh, chapter 17, "United States v. Clair E. George" (Rodriguez based at Ilopango and coordinating North's weapons shipments; NHAO flights and lethal resupply "indistinguishable"). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm
[^7]: Walsh, chapter 14, "Other Money Matters" (fuel fund deposits by Posada and Rodriguez), https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm, and chapter 8, "The Enterprise and Its Finances" (Posada, alias Ramon Medina, closing out the Ilopango operation after the shootdown), https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm
[^8]: Walsh, chapter 19, "United States v. Alan D. Fiers, Jr." (Rodriguez, the C-123K flight from Miami, PRT-250 conversation of August 6, 1986; August 12, 1986 meeting in Gregg's office), and chapter 21, "CIA Subject #1" (Fiers at Ilopango, February 1986). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_19.htm and https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_21.htm
[^9]: CIA Office of Congressional Affairs, memorandum for the record, "Briefing on the C-123 Crash in Nicaragua: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 10 October," OCA 86-3575, October 10, 1986, paragraphs 14 and 16. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00788192
[^10]: Walsh, chapter 17. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm
[^11]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy* (Committee Print, December 1988), chronology (entry for October 14, 1986). https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^12]: Kerry report, section "Ramon Milian Rodriguez and Felix Rodriguez" (Milian Rodriguez, closed session, June 25, 1987). https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^9]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 29, "Donald P. Gregg," text and n. 137 (Abrams, HPSCI testimony, October 14, 1986, pp. 23 to 24). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_29.htm
[^10]: CIA Office of Congressional Affairs, memorandum for the record, "Briefing on the C-123 Crash in Nicaragua: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 10 October," OCA 86-3575, October 10, 1986, paragraphs 14 and 16. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00788192
[^11]: Walsh, chapter 17. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm
[^12]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy* (Committee Print, December 1988), chronology (entry for October 14, 1986). https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^13]: Kerry report, section "Ramon Milian Rodriguez and Felix Rodriguez" (Milian Rodriguez, closed session, June 25, 1987). https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras

150
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Gamal Abdel Nasser.md
View file

@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
---
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-14
title: Gamal Abdel Nasser
aliases:
- Gamal Abdel Nasser
- Nasser
- Gamal Abdel Nasir
- Gamal Abdul Nasser
- Nasser
- Nasir
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
@ -14,42 +16,158 @@ tags:
- PanArabism
- ColdWar
- SuezCrisis
- SixDayWar
- Yemen
- FreeOfficers
- Soviet
- CIA
- Mossad
- MI6
- LavonAffair
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
summary: "Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second president of Egypt (1956-1970), the dominant figure of Arab nationalism and the Non-Aligned Movement, whose nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 triggered the tripartite Anglo-French-Israeli invasion and whose death from a heart attack in 1970 was reportedly predicted by Uri Geller during a Tel Aviv telepathy demonstration."
summary: "Gamal Abdel Nasser was Egypt's president from 1956 to 1970, whose nationalization of the Suez Canal and closure of the Strait of Tiran preceded the 1956 and 1967 wars."
born: 1918-01-15
died: 1970-09-28
location: "Alexandria, Egypt"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Egypt]]"
role: "President"
start: 1956
end: 1970
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Suez Crisis]]"
role: "Egyptian head of state"
start: 1956-07-26
end: 1956-11-07
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Bandung Conference]]"
start: 1955-04-18
end: 1955-04-24
fn: 17
---
Gamal Abdel Nasser (January 15, 1918 - September 28, 1970) was the second president of [[Egypt]], serving from 1956 until his death. A founding member of the Free Officers movement that overthrew King Farouk in 1952, Nasser became the dominant figure in Arab nationalism and the Non-Aligned Movement during the [[Cold War]]. His presidency was defined by the nationalization of the [[Suez Canal]], the 1956 tripartite war with Israel, Britain, and France, and Egypt's shifting alliance from the West to the Soviet bloc.[^1]
Gamal Abdel Nasser (January 15, 1918 to September 28, 1970) was the second president of [[Egypt]], serving from 1956 until his death. A founding member of the [[Free Officers Movement]] that overthrew King [[Farouk]] in 1952, Nasser became the dominant figure in Arab nationalism and the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] during the [[Cold War]]. His presidency was defined by the nationalization of the [[Suez Canal]] in July 1956, the Anglo-French-Israeli war that followed, Egypt's move toward the Soviet bloc, and the wars with [[Israel]] of 1956 and 1967. [[Seymour Hersh|Hersh]] wrote that his promotion of Pan-Arabism, the idea of a unified Arab nation transcending existing state boundaries, alarmed Israel, which turned to the [[United States]] for diplomatic support, and that his ability to articulate Arab grievances against the colonial powers gave him a regional standing no other Arab leader of the period matched.[^1][^2]
### Rise to Power and Pan-Arab Vision
### Free Officers and the first American contacts
Nasser emerged as premier in 1954 after the 1952 coup. His promotion of Pan-Arabism - the idea of a unified Arab nation transcending existing state boundaries - created concern in [[Israel]], which turned to the [[United States]] for diplomatic support in response to the growing regional challenge. Nasser's personal charisma and his ability to articulate Arab grievances against colonial powers gave him a regional standing no other Arab leader of the period matched.[^2]
Copeland wrote in *The Game Player* that in late March 1952, four months before the coup that ousted King Farouk, Kermit Roosevelt and Nasser began a series of meetings, that Roosevelt first met a committee of officers far enough from the center of the movement to be expendable, and that a second meeting was attended by Nasser himself. Copeland wrote that he attended none of them, although he and a colleague waited in the hotel during the third, and that he wrote up the agreement Roosevelt and Nasser reached from Roosevelt's oral account. Of the second meeting he wrote that [[Mohamed Hassanein Heikal]] "can deny all he wants; it was documented and photographed."[^3]
### Shift Toward Soviet Alliance
Embassy officers in Cairo held a dinner meeting on October 11, 1952 with Lieutenant Colonel [[Gamal Abdel Nasir]], as the record spells his name, together with Major [[Hakim Amer]] and Major [[Salah Salem]], members of the Free Officers' military high committee; Ambassador [[Jefferson Caffery]] reported it the next day.[^4] On May 20, 1953 the Director of Central Intelligence, [[Allen Dulles]], told the [[National Security Council]] that the situation in Egypt had taken a critical turn, that the Soviets were assuring the Egyptian government of all possible support against the "Anglo-American imperialists", and that the British forces in the Suez area were "the last stronghold of the Western powers in the Middle East".[^5]
After an Israeli military strike on an Egyptian military camp at [[Gaza]] in February 1955, Nasser began seeking arms outside Western channels. At the Bandung Conference of African and Asian nations in April 1955, he secured a promise of arms from Chinese premier Chou En-lai. Soviet delegations arrived in [[Cairo]] in July 1955, and by September Nasser announced Egypt would receive 200 Soviet bombers, 230 tanks, 200 troop carriers, and over 500 artillery pieces along with Soviet advisers - a deal that fundamentally altered the military balance in the [[Middle East]] and accelerated Egypt's move into the Soviet orbit.[^2]
On May 12, 1953, Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] met the Revolutionary Command Council representatives at the American embassy in Cairo. The notetakers recorded that from one point it was extremely difficult to take notes because the officers, Nasser in particular, spoke in low voices. Nasser said that "nobody" would now accept the statement that the British could be genuine allies of the Arabs.[^6] In June 1953 the military leadership announced that Egypt was a republic, with General [[Mohamed Naguib]] as president and premier and Nasser as vice premier and minister of the interior; Caffery reported the announcement on June 18.[^7] Later that month Nasser and Hakim Amer told the embassy that Egypt desired a complete interim arms purchase, and that their current interest was in "some showy items" to boost army morale and strengthen Amer's position as newly appointed commander in chief.[^8] Hersh wrote that Nasser emerged as premier in 1954 after the 1952 coup.[^2]
### The Suez Crisis
On September 27, 1954 representatives of the State Department, the Defense Department, the Foreign Operations Administration and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] met in the Operations Coordinating Board's offices on military assistance to Egypt. The record states that "Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bissell described briefly the situation in Egypt" (the CIA's [[Kermit Roosevelt]] and [[Richard Bissell]]); the group proposed that someone get in touch with Colonel Nasir about up to $10 million for purchases of American military supplies. A memorandum of the following day by Deputy Assistant Secretary [[Joseph Jernegan]] states that there was "some merit in the CIA argument that Nasir genuinely believes we are committed to give him some military help" and that he "can be very useful to us in the Near Eastern picture if properly supported and cultivated".[^9]
In July 1956 Nasser nationalized the [[Suez Canal]], which had been controlled by a British-French corporation. Britain, France, and Israel conducted secret planning and launched a coordinated invasion in October 1956 - Israel attacking the Sinai while British and French forces seized the Canal Zone. U.S. President Eisenhower, furious at being excluded from the planning and fearing Soviet exploitation of the crisis, forced all three to withdraw. The outcome cemented Nasser's standing as a hero of decolonization and weakened British and French influence in the region dramatically.[^2]
[[Miles Copeland]], a CIA officer, was a friend of Nasser and was known for his hostility to Israel. Copeland wrote in *The Game of Nations* that $3,000,000 in unvouchered funds was offered to Nasser as a "personal gift" over the doubts of Ambassador Jefferson Caffery, who told him that if anybody delivered the money to Nasser it would have to be Copeland. Copeland wrote that he told [[Hassan Touhami]], head of Nasser's bodyguard unit, that the sum was available if he wanted it, and that Touhami answered: "We can always find some use for $3,000,000. Let's see what it looks like." After obtaining Nasser's personal assurance that the money was acceptable, Copeland wrote, he drove two suitcases containing $3,000,000 in cash to Touhami's house in Ma'adi. Copeland wrote that Nasser received $2,999,990, and that Nasser used the money to build a tower on Gezira island, the [[Cairo Tower]], which Nasser's aides called, in Copeland's transliteration, "el wa'ef rusjel," roughly translatable as "Roosevelt's erection." Copeland wrote that Kermit Roosevelt had taken the lead in Washington in arguing for the offer, that the story leaked in July 1955, eight months after Nasser received the money, and that State Department officials who knew of it blamed Roosevelt because they thought he had tried to make a fool of Nasser, while Touhami and Nasser's other close associates saw the amount as an attempted bribe.[^10] Egyptian government documents published by Major General [[Adel Shaheen]] state that the American government gave Nasser between $1 million and $3 million as a "personal gift" and that Nasser, insulted, put the funds into the state treasury and spent them on the tower.[^11] Hersh wrote that the CIA's interest in Nasser fluctuated between viewing him as a potentially useful nationalist counterweight to Soviet influence and seeing him as a destabilizing force in a region critical to Western oil supply.[^2]
### American Intelligence Connections
### Operation Susannah and the Cairo trial
Nasser maintained complex relationships with Western intelligence figures throughout his presidency. [[Miles Copeland]], a retired CIA officer, was a personal friend. Israeli intelligence believed Copeland was responsible for U.S. pressure on Israel, Britain, and France to withdraw from the Suez Canal area in 1956 and for pushing Israel to withdraw from Sinai. The CIA's interest in Nasser fluctuated between viewing him as a potentially useful nationalist counterweight to Soviet influence and seeing him as a destabilizing force in a region critical to Western oil supply.[^2]
In the summer of 1954 Israeli military intelligence ran Operation Susannah (the [[Lavon Affair]]) in Egypt, recruiting Egyptian Jews to plant bombs in cinemas, libraries and American educational centers; the attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian Communists, at a time when Egypt was negotiating with Britain over the evacuation of the Suez Canal zone. After the operation failed, eleven Egyptian Jews were arrested. The trial in Egypt ran from December 11, 1954 to January 27, 1955; [[Moshe Marzouk]] and [[Shmuel Azar]] were sentenced to hanging, two defendants were acquitted, and six received long prison terms.[^12] The IDF Archives page states that [[Pinhas Lavon]], the defense minister, denied knowing of the operation, that Colonel [[Benjamin Gibli]], head of military intelligence, "claimed to have received a verbal instruction from Lavon", that Chief of Staff [[Moshe Dayan]] also blamed the defense minister, and that a two-member commission of inquiry appointed by Prime Minister [[Moshe Sharett]] "did not succeed in exposing the truth." Gibli and Major Motke Ben-Zur, commander of Unit 131, were dismissed and Lavon resigned in February 1955.[^12]
### Death and the Uri Geller Incident
On December 17, 1954 Israeli Ambassador [[Abba Eban]] told Acting Assistant Secretary Jernegan in Washington that the Alexandria trial of Jews charged with espionage was among the discouraging developments and "held serious dangers"; the State Department's reply, which Jernegan read from notes, was that the American ambassador in Cairo had informally told the Egyptian government that "handing down death sentences to the accused eleven Jews could seriously affect the security situation in the area."[^13] The Foreign Relations volume for 1955 records that the Supreme Military Tribunal, which had begun the trial of thirteen persons charged with spying for Israel on December 11, 1954, made public its sentences on January 27, 1955: of ten defendants present, two were sentenced to death, two acquitted and six sentenced to hard labor for terms from two years to life, and that Eban appealed to the United States for clemency the same day.[^14] On October 11, 1955 Eban told Assistant Secretary George Allen that Nasser "had promised that there would be no death sentences for the 'Zionist spies'" and that "Several of these people were then hanged", which he said played a major part in the Israeli raid on Gaza of February 28, 1955.[^15] On December 5, 1955 the American ambassador in Israel told the Israeli official Herzog that Israel in the summer of 1954 "for no good purpose had activated sabotage group in Egypt", that once Muslim Brotherhood members had been executed it was inevitable that some of the Jews would meet the same fate, and that the hanging of "Jewish spies" and the Bat Galim case had so inflamed Israeli opinion that the Gaza incident followed.[^16]
Nasser died on September 28, 1970, from a heart attack after hosting the Arab League summit in Cairo. He was 52. His death was reportedly preceded by an unusual event: Israeli psychic [[Uri Geller]], performing a telepathy demonstration at the Tzavta Theater in [[Tel Aviv]], became physically ill during the performance and announced that Nasser "had just died or is about to die." Israeli journalist [[Ruth Hefer]], in the audience, immediately called her contact at Israel Radio International and was told there was no news about Nasser. Twenty minutes later, someone announced that Radio Cairo had confirmed Nasser's death from a heart attack.
### Arms from the Soviet bloc and the Bandung Conference
The incident was widely reported in Israel and significantly boosted Geller's local reputation. Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]] reportedly quipped, when asked about Israel's future, "Don't ask me... Ask Uri Geller." Nasser's successor was [[Anwar Sadat]], who charted a dramatically different course for Egyptian foreign policy, ultimately making peace with Israel through the 1978 Camp David Accords.[^1]
Hersh wrote that after an Israeli raid on an Egyptian military camp at [[Gaza]] in February 1955, Nasser began seeking arms outside Western channels.[^2] The Asia-Africa Conference at [[Bandung]], Indonesia, was held from April 18 to 24, 1955.[^17] Hersh wrote that Nasser received a promise of arms from Chinese premier [[Chou En-lai]] at the conference.[^2]
In May 1955 a U.S. government cable reported that Soviet Ambassador Daniil Solod had offered technical and economic assistance on May 23 and that Nasser, declining it, asked whether the USSR would barter heavy artillery for cotton. The cable described the arrangement, if finalized, as "the first sale of arms by the USSR outside the Soviet bloc since World War II."[^18] Hersh wrote that Soviet delegations arrived in [[Cairo]] in July 1955, and that by September 1955 Nasser had announced that Egypt would receive 200 Soviet bombers, 230 tanks, 200 troop carriers, and more than 500 artillery pieces, along with Soviet advisers, a deal that altered the military balance in the [[Middle East]] and drew Egypt toward the Soviet orbit.[^2] A State Department editorial note for a message of September 28, 1955 refers to Copeland's account, at pages 160 to 165 of The Game of Nations, of the circumstances in which the message reached the State Department.[^19]
### Omega, the Aswan Dam offer and the Suez Canal
On March 28, 1956 Dulles sent President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a memorandum proposing that the United States adjust its Near East policies "to let Colonel Nasser realize that he cannot cooperate as he is doing with the Soviet Union and at the same time enjoy most-favored-nation treatment from the United States", avoiding for the time being "any open break", with planning "at once with a view to possibly more drastic action" if the courses did not work. Eisenhower approved it the same day.[^20] The State Department adopted the code name Omega for the handling of material on the policy; those personally informed of Omega by Dulles included Allen Dulles of the CIA.[^21] At an April 1, 1956 meeting at Dulles's residence with Sir Roger Makins, the British ambassador, Dulles proposed secret rather than public cooperation with the United Kingdom, delay of the International Bank's decision on the High [[Aswan Dam]], and winning King [[Saud]] away from Nasser; Makins said the British took a dimmer view of the chance of bringing Nasser around, and agreed that in the first phase "we ought to keep Nasser guessing."[^21]
On July 19, 1956, Dulles told the Egyptian ambassador, [[Ahmed Hussein]], that "he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that it was not feasible at present for the United States to go forward with this undertaking" and that the foreign aid program had been injured more by the proposal to assist in financing the dam than by anything else.[^22]
On July 26, 1956, in a broadcast from Alexandria, Nasser announced a presidential decree nationalizing the Suez Canal Company, whose existence rested on an Egyptian joint stock concession dating from the nineteenth century.[^1] At a conference with Eisenhower on July 27, Dulles said that there was "a note of desperation in Nasser's action, relating to the Aswan Dam."[^23] On July 29 Miles Copeland was among those present at a meeting on Suez at Dulles's home with Allen Dulles and other officials.[^24] At a July 31 meeting Treasury Secretary [[George Humphrey]] cited the danger that the United States might be pressed into agreeing to finance the dam in return for Nasser's giving up the canal, which he said could only build up his prestige; Dulles answered that "Nasser must be made to disgorge his theft."[^25] On August 13 Kermit Roosevelt attended a meeting on the Suez situation with Allen Dulles, [[Gordon Gray]], [[Arthur Flemming]], Humphrey and others, according to the Secretary's appointment book cited in the Foreign Relations volume.[^26]
### British plans to kill Nasser
[[Stephen Dorril]] reported in 1985 that [[Anthony Nutting]], a minister of state at the [[Foreign Office]] who resigned over Suez, said on Channel 4's The End of Empire that Prime Minister [[Anthony Eden]] had telephoned him over an open line and shouted: "What is all this poppy-cock you have sent me about isolation and quarantining Nasser. Can't you understand...that I want Nasser murdered!" Dorril dates the call about six months before the invasion, and adds a Daily Telegraph report that Eden told the Foreign Office's senior civil servant, Sir [[Ivone Kirkpatrick]], the same.[^27] According to [[Chapman Pincher]], in collaboration with leaders of the [[Special Air Service]], a plan was drawn up to kill Nasser and his bodyguards with canisters of poison gas, which Eden vetoed; Dorril names former [[MI6]] head [[Maurice Oldfield]] as a possible source for Pincher.[^27] Dorril also relayed a second MI6 plan, under an officer named "Colonel Yarrow", to be carried out by Egyptian officers: the Egyptian Air Force intelligence chief [[Mahmoud Khalil]] was met by an MI6 contact in Rome in February 1957 and received £162,500 by November for a coup to restore the monarchy, and Nasser announced the "restoration plot" on December 23. Per the account Dorril cites, Khalil was never really working with the British.[^27] Dorril quotes [[Wilbur Crane Eveland]]'s Ropes of Sand on a drunk envoy of MI6 deputy director George Young at a Beirut meeting who said "Teams had been fielded to assassinate Nasser", and [[Anthony Verrier]]'s Through the Looking Glass for the claim that Eden ordered Nasser's assassination before leaving for Jamaica and that "the Prime Ministerial order was disobeyed."[^27] Andrew Kelly wrote that Eden worked on plans, "in conjunction with the British Secret Intelligence Service", to assassinate Nasser either covertly or through a large-scale invasion.[^28]
A September 5, 1956 document in the Foreign Relations volume states that the danger of assassination or other acts of individual terrorism against those suspected of undue partiality for the West would continue almost indefinitely.[^29] On October 9, 1956 Egyptian official Ali Sabry told Assistant Secretary [[William Rountree]] in New York that the Egyptian government had realized for some time that the British and French were actively seeking the downfall of the regime, and that recent actions of the United States, particularly the withdrawal of the Aswan Dam offer and the manner of it, had raised serious questions as to American intentions.[^30] Hersh wrote that Israeli intelligence believed Copeland was responsible for American pressure on Israel, Britain and France to withdraw from the Suez Canal area in 1956, and for pushing Israel to withdraw from Sinai.[^2] Hersh also wrote that Britain, France and Israel conducted secret planning and launched a coordinated invasion in October 1956, with Israeli forces attacking the Sinai while British and French forces seized the Canal Zone, and that Eisenhower, angry at being excluded from the planning and fearing Soviet exploitation of the crisis, forced all three to withdraw. He wrote that the outcome cemented Nasser's standing as a hero of decolonization and weakened British and French influence in the region.[^2]
### German scientists and the Egyptian rocket program
[[Ronen Bergman]]'s 2010 article "Killing the Killers" describes Nasser's July 1962 announcement of four successful missile tests, and an Egyptian plan to build some 900 missiles at a secret facility in the desert, Factory 333, staffed by German scientists. Egypt still needed the German scientists to begin mass production, and Bergman writes that the [[Mossad]] called the first operation of its campaign against them Damocles.[^31] He writes that Heinz Krug, head of Intra, a shell company for Factory 333, vanished in Munich in September 1962; that two parcel bombs sent in November 1962 to the project's director, [[Wolfgang Pilz]], maimed his secretary and killed five Egyptian workers; that in February 1963 the scientist Hans Kleinwachter escaped an ambush in Switzerland; and that in April 1963 two Mossad agents in Basel threatened Paul Goerke, the project manager, and his daughter. According to Bergman, Israel then shared its intelligence on Factory 333 with the West German government, which pressured the scientists to quit; nearly all accepted and Egypt abandoned the plot.[^31]
In February 1965 the State Department told its embassy in Israel that it was "disturbed at continued press campaign about alleged role Cubic Corporation in UAR rocket program and hiring of German technicians from Litton subsidiaries."[^32] On February 15, 1965 presidential emissary [[Robert Komer]] reported from Tel Aviv that after a tense session with Prime Minister [[Levi Eshkol]] on American arms for Jordan he had raised "the Cubic matter, UAR missiles, and Jordan waters" to ease the tension.[^33]
### Syria and the United Arab Republic
The union of Egypt and Syria, formally called the [[United Arab Republic]], took effect in February 1958.[^34] Israel's view, as recorded in a February 27, 1958 memorandum of a conversation between Secretary Dulles and Ambassador Eban, was that "Soviet influence would dominate Nasser's policies from the very outset of the union."[^35] By July 1958 the Syrians wanted more independence, and Nasser had already been forced to make certain concessions to them.[^36]
### Yemen
Egyptian forces appeared in Yemen after the republican revolution of 1962. A Central Intelligence Agency special memorandum of November 5, 1965 states that the revolution made no substantial change until Egyptian forces appeared and Egyptian influence rose in republican Yemen, which led to strong British fears of UAR meddling in [[Aden]].[^37] In May 1964, after Nasser's visit to Yemen, Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] recalled reports that morale among Egyptian troops there was poor and asked a Saudi official whether the UAR was determined to stay.[^38] A May 1964 State Department paper for the Special Group (Counterinsurgency) listed disengagement of Egyptian forces from Yemen and a continued bar on Saudi support of the royalists among the steps toward minimizing the potential for UAR-Saudi conflict.[^39] In June 1966 Rusk told [[Walt Rostow]] by telephone that [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]] should emphasize American interest in a Yemen settlement that would return Egyptian troops to Egypt.[^40]
### The Six-Day War
On May 21, 1967 the American embassy in the United Arab Republic reported that an Egyptian official named Aziz had told Miles Copeland, a former CIA officer in Cairo on private business, that UAR forces had been given orders to "hit Israelis with everything they have" if anything erupted along the border; the embassy's chargé commented that Copeland's account might not be accurate.[^41] On May 22 the State Department instructed its embassies to remain in close contact in light of reports of a UAR decision to close the [[Strait of Tiran]].[^42] The same day Rostow wrote the Israeli ambassador, [[Avraham Harman]], that the problem of the Gulf of Aqaba should be handled "in a peaceful manner, preferably through the United Nations", and that the presence of UAR troops on UAR territory "is not in itself illegal."[^43]
On May 24 [[Luke Battle]] told Johnson that until Nasser threatened to blockade the Gulf of Aqaba he would have agreed with [[Richard Helms]] that all Nasser wanted was a limited propaganda victory; Battle added that he could not help but wonder whether Nasser had more Soviet support than the United States knew about, "or had gone slightly insane."[^44] On May 31 [[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] said that Nasser had told him that in case of American intervention against the UAR he was prepared to ask for Soviet assistance.[^45] On June 7 Rostow sent Johnson a memorandum proposing quiet beginnings of discussions with moderate Arabs and, as a separate item, encouragement of "arrangements which tend to split the Arab world"; in connection with the discussions, the memorandum states that "men like Eugene Black, Robert Anderson, Raymond Hare, Kermit Roosevelt might be helpful."[^46]
### Death and succession
Nasser died on September 28, 1970, from a heart attack after hosting the Arab League summit in Cairo. He was 52. According to [[Annie Jacobsen]]'s account, the death was preceded by an unusual event. Israeli psychic [[Uri Geller]], performing a telepathy demonstration at the [[Tzavta Theater]] in [[Tel Aviv]], became physically ill during the performance and announced that Nasser "had just died or is about to die." Israeli journalist [[Ruth Hefer]], in the audience, called her contact at [[Israel Radio International]] and was told there was no news about Nasser. Twenty minutes later, someone announced that [[Radio Cairo]] had confirmed Nasser's death from a heart attack.[^47]
The incident was widely reported in Israel and boosted Geller's local reputation. Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]] is reported to have quipped, when asked about Israel's future, "Don't ask me... Ask Uri Geller."[^47] Nasser's successor was [[Anwar Sadat]], who charted a dramatically different course for Egyptian foreign policy and made peace with Israel through the 1978 Camp David Accords.[^47]
### Saudi channel and Kamal Adham
[[Joseph Kechichian]]'s article in [[Gulf News]] states that King [[Faisal of Saudi Arabia|Faisal]] created the General Intelligence Directorate and gave it to [[Kamal Adham]], whom the article calls the first (and only) ethnic non-Arab chief of Saudi intelligence.[^48] Kechichian writes that Adham's Egyptian contacts allowed him to fashion the 1967 Faisal-Nasser reconciliation, and that Adham befriended Sadat when Sadat was vice president and encouraged him after he became president in 1970.[^48] The article says Adham held the post until 1979, when King Khalid replaced him with [[Turki Al Faisal]], and that his contacts with the Central Intelligence Agency were "unusually intimate."[^48] Citing [[Bob Woodward]], Kechichian writes that in 1970 the Saudis provided Sadat with a regular income.[^48]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Suez Crisis, July 26-December 31, 1956, Document 1 (editorial note on the July 26, 1956 nationalization broadcast). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d1
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991.
[^3]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's Original Political Operative.* London: Aurum Press, 1989, pp. 153-155.
[^4]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1015, telegram from the Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery), October 12, 1952, reporting the previous evening's dinner. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1015
[^5]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1169, memorandum of discussion at the 145th meeting of the National Security Council, May 20, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1169
[^6]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 1, Document 5, memorandum of conversation prepared in the Embassy in Cairo, May 12, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p1/d5
[^7]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1191, telegram from the Ambassador in Egypt, June 19, 1953, and its note on the June 18 announcement. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1191
[^8]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1193, June 29, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1193
[^9]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1364, memoranda of September 28, 1954 (Jernegan to the Acting Secretary of State, and Staats to the Operations Coordinating Board on the September 27 meeting). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1364
[^10]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics.* London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969, pp. 148-150.
[^11]: Shariff, Omar. "Cairo Tower: Symbol of Egyptian pride, and Cold War politics." Gulf News, updated October 27, 2021, citing documents published by Maj. Gen. Adel Shaheen. https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/cairo-tower-symbol-of-egyptian-pride--and-cold-war-politics-1.83250980
[^12]: Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives, "The 'Unfortunate' or the Lavon Affair" (online exhibition). https://archives.mod.gov.il/sites/English/Exhibitions/Pages/The-Lavon-affair.aspx.
[^13]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 1, Document 935, memorandum of conversation by Jernegan, December 17, 1954. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p1/d935
[^14]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955, Document 4, editorial note on the trial that began December 11, 1954, and Document 11, telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel, January 28, 1955, with its editorial note on the January 27 sentences. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d11
[^15]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Document 333, memorandum of a conversation, Department of State, October 11, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d333
[^16]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Document 435, telegram from the Embassy in Israel, Tel Aviv, December 5, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d435
[^17]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955, Document 52, which states that the Asia-Africa Conference at Bandung was held April 18-24, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d52
[^18]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955, Document 136, May 23, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d136
[^19]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XIV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955, Document 318, telephone conversation of September 28, 1955 and editorial note citing Copeland, *The Game of Nations* (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1969), pp. 160-165. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v14/d318
[^20]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XV, Arab-Israeli Dispute, January 1-July 26, 1956, Document 223, memorandum from the Secretary of State to the President, March 28, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v15/d223
[^21]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XV, Document 232, editorial note on Omega and memorandum of conversation, Secretary Dulles's residence, April 1, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v15/d232
[^22]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XV, Document 478, memorandum of conversation, Washington, July 19, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v15/d478
[^23]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Suez Crisis, Document 3, memorandum of a conference with the President, July 27, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d3
[^24]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Document 23, editorial note on the July 29, 1956 meeting, citing the Dulles Papers. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d23
[^25]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Document 34, July 31, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d34
[^26]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Document 57, editorial note on the August 13, 1956 meeting, citing the Secretary's Appointment Book. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d57
[^27]: Dorril, Stephen. "Trying to kill Nasser." Lobster, issue 9 (1985), citing the Daily Telegraph of May 24, 25 and 29, 1985, Chapman Pincher, *Their Trade is Treachery*, p. 206, Bloch and Fitzgerald, *British Intelligence and Covert Action* (Brandon Books, 1982), p. 126, Wilbur Crane Eveland, *Ropes of Sand* (Norton, 1980) and Anthony Verrier, *Through the Looking Glass* (1983). https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/article/issue/9/trying-to-kill-nasser
[^28]: Kelly, Andrew. *ANZUS and the Early Cold War*, ch. 8, "Suez." Open Book Publishers, 2018. https://books.openedition.org/obp/7111
[^29]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Document 175, September 5, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d175
[^30]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Document 315, memorandum of conversation, Waldorf Astoria, New York, October 9, 1956. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d315
[^31]: Bergman, Ronen. "Killing the Killers." Newsweek, December 13, 2010. https://www.newsweek.com/killing-killers-69081
[^32]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XVIII, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1964-1967, Document 131, February 1, 1965. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v18/d131
[^33]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XVIII, Document 150, telegram from the Embassy in Israel (Komer), February 15, 1965. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v18/d150
[^34]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, vol. XII, Near East Region; Iraq; Iran; Arabian Peninsula, Document 11, editorial note on the Syro-Egyptian union, officially the United Arab Republic. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v12/d11
[^35]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, vol. XIII, Document 10, February 27, 1958. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v13/d10
[^36]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, vol. XIII, Document 31, July 27, 1958. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v13/d31
[^37]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXI, Near East Region; Arabian Peninsula, Document 67, Central Intelligence Agency special memorandum, November 5, 1965. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21/d67
[^38]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXI, Document 226, memorandum of conversation, May 15, 1964. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21/d226
[^39]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXI, Document 227, memorandum from Assistant Secretary Talbot to the Special Group (Counterinsurgency), May 1964. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21/d227
[^40]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXI, Document 274, June 21, 1966, record of a telephone conversation between Rusk and Rostow. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21/d274
[^41]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, Document 28, telegram from the Embassy in the United Arab Republic, May 21, 1967, including the editorial note on Aziz and Copeland. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d28
[^42]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 35, May 22, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d35
[^43]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 36, letter from Rostow to the Israeli Ambassador (Harman), May 22, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d36
[^44]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 54, memorandum for the record of the May 24, 1967 meeting. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d54
[^45]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 107, telegram from the Embassy in Jordan, May 31, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d107
[^46]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 189, memorandum from the President's Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson, June 7, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d189
[^47]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^48]: Kechichian, Joseph A. "The man behind the scenes." Gulf News, updated September 15, 2018 (the Woodward claim is Kechichian's citation of Woodward). https://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/the-man-behind-the-scenes-1.581564

