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summary: "Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness Regina Louf (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area."
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---
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Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area. Widowed after the war, Beernaert continued running establishments in the region, including a house at Golfpad 4, 8300 Knokke, tucked behind Elizabetlaan 83, on the northwestern boundary of the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]]. Louf claimed Beernaert prostituted her from age two at these locations, using the properties for sexual exploitation of young girls provided to clients including politicians and businessmen. Beernaert, known as Madame Cecile, managed the girls with threats of violence, including beatings with a metal ruler and gun pointed at temples for non-compliance. The brothel operated from the 1970s, with Louf describing two rooms: one for mutual acts between children, the other for quick encounters where men undressed minimally. Beernaert filmed some sessions and used a basement studio for pornography production, distributing materials through networks linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]. Louf's testimony in the [[X-Dossier]] identified the site as a venue for elite abusers, with clients arriving from the golf club.[^1]
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Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area. Widowed after the war, Beernaert continued running establishments in the region, including a house in Knokke on the northwestern boundary of the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]]. Louf claimed Beernaert prostituted her from age two at these locations, using the properties for sexual exploitation of young girls provided to clients including politicians and businessmen. Beernaert, known as Madame Cecile, managed the girls with threats of violence, including beatings with a metal ruler and gun pointed at temples for non-compliance. The brothel operated from the 1970s, with Louf describing two rooms: one for mutual acts between children, the other for quick encounters where men undressed minimally. Beernaert filmed some sessions and used a basement studio for pornography production, distributing materials through networks linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]. Louf's testimony in the [[X-Dossier]] identified the site as a venue for elite abusers, with clients arriving from the golf club.[^1]
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Beernaert's operations involved grooming Louf and other children, including friend [[Chantal Storme]], forcing them into sexual acts with each other and clients. Louf stated Beernaert consoled them post-abuse but enforced participation with physical punishment. The house at Golfpad 4 served as a primary location, with Beernaert controlling access and ensuring silence. Louf recalled being branded and forced into acts with dogs during this period. Beernaert's husband, a former police commissioner in Knokke-Heist, provided cover, allowing the brothel to function near the Royal Zoute Golf Club, patronized by nobles and elites including the [[Count Leopold Lippens]] family, who owned the club through Count Maurice Auguste Lippens. Beernaert's activities extended to the 1980s, where Louf was sold to pimp [[Tony Van den Boggaert]] around age 12, transitioning her to Nihoul's parties.[^1]
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Beernaert's operations involved grooming Louf and other children, including a friend of Louf, forcing them into sexual acts with each other and clients. Louf stated Beernaert consoled them post-abuse but enforced participation with physical punishment. The house served as a primary location, with Beernaert controlling access and ensuring silence. Louf recalled being branded and forced into acts with dogs during this period. Beernaert's husband, a former police commissioner in Knokke-Heist, provided cover, allowing the brothel to function near the Royal Zoute Golf Club, patronized by nobles and elites including the [[Count Leopold Lippens]] family, who owned the club through Count Maurice Auguste Lippens. Beernaert's activities extended to the 1980s. The writer S. Dovey wrote that Louf said that around the age of twelve she was handed to a pimp, [[Tony Van den Boggaert|Tony Van den Bogaert]], who took her to Nihoul's parties.[^1] *The Observer* reported in 2002 that Louf's parents had told police that a family friend of that name, in his forties, had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and that he had himself admitted his relationship with Louf to police.[^2]
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Beernaert's establishment catered to high-profile clients, with Louf identifying [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and Lippens as visitors. The brothel's proximity to the golf club facilitated access for these figures. Louf described rooms equipped for abuse, with Beernaert directing girls to specific areas for oral sex, anal penetration, and other acts, often under duress. She stated Beernaert participated in consoling after sessions but initiated threats if clients were refused. The basement studio contained cameras for recording, linking to Nihoul's blackmail operations where videos captured elite participants. Beernaert's role as a madam involved selecting and preparing girls, ensuring they met client demands at the Knokke location and related venues in the area.[^1]
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### Role in Exploitation
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Beernaert raised Louf for prostitution, starting with acts at age two, forcing her into oral and anal sex with men, filmed for sale. Louf recalled mutual sexual acts with other children in one room, while the "quick pleasures" room hosted individual encounters. Beernaert enforced compliance by hitting fingers with an iron ruler and threatening with a revolver. She hosted clients at the villa, using the property's isolation near the golf club for discretion. Louf described Beernaert's dual nature, consoling after abuses while enforcing participation. The brothel operated with her husband's knowledge, leveraging his police position in Knokke-Heist. Louf's testimony detailed branding and dog involvement, with the basement used for filming violent content. Beernaert's establishment supplied girls to Nihoul's circuit, with Louf leased to parties at chateaus in the Ardennes and Brussels mansions.[^1]
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Louf claimed Beernaert's WW2-era brothel catered to Nazi officers, continuing post-war with political elites. The Golfpad 4 house featured a basement studio with cleaning products to remove blood spots, used for snuff films per X-Dossier notes. Beernaert's operation included a contact with her grandmother, tying into family involvement. Chantal Storme confirmed in 1997 testimony being taken to the house with Louf, forced into acts, beaten with a ruler, and threatened with a gun. Storme described Beernaert watching to ensure obedience during client encounters. The brothel's location near the golf club provided access for attendees like Vanden Boeynants, with Louf identifying the property in 1996 interviews.[^1]
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Louf claimed Beernaert's WW2-era brothel catered to Nazi officers, continuing post-war with political elites. The house featured a basement studio with cleaning products to remove blood spots, used for snuff films per X-Dossier notes. Beernaert's operation included a contact with her grandmother, tying into family involvement. A friend of Louf confirmed in 1997 testimony being taken to the house with Louf, forced into acts, beaten with a ruler, and threatened with a gun. The friend described Beernaert watching to ensure obedience during client encounters. The brothel's location near the golf club provided access for attendees like Vanden Boeynants, with Louf identifying the property in 1996 interviews.[^1]
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### Connections
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Beernaert connected to the network through her husband's police role and clients from the golf club, including Lippens family members. Louf's accounts placed her brothel at the center of early exploitation, supplying to Nihoul's parties where Louf met [[Michelle Martin]]. The X-Dossier verified the address and layout, with investigators noting the basement's smell of Detol cleaner. Beernaert died in 1997 before testifying, amid the probe's progression under Connerotte and [[Michel Bourlet]]. Her establishment linked to [[CRIES]] and [[UNICEF]] operations through shared networks, with Dumont representing related figures. No direct charges against Beernaert emerged due to her death, but her role was central to X-witness claims of elite access.[^1]
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Beernaert's death left her properties unraided initially, though the X-Dossier detailed her brothel's operations. Louf's testimony implicated her in violence against children, with Storme confirming mutual acts and threats. The brothel's proximity to Royal Zoute, owned by Count Maurice Lippens, tied it to elite circles. Beernaert's legacy in the investigation stemmed from Louf's descriptions, verified by property records and witness corroboration. Her involvement ended with her 1997 death, leaving the Knokke site as a key location in X-Dossier maps.[^1]
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Beernaert's death left her properties unraided initially, though the X-Dossier detailed her brothel's operations. Louf's testimony implicated her in violence against children, with the friend confirming mutual acts and threats. The brothel's proximity to Royal Zoute, owned by Count Maurice Lippens, tied it to elite circles. Beernaert's legacy in the investigation stemmed from Louf's descriptions, verified by property records and witness corroboration. Her involvement ended with her 1997 death, leaving the Knokke site as a key location in X-Dossier maps.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
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---
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created: 2026-05-15
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updated: 2026-09-21
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updated: 2026-10-09
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title: Ed Dames
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aliases:
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- Ed Dames
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@ -26,13 +26,15 @@ Ed Dames was a [[U.S. Army]] Major who served as training and operations officer
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Dames joined the remote viewing unit in the early 1980s and was trained in [[Coordinate Remote Viewing]] by [[Ingo Swann]]. As training and operations officer, he was responsible for maintaining the unit's methodological standards and coordinating the deployment of viewers for operational tasking from the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] and other government clients.
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His personality was described by contemporaries as forceful and controlling, with an intensity that generated friction within the small unit. Jim Schnabel's account of the program characterizes Dames as someone who took the unit's work extremely seriously and who bridged the analytical and the operational within the structure while maintaining a strong personal commitment to the reality of remote viewing phenomena.[^1]
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His personality was described by contemporaries as forceful and controlling, with an intensity that generated friction within the small unit. [[Jim Schnabel]]'s account of the program characterizes Dames as someone who took the unit's work extremely seriously and who bridged the analytical and the operational within the structure while maintaining a strong personal commitment to the reality of remote viewing phenomena.[^1]
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The [[Center Lane]] project manager's record of a meeting with General [[Albert Stubblebine]] on November 30, 1983, reads: "We identified CPT Edward Dames as a perspective CENTER LANE member. He agreed to a future assignment to the project and to participate in the training. Major Laing had concurred in the training and CPT Dames involvement in CENTER LANE. Major General Stubblebine commented that Dames was a good choice."[^2]
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The Center Lane access roster of April 10, 1984 lists Edward Dames of INSCOM with a level 3 access dated August 25, 1983.[^3]
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### PSI Tech and Public Career
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After leaving the Army, Dames founded PSI Tech, a commercial remote viewing company, in 1989 - before STAR GATE's 1995 declassification. PSI Tech offered training and contracted remote viewing services to corporate and private clients, capitalizing on former government program personnel credentials at a time when the program's existence was not yet officially acknowledged.
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After leaving the Army, Dames founded PSI Tech, a commercial remote viewing company, in 1989 - before STAR GATE's 1995 declassification. PSI Tech offered training and contracted remote viewing services to corporate and private clients, capitalizing on former government program personnel credentials at a time when the program's existence was not yet officially acknowledged. Schnabel reported in 1995 that Dames "left the unit in 1989, and formed a company, Psi Tech, to make commercial use of his remote-viewing skills," and that the company offered "a private remote-viewing service, as well as training courses for people who want to become remote-viewers themselves."[^4]
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When STAR GATE was declassified in 1995, Dames became one of the first former unit personnel to appear publicly on television, including a 1995 appearance on the *Nightline* program that brought the remote viewing story to a mainstream audience. His media presence subsequently expanded through radio appearances, particularly on Art Bell's *Coast to Coast AM* program, where he made a series of predictions about catastrophic events including mass solar coronal mass ejections that he claimed would kill most of humanity.
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@ -41,4 +43,6 @@ The contrast between Dames's specific, confident, and typically non-materializin
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997. Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
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[^2]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Briefing for MG A.N. Stubblebine III," October 8, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220022-7; Buzby, Brian, memoranda "CENTER LANE Briefing for CG, USAINSCOM," August 29, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220011-9), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983," December 6, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984," January 17, 1984 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2); letter of the ACSI to Stubblebine, "CENTER LANE," April 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220002-9). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^2]: Jachim, Robert J., memorandum "Briefing for MG A.N. Stubblebine III," October 8, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220022-7; Buzby, Brian, memoranda "CENTER LANE Briefing for CG, USAINSCOM," August 29, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220011-9), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983," December 6, 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984," January 17, 1984 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2); letter of the ACSI to Stubblebine, "CENTER LANE," April 1983 (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220002-9).
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[^3]: "Active CENTER LANE Access Roster," April 10, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200330003-1. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001200330003-1.pdf.
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[^4]: Jim Schnabel, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Psi," *Independent on Sunday*, August 27, 1995, The Sunday Review, pp. 10-13, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030073-5. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030073-5.pdf.
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@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ relations:
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role: "administrative secretary to the founder of the Parapsychology Foundation"
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start: 1953
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end: 1965
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fn: 2
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fn: 4
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---
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@ -24,11 +24,15 @@ Eileen Garrett was an Irish medium who was well-known in New York City parapsych
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Garrett's psychic abilities were tested in a [[Faraday cage]] using Zener cards. According to Puharich, her ESP scores were significantly higher inside the cage, which suggested that electronic shielding had a positive impact on psychic functioning.[^1]
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[[Martin Ebon]] was administrative secretary of the [[Parapsychology Foundation]], which Garrett founded, from 1953 to 1965 according to the Skeptical Inquirer's biography of him; another biography dates the post from 1954.[^2] Ebon's masthead roles at the magazine Tomorrow are documented: volume 4 (1956) lists Garrett as editor-publisher, Ebon as managing editor, Lenore Davison as assistant to the publisher and Lester Buckland as circulation and business manager, Garrett Publications, 500 Fifth Avenue; volume 9 (1961) lists Phoebe Moss as associate editor and Gorham Munson as consulting editor, with Ebon identified as managing editor of Tomorrow and administrative secretary of the Parapsychology Foundation.[^3] Ebon is listed among participants (U.S.A.) at the Foundation's First International Conference of Parapsychological Studies, Utrecht, July 1953, with Miss I. Jephson, Dr. Henry Margenau and Dr. Louis Mars.[^3] The New School Archives hold an "Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship, 1975" file regarding a scholarship to take a New School course in parapsychology.[^4]
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Puharich testified in 1968 that Garrett, inside the treated cage, produced results he gave as a probability against chance of 5.5 times ten to the minus seventh. A control subject placed outside the cage scored at chance expectation (probability .64) in the same series, and in a run with the cage uncharged her own score was at the .28 level.[^2] Puharich also testified that Garrett was one of nine principal subjects he used at the Round Table Foundation.[^3]
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[[Martin Ebon]] was administrative secretary of the [[Parapsychology Foundation]], which Garrett founded, from 1953 to 1965 according to the Skeptical Inquirer's biography of him; another biography dates the post from 1954.[^4] Ebon's masthead roles at the magazine Tomorrow are documented: volume 4 (1956) lists Garrett as editor-publisher, Ebon as managing editor, Lenore Davison as assistant to the publisher and Lester Buckland as circulation and business manager, Garrett Publications, 500 Fifth Avenue; volume 9 (1961) lists Phoebe Moss as associate editor and Gorham Munson as consulting editor, with Ebon identified as managing editor of Tomorrow and administrative secretary of the Parapsychology Foundation.[^5] Ebon is listed among participants (U.S.A.) at the Foundation's First International Conference of Parapsychological Studies, Utrecht, July 1953, with Miss I. Jephson, Dr. Henry Margenau and Dr. Louis Mars.[^5] The New School Archives hold an "Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship, 1975" file regarding a scholarship to take a New School course in parapsychology.[^6]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
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[^2]: Skeptical Inquirer, "Martin Ebon," author biography (administrative secretary of the Parapsychology Foundation, 1953 to 1965). https://skepticalinquirer.org/authors/martin-ebon/
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[^3]: Tomorrow, vol. 4 (1956), p. 122, https://books.google.com/books?id=OHUPAQAAIAAJ ; vol. 9 (1961), https://books.google.com/books?id=8HAPAQAAIAAJ
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[^4]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Adult Division Office of the Dean records (NS-02-01-01), Series 5, Box 7, Folder 43, "Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship, 1975." https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3
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[^2]: Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), testimony of Henry K. Puharich on cross-examination, Appx. 73a-74a. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
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[^3]: Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, Appx. 66a-67a. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
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[^4]: Skeptical Inquirer, "Martin Ebon," author biography (administrative secretary of the Parapsychology Foundation, 1953 to 1965). https://skepticalinquirer.org/authors/martin-ebon/
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[^5]: Tomorrow, vol. 4 (1956), p. 122, https://books.google.com/books?id=OHUPAQAAIAAJ ; vol. 9 (1961), https://books.google.com/books?id=8HAPAQAAIAAJ
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[^6]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Adult Division Office of the Dean records (NS-02-01-01), Series 5, Box 7, Folder 43, "Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship, 1975." https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3
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---
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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-09-21
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updated: 2026-10-09
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title: Frederick Atwater
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aliases:
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- Frederick Atwater
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@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ Atwater joined the U.S. Army and completed officer candidate school and military
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Atwater discovered files left by a predecessor suggesting that remote viewing might constitute a security vulnerability - if Soviet remote viewers could perceive U.S. classified installations, the Army needed to understand the threat. He proposed to Colonel [[Robert Keenan]], head of SED, that a small team of Army intelligence personnel be screened and assembled to test remote viewing from the inside. The proposal was approved by Major General [[Edmund Thompson]], the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence.