51
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John David Norman.md
View file

@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
---
category: "Criminals & Offenders"
aliases:
- John Paul Norman
- Evan Goodwin
- Allen Hitchcock
- John Shanks
- Steven Gurwell
tags:
- KeyFigure
- Person
@ -23,15 +29,28 @@ relations:
with: "[[Phillip Paske]]"
role: "closest associate; ran the Delta Project while Norman was in prison"
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Homewood Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
end: 1973
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1976
fn: 6
created: 2026-04-28
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-14
---
John David Norman ran a succession of organizations that, according to police in [[Chicago]], [[Los Angeles]] and [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], supplied boy prostitutes to paying clients across the country: the Norman Foundation, Epic International, the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and the [[Delta Project]]. He also used the names Evan Goodwin, Allen Hitchcock, John Shanks and Steven Gurwell, and the Hasting Foundation. By 1977 he had thirteen arrests for sex offenses going back to 1954.[^1][^2]
### Dallas and the Index Cards
Lieutenant Harold Hancock of the Dallas police arrested Norman in March 1973 on charges of contributing to juvenile violations of state drug laws and seized more than 30,000 index cards listing clients, "some of them prominent people and some federal employees in Washington." "I felt that some federal agency should get the cards and I contacted the [[State Department]] through the FBI, I think it was," Hancock told the *Chicago Tribune*. "All the cards were sent to Washington to the State Department, and that's the last I heard of." Matthew Nimetz, a counselor of the State Department, told the paper that officials had found "the cards were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and destroyed them; he "was unable to explain" why the department had looked at them only for passport irregularities or why it had not passed them to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] or the postal inspectors.[^1] Tribune reporters told a Senate subcommittee in May 1977 that the department said it had shredded the cards in 1974 "because they couldn't find any use for them," and that "some passports were issued for taking a boy across the seas and into another country."[^2]
The Dallas police announced on August 15, 1973, that a raid the previous evening on an apartment in the city had uncovered a procurement ring operating as the Odyssey Foundation, with a San Diego, California, post office box. They gave the name of its alleged leader as John Paul Norman, 45, who was freed on $7,000 bond on state narcotics charges after marijuana was found in the apartment. The police said he had been arrested in Houston in 1954 and 1956 on sexual assault charges, had been convicted in California in 1963 and in 1971 (the latter a federal conviction for sending obscene literature through the mail), and had been committed to a state hospital by the California Department of Mental Hygiene as a sex offender. The material seized included catalogue files the police put at 50,000 to 100,000 names and stationery bearing the name Epic International.[^3] The writer [[Robin Lloyd]] wrote in 1976 that sponsors were selected from a master list of 50,000 prospects and sent a booklet called "Fellows 1973."[^4]
The *Chicago Tribune* gave the date of the arrest as March 1973. Lieutenant Harold Hancock of the Dallas police arrested Norman on charges of contributing to juvenile violations of state drug laws and seized more than 30,000 index cards listing clients, "some of them prominent people and some federal employees in Washington." "I felt that some federal agency should get the cards and I contacted the [[State Department]] through the FBI, I think it was," Hancock told the *Chicago Tribune*. "All the cards were sent to Washington to the State Department, and that's the last I heard of." Matthew Nimetz, a counselor of the State Department, told the paper that officials had found "the cards were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and destroyed them; he "was unable to explain" why the department had looked at them only for passport irregularities or why it had not passed them to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] or the postal inspectors.[^1] Tribune reporters told a Senate subcommittee in May 1977 that the department said it had shredded the cards in 1974 "because they couldn't find any use for them," and that "some passports were issued for taking a boy across the seas and into another country."[^2]
Dallas police told the Chicago police that they had information associating Norman with the ring that supplied boys to [[Dean Corll]], whose murders of 27 boys in Houston came to light in 1973 after [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] shot him; a Tribune reporter testified that Dallas had investigated Norman "as a possible solicitor for these boys."[^1][^2]
@ -39,18 +58,34 @@ Dallas police told the Chicago police that they had information associating Norm
Norman moved to Homewood, Illinois, in mid-1973 and lived with an Epic International client, who told police that Norman had supplied him that summer with a sixteen-year-old Missouri boy for a three-week, 4,500-dollar tour of Europe. Using the name Steven Gurwell, Norman was arrested in October 1973 after a tip that he had plied ten teenagers with beer to have sex with him; police seized pornography and a list of 5,000 names and addresses of clients.[^1]
Held in [[Cook County Jail]] in 1976 on charges of indecent liberties with ten boys, Norman used the jail's printing facilities to send three newsletters to clients announcing the Delta Project, which would place boy "cadets" with "dons" in "Delta-Dorms" around the country: "The nature of the relationship between cadet and sponsor is left entirely to the two of them." He said he corresponded with more than 7,000 people from the jail. Someone in California whom police could not identify paid his 36,000-dollar bail in cash. In December 1976 he pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent liberties with a child and was sentenced to four years; his associate [[Phillip Paske]], "a convicted murderer and thief" on probation, kept the project going from post office box 5094 in Chicago. Norman told the Tribune: "This has nothing to do with sex. I didn't want to get young kids involved in sex." The police said both the Delta Project and the Chicago newsletter [[Hermes]] "were controlled by separate groups of men working together in an interlocking web of vice."[^1] His 1979 petition against the Cook County sheriff reached the Illinois Supreme Court.[^3]
A Homewood police supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, states that the department was then seeking a warrant for Gurwell's arrest and that the subject had left Illinois on October 25, 1973.[^5]
Paske later worked for the contracting business of [[John Wayne Gacy]], who after his conviction named Paske and Norman in connection with his crimes. Norman was arrested again in Pennsylvania in 1983, jumped bail, was recaptured in Illinois in July 1987, and died in 2011.[^4]
Held in [[Cook County Jail]] in 1976 on charges of indecent liberties with ten boys, Norman used the jail's printing facilities to send three newsletters to clients announcing the Delta Project, which would place boy "cadets" with "dons" in "Delta-Dorms" around the country: "The nature of the relationship between cadet and sponsor is left entirely to the two of them." He said he corresponded with more than 7,000 people from the jail. Someone in California whom police could not identify paid his 36,000-dollar bail in cash. In December 1976 he pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent liberties with a child and was sentenced to four years; his associate [[Phillip Paske]], "a convicted murderer and thief" on probation, kept the project going from post office box 5094 in Chicago. Norman told the Tribune: "This has nothing to do with sex. I didn't want to get young kids involved in sex." The police said both the Delta Project and the Chicago newsletter [[Hermes]] "were controlled by separate groups of men working together in an interlocking web of vice."[^1]
On October 19, 1976, the FBI Chicago office recorded in a memorandum (file 166-2548) an investigator's information that Norman, John Shanks and Phillip Paske ran "The Delta Project" as a business transporting young males interstate to paying customers, and that some customers may be federal employees. The memorandum recommended opening a new case.[^6]
On March 21, 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court denied an original petition for habeas corpus filed by Norman. The order states that he claimed he had been misadvised, when he pleaded guilty, that there would be no mandatory parole term after his sentence. The court held that habeas corpus did not lie for that claim and denied the petition without prejudice to a post-conviction petition in the trial court.[^7][^8]
Paske later worked for the contracting business of [[John Wayne Gacy]], who after his conviction named Paske and Norman in connection with his crimes. Norman was arrested again in Pennsylvania in 1983, jumped bail, was recaptured in Illinois in July 1987, and died in 2011.[^9]
### Colorado Records
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation identification record for Norman, issued April 1, 2020, lists Denver arrests on February 26, 1982, on a commercial sex solicitation charge and a felony charge of commercial sexual exploitation of a child. A Denver police entry dated June 10, 1988, lists second-degree sexual assault and sexual assault on a child. The record shows Norman received at the Territorial Correctional Facility in Canon City on April 30, 1990, on two counts of sexual assault on a child.[^10]
### The Finders
Two names in the address book seized from the [[The Finders|Finders]] members [[Douglas Ammerman]] and [[James Michael Holwell]] at their arrest in Tallahassee on February 4, 1987, appear, according to the writer S. Dovey, in an FBI Dallas file on child prostitution that concerned Norman's Odyssey Foundation, and a third in a Buffalo file on members of [[NAMBLA]] suspected of murder. No direct tie between Norman and the Finders' leadership has been documented.[^4][^5]
Two names in the address book seized from the [[The Finders|Finders]] members [[Douglas Ammerman]] and [[James Michael Holwell]] at their arrest in Tallahassee on February 4, 1987, appear, according to the writer S. Dovey, in an FBI Dallas file on child prostitution that concerned Norman's Odyssey Foundation, and a third in a Buffalo file on members of [[NAMBLA]] suspected of murder. No direct tie between Norman and the Finders' leadership has been documented.[^9][^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Moseley, Ray, with Michael Sneed and George Bliss. "Chicago Is Center of National Child Porno Ring." *Chicago Tribune,* May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 433-435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, Chicago, May 27, 1977, 95th Congress, 1st session. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^3]: *Norman v. Elrod,* 76 Ill. 2d 426, 394 N.E.2d 1043 (Ill. 1979).
[^4]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
[^5]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "The Finders," FBI Records: The Vault, released November 2019, https://vault.fbi.gov/the-finders.
[^3]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^4]: Robin Lloyd, *For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America* (1976), p. 80. https://archive.org/details/formoneyorlovebo0000lloy
[^5]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, second page. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum, SAC Chicago (166-NEW), dated October 19, 1976, file 166-2548, FOIPA release 1352511-001 (Philip Paske file). https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^7]: *Norman v. Elrod,* 76 Ill. 2d 426, 394 N.E.2d 1043 (Ill. 1979).
[^8]: *Norman v. Elrod*, 76 Ill. 2d 426 (1979), No. 51521, order entered March 21, 1979 (per curiam). https://static.case.law/ill-2d/76/cases/0426-01.json
[^9]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
[^10]: Colorado Bureau of Investigation, identification record for "Norman, John David," issued April 1, 2020. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_CBI
[^11]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "The Finders," FBI Records: The Vault, released November 2019, https://vault.fbi.gov/the-finders.

24
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kermit Roosevelt.md
View file

@ -9,9 +9,31 @@ summary: "CIA officer who orchestrated the 1953 coup that restored the Shah of I
born: 1916-02-16
died: 2000-06-08
location: "Buenos Aires, Argentina"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Suez Crisis]]"
role: "attendee, Suez meeting"
start: 1956-08-13
end: 1956-08-13
fn: 5
updated: 2026-10-14
---
[[Kermit Roosevelt]] was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer who, along with [[Miles Copeland]], helped the [[Iran|Iranian]] military restore the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] of [[Iran]] to power in 1953. This occurred after the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] had been overthrown by [[Mohammed Mossadegh]] during the turmoil that followed the nationalization of [[Iran|Iranian]] oil.[^1]
[[Kermit Roosevelt]] was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer who, along with [[Miles Copeland]], helped the [[Iran|Iranian]] military restore the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] of Iran to power in 1953. This occurred after the Shah had been overthrown by [[Mohammed Mossadegh]] during the turmoil that followed the nationalization of Iranian oil.[^1]
### Egypt and the Suez crisis
Miles Copeland wrote in *The Game Player* that in late March 1952, four months before the coup against King Farouk, Roosevelt and Gamal Abdel Nasser began a series of meetings, the first with a committee of officers far from the center of the movement and the second attended by Nasser himself, and that Copeland wrote up the agreement they reached from Roosevelt's oral account. Copeland wrote that [[Mohamed Hassanein Heikal]] denied the meetings and that the second "was documented and photographed."[^2]
At a September 27, 1954 meeting of State, Defense, Foreign Operations Administration and CIA representatives on military assistance to Egypt, "Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bissell described briefly the situation in Egypt."[^3] Copeland wrote in *The Game of Nations* that Roosevelt took the lead in Washington in arguing for the $3,000,000 offer to Nasser, and that Nasser's aides called the Cairo Tower built with the money, in Copeland's transliteration "el wa'ef rusjel," "Roosevelt's erection"; Copeland wrote that State Department officials who knew of the offer blamed Roosevelt because they thought he had tried to make a fool of Nasser.[^4]
On August 13, 1956, Roosevelt attended a meeting on the Suez situation with [[Allen Dulles]], [[Gordon Gray]], [[Arthur Flemming]], [[George Humphrey]] and others, according to the Secretary's Appointment Book cited in the Foreign Relations volume.[^5] On June 7, 1967, during the Six-Day War crisis, [[Walt Rostow]] sent [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] a memorandum proposing quiet beginnings of discussions with moderate Arabs and stating that "men like Eugene Black, Robert Anderson, Raymond Hare, Kermit Roosevelt might be helpful" in connection with them.[^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^2]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's Original Political Operative.* London: Aurum Press, 1989, pp. 153-155.
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. IX, Part 2, Document 1364, memorandum by Staats to the Operations Coordinating Board, September 28, 1954. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v09p2/d1364
[^4]: Copeland, Miles. *The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics.* London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969, pp. 148-150.
[^5]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, vol. XVI, Suez Crisis, Document 57, editorial note on the August 13, 1956 meeting, citing the Secretary's Appointment Book. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d57
[^6]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, Document 189, memorandum from the President's Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson, June 7, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d189

28
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Phillip Paske.md
View file

@ -4,7 +4,19 @@ tags:
- Person
- OrganizedCrime
summary: "Paske acted as custodian of The Delta Project during periods when Norman was imprisoned, managing its activities which included recruiting local Chicago, Illinois, boys for prostitution and pornography."
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-14
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Chicago, Illinois]]"
role: "summer children's supervisor at a fire department pool; dismissed August 15, 1977"
start: 1977
end: 1977
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1976
fn: 3
---
Phillip R. Paske, a 25-year-old convicted murderer and thief, served as the closest associate of [[John David Norman]] in the [[Odyssey Network]], also known as the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and later rebranded as [[Delta Project]]. A tall, slimly built transvestite in his twenties with long blond hair, Paske met Norman while incarcerated in Cook County Jail, where he faced charges for accessory to murder, later pled down to theft. Paroled in January 1976 despite his probation status, Paske continued to manage Norman's child trafficking enterprise, operating out of a basement apartment on W. Wrightwood Avenue in [[Chicago]], which functioned as a photography studio for producing child pornography.[^1]
@ -18,6 +30,12 @@ The Delta Project under Paske's involvement maintained operations in Chicago, [[
Paske was implicated in the procurement of boys for sex and movies, as detailed in payroll records showing his employment at [[John Wayne Gacy]]'s PDM Construction company in September 1978, just months before Gacy's arrest. Receipts dated September 12, 19, and 25, 1978, confirm Paske's work there, during which he had keys to Gacy's house and allegedly used it for illicit activities when Gacy was absent. These actions tied Paske to a broader network of child exploitation, including potential involvement in snuff films as claimed by Gacy in 1992 interviews.[^1]
### Chicago Tribune and FBI Records, 1976 and 1977
The Chicago Tribune reported in May 1977 that Paske had been out of jail on probation "since last July," which places his release in July 1976 rather than January 1976, and that the Chicago police Area 6 youth division had found a Chicago post office box used by the Delta Project registered to Paske and Norman.[^2] An FBI memorandum dated October 19, 1976 (file 166-2548) names Paske together with Norman and John Shanks in an investigation of the Delta Project, as reported by an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office on October 18, 1976.[^3]
The Tribune reported on August 16, 1977, that the city of Chicago had fired Paske, 25, on August 15 from a summer job as children's supervisor at a fire department swimming pool near Navy Pier, after the paper informed city officials of his background. City records showed he was hired July 28 at $4.75 an hour under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. The paper reported that Paske and Norman had shared a post office box until July 1, and that Paske had been jailed as the driver of a getaway car in the robbery-killing of a stamp collector, originally charged with murder and later pleading guilty to attempted armed robbery under a plea bargain.[^4]
### Connections
Paske was a close associate of John David Norman, meeting him in Cook County Jail where he assisted in launching The Delta Project and later cohabited with him in a Chicago, apartment for pornography production. [[Charles Rehling]], a client of Norman's Epic International service, leased his apartment to Norman under the alias Steven Gurwell, indirectly connecting Paske to the property used for Delta Project operations. [[Kenneth Hellstrom]], a boy who testified against Norman in 1976, was murdered in January 1977, with Paske emerging as a prime suspect due to his role in the network, though the case remained unsolved for decades until 2007.[^1]
@ -26,12 +44,16 @@ Paske connected to John Wayne Gacy through employment at Gacy's PDM Construction
Paske's ties extended to Norman's broader network, including links to operations in New Orleans, via [[Troop 137]] and publications like Hermes, which advertised Delta Project services. Through Gacy, Paske connected to political figures in Chicago, as Gacy's home inventory listed files on payoffs to city inspectors and politicians, potentially overlapping with Paske's procurement activities. These connections formed a web of child trafficking involving pimping, pornography, and possible murders tied to silencing witnesses.[^1]
### Legal Outcome
Paske was arrested alongside John David Norman in November 1973 during a raid on Charles Rehling's Homewood apartment, where police found Odyssey Foundation materials, but specific charges against Paske from this incident are not detailed beyond his incarceration for prior offenses. He was released on probation in 1976, in July according to Chicago police, and carried on the Delta Project, avoiding immediate charges for jail-based operations.[^2] In June 1978, following the raid on the Wrightwood Avenue apartment after Michael Salcido's report, Paske was released without charge despite living there and being linked to the seized client cards for The Creative Corps.[^1]
Paske was arrested alongside John David Norman in November 1973 during a raid on Charles Rehling's Homewood apartment, where police found Odyssey Foundation materials, but specific charges against Paske from this incident are not detailed beyond his incarceration for prior offenses. He was released on probation in 1976, in July according to Chicago police, and carried on the Delta Project, avoiding immediate charges for jail-based operations.[^5] In June 1978, following the raid on the Wrightwood Avenue apartment after Michael Salcido's report, Paske was released without charge despite living there and being linked to the seized client cards for The Creative Corps.[^1]
Paske became a prime suspect in Kenneth Hellstrom's January 1977 murder due to Hellstrom's testimony against Norman, but no conviction resulted, and the case went cold until [[Fred Rogers]] confessed in 2007. Similarly, Paske was suspected in Michael Salcido's February 1979 murder, as Salcido was set to testify against Norman, but the case was attributed to drug dealers with no charges against Paske. During John Wayne Gacy's 1980 trial, Paske was listed as a potential witness for both prosecution and defense, but he was never charged in connection to Gacy's crimes despite payroll evidence and Gacy's 1992 claims of his involvement in procuring victims and snuff films.[^1]
Paske's legal entanglements culminated in his loss of employment as a children's supervisor in 1978 following Norman's arrest, but he faced no further convictions for child trafficking or pimping documented in the records. Gacy's pre-execution statements in 1992 naming Paske as an accomplice prompted no new investigations or charges against him. Overall, Paske evaded conviction for his central role in The Delta Project and related activities, remaining free after 1978 without documented legal repercussions for child exploitation.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
[^2]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, which describes Paske, 25, as "a convicted murderer and thief" on probation "since last July" (that is, July 1976) and carrying on the Delta Project in Norman's absence; it gives no January 1976 parole. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^3]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum, SAC Chicago (166-NEW), dated October 19, 1976, file 166-2548, FOIPA release 1352511-001 (Philip Paske file). https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^4]: "Porno-Ring Suspect Fired by City," *Chicago Tribune*, August 16, 1977, p. 31.
[^5]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, which describes Paske, 25, as "a convicted murderer and thief" on probation "since last July" (that is, July 1976) and carrying on the Delta Project in Norman's absence; it gives no January 1976 parole. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041

15
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Owen.md
View file

@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ tags:
- u.s.-government
- contra-war
summary: Oliver North's courier in Central America whose phone number was found aboard a drug-seized Contra supply plane.
relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
role: "courier for North's Central American network"
start: 1985
fn: 6
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Robert Owen was [[Oliver North]]'s courier in [[Central America]] during the Contra war, serving as a key link in North's illegal resupply operation.[^1]
@ -37,7 +44,11 @@ Rob Owen was Oliver North's courier and liaison to the Contra leadership who rep
### Reports on Drug Trafficking
Owen reported to North that a DC-6 owned by [[Mario Calero]], brother of [[FDN]] leader Adolfo Calero, which was being used for runs out of New Orleans, "is probably being used for drug runs into U.S." Owen also relayed information about [[Dagoberto Nunez|Dagoberto Nuñez]]'s intelligence-gathering operations against the Sandinistas. His memos to North documented the overlap between drug trafficking and the Contra supply chain, providing some of the most direct evidence that the [[National Security Council]] operation knowingly used drug-connected companies like [[SETCO]] and Hondu Carib Cargo for logistical operations.[^5]
Owen reported to North that a DC-6 owned by [[Mario Calero]], brother of [[FDN]] leader Adolfo Calero, which was being used for runs out of New Orleans, "is probably being used for drug runs into U.S." Owen also relayed information about Dagoberto Nuñez's intelligence-gathering operations against the Sandinistas. His memos to North documented the overlap between drug trafficking and the Contra supply chain, providing some of the most direct evidence that the [[National Security Council]] operation knowingly used drug-connected companies like [[SETCO]] and Hondu Carib Cargo for logistical operations.[^5]
### NHAO and Cash Couriers
After the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office was created in August 1985, North and [[Elliott Abrams]] persuaded [[Robert W. Duemling]], the office's director, to add Owen to the NHAO staff. Owen was North's Central American courier.[^6] The independent counsel's report records that Owen, in addition to handling traveler's checks for contra leaders, picked up and delivered $16,500 in cash.[^7]
### Footnotes
@ -46,3 +57,5 @@ Owen reported to North that a DC-6 owned by [[Mario Calero]], brother of [[FDN]]
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 17: "We're going to blow your fucking head off"
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15.
[^5]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15, Ch. 7.
[^6]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, vol. I, ch. 25, "Abrams, North and NHAO." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^7]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 14, description of the Enterprise couriers. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_14.htm

4
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Walter Schellenberg.md
View file

@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ summary: "Walter Schellenberg (1910–1952) was an SS-Brigadeführer and the hea
born: 1910-01-16
died: 1952-03-31
location: "Saarbrücken, Germany"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Walter Schellenberg (1910–1952) was an SS-Brigadeführer and the head of foreign intelligence for [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]][^1].
Schellenberg conveyed to astrologer [[Wilhelm Wulff]] that mystical belief systems were "a suitable vehicle for the propagation of political concepts and for the political control of a nation"[^1].
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. New York: Little, Brown, 2017, p. 17, citing Wilhelm Wulff, *Zodiac and Swastika* (1973), p. 94.