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Atwater and commanding officer Major [[Murray Watt]] visited SRI to learn how to screen candidates for remote viewing ability. They identified artistic talent, visual-spatial intelligence, and creativity as associated markers and recruited six initial Army personnel: [[Joe McMoneagle]], [[Mel Riley]], Ken Bell, Nancy Stern, Fernand Gauvin, and Hartleigh Trent. The program launched under the code name Gondola Wish as an experimental part-time unit.
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Atwater and commanding officer Major [[Murray Watt]] visited SRI to learn how to screen candidates for remote viewing ability. They identified artistic talent, visual-spatial intelligence, and creativity as associated markers and recruited six initial Army personnel: [[Joe McMoneagle]], [[Mel Riley]], Ken Bell, Nancy Stern, Fernand Gauvin, and Hartleigh Trent. The six were selected under the Army's [[Grill Flame]] program, an experimental part-time unit, in late 1978 and early 1979; the chronology states "Of the 251 personnel considered for GRILL FLAME, 117 were interviewed and six individuals were actually selected for training," and records the six INSCOM personnel beginning training at SRI in April 1979.[^1] The code name [[Gondola Wish]] belonged to an earlier plan of the 902d Military Intelligence Group to train three personnel at the Monroe Institute.[^2]
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As a second lieutenant in the 902d Military Intelligence Group's CI Studies Section, Atwater signed memoranda of May 18 and July 31, 1978 as project officer of the group's Gondola Wish plan to train personnel at the Monroe Institute, which the Army staff cancelled on September 25, 1978.[^2][^3] On February 21, 1979 he was named as Watt's alternate on the Grill Flame committee roster.[^4]
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### Operations Officer
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@ -50,12 +52,16 @@ He published a memoir, *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guida
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### The Documents
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Frederick H. Atwater, known as Skip, was a lieutenant in the Special Security Detachment of the 902d Military Intelligence Group at Fort Meade when INSCOM began its remote-viewing project in October 1978. The project manager, Major Murray Watt, reported in February 1979 that "the initial concern of the Project Manager (PM) was to develop a full understanding of parapsychology and the various aspects of the phenomena. Towards this end, the PM has been greatly assisted by Lieutenant Frederick H. Atwater. LT Atwater, although assigned to the Special Security Detachment, 902d MI Group, was attached to the GRILL FLAME project because of previous research into this area during work on a separate project." Watt and Atwater "were busy preparing a method that would help them select the INSCOM personnel who would volunteer for participation," considering 251 and interviewing 117, and on January 12, 1979, the two visited the [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], which was running its own tests of the SRI protocol.[^1]
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Frederick H. Atwater, known as Skip, was a lieutenant in the Special Security Detachment of the 902d Military Intelligence Group at Fort Meade when INSCOM began its remote-viewing project in October 1978. The project manager, Major Murray Watt, reported in February 1979 that "the initial concern of the Project Manager (PM) was to develop a full understanding of parapsychology and the various aspects of the phenomena. Towards this end, the PM has been greatly assisted by Lieutenant Frederick H. Atwater. LT Atwater, although assigned to the Special Security Detachment, 902d MI Group, was attached to the GRILL FLAME project because of previous research into this area during work on a separate project." Watt and Atwater "were busy preparing a method that would help them select the INSCOM personnel who would volunteer for participation," considering 251 and interviewing 117, and on January 12, 1979, the two visited the [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], which was running its own tests of the SRI protocol.[^5]
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He remained the unit's operations officer through Grill Flame and [[Center Lane]]. INSCOM's chronology records, under a date read as July 7 or August 1983, "CPT Frederick Atwater assumes duties as Acting Project Manager," between Lieutenant Colonel Robert Jachim's departure and Lieutenant Colonel Brian Buzby's arrival on August 15. Published accounts by participants credit him with recruiting the first six viewers, among them Joe McMoneagle and Mel Riley, and with the unit's training in [[Robert Monroe]]'s Hemi-Sync method, which the Center Lane briefing dates to the end of 1980. After retiring from the Army in 1988 he became research director of the Monroe Institute's laboratory and, in 2006, its president, and was a founder and president of the International Remote Viewing Association.[^1][^2][^3]
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He remained the unit's operations officer through Grill Flame and [[Center Lane]]. INSCOM's chronology records, under July 7, 1983, "CPT Frederick Atwater assumes duties as Acting Project Manager," and under August 15, 1983, that Lieutenant Colonel Brian Buzby assumed duties as project manager.[^1] Published accounts by participants credit him with recruiting the first six viewers, among them Joe McMoneagle and Mel Riley, and with the unit's training in [[Robert Monroe]]'s Hemi-Sync method, which the Center Lane briefing dates to the end of 1980. After retiring from the Army in 1988 he became research director of the Monroe Institute's laboratory and, in 2006, its president, and was a founder and president of the International Remote Viewing Association.[^5][^6][^7]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^2]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "Briefing - Project Center Lane," c. 1984, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100180002-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
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[^3]: Monroe Institute and International Remote Viewing Association biographical notices, and Atwater, F. Holmes. *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul.* Hampton Roads, 2001; McMoneagle, Joseph. *The Stargate Chronicles.* Hampton Roads, 2002.
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[^1]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8 and the attachment to CIA-RDP96-00788R001500180001-7, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001500180001-7.pdf.
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[^2]: 902d Military Intelligence Group, memorandum for Chief, OPSEC Support Division, "GONDOLA WISH (U)," May 18, 1978, signed Frederick H. Atwater, 2LT, MI, CI Studies Section, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160007-7, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160007-7.pdf.
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[^3]: 902d Military Intelligence Group, "Attendance at Scientific Seminar in Support of GONDOLA WISH (U)," July 31, 1978, signed Frederick H. Atwater, Project Officer, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160013-0, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160013-0.pdf.
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[^4]: Memorandum for record, "Minutes of the Grill Flame Committee Meeting, 14 Feb 79," with the representatives roster as enclosure 1, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130002-5, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130002-5.pdf.
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[^5]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "INSCOM Project Grill Flame: Progress Report #1," February 21, 1979, with enclosures, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100070001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^6]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. US Army Intelligence and Security Command, "Briefing - Project Center Lane," c. 1984, CIA-RDP96-00789R002100180002-8. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^7]: Monroe Institute and International Remote Viewing Association biographical notices, and Atwater, F. Holmes. *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul.* Hampton Roads, 2001; McMoneagle, Joseph. *The Stargate Chronicles.* Hampton Roads, 2002.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -5,14 +5,24 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Nuclear
|
||||
- Physicist
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "American physicist and Los Alamos director (1970-1979) who served on the Nuclear Intelligence Panel and criticized suppression of the VELA Satellite findings."
|
||||
summary: "American physicist and Los Alamos director (1970-1979) who reviewed the Vela data in October 1979 and, in Hersh's account, served on the Nuclear Intelligence Panel."
|
||||
born: 1921-03-28
|
||||
died: 2013-09-29
|
||||
location: "Denver, Colorado"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "member of the outside panel review of the Vela data"
|
||||
start: 1979-10-10
|
||||
end: 1979-10-10
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Harold M. Agnew was an American physicist and director of the [[Los Alamos]] laboratory from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP), a highly classified nuclear intelligence group in the U.S. government. Agnew and other NIP members were dismayed by the extent of [[White House]] interference in the investigation of the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting, which they concluded was a low-yield nuclear weapon detonation. Agnew famously stated, "If it looks like a duck, it's got to be a duck," in reference to the event, but noted that this was "not an answer [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] liked."[^1]
|
||||
Harold M. Agnew was an American physicist and director of the [[Los Alamos]] laboratory from 1970 to 1979. On October 10, 1979, Ross E. Cowey of the State Department's Office of Intelligence and Research summarized the judgments of three scientists, working under the auspices of an outside panel convened to consider the event: Agnew, [[Richard Garwin]] and [[Stephen Lukasik]] (William Burr and Avner Cohen describe the review as CIA-sponsored). They concluded that the signals "were consistent with detection of a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere," and noted that the 1.5 to 2 kiloton yield was probably lower than the design yield. On October 18 Garwin wrote to Agnew and Lukasik that he would "bet 2 to 1 in favor of the hypothesis."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Agnew was a member of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP), a highly classified nuclear intelligence group in the U.S. government, and that Agnew and other NIP members were dismayed by the extent of [[White House]] interference in the investigation of the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting, which they concluded was a low-yield nuclear weapon detonation. Hersh quoted Agnew as stating, "If it looks like a duck, it's got to be a duck," in reference to the event, but noting that this was "not an answer [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] liked."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^1]: Cowey, Ross E., memorandum for the files, October 10, 1979, Secret. Document 10 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, "The Vela Incident: South Atlantic Mystery Flash in September 1979 Raised Questions about Nuclear Test," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,19 +1,167 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Jack Anderson
|
||||
- Jack Anderson
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "Jack Anderson (1922–2005) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist and syndicated columnist for *The Washington Post*."
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- SyndicatedColumnist
|
||||
- InvestigativeJournalism
|
||||
- WashingtonMerryGoRound
|
||||
- Watergate
|
||||
- PsiResearch
|
||||
- GrillFlame
|
||||
- ITT
|
||||
- Iran-Contra
|
||||
summary: "Jack Anderson (1922–2005) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist and syndicated columnist who inherited the Washington Merry-Go-Round column from Drew Pearson in 1969."
|
||||
born: 1922-10-19
|
||||
died: 2005-12-17
|
||||
location: "Long Beach, California"
|
||||
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Drew Pearson]]"
|
||||
role: "legman on the Washington Merry-Go-Round column, later co-columnist and successor"
|
||||
start: 1947
|
||||
end: 1969
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Douglas Cohn]]"
|
||||
role: "writing partner on the column"
|
||||
start: 1999
|
||||
end: 2001
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[CIA Office of Security]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "CELOTEX II surveillance of Anderson and his assistants from an observation post in the Statler Hilton"
|
||||
start: 1972-02-15
|
||||
end: 1972-04-12
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "sought to review Anderson's papers for classified material; a letter of November 30, 2006 from the Acting Associate Attorney General stated the FBI was not seeking to reclaim any documents"
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
end: 2006-11-30
|
||||
fn: 28
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jack Anderson (1922–2005) was a [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning American investigative journalist and syndicated columnist for *[[The Washington Post]]*. He was known for his muckraking style and his ability to uncover classified government information[^1].
|
||||
Jack Anderson (1922–2005) was an American investigative journalist and syndicated columnist. He went to work in 1947 as a legman for [[Drew Pearson]] and inherited the Washington Merry-Go-Round column when Pearson died in 1969.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson brought Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Alexander]]'s article, "The New Mental Battlefield: Beam Me Up, Spock," to national attention by writing about it in his column under the heading "Voodoo Warriors of the Pentagon." In his column, Anderson surmised that the generals at the [[Pentagon]] were "dabbling in the dark arts," using Ouija boards and the evil eye, and studying programs "a Haitian witch doctor might try." The wire services picked up the story, and it went national, causing a stir within the military establishment[^1].