4
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Wilhelm Wulff.md
View file

@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ summary: "Wilhelm Wulff was a German astrologer who became a personal astrologer
born: 1893-03-27
died: 1979-06-09
location: "Hamburg, Germany"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
Wilhelm Wulff was a German astrologer who became a personal astrologer to [[Heinrich Himmler]], the Reichsführer-SS. He was ensnared in "[[Special Action Hess]]" (Sonderaktion Heß), the mass arrest of astrologers and other occult practitioners initiated by [[Adolf Hitler]] following [[Rudolf Hess]]'s flight in 1941[^1].
@ -26,4 +27,5 @@ Wulff also detailed how counterfeit astrological magazines, designed by the Alli
* *Zodiac and Swastika*
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. New York: Little, Brown, 2017, p. 17, citing Wilhelm Wulff, *Zodiac and Swastika* (1973), p. 94.

260
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/INTERNATIONAL/MI5.md
View file

@ -5,33 +5,267 @@ tags:
- UnitedKingdom
- Intelligence
- Counterintelligence
- CambridgeFive
- SpycatcherAffair
- WilsonPlot
- Massiter
- KincoraBoysHome
- Stakeknife
- OperationKenova
- InvestigatoryPowersTribunal
- CovertHumanIntelligenceSources
- Mitrokhin
- Gladio
- PIE
summary: "MI5 (the Security Service) is the United Kingdom's domestic counterintelligence and security agency, founded 1909; it appears in this vault through its Cold War counterintelligence operations against KGB penetrations of British institutions, the Spycatcher affair involving former MI5 officer Peter Wright, its relationship to the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) network, and its roles in the surveillance and monitoring of political organizations."
- IICSA
aliases:
- MI-5
- MI 5
- Security Service
- The Security Service
- Security Service (MI5)
- Military Intelligence, Section 5
- Home Section
summary: "MI5, the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic security agency, whose record runs from the Cambridge Five and the Wilson plot allegations through Massiter, Kincora, Stakeknife and the Third Direction ruling."
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-10-14
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Roger Hollis]]"
reverse: true
start: 1956
end: 1965
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Stella Rimington]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992
end: 1996
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Antony Duff]]"
reverse: true
start: 1985
fn: 13
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Anthony Blunt]]"
reverse: true
start: 1940
end: 1945
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Cathy Massiter]]"
reverse: true
fn: 18
- type: investigated
with: "[[Louis Dolivet]]"
start: 1935
end: 1959
fn: 9
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Peter Wright]]"
reverse: true
fn: 10
- type: investigated
with: "[[Operation Kenova]]"
reverse: true
fn: 32
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Home Office]]"
fn: 2
---
MI5, formally the Security Service, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s domestic counterintelligence and security intelligence agency, responsible for protecting the UK from threats including espionage, terrorism, and sabotage. Founded in 1909 as the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau, MI5 operates under the authority of the Home Secretary and is distinct from [[MI6]] (the [[Secret Intelligence Service]]), which handles foreign intelligence. MI5 is headquartered at Thames House on Millbank, London. Its Director General reports to the Home Secretary; notable Directors General have included Roger Hollis (1956-1965) and Stella Rimington (1992-1996, the first woman in the role and the first Director General whose name was publicly acknowledged).[^1]
MI5, formally the Security Service, is the [[United Kingdom]]'s domestic security and counterintelligence agency. It was founded in 1909 as the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau, operates under the authority of the Home Secretary, and is headquartered at Thames House on Millbank, London. Its Director General reports to the Home Secretary. Notable Directors General have included [[Roger Hollis]] (1956-1965) and [[Stella Rimington]] (1992-1996, the first woman in the role and the first Director General whose name was publicly acknowledged).[^1] The service is distinct from [[MI6]] (the [[Secret Intelligence Service]]), which handles foreign intelligence. Its public record ranges from Cold War penetration cases and the Wilson plot allegations through Northern Ireland agent-running to the disclosure disputes of the 2020s.
### Cold War Counterintelligence
### Statutory remit
MI5's primary Cold War mission was counterintelligence against [[KGB]] operations in the [[United Kingdom]]. This included monitoring Soviet intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover at the Soviet Embassy, running double agents against the KGB, and investigating penetrations of British institutions. The Cambridge Five spy ring - Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross, all Soviet agents recruited while at Cambridge in the 1930s - represented the most damaging penetration of British intelligence and government. Blunt served as MI5's Director of Analysis during World War II while passing intelligence to Moscow; he was identified by MI5 in 1964 and given immunity from prosecution in exchange for a confession, with his role kept secret until Prime Minister Thatcher confirmed it in Parliament in 1979.
The [[Security Service Act 1989]] placed the service on a statutory footing, in the words "There shall continue to be a Security Service." Its function is "the protection of national security" and, in particular, its protection against threats from espionage, terrorism and sabotage, from the activities of agents of foreign powers and from actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means.[^2] The Act also gives the service a function of safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom against threats posed by persons outside the British Islands, and a function of supporting police forces and other law enforcement agencies in the prevention and detection of serious crime.[^2] The serious crime function was added by the [[Security Service Act 1996]].[^3]
The internal debate about whether Roger Hollis himself was a Soviet agent - investigated inconclusively by MI5 during the 1970s - demonstrated the organizational paranoia and institutional damage that resulted from the Cambridge Five penetration. The Hollis suspicion was never proven.[^2]
Before 1989 the service was governed by the royal prerogative and, from September 24, 1952, by a directive from the Home Secretary, Sir [[David Maxwell Fyfe]], to the Director General. The directive described the service as "part of the defence forces of the country," with a task of "the defence of the realm as a whole, from external and internal dangers arising from attempts at espionage and sabotage, or from actions of persons and organisations whether directed from within or without the country, which may be judged to be subversive of the state." It was kept secret until after the [[Profumo affair]] of 1963, and counter-terrorism was added to the service's functions in 1972.[^4] Introducing the Security Service Bill in the [[House of Commons]] on December 15, 1988, the Home Secretary, [[Douglas Hurd]], said that the directive, published in [[Lord Denning]]'s report, continued to apply and that the Bill would turn its language into a statutory requirement.[^5]
### Peter Wright and the Spycatcher Affair
### Cold War counterintelligence
Peter Wright, a former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, wrote a memoir (*Spycatcher*, 1987) that the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] government sought to suppress through court injunctions in [[Australia]] and elsewhere. The book made various allegations about MI5's conduct - including claims that MI5 officers had plotted against Harold Wilson's Labour government in the 1970s, believing Wilson to be a Soviet agent - and disclosed classified technical intelligence methods. The government's failed attempts to suppress the book, which became a bestseller, became a significant civil liberties controversy; the European Court of Human Rights subsequently ruled that the UK injunctions violated freedom of expression.[^1]
MI5's primary Cold War mission was counterintelligence against [[KGB]] operations in the United Kingdom. This included monitoring Soviet intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover at the Soviet Embassy, running double agents against the KGB, and investigating penetrations of British institutions. The [[Cambridge Five]] spy ring of [[Kim Philby]], [[Donald Maclean]], [[Guy Burgess]], [[Anthony Blunt]] and [[John Cairncross]], all Soviet agents recruited while at Cambridge in the 1930s, was the most damaging penetration of British intelligence and government.[^1]
### Relationship to the Pedophile Information Exchange
### Cambridge Five and the Blunt confession
MI5's institutional relationship to the [[Pedophile Information Exchange]] (PIE) has been a subject of ongoing controversy. PIE, the UK pedophile lobby organization that operated 1974-1984, was monitored by MI5 as part of its surveillance of fringe political organizations during the period when domestic extremism surveillance was broadly defined. The question of whether MI5 actively managed a source within PIE - and specifically whether its handler relationship with one or more PIE members constituted knowing facilitation rather than merely surveillance - was raised by investigative journalists and in Parliamentary debate. Former PIE chairman Tom O'Carroll acknowledged police and security service interest in PIE's membership.[^2]
The Security Service's personal file on Blunt, covering 1935 to 1951, describes him as recruited by Russian intelligence while a student and then a don at Cambridge University, a member of the Cambridge Five, and a man who worked for MI5 from 1940 to 1945 and passed significant quantities of secret intelligence to the Russians. The file says that in 1951 he helped Burgess and Maclean defect to Moscow, and that in 1964 he confessed his espionage activities and was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about his fellow Russian intelligence agents.[^6]
The broader question of whether the [[Official Secrets Act|official secrecy framework]] and intelligence community relationships contributed to the non-prosecution of PIE members and associated figures in positions of political power was raised by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) established in 2014.
[[Christopher Andrew]] wrote that Blunt moved from the Intelligence Corps to the Security Service in June 1940, after [[Victor Rothschild]], then an MI5 counter-sabotage specialist, introduced him to [[Guy Liddell]], the head of B Division, who offered him a post. Andrew wrote that Soviet intelligence recorded Blunt under the codename TONY, and that late in 1940 Blunt recruited Burgess as a Security Service agent under the codename VAUXHALL.[^7] Blunt served as MI5's Director of Analysis during World War II while passing intelligence to Moscow.
The role was kept secret until [[Margaret Thatcher]], then Prime Minister, confirmed it in the Commons on November 21, 1979. Thatcher told the House that the Attorney-General, Sir [[John Hobson]], had decided "that it was in the public interest to offer an immunity from prosecution," and that "to this day there is no evidence which could be used as a basis for prosecution against Blunt." She said Blunt had been interviewed on eleven occasions over the following eight years, and that "both at the time of his confession and subsequently he has co-operated in the inquiries of the security authorities."[^8]
The internal debate about whether Roger Hollis himself was a Soviet agent, investigated inconclusively by MI5 during the 1970s, demonstrated the organizational paranoia and institutional damage that resulted from the Cambridge Five penetration. The Hollis suspicion was never proven.[^1]
### Personal files
The Security Service's personal files on [[Louis Dolivet]], held in volumes KV 2/4365 to KV 2/4369 and covering 1935 to 1959, describe him as "a secret communist" who "was active in the pre-war European peace movement, apparently acting under the instructions of Comintern leader Willi MUNZENBERG." The catalogue entry for the first volume says that from 1937 he was Secretary of the communist-influenced [[International Peace Campaign]] while presenting himself as a moderate socialist, that he moved to the United States in 1941 and continued similar activities until 1950, when he settled in Switzerland after being denied an entry visa, and that he later became a film producer and appeared to have given up any communist activity.[^9]
### Harold Wilson allegations and the Spycatcher litigation
[[Peter Wright]], a former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, wrote a memoir, *Spycatcher* (1987), that the Thatcher government sought to suppress through court injunctions in [[Australia]] and elsewhere. Wright wrote that MI5 officers had plotted against [[Harold Wilson]]'s Labour government in the 1970s, believing Wilson to be a Soviet agent, and the book disclosed classified technical intelligence methods.[^10]
The Security Service's catalogue describes file KV 4/480, covering May 1963 to September 1968, as recording discussions between the Director General and the Prime Minister, "primarily Harold Wilson," on topics of significant security concern.[^11]
Wilson's own suspicions had surfaced in 1977, when he gave [[Barrie Penrose]] and Roger Courtiour material for articles in *The Observer*. Andrew wrote that the Deputy Director General, John Jones, noted on July 27, 1977 that no one had fathomed Wilson's purpose in making the allegations, and that the Director General, Sir [[Michael Hanley]], briefed the Home Secretary and then met the Prime Minister, [[James Callaghan]], for an hour and a half. A Downing Street press statement of August 23, 1977 said Callaghan was satisfied that the allegations did not constitute grounds for lack of confidence in the Security Service or for a special inquiry, and that at no time had the service undertaken electronic surveillance in 10 Downing Street or the Prime Minister's room in the Commons.[^12]
On May 6, 1987, after Callaghan called for a review by a senior judge of the 1977 findings, Thatcher told the Commons that the Director General, [[Antony Duff]], had advised her that over the preceding four months he had conducted an investigation that included interviews with officers in post at the time, and that he had "found no evidence of any truth in the allegations." In her words, he had advised that all the officers interviewed "have categorically denied" involvement in any plans to undermine Wilson's government, that "No evidence or indication has been found of any plot or conspiracy against Lord Wilson by or within the security service," and that Wilson "has never been the subject of a security service investigation or of any form of electronic or other surveillance by the security service." Thatcher added: "I do not believe that any further inquiry would be justified." Callaghan replied that "there is a direct conflict of evidence between what Mr. Peter Wright has said and what I was told by the director-general of the Security Service in 1977."[^13]
Andrew wrote that Wright claimed in *Spycatcher* that thirty MI5 officers had approved a plot; that in a television interview Wright said "The maximum number was eight or nine. Very often it was only three" and, asked how many were still serious, answered "One, I should say"; and that Wright retired in January 1976. Andrew recorded that Stella Rimington, as Director General, invited former Labour home secretaries and other senior party figures to her office to dispel the allegation, and that she judged the attempt a failure.[^12] Andrew also wrote that the Director General's 1987 internal inquiry examined all relevant files and interviewed all relevant officers, serving and retired.[^12]
Andrew's account of the litigation runs as follows. Wright cooperated secretly with [[Chapman Pincher]] on *Their Trade is Treachery* (1981), with Victor Rothschild's encouragement, and appeared in a Granada *World in Action* programme on July 16, 1984. In September 1985 the Attorney-General, Sir [[Michael Havers]], began proceedings in Australia against Wright and Heinemann Australia, and admitted for the purposes of those proceedings that the allegations in *Spycatcher* were correct. The trial opened in Sydney in November 1986. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir [[Robert Armstrong]], was the principal government witness, and was cross-examined by Wright's counsel, [[Malcolm Turnbull]]; he acknowledged that he had been "economical with the truth." The government lost in the New South Wales Supreme Court, and its attempts to keep injunctions in force in Britain failed in the House of Lords in the summer of 1988.[^14]
The [[European Court of Human Rights]] decided two cases arising from the Spycatcher restraints on November 26, 1991. In *Observer and Guardian v. United Kingdom*, the court found by fourteen votes to ten that there was no violation of Article 10 for the period from July 11, 1986 to July 30, 1987, and a unanimous violation of Article 10 for the period from July 30, 1987 to October 13, 1988.[^15] In *The Sunday Times (No. 2) v. United Kingdom* it found a unanimous violation of Article 10.[^16] The [[Cabinet Office]] holds a file titled "Peter Wright Case" for August 27, 1987 to October 20, 1988, and a second for October 24, 1988 to April 19, 1990.[^17]
### Surveillance of CND and the unions, and the Massiter disclosures
Andrew wrote that by the mid-1970s members of the Communist Party of Great Britain held eight of the fifteen seats on the national executive of the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]], and that the service opened a temporary file on [[Bruce Kent]] as a "possible Anarchist" when he became chairman in 1977, converting it to a permanent file when he became general secretary in 1979. He wrote that [[Cathy Massiter]] opened a temporary file on the CND chairman [[Joan Ruddock]] in 1982, converted to a personal file in 1983 because of her meetings with Mikhail Bogdanov, whom Andrew identified as a KGB officer. A telephone check on [[John Cox]], a CND vice chairman and member of the Communist Party executive, began in 1983 and was cancelled in 1985; Andrew quoted a later review by a senior MI5 officer that "Massiter may be right in questioning whether the warrant was strictly justified." Andrew wrote that in March 1983 the service gave the [[Ministry of Defence]] open-source material on the political affiliations of seven leading CND members, and quoted a later internal investigation finding that the Ministry "was anxious to obtain ammunition against CND."[^18]
On the miners' strike of 1984 and 1985, Andrew wrote that the Director of F Branch told the Directors' Meeting on March 13, 1984 that there did not appear to be significant subversive involvement; that [[Arthur Scargill]] had been the subject of a Home Secretary's warrant for telephone interception since November 1973 and the National Union of Mineworkers vice president Mick McGahey for most of the period since 1970; that from late June 1984 copies of the service's Box 500 situation reports on the strike were sent to Thatcher through the Cabinet Secretary; and that Rimington, then head of F2, recalled "agonising" over continuing the warrant on Scargill. Andrew also recorded the allegation, in a Commons motion by Labour MPs, that the NUM chief executive [[Roger Windsor]] had been an MI5 agent, which Rimington and Prime Minister John Major denied and for which Windsor won damages from the *Sunday Express*.[^18]
Massiter, who had left the service, appeared in the Channel 4 *20/20 Vision* documentary "MI5's Official Secrets," a retired Security Service secretary also contributing. After an advance viewing on February 20, 1985, the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] stopped transmission; the Attorney-General, Sir Michael Havers, decided against prosecution on March 5; the ban was lifted on March 6 and the programme was shown on March 8. Home Secretary [[Leon Brittan]] asked [[Lord Bridge of Harwich]] to investigate whether the required warrants had been obtained and the criteria applied. Bridge began on February 28 and reported on March 6 that there had been no wrongdoing; Andrew wrote that 6,129 Home Secretary's warrants had been issued over the previous fifteen years, that the *Daily Telegraph* called the report "hasty and bland," and that [[Roy Jenkins]] said Bridge had been made to appear a "poodle of the executive."[^19]
On December 10, 1984, asked by [[Gerald Kaufman]] about allegations of telephone tapping and mail interference affecting CND, Brittan declined an inquiry, saying he was satisfied that the interception arrangements were strictly applied.[^20] In the Commons debate of March 12, 1985, Brittan said he had concluded "that the security service has carried out no operation, investigation, surveillance or action against any individual otherwise than for the purposes laid down in its directive," and that there had been no allegations of unauthorised interception in the film.[^21] Kaufman told the House that, according to Massiter, Cox did not meet the test of a major subversive, terrorist or espionage threat; that secret information obtained by covert means for MI5 was passed to the Ministry of Defence's DS19 unit, and that a briefing paper on CND was prepared for MI5 by the Secretary of State for Defence; and that MI5 "deliberately and wrongfully classified Joan Ruddock, the Chairman of CND, as a subversive."[^21] Andrew wrote that the charge about Ruddock was mistaken, since the service's concern was her meetings with a Soviet journalist who was a KGB officer.[^19]
During the Commons second reading of the Security Service Bill on December 15, 1988, [[David Winnick]] told the House that Massiter had said CND leaders were spied upon, that national executive members and active branch members of the [[National Council for Civil Liberties]] were placed on permanent record, and that the Opposition suspected CND was targeted because the Secretary of State for Defence gave direct orders to MI5.[^5] Andrew wrote that Massiter swore an affidavit in the case before the European Court of Human Rights brought by the NCCL's former officers [[Harriet Harman]] and [[Patricia Hewitt]], that the service concluded they would probably win because of the absence of a statutory basis, and that the European Court's judgment in *Leander v. Sweden* (March 1987) and that Duff pressed the case for a Security Service Act, which Andrew wrote was strengthened by *Leander v. Sweden* (March 1987) and by the pending Harman and Hewitt case.[^19]
### Kincora Boys' Home
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, known as the Hart Inquiry, examined in Volume 9 whether the security services knew of the sexual abuse of residents at [[Kincora Boys' Home]] and whether they exploited, connived in or ignored it. The inquiry defined the security services as [[RUC Special Branch]], MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service and British Army Intelligence.[^22] Allegations about what those services knew came from individuals including [[Colin Wallace]] and [[Brian Gemmell]].[^22]
The inquiry recorded that the first reference to [[William McGrath]] in MI5 records was a mid-June 1971 report by an MI5 covert human intelligence source on a loyalist meeting addressed by "a man named McGrath," the "Officer Commanding" of the "Tara Brigade," and that MI5 did not create a permanent file on McGrath until May 1977. A letter of April 7, 1972 from James Miller, reporting what a third party had told him, said that "Tara CO McGrath had been accused of assaulting small boys."[^23]
The inquiry found that it was not until 1980 that MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Defence and Special Branch became aware that McGrath had been sexually abusing residents, when that became a public allegation.[^24] By November 1973 MI5, unlike the other three agencies, had also received information that the person later identified as McGrath had been accused of "assaulting small boys."[^25] The inquiry held that it would be unjustified to criticise MI5 for not passing that information to Special Branch, citing the eighteen months between receipt and the later identification of McGrath as the leader of TARA, and the assessment at the time that the report was of dubious reliability.[^26] It also stated that the failure to pass the information "may have been influenced by a desire to protect the existence of their source."[^26]
On [[John McKeague]], the inquiry recorded the statement of MI5 Officer 9004 that MI5 had no compromising film of him and made no attempt to blackmail him, and that one MI5 officer put forward in November 1976 an operational proposal, never endorsed, that "serious consideration should be given to using [McKeague's] homosexual tendencies to recruit him." The inquiry found that an MI5 officer discussed the possibility of exploiting McKeague's homosexuality with Gemmell, probably at a lunch on September 7, 1976, and that it never progressed beyond a proposal.[^27]
A Note for File dated October 17, 1989, written by an MI5 officer, recorded a meeting with an SIS officer who had referred to at least one agent who was aware of sexual malpractice at Kincora. In a 2016 witness statement, MI5 witness Officer 9004 concluded: "Extensive reviews of its files enables MI5 to confirm that no MI5 CHIS produced intelligence about child abuse at Kincora prior to the media revelations of January 1980."[^28] The inquiry also recorded a telex of June 29 and 30, 1982 from the MI5 Assistant Director and Coordinator of Intelligence about the Caskey Phase Three investigation, which referred to the possibility of creating "false files." The inquiry stated that the use of the expression "was at best unwise and at worst demonstrated a willingness to deceive the police," and that the telex went on to say "we should be in difficulty if we attempt to deceive him and manufacture false files or deny the existence of real ones"; it was satisfied that the suggestion was not pursued.[^29]