|
||||
### Early career
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson was born in [[Long Beach, California]], on October 19, 1922.[^3] He was raised in the Salt Lake City area. At twelve he edited the Boy Scout page of the [[Deseret News]] and soon took a job with the [[Murray Eagle]] in Murray, Utah, paying $7 a week. After high school he joined the staff of the [[Salt Lake Tribune]], and on December 7, 1941 he became a Mormon missionary in the South.[^1] Two years later he enrolled in a [[Merchant Marine]] officer-training school. He then persuaded the Deseret News to accredit him as a foreign correspondent in China. He reached a base run by the [[Office of Strategic Services]] and was sent to contact a band of Chinese Nationalist guerrillas.[^1] He was inducted into the Army in 1945 and served with the [[United States Army Quartermaster Corps]] until 1947, working on service newspapers and [[Armed Forces Radio]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pearson and the column
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson applied to work for Drew Pearson, who had been exposing government corruption for more than a decade, and was hired immediately in 1947.[^1] For years his work ran under Pearson's name. In 1957 he threatened to quit, and Pearson promised him more bylines and pledged to leave him the column. Anderson received a shared byline in 1965. Pearson died in 1969 and left the column to him. Anderson split its proceeds with Pearson's widow, and the obituary places his pay at about $15,000 in 1969.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 7, 1958 the Associated Press reported from Washington that a microphone had been found in a hotel room occupied by a member of the staff of the Boston textile manufacturer [[Bernard Goldfine]], whose gifts to Eisenhower's chief of staff [[Sherman Adams]] were then before a House subcommittee. The wire described Anderson, "a legman for columnist Drew Pearson," as the man found in the adjoining room with Baron Shacklette, an investigator for the subcommittee.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 22, 1968 the FBI sent [[William C. Sullivan]] a memorandum on the "Espionage - X" implications of Anderson's [[The Washington Post|Washington Post]] column of March 20, 1968, which reported a planned U.S. request that [[Chiang Kai-shek]] withdraw troops from Quemoy and Matsu. The memorandum reported "extreme concern" among Defense Department officials and the Chinese Nationalist Embassy, recorded the Defense judgment that the column was "generally accurate" and drew "almost verbatim" on two Secret documents, and stated that some Defense officials believed the documents had been leaked by an officer of the military assistance group in Taiwan.[^5] The FBI's public records repository holds eleven parts of Anderson material, described as old and newly released documents about Anderson, his writings on the FBI, and his use of leaked material of national security concern.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
At its height the column ran in about 1,000 newspapers, which the obituary puts at 45 million daily readers.[^1] In 1967 the Pulitzer nominating jury recommended his columns on the misuse of campaign donations by Senator [[Thomas Dodd]], and the Pulitzer advisory board rejected that choice.[^1] The obituary records that Anderson admitted giving covert aid to [[Joseph McCarthy]] early in McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign, and that he had wrongly charged [[Donald Rumsfeld]] with lavishly decorating his office while cutting expenses on programs of the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Retirement and other work
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson unofficially retired in 2001, when [[Douglas Cohn]], his writing partner since 1999, and [[Eleanor Clift]] took over the column. The column ended on July 30, 2004, when [[United Feature Syndicate]] announced its end.[^1] He had been diagnosed with [[Parkinson's disease]] in 1986.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson also broadcast a syndicated radio show, appeared for years on ABC's [[Good Morning America]], hosted a television program called Truth in which public figures were tested on a lie detector, and served as Washington bureau chief of [[Parade (magazine)|Parade]]. He wrote more than a dozen books and several subscription newsletters.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pulitzer Prize and ITT
|
||||
|
||||
In 1972 Anderson won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for National Reporting, for his reporting of American policy decision-making during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971; the award listed him as a syndicated columnist.[^7] In 1983 he told the Washington Post: "I have to do daily what Woodward and Bernstein did once."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The obituary links Anderson's reporting to the ITT-Dita Beard affair, in which the settlement of an antitrust suit against [[ITT Corporation]] was tied to a $400,000 pledge to underwrite the 1972 Republican convention.[^1] The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities recorded in its final report that Anderson reported on February 29, 1972 the existence of the Dita Beard memorandum, alleging that a $400,000 contribution to the Nixon campaign was tied to a favorable Justice Department ruling on ITT's antitrust problems. The report states that the White House response included an investigation in which [[Howard Hunt]] and personnel from some government agencies were used to investigate individuals related to the publication of the memo.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nixon White House
|
||||
|
||||
President [[Richard Nixon]] tried to smear Anderson as a homosexual, and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] was ordered to spy on him. The obituary states that, according to the Watergate tapes, a Nixon aide ordered two cohorts to try to kill the journalist by poisoning.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
At the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] hearing of May 24, 1973, [[Alfred Baldwin]] identified a group of papers taken from the effects of [[James McCord]] as relating to Jack Anderson, headed "Confidential, subject: Jack Anderson" and signed by McCord. The committee received them in camera as exhibits 15A to 15D and did not publish them.[^9] On June 27, 1973 [[John Dean]] introduced a memorandum from [[Charles Colson]] to Dean, which Dean dated November 17, 1972, concerning information Colson had received from an informer about Anderson. In the memorandum Colson wrote that the informer reported Anderson found in a room with wiretap equipment and a private investigator in connection with the Dodd investigation, and that Anderson and Pearson were paid $100,000 in 1958 by [[Fulgencio Batista]] to write favorable articles. Colson wrote: "You know my personal feelings about Jack Anderson. After his incredibly sloppy and malicious reporting on Eagleton, his credibility has diminished. It now appears as if we have the opportunity to destroy it. Do you agree that we should pursue this actively?"[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
A compilation of CIA domestic operations prepared by the [[CIA Office of Security]] and submitted to the Director in May 1973, known as the [[CIA Family Jewels]], records a surveillance codenamed CELOTEX II. At the direction of the Director of Central Intelligence, the Office of Security conducted surveillance of Anderson and at various times his "legmen," Britt Hume, Leslie Whitten and Joseph Spear, from February 15 to April 12, 1972. An observation post was maintained in the [[Statler Hilton]] hotel directly opposite Anderson's office, to attempt to determine Anderson's sources for highly classified Agency information appearing in his syndicated columns.[^11] The preceding item, CELOTEX I, covered Michael Getler of the Washington Post in 1971 and January 1972.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The same compilation includes a memorandum of September 9, 1972 from [[Richard Helms]] to [[Henry Kissinger]]. It states that after noting that Anderson had a continuing source for classified documents on narcotics, the Agency arranged a trap so that the recipients of CIA Intelligence Memoranda on narcotics could be identified. The memorandum identifies a leak to the press as having come from the [[Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs]].[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
A separate CIA memorandum in the compilation, signed by [[Ted Shackley]] of the Western Hemisphere Division, concerns a column by Anderson that linked Howard Hunt to break-ins at Chilean diplomatic installations in Washington and New York. The memorandum states that the Agency knew of no foundation for that allegation, that any connection between ITT and the break-ins was conjectural, and that the column itself said as much.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Mark Feldstein]], a journalism professor at [[George Washington University]], wrote in a March 25, 2022 article for the Washington Post, reprinted by [[Stars and Stripes]], that in March 1972 Colson told Hunt that Anderson "had become a great thorn in the side of the president" and that the White House had to "stop Anderson at all costs," words Feldstein attributed to Hunt's later Senate testimony. Feldstein wrote that Colson proposed an untraceable poison or a high dose of a hallucinogen like LSD, that "a Senate committee investigated and confirmed the plot to poison Anderson," and that Nixon's role in the plot has never been definitively established.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
In *Poisoning the Press* (2010), Feldstein reported on tapes from the National Archives. According to the account [[NBC News]] published from the book, [[H. R. Haldeman]] asked at a March 18, 1972 meeting, "Don't we have some spurious stuff that we can give to Jack Anderson," and Feldstein describes a lunch in March at the [[Hay-Adams Hotel]] with a recently retired CIA poison specialist, at which Hunt and [[G. Gordon Liddy]] discussed planting a poison in Anderson's medicine cabinet or putting massive doses of LSD on his steering wheel. Hunt told Feldstein in an interview before his death that Colson had ordered Hunt and Liddy to "locate Anderson's home and examine it from the outside for vulnerabilities." NBC reported that a spokeswoman for Colson said he "believes everyone has debunked this story a long time ago and he has nothing to add to it."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The New York Times reported on April 14, 1980, summarizing excerpts from Liddy's book *Will*, that Liddy wrote the plan arose over lunch in Washington with Hunt and a CIA operative, was suggested because an Anderson column had supposedly compromised an American agent abroad, and preceded the Watergate burglary. According to the excerpts, a plan to kill Anderson with LSD was dismissed as impractical, and Liddy then volunteered to kill him on a Washington street but was advised by Hunt to forget it.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Psychic research columns
|
||||
|
||||
Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Alexander]] published "The New Mental Battlefield: Beam Me Up, Spock" in the December 1980 issue of [[Military Review]], an official Army publication. Anderson's response came almost immediately. On January 9, 1981 his column "Pentagon Invades Buck Rogers' Turf" in the Washington Post used the terms "futuristic fantasies," "hogwash" and "voodoo warfare."[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
His column of February 5, 1981, "Yes, Psychic Warfare Is Part of the Game," began "The brass hats are, indeed, dabbling in the dark arts," and used the phrase "Ouija board warriors," and referred to the "evil eye" and to the "comic-strip" treatment of the subject.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 30, 1981 the Post ran "CIA Toys with Extrasensory Weapons." The column stated: "I've already reported on the Pentagon's $6-million-a-year research to develop ESP weapons," and its list of supporting research areas included remote monitors and stimulators, which the column described as work "like a Haitian witch doctor might try."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Annie Jacobsen gives the column heading "Voodoo Warriors of the Pentagon" and writes that Anderson surmised the generals at the [[Pentagon]] were "dabbling in the dark arts" and that the wire services picked up the story, which went national and caused a stir within the military establishment.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
By 1984 the tone had changed. On April 24, 1984 the Post ran "'Voodoo Gap' Looms as Latest Weapons Crisis," which opened: "I have reported previously on secret projects to adapt psychic phenomena to military purposes."[^21] An Air War College paper on psychic research observed that by 1984 Anderson had changed his tune.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The Army's Grill Flame nickname for its psychic research appeared in Anderson's work in 1984. A memorandum of May 17, 1984, titled "Recent Jack Anderson 'GRILL FLAME' Articles," recorded that Representative [[Charlie Rose]] had called [[Ingo Swann]] on May 16, 1984 and related that [[Dale Van Atta]], an associate of Anderson, had said that he and Anderson had recently been under the influence of McRae but that this was no longer the case, and that a series of favorable articles would follow.[^22] A memorandum on a presentation to [[Harry Soyster|Brigadier General Soyster]] on December 12, 1985 stated that the year before Anderson had published the project nickname Grill Flame and associated psi research with the U.S. Army.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### Castro plot and Iran-Contra
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA memorandum in the Family Jewels compilation on the plot against [[Fidel Castro]] states that [[Johnny Roselli]] threatened to expose his part in the operation. The Agency decided to ignore the threats and take a calculated risk. The memorandum then states that "Roselli or someone on his behalf" furnished Anderson details of the operation, and it attaches two Anderson columns dealing with Roselli.[^24] The compilation's list of Inspector General reports describes the Castro allegations as a story that "first appeared in Drew Pearson's column and has since appeared in Jack Anderson's column," and states that "While the columns contained many factual errors, the allegations are basically true."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
The obituary credits Anderson with revelations in the [[Iran-Contra affair]] and with the 1987 Sigma Delta Chi Service to Journalism award for his work on that story.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Glomar Explorer
|
||||
|
||||
On March 18, 1975 Anderson mentioned the [[Hughes Glomar Explorer]], the CIA salvage vessel, on his national radio show and declared his intention to reveal more details about the operation. The next day the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times published front-page stories on the vessel.[^26] The National Security Archive's briefing book on the project refers to the exposés on the vessel by Anderson and by [[Seymour Hersh]].[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
### FBI files and papers
|
||||
|
||||
After Anderson's death, agents of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] told his family that the Bureau wanted to review his files and to remove any documents it judged classified before they were opened to the public; the request became public in April 2006. The [[Federation of American Scientists]] reported the request.[^28] On April 20, 2006 an FBI assistant director, John Miller, told NPR the bureau wanted access before the archive was made public. NPR reported that FBI agents had told the family that the papers included a document that could bear on a current espionage case involving pro-Israel lobbyists, and that 188 boxes were held by George Washington University.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
When the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] asked under what law the FBI was proceeding, the Bureau replied that it had abandoned its effort. The Associated Press reported that the revelation came in a letter dated November 30, 2006 from Acting Associate Attorney General James H. Clinger to Chairman [[Arlen Specter]], which stated: "At this time, the FBI is not seeking to reclaim any documents." The AP reported that Anderson's son and his biographer said agents had expressed interest in documents that would aid the government's case against two former lobbyists for the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]]. The family then arranged for the papers to go to George Washington University for archiving.[^30][^31][^32]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2008 the FBI released its files on Anderson to the [[Associated Press]] under a Freedom of Information Act request, a collection of more than 2,000 heavily redacted documents tracing Hoover's attempts to catch the reporter. Feldstein planned to add the collection to the university's Anderson papers.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
Anderson died at his home in [[Bethesda, Maryland]] on December 17, 2005, at the age of 83. He had Parkinson's disease, and his family attributed his death to complications from it. He was survived by his wife, Olivia Farley Anderson, and nine children.[^1][^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.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Patricia Sullivan, "Obituary: Jack Anderson was Pulitzer winning columnist," *The Washington Post*, December 18, 2005, reprinted by *The Seattle Times*, December 18, 2005. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20051218/andersonobit18/obituary--jack-anderson-was-pulitzer-winning-columnist
|
||||
[^2]: "Jack Anderson, muckraking journalist, dies," NBC News (Associated Press), December 2005. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10506872
|
||||
[^3]: "Jack Anderson, columnist and ex-Utahn, dies," *Deseret News* (Associated Press), December 18, 2005. https://www.deseret.com/2005/12/18/19928462/jack-anderson-columnist-and-ex-utahn-dies/
|
||||
[^4]: Associated Press, Washington, "Goldfine Records Burglarized; Aides' Room Bugged," *The Daily Reflector* (Greenville, North Carolina), July 7, 1958, p. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/encore/ncgre000/00000086/00085661/00085661.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum from R. D. Cotter to W. C. Sullivan, "Jack Anderson, Article in 'Washington Post,' 3/20/68, Espionage - X," March 22, 1968, FBI Vault, Jack Anderson, Part 01 of 11. https://web.archive.org/web/2014id_/http://vault.fbi.gov/jack-anderson/jack-anderson-part-01-of-11/at_download/file
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Vault, "Jack Anderson," Parts 01 to 11 (archived page). https://web.archive.org/web/2014/http://vault.fbi.gov/jack-anderson
|
||||
[^7]: The Pulitzer Prizes, 1972 winners, National Reporting: Jack Anderson, a syndicated columnist, "For his reporting of American policy decision-making during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971" (archived page). https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1972
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, *Final Report* (1974), section "ITT and Dita Beard," pp. 205-206. https://archive.org/details/senatewatergater01unit
|
||||
[^9]: Testimony of Alfred C. Baldwin, May 24, 1973, *Presidential Campaign Activities of 1972, Senate Resolution 60: Watergate and Related Activities*, Hearings before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Book 1, p. 407. https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp01unit
|
||||
[^10]: Testimony of John W. Dean III, June 27, 1973, Hearings before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Book 4, p. 1349 and Exhibit No. 46, p. 1687 (memorandum, Charles Colson to John Dean). https://archive.org/details/presidentialcamp04unit
|
||||
[^11]: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Security, submission of May 16, 1973 for the "Family Jewels" compilation, sections "CELOTEX I" and "CELOTEX II," CIA Reading Room document 0001451843. https://archive.org/details/CIA-Family-Jewels
|
||||
[^12]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels" compilation, memorandum from Richard Helms to Henry Kissinger, September 9, 1972, narcotics section. https://archive.org/details/CIA-Family-Jewels
|
||||
[^13]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels" compilation, memorandum of Theodore G. Shackley, Chief, Western Hemisphere Division, on Anderson's column concerning ITT and Howard Hunt, 1973. https://archive.org/details/CIA-Family-Jewels
|
||||
[^14]: Mark Feldstein, "50 years ago: Nixon White House plotted to assassinate journalist," *The Washington Post*, reprinted in *Stars and Stripes*, March 25, 2022. https://www.stripes.com/history/2022-03-25/50-years-ago-nixon-white-house-plotted-assassinate-journalist-5477284.html
|
||||
[^15]: Michael Isikoff, "Nixon plot against newspaper columnist detailed," NBC News, September 13, 2010, reporting on Mark Feldstein, *Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington's Scandal Culture* (2010), and on an interview with Howard Hunt provided to NBC. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39157420
|
||||
[^16]: "Assassination Plots Described by Liddy," *The New York Times*, April 14, 1980 (clipping), CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710021-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710021-5
|
||||
[^17]: Jack Anderson, "Pentagon Invades Buck Rogers' Turf," *The Washington Post*, January 9, 1981, p. D16, as cited in Air War College research paper on psychic research, CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00789r001001420001-3
|
||||
[^18]: Jack Anderson, "Yes, Psychic Warfare Is Part of the Game," *The Washington Post*, February 5, 1981, p. DC11, as quoted in the Air War College paper cited in note 17. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00789r001001420001-3
|
||||
[^19]: Jack Anderson, "CIA Toys with Extrasensory Weapons," *The Washington Post*, March 30, 1981, p. B13. CIA-RDP96-00788R001700360003-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001700360003-3
|
||||
[^20]: Annie Jacobsen, *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis* (Little, Brown and Company, 2017).
|
||||
[^21]: Jack Anderson, "'Voodoo Gap' Looms as Latest Weapons Crisis," *The Washington Post*, April 24, 1984, p. C13. CIA-RDP96-00788R001200050011-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200050011-3
|
||||
[^22]: Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), memorandum for record, "Recent Jack Anderson 'GRILL FLAME' Articles," May 17, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200030001-6. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200030001-6
|
||||
[^23]: Memorandum, "BG Soyster Presentation 12 December 1985," CIA-RDP96-00788R001700030003-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001700030003-9
|
||||
[^24]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels" compilation, memorandum on the plot against Fidel Castro, paragraphs 4 and 21. https://archive.org/details/CIA-Family-Jewels
|
||||
[^25]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels" compilation, list of Inspector General reports, entry on the allegation that the Agency conspired to assassinate Fidel Castro. https://archive.org/details/CIA-Family-Jewels
|
||||
[^26]: U.S. Department of State, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXV, National Security, 1973-1976, document 197, editorial note. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v35/d197
|
||||
[^27]: National Security Archive, "The CIA's Declassified History of the Glomar Explorer," Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, February 12, 2010, introduction. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/index.htm
|
||||
[^28]: Steven Aftergood, "FBI Seeks Access to Jack Anderson Files," Federation of American Scientists, April 19, 2006. https://fas.org/publication/fbi_seeks_access_to_jack_ander
|
||||
[^29]: David Folkenflik, "FBI Defends Request for Columnist's Papers," NPR, *All Things Considered*, April 20, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5353604
|
||||
[^30]: "FBI Abandons Its Effort to Obtain Jack Anderson's Files," Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 4, 2007. https://rcfp.org/?p=39395
|
||||
[^31]: "FBI Drops Demands For Jack Anderson Papers," Associated Press, January 4, 2007. https://cbsnews.com/news/fbi-drops-demands-for-jack-anderson-papers
|
||||
[^32]: Niketa Kumar, "FBI ends pursuit of GW housed Jack Anderson documents," *The GW Hatchet*, January 18, 2007. https://www.gwhatchet.com/2007/01/18/fbi-ends-pursuit-of-gw-housed-jack-anderson-documents/
|
||||
[^33]: Lauren French, "Gelman Library to receive FBI files on columnist Jack Anderson," *The GW Hatchet*, October 27, 2008. https://www.gwhatchet.com/2008/10/27/gelman-library-to-receive-fbi-files-on-columnist-jack-anderson/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -17,15 +17,22 @@ Brigadier General James L. Dozier was a senior [[U.S. Army]] official and deputy
|
|||
|
||||
Dozier, a graduate of [[West Point]] and a [[Vietnam]] veteran, was reading a letter when his doorbell rang. Two young men, posing as plumbers, gained entry to his apartment. Dozier was attacked, and he and his wife, Judy, were bound and gagged. Dozier was then forced into a steamer trunk and secreted away in the back of a blue Fiat van[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
His abduction triggered a massive international response. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] offered a $2 million reward for information, and a Joint Special Operations Command team was dispatched to Italy. In Washington, [[Dale Graff]] and the [[Grill Flame]] remote viewers at [[Fort Meade]] were tasked with providing intelligence to locate him[^1].
|
||||
His abduction triggered a massive international response. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] offered a $2 million reward for information, and a Joint Special Operations Command team was dispatched to Italy. In Washington, the Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center of [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]], under Colonel Charles F. Scanlon, the command's deputy chief of staff for operations, asked the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] on December 18, 1981 to help provide [[Grill Flame]] derived data to U.S. authorities in Europe concerning the search for Dozier, and the first Grill Flame session on the case was held that day.[^2][^3] Jacobsen wrote that [[Dale Graff]] and the Grill Flame remote viewers at [[Fort Meade]] were tasked with providing intelligence to locate him.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Remote viewers, including [[Joe McMoneagle]], [[Hartleigh Trent]], and [[Ken Bell]], provided information that Dozier was still alive and in the same place. However, the information was often vague and disparate, making it difficult to pinpoint his exact location[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Graff himself experienced vivid dreams and impressions, believing Dozier was held "upstairs in a room above a grocery store" in Padua. This information, combined with intelligence from a U.S. signals intelligence team, led Italian police to the exact street address where Dozier was being held[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
On Nightline in November 1995, Graff said of the Dozier case, "we had one viewer come up with the name of the city, Padua. We had another one come up with the name of the building he was in."[^4] INSCOM's 1983 briefing states that the drawing from the third session, on January 20, 1982, carried "NOTE THE NAME PADUA" and "WAS NOT FORWARDED TO ITALY," and that a drawing from the first session was used by a DIA analyst to brief the commander of the Southern European Task Force that the search should be concentrated in the Padua area two days before the rescue.[^3] A press report datelined Rome, February 2, 1982, stated that police confirmed a 22-year-old from Verona had revealed Dozier's place of captivity, an apartment above a grocery store in Padua.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
After 42 days in captivity, Dozier was rescued on January 28, 1982, by ten men from Italy's Central Operative Security Nucleus who stormed the apartment. He was found alive and was flown home to a hero's welcome, including an invitation to the [[White House]] from [[Ronald Reagan]][^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Despite the remote viewers' involvement, Dozier later stated that he finally figured out where he was being held by listening to voices and realizing that groceries were being sold. He called psychic functioning "pure nonsense"[^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.
|
||||
[^2]: Defense Intelligence Agency staff summary bearing the name of Jack Vorona, CIA-RDP96-00788R000700130004-8, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R000700130004-8.pdf. The passage reads "was requested by COL C.F. Scanlon, the Deputy Chief of Staff: Operations, Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center, INSCOM to assist in providing GRILL FLAME derived data to U.S. authorities in Europe concerning the search for BG Dozier." Other INSCOM documents in the collection (for example CIA-RDP96-00788R001100440042-7) identify COL Scanlon as DCSOPS, INSCOM, and two memoranda carry the signature block of Charles F. Scanlon (CIA-RDP96-00788R000100240002-4, CIA-RDP96-00788R000100250029-4).
|
||||
[^3]: US Army Intelligence and Security Command briefing on the Dozier search, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700370002-3, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700370002-3.pdf. The briefing reads "GENERAL DOZIER WAS KIDNAPPED THE EVENING OF 17 DECEMBER 1981. ON 18 DECEMBER, WE CONDUCTED OUR FIRST SESSION."
|
||||
[^4]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News Nightline, November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7.
|
||||
[^5]: Press report datelined Rome, February 2, 1982, on General Dozier's press conference (publication not identified on the clipping), CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270006-7, cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270006-7.pdf.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,16 +8,16 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Jean-Louis Delamotte, a Belgian businessman, served as the manager of Achats Services Commerces (ASCO), a company owned by Michel Nihoul and involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jean-Louis Delamotte, a Belgian businessman, served as the manager of [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO), a company owned by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s. ASCO provided white Mercedes vans used by Nihoul and [[Marc Dutroux]] for photographing schoolgirls and transporting victims in the child trafficking network. Delamotte's management role included overseeing ASCO's operations in Charleroi, where the company was registered, and facilitating the use of vehicles for abductions. Police investigations post-Dutroux's August 1996 arrest linked ASCO vans to the kidnappings of [[Laetitia Delhez]] and [[Sabine Dardenne]], with partial license plates matching those used in the crimes. Delamotte was arrested in connection with ASCO's fraudulent activities, which included money laundering and business dealings tied to Nihoul's fraud convictions. During interrogations, Delamotte provided information on Nihoul's operations, confirming the company's role in providing vehicles for the network.[^1]
|
||||
Jean-Louis Delamotte, a Belgian businessman, served as the manager of [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO), a company owned by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s. ASCO provided white Mercedes vans used by Nihoul and [[Marc Dutroux]] for photographing schoolgirls and transporting victims in the child trafficking network. Delamotte's management role included overseeing ASCO's operations in Charleroi, where the company was registered, and facilitating the use of vehicles for abductions. Police investigations post-Dutroux's August 1996 arrest linked ASCO vans to the kidnappings of two girls aged 14 and 12, with partial license plates matching those used in the crimes. Delamotte was arrested in connection with ASCO's fraudulent activities, which included money laundering and business dealings tied to Nihoul's fraud convictions. During interrogations, Delamotte provided information on Nihoul's operations, confirming the company's role in providing vehicles for the network.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Delamotte's involvement came under scrutiny during the Dutroux affair, with ASCO's vans identified as key in the abduction logistics. The company, a front for Nihoul's schemes, supplied the white van used in Laetitia Delhez's August 9 abduction, with the witness's plate PBX 688 matching ASCO registrations. Delamotte's management included leasing or providing these vehicles to Dutroux, who used them for surveillance and kidnappings, including circling areas near schools to select victims. ASCO's fraud involved inflated invoices and money laundering, with Delamotte handling administrative aspects. He was detained in August 1996 alongside Nihoul, with police seizing documents showing financial flows to Dutroux's accounts. Delamotte's testimony detailed Nihoul's instructions for vehicle use in operations, linking to payments for child supplies.[^1]
|
||||
Delamotte's involvement came under scrutiny during the Dutroux affair, with ASCO's vans identified as key in the abduction logistics. The company, a front for Nihoul's schemes, supplied the white van used in the August 9 abduction of a 14-year-old girl at Bertrix, with the witness's plate PBX 688 matching ASCO registrations. Delamotte's management included leasing or providing these vehicles to Dutroux, who used them for surveillance and kidnappings, including circling areas near schools to select victims. ASCO's fraud involved inflated invoices and money laundering, with Delamotte handling administrative aspects. He was detained in August 1996 alongside Nihoul, with police seizing documents showing financial flows to Dutroux's accounts. Delamotte's testimony detailed Nihoul's instructions for vehicle use in operations, linking to payments for child supplies.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Delamotte's role extended to Nihoul's broader fraud network, with ASCO serving as a cover for illicit activities. The company was raided as part of the investigation, uncovering records of vehicle assignments to Dutroux. Delamotte's arrest highlighted ASCO's centrality, with the vans used for both photography and transport in the abductions of Sabine Dardenne and Laetitia Delhez. His statements to investigators confirmed Nihoul's coordination, with over twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around the time of the crimes tracing to joint accounts. Delamotte's management position made him a key figure in linking the business to the trafficking logistics.[^1]
|
||||
Delamotte's role extended to Nihoul's broader fraud network, with ASCO serving as a cover for illicit activities. The company was raided as part of the investigation, uncovering records of vehicle assignments to Dutroux. Delamotte's arrest highlighted ASCO's centrality, with the vans used for both photography and transport in the abductions of two girls aged 12 and 14. His statements to investigators confirmed Nihoul's coordination, with over twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around the time of the crimes tracing to joint accounts. Delamotte's management position made him a key figure in linking the business to the trafficking logistics.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### ASCO Management
|
||||
Delamotte managed ASCO's day-to-day operations, including vehicle fleet for company use. The white vans, registered under ASCO, were loaned to Dutroux for tasks including victim scouting. Police traced the van from Laetitia's abduction to ASCO, leading to Delamotte's interrogation. ASCO's fraud involved fake transactions, with Delamotte handling paperwork that masked payments for other purposes. The company's location in Charleroi placed it near Dutroux's residence, facilitating the arrangement. Delamotte's testimony revealed Nihoul's direct involvement in directing vehicle use for non-business activities.[^1]
|
||||
Delamotte managed ASCO's day-to-day operations, including vehicle fleet for company use. The white vans, registered under ASCO, were loaned to Dutroux for tasks including victim scouting. Police traced the van from the August 9 abduction to ASCO, leading to Delamotte's interrogation. ASCO's fraud involved fake transactions, with Delamotte handling paperwork that masked payments for other purposes. The company's location in Charleroi placed it near Dutroux's residence, facilitating the arrangement. Delamotte's testimony revealed Nihoul's direct involvement in directing vehicle use for non-business activities.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Under Delamotte's oversight, ASCO provided vans used in the May 26 abduction of Sabine and August 9 seizure of Laetitia, with [[Michel Lelievre]] assisting in both. The vehicles were ordinary for business but adapted for kidnappings with tinted windows and sedatives. Delamotte confirmed in statements the vans' availability to Dutroux, who returned them after use. The investigation uncovered ASCO's role in money laundering, with funds from sales of girls and pornography tapes flowing through the company. Delamotte's arrest in 1996 led to charges for fraud, with his cooperation providing insights into Nihoul's network.[^1]
|
||||
Under Delamotte's oversight, ASCO provided vans used in the May 26 abduction of a 12-year-old girl and the August 9 seizure of a 14-year-old girl, with [[Michel Lelievre]] assisting in both. The vehicles were ordinary for business but adapted for kidnappings with tinted windows and sedatives. Delamotte confirmed in statements the vans' availability to Dutroux, who returned them after use. The investigation uncovered ASCO's role in money laundering, with funds from sales of girls and pornography tapes flowing through the company. Delamotte's arrest in 1996 led to charges for fraud, with his cooperation providing insights into Nihoul's network.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Legal Outcome
|
||||
Delamotte was arrested in August 1996 as part of the Dutroux affair probe, charged with fraud and money laundering related to ASCO's operations. His testimony contributed to Nihoul's conviction for criminal association, though Nihoul was acquitted of kidnapping. Delamotte received a sentence for fraud in connection with the case, serving time for his management role in the company's illicit dealings. The 2004 trial highlighted ASCO's vehicles as evidence, with Delamotte not testifying directly but his statements used to show the network's business cover. Post-trial, Delamotte maintained a low profile, with no further legal actions documented.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Person
|
||||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Neufchâteau investigating judge who freed Sabine Dardenne and Laetitia Delhez in August 1996, opened the hotline that led to witness X1, and was removed from the Dutroux file in October 1996."