The inquiry also recorded that MI5 investigated [[Maurice Oldfield]] in 1980 and 1981 in a review of his Positive Vetting clearance, and that the inquiry examined allegations that Oldfield had visited Kincora or had dealings with McGrath. In a letter dated February 19, 1981, the Director General, [[Howard Smith]], wrote that Oldfield "laid himself dangerously open to compromise" through his admitted homosexual relations with hotel stewards in the Far East during the 1950s.[^30]
The inquiry examined the memorandum of November 8, 1974, known as GC80, which Wallace maintained he wrote in that month. It stated that there was "an extremely strong circumstantial case" that the document "was not created in November 1974 as Mr Wallace maintains, but was created in the form in which it emerged in 1984 at a considerably later date."[^31]
### Stakeknife and the disclosure failures
[[Operation Kenova]], a [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] investigation led by [[Jon Boutcher]] and later by [[Iain Livingstone]], examined the agent known as [[Stakeknife]], a figure inside the [[Provisional IRA]]'s internal security unit who was handled by the Army's [[Force Research Unit]] (FRU). The Interim Report, published on March 8, 2024, stated that MI5 "was not responsible for how Stakeknife was targeted or run and could not sensibly be criticised for the conduct or operation of the FRU or any of its agents."[^32][^33]
The Kenova Final Report quotes that passage and then sets out an updated assessment. Kenova found that MI5 "was aware of Stakeknife's recruitment from the outset" and knew of his involvement in the abduction and interrogation of suspected agents "who were then murdered." It found that MI5 was involved in briefing and tasking him through the FRU, received debriefs on all his intelligence, and supplied specialist technical support. It recorded that MI5 expressed concerns and reservations about him, that MI5 recommended the review of his handling conducted toward the end of his deployment, and that MI5 advised the FRU on his possible relocation. The report found "no evidence of MI5 personnel escalating any concerns" about Stakeknife or his handling to more senior personnel within MI5 or any other member of the security forces.[^34]
In April 2024 MI5 informed Kenova that it had found a significant quantity of previously undisclosed material relating to Stakeknife. MI5 stated that the material had been found in mid-March 2024, within days of the Interim Report being published, during work to organise and digitise its Northern Ireland legacy archive, and that related emails "strongly indicate" the material had been transferred from Stormont to London in 2004 for disclosure to the [[Stevens Inquiry]]. The first tranche, received on May 7, 2024, covered almost the entirety of the period during which Stakeknife operated as an agent. Further tranches were notified in May and October 2024.[^35]
A review of MI5's disclosure process, carried out by former Assistant Commissioner [[Helen Ball]] between October 2024 and January 2025 at the request of MI5's Director General, concluded that "none of the material was, deliberately withheld from Operation Kenova at either an individual or an organisational level." Ball found that MI5's disclosure exercise drew on historic information management practices for Northern Ireland material that were not as strong as those MI5 had in place, and made six recommendations, all accepted by MI5.[^36] Livingstone called the late disclosure "deeply regrettable," noting that it came after the Kenova investigative phase had concluded and after the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland had made decisions on prosecutions.[^37]
The Kenova Final Report, published on December 9, 2025, urged the government to depart from its neither confirm nor deny policy on Stakeknife's identity. Livingstone called on the government to name him publicly, describing the agent's offending as "grotesque serious crime" including torture and murder.[^38] On February 9, 2026 the [[Northern Ireland Affairs Committee]] published a report concluding that revealing the identity of Stakeknife would be strongly in the public interest.[^39]
### Legal authority: the Third Direction case and criminal conduct authorisations
In a judgment of December 20, 2019 the [[Investigatory Powers Tribunal]] ruled three to two that MI5's policy on authorising agents to take part in crime was lawful. The claimants were [[Privacy International]], [[Reprieve]], the [[Committee on the Administration of Justice]] and the Pat Finucane Centre, and the case is known as the "Third Direction" case after a direction from the Prime Minister to the Intelligence Services Commissioner, whose existence was disclosed in the Commissioner's confidential annex for 2014 and which was published on March 1, 2018.[^40] The policy under challenge was the Security Service Guidelines on the use of agents who participate in criminality, the current version dating from March 2011, with earlier versions of 1995 or before, 1997 and 2003. The Guidelines stated that an authorisation "has no legal effect and does not confer on either the agent or those involved in the authorisation process any immunity from prosecution," and would be the service's "explanation and justification" if the agent's conduct came under scrutiny by the police or prosecuting authorities.[^40] The tribunal recorded a letter of September 23, 2011 from [[Andrew Parker]], then Deputy Director General, to the Intelligence Services Commissioner, Sir Mark Waller, stating that the Guidelines had been in place since the early 1990s and that incoming Home Secretaries had been briefed on them.[^40]
The majority (the President, Lord Justice Singh, Lord Boyd of Duncansby and Sir Richard McLaughlin) held that there was an implied power in the 1989 Act for the service to run agents embedded in criminal organisations, and dismissed the claim.[^40] Charles Flint QC and Professor Graham Zellick QC dissented. Flint wrote that he was "unable to find that the 1989 Act provides any legal basis for the policy under challenge." The two dissenting judges published the first dissenting opinions in the tribunal's history.[^40][^41] The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal on March 9, 2021.[^42]
The [[Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021]] provides a statutory scheme for criminal conduct authorisations. Its first section is headed "Criminal conduct authorisations."[^43]
### Westminster allegations, the Dickens dossier and the IICSA searches
[[Geoffrey Dickens]], a Conservative MP, asked the Attorney General in March 1981 whether he would prosecute Sir [[Peter Hayman]] and whether the security implications of entries in Hayman's diaries, referred to in [[Tom O'Carroll]]'s trial at the Old Bailey, would be investigated. In 1983 and 1984 he held a series of meetings with the Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, at which he provided information purporting to identify other high-profile abusers in government and the Royal Household. The [[Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse]] (IICSA) found that what was in the "Dickens dossier" and how many dossiers there were is unclear, and that several files or documents have misleadingly become known by that name.[^44]
IICSA commissioned searches of documents at MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service and [[GCHQ]], and of Metropolitan Police Special Branch records, and its Chair examined documents at MI5 headquarters, where the vast majority of relevant documents were found. The report set out a table prepared by the MI5 witness of information MI5 held. It included the 1980 vetting review of Oldfield; information received in 1980 that Hayman engaged in sexual activities with young boys; in 1981 about [[Tom Driberg]]; in the mid-1980s from two sources that [[Peter Morrison]] "has a penchant for small boys"; in 1982 about [[William Van Straubenzee]], shared with the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister; and in 1973 a police report about an alleged video recording involving [[Anthony Lambton]]. The Leon Brittan entry records information received in the mid-1980s that suggested Brittan or a close MP associate engaged in sexual relations with teenagers, followed within a day by information that it did not relate to Brittan but was rumoured to relate to the associate, and within the week by information that the rumour had been started by a prisoner turned down for parole out of vindictiveness. The panel concluded that "no material was found at any of the four organisations to indicate either the existence of a 'Westminster paedophile network' or of any attempts to cover up or suppress information about the existence of such a network."[^45]
On Morrison, the report recorded that on January 6, 1986 Duff wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, recalling unsubstantiated rumours of 1983, and that a member of his staff, [[Eliza Manningham-Buller]], had passed on information from a friend. A letter of July 7, 1987 from Patrick Walker of the Security Service to Armstrong, on a security briefing given to Morrison, confirmed a meeting between Morrison's agent and the Labour candidate in Chester. The MI5 witness described it as "a matter of regret that no consideration was given at the time to the criminal aspects of the matter," the corporate record showing a "narrow, security-related view." MI5 had no specific policy relating to the protection of children at risk before 2014.[^46]
The [[Pedophile Information Exchange]] (PIE), the UK organisation that operated from 1974 to 1984, was monitored by MI5 as part of its surveillance of fringe political organisations during the period when domestic extremism surveillance was broadly defined. Whether MI5 actively managed a source within PIE, and whether its handler relationship with one or more PIE members amounted to knowing facilitation rather than surveillance, was raised by investigative journalists and in Parliamentary debate. Former PIE chairman Tom O'Carroll acknowledged police and security service interest in PIE's membership. Tim Hulbert, who worked at the Home Office Voluntary Services Unit, gave accounts in 2013, 2014 and 2019 that a colleague there told him, in a period he placed between 1978 and 1980, that a grant to PIE was extended at the request of the Security Services (his 2013 account) or of Special Branch (his 2019 account), who found it useful to identify people with paedophile inclinations. IICSA wrote that it did not consider that Hulbert had done other than his honest best, found "no independent support" for the allegation, found "some evidence which undermines it," and stated that there was no available evidence that PIE received Home Office funding.[^47] The broader question of whether the official secrecy framework (the [[Official Secrets Act]]) and intelligence community relationships contributed to the non-prosecution of PIE members and associated figures in positions of political power was raised by IICSA.
### Advisers and consultants
[[William Sargant]], the psychiatrist, is described in a 2006 book by [[Dominic Streatfeild]] as an informal consultant to MI5. Streatfeild's principal source, a senior psychiatrist described as a former close colleague of Sargant, confirmed that Sargant "loved doing things for the government" and discussed the advisory role openly in informal terms, but stated that he was "never an official psychiatrist to either MI5 or MI6."[^48]
The death of the British journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]] in Chile in 1990 was the subject of a police account that the Chilean investigating judge began to doubt. British officials in Chile and, it was understood, members of MI5 in London put it about that Moyle "was a sexual deviant who hanged himself while attempting to obtain pleasure." [[The Guardian]] reported on June 2, 1990 that no evidence had been provided to support that characterisation.[^49]
### Liaison and stay-behind networks
[[Vasili Mitrokhin]], a former KGB archivist, gave British intelligence copies of notes he had made from KGB files. Christopher Andrew and Mitrokhin published the material in *The Sword and the Shield* (1999).[^50] The [[Intelligence and Security Committee]] reported on the security and intelligence agencies' handling of information provided by Mitrokhin on June 13, 2000.[^51]
The Foreign Office kept files titled "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" for 1990 and 1991.[^52][^53] MI5 shares liaison relationships with the other domestic services of the [[Five Eyes]] countries, among them the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service|CSIS]], the [[Australian Security Intelligence Organization|ASIO]] and the [[New Zealand Security Intelligence Service|NZSIS]], that derive from the UKUSA framework.[^1]
### Mossad liaison and the 1988 expulsions
[[Peter Hounam]] wrote that after Sowan was sentenced to eleven years in June 1988, the government expelled [[Arie Regev]], the [[Mossad]]'s liaison with MI5 and MI6, together with other Israeli officers. He wrote that the expulsion was taken on the initiative of the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] and MI5, and over the objection of MI6.[^54]
### Matrix Churchill and BCCI
[[Alan Friedman]] wrote that an executive of [[Matrix Churchill]], [[Mark Gutteridge]], "first told MI5 about [[Gerald Bull]] and his supergun in May 1988," and an MI5 officer was reported to have confirmed at the 1992 trial of the Matrix Churchill directors that Gutteridge had reported to the service on Bull's company.[^55]
The 1992 report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate on [[BCCI]], by Senators [[John Kerry]] and [[Hank Brown]], recorded that a British judge had declined to let the committee receive BCCI documents held in the United Kingdom without the written "permission" of the depositors involved, "such as [[Abu Nidal Organization|Abu Nidal]]." It stated: "Still other BCCI documents in the United Kingdom have been segregated and sealed by British intelligence (MI-5), and withheld from dissemination to anyone."[^56]
[[Lucy Komisar]] wrote that [[Ghassan Qassem]] alerted MI5 after BCCI headquarters told him to destroy a document, and that MI5 then traced payments from the BCCI account of a Syrian intelligence operative to the Abu Nidal agent who in 1986 had used his girlfriend in an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle a bomb aboard an Israeli airliner at [[Heathrow Airport]].[^57]
### Operation Midland and the Westminster allegations
[[Carl Beech]], whose allegations to the [[Metropolitan Police]] in 2014 named former heads of MI5 and MI6 among others, was convicted in 2019 of fraud and perverting the course of justice.[^58] The two former heads named by Beech were Michael Hanley and Maurice Oldfield, the latter the subject of the 1980 to 1981 vetting review recorded by the Hart Inquiry.[^30]
### Press relations
In October 2016 Andrew Parker, then Director General, gave an interview to The Guardian that the paper described as the first newspaper interview given by an incumbent MI5 chief in the service's history.[^59]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Andrew, Christopher. *The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.* Knopf, 2009.
[^2]: Wright, Peter. *Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer.* Viking, 1987.
[^1]: Andrew, Christopher. *The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5.* Allen Lane, 2009 (US edition Knopf, 2009).
[^2]: *Security Service Act 1989*, c. 5, s. 1(1) to (4). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/5/section/1
[^3]: *Security Service Act 1996*, c. 35. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/35/contents
[^4]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others*, IPT/17/86/CH, judgment of December 20, 2019, paras. 44 and 45 (quoting the Directive of September 24, 1952, paras. 2 and 3, and citing Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, pp. 323 and 615). https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others-3/
[^5]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 15 December 1988, vol. 143, cc. 1104-81, Security Service Bill, second reading (Douglas Hurd, Home Secretary; David Winnick). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1988/dec/15/security-service-bill
[^6]: The National Archives, KV 2/4700, "Anthony BLUNT: British. BLUNT was recruited by the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) to talent spot..." (Security Service personal file, 1935 to 1951). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404936. The same description is carried in KV 2/4704 (1956 to 1964) and KV 2/4720 (1972 to 1973).
[^7]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section C, "Soviet Penetration and the Communist Party."
[^8]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 21 November 1979, vol. 974, cc. 402-520, debate on Anthony Blunt, including the statement by the Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1979/nov/21/mr-anthony-blunt
[^9]: The National Archives, KV 2/4365, "Louis DOLIVET alias DOLIVEUX, Ludovic BRECHER, ULIANU, BOVET" (Security Service personal file, 1935 to 1937). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16548842. Later volumes KV 2/4366 to KV 2/4369 cover 1937 to 1959 and carry the same catalogue heading.
[^10]: Wright, Peter. *Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer.* Viking, 1987.
[^11]: The National Archives, KV 4/480, "Liaison between the Director General and the Prime Minister" (Security Service policy file, 1963 to 1968). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404997
[^12]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The 'Wilson Plot'," including the Downing Street statement of August 23, 1977, Wright's television interview, and Rimington's account.
[^13]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 6 May 1987, vol. 115, cc. 723-32, "State Security" (private notice question by Neil Kinnock; statement by the Prime Minister; reply by Sir James Callaghan). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1987/may/06/state-security. On Duff's appointment as Director General in spring 1985, see Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act."
[^14]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act," on Wright, Pincher, the Australian proceedings, Armstrong's cross-examination and the House of Lords decision.
[^15]: *Observer and Guardian v. the United Kingdom*, App. No. 13585/88, judgment of 26 November 1991, operative provisions, paras. 1 and 2. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57705
[^16]: *The Sunday Times (No. 2) v. the United Kingdom*, App. No. 13166/87, judgment of 26 November 1991, operative provisions, para. 1. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57708
[^17]: The National Archives, CAB 164/2107, "Peter Wright Case" (1987 to 1988), https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C20537828; CAB 164/2108, "Peter Wright Case" (1988 to 1990), Cabinet Office Subject (Theme Series) Files.
[^18]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Thatcher Government and Subversion."
[^19]: Andrew, *The Defence of the Realm*, Section E, "The Origins of the Security Service Act," on the Massiter broadcast, the Bridge inquiry, the Commons debate of March 12, 1985, and the origins of the 1989 Act.
[^20]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 10 December 1984, vol. 69, cc. 737-40, "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament." https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1984/dec/10/campaign-for-nuclear-disarmament
[^21]: House of Commons, *Hansard* HC Deb 12 March 1985, vol. 75, cc. 151-244, Interception of Communications Bill (Leon Brittan; Gerald Kaufman). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1985/mar/12/interception-of-communications-bill
[^22]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, *Kincora Boys' Home (Part 2)*, Chapter 28, Module 15, paras. 1-4. https://www.hiainquiry.org/sites/hiainquiry/files/media-files/Chapter%2028%20-%20Module%2015%20-%20Kincora%20Boys%E2%80%99%20Home%20%28Part%202%29_0.pdf
[^23]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 96-97.
[^24]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 227.
[^25]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 228.
[^26]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 229-230.
[^27]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 155-158.
[^28]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 633-635, quoting the Note for File of October 17, 1989 and the witness statement of Officer 9004 dated November 29, 2016.
[^29]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 636-638, quoting the telex of June 29 and 30, 1982 (KIN 4182).
[^30]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, paras. 610-614, quoting the letter of the Director General of MI5, Sir Howard Smith, to the Secretary of the Cabinet, February 19, 1981.
[^31]: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, *Report*, Vol. 9, Chapter 28, para. 572.
[^32]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report* (December 2025), Part A, sections 3 and 4, on the Interim Report published by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on March 8, 2024. https://www.kenova.co.uk/FINAL%20Kenova%20Report.pdf
[^33]: Operation Kenova, *Interim Report* (Police Service of Northern Ireland, March 8, 2024), as quoted in *Final Report*, para. 12.16.
[^34]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report*, paras. 12.20 to 12.22.
[^35]: Operation Kenova, *Final Report*, paras. 4.3 to 4.7, covering MI5's letter of April 8, 2024, the tranche dates, and the letter from Livingstone to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland dated August 6, 2025.
[^36]: Helen Ball QPM, *Kenova Disclosure: External Review, Unclassified Summary* (February 2025), conclusions and recommendations. https://www.kenova.co.uk/Kenova%20External%20Review%20by%20H%20Ball%20Feb%202025%20(002).pdf
[^37]: Operation Kenova, statement of Sir Iain Livingstone QPM, "Report into undisclosed MI5 files published." https://www.kenova.co.uk/report-into-undisclosed-mi5-files-published
[^38]: Operation Kenova, press release, "Final Report: Government urged to name Stakeknife," December 9, 2025. https://www.kenova.co.uk/government-urged-to-name-stakeknife
[^39]: Operation Kenova, statement on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report on naming Stakeknife, "Kenova welcomes report which calls for Stakeknife to be named," February 9, 2026. https://www.kenova.co.uk/kenova-welcomes-report-which-calls-for-stakeknife-to-be-named
[^40]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others* (the "Third Direction" case), IPT/17/86/CH and IPT/17/87/CH, open judgment of December 20, 2019 (Singh LJ, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, Sir Richard McLaughlin, Charles Flint QC, Professor Graham Zellick QC), paras. 1-4, 9, 12-17, 27, 60, 112-113 and 130. https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others-3/
[^41]: Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), press statement on the Investigatory Powers Tribunal judgment, December 20, 2019. https://caj.org.uk/latest/tribunal-judges-divided-on-mi5-secret-approvals-for-serious-crime/
[^42]: *Privacy International and Others v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Others*, IPT/17/86 and 87/CH, judgment on the "IPCO issue," October 21, 2021, para. 2 (appeal dismissed March 9, 2021, [2021] EWCA Civ 330). https://investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/judgement/privacy-international-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-foreign-and-commonwealth-affairs-others/
[^43]: *Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021*, c. 4, s. 1 ("Criminal conduct authorisations"). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/4/section/1
[^44]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part B, paras. 14-16. https://www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations-research/investigations/allegations-of-abuse-by-people-of-public-prominence-associated-with-westminster
[^45]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part C, "Searches at the security and intelligence agencies and at Metropolitan Police Special Branch," paras. 1-7 and Table 1.
[^46]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part E, paras. 79-80 and 103-129; Part J, para. 29.
[^47]: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, *Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster: Investigation Report* (February 2020), Part G.3, paras. 49-52, 63, 77 and 79.
[^48]: Streatfeild, Dominic. *Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control.* Hodder and Stoughton, 2006, ch. 7.
[^49]: Coad, Malcolm, and David Pallister. "Dead journalist sex smear 'foul,'" *The Guardian*, June 2, 1990, p. 3.
[^50]: Andrew, Christopher, and Vasili Mitrokhin. *The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.* Basic Books, 1999.
[^51]: Intelligence and Security Committee, *Report on the Security and Intelligence Agencies' handling of information provided by Mr Mitrokhin*, Cm 4764, June 13, 2000. The National Archives, YHL/PO/JO/10/11/3212/1631. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/69d2845c-ac34-49c2-8515-4341f51b7c76
[^52]: The National Archives, FCO 46/7916, "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" (1990). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17145239
[^53]: The National Archives, FCO 179/318, "Operation Gladio (planned undercover operations in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe)" (1991). https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17418932
[^54]: Hounam, Peter. *The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu and the Israeli Nuclear Program.* Vision Paperbacks, 1999, pp. 74, 127.
[^55]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.* Bantam, 1993, pp. 78-79, 116, 250; trial of the Matrix Churchill directors, Central Criminal Court, 1992.
[^56]: Kerry, John, and Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^57]: Komisar, Lucy. "BCCI's Double Game: Banking on America, Banking on Jihad." https://www.thekomisarscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BCCIs-Double-Game-Banking-on-America-Banking-on-Jihad-by-Lucy-Komisar.pdf
[^58]: "Carl Beech: Liar, fraudster and paedophile." *BBC News*, July 26, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49048972
[^59]: Ewen MacAskill and Paul Johnson, interview with Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, *The Guardian*, October 31, 2016.