|
||||
summary: "Neufchâteau investigating judge who freed two kidnapped girls in August 1996, opened the hotline that led to witness X1, and was removed from the Dutroux file in October 1996."
|
||||
born: 1948
|
||||
location: "Neufchâteau, Belgium"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
|
|
@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ created: 2026-04-28
|
|||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]], taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^1] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^2]
|
||||
Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of a 14-year-old girl, taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions the girl and a 12-year-old girl abducted in May 1996 were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^1] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Hotline and X1
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ On October 14, 1996 the Court of Cassation removed Connerotte from files 86/96 (
|
|||
|
||||
### The X-Witnesses
|
||||
|
||||
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. According to S. Dovey, the testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83 frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around Laetitia's abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^10]
|
||||
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. According to S. Dovey, the testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] in Knokke frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around the August 9 abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ summary: "39th U.S. President who led nuclear nonproliferation efforts against S
|
|||
born: 1924-10-01
|
||||
died: 2024-12-29
|
||||
location: "Plains, Georgia"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "president during the detection and the White House response to the review"
|
||||
start: 1979-09-22
|
||||
end: 1980-02-27
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr. was the 39th President of the [[United States]], serving from 1977 to 1981. His presidency was marked by significant challenges in foreign policy, nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and involvement with unconventional intelligence programs.
|
||||
|
|
@ -25,34 +32,40 @@ In March 1979, President Carter made the decision to provide [[Israel]] with acc
|
|||
|
||||
### VELA Satellite Incident
|
||||
|
||||
On September 22, 1979, a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light over the South Indian Ocean, probable evidence of a nuclear explosion. This event, suspected to be a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, created a horrible dilemma for President Carter, just months before the 1980 presidential campaign. Carter, who had emphasized nonproliferation, faced criticism for hypocrisy if he did not act, but political repercussions if he sought sanctions against Israel and South Africa.[^1]
|
||||
On September 22, 1979, a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light over the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Forty-one earlier double-flash detections by Vela satellites had each been confirmed as nuclear detonations, but the presidential science panel that reviewed the September 22 signal concluded in May 1980 that it was probably not from a nuclear explosion.[^3] This event, suspected to be a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, created a horrible dilemma for President Carter, just months before the 1980 presidential campaign. Carter, who had emphasized nonproliferation, faced criticism for hypocrisy if he did not act, but political repercussions if he sought sanctions against Israel and South Africa.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Carter's diary entry for September 22, 1979 reads, in part, "There was indication of a nuclear explosion in the region of South Africa," followed by the alternatives "either South Africa, Israel using a ship at sea, or nothing."[^4] The September 23, 1979 mini-Special Coordination Committee summary of conclusions stated that a nuclear explosion of one to three kilotons "probably occurred early Saturday morning in the south Atlantic, southern Indian Ocean, southern Africa, or Antarctica." Carter wrote at the bottom of the page: "Do not let any allegation leak to public until we are sure of facts."[^5] On February 27, 1980 he wrote: "We have a growing belief among our scientists that the Israelis did indeed conduct a nuclear test explosion in the ocean near the southern end of South Africa."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Psychic Research Programs
|
||||
|
||||
His presidency coincided with the early years of the [[Stargate Project|Grill Flame]] program, the U.S. government's secret psychic research effort. President Carter was reportedly aware of the Grill Flame program, with Congressman [[Charlie Rose]] even discussing it with him. However, his administration's stance on the program was complex. While some officials, like [[William Perry]], sought to cut its funding, the program managed to continue.[^3]
|
||||
His presidency coincided with the early years of the [[Stargate Project|Grill Flame]] program, the U.S. government's secret psychic research effort. President Carter was reportedly aware of the Grill Flame program, with Congressman [[Charlie Rose]] even discussing it with him. However, his administration's stance on the program was complex. While some officials, like [[William Perry]], sought to cut its funding, the program managed to continue.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Iran Hostage Crisis
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Iran Hostage Crisis]] (1979-1981) was a major challenge during his presidency. Remote viewers were extensively tasked by the [[Department of Defense|Pentagon]] and CIA to gather intelligence on the hostages' whereabouts and conditions, though the administration's handling of the crisis, including the failed rescue attempt, ultimately led to the hostages' release on the day Carter's presidency ended.[^3]
|
||||
The [[Iran Hostage Crisis]] (1979-1981) was a major challenge during his presidency. Remote viewers were extensively tasked by the [[Department of Defense|Pentagon]] and CIA to gather intelligence on the hostages' whereabouts and conditions, though the administration's handling of the crisis, including the failed rescue attempt, ultimately led to the hostages' release on the day Carter's presidency ended.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Latin American Policy
|
||||
|
||||
During his presidency, Carter's human rights foreign policy in [[Latin America]] reportedly distanced the CIA under [[Stansfield Turner]] from any death-squad interdiction. His administration was also reportedly reluctant to pursue certain figures involved in the drug trade, such as General Torrijos of [[Panama]], due to ongoing negotiations for the [[Panama Canal]] treaty.[^4]
|
||||
During his presidency, Carter's human rights foreign policy in [[Latin America]] reportedly distanced the CIA under [[Stansfield Turner]] from any death-squad interdiction. His administration was also reportedly reluctant to pursue certain figures involved in the drug trade, such as General Torrijos of [[Panama]], due to ongoing negotiations for the [[Panama Canal]] treaty.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections to BCCI
|
||||
|
||||
Jimmy Carter accepted millions from [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] for charitable organizations.[^5] In August 1982, [[Bert Lance]] introduced Abedi to Carter.[^6] Abedi's [[National Bank of Georgia]] was the largest single lender to the Carter family's peanut farm in Plains, Georgia.[^7]
|
||||
Jimmy Carter accepted millions from [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] for charitable organizations.[^9] In August 1982, [[Bert Lance]] introduced Abedi to Carter.[^10] Abedi's [[National Bank of Georgia]] was the largest single lender to the Carter family's peanut farm in Plains, Georgia.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
In the early 1980s, Abedi donated $500,000 to help establish the [[Carter Center]] at Emory University in [[Atlanta]] and contributed millions to Carter's Global 2000 Foundation, founded in 1985 for Third World healthcare.[^7] BCCI provided $8.1 million to Carter during the 1980s, and Abedi arranged an additional $2.5 million from [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] through the [[Abu Dhabi Investment Authority]].[^7] Carter also utilized BCCI's jet for his travels and Global 2000 Foundation used office space at BCCI's London headquarters.[^7]
|
||||
In the early 1980s, Abedi donated $500,000 to help establish the [[Carter Center]] at Emory University in [[Atlanta]] and contributed millions to Carter's Global 2000 Foundation, founded in 1985 for Third World healthcare.[^11] BCCI provided $8.1 million to Carter during the 1980s, and Abedi arranged an additional $2.5 million from [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] through the [[Abu Dhabi Investment Authority]].[^11] Carter also utilized BCCI's jet for his travels and Global 2000 Foundation used office space at BCCI's London headquarters.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
Carter and his second wife, Rosalynn, became friends with Abedi and his wife, Rabia, and spent holidays together in Switzerland. Carter introduced Abedi to acquaintances like [[James Callaghan]].[^7] Abedi's joint appearances with Carter in various countries, including [[Kenya]], [[Ghana]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[China]], [[Thailand]], and the [[Soviet Union]], served as key targets for BCCI's business development.[^7] Carter continued to accept at least $1.5 million from BCCI even after the bank was indicted and convicted in Florida.[^7]
|
||||
Carter and his second wife, Rosalynn, became friends with Abedi and his wife, Rabia, and spent holidays together in Switzerland. Carter introduced Abedi to acquaintances like [[James Callaghan]].[^11] Abedi's joint appearances with Carter in various countries, including [[Kenya]], [[Ghana]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[China]], [[Thailand]], and the [[Soviet Union]], served as key targets for BCCI's business development.[^11] Carter continued to accept at least $1.5 million from BCCI even after the bank was indicted and convicted in Florida.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991, Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991, Chapter 1.
|
||||
[^3]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^4]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9.
|
||||
[^6]: 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.
|
||||
[^7]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 228-229.
|
||||
[^3]: Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, narrative and note 1; Office of Science and Technology Policy, "Ad Hoc Panel Report on the September 22 Event," May 23, 1980, p. 2. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/index.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Carter, Jimmy, White House Diary, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010, p. 357, as quoted in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016, note 1. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^5]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 362, September 23, 1979. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d362
|
||||
[^6]: Carter, White House Diary, p. 405, as cited in Burr and Cohen, note 3. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^7]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^8]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9.
|
||||
[^10]: 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.
|
||||
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 228-229.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
title: John B. Alexander
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- John B. Alexander
|
||||
|
|
@ -26,21 +26,21 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group]]"
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
role: "convener of the invitation-only group, by his own account in 2011"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Army Materiel Command]]"
|
||||
start: 1984
|
||||
role: "by his account assigned to the office managing the Army technology base, then in 1984 to the New Thrust project; listed as AMC/USA on Oke Shannon's 1985 attendee list"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[The Aviary]]"
|
||||
role: "membership as alleged: listed as Penguin in a roster published by Richard J. Boylan"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Lieutenant Colonel John B. Alexander is a former [[Green Beret]] and [[United States Army Special Forces|Special Forces]] commander in [[Vietnam|Vietnam]] and [[Thailand]], earning the moniker Assassin Six. He holds a PhD in thanatology, the study of death. Alexander became a prominent figure in the [[U.S. Army]]'s exploration of anomalous mental phenomena and human potential[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
In December 1980, Alexander authored an article titled "The New Mental Battlefield: Beam Me Up, Spock," published in *[[Military Review]]*, an official U.S. Army publication. This article was the first time [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] were discussed in an official Army publication, asserting that "there are weapons systems that operate on the power of the mind whose lethal capacity has already been demonstrated"[^1]. The article, based on personal experience and open-source information, gained national attention after *[[Washington Post]]* columnist [[Jack Anderson]] wrote about it under the heading "Voodoo Warriors of the [[Pentagon]]"[^1].
|
||||
In December 1980, Alexander authored an article titled "The New Mental Battlefield: Beam Me Up, Spock," published in *[[Military Review]]*, an official U.S. Army publication. This article was the first time [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] were discussed in an official Army publication, asserting that "there are weapons systems that operate on the power of the mind whose lethal capacity has already been demonstrated"[^1]. The article, based on personal experience and open-source information, gained national attention after *[[Washington Post]]* columnist [[Jack Anderson]] began writing about it on January 9, 1981, in a column titled "Pentagon Invades Buck Rogers' Turf."[^2] Annie Jacobsen gives the heading "Voodoo Warriors of the [[Pentagon]]" for one of Anderson's columns on the subject.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Alexander's esoteric interests caught the attention of [[First Earth Battalion|Task Force Delta]], a high-level Army organization. In 1981, [[Richard G. Stilwell]], the deputy undersecretary of defense, arranged for Alexander's transfer to [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] under Major General [[Albert Stubblebine]]. Here, Alexander was put in charge of the Advanced Human Technology Office, interacting with Stubblebine's High Performance Task Force[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -55,48 +55,50 @@ After retiring from the military, Alexander joined [[Psi Tech|Psi]]'s corporate
|
|||
|
||||
### The Documents
|
||||
|
||||
John B. Alexander, a lieutenant colonel of the Army who had served with the Special Forces in Thailand and Vietnam, published "The New Mental Battlefield: 'Beam Me Up, Spock'" in *Military Review* in December 1980. Its author note placed him on the staff of the Army's inspector general in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] after heading the human resources division of the organizational effectiveness office at [[Fort McPherson]].[^2]
|
||||
John B. Alexander, a lieutenant colonel of the Army who had served with the Special Forces in Thailand and Vietnam, published "The New Mental Battlefield: 'Beam Me Up, Spock'" in *Military Review* in December 1980. Its author note placed him on the staff of the Army's inspector general in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] after heading the human resources division of the organizational effectiveness office at [[Fort McPherson]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The New Mental Battlefield
|
||||
|
||||
The article's note gave him as "with the Inspector General Agency, Department of the Army, Washington, DC," with a B.A. from the [[University of Nebraska]], an M.A. from [[Pepperdine University]], a Ph.D. from [[Walden University]], and a 1980 diploma from the [[Command and General Staff College]]. It opened: "Psychotronics may be described as the interaction of mind and matter. While the concepts may stretch the imagination of many readers, research in this area has been underway for years, and the possibility for employment as weaponry has been explored. To be more specific, there are weapons systems that operate on the power of the mind and whose lethal capacity has already been demonstrated." Citing the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] reports of 1972 and 1975 by [[John LaMothe]] and [[Louis Maire]], [[Thomas Bearden]]'s "Soviet [[Psychotronic Weapons]]" in *[[Specula]]* (1976), [[Henry Gris]] and [[William Dick]]'s *The New Soviet Psychic Discoveries,* and [[Sheila Ostrander|Ostrander]] and [[Lynn Schroeder|Schroeder]], it stated that "it is generally believed that the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] and their allies are well in the lead"; that "the ability to heal or cause disease can be transmitted over distance, thus inducing illness or death for no apparent cause. While this has been demonstrated on lower organisms, flies and frogs, the present capacity for human death is still debated"; that "telepathic behavior modification, which includes the ability to induce hypnotic states up to distances in excess of 1,000 kilometers, has been reported"; that the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] work of Targ and [[Hal Puthoff|Puthoff]] "tends to support claims that relatively accurate information can be obtained"; that "the intelligence-gathering capability available through remote viewing or OOBE travel is obvious"; that the Soviets "have applied those techniques against the US Embassy in [[Moscow]]" with "extremely-low-frequency (ELF) emissions" of "psychoactive characteristics"; and that "the use of telepathic hypnosis also holds great potential. This capability could allow agents to be deeply planted with no conscious knowledge of their programming. In movie terms, the Manchurian candidate lives and does not even require a phone call." It concluded: "It has been suggested that whoever makes the first major breakthrough in this field will have a quantum lead over his opponent, an advantage similar to sole possession of nuclear weapons." "Clearly, psychotronic weapons already exist; only their capabilities are in doubt."[^3]
|
||||
The article's note gave him as "with the Inspector General Agency, Department of the Army, Washington, DC," with a B.A. from the [[University of Nebraska]], an M.A. from [[Pepperdine University]], a Ph.D. from [[Walden University]], and a 1980 diploma from the [[Command and General Staff College]]. It opened: "Psychotronics may be described as the interaction of mind and matter. While the concepts may stretch the imagination of many readers, research in this area has been underway for years, and the possibility for employment as weaponry has been explored. To be more specific, there are weapons systems that operate on the power of the mind and whose lethal capacity has already been demonstrated." Citing the [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] reports of 1972 and 1975 by [[John LaMothe]] and [[Louis Maire]], [[Thomas Bearden]]'s "Soviet [[Psychotronic Weapons]]" in *[[Specula]]* (1976), [[Henry Gris]] and [[William Dick]]'s *The New Soviet Psychic Discoveries,* and [[Sheila Ostrander|Ostrander]] and [[Lynn Schroeder|Schroeder]], it stated that "it is generally believed that the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] and their allies are well in the lead"; that "the ability to heal or cause disease can be transmitted over distance, thus inducing illness or death for no apparent cause. While this has been demonstrated on lower organisms, flies and frogs, the present capacity for human death is still debated"; that "telepathic behavior modification, which includes the ability to induce hypnotic states up to distances in excess of 1,000 kilometers, has been reported"; that the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] work of Targ and [[Hal Puthoff|Puthoff]] "tends to support claims that relatively accurate information can be obtained"; that "the intelligence-gathering capability available through remote viewing or OOBE travel is obvious"; that the Soviets "have applied those techniques against the US Embassy in [[Moscow]]" with "extremely-low-frequency (ELF) emissions" of "psychoactive characteristics"; and that "the use of telepathic hypnosis also holds great potential. This capability could allow agents to be deeply planted with no conscious knowledge of their programming. In movie terms, the Manchurian candidate lives and does not even require a phone call." It concluded: "It has been suggested that whoever makes the first major breakthrough in this field will have a quantum lead over his opponent, an advantage similar to sole possession of nuclear weapons." "Clearly, psychotronic weapons already exist; only their capabilities are in doubt."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### INSCOM
|
||||
|
||||
He served under Major General Albert Stubblebine at INSCOM during the [[Center Lane]] years. The project manager's record of a meeting with Stubblebine on November 30, 1983, notes "an update on the RAPT training" and that the general "confirmed his decision to hold a 'bonding' ceremony and that it would be lead by LTC Alexander." At a meeting on January 6, 1984, the "recent LTC Alexander problem concerning the debriefing of Russell Targ" was raised: "The CG stated that he was unaware that there was a problem as he had not instructed LTC Alexander to debrief [[Russell Targ|Targ]] because Alexander was not a trained intelligence officer. The CG stated that he would get with Alexander and resolve the issue."[^4]
|
||||
He served under Major General Albert Stubblebine at INSCOM during the [[Center Lane]] years. The project manager's record of a meeting with Stubblebine on November 30, 1983, notes "an update on the RAPT training" and that the general "confirmed his decision to hold a 'bonding' ceremony and that it would be lead by LTC Alexander." At a meeting on January 6, 1984, the "recent LTC Alexander problem concerning the debriefing of Russell Targ" was raised: "The CG stated that he was unaware that there was a problem as he had not instructed LTC Alexander to debrief [[Russell Targ|Targ]] because Alexander was not a trained intelligence officer. The CG stated that he would get with Alexander and resolve the issue."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Advanced Theoretical Physics Group, 1985
|
||||
|
||||
After INSCOM, Alexander wrote in 2011, he was assigned to the [[U.S. Army Materiel Command|Army Materiel Command]], as "the only military officer working in an office comprised of senior civilians that managed the Army's technology base," where in 1984 he was "abruptly given an assignment to take over a huge, but failing project called New Thrust" and met [[Ron Blackburn]], a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel then at the [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]] [[Skunk Works]] in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]]. With Blackburn he drew up an invitation list for a group that he named the [[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group|Advanced Theoretical Physics project]], meeting in the secure facility of the contractor [[BDM Corporation|BDM]], where his former commander Stubblebine was a vice president. He wrote that he used the name "advanced theoretical physics" to "legally avoid answering any UFO [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] requests," and that "as the person responsible for conducting the sessions, I never wrote any reports before or after meetings."[^5] A [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] visit request of May 8, 1985 names the BDM McLean facility and the purpose, as typed, "Advance Theoretical Physics Conference (20-25 May 1985)," and a page of notes by Houck of May 21, 1985 states the group's objective as "Does the evidence support an R+D project?" [[Oke Shannon]] of [[Los Alamos]] listed Alexander as "AMC/USA" among the attendees of a later meeting.[^6] The attendee list appears on the page for the group.
|
||||
After INSCOM, Alexander wrote in 2011, he was assigned to the [[U.S. Army Materiel Command|Army Materiel Command]], as "the only military officer working in an office comprised of senior civilians that managed the Army's technology base," where in 1984 he was "abruptly given an assignment to take over a huge, but failing project called New Thrust" and met [[Ron Blackburn]], a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel then at the [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]] [[Skunk Works]] in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]]. With Blackburn he drew up an invitation list for a group that he named the [[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group|Advanced Theoretical Physics project]], meeting in the secure facility of the contractor [[BDM Corporation|BDM]], where his former commander Stubblebine was a vice president. He wrote that he used the name "advanced theoretical physics" to "legally avoid answering any UFO [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] requests," and that "as the person responsible for conducting the sessions, I never wrote any reports before or after meetings."[^7] A [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] visit request of May 8, 1985 names the BDM McLean facility and the purpose, as typed, "Advance Theoretical Physics Conference (20-25 May 1985)," and a page of notes by Houck of May 21, 1985 states the group's objective as "Does the evidence support an R+D project?" [[Oke Shannon]] of [[Los Alamos]] listed Alexander as "AMC/USA" among the attendees of a later meeting.[^8] The attendee list appears on the page for the group.
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jacques Vallee]] recorded in 1989 that Hal Puthoff "confirmed John Alexander had gone very high to get [ATP] funded"; Puthoff said that Alexander "briefed the head of [[NORAD|Norad]], the head of the [[United States Space Command|Space Command]], the top guy at [[Strategic Defense Initiative|SDI]]," and that Alexander "was in charge of Directed Energy Weapon work for the Army, over a billion-dollar budget" when he was reassigned to Los Alamos and "lost his power base." Vallee wrote that he was "unconvinced." Vallee's journal for May 11, 1986 records his refusal "to become part of the outer skin of some shadowy organization whose chief's I don't trust."[^7]
|
||||
[[Jacques Vallee]] recorded in 1989 that Hal Puthoff "confirmed John Alexander had gone very high to get [ATP] funded"; Puthoff said that Alexander "briefed the head of [[NORAD|Norad]], the head of the [[United States Space Command|Space Command]], the top guy at [[Strategic Defense Initiative|SDI]]," and that Alexander "was in charge of Directed Energy Weapon work for the Army, over a billion-dollar budget" when he was reassigned to Los Alamos and "lost his power base." Vallee wrote that he was "unconvinced." Vallee's journal for May 11, 1986 records his refusal "to become part of the outer skin of some shadowy organization whose chief's I don't trust."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
A press release and survey packet forwarded to the [[White House]] science adviser [[John Gibbons|John H. Gibbons]] by [[C. B. Scott Jones]] of the [[Human Potential Foundation]] on June 13, 1994 reports "The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey," conducted by [[Victoria Alexander]] of [[Santa Fe]], [[New Mexico]], and funded by the [[Bigelow Foundation]] of [[Las Vegas]] (see [[Robert Bigelow]]); a mailing to 1,000 clergy drew a response above 23 percent, with 77 percent disagreeing that proof of extraterrestrial life would cause a religious crisis. It includes a two-page "Commentary by John B. Alexander, Ph.D." that begins "The results of this survey are very important" and says the data are "counter to the widely held belief frequently posited by many in the UFO community predicting doom and destruction in the wake of verifiable contact," while listing caveats (the respondents were clergy, "approximately 77% did not" return the survey, n=230). Its acknowledgments thank "my fabulous husband, John B. Alexander."[^8]
|
||||
A press release and survey packet forwarded to the [[White House]] science adviser [[John Gibbons|John H. Gibbons]] by [[C. B. Scott Jones]] of the [[Human Potential Foundation]] on June 13, 1994 reports "The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey," conducted by [[Victoria Alexander]] of [[Santa Fe]], [[New Mexico]], and funded by the [[Bigelow Foundation]] of [[Las Vegas]] (see [[Robert Bigelow]]); a mailing to 1,000 clergy drew a response above 23 percent, with 77 percent disagreeing that proof of extraterrestrial life would cause a religious crisis. It includes a two-page "Commentary by John B. Alexander, Ph.D." that begins "The results of this survey are very important" and says the data are "counter to the widely held belief frequently posited by many in the UFO community predicting doom and destruction in the wake of verifiable contact," while listing caveats (the respondents were clergy, "approximately 77% did not" return the survey, n=230). Its acknowledgments thank "my fabulous husband, John B. Alexander."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Afterward
|
||||
|
||||
He retired as a colonel in 1988, his last post the advanced systems concepts office of the Army Laboratory Command, and went to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he worked on non-lethal weapons with [[Janet Morris]] of the [[U.S. Global Strategy Council]], the body chaired by [[Ray Cline]]. His books include *The Warrior's Edge* (1990, with [[Richard Groller]] and Janet Morris), *Future War* (1999), and *UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities* (2011).[^9]
|
||||
He retired as a colonel in 1988, his last post the advanced systems concepts office of the Army Laboratory Command, and went to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he worked on non-lethal weapons with [[Janet Morris]] of the [[U.S. Global Strategy Council]], the body chaired by [[Ray Cline]]. His books include *The Warrior's Edge* (1990, with [[Richard Groller]] and Janet Morris), *Future War* (1999), and *UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities* (2011).[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Richard J. Boylan]] listed Alexander as Penguin in a roster of the [[The Aviary|Aviary]], describing him as an Army Intelligence and Security Command lieutenant colonel and director of the non-lethal weapons department at Los Alamos.[^10] [[Melinda Leslie]] told the authors of the [[Loose Threads Report]] that Colonel [[Charles Halt]] said in 2009 that Alexander "aggressively called" him soon after the December 1980 events near [[RAF Woodbridge]] and seemed to know "every detail," which made Halt "very concerned about John Alexander's role in ufology"; the Loose Threads authors write that Alexander has called [[Howard Blum]]'s account of a Pentagon UFO working group "pure poppycock."[^11] In the 2011 book, as quoted there, Alexander wrote of the premise of the group: "While many researchers, and even the general public, indicate they believe the U.S. Government is withholding critical information about UFOs; that is not a position in which I concur."[^5]
|
||||
[[Richard J. Boylan]] listed Alexander as Penguin in a roster of the [[The Aviary|Aviary]], describing him as an Army Intelligence and Security Command lieutenant colonel and director of the non-lethal weapons department at Los Alamos.[^12] [[Melinda Leslie]] told the authors of the [[Loose Threads Report]] that Colonel [[Charles Halt]] said in 2009 that Alexander "aggressively called" him soon after the December 1980 events near [[RAF Woodbridge]] and seemed to know "every detail," which made Halt "very concerned about John Alexander's role in ufology"; the Loose Threads authors write that Alexander has called [[Howard Blum]]'s account of a Pentagon UFO working group "pure poppycock."[^13] In the 2011 book, as quoted there, Alexander wrote of the premise of the group: "While many researchers, and even the general public, indicate they believe the U.S. Government is withholding critical information about UFOs; that is not a position in which I concur."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### In the Press, 1993 and 1997
|
||||
|
||||
*The [[Santa Fe New Mexican]]* of March 1, 1993 printed a story identifying Alexander as a Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher and describing non-lethal weapons as he presented them: infrasound generators that "could be tuned to incapacitate humans," anti-traction lubricants delivered by aircraft, a computer virus to disrupt enemy computers, and weapons to destroy the optical systems of tanks. The story quoted him that such weapons go after command, control and logistics ("If you can take that away, they can't fight"), that he considers them "humane" because they are designed to damage hardware rather than people, and, answering critics who said they could be lethal, that "nothing is 100 percent safe."[^12]
|
||||
*The [[Santa Fe New Mexican]]* of March 1, 1993 printed a story identifying Alexander as a Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher and describing non-lethal weapons as he presented them: infrasound generators that "could be tuned to incapacitate humans," anti-traction lubricants delivered by aircraft, a computer virus to disrupt enemy computers, and weapons to destroy the optical systems of tanks. The story quoted him that such weapons go after command, control and logistics ("If you can take that away, they can't fight"), that he considers them "humane" because they are designed to damage hardware rather than people, and, answering critics who said they could be lethal, that "nothing is 100 percent safe."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The *[[Deseret News]]* reporter [[Zack Van Eyck]], in a story reprinted in *The [[Uintah Basin Standard]]* of April 29, 1997, identified Alexander as the director for scientific liaison of the Las Vegas-based [[National Institute for Discovery Science]] and as a former director of nonlethal weapons testing at Los Alamos. Alexander was quoted on the institute's observation post on the ranch of [[Terry Sherman|Terry]] and [[Gwen Sherman|Gwen]] Sherman near [[Randlett, Utah]], which Robert Bigelow had bought in September 1996: "There have been some minor observations, but nothing you would stand behind," and "It's like a watched pot." He said any findings would be posted on the institute's web page.[^13]
|
||||
The *[[Deseret News]]* reporter [[Zack Van Eyck]], in a story reprinted in *The [[Uintah Basin Standard]]* of April 29, 1997, identified Alexander as the director for scientific liaison of the Las Vegas-based [[National Institute for Discovery Science]] and as a former director of nonlethal weapons testing at Los Alamos. Alexander was quoted on the institute's observation post on the ranch of [[Terry Sherman|Terry]] and [[Gwen Sherman|Gwen]] Sherman near [[Randlett, Utah]], which Robert Bigelow had bought in September 1996: "There have been some minor observations, but nothing you would stand behind," and "It's like a watched pot." He said any findings would be posted on the institute's web page.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### 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]: *Military Review,* vol. 60, 1980, annual index, archive.org item sim_military-review_1980_60_index.