115
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/Central Intelligence Agency.md
View file

@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- Central Intelligence Agency
- CIA
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-14
tags:
- Organization
- Intelligence
@ -34,19 +34,19 @@ relations:
with: "[[Psychological Strategy Board]]"
role: "Member agency; the Director of Central Intelligence chaired meeting M-8"
start: 1952-01-10
fn: 55
fn: 56
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Max Millikan]]"
reverse: true
role: "Assistant Director, Research and Reports (1951); Special Consultant (1952)"
start: 1951-01
end: 1952-03
fn: 56
fn: 57
- type: funded
with: "[[Center for International Studies]]"
role: "agency money reported to have set up the center in 1951; $300,000 reported in 1967"
start: 1951
fn: 63
fn: 64
---
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a primary intelligence-gathering organization of the United States government. In the context of psychic research, the CIA played a significant, albeit often covert, role in funding and overseeing programs aimed at exploring and utilizing psychic phenomena for intelligence purposes.[^1]
@ -142,19 +142,19 @@ The CIA's covert action division, the Directorate of Operations, created and man
Federal law enforcement records and congressional testimony established that the CIA had reports of [[Cocaine]] being transshipped through Contra-linked facilities, including [[Ilopango Airbase]] in [[El Salvador]]. When defense attorneys in the [[Frogman Case]] obtained letters from CIA assets claiming seized drug money belonged to the Contras, the CIA's Costa Rican station cabled Langley that both men were assets of an organization that had "unwittingly received CIA support." CIA lawyer Lee Strickland flew to [[San Francisco]] and asked the prosecutor to ensure depositions did not go forward. The government returned $36,020 in seized drug money and a CIA cable declared: "CIA equities are fully protected."[^38]
The pseudonymous agent [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Contra armies, admitted during polygraph tests that he had laundered drug money. He was fired in 1989 for repeated polygraph failures concerning drug dealing.[^38]
Webb wrote that the pseudonymous agent [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], assigned to Costa Rica in 1982 as the CIA's liaison to the Contra armies, admitted during polygraph tests that he had laundered drug money, and that he was fired in 1989 for repeated polygraph failures concerning drug dealing.[^38] The CIA Inspector General's 1998 report stated that CIA records show a CIA independent contractor used the alias "Ivan Gomez" in Costa Rica in the 1980s, that CIA records place the contractor in the United States during April and May 1982, and that he denied meeting Carlos Cabezas.[^39]
### The Secret 1982 Agreement with the Justice Department
In early 1982, CIA director William J. Casey and Attorney General [[William French Smith]] signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding that exempted the CIA from reporting drug crimes committed by its non-employees - a category including agents, assets, and non-staff employees. Drug offenses were specifically removed from the list of crimes the CIA was required to report. The agreement remained in effect from 1982 to 1995.[^39]
In early 1982, CIA director William J. Casey and Attorney General [[William French Smith]] signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding that exempted the CIA from reporting drug crimes committed by its non-employees - a category including agents, assets, and non-staff employees. Drug offenses were specifically removed from the list of crimes the CIA was required to report. The agreement remained in effect from 1982 to 1995.[^40]
### Ilopango Obstruction
When [[DEA]] agent [[Celerino Castillo]] began investigating Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango, the CIA intervened directly.[^40] On April 25, 1986 the El Salvador station replied to a Costa Rica station cable of April 23 about Carlos Amador. The reply asked: "Based on that information, [El Salvador] Station would appreciate [Costa Rica] Station advising [DEA] not to make any inquiries to anyone re: hangar no. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate [CIA] supported operations were conducted from this facility." The same cable stated that station air operations had moved from Hangar 4 into Hangar 5, which the station still occupied.[^41]
When [[DEA]] agent [[Celerino Castillo]] began investigating Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango, the CIA intervened directly.[^41] On April 25, 1986 the El Salvador station replied to a Costa Rica station cable of April 23 about Carlos Amador. The reply asked: "Based on that information, [El Salvador] Station would appreciate [Costa Rica] Station advising [DEA] not to make any inquiries to anyone re: hangar no. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate [CIA] supported operations were conducted from this facility." The same cable stated that station air operations had moved from Hangar 4 into Hangar 5, which the station still occupied.[^42]
### Inspector General Investigation
CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] testified before the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] in March 1998 that the CIA "did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity," including trafficking within the United States. His 400-page report documented CIA relationships with more than 50 suspected drug traffickers during the Contra war.[^39]
CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] testified before the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] in March 1998 that the CIA "did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity," including trafficking within the United States. His 400-page report documented CIA relationships with more than 50 suspected drug traffickers during the Contra war.[^40]
### Iran-Contra Indictments
@ -162,37 +162,37 @@ Multiple CIA officials were indicted during the Iran-Contra investigation. Clarr
### Interrogation videotapes and the 2004 to 2006 directorship
[[Porter Goss]], a former House intelligence chairman, was confirmed by the Senate 77 to 17 on September 22, 2004, was sworn in at the White House on September 24, 2004, and announced his resignation on May 5, 2006.[^42] His executive director, [[Kyle Foggo]], the agency's No. 3 official, resigned in May 2006 while the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] was examining whether he had improperly helped the defense contractor [[Brent Wilkes]] obtain large CIA contracts.[^43] Foggo pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of defrauding the government and was sentenced on February 26, 2009 to 37 months.[^44]
[[Porter Goss]], a former House intelligence chairman, was confirmed by the Senate 77 to 17 on September 22, 2004, was sworn in at the White House on September 24, 2004, and announced his resignation on May 5, 2006.[^43] His executive director, [[Kyle Foggo]], the agency's No. 3 official, resigned in May 2006 while the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] was examining whether he had improperly helped the defense contractor [[Brent Wilkes]] obtain large CIA contracts.[^44] Foggo pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of defrauding the government and was sentenced on February 26, 2009 to 37 months.[^45]
The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]'s 2014 study of the detention and interrogation program records that the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations of [[Abu Zubaydah]] and [[Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri]] on November 9, 2005, the day after the Senate's November 8 vote against an amendment to establish an independent commission on detainee treatment.[^45] In an October 31, 2005 email, the CIA attorney [[John Rizzo]] wrote that he needed "to be the skunk at the party again."[^45]
The [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]'s 2014 study of the detention and interrogation program records that the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations of [[Abu Zubaydah]] and [[Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri]] on November 9, 2005, the day after the Senate's November 8 vote against an amendment to establish an independent commission on detainee treatment.[^46] In an October 31, 2005 email, the CIA attorney [[John Rizzo]] wrote that he needed "to be the skunk at the party again."[^46]
Emails released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in April 2010, under a Freedom of Information Act request by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], state that in November 2005 [[Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.|Jose Rodriguez]] told Goss and others he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it," and that Goss "laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat." The same email states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision." NBC News reported that the email is an after-the-fact summary that does not prove Goss approved the destruction, that current and former intelligence officials have said he did not and was angry to find out, and that Rodriguez's lawyer disputed that.[^46] On November 9, 2010, the Justice Department said special prosecutor [[John Durham]] would not bring criminal charges over the destruction.[^47]
Emails released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in April 2010, under a Freedom of Information Act request by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], state that in November 2005 [[Jose A. Rodriguez Jr.|Jose Rodriguez]] told Goss and others he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it," and that Goss "laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat." The same email states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision." NBC News reported that the email is an after-the-fact summary that does not prove Goss approved the destruction, that current and former intelligence officials have said he did not and was angry to find out, and that Rodriguez's lawyer disputed that.[^47] On November 9, 2010, the Justice Department said special prosecutor [[John Durham]] would not bring criminal charges over the destruction.[^48]
### Foreign Broadcast Information Service
The [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] became a unit of the agency in 1947. The [[War Department]] had sponsored the service from January 2, 1946, and the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] assumed control of it on July 31, 1946, before the [[National Security Act of 1947]] replaced the [[Central Intelligence Group]] with the agency.[^48] The administrative history of the service's record group lists the successor as "Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency, 1947-."[^49] The service's 1969 history says it came to the agency "almost mature, trained and disciplined, and ready to plunge immediately into the tasks outlined for it."[^50]
The [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] became a unit of the agency in 1947. The [[War Department]] had sponsored the service from January 2, 1946, and the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] assumed control of it on July 31, 1946, before the [[National Security Act of 1947]] replaced the [[Central Intelligence Group]] with the agency.[^49] The administrative history of the service's record group lists the successor as "Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency, 1947-."[^50] The service's 1969 history says it came to the agency "almost mature, trained and disciplined, and ready to plunge immediately into the tasks outlined for it."[^51]
Within the agency the service sat under the [[Assistant Director for Operations]]. In January 1947 the Assistant Director presented a propaganda analysis program to the PRC, approving the proposed program but excluding "interpretative analysis" from its scope, and the requested staff was twelve at $61,000 a year. [[Lawrence K. White]] was announced as deputy chief of the service on January 9, 1947.[^51]
Within the agency the service sat under the [[Assistant Director for Operations]]. In January 1947 the Assistant Director presented a propaganda analysis program to the PRC, approving the proposed program but excluding "interpretative analysis" from its scope, and the requested staff was twelve at $61,000 a year. [[Lawrence K. White]] was announced as deputy chief of the service on January 9, 1947.[^52]
The service's functions were folded into the [[Open Source Center]] in November 2005. The release announcing the center said the Director of the CIA would administer it on behalf of the DNI.[^52]
The service's functions were folded into the [[Open Source Center]] in November 2005. The release announcing the center said the Director of the CIA would administer it on behalf of the DNI.[^53]
### Psychological warfare liaison, 1946 to 1952
In July 1946 the Central Intelligence Group's Central Planning Staff closed out its liaison with the Security Advisory Board of the [[Office of War Information]]. The memorandum designated a liaison officer to the Director, charged him with recommending when appropriate whether the board should be placed under the [[National Intelligence Authority]], and recorded that no further action by the Security Branch was required. The board was being replaced by a new Security Advisory Board under the [[State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee]].[^53]
In July 1946 the Central Intelligence Group's Central Planning Staff closed out its liaison with the Security Advisory Board of the [[Office of War Information]]. The memorandum designated a liaison officer to the Director, charged him with recommending when appropriate whether the board should be placed under the [[National Intelligence Authority]], and recorded that no further action by the Security Branch was required. The board was being replaced by a new Security Advisory Board under the [[State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee]].[^54]
In July 1947 the Assistant Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation complained to the chief of the Group's Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff that the arrangement for the Group's seat on the coordinating committee's subcommittee for psychological warfare was "not operable." The principal member came from the [[Office of Special Operations]] and the alternate from the Office of Research and Evaluation, and the memorandum was addressed to the Executive Director.[^54]
In July 1947 the Assistant Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation complained to the chief of the Group's Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff that the arrangement for the Group's seat on the coordinating committee's subcommittee for psychological warfare was "not operable." The principal member came from the [[Office of Special Operations]] and the alternate from the Office of Research and Evaluation, and the memorandum was addressed to the Executive Director.[^55]
On January 10, 1952 the eighth meeting of the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] was chaired by [[Walter Bedell Smith]], the Director of Central Intelligence. Its members were the Deputy Secretary of Defense, William C. Foster, and the Under Secretary of State, James E. Webb. [[Edward W. Barrett]], Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, attended as a participant from the Department of State.[^55]
On January 10, 1952 the eighth meeting of the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] was chaired by [[Walter Bedell Smith]], the Director of Central Intelligence. Its members were the Deputy Secretary of Defense, William C. Foster, and the Under Secretary of State, James E. Webb. [[Edward W. Barrett]], Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, attended as a participant from the Department of State.[^56]
In a letter stamped January 30, 1951, [[Max Millikan]] wrote that he had "gone on leave from MIT to head up the Office of Research and Reports in this Agency."[^56] On October 29, 1951 he wrote to a prospective recruit that for "the last nine or ten months" he had been "trying to put together for General Smith an organization to do economic research."[^57] A memorandum of conversation dated January 22, 1951 lists "Dr. Max Millikan, Central Intelligence Agency" among the participants in a discussion with State Department officers of psychological intelligence, and records his concern that splitting that work among several organizations would produce the shortcomings of decentralization.[^58] A memorandum of March 6, 1951, addressed to the intelligence chiefs of the State Department, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, was issued "For the Director of Central Intelligence" over Millikan's typed name as Assistant Director, Research and Reports.[^59] A letter he signed as Assistant Director on November 26, 1951 says that "Walt Rostow at the Center for International Studies has sought my assistance in finding him someone to help out with some research."[^60] A letter of March 3, 1952 addresses him as Special Consultant, Central Intelligence Agency.[^61] In an interview note of March 5, 1952 titled "Origin of PSB," a CIA historian recorded that Millikan "participated in a 'contract study,' State and MIT," which the note identifies as the "Troy Project," and that its study "had considerable to do with the creation of the PSB."[^62]
In a letter stamped January 30, 1951, [[Max Millikan]] wrote that he had "gone on leave from MIT to head up the Office of Research and Reports in this Agency."[^57] On October 29, 1951 he wrote to a prospective recruit that for "the last nine or ten months" he had been "trying to put together for General Smith an organization to do economic research."[^58] A memorandum of conversation dated January 22, 1951 lists "Dr. Max Millikan, Central Intelligence Agency" among the participants in a discussion with State Department officers of psychological intelligence, and records his concern that splitting that work among several organizations would produce the shortcomings of decentralization.[^59] A memorandum of March 6, 1951, addressed to the intelligence chiefs of the State Department, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, was issued "For the Director of Central Intelligence" over Millikan's typed name as Assistant Director, Research and Reports.[^60] A letter he signed as Assistant Director on November 26, 1951 says that "Walt Rostow at the Center for International Studies has sought my assistance in finding him someone to help out with some research."[^61] A letter of March 3, 1952 addresses him as Special Consultant, Central Intelligence Agency.[^62] In an interview note of March 5, 1952 titled "Origin of PSB," a CIA historian recorded that Millikan "participated in a 'contract study,' State and MIT," which the note identifies as the "Troy Project," and that its study "had considerable to do with the creation of the PSB."[^63]
The agency's financing of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT is recorded in several places. [[Patrick Oster]] reported in the Washington Post of September 11, 1977 that the agency "secretly financed a research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to gain data on how to turn Russian scientists into CIA agents," as part of "Project MK-ULTRA," with a foundation as a "front," and that the researcher was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, "which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency."[^63] Time reported on February 24, 1967 "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'"[^64] [[Andreas Lowenfeld]], of the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Internal Security Subcommittee, said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent."[^65]
The agency's financing of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT is recorded in several places. [[Patrick Oster]] reported in the Washington Post of September 11, 1977 that the agency "secretly financed a research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to gain data on how to turn Russian scientists into CIA agents," as part of "Project MK-ULTRA," with a foundation as a "front," and that the researcher was affiliated with MIT's Center for International Studies, "which was set up in 1951 with CIA money and had as its first director Max F. Millikan, a former assistant director of the agency."[^64] Time reported on February 24, 1967 "directly and without masquerade" "$300,000 to finance M.I.T.'s topflight Center for International Studies," and that MIT then "terminated the contract 'for practical, not moral reasons.'"[^65] [[Andreas Lowenfeld]], of the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Internal Security Subcommittee, said of the center in 1951 and 1952: "they had some kind of contract with the CIA," and, asked whether he knew it was a CIA operation, "I was never formally told, but it became apparent."[^66]
The third progress report on NSC 59/1 records that the CIA had been assigned a continuing study of balloons as propaganda carriers and "instructed to stockpile one thousand large-sized propaganda balloons of the best type presently available."[^66] The [[Project Troy]] report had placed balloon work inside political warfare, stating that "The balloon problem is a part of political warfare. It cannot be handled by a separate balloon shop."[^67]
The third progress report on NSC 59/1 records that the CIA had been assigned a continuing study of balloons as propaganda carriers and "instructed to stockpile one thousand large-sized propaganda balloons of the best type presently available."[^67] The [[Project Troy]] report had placed balloon work inside political warfare, stating that "The balloon problem is a part of political warfare. It cannot be handled by a separate balloon shop."[^68]
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, then director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, at which the center would review its first ten years.[^68]
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, then director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, at which the center would review its first ten years.[^69]
A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" describes an annual contract under which research projects were "mutually agreed upon case by case" between the agency and the Center for International Studies, within an annual authorization of $500,000. The document is undated.[^69] A CIA list of recipients of Office of Research and Reports unclassified studies names Max Millikan, [[Walt Rostow]], [[Wilfred Malenbaum]], [[Everett Hagen]], [[Evsey Domar]] and [[Thomas Schelling]], each listed under the Center for International Studies.[^70] A CIA memorandum dated February 16, 1959, forwarding a [[National Review]] Bulletin item, carries the item's text stating that [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Robert Amory]] "lean ideologically on CIA's outriding auxiliary at MIT, the Center for International Studies," and that they have been influenced by the theories of "W. W. Rostow, director of the Center."[^71] The MIT President's report for 1962 to 1963 refers to "Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center for International Studies."[^72] A CIA Office of Legislative Counsel journal entry of March 3, 1967 records that "the Agency has Senator Fulbright's letter concerning a Center for International Studies, MIT, and is preparing a response."[^73]
A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" describes an annual contract under which research projects were "mutually agreed upon case by case" between the agency and the Center for International Studies, within an annual authorization of $500,000. The document is undated.[^70] A CIA list of recipients of Office of Research and Reports unclassified studies names Max Millikan, [[Walt Rostow]], [[Wilfred Malenbaum]], [[Everett Hagen]], [[Evsey Domar]] and [[Thomas Schelling]], each listed under the Center for International Studies.[^71] A CIA memorandum dated February 16, 1959, forwarding a [[National Review]] Bulletin item, carries the item's text stating that [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Robert Amory]] "lean ideologically on CIA's outriding auxiliary at MIT, the Center for International Studies," and that they have been influenced by the theories of "W. W. Rostow, director of the Center."[^72] The MIT President's report for 1962 to 1963 refers to "Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center for International Studies."[^73] A CIA Office of Legislative Counsel journal entry of March 3, 1967 records that "the Agency has Senator Fulbright's letter concerning a Center for International Studies, MIT, and is preparing a response."[^74]
### Footnotes
@ -234,38 +234,39 @@ A CIA document titled "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENI
[^36]: CREST Senior Review Panel memoranda CIA-RDP93T00837R000400110005-3 (NIC-03024-87, September 1, 1987), CIA-RDP93T01222R000100010013-9 (NIC-03595-87, September 8, 1987), CIA-RDP92T00306R000300090020-0 (September 24, 1987), CIA-RDP93T00451R000300080006-5 (NIC-04228-87, October 22, 1987) and CIA-RDP93T00451R000400110014-1 (December 1, 1987). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00837r000400110005-3, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t01222r000100010013-9, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp92t00306r000300090020-0, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00451r000300080006-5, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp93t00451r000400110014-1
[^37]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue and Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^38]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
[^39]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue: "The damage that has been done"
[^40]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
[^41]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.2 (Carlos Amador: CIA cables of April 23 and April 25, 1986). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm
[^42]: Congressional Record, Senate, September 22, 2004, Rollcall Vote No. 187 (yeas 77, nays 17). https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_cr/goss092204.html ; "Porter Goss Sworn in As New CIA Director," PBS NewsHour, September 24, 2004 (sworn in by Andrew Card in the Oval Office). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec04-cia_09-24 ; Norris, "Goss Is Latest to Leave Bush Administration," NPR transcript, May 5, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5387220
[^43]: JURIST, "FBI probes CIA defense contracts after top official resigns," May 2006 (FBI probe of Foggo's possible help to ADCS). https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-probes-cia-defense-contracts-after ; Paul Blumenthal, "MSNBC: Foggo Gone," Sunlight Foundation, May 8, 2006 (resignation reported Monday). https://sunlightfoundation.com/2006/05/08/msnbc-foggo-gone/
[^44]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA executive gets 37 months in prison," February 26, 2009 (one count of fraud, 27 counts dropped, Judge James Cacheris, 37 months as requested). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29413971 ; Associated Press, "CIA officer gets jail time for fraud," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20090227_CIA_officer_gets_jail_time_for_fraud.html
[^45]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, S. Rept. 113-288 (December 2014), executive summary and findings, sections on the 2005 videotapes ("The CIA destroyed the CIA interrogation videotapes the following day"; Rizzo's October 31, 2005 email). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
[^46]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA chief agreed with tape destruction," April 2010 (e-mails released by the Justice Department under an ACLU FOIA request; "PG, however, agreed with the decision"; the disputed account). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36589750
[^47]: JURIST, "No charges to be filed in CIA videotape destruction case: DOJ," November 2010 (spokesman Matthew Miller on Durham's decision; Durham appointed 2008 by Attorney General Michael Mukasey). https://www.jurist.org/news/2010/11/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-cia-videotape-destruction-case/
[^48]: Joseph E. Roop, "Foreign Broadcast Information Service. History. Part I: 1941-1947" (Central Intelligence Agency, approved for release April 1969), pp. 279, 299-300 and 303. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^49]: National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 262, administrative history. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/262.html.
[^50]: Roop, Part I, p. 2. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^51]: Roop, Part II (CIA Directorate of Intelligence, August 1970), pp. 2 and 151-152. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06741690.
[^52]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "ODNI Announces Establishment of Open Source Center," News Release No. 6-05, November 8, 2005. https://irp.fas.org/news/2005/11/odni110805.html.
[^53]: Central Intelligence Group, Central Planning Staff, memorandum "Liquidation of Security Advisory Board, OWI (C.I.G. Liaison with New Security Advisory Board under SWNCC)," July 22, 1946. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP78-04007A000300040024-9. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-04007a000300040024-9
[^54]: Central Intelligence Group, Chief, ICAPS, to the Executive Director, memorandum "CIG Membership on SWNCC Subcommittee for Psychological Warfare," July 21, 1947. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP84-00022R000400100046-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84-00022r000400100046-0
[^55]: Central Intelligence Agency, Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the Psychological Strategy Board (PSB M-8), January 10, 1952, membership and other participants. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP80-01065A000500100033-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01065a000500100033-6
[^56]: Max F. Millikan, letter stamped January 30, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003100150032-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003100150032-1
[^57]: Max F. Millikan, letter of October 29, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79-01157A000200020002-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-01157a000200020002-2
[^58]: CIA, memorandum of conversation, "Psychological Intelligence," January 22, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003500180026-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003500180026-1
[^59]: CIA, "Report of Intelligence Project Initiations, February 1951," memorandum of March 6, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP60-00213A000200030008-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp60-00213a000200030008-3
[^60]: Max F. Millikan, letter of November 26, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003000200096-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003000200096-6
[^61]: Stuart A. Rice, Assistant Director for Statistical Standards, Bureau of the Budget, letter to Max F. Millikan, March 3, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00662R000300120004-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00662r000300120004-5
[^62]: A. B. Darling, note of interview with Max Millikan, "Origin of PSB," March 5, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP83-00036R000400050039-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000400050039-0
[^63]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^64]: Time, February 24, 1967, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^65]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^66]: FRUS, The Intelligence Community, 1950-1955, Document 57 (third progress report on NSC 59/1), paragraph 12. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d57
[^67]: CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8, excerpt of the Project Troy report to the Secretary of State, February 1, 1951 (balloon chapter). https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8
[^68]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
[^69]: CIA, "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" (undated; released 2000), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP67-00059A000200090016-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00059a000200090016-2
[^70]: CIA, "Recipients for ORR Unclassified Studies" (undated list), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP63-00314R000100180007-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp63-00314r000100180007-7
[^71]: CIA memorandum from the Assistant to the Director, February 16, 1959, forwarding a National Review Bulletin item, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00001R000100260064-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000100260064-9
[^72]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President's Report Issue for the year ending July 1, 1963, p. 165, MIT Libraries, DSpace. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160055
[^73]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry, "Friday, 3 March 1967," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP69B00369R000200020044-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp69b00369r000200020044-4
[^39]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Volume I, January 29, 1998, findings on Carlos Cabezas and "Ivan Gomez." https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine/findings2.html
[^40]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Epilogue: "The damage that has been done"
[^41]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
[^42]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.2 (Carlos Amador: CIA cables of April 23 and April 25, 1986). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm
[^43]: Congressional Record, Senate, September 22, 2004, Rollcall Vote No. 187 (yeas 77, nays 17). https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_cr/goss092204.html ; "Porter Goss Sworn in As New CIA Director," PBS NewsHour, September 24, 2004 (sworn in by Andrew Card in the Oval Office). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec04-cia_09-24 ; Norris, "Goss Is Latest to Leave Bush Administration," NPR transcript, May 5, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5387220
[^44]: JURIST, "FBI probes CIA defense contracts after top official resigns," May 2006 (FBI probe of Foggo's possible help to ADCS). https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-probes-cia-defense-contracts-after ; Paul Blumenthal, "MSNBC: Foggo Gone," Sunlight Foundation, May 8, 2006 (resignation reported Monday). https://sunlightfoundation.com/2006/05/08/msnbc-foggo-gone/
[^45]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA executive gets 37 months in prison," February 26, 2009 (one count of fraud, 27 counts dropped, Judge James Cacheris, 37 months as requested). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29413971 ; Associated Press, "CIA officer gets jail time for fraud," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20090227_CIA_officer_gets_jail_time_for_fraud.html
[^46]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, S. Rept. 113-288 (December 2014), executive summary and findings, sections on the 2005 videotapes ("The CIA destroyed the CIA interrogation videotapes the following day"; Rizzo's October 31, 2005 email). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
[^47]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA chief agreed with tape destruction," April 2010 (e-mails released by the Justice Department under an ACLU FOIA request; "PG, however, agreed with the decision"; the disputed account). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36589750
[^48]: JURIST, "No charges to be filed in CIA videotape destruction case: DOJ," November 2010 (spokesman Matthew Miller on Durham's decision; Durham appointed 2008 by Attorney General Michael Mukasey). https://www.jurist.org/news/2010/11/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-cia-videotape-destruction-case/
[^49]: Joseph E. Roop, "Foreign Broadcast Information Service. History. Part I: 1941-1947" (Central Intelligence Agency, approved for release April 1969), pp. 279, 299-300 and 303. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^50]: National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to Federal Records, Record Group 262, administrative history. https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/262.html.
[^51]: Roop, Part I, p. 2. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^52]: Roop, Part II (CIA Directorate of Intelligence, August 1970), pp. 2 and 151-152. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06741690.
[^53]: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "ODNI Announces Establishment of Open Source Center," News Release No. 6-05, November 8, 2005. https://irp.fas.org/news/2005/11/odni110805.html.
[^54]: Central Intelligence Group, Central Planning Staff, memorandum "Liquidation of Security Advisory Board, OWI (C.I.G. Liaison with New Security Advisory Board under SWNCC)," July 22, 1946. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP78-04007A000300040024-9. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp78-04007a000300040024-9
[^55]: Central Intelligence Group, Chief, ICAPS, to the Executive Director, memorandum "CIG Membership on SWNCC Subcommittee for Psychological Warfare," July 21, 1947. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP84-00022R000400100046-0. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84-00022r000400100046-0
[^56]: Central Intelligence Agency, Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the Psychological Strategy Board (PSB M-8), January 10, 1952, membership and other participants. CIA reading room copy, CIA-RDP80-01065A000500100033-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01065a000500100033-6
[^57]: Max F. Millikan, letter stamped January 30, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003100150032-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003100150032-1
[^58]: Max F. Millikan, letter of October 29, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79-01157A000200020002-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-01157a000200020002-2
[^59]: CIA, memorandum of conversation, "Psychological Intelligence," January 22, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003500180026-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003500180026-1
[^60]: CIA, "Report of Intelligence Project Initiations, February 1951," memorandum of March 6, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP60-00213A000200030008-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp60-00213a000200030008-3
[^61]: Max F. Millikan, letter of November 26, 1951, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003000200096-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003000200096-6
[^62]: Stuart A. Rice, Assistant Director for Statistical Standards, Bureau of the Budget, letter to Max F. Millikan, March 3, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00662R000300120004-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00662r000300120004-5
[^63]: A. B. Darling, note of interview with Max Millikan, "Origin of PSB," March 5, 1952, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP83-00036R000400050039-0. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83-00036r000400050039-0
[^64]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, p. A-9, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
[^65]: Time, February 24, 1967, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
[^66]: U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Internal Security Subcommittee, extracts from hearings (Part 3) on State Department security and passport regulations, testimony of Andreas F. Lowenfeld, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
[^67]: FRUS, The Intelligence Community, 1950-1955, Document 57 (third progress report on NSC 59/1), paragraph 12. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d57
[^68]: CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8, excerpt of the Project Troy report to the Secretary of State, February 1, 1951 (balloon chapter). https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP79S01011A000900030019-8
[^69]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
[^70]: CIA, "Principles Governing Budgetary Relationships Between CENIS and CIA" (undated; released 2000), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP67-00059A000200090016-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp67-00059a000200090016-2
[^71]: CIA, "Recipients for ORR Unclassified Studies" (undated list), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP63-00314R000100180007-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp63-00314r000100180007-7
[^72]: CIA memorandum from the Assistant to the Director, February 16, 1959, forwarding a National Review Bulletin item, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00001R000100260064-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00001r000100260064-9
[^73]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President's Report Issue for the year ending July 1, 1963, p. 165, MIT Libraries, DSpace. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160055
[^74]: CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, journal entry, "Friday, 3 March 1967," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP69B00369R000200020044-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp69b00369r000200020044-4

35
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/State Department.md
View file

@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2025-07-23
updated: 2025-08-04
updated: 2026-10-14
title: State Department
aliases:
- U.S. Department of State
@ -21,34 +21,41 @@ The [[State Department]] serves as the federal executive department responsible
### Middle East Policy and the Osirak Incident
In June 1981, following Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]], the State Department issued a formal condemnation. This public stance contradicted President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s private acceptance of the raid.[^2]
In June 1981, following Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]], the State Department issued a formal condemnation. This public stance contradicted President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s private acceptance of the raid.[^1]
### The Moscow Signal Cover-Up
The State Department played a central role in managing the U.S. government's response to the [[Moscow Signal]], establishing a classified program code-named the [[Moscow Viral Study]] to secretly conduct genetic testing on embassy personnel. Embassy employees were deliberately misled about the testing's purpose. The department publicly minimized the dangers despite scientific concerns.[^3]
The State Department played a central role in managing the U.S. government's response to the [[Moscow Signal]], establishing a classified program code-named the [[Moscow Viral Study]] to secretly conduct genetic testing on embassy personnel. Embassy employees were deliberately misled about the testing's purpose. The department publicly minimized the dangers despite scientific concerns.[^2]
### BCCI Banking Scandal Involvement
Beginning in 1983, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] started distributing intelligence about the criminal activities of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] to the State Department.[^5] By September 1986, the State Department had access to a CIA report indicating BCCI had owned [[First American Bank]] since 1982.[^4] Rather than pursuing criminal allegations, the department silenced [[Paula Hawkins]] and worked to protect BCCI's operations.[^6]
Beginning in 1983, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] started distributing intelligence about the criminal activities of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] to the State Department.[^3] By September 1986, the State Department had access to a CIA report indicating BCCI had owned [[First American Bank]] since 1982.[^4] Rather than pursuing criminal allegations, the department silenced [[Paula Hawkins]] and worked to protect BCCI's operations.[^5]
### Odyssey Network Evidence Destruction
The State Department under Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] received over 30,000 index cards containing client names from [[John David Norman]]'s child trafficking operation in 1973 and subsequently destroyed them, preventing further investigation.[^7]
The Dallas police turned over three cartons of index cards from the [[Odyssey Network]] investigation to the department's Dallas resident agent on December 12, 1974, according to a department letter to Senator [[John C. Culver]] dated June 27, 1977. The department was then headed by Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]]. The letter describes the cartons as containing "several thousand 3x5 cards." The cartons reached Washington on January 2, 1975, and were placed in storage until September 1975. After a review under the Privacy Act of 1974 that began on September 27, 1975, the letter states, the cards were "determined not to qualify as records relevant to the Department's statutory purpose and were destroyed."[^6]
The writer S. Dovey wrote that the department received over 30,000 index cards containing client names from [[John David Norman]]'s operation in 1973 and destroyed them.[^7] The Tribune quoted Lieutenant [[Harold Hancock]] of the Dallas police as saying he had seized more than 30,000 index cards from Norman, some listing prominent people and federal employees in Washington, and had sent them to the department. It quoted [[Matthew Nimetz]], a counselor for the department, as saying the cards "were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and had therefore been destroyed, and reported that Nimetz could not explain why the department had looked at the cards only for passport irregularities or why it had not turned them over to the FBI or postal inspectors.[^8] [[George Bliss]] testified before the Senate subcommittee in Chicago on May 27, 1977, that the department had shredded 35,000 cards in 1974.[^9] The New York Times reported on August 16, 1973, that the Dallas police put the catalogue files seized from the Odyssey Foundation at 50,000 to 100,000 names.[^10]
The letter states that two individuals in the Dallas card files appeared to have department affiliation, that the security files of two employees with similar names were examined, and that no formal investigation was started because the information was considered insufficient.[^6]
### Dark Alliance Investigation
The State Department granted [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] political asylum in 1984 despite the [[DEA]] having identified him as a major cocaine trafficker since 1983. It is State Department policy to check with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined Blandón's immigration records, he found them "in disarray." The same occurred with Blandón's wife [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]], granted asylum in 1985 despite being reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization."[^8]
The State Department granted [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] political asylum in 1984 despite the [[DEA]] having identified him as a major cocaine trafficker since 1983. It is State Department policy to check with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined Blandón's immigration records, he found them "in disarray." The same occurred with Blandón's wife [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]], granted asylum in 1985 despite being reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization."[^11]
The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for [[Latin America]] was described by a 1992 House committee report as "a domestic, covert operation designed to lobby the Congress, manipulate the media and influence domestic public opinion" regarding the Contra war. The State Department issued a White Paper on Contra drug allegations that belittled every claim except those involving the [[Sandinistas]], studiously avoiding any mention of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^9]
The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for [[Latin America]] was described by a 1992 House committee report as "a domestic, covert operation designed to lobby the Congress, manipulate the media and influence domestic public opinion" regarding the Contra war. The State Department issued a White Paper on Contra drug allegations that belittled every claim except those involving the [[Sandinistas]], studiously avoiding any mention of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^3]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 366.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 366.
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 363.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 363.
[^6]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^7]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^8]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
[^9]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Chapter 9
[^8]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^9]: Testimony of George Bliss, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 58. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^10]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^11]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
[^12]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Chapter 9