|
||||
[^3]: Alexander, John B. "The New Mental Battlefield: 'Beam Me Up, Spock,'" *Military Review,* vol. 60, no. 12, December 1980, pp. 47-54, read in a Wayback Machine copy of the Army University Press PDF.
|
||||
[^4]: Buzby, Brian, memoranda for the record, "Initial Grill Flame Briefing to MG Stubblebine as CG, INSCOM, 30 June 1981" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220001-0), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2). Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^5]: Alexander, John B. *UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities,* 2011, as quoted in Elizondo, Daniel, and The Hermetic Penetrator, "The Loose Threads Report," Anomaly Archives, 2022, pp. 17-22, 28-29, 61-62, https://anomalyarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/PDF-Loose-Threads.pdf. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^6]: DOE F 5631.20, May 8, 1985; Houck note of May 21, 1985; Shannon "Attendees" page, as reproduced in the Loose Threads Report, pp. 15, 166, 188 (page images read directly).
|
||||
[^7]: Vallee, Jacques. *Forbidden Science: Volume Three,* as quoted in the Loose Threads Report, pp. 26-27, and in Basterfield, Keith, "Jacques Vallee and the 'Secret Onion,'" https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/atp-aka-secret-onion/.
|
||||
[^8]: Jones, C. B. Scott, letter to John H. Gibbons, June 13, 1994, with press release and "The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey," OSTP document 9401410, Clinton Presidential Library, OSTP FOIA 01-22, item 17, https://avalonlibrary.net/Grant_Cameron/Clinton_Presidential_Library_collection/OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022/ (file "1994 06 13_C. B. Scott Jones to John Gibbons").
|
||||
[^9]: Career details from Alexander's own books and publishers' biographical notes, not verified against service records.
|
||||
[^10]: Boylan, Richard J. "UFO/ET-Disclosure Policy Splits Covert Network," *Perceptions,* http://web.archive.org/web/20130831033026/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary.htm. Sole source.
|
||||
[^11]: Loose Threads Report, p. 32, quoting Leslie and Halt; Alexander's characterization of Blum's book also as quoted there. Second-hand; sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^12]: Staff story on John B. Alexander and non-lethal weapons (headline and byline partly illegible in the viewer), *The Santa Fe New Mexican*, March 1, 1993, p. 1, continued p. 3, https://www.newspapers.com/image/583579533/ and https://www.newspapers.com/image/583579542/.
|
||||
[^13]: Zack Van Eyck, "No UFOs or ETs have dropped in at spooky ranch," *The Uintah Basin Standard* (Roosevelt, Utah; reprinted from the *Deseret News*), April 29, 1997, p. 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/725294178/.
|
||||
[^2]: Jack Anderson, "Pentagon Invades Buck Rogers' Turf," *The Washington Post*, January 9, 1981, p. D16, as cited in Air War College research paper on psychic research, CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Annie Jacobsen, *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis* (Little, Brown and Company, 2017).
|
||||
[^4]: *Military Review,* vol. 60, 1980, annual index, archive.org item sim_military-review_1980_60_index.
|
||||
[^5]: Alexander, John B. "The New Mental Battlefield: 'Beam Me Up, Spock,'" *Military Review,* vol. 60, no. 12, December 1980, pp. 47-54, read in a Wayback Machine copy of the Army University Press PDF.
|
||||
[^6]: Buzby, Brian, memoranda for the record, "Initial Grill Flame Briefing to MG Stubblebine as CG, INSCOM, 30 June 1981" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220001-0), "Meeting With MG Stubblebine on 30 November 1983" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220010-0), and "Meeting with MG Stubblebine on 6 January 1984" (CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220009-2).
|
||||
[^7]: Alexander, John B. *UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities,* 2011, as quoted in Elizondo, Daniel, and The Hermetic Penetrator, "The Loose Threads Report," Anomaly Archives, 2022, pp. 17-22, 28-29, 61-62, https://anomalyarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/PDF-Loose-Threads.pdf.
|
||||
[^8]: DOE F 5631.20, May 8, 1985; Houck note of May 21, 1985; Shannon "Attendees" page, as reproduced in the Loose Threads Report, pp. 15, 166, 188 (page images read directly).
|
||||
[^9]: Vallee, Jacques. *Forbidden Science: Volume Three,* as quoted in the Loose Threads Report, pp. 26-27, and in Basterfield, Keith, "Jacques Vallee and the 'Secret Onion,'" https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/atp-aka-secret-onion/.
|
||||
[^10]: Jones, C. B. Scott, letter to John H. Gibbons, June 13, 1994, with press release and "The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey," OSTP document 9401410, Clinton Presidential Library, OSTP FOIA 01-22, item 17, https://avalonlibrary.net/Grant_Cameron/Clinton_Presidential_Library_collection/OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022/ (file "1994 06 13_C. B. Scott Jones to John Gibbons").
|
||||
[^11]: Career details from Alexander's own books and publishers' biographical notes.
|
||||
[^12]: Boylan, Richard J. "UFO/ET-Disclosure Policy Splits Covert Network," *Perceptions,* http://web.archive.org/web/20130831033026/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary.htm.
|
||||
[^13]: Loose Threads Report, p. 32, quoting Leslie and Halt; Alexander's characterization of Blum's book also as quoted there. Second-hand.
|
||||
[^14]: Staff story on John B. Alexander and non-lethal weapons, *The Santa Fe New Mexican*, March 1, 1993, p. 1, continued p. 3, https://www.newspapers.com/image/583579533/ and https://www.newspapers.com/image/583579542/.
|
||||
[^15]: Zack Van Eyck, "No UFOs or ETs have dropped in at spooky ranch," *The Uintah Basin Standard* (Roosevelt, Utah; reprinted from the *Deseret News*), April 29, 1997, p. 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/725294178/.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Person
|
||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||
summary: "Bristol associate of Alan Williams and Lee Tucker, jailed in 2000 at Swindon Crown Court for twelve years on thirteen counts of buggery and indecent assault of boys and supplying drugs; he died in prison."
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Gay served as a principal child pornographer in the [[TAG Films]] operation throughout the 1980s and 1990s, working in tandem with [[Alan Williams]] and [[Lee Tucker]] to generate and circulate explicit content involving underage boys transported from the [[United Kingdom]] to sex districts in [[Amsterdam]].
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ The severe materials created under Gay's direction led to the assumed killings o
|
|||
Gay, known to boys in Bristol as "Army John," was a close friend of Alan Williams and, according to the Avon and Somerset detectives, had posed as a police officer and an AIDS researcher to approach boys. In 1993 he, Tony Stevens and Lee Tucker were arrested and jailed in Portugal after being caught paying local children to make pornographic videos in their camper van. After some twenty years of abuse without a British conviction, he was tried with Lee Tucker at Swindon Crown Court in September 2000 and jailed for twelve years on thirteen counts of buggery and indecent assault of boys and supplying them with drugs; the Crown Prosecution Service then decided not to try him for raping the adolescent Tony Stevens. He died in prison.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
[^2]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 1: how police finally caught up with a network of child abusers." *The Guardian,* November 25, 2000. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/25/paedophilia-is-easy-how-police-finally-caught-up-with-a-network-of-child-abusers/
|
||||
[^3]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -18,41 +18,41 @@ Joris Demmink was a senior Dutch justice official who served as Secretary Genera
|
|||
|
||||
Demmink began his career in the Dutch justice system in the 1970s, steadily advancing through the ranks to positions of increasing responsibility. By the 1990s, he had become a senior official within the Ministry of Justice, wielding significant influence over legal policy and prosecution decisions.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
By 1997, when the [[Rolodex Investigation]] into the Bell Boys callboy service began, Demmink was already a powerful figure within the Dutch justice system. His position gave him considerable influence over which cases were pursued, how investigations were conducted, and which officials were protected from prosecution.[^2]
|
||||
By 1997, when the Rolodex Investigation into the Bell Boys callboy service began, Demmink was already a powerful figure within the Dutch justice system. His position gave him considerable influence over which cases were pursued, how investigations were conducted, and which officials were protected from prosecution.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Rolodex Investigation Involvement
|
||||
|
||||
Demmink's name first emerged in a significant context during the 1997-1998 [[Rolodex Investigation]] into the Bell Boys callboy service operated by [[Karel Maasdam]]. The investigation, which exposed a child trafficking operation catering to Dutch justice officials, named Demmink as a client of the service. At the time, he was a senior ministry official.[^3]
|
||||
Demmink's name first emerged in a significant context during the 1997-1998 Rolodex Investigation into the Bell Boys callboy service operated by [[Karel Maasdam]]. The Dutch government's summary of the investigation states that the former secretary-general of the ministry did not appear in the Rolodex file in any way, and a ministerial letter of March 27, 2014 repeats this.[^3][^4] Former detective [[Leendert de Koter]] testified on March 5, 2014 before an examining magistrate in Utrecht that the [[Rijksrecherche]] had supplied Demmink's name, with those of three chief prosecutors, and that the probe produced no further indications against Demmink.[^5][^6] At the time, Demmink was a senior ministry official.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A boy prostitute who worked at Maasdam's Festival Bar later testified during a 2012 Helsinki Commission hearing that he had been introduced to Demmink by Professor Van Roon and instructed to have sex with Demmink inside his government car. The witness described refusing anal sex but performing oral sex with Demmink, who then wanted to take him to his home in Den Haag.[^4]
|
||||
A boy prostitute who worked at Maasdam's Festival Bar later described at a U.S. Helsinki Commission briefing on October 5, 2012 how he had been introduced to Demmink by a university professor and instructed to have sex with Demmink inside his government car. The witness described refusing anal sex but performing oral sex with Demmink, who then wanted to take him to his home in Den Haag.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government Vehicle Abuse Allegations
|
||||
|
||||
Further evidence emerged from complaints filed by drivers assigned to Demmink's government car. One driver, Rob Mostert, complained that Demmink had sex with boys in the backseat of his government car in his presence. Mostert died shortly after lodging his complaint, which was never followed up on. Similar complaints were made by other drivers.[^5]
|
||||
Further evidence emerged from complaints filed by drivers assigned to Demmink's government car. One driver complained that Demmink had sex with boys in the backseat of his government car in his presence. The driver died shortly after lodging the complaint, which was never followed up on. Similar complaints were made by other drivers.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Justice officer Tjeerd Postma later confirmed that he had warned the BVD (Dedishness Dienst, the Dutch security service) about complaints from drivers regarding Demmink's activities. Postma stated that drivers had reported nightly visits to clubs and a business trip to Brussels where Demmink had sex with a young boy in the back seat of the official car while the driver witnessed everything through the rearview mirror.[^5]
|
||||
Justice officer Tjeerd Postma later confirmed that he had warned the BVD (Dedishness Dienst, the Dutch security service) about complaints from drivers regarding Demmink's activities. Postma stated that drivers had reported nightly visits to clubs and a business trip to Brussels where Demmink had sex with a young boy in the back seat of the official car while the driver witnessed everything through the rearview mirror.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Turkish Allegations and International Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
In 2012, Demmink's resignation coincided with the launch of a U.S. Helsinki Commission inquiry into his connection to child sex trafficking. The inquiry focused on allegations that Demmink had raped two Turkish boys aged 12-15 during visits to Istanbul in the mid-1990s. Demmink denied these claims, stating he was not in Turkey at the time.[^6]
|
||||
In 2012, Demmink's resignation coincided with the launch of a U.S. Helsinki Commission inquiry into his connection to child sex trafficking. The inquiry focused on allegations that Demmink had raped two Turkish boys aged 12-15 during visits to Istanbul in the mid-1990s. Demmink denied these claims, stating he was not in Turkey at the time.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections to Other Investigations
|
||||
|
||||
Demmink's name surfaced in multiple investigations beyond the [[Rolodex Investigation]]. Information provided by an alleged bookkeeper of [[Karel Maasdam]] named [[Richard Carl-Samson]] indicated that [[Warwick Spinks]] frequently pimped boys to Demmink and Henry Hans Holthuis.[^7]
|
||||
Demmink's name surfaced in multiple investigations beyond the Rolodex Investigation. S. Dovey wrote that a man Dovey describes as Karel Maasdam's bookkeeper told the Dutch current-affairs programme EenVandaag that [[Warwick Spinks]] frequently supplied boys to Demmink and [[Henry Hans Holthuis]].[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Protection and Official Cover-up
|
||||
|
||||
Evidence suggests that Demmink enjoyed significant protection within the Dutch government. The 1998 shutdown of the [[Rolodex Investigation]] shortly after he was implicated, the ignoring of driver complaints, and the lack of prosecution despite substantial evidence all suggest that forces within the government were actively protecting him from consequences for his actions.[^8]
|
||||
De Koter testified on March 5, 2014 that a request for an observation team on Demmink and the prosecutors was refused and that searches at the home of the university professor on whom the probe concentrated found the computer, video recorder and videotapes gone.[^5][^6] The government summary records that the underlying probe was halted for tactical reasons in 1997 and reopened in May 1998, and the start of the Rolodex probe is given as 1997 by De Koter and as August 1998 in the ministerial letter.[^3][^4] Jaap Hoek, a former head of the Amsterdam youth and vice police heard the same day, said he did not remember Demmink's name appearing in the investigation.[^6] No criminal charges were filed against Demmink in the Netherlands.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Media Exposure and Public Scrutiny
|
||||
|
||||
Demmink's case received increased media attention, particularly after 2012 when the Helsinki Commission hearings and Turkish allegations brought international scrutiny. Dutch media outlets began reporting on the long history of allegations against him and the apparent protection he had enjoyed within the government.[^9]
|
||||