19
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Odyssey Foundation.md
View file

@ -9,12 +9,25 @@ tags:
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for John David Norman's Odyssey Network trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA"
updated: 2026-10-14
---
The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for [[John David Norman]]'s [[Odyssey Network]] trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas. The foundation was connected to [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] in Illinois, which derived tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies. Through these front organizations, Norman operated a nationwide system of "sponsors" who provided housing for boys in exchange for sexual access, creating an interlocking web spanning multiple states. The Odyssey Foundation was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation through shared sponsors and the [[Hermes]] newsletter.[^1]
The Odyssey Foundation was the legal front entity for [[John David Norman]]'s [[Odyssey Network]] trafficking operation, operating from Dallas, Texas. The writer S. Dovey wrote that the foundation was connected to [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] in Illinois, which derived tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies. The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported that a Chicago Secretary of State clerk described the Educational Foundation for Youth as "a non-profit arm of a profit-making corporation," an import-export business incorporated in 1962 and involuntarily dissolved in 1975 for failure to pay state franchise taxes, and that the Illinois Secretary of State's Springfield office had no record of the foundation.[^1] Through these front organizations, Norman operated a nationwide system of "sponsors" who provided housing for boys in exchange for sexual access, creating an interlocking web spanning multiple states. Dovey wrote that the Odyssey Foundation was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation through shared sponsors and the [[Hermes]] newsletter.[^2] The Record-Eagle reprint names Shelden as the owner of North Fox Island and as a figure whom Gerald Richards connected to the camp.[^1]
### Dallas Investigation, 1973
The Dallas police announced on August 15, 1973, that a raid the previous evening had uncovered the Odyssey Foundation, which operated with a San Diego post office box and the Epic International name. Membership cost $15 a year plus $3 for the booklets, the young men were called "fellows" and the clients "sponsors," and the police put the catalogue files at 50,000 to 100,000 names. A spokesman for [[Odyssey House]] of New York said it had no connection with the group.[^3] The writer [[Robin Lloyd]] wrote in 1976 that a suspected connection with the Houston murders, later proved incorrect, shut the foundation down before it got started.[^4]
A letter from the State Department to Senator [[John C. Culver]] dated June 27, 1977, says the department's Los Angeles security office reported the Dallas investigation in August 1973, describing a ring that used the name "Odyssey Foundation" to supply young males to people responding to its solicitations. On August 23, 1973, the Dallas police asked for passport information about a juvenile travelling in Europe under the foundation's auspices.[^5] A Homewood, Illinois, police supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, describes an adult recruited by mail into Epic International, which the report places in Dallas, and states that four checks totaling $662 were mailed to a post office box in Dallas.[^6]
### Connection to The Finders
When the two [[The Finders|Finders]] members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida in February 1987 were found transporting six malnourished children, an address book in their possession contained names that appeared in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to the Odyssey Foundation's child prostitution investigation. This address-book overlap, documented in FBI records cited in secondary sources and referenced in the FBI Vault's November 2019 Finders document release, represents the primary documented link between the two operations. No direct organizational relationship or personal contact between Norman and [[The Finders]]' leadership has been established in accessible primary sources.[^1]
When the two [[The Finders|Finders]] members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida in February 1987 were found transporting six malnourished children, an address book in their possession contained names that appeared in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to the Odyssey Foundation's child prostitution investigation. This address-book overlap, documented in FBI records cited in secondary sources and referenced in the FBI Vault's November 2019 Finders document release, represents the primary documented link between the two operations. No direct organizational relationship or personal contact between Norman and The Finders' leadership has been established in accessible primary sources.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^1]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," by Marilyn Wright, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^3]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^4]: Robin Lloyd, *For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America* (1976), p. 80. https://archive.org/details/formoneyorlovebo0000lloy
[^5]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^6]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, first page. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD

153
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Odyssey Network.md
View file

@ -1,41 +1,162 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- Criminal_Organization
- Child_Trafficking
- Intelligence_Operation
- Dallas
- Chicago
- Texas
- Illinois
- 1970s
- Odyssey_Network
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Odyssey Network was a sophisticated child trafficking and prostitution operation based in Dallas, Texas, during the 1970s."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA"
- Delta_Project
- Hermes
- Congressional_Hearings
- State_Department_Card_File
summary: "The Odyssey Network was a boy-prostitution and pornography enterprise that John David Norman ran under several names from Dallas and then Chicago between 1973 and 1977."
location: "Dallas, Texas, USA; Chicago, Illinois, USA"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[John David Norman]]"
role: "operator of the network under the Odyssey Foundation and Delta Project names; police described him as its mastermind"
start: 1973
fn: 15
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Phillip Paske]]"
role: "closest associate; kept the Delta Project running while Norman was in prison"
start: 1976
fn: 16
- type: investigated
with: "[[Dallas Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Internal Revenue Service]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
end: 1973
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Homewood Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
fn: 11
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1976
fn: 18
created: 2026-04-28
updated: 2026-10-14
---
### Overview
The Odyssey Network is the name this vault gives to a boy-prostitution and pornography enterprise run by [[John David Norman]], who operated from [[Dallas, Texas]] until mid-1973 and from the Chicago area afterward. According to police in [[Chicago, Illinois]], [[Los Angeles]] and Dallas, as the [[Chicago Tribune]] reported in 1977, Norman was the operator of a series of organizations supplying boy prostitutes to male clients, among them the [[Odyssey Foundation]], the Norman Foundation, Epic International and the [[Delta Project]].[^1]
The Odyssey Network was a sophisticated child trafficking and prostitution operation based in Dallas, Texas, during the 1970s. Led by [[John David Norman]], the network operated as part of a larger international system for the exploitation of children, coordinating with similar operations across the United States and Europe.[^1]
### Dallas, 1973
### Organization and Operations
The [[Dallas Police Department]] announced on August 15, 1973, that a raid the previous evening on an apartment in the city had uncovered a nationwide procurement ring operating under the name Odyssey Foundation, with a San Diego, California, post office box. Lieutenant [[Harold Hancock]] of the Intelligence Division led the search, which the police said produced catalogue files with the names and addresses of 50,000 to 100,000 people, booklets with the pictures and names of teenage and young adult males, a camera, photo-engraving equipment and stationery bearing the name Epic International. Captain Bennie M. Newman of the Youth Division said membership was sold at $15 a year with a $3 fee for the booklets, that the young men were called "fellows" and the clients "sponsors," and that the fellows travelled the country staying with sponsors who paid their air fare to the next city. The police named the alleged leader as John Paul Norman, 45, who was freed on $7,000 bond after narcotics charges based on marijuana found in the apartment. They said he had been arrested in Houston in 1954 and 1956 on sexual assault charges and had California convictions from 1963 and, on a federal charge of sending obscene literature through the mail, 1971. Assistant Chief Donald Steele said postal inspectors and the [[Internal Revenue Service]] had entered the investigation. Captain Newman said there was no immediate evidence linking the operation to the Houston murders. A spokesman for [[Odyssey House]], a New York drug rehabilitation program, said it had no connection with the group.[^2]
The network, also referred to as "The Delta Project," operated through a system of "sponsors" who would provide housing and support for young boys in exchange for sexual access. These sponsors were connected through newsletters and personal contacts, creating an interlocking web of vice that spanned multiple states.[^1]
The writer [[Robin Lloyd]] wrote in 1976 that a suspected connection with the Houston murders, later proved incorrect, shut down the Odyssey Foundation in Dallas before it got started, and that sponsors were selected from a master list of 50,000 prospects and sent a booklet called "Fellows 1973."[^3] The author Clifford Linedecker wrote in 1981 that the investigation did not link Norman to the Houston slayings, and that a check of his background showed an earlier operation in several California cities, using a San Diego post office box under the names "Norman Foundation" and "Epic International."[^4]
[[John David Norman]] managed the operation from Dallas while serving a prison sentence, with his closest associate [[Phillip Paske]] carrying out day-to-day operations. The network used coded language and front organizations to facilitate their activities, including educational foundations and religious charities.[^1]
The Tribune gave a different date for the arrest. It reported that Hancock arrested Norman in March 1973 on charges of contributing to a juvenile's violation of state drug laws, and that Hancock seized more than 30,000 index cards listing clients around the country, some of them prominent people and some federal employees in Washington. Hancock told the paper, "I felt that some federal agency should get the cards and I contacted the [[State Department]] through the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], I think it was." He added, "All the cards were sent to Washington to the State Department, and that's the last I heard of."[^5]
### Connection to Other Networks
A letter from the State Department to Senator [[John C. Culver]], chairman of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, dated June 27, 1977, gives a Dallas chronology. The department's Los Angeles security office reported in August 1973 that the Dallas police were investigating a ring that used the name "Odyssey Foundation" to supply young males to people responding to its solicitations. On August 23, 1973, the Dallas police asked for passport information about a juvenile travelling in Europe under the foundation's auspices. The department found that the passport had been properly obtained. In September 1973 the Dallas resident agent sent the department material on the foundation's methods, on the understanding that it would not be disseminated outside the department. The letter adds that two individuals in the Dallas card files appeared to have State Department affiliation, that the security files of two employees with similar names were examined, and that no formal investigation followed.[^6]
The Odyssey Network was closely linked to other trafficking operations, including the [[Hermes]] newsletter serving as a conduit for engaging children in pornographic modeling and prostitution, the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] as an Illinois-based front organization deriving tax-exempt status as a subsidiary of offshore companies, and the North Fox Island operation as a Michigan-based summer camp used as a front for child pornography production.[^2]
Testimony by [[Michael Sneed]] at the Senate subcommittee's Chicago hearing listed Norman's names as Evan Goodwin, Allen Hitchcock and John Shanks, and his organizations as the Odyssey Foundation, the Hasting Foundation and Epic International.[^7] A Homewood, Illinois, police supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, describes an adult who had been recruited by mail into Epic International, a group the report places in Dallas, Texas. Four checks, totaling $662, went to Epic International at a post office box in Dallas.[^8]
### International Reach
Sneed also testified that Dallas police had been "investigating John Norman as a possible solicitor for these boys that were among the 27 boys that were found murdered in Texas." The reference is to the killings carried out by [[Dean Corll]] in Houston, which came to light in 1973 after [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] shot Corll.[^9] The Tribune reported that Dallas police told Sergeant Ronald Kelly of the Chicago police youth division that they had information associating Norman with the ring that helped transport those boys to Texas.[^10]
The network maintained connections with European operations, particularly through [[Francis Shelden]]'s later activities in Amsterdam. Shelden, who fled Michigan to avoid prosecution, later established [[PAN Magazine]] and worked with [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]], effectively creating a European counterpart to the Odyssey Network.[^3]
### Chicago and the Delta Project, 1973 to 1977
### Investigation and Shutdown
Norman moved to [[Homewood, Illinois]] in mid-1973 and lived in the home of one of his Epic International clients. A Homewood offense report, case 20228, opened on October 31, 1973, after an anonymous caller said that a white male of about thirty was performing lewd acts on youths in an apartment in the village. The report dates the offense to October 19, 1973, and names the subject as Steven Gurwell.[^11] A supplementary report dated November 1, 1973, states that the subject was out of state and due back in mid-November.[^12] A supplementary report dated November 5, 1973, states that the department was seeking a warrant for Gurwell's arrest, and a later page of the same report states that the subject left Illinois on October 25, 1973.[^13]
The Tribune gave a different sequence. It reported that Norman, using the alias Steven Gurwell, was arrested in October 1973 after an anonymous tipster said he had lured teenage boys into sex acts with him by giving them beer. Police, the paper said, seized from him a large collection of pornography and a list of 5,000 names and addresses of clients of his various "foundations."[^14]
Norman had been held in [[Cook County Jail]] in 1976 on charges of indecent liberties with ten teenage boys. Police told the Tribune that the Delta Project was born there. The paper reported that Norman used the jail's printing facilities to send three newsletters to clients and to people who answered his advertisements in gay publications. The newsletter gave the project's aim as "to provide educational, travel and self-development opportunities for qualified young men of character and integrity," and described "Delta-Dorms" in which "one of our sustaining members acts as a 'don' for two to four 'cadets.'" It stated that "the nature of the relationship between cadet and sponsor is left entirely to the two of them." In a prison interview Norman told the Tribune that he had corresponded with more than 7,000 people from the jail. "This has nothing to do with sex," he said. "I didn't want to get young kids involved in sex."[^15]
The Tribune reported that the Chicago police Area 6 youth division, tipped to the project the previous February, began an investigation and found that a Chicago post office box used by the Delta Project was registered to Norman and to [[Phillip Paske]]. Paske was described by police as "a convicted murderer and thief" and as Norman's closest associate. Police said he was on probation, had been out of jail since the previous July, and had kept the project going while Norman was in prison.[^16] The Tribune reported that police credited Norman with a record of 13 arrests for sex offenses going back to 1954, and noted that [[Judianne Densen-Gerber]] of New York, who headed a national movement against child abuse, ran an unrelated program called Odyssey Institute.[^16] Norman pleaded guilty in December 1976 to eight counts of indecent liberties with a child and was sentenced to four years. The paper reported that someone in California whom police could not identify had provided the $36,000 cash needed for his bail after he published his first newsletter from the jail.[^17]
On October 19, 1976, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Chicago office recorded in a memorandum (file 166-2548) information from an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office, furnished on October 18. The memorandum names Norman, John Shanks and Paske, reports that an investigation indicated "The Delta Project" was a business transporting young males interstate to paying customers for prostitution, and states that some of the customers may be federal employees. It recommends opening a new case.[^18] The same file's serial index lists as item 1 Homewood police reports "concerning Delta Project, John Norman," and as item 2 a [[Hermes]] publication of 1976.[^19] A receipt dated November 1, 1976, describes the Homewood reports as covering October 13, 1973, to May 14, 1974.[^20]
### The 1977 hearings and the Tribune series
The network came under investigation in 1977 following arrests in Chicago that revealed connections to Norman's operation. The investigation uncovered the systematic nature of the trafficking operation, including the use of coded communications and the exploitation of vulnerable children through foster care and juvenile systems.[^1]
The Tribune series appeared in May 1977. The May 16 installment, the second of four parts, was written by Ray Moseley from reporting by Sneed and [[George Bliss]], who had spent three months on the investigation. The House Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary reprinted it in the record of its 1977 hearings, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12.[^1]
On May 27, 1977, Bliss and Sneed testified before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in Chicago. Bliss said the State Department had told the reporters that it "shredded the 35,000 cards in 1974 because they couldn't find any use for them," and that the cards "didn't pertain to their department." Bliss said he thought the department official the reporters had spoken to was William Minitz. He added that another 5,000 cards had been found when Norman was arrested in Homewood.[^21]
The June 27, 1977, State Department letter gives a different account of the cards. It states that on December 12, 1974, the Dallas police turned over to the department "three cartons containing several thousand 3x5 cards" obtained from the Odyssey Foundation in the investigation. The three cartons were sent to Washington on January 2, 1975, and placed in storage. After a Privacy Act review beginning September 27, 1975, the letter says, the cards were "determined not to qualify as records relevant to the Department's statutory purpose and were destroyed."[^22] [[Henry Kissinger]] was Secretary of State when the cartons were handed over and when the cards were destroyed.[^22]
### Paske and the city of Chicago, 1977
The Tribune reported on August 16, 1977, that the city of Chicago had fired Phillip R. Paske, 25, on Monday, August 15, from a job as children's supervisor at a fire department swimming pool, after the paper informed city officials of his background. City records showed he was hired as a summer employee on July 28 and assigned to the fire department gymnasium pool near Navy Pier, at $4.75 an hour under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. The paper reported that until July 1 Paske and Norman had shared a post office box in both their names, which police said was used to operate the Delta Project, and that Paske had been jailed as the driver of a getaway car in the robbery-killing of a stamp collector, originally charged with murder and later pleading guilty to attempted armed robbery under a plea bargain.[^23]
### The card file
The accounts in the record differ on the number of cards. Hancock's account in the Tribune gives more than 30,000 index cards. Bliss's Senate testimony gives 35,000 cards shredded in 1974. The State Department letter describes three cartons of several thousand cards received in December 1974 and destroyed after the 1975 review. The Tribune quoted [[Matthew Nimetz]], identified as a counselor for the State Department, as saying that officials there had determined "the cards were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport" and had therefore destroyed them. Nimetz could not explain to the paper why the department had looked at the cards only as possible passport irregularities, or why it had not passed them to the FBI or to postal inspectors.[^24]
### Front organizations and North Fox Island
A four-month investigation by the [[Traverse City]] Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House volume, reported that Gerald Richards, then serving time in prison for criminal sexual conduct, had confessed that three tax-exempt organizations were fronts for producing homosexual child pornography: the Church of the New Revelation of Kearny, New Jersey, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] of Illinois. Richards had been president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], whose nature camp on [[North Fox Island]] was created and operated under the church's auspices. The Record-Eagle reported that the Internal Revenue Service had declared the church and the Educational Foundation for Youth exempt from tax, and had granted the institute the same exemption, without investigating their claims to charitable status. It reported that the foundation was harder to trace. The Illinois Secretary of State's office in Springfield had no record of it, and a clerk in the Chicago office where it was said to be located described it as a non-profit arm of an import-export company incorporated in 1962 and involuntarily dissolved in 1975 for failure to pay franchise taxes.[^25]
The Record-Eagle reported that [[Francis Shelden]], an Ann Arbor millionaire who owned North Fox Island, was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with boys and was being sought under a federal flight warrant. Richards had named Shelden as connected with the camp. Authorities in Tennessee and Louisiana had acknowledged that their welfare departments were duped into making payments to support children used for homosexual and pornographic purposes.[^26]
Hermes, according to the Tribune, was a bimonthly newsletter printed in Chicago that contained "line drawings and photographs of naked boys," articles on "boy love," and advertisements listing coded names through which subscribers could contact one another. The paper said police had identified three men as its principal figures. Police said they could take no action against the operation in the absence of an Illinois obscenity law, which a federal court had declared unconstitutional the year before.[^27]
### Shelden, PAN and Amsterdam
The network operated as part of a larger international system for the exploitation of children, coordinating with similar operations across the United States and Europe.[^28] The writer S. Dovey wrote that Shelden fled Michigan to avoid prosecution, went to [[Amsterdam]] and began a newsletter there called [[PAN Magazine]] under the pen name Frank Torey. Dovey wrote that the first edition appeared in 1979 through a publishing house owned by [[John Stamford]], a defrocked Anglican priest who had fled Britain in 1972, and that PAN platformed an organization called [[Spartacus International]]. Dovey wrote that Shelden worked with Stamford's [[Spartacus Network]], which the same writer treated as the European counterpart of the Odyssey Network.[^28]
### Gacy and the Chicago accomplices
The writer S. Dovey wrote that [[John Wayne Gacy]], after his December 1978 arrest, named [[Michael Rossi]] and [[David Cram]] as accomplices who had buried bodies in the crawlspace of his house. Dovey wrote that Gacy then named Phillip Paske as a third accomplice, a child pimp who procured boys for sex, and through Paske named Norman as a fourth. Dovey wrote that Gacy said Cram, Rossi and Paske all had keys to his house. In a recorded conversation later played publicly, Gacy said that "Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman were involved in the case."[^29] The Illinois Supreme Court's 1984 opinion on Gacy's appeal records Cram's testimony that Gacy "had him dig trenches in the crawl space, purportedly for drainage purposes," and records Rossi's testimony that he worked for Gacy. The opinion does not mention Norman or Paske.[^30]
### Later court records and arrests
On March 21, 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court denied an original petition for habeas corpus filed by Norman. The order states that Norman claimed he had been misadvised, when he pleaded guilty, that there would be no mandatory parole term after his sentence. The court held that habeas corpus was not available for that claim and denied the petition without prejudice to a post-conviction petition in the trial court.[^31]
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation identification record for Norman, issued April 1, 2020, lists Denver arrests on February 26, 1982, on a commercial sex solicitation charge and a felony charge of commercial sexual exploitation of a child. A Denver police entry dated June 10, 1988, lists second-degree sexual assault and sexual assault on a child, and the record shows Norman received at the Territorial Correctional Facility in Canon City, Colorado, on April 30, 1990, on two counts of sexual assault on a child.[^32]
### Illinois investigation, 1980
The Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission published a report titled *Sexual Exploitation of Children* in 1980. The catalog abstract describes a three-year study of child pornography and child prostitution with an emphasis on Illinois, undertaken at the request of the Illinois House of Representatives, in which investigators operated front enterprises, among them a summer camp.[^33]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 'Chicago is center of national child pornography ring', Chicago Tribune, May 16 1977
[^2]: 'Police say photos link area island, porn ring', Traverse City Record-Eagle, February 16, 1977
[^3]: Francis Shelden & John Stamford network connections, 1976-1996
[^1]: Ray Moseley, with Michael Sneed and George Bliss, "Chicago Is Center of National Child Porno Ring," *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12 (1977), pp. 433-435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^3]: Robin Lloyd, *For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America* (1976), p. 80. https://archive.org/details/formoneyorlovebo0000lloy
[^4]: Clifford L. Linedecker, *Children in Chains* (New York: Everest House, 1981), pp. 212-213. https://archive.org/details/childreninchains0000line
[^5]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^6]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, U.S. Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, Chicago, May 27, 1977, and Washington, June 16, 1977, 95th Congress, 1st session, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^7]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 53. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^8]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, first page. Item "John Norman records from Homewood PD," Internet Archive, 2019. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^9]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 60. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^10]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^11]: Homewood, Illinois, Police Department, Offense Report, Case No. 20228, "Indecent Liberties with a Child," dated October 31, 1973, reported by anonymous caller. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^12]: Homewood Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 1, 1973. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^13]: Homewood Police Department, Supplementary Investigation Report, Case No. 20228, dated November 5, 1973, second page (subject left Illinois October 25, 1973; warrant being sought). https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_HomewoodPD
[^14]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434 (arrest in October 1973 under the alias Steven Gurwell; list of 5,000 names and addresses). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^15]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), pp. 433-434 (Delta Project born in Cook County Jail; newsletter text; Norman's statements; 7,000 correspondents). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^16]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 434 (Area 6 youth division; post office box registered to Paske and Norman; Paske on probation and out of jail since the previous July). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^17]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (December 1976 plea and sentence; bail of $36,000). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^18]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum, SAC Chicago (166-NEW), dated October 19, 1976, subject John David Norman, John Shanks, Phillip Paske, ITAR-Prostitution, file 166-2548, in FOIPA release 1352511-001 (Philip Paske file). https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^19]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FD-340 serial index, file 166-2548-1A, items 1 and 2, in FOIPA release 1352511-001. https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^20]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FD-340 receipt, file 166-2548-1A1, date received November 1, 1976, description "Homewood, Ill., PD reports concerning Delta Project & John Norman, 10/13/73 - 5-14-74," in FOIPA release 1352511-001. https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01
[^21]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 58. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^22]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr. to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, p. 120 (cartons received by the department January 2, 1975; storage; Privacy Act review from September 27, 1975). https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^23]: "Porno-Ring Suspect Fired by City," *Chicago Tribune*, August 16, 1977, p. 31 (Metropolitan section).
[^24]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (Nimetz statement). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^25]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," by Marilyn Wright, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977) (clipping undated in the reprint; Richards confession, Church of the New Revelation, Ocean Living Institute, Educational Foundation for Youth, IRS exemptions, Secretary of State search). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^26]: Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977) (undated clipping on the Ann Arbor millionaire who owned North Fox Island; charges, federal flight warrant, welfare payments in Tennessee and Louisiana). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^27]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435 (Hermes described; coded advertisements; three principal figures); p. 434 (no action absent an Illinois obscenity law). https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^28]: S. Dovey, *Eye of the Chickenhawk* (2023), passages on Shelden in Amsterdam, PAN Magazine, the Frank Torey pen name and John Stamford.
[^29]: S. Dovey, *Eye of the Chickenhawk* (2023), passages on Gacy's statements naming Rossi, Cram, Paske and Norman, and on the keys to Gacy's house.
[^30]: *People v. Gacy*, 103 Ill. 2d 1 (1984), Illinois Supreme Court, June 6, 1984, testimony of David Cram (trenches in the crawl space) and Michael Rossi (worked for the defendant). https://static.case.law/ill-2d/103/cases/0001-01.json
[^31]: *Norman v. Elrod*, 76 Ill. 2d 426 (1979), No. 51521, order entered March 21, 1979 (per curiam). https://static.case.law/ill-2d/76/cases/0426-01.json
[^32]: Colorado Bureau of Investigation, identification record for "Norman, John David," issued April 1, 2020, arrest and custody entries for Denver Police Department and Territorial Correctional Facility, Canon City. https://archive.org/details/JohnNorman_CBI
[^33]: Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission, *Sexual Exploitation of Children* (1980), NCJ 72440, National Criminal Justice Reference Service catalog record. https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=72440

5
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Palantir Technologies.md
View file

@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ The company's client base spans the agencies that consume intelligence and law-e
### Founding and In-Q-Tel
Palantir was founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], with Thiel as the founding financier and chairman. The company's stated founding premise was that U.S. intelligence agencies possessed large volumes of data in mutually incompatible silos and lacked the software to fuse it into operational intelligence, a gap the [[9/11 Commission]] had identified. The Central Intelligence Agency venture arm In-Q-Tel provided early funding. Karp, a law-school contemporary of Thiel at [[Stanford Law School]], serves as chief executive and is the public face of the company.[^1][^2]
Palantir was founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], with Thiel as the founding financier and chairman. The company's stated founding premise was that U.S. intelligence agencies possessed large volumes of data in mutually incompatible silos and lacked the software to fuse it into operational intelligence, a gap the [[9/11 Commission]] had identified. The Central Intelligence Agency venture arm In-Q-Tel provided early funding, two rounds "totaling more than $2 million" according to Forbes, which reported that "from 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir's patron and only customer, alpha-testing and evaluating its software."[^10] Karp, a law-school contemporary of Thiel at [[Stanford Law School]], serves as chief executive and is the public face of the company.[^1][^2]
The founding team included Lonsdale, then a recent [[Stanford University]] graduate who had worked at Thiel's [[Clarium Capital]], as a founding engineer. Cohen and Gettings rounded out the technical cofounding group. The [[PayPal Mafia]] lineage is direct: the fraud-detection heritage is consciously modeled on the anti-fraud data systems Thiel and [[Max Levchin]] built at [[PayPal]]. Palantir's data-fusion architecture for intelligence and law enforcement is an adaptation of the payments-fraud-detection architecture, the basis for the recurring internal claim that the company "does for governments what PayPal did for fraud."[^2]
The founding team included Lonsdale, then a recent [[Stanford University]] graduate who had worked at Thiel's [[Clarium Capital]], as a founding engineer. Cohen and Gettings rounded out the technical cofounding group. The [[PayPal Mafia]] lineage is direct: the fraud-detection heritage is consciously modeled on the anti-fraud data systems Thiel and [[Max Levchin]] built at [[PayPal]]. [[Forbes]] reported in 2013 that Thiel's "concept for Palantir was to use the fraud-recognition software designed for PayPal to stop terrorist attacks," and that where PayPal "had started with perfectly structured and organized information for its fraud analysis," intelligence customers "had mismatched collections of e-mails, recordings and spreadsheets."[^10] Palantir's data-fusion architecture for intelligence and law enforcement is an adaptation of the payments-fraud-detection architecture, the basis for the recurring internal claim that the company "does for governments what PayPal did for fraud."[^2]
### Founding Account in the 2020 Registration Statement
@ -71,3 +71,4 @@ Gotham is marketed on Palantir's own website as supporting soldiers with an "AI-
[^7]: Palantir Technologies Inc. Form S-1, August 25, 2020, "Government," list of departments and agencies currently using the platforms. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm
[^8]: Palantir Technologies Inc. Form S-1, August 25, 2020, "Management," biography of Peter Thiel. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm
[^9]: PayPal, Inc. Form S-1 registration statement, filed September 28, 2001, "Business," subsection "Risk Management." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205701533855/a2059025zs-1.htm
[^10]: Andy Greenberg, "How A 'Deviant' Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut," *Forbes*, August 14, 2013. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/

3
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/PayPal.md
View file

@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Palantir Technologies Inc.'s registration statement of August 25, 2020 states: "
The filing states that Thiel "is one of our co-founders and has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2003," and that he has been a partner of Founders Fund since 2005. Its biography of Thiel records that he "co-founded PayPal, Inc., an online payment company, where he served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of its board of directors from 2000 until its acquisition by eBay in 2002."[^30]
The filing lists government users including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, [[U.S. Special Operations Command]], the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], the Department of Agriculture, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Department of Veterans Affairs and the [[Food and Drug Administration]].[^29] The PayPal name appears in the Palantir filing only in Thiel's biography.
The filing lists government users including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, [[U.S. Special Operations Command]], the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], the Department of Agriculture, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Department of Veterans Affairs and the [[Food and Drug Administration]].[^29] The PayPal name appears in the Palantir filing only in Thiel's biography. [[Forbes]] reported in 2013 that Thiel's "concept for Palantir was to use the fraud-recognition software designed for PayPal to stop terrorist attacks," that the CIA's venture arm [[In-Q-Tel]] made two rounds of investment "totaling more than $2 million," and that "from 2005 to 2008 the CIA was Palantir's patron and only customer."[^44]
### Sanctions screening and OFAC
@ -220,3 +220,4 @@ In June 2021 [[Access Now]] published a letter asking PayPal and [[Venmo]] to pu
[^41]: New York State Department of Financial Services, enforcement actions listing, "Consent Order Issued to PayPal, Inc.," January 23, 2025. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry-guidance/enforcement-discipline/ea20250123-paypal-inc
[^42]: Cameron, Dell, and Yulia Almazova. "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society." WIRED, June 16, 2026. https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
[^43]: Access Now, "It's time for PayPal and Venmo to come clean on account closure policies," published June 28, 2021, last updated January 26, 2023 (call for annual transparency reports covering requests to surveil, limit, investigate or shut down accounts). https://www.accessnow.org/its-time-for-paypal-and-venmo-to-come-clean-on-account-closure-policies-center-human-rights/
[^44]: Andy Greenberg, "How A 'Deviant' Philosopher Built Palantir, A CIA-Funded Data-Mining Juggernaut," *Forbes*, August 14, 2013. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/

10
30 - PROGRAMS & PROJECTS/INTELLIGENCE_OPERATIONS/Delta Project.md
View file

@ -11,8 +11,14 @@ tags:
- Child_Trafficking
category: "Intelligence Operation"
summary: "The Delta Project was the operational name for John David Norman's child trafficking and prostitution network, also referred to as the Odyssey Network."
updated: 2026-10-14
---
The Delta Project was the operational name for [[John David Norman]]'s child trafficking and prostitution network, also referred to as the [[Odyssey Network]]. Based initially in Chicago and later Dallas, the Delta Project operated through a system of "sponsors" connected via coded communications in the [[Hermes]] newsletter and front organizations including the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and [[Educational Foundation for Youth]]. An FBI memo from February 1977 confirmed the Delta Project's connection to [[Troop 137]] in New Orleans and noted that Norman's conviction in December 1976 had ended an ongoing investigation that had continued under [[Phillip Paske]]. The Delta Project was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation, [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee, and [[John Wayne Gacy]]'s network in Chicago through shared participants.[^1]
The Delta Project was the operational name for [[John David Norman]]'s child trafficking and prostitution network, also referred to as the [[Odyssey Network]]. Norman came to the Chicago area in mid-1973 from [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], where the Odyssey Foundation had operated, and the Chicago Tribune reported that the Delta Project began in [[Cook County Jail]] in 1976 and was run from a Chicago post office box afterward.[^1] The Delta Project operated through a system of "sponsors" connected via coded communications in the [[Hermes]] newsletter and front organizations including the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and [[Educational Foundation for Youth]]. The writer S. Dovey wrote that an FBI memo from February 1977 confirmed the Delta Project's connection to [[Troop 137]] in New Orleans and noted that Norman's conviction in December 1976 had ended an ongoing investigation that had continued under [[Phillip Paske]]. The Delta Project was linked to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[North Fox Island]] operation, [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee, and [[John Wayne Gacy]]'s network in Chicago through shared participants.[^2]
An October 19, 1976, memorandum of the FBI Chicago office (file 166-2548) records information from an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney's office that Norman, John Shanks and Phillip Paske ran "The Delta Project" as a business transporting young males interstate to paying customers, some of whom may be federal employees.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^1]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), pp. 433-434. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^3]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum, SAC Chicago (166-NEW), dated October 19, 1976, file 166-2548, FOIPA release 1352511-001 (Philip Paske file). https://vault.fbi.gov/philip-paske/philip-paske-part-01

53
40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/Iran-Contra Affair.md
View file

@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ aliases:
- Iran/Contra
- Iran-Contra scandal
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-14
tags:
- Event
- Political
@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ relations:
start: 1987
end: 1988-12
role: "Senate subcommittee on Contra drug links and Noriega"
fn: 19
fn: 22
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
reverse: true
@ -68,21 +68,21 @@ relations:
start: 1985-12
end: 1986-11
role: "national security adviser who authorized the diversion; convicted April 7, 1990, reversed November 15, 1991"
fn: 18
fn: 21
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Richard Secord]]"
reverse: true
start: 1984
end: 1986-11
role: "retired Air Force general who ran the Enterprise; pleaded guilty November 8, 1989"
fn: 18
fn: 21
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Albert Hakim]]"
reverse: true
start: 1984
end: 1986-11
role: "Enterprise financial manager; pleaded guilty November 21, 1989"
fn: 18
fn: 21
- type: participant_in
with: "[[William J. Casey]]"
reverse: true
@ -110,14 +110,14 @@ relations:
start: 1987
end: 1993
role: "14 persons charged, 11 convicted, 2 convictions overturned, 2 pardoned before trial, 1 case dismissed"
fn: 18
fn: 21
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Joint Chiefs of Staff]]"
reverse: true
role: "Vessey, Gabriel and Crowe appear in 1985 Weinberger diary entries on Iran contacts, Saudi contra funding and hostage rescue"
start: 1985-03
end: 1985-11
fn: 13
fn: 16
---
The Iran-Contra Affair was the exposure, in October and November 1986, of two secret operations of the [[Ronald Reagan]] administration: the military support of the [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] [[Contras]] during an October 1984 to October 1986 prohibition on such aid, and the sale of U.S. arms to [[Iran]] in contravention of stated U.S. policy. In late November 1986 officials announced that some of the proceeds of the Iran sales had been diverted to the Contras. The Independent Counsel's Final Report states that the two operations were coordinated by the staff of the [[National Security Council]] and merged when Iran sale funds were diverted to the Contra effort, and that "both the Iran and contra operations, separately, violated [[United States]] policy and law."[^1] The secrecy was pierced on October 5, 1986, when [[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] soldiers shot down an American cargo plane carrying supplies to the Contras and captured its sole surviving crew member, [[Eugene Hasenfus]]; on November 3, 1986 a Lebanese magazine reported the Iran sales; and on November 25, 1986 Attorney General [[Edwin Meese]] announced the diversion.[^1]
@ -143,31 +143,35 @@ The Tower Commission report gives an account by [[George P. Shultz]] of a conver
A January 17, 1986 Finding authorized direct U.S. sales to Iran with Secord as agent, and [[Amiram Nir]] replaced Kimche as the Israeli official in the deals. Ghorbanifar borrowed from the financier [[Adnan Khashoggi]]; between February 7 and 18, 1986 Khashoggi deposited $10 million into Lake Resources, of which $5 million came from his own account at the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] in [[Monte Carlo]] and the remainder from a wealthy woman in Monte Carlo and from Galliot Lines, owned by the Syrian banker [[Oussama Lababidi]]. North and Secord negotiated a price of $10,000 per TOW, while telling the [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] and CIA that Secord would receive $6,000; the Pentagon sold to the CIA at $3,700. The Enterprise's direct expenses were about $716,000, leaving a surplus of $5.6 million. Between February 17 and 27, 1986 1,000 TOWs were shipped.[^6] The Tower Commission quotes Ghorbanifar as saying North was "greatly relieved" when told the Iranians would pay $10,000 rather than $6,500 per missile.[^11] On May 25, 1986 McFarlane, North and others flew to [[Tehran]] with HAWK spare parts and left on May 28 without a hostage release. An August 25, 1986 meeting in [[Brussels]] opened a "Second Channel" through a [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Revolutionary Guards]] officer; a further 500 TOWs were sent on October 28, 1986, and the Committees' chronology states that 2,004 TOWs were sent in all, not the 1,000 President Reagan cited at his November 19 press conference.[^3]
### Clarridge and the November 1985 HAWK shipment
Dewey Clarridge, then chief of the CIA's European Division, was brought into the November 1985 HAWK shipment by North, who asked him for help obtaining landing clearances in a European country. The Independent Counsel's report states that Clarridge cabled CIA field officers in the European country on November 21 to 23, 1985, and arranged a CIA proprietary airline after the first El Al flight was refused clearance.[^12] The Tower Commission recorded that Clarridge told the board he had first become involved on the evening of November 21, and that he told a U.S. official to contact "Copp," whom he had been told was an alias for Richard Secord.[^13] Clarridge was indicted on November 26, 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements, and President [[George H.W. Bush]] pardoned him on December 24, 1992.[^14]
### The diversion, exposure and cover-up
On December 6, 1985 North told an Israeli official he planned to use profits from future arms sales to support the Contras; on April 4, 1986 he wrote an unsigned memorandum proposing $12 million in residuals "to purchase critically needed supplies for the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance Forces," which, the Tower Commission found, "no evidence has emerged" was ever placed before Poindexter, the President or any other official.[^3][^11] Poindexter told [[United States Congress|Congress]] he made the decision on his own, did not tell the President and believed he would have approved; North testified he believed the President authorized it. The Independent Counsel could not prove that Reagan authorized or knew of the diversion.[^1] In the Tower Commission's account Attorney General Meese told it that North said in their November 23, 1986 interview that the Israelis had handled the money and that he gave them numbers of three Swiss accounts opened by Calero; the March 1988 indictment charged that the statement about Calero was false.[^11][^12]
On December 6, 1985 North told an Israeli official he planned to use profits from future arms sales to support the Contras; on April 4, 1986 he wrote an unsigned memorandum proposing $12 million in residuals "to purchase critically needed supplies for the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance Forces," which, the Tower Commission found, "no evidence has emerged" was ever placed before Poindexter, the President or any other official.[^3][^11] Poindexter told [[United States Congress|Congress]] he made the decision on his own, did not tell the President and believed he would have approved; North testified he believed the President authorized it. The Independent Counsel could not prove that Reagan authorized or knew of the diversion.[^1] In the Tower Commission's account Attorney General Meese told it that North said in their November 23, 1986 interview that the Israelis had handled the money and that he gave them numbers of three Swiss accounts opened by Calero; the March 1988 indictment charged that the statement about Calero was false.[^11][^15]
North began shredding documents on November 21, 1986 after being told [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] officials would inspect his files; a Justice Department official found the April 1986 memorandum on November 22; on November 24 Meese told Reagan of the diversion, and on November 25 Reagan announced Poindexter's resignation and North's dismissal.[^3] Walsh found that "the President's most senior advisers and the Cabinet members on the National Security Council participated in the strategy to make National Security staff members McFarlane, Poindexter and North the scapegoats," and that notes of Reagan's chief of staff [[Donald Regan]] showed Poindexter and Meese attempting to create a false account of the 1985 shipments from Israeli stocks; [[Weinberger]]'s diary notes, withheld from investigators until late 1991, and the notes of [[Charles Hill]] and [[Nicholas Platt]] of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] showed that Secretaries [[Caspar Weinberger]] and [[George Shultz]] knew more than they told Congress. Vice President [[George H.W. Bush]] "was fully aware of the Iran arms sales"; the Independent Counsel learned in December 1992 that he had not produced a diary containing contemporaneous notes, and the pardon of Weinberger on December 24, 1992 "pre-empted a trial in which defense counsel indicated that they intended to call Bush as a witness."[^1]
North began shredding documents on November 21, 1986 after being told [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] officials would inspect his files; a Justice Department official found the April 1986 memorandum on November 22; on November 24 Meese told Reagan of the diversion, and on November 25 Reagan announced Poindexter's resignation and North's dismissal.[^3] Walsh found that "the President's most senior advisers and the Cabinet members on the National Security Council participated in the strategy to make National Security staff members McFarlane, Poindexter and North the scapegoats," and that notes of Reagan's chief of staff [[Donald Regan]] showed Poindexter and Meese attempting to create a false account of the 1985 shipments from Israeli stocks; [[Weinberger]]'s diary notes, withheld from investigators until late 1991, and the notes of [[Charles Hill]] and [[Nicholas Platt]] of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] showed that Secretaries [[Caspar Weinberger]] and [[George Shultz]] knew more than they told Congress. Vice President George H.W. Bush "was fully aware of the Iran arms sales"; the Independent Counsel learned in December 1992 that he had not produced a diary containing contemporaneous notes, and the pardon of Weinberger on December 24, 1992 "pre-empted a trial in which defense counsel indicated that they intended to call Bush as a witness."[^1]
### Investigations
President Reagan created the President's Special Review Board, known as the [[Tower Commission]], on December 1, 1986 under Executive Order 12575, with former Senator [[John Tower]] as chairman. Its report of February 26, 1987 stated that Poindexter, North, Israeli participants and other key witnesses "refused to appear before the board," that the bank records could not be obtained, and that "there was considerable evidence before the board of a diversion to support the contras. But the board had no hard proof."[^3][^11] The [[Lawrence Walsh|Independent Counsel]] was appointed on December 19, 1986. The Senate and House select committees were set up on January 6 and 7, 1987, held televised hearings from May 5 to August 3, 1987 with more than 250 hours of testimony from 28 public witnesses, took North's testimony for six days beginning July 7 and Poindexter's for five beginning July 15, and issued their report on November 18, 1987.[^3]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff appear in the independent counsel's record of the Defense Department. Walsh's Part VIII records that General [[John W. Vessey, Jr.]], then chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], recalled that Weinberger told him "incredulously," after attending a White House meeting in the summer of 1985, that someone had proposed contacts with Iran.[^13] Vessey recalled that Prince Bandar bin Sultan told him on two occasions that the Saudis were funding the contras, that on each occasion he reported the statement to Weinberger, and that Weinberger responded that he did not want the issue to become public; in his April 17, 1987 deposition to the Select Committees he described one such occasion.[^14] Weinberger's daily notes for March 13, 1985, made after a meeting with Vessey ("Jack Vessey in office alone"), record that Weinberger "passed on to him Jack Vessey's report that Bandar is giving $25 million to Contras" in a call to Robert McFarlane the same day, with the suggestion that, if so, the United States go for "covert non-lethal aid of $14 mil."[^13] The memorandum for the record of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[John N. McMahon]] on the March 15, 1985 breakfast of Weinberger, William J. Casey and McMahon records Weinberger's statement that he had heard that Bandar had earmarked $25 million for the contras in $5 million increments.[^15] The diary entry for August 22, 1985 records a meeting in Weinberger's office with McFarlane, [[Colin Powell]] and General [[Charles Gabriel]], the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs, at which an Israeli message that two Iranians had offered to return some hostages was discussed.[^16] The diary entry for November 21, 1985 records [[William J. Crowe, Jr.]] in office, regarding the president's decisions at Geneva and hostage rescue attempts.[^17]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff appear in the independent counsel's record of the Defense Department. Walsh's Part VIII records that General [[John W. Vessey, Jr.]], then chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], recalled that Weinberger told him "incredulously," after attending a White House meeting in the summer of 1985, that someone had proposed contacts with Iran.[^16] Vessey recalled that Prince Bandar bin Sultan told him on two occasions that the Saudis were funding the contras, that on each occasion he reported the statement to Weinberger, and that Weinberger responded that he did not want the issue to become public; in his April 17, 1987 deposition to the Select Committees he described one such occasion.[^17] Weinberger's daily notes for March 13, 1985, made after a meeting with Vessey ("Jack Vessey in office alone"), record that Weinberger "passed on to him Jack Vessey's report that Bandar is giving $25 million to Contras" in a call to Robert McFarlane the same day, with the suggestion that, if so, the United States go for "covert non-lethal aid of $14 mil."[^16] The memorandum for the record of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[John N. McMahon]] on the March 15, 1985 breakfast of Weinberger, William J. Casey and McMahon records Weinberger's statement that he had heard that Bandar had earmarked $25 million for the contras in $5 million increments.[^18] The diary entry for August 22, 1985 records a meeting in Weinberger's office with McFarlane, [[Colin Powell]] and General [[Charles Gabriel]], the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs, at which an Israeli message that two Iranians had offered to return some hostages was discussed.[^19] The diary entry for November 21, 1985 records [[William J. Crowe, Jr.]] in office, regarding the president's decisions at Geneva and hostage rescue attempts.[^20]
Walsh's Final Report (August 4, 1993) states that the Iran operations were carried out with the knowledge of Reagan, Bush, Shultz, Weinberger, Casey, McFarlane and Poindexter, of whom only Weinberger and Shultz dissented, and that "large volumes of highly relevant, contemporaneously created documents were systematically and willfully withheld from investigators by several Reagan Administration officials." Casey, hospitalized with a fatal illness before the Independent Counsel was appointed, was never formally investigated. Walsh observed that the problems were "not those of rogue operations, but rather those of Executive Branch efforts to evade congressional oversight," and that grants of immunity to North, Poindexter and [[Albert Hakim]] by Congress, and the attorney general's discretion under the [[Classified Information Procedures Act]] to refuse to declassify information, undermined prosecutions.[^1]
### Prosecutions and pardons
After the Independent Counsel's appointment 14 persons were charged, 11 were convicted (two convictions being overturned on appeal), two were pardoned before trial and one case was dismissed when the Bush administration declined to declassify information needed at trial. Pleas: Carl Channell (April 29, 1987) and Richard Miller (May 6, 1987); McFarlane (March 11, 1988); Secord (November 8, 1989, one felony of false statements to Congress); Hakim (November 21, 1989, a misdemeanor of supplementing North's salary, with Lake Resources Inc. pleading to theft of government property); Fiers (July 9, 1991, two misdemeanors); [[Elliott Abrams]] (October 7, 1991, two misdemeanors, including his solicitation of $10 million from the Sultan of [[Brunei]]). Convictions at trial: Clines (September 18, 1990, four tax-related felonies, 16 months); North (May 4, 1989, three counts, vacated July 20, 1990, dismissed September 16, 1991); Poindexter (April 7, 1990, five felony counts, reversed November 15, 1991, certiorari denied December 7, 1992, indictment dismissed in 1993); George (December 9, 1992, two felonies, pardoned before sentencing). The case against Joseph Fernandez was dismissed on November 24, 1989 after Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]] blocked the disclosure of classified information ruled relevant to the defense; the Fourth Circuit upheld that ruling on September 6, 1990.[^18]
After the Independent Counsel's appointment 14 persons were charged, 11 were convicted (two convictions being overturned on appeal), two were pardoned before trial and one case was dismissed when the Bush administration declined to declassify information needed at trial. Pleas: Carl Channell (April 29, 1987) and Richard Miller (May 6, 1987); McFarlane (March 11, 1988); Secord (November 8, 1989, one felony of false statements to Congress); Hakim (November 21, 1989, a misdemeanor of supplementing North's salary, with Lake Resources Inc. pleading to theft of government property); Fiers (July 9, 1991, two misdemeanors); [[Elliott Abrams]] (October 7, 1991, two misdemeanors, including his solicitation of $10 million from the Sultan of [[Brunei]]). Convictions at trial: Clines (September 18, 1990, four tax-related felonies, 16 months); North (May 4, 1989, three counts, vacated July 20, 1990, dismissed September 16, 1991); Poindexter (April 7, 1990, five felony counts, reversed November 15, 1991, certiorari denied December 7, 1992, indictment dismissed in 1993); George (December 9, 1992, two felonies, pardoned before sentencing). The case against Joseph Fernandez was dismissed on November 24, 1989 after Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]] blocked the disclosure of classified information ruled relevant to the defense; the Fourth Circuit upheld that ruling on September 6, 1990.[^21]
On December 24, 1992 President Bush pardoned Weinberger (indicted June 16, 1992, trial set for January 5, 1993), [[Duane Clarridge]] (indicted November 26, 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements, trial set for March 15, 1993), George, Abrams, Fiers and McFarlane. Fernandez, whose case had been dismissed, was not among those pardoned.[^18]
On December 24, 1992 President Bush pardoned Weinberger (indicted June 16, 1992, trial set for January 5, 1993), [[Duane Clarridge]] (indicted November 26, 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements, trial set for March 15, 1993), George, Abrams, Fiers and McFarlane. Fernandez, whose case had been dismissed, was not among those pardoned.[^21]
### The Contra network and drug trafficking
The Kerry Committee's report of December 1988 stated that "individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers," and that "in each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter." It found that the State Department paid funds Congress had authorized for humanitarian assistance to traffickers, "in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges." It found no evidence that the Contra leadership participated directly in narcotics smuggling, but that the FDN "did move Contra funds through a narcotics trafficking enterprise and money laundering operation," and that "some officials may have turned a blind eye." It concluded that "there are serious questions as to whether or not U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war effort against Nicaragua," citing the delay in dealing with [[Manuel Noriega]], the premature public announcement of the DEA's [[Barry Seal]] sting of Sandinista officials shortly before a crucial congressional vote on Contra aid, and the case of the Honduran General [[Jose Bueso Rosa|José Bueso-Rosa]], convicted of a plot to assassinate President [[Roberto Suazo Cordova|Roberto Suazo Córdova]] financed by a $40 million cocaine sale, who received a light sentence after U.S. officials intervened.[^19] The Kerry report also described Contra supply contractors paid by the State Department's Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office, the Contra supply officer [[Mario Calero]]'s agreement with the pilot [[Frank Moss]], and the passage of Contra funds through traffickers.[^19]
The Kerry Committee's report of December 1988 stated that "individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers," and that "in each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter." It found that the State Department paid funds Congress had authorized for humanitarian assistance to traffickers, "in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges." It found no evidence that the Contra leadership participated directly in narcotics smuggling, but that the FDN "did move Contra funds through a narcotics trafficking enterprise and money laundering operation," and that "some officials may have turned a blind eye." It concluded that "there are serious questions as to whether or not U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war effort against Nicaragua," citing the delay in dealing with [[Manuel Noriega]], the premature public announcement of the DEA's [[Barry Seal]] sting of Sandinista officials shortly before a crucial congressional vote on Contra aid, and the case of the Honduran General [[Jose Bueso Rosa|José Bueso-Rosa]], convicted of a plot to assassinate President [[Roberto Suazo Cordova|Roberto Suazo Córdova]] financed by a $40 million cocaine sale, who received a light sentence after U.S. officials intervened.[^22] The Kerry report also described Contra supply contractors paid by the State Department's Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office, the Contra supply officer [[Mario Calero]]'s agreement with the pilot [[Frank Moss]], and the passage of Contra funds through traffickers.[^22]
The National Security Archive's briefing book prints North's notebook for July 12, 1985, in which Secord is quoted as saying that "14 M to finance [the arms in a Honduran warehouse] came from drugs," and North's August 9, 1985 entry that a Honduran DC-6 used for runs out of New Orleans "is probably being used for drug runs into U.S."; the briefing book also notes that DEA agents testified on July 28, 1988 that North had wanted $1.5 million in Cartel money carried by a DEA informant given to the Contras.[^12] The Kerry report states that the pilot [[Floyd Carlton]] testified that Noriega was paid $100,000 to $250,000 for each of four cocaine flights he piloted for the [[Medellin Cartel]], and that the same Panamanian general met North in June 1985 and again in [[London]] on September 22, 1986 to discuss sabotage in Nicaragua; when North proposed a meeting on August 23, 1986, Poindexter replied, "I have nothing against him other than his illegal activities," and Walsh records that the decision was made not to pay Noriega the $1 million.[^12][^19][^20]
The National Security Archive's briefing book prints North's notebook for July 12, 1985, in which Secord is quoted as saying that "14 M to finance [the arms in a Honduran warehouse] came from drugs," and North's August 9, 1985 entry that a Honduran DC-6 used for runs out of New Orleans "is probably being used for drug runs into U.S."; the briefing book also notes that DEA agents testified on July 28, 1988 that North had wanted $1.5 million in Cartel money carried by a DEA informant given to the Contras.[^15] The Kerry report states that the pilot [[Floyd Carlton]] testified that Noriega was paid $100,000 to $250,000 for each of four cocaine flights he piloted for the [[Medellin Cartel]], and that the same Panamanian general met North in June 1985 and again in [[London]] on September 22, 1986 to discuss sabotage in Nicaragua; when North proposed a meeting on August 23, 1986, Poindexter replied, "I have nothing against him other than his illegal activities," and Walsh records that the decision was made not to pay Noriega the $1 million.[^15][^22][^23]
Webb wrote that Kerry investigation director [[Jack Blum]] told him: "We were even dumped on by the Iran-Contra Committee. They wouldn't touch this issue with a ten-foot pole," and that during North's July 1987 testimony two men from Baltimore stood with a banner reading "Ask about the cocaine smuggling" before police removed them. Webb also wrote that the plane shot down over Nicaragua was a Fairchild C-123K called The Fat Lady, based at [[Mena, Arkansas]] before Barry Seal sold it, after which it flew weapons for North and the [[FDN]]; that Hasenfus was a former [[Air America]] cargo handler; that congressional records show North was regularly briefed by the CIA on Seal's joint CIA-DEA sting of the Sandinistas and allegedly leaked it to the press shortly before a critical vote on Contra aid; and that the Enterprise's flights from Ilopango reportedly brought cocaine back on return flights, with Hangar No. 4 there used by the CIA until it was turned over to North's operation in 1985. The Committees' account identifies the aircraft only as one belonging to the Enterprise, with a [[Southern Air Transport]] identification card found on the pilot.[^3][^8]
@ -188,12 +192,15 @@ The writer Cheri Seymour wrote that the Iran-Contra Affair was a significant com
[^9]: Report of the President's Special Review Board (Tower Commission), February 26, 1987. https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^10]: Memorandum from Oliver North, September 1986, reproduced in the Tower Commission report. https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^11]: Tower Commission, *Report of the President's Special Review Board* (February 26, 1987), Part I, "Contra Diversion" and "N.S.C. Staff and Support for the Contras" (excerpts published by the American Presidency Project). https://archive.org/details/tower-commission-report-excerpts-reagan
[^12]: National Security Archive, "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations," Electronic Briefing Book No. 2 (North notebooks of July 12 and August 9, 1985; North and Poindexter electronic messages of August 23, 1986). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html
[^13]: Lawrence E. Walsh, *Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, Part VIII, notes 10 and 165 (Vessey, Select Committees deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 30-31; Weinberger diary, March 13, 1985, ALZ 0039320B-C). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^14]: Walsh, Part VIII, notes 168-170 (Vessey, FBI 302, June 11, 1992, pp. 6-7; Vessey, FBI 302, February 11, 1987, p. 1; Vessey, Select Committees Deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 5-9). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^15]: Walsh, Part VIII, note 167 (McMahon, memorandum for the record, March 15, 1985, ER 26,187-88 and ER 92-00116-17). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^16]: Walsh, Part VIII, notes 16-18 (Weinberger diary, August 22, 1985, ALZ 0039606-07; Weinberger calendar, LC-007474; Powell, Select Committees deposition, June 19, 1987, p. 5). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^17]: Walsh, Part VIII, citing Weinberger diary, November 21, 1985 (ALZ 0039802-03). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^18]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, "Summary of Prosecutions." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm
[^19]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), "Summary of Findings," chapters on the Contras and on Panama, and the Conclusions. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^20]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams," section on the September 19 and 20, 1986 meetings. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm
[^12]: Lawrence Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 18, "United States v. Duane R. Clarridge," HAWK shipment section. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_18.htm
[^13]: *The Tower Commission Report* (Bantam/Times Books, 1987), Clarridge section. https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^14]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, Summary of Prosecutions, "Pre-trial Pardons." https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm
[^15]: National Security Archive, "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations," Electronic Briefing Book No. 2 (North notebooks of July 12 and August 9, 1985; North and Poindexter electronic messages of August 23, 1986). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html
[^16]: Lawrence E. Walsh, *Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters*, Part VIII, notes 10 and 165 (Vessey, Select Committees deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 30-31; Weinberger diary, March 13, 1985, ALZ 0039320B-C). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^17]: Walsh, Part VIII, notes 168-170 (Vessey, FBI 302, June 11, 1992, pp. 6-7; Vessey, FBI 302, February 11, 1987, p. 1; Vessey, Select Committees Deposition, April 17, 1987, pp. 5-9). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^18]: Walsh, Part VIII, note 167 (McMahon, memorandum for the record, March 15, 1985, ER 26,187-88 and ER 92-00116-17). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^19]: Walsh, Part VIII, notes 16-18 (Weinberger diary, August 22, 1985, ALZ 0039606-07; Weinberger calendar, LC-007474; Powell, Select Committees deposition, June 19, 1987, p. 5). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^20]: Walsh, Part VIII, citing Weinberger diary, November 21, 1985 (ALZ 0039802-03). https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/part_viii.htm
[^21]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, "Summary of Prosecutions." https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm
[^22]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), "Summary of Findings," chapters on the Contras and on Panama, and the Conclusions. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^23]: Walsh, *Final Report*, vol. I, ch. 25, "United States v. Elliott Abrams," section on the September 19 and 20, 1986 meetings. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm

14
40 - EVENTS/MAJOR_CONFLICTS/World War II.md
View file

@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ World War II was the global conflict fought from September 1, 1939, to September
The [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) was established by military order on June 13, 1942, under the jurisdiction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The order directed it to collect and analyze strategic information for the Joint Chiefs and to plan and operate special services.[^2] It was headed by General [[William J. Donovan]] and created under President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. On August 25, 1945, Donovan told the Bureau of the Budget that the agency was "working under what is in effect a liquidation budget."[^3]
President [[Harry S. Truman]] dissolved the OSS by Executive Order 9621 of September 20, 1945. The order moved its Research and Analysis Branch and Presentation Branch to an Interim Research and Intelligence Service in the State Department, transferred all other functions, personnel, records and funds to the War Department, and terminated the Office, including the office of the Director of Strategic Services, as of the opening of business on October 1, 1945.[^4] The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group dates the disbanding to October 1945.[^5] The War Department units that inherited the clandestine side were the Strategic Services Unit (SSU) and its successors. The [[Central Intelligence Group]] was created by presidential directive on January 22, 1946, and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in September 1947.[^6][^5] The Working Group states that the CIA inherited intelligence operations and agents in Europe from the Army and from the organizations that succeeded the OSS, and that these operations later included the [[Gehlen Organization]].[^5]
President [[Harry S. Truman]] dissolved the OSS by Executive Order 9621 of September 20, 1945. The order moved its Research and Analysis Branch and Presentation Branch to an Interim Research and Intelligence Service in the State Department, transferred all other functions, personnel, records and funds to the War Department, and terminated the Office, including the office of the Director of Strategic Services, as of the opening of business on October 1, 1945.[^4] The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group dates the disbanding to October 1945.[^5] The War Department units that inherited the clandestine side were the Strategic Services Unit (SSU) and its successors. The [[Central Intelligence Group]] was created by presidential directive on January 22, 1946, and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in September 1947.[^5][^6] The Working Group states that the CIA inherited intelligence operations and agents in Europe from the Army and from the organizations that succeeded the OSS, and that these operations later included the [[Gehlen Organization]].[^5]
[[General Walter Bedell Smith|Walter Bedell Smith]], who became CIA Director in 1950, had been Eisenhower's wartime chief of staff, and dozens of other senior CIA and military intelligence officials of the 1950s to 1970s had served in the OSS.
@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ In a 1977 article in the CIA's journal Studies in Intelligence, [[Kenneth A. Kre
[[Walter Schellenberg]], who headed the foreign intelligence branch of the [[Sicherheitsdienst]] (SD), wrote in his memoirs about the flight of [[Rudolf Hess]] to Scotland in May 1941. He stated that SD reports revealed Hess to have been a "silent adherent" of Rudolf Steiner and the anthroposophists, that Hess had made the flight "in accordance with astrological advice" and had close associations with astrologers, seers, mediums and nature therapists, and that collective arrests followed among both groups. According to Schellenberg, [[Heinrich Himmler]] told him that from the day of the flight Hitler's earlier interest in astrology "changed to an uncompromising antipathy," and Himmler was upset by the measures taken against the astrologers.[^28] Schellenberg also wrote that on April 28, 1945 he took an astrologer from Hamburg, whom Himmler knew and thought highly of, to a meeting with Himmler in Luebeck, in order to soften Himmler's reaction to the failure of a peace initiative, and that with the astrologer's help he obtained Himmler's permission to discuss the ending of the German occupation of Norway and the internment of the occupation forces in Sweden.[^29]
The astrologer [[Wilhelm Wulff]] recorded Schellenberg telling him that mystical belief systems were "a suitable vehicle for the propagation of political concepts and for the political control of a nation," as reported in Jacobsen's *Phenomena* and on the vault pages for Wulff and Schellenberg.[^30]
The astrologer [[Wilhelm Wulff]] recorded Schellenberg telling him that mystical belief systems were "a suitable vehicle for the propagation of political concepts and for the political control of a nation."[^30]
The [[Ahnenerbe]] is described in the opening statement of the prosecution in the Doctors' Trial before the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The tribunal's printed record states that the name "literally means 'ancestral heritage'," that the society was "originally devoted to scientific and psuedo-scientific researches concerning the anthropological and cultural history of the German race," and that an Institute for Military Scientific Research was later set up within it. [[Wolfram Sievers]], an SS colonel, was manager of the society and director of the Institute, a direct subordinate of Himmler as president of the Ahnenerbe, and a defendant.[^31] The prosecution quoted a February 1942 report from Sievers to Himmler (document NO-085) proposing the procurement of skulls of Jewish commissars to remedy a shortage of "Jewish race" specimens, and a September 1944 telegram from Sievers to Himmler's adjutant Rudolf Brandt about the skeleton collection assembled at the Reich University of Strasbourg under Professor August Hirt as the Allied armies approached.[^32]
@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ The laboratory's first guided missile was the Corporal, first flown in an unguid
The atomic bomb program was placed under a Military Policy Committee chaired by [[Vannevar Bush]], with [[Leslie Groves]] named to sit with it as executive officer. The Smyth Report states that the creation of the committee in effect placed all phases of the project under the control of Bush, [[James B. Conant]], General Styer, Admiral Purnell and Groves.[^35] The [[Los Alamos]] laboratory was the principal site of the work.
[[Operation Alsos]] followed the advancing forces into Germany to investigate the German nuclear energy project and to prevent German scientists from being moved beyond reach. [[Samuel Goudsmit]], chosen as chief scientist at a meeting called by Vannevar Bush at the Office of Scientific Research and Development, was its scientific head. Its military commander, Colonel [[Boris Pash]], wrote that the plan agreed with Goudsmit gave the scientific section the choice of targets (personnel, installations or equipment) and gave Pash the task of seizing and protecting them. Pash described Werner Heisenberg as the first priority, and described the occupation of Haigerloch and the securing of the laboratory of Otto Hahn.[^36] Goudsmit published his own account, *Alsos*, in 1947.[^37]
[[Operation Alsos]] followed the advancing forces into Germany to investigate the German nuclear energy project and to prevent German scientists from being moved beyond reach. [[Samuel Goudsmit]], chosen as chief scientist at a meeting called by Vannevar Bush at the Office of Scientific Research and Development, was its scientific head. Its military commander, Colonel [[Boris Pash]], wrote that the plan agreed with Goudsmit gave the scientific section the choice of targets (personnel, installations or equipment) and gave Pash the task of seizing and protecting them. Pash described Werner Heisenberg as the first priority, and described the occupation of Haigerloch and the securing of the laboratory of Otto Hahn.[^36] Goudsmit published his own account, *Alsos*, in 1947. He wrote that Pash, not waiting for the Bavarian Redoubt to fall, took six men to Urfeld, south of Munich, to take Heisenberg.[^37]
### Abwehr
@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ The Office of Alien Property Custodian's annual report for March 11, 1942 to Jun
The prosecution's opening statement in the Farben case before the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg described the agreements between I.G. Farben and [[Standard Oil]] of New Jersey. The statement says that a 1929 agreement recognized Farben's priority in chemicals and Standard's priority in oil outside Germany, that a 1930 agreement created the jointly owned Joint American Study Company (Jasco) to develop new processes "on a basis of equality (50-50)," and that Frank A. Howard of the Standard Oil Development Company wrote in 1936 that "the IG may be said to be our general partner in the chemical business." It states that Standard turned over its butyl rubber process to Farben while Farben delayed the transfer of its buna rubber processes, and that after the outbreak of war in September 1939 Howard met Farben representatives at The Hague, where Farben transferred its Jasco interest to Standard but not the necessary know-how.[^50] The indictment charged that the cartel agreements delayed the development and production of buna rubber in the United States until 1940.[^51] The Tribunal's judgment in the Farben case describes the 1939 Hague transactions as having been held by the U.S. Federal courts in Standard Oil Co. v. Markham (S.D.N.Y.) and Standard Oil Co. v. Clark (2d Cir., September 22, 1947) to be "sham transactions designed to create an appearance of Jersey ownership of property interests which, nevertheless, continued to be regarded by the parties as IG owned."[^52]
The New York law firm [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] had German clients in the 1930s, according to Frank Lipsius and Nancy Lisagor's history of the firm, and [[John Foster Dulles]] and [[Allen Dulles]] were partners of the firm.[^53] [[IBM]]'s German subsidiary, Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft ([[Dehomag]]), is the subject of [[Edwin Black]]'s account. Black wrote that Dehomag, "with the knowledge of its New York headquarters," custom-designed devices and applications for the Reich as an official corporate undertaking, and that IBM's New York management understood from 1933 that it was doing business with the upper echelon of the Nazi Party.[^54]
The New York law firm [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] had German clients in the 1930s, according to Nancy Lisagor and Frank Lipsius's history of the firm, and [[John Foster Dulles]] and [[Allen Dulles]] were partners of the firm.[^53] [[IBM]]'s German subsidiary, Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft ([[Dehomag]]), is the subject of [[Edwin Black]]'s account. Black wrote that Dehomag, "with the knowledge of its New York headquarters," custom-designed devices and applications for the Reich as an official corporate undertaking, and that IBM's New York management understood from 1933 that it was doing business with the upper echelon of the Nazi Party.[^54]
### War crimes trials and the disclosure record
@ -184,14 +184,14 @@ The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, Public Law 105-246 of October 8, 1998, direc
[^27]: Annotated bibliography entry on Paul A. Dietz, "A successful psychometric experiment with the clairvoyant E. Hanussen," *Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie*, 1930/31, CIA reading room, CIA-RDP96-00792R000700690004-2. The parenthetical about Hitler is the bibliographer's annotation.
[^28]: Walter Schellenberg, *The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg* (Harper, 1956; Pyramid Books ed. as *Hitler's Secret Service*, 1974), chapter "The Mystery of Rudolf Hess," pp. 190-191.
[^29]: Schellenberg, *The Labyrinth*, chapter on the Himmler talks of April 1945 (Pyramid ed., pp. 393-394).
[^30]: Wilhelm Wulff, *Zodiac and Swastika* (1973), as reported in Annie Jacobsen, *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis* (Little, Brown, 2017); the quotation appears on the vault pages for Wilhelm Wulff and Walter Schellenberg.
[^30]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. New York: Little, Brown, 2017, p. 17, citing Wilhelm Wulff, *Zodiac and Swastika* (1973), p. 94.
[^31]: *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10*, vol. I (The Medical Case), list of defendants (Sievers, "Reich Manager of the 'Ahnenerbe' Society and Director of its Institute for Military Scientific Research") and the prosecution's opening statement on the defendant Sievers. https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_war-criminals.html
[^32]: *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals*, vol. I, indictment (the skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg) and the prosecution's opening statement quoting documents NO-085 and NO-087 and Sievers's telegram of September 1944.
[^33]: Erik M. Conway, "From Rockets to Spacecraft: Making JPL a Place for Planetary Science," *Engineering & Science*, Caltech, no. 4 (2007), pp. 2-3. https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/702/2/Spacecraft.pdf
[^34]: Conway, "From Rockets to Spacecraft," pp. 3-5 (Aerojet; Parsons and Forman; the Corporal and the WAC Corporal; the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel and captured V-2 instruments; Redstone Arsenal).
[^35]: Henry DeWolf Smyth, *Atomic Energy for Military Purposes* (Princeton University Press, 1945), sections 5.25 to 5.27 (Military Policy Committee; General Groves as executive officer). https://archive.org/details/atomicenergyform00smyt_0
[^36]: Boris T. Pash, *The Alsos Mission* (1969), chapters on the formation of Alsos (Goudsmit as chief scientist; the division of tasks between the scientific section and Pash), the priority list headed by Heisenberg, and the occupation of Haigerloch and Otto Hahn's laboratory.
[^37]: Samuel A. Goudsmit, *Alsos* (Henry Schuman, 1947).
[^37]: Samuel A. Goudsmit, *Alsos* (New York: Henry Schuman, 1947; Woodbury, N.Y.: American Institute of Physics Press, 1996), p. 111.
[^38]: Joint Publications Research Service, *Translations on USSR Science and Technology: Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences* (FOUO 37/78, December 6, 1978), CIA reading room, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500430001-1. The characterization belongs to the translated Soviet article.
[^39]: U.S. Senate, *Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce*, Hearings before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Part 7 (New York-New Jersey) (1951), testimony of George H. White, pp. 1180-1181 (index entry "White, Col. George H., narcotics agent, United States Treasury, 1180-1187"). https://archive.org/details/investigationofo07unit
[^40]: *Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce*, Part 7, testimony of George H. White, pp. 1181-1182 (Del Grazio, May 1943).
@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, Public Law 105-246 of October 8, 1998, direc
[^50]: *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals*, vol. VII (The Farben Case), prosecution opening statement, pp. 162-167 (1929 and 1930 Standard Oil agreements, Jasco, Howard's letter of 1936, butyl and buna, the Hague conference of September 1939; documents NI-10550, NI-10433, NI-10431, NI-10455). https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_war-criminals.html
[^51]: *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals*, vol. VII, indictment, paragraph 57.
[^52]: *Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals*, vol. VIII (The Farben Case), Decision and Judgment of the Tribunal, pp. 1273-1290 (Standard Oil agreements; *Standard Oil Co. v. Markham*, 64 F. Supp. 656 (S.D.N.Y.), and *Standard Oil Co. v. Clark*, 163 F.2d 917 (2d Cir. 1947), as quoted by the Tribunal).
[^53]: Frank Lipsius and Nancy Lisagor, *A Law Unto Itself: The Untold Story of the Law Firm Sullivan & Cromwell* (William Morrow, 1988), pp. 99-101 and 132-134.
[^53]: Nancy Lisagor and Frank Lipsius, *A Law Unto Itself: The Untold Story of the Law Firm Sullivan & Cromwell* (New York: William Morrow, 1988), pp. 95, 120-127, 132-133, 141 and 144.
[^54]: Edwin Black, *IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation* (Crown, 2001), introduction.
[^55]: *Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal*, Proceedings Volumes, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/imt.asp
[^56]: Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, Public Law 105-246, 112 Stat. 1859 (October 8, 1998), Section 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ246/pdf/PLAW-105publ246.pdf

36
70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-14 Due to the Bulk.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
---
title: "Due to the Bulk"
date: 2026-10-14
status: published
summary: "The State Department's account of the Odyssey Foundation card files records two names matching department employees, no formal investigation, and the destruction of the unread cards in 1975."
entities:
- "[[Odyssey Network]]"
- "[[John David Norman]]"
- "[[State Department]]"
- "[[Dallas Police Department]]"
- "[[Harold Hancock]]"
- "[[John C. Culver]]"
- "[[Henry A. Kissinger]]"
- "[[Michael Sneed]]"
tags:
- OdysseyNetwork
- StateDepartment
- ChildExploitation
- DestroyedRecords
---
# Due to the Bulk
On August 14, 1973 the [[Dallas Police Department]] raided an apartment used by the Odyssey Foundation. The police said the search produced catalogue files with the names and addresses of 50,000 to 100,000 people, and named the alleged leader as John Paul Norman, 45 ([[John David Norman]]).[^1] The Chicago Tribune later reported that the cards seized by Lieutenant [[Harold Hancock]] listed clients around the country, some of them prominent people and some federal employees in Washington. Hancock told the paper, "I felt that some federal agency should get the cards and I contacted the State Department through the FBI, I think it was."[^2]
The [[State Department]] set out what happened next in a letter of June 27, 1977 to Senator [[John C. Culver]], signed by Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations. The Dallas resident agent sent the department material on the foundation in September 1973 "with the understanding that there be no dissemination made outside the Department." A Dallas police review of the card files "revealed that two individuals in these files appeared to have State Department affiliation." The department examined the security files of two employees with similar names; "however, no formal investigation was initiated because the information was considered insufficient to take action at that time. One such individual was in the Department and the other individual had been assigned to our Mexico City Embassy."[^3]
On December 12, 1974 the Dallas police turned over "three cartons containing several thousand 3x5 cards" so that a more complete search could be made on questions of passport fraud. The cartons went on January 2, 1975 to the "Special Assignment Staff," Office of Security. "Due to the bulk, the cards were not thoroughly reviewed but placed in storage where they remained until September 1975." When the operative portions of the Privacy Act took effect on September 27, 1975, the department reviewed its name files, and the cards "were determined not to qualify as records relevant to the Department's statutory purpose and were destroyed."[^4] [[Henry A. Kissinger]] was Secretary of State from September 22, 1973 to January 20, 1977.
At the subcommittee's Chicago hearing on May 27, 1977, the Tribune's George Bliss testified that the department told the paper "they shredded the 35,000 cards in 1974 because they couldn't find any use for them." [[Michael Sneed]] testified that when the paper asked why the cards had gone to State, "the first question they asked was, 'Why us? Why not the Justice Department?'"[^5] Matthew Nimetz, counselor of the department, told the Tribune the cards "were not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport"; the paper reported that he could not explain why the department had not turned them over to the FBI or postal inspectors.[^6]
[^1]: "Alleged Homosexual Ring Found in a Raid on Apartment in Dallas," *New York Times*, August 16, 1973, p. 16. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/16/archives/alleged-homosexual-ring-found-in-a-raid-on-apartment-in-dallass.html
[^2]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, hearings, 95th Cong., 1st sess., Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
[^3]: Letter from Douglas J. Bennett Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of State, to Sen. John C. Culver, June 27, 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, hearings, 95th Cong., 1st sess. (1977), pp. 119-120. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^4]: Bennett to Culver, June 27, 1977, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, p. 120.
[^5]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation*, Chicago, May 27, 1977, p. 58. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
[^6]: *Chicago Tribune*, May 16, 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children*, Serial No. 12 (1977), p. 435. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041

2
70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-14 Read and Destroy.md
View file

@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
title: "Read and Destroy"
date: 2026-10-14
status: published
summary: "Ten weeks after the bankruptcy judge who found that the Justice Department stole INSLAW's software ruled, an unsigned memorandum marked 'read and destroy' ranked him last among the finalists for his own seat, which went to a Justice Department tax lawyer who had supervised the INSLAW tax work."
summary: "An unsigned memorandum marked 'read and destroy' disparaged the judge who found that the Justice Department stole INSLAW's software; his seat went to a Justice Department tax lawyer."
entities:
- "[[George Francis Bason, Jr.]]"
- "[[INSLAW]]"