Demmink's case received increased media attention, particularly after 2012 when the Helsinki Commission hearings and Turkish allegations brought international scrutiny. Dutch media outlets began reporting on the long history of allegations against him and the apparent protection he had enjoyed within the government.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death of Els Borst and Political Connections
|
||||
|
||||
In February 2014, Els Borst, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1998-2002) and former Minister for Health, was found murdered in her garage, stabbed 41 times in what was initially reported as a possible suicide. Borst had been Demmink's minister when he served in the justice system and died just weeks after a Dutch court in Arnhem ruled to launch an investigation into historic allegations of child abuse against Demmink.[^10]
|
||||
In February 2014, Els Borst, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1998-2002) and former Minister for Health, was found murdered in her garage, stabbed 41 times in what was initially reported as a possible suicide. Borst had been Demmink's minister when he served in the justice system and died just weeks after a Dutch court in Arnhem ruled to launch an investigation into historic allegations of child abuse against Demmink.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
Dutch author Tomas Ross, who knew Demmink personally, suggested that Borst was murdered over what she had learned during her tenure at the Ministry of Health in the 1990s, particularly reports of rampant child abuse by Dutch politicians and other prominent figures that had flowed up to her office from social workers at government care facilities.[^10]
|
||||
Dutch author Tomas Ross, who knew Demmink personally, suggested that Borst was murdered over what she had learned during her tenure at the Ministry of Health in the 1990s, particularly reports of rampant child abuse by Dutch politicians and other prominent figures that had flowed up to her office from social workers at government care facilities.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Resignation
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -62,12 +62,15 @@ Demmink resigned from his position as Secretary General in 2012 amid growing scr
|
|||
|
||||
[^1]: Joris Demmink career timeline and official positions; Dutch government records and media reports
|
||||
[^2]: Demmink's early career in Dutch justice system; Rise to senior positions within Ministry of Justice, 1970s-1990s
|
||||
[^3]: Rolodex Investigation files and Demmink's implication; Dutch police reports, 1997-1998
|
||||
[^4]: Helsinki Commission witness testimony, October 4, 2012; Bell Boys service victim statements regarding Demmink
|
||||
[^5]: Government vehicle abuse complaints and driver testimony; Justice officer Tjeerd Postma statements to BVD
|
||||
[^6]: Turkish allegations and U.S. Helsinki Commission inquiry; Demmink's resignation statement, 2012
|
||||
[^7]: Richard Carl-Samson information on Demmink's connections; International trafficking network links
|
||||
[^8]: Evidence of official protection and cover-up; Multiple investigation shutdowns after Demmink's implication
|
||||
[^9]: Media coverage of Demmink case, 2012-2014; Dutch press reports on government corruption
|
||||
[^10]: Els Borst murder investigation and timing; Dutch court ruling on Demmink investigation, January 2014
|
||||
[^11]: Intelligence community speculation and Demmink connections; Analysis of protection levels and international scope
|
||||
[^3]: "Samenvatting van de aanleiding, het verloop, de resultaten en de besluitvorming in het Rolodex-onderzoek," December 23, 2013. https://eerstekamer.nl/9370000/1/j4nvgs5kjg27kof_j9vvkfvj6b325az/vjigib8p5szh
|
||||
[^4]: Tweede Kamer, Kamerstuk 33 750 VI, nr. 116, letter of March 27, 2014. https://www.eerstekamer.nl/behandeling/20140327/brief_regering/document3/f=/vjifeja4nlzk.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: NOS, "Politie onderzocht Demmink in '97," March 5, 2014. https://nos.nl/artikel/619220-politie-onderzocht-demmink-in-97
|
||||
[^6]: "Oud-hoofdofficier justitie Jan Wolter Wabeke uit Best genoemd in zedenzaak Joris Demmink," Omroep Brabant, March 5, 2014. https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/1720283/oud-hoofdofficier-justitie-jan-wolter-wabeke-uit-best-genoemd-in-zedenzaak-joris-demmink
|
||||
[^7]: Rolodex Investigation files and Demmink's implication; Dutch police reports, 1997-1998
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Helsinki Commission briefing, "Listening To Victims of Child Sex Trafficking," October 5, 2012; Bell Boys service victim statements regarding Demmink
|
||||
[^9]: Government vehicle abuse complaints and driver testimony; Justice officer Tjeerd Postma statements to BVD
|
||||
[^10]: Turkish allegations and U.S. Helsinki Commission inquiry; Demmink's resignation statement, 2012
|
||||
[^11]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
[^12]: Evidence of official protection and cover-up; Multiple investigation shutdowns after Demmink's implication
|
||||
[^13]: Media coverage of Demmink case, 2012-2014; Dutch press reports on government corruption
|
||||
[^14]: Els Borst murder investigation and timing; Dutch court ruling on Demmink investigation, January 2014
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Victims & Witnesses"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- BelgiumScandals
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Fourteen-year-old abducted at Bertrix on August 9, 1996, whose abduction led, through a witness's memory of three digits of a license plate, to the arrest of Marc Dutroux on August 12."
|
||||
location: "Bertrix, Belgium"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
||||
role: "abducted August 9, 1996; freed August 15, 1996"
|
||||
start: 1996-08-09
|
||||
end: 1996-08-15
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Laetitia Delhez, aged fourteen, was abducted at Bertrix, in the province of Luxembourg, on Friday, August 9, 1996. On Monday, August 12, a witness at Bertrix gave investigators three digits of a license plate; a door-to-door inquiry began at two in the afternoon, and at about five [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested at Charleroi. On August 13 police and gendarmes searched Dutroux's house at 128 rue de Philippeville in [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]] with tracker dogs and found nothing. On Thursday, August 15, Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the house.[^2] The commission of inquiry observed that "Laetitia was found through the memorization of a license plate number."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted Dutroux of her abduction, sequestration and rape, Lelièvre of her abduction and sequestration, and Martin of her sequestration. It found that [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] had no involvement in the abduction and sequestration of Laetitia, rejecting the "network" thesis argued by the prosecution, the Marchal family and Laetitia's own lawyers.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Abduction and the Captivity
|
||||
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that she was taken while waiting at a bus stop after visiting a local festival, by Dutroux with Lelièvre's help, and subdued with chloroform in a white van; that the witness saw the van circle twice and noted the plate as PBX 688, a vehicle linked to Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]]; that she and Sabine had been conditioned with drugs and hypnosis to regard Dutroux as a protector and kissed him when they came out of the cellar; that the cellar had been built in 1993 with the help of [[Claude Thirault]]; that more than twenty calls passed between Dutroux and Nihoul around her abduction; and that at the trial she testified to the roles of Martin and Lelièvre, while Lelièvre spoke of orders from Nihoul and of Dutroux's boasts of obtaining girls in [[Slovakia]].[^1] The cellar was the one in which [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] had been held.
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its full plate number conflicts with the commission's statement that the witness gave three digits, and its date for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) is contradicted by the commission's chronology. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, p. 112 and the chronology of August 1996, pp. 264-266; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
|
|
@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ tags:
|
|||
- PsychologicalWarfare
|
||||
- Counterinsurgency
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
summary: "Rand Corporation social scientist who led Phase II of the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Study from 1965, redirected its findings to support an air power thesis through systematic selection and suppression of contrary data, forged colleagues' signatures on a policy memorandum, and supplied the optimistic briefings on VC morale that Walt Rostow and Robert McNamara consumed while the war escalated."
|
||||
summary: "Rand Corporation social scientist who led Phase II of the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Study from 1965, whose optimistic morale briefings reached Walt Rostow and Robert McNamara while the war escalated."
|
||||
born: 1922
|
||||
died: 2007-03-28
|
||||
location: Santa Monica, California
|
||||
created: 2026-06-04
|
||||
updated: 2026-06-04
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
Leon Gouré was born in [[Moscow]] in 1922 and became a [[Rand Corporation]] analyst in 1951, where he worked primarily on Soviet civil defense and military capability assessments before being assigned to lead the second phase of the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Study in early 1965. His conduct of that study generated the most documented internal scandal in Rand's history during the Vietnam era, producing formal complaints from three of his own analysts, accusations of data manipulation and unauthorized use of colleagues' names, and a subsequent commissioned institutional history that validated nearly all of the complaints.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Leon Gouré was born in [[Moscow]] in 1922 and became a [[Rand Corporation]] ana
|
|||
|
||||
When Gouré took over the VC Motivation and Morale Study from [[John Donnell]], [[Joseph Zasloff]], and [[Guy Pauker]] in early 1965, he redirected its emphasis from a broad assessment of VC organization and motivation toward the specific question of which weapons and tactics were most degrading enemy morale. The practical effect was to position the study as providing analytical support for air power operations rather than independent assessment. His published reports, including *Some Impressions of Viet Cong Vulnerabilities* (RM-4699-1-ISA/ARPA, August 1965) and *Some Findings of the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Study: June-December 1965* (RM-4911-2-ISA/ARPA, 1966), concluded that VC morale was declining under air pressure, that draftee quality was deteriorating, and that sustained bombing would produce surrender.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
These conclusions were adopted by senior policymakers. National Security Advisor Walt Rostow, who used Gouré's work in preparing optimistic briefings for President Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara were the primary consumers. Gouré briefed General Westmoreland, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the NSC. Westmoreland later assessed even Gouré's optimism as excessive.[^1]
|
||||
These conclusions were adopted by senior policymakers. [[Walt Rostow]], chairman of the State Department Policy Planning Council until he became the President's special assistant for national security affairs in April 1966, used Gouré's work in preparing optimistic briefings for President Johnson. Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] was the other primary consumer.[^2] Gouré briefed General Westmoreland, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the NSC. Westmoreland later assessed even Gouré's optimism as excessive.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Suppression and Misconduct
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -43,3 +43,4 @@ Rand's commissioned institutional history, *RAND in Southeast Asia* (Rand CP-564
|
|||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Mai Elliott, *RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era*. RAND CP-564, 2010; Anthony Russo, "Looking Backward: RAND and Vietnam," *Ramparts*, October 1972; Washington Post obituary, April 5, 2007.
|
||||
[^2]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume II, Vietnam, January-June 1965*, document 121, memorandum from Rostow as "Chairman of the Policy Planning Council," February 15, 1965, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d121 ; *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume IV, Vietnam, 1966*, document 115, memorandum from "the President's Special Assistant (Rostow)," April 5, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d115
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterda
|
|||
Glandorf smuggled boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels, where he pimped them to VIP clients and child pornographers, including renting a boy to sadistic pedophile [[Martin Smollners]] for a torture porn film involving electrocution of the boy's testicles. His Rotterdam operation faced investigation in 1994 following the 1993 disappearance of 12-year-old [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin's [[Pinocchio Bar]], a venue linked to Glandorf, with witnesses confirming Schadwald was trafficked to Rotterdam for prostitution. Dutch authorities wiretapped Glandorf's phone during the HIK investigation, revealing his advice to a senior Dutch official named Joris on smuggling boys across borders and providing new boys for sex despite health risks like STDs; Glandorf was convicted in November 1995 for child trafficking and prostitution, with the case gaining renewed scrutiny in 1998 after the HIK report's leak exposed omitted surveillance of Schadwald and government ties. Glandorf sold boys to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, including claims by [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] that Schadwald was sold to [[Warwick Spinks]] after transport from Berlin.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations. Robbie Van Der Plancken claimed, in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview, that Manuel Schadwald had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam some time after Glandorf took him from Berlin, and [[Nick Davies]] reported the claim.[^2] The [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported on May 2, 1998 that a missing schoolboy had been seen in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S. in Rotterdam, and was suspected of having reached it through the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.; the records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Spinks.[^3] Dovey wrote that Glandorf was investigated alongside associates like [[Karel Maasdam]] of the [[Bell Boys]] escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Tony Van den Boggaert]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling; his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations. Robbie Van Der Plancken claimed, in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview, that Manuel Schadwald had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam some time after Glandorf took him from Berlin, and [[Nick Davies]] reported the claim.[^2] The [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported on May 2, 1998 that a missing schoolboy had been seen in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S. in Rotterdam, and was suspected of having reached it through the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.; the records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Spinks.[^3] Davies wrote in 1998 that [[Karel Maasdam]], known as "Alex Privee," owner of the [[Bell Boys]] escort agency, was a "close friend" of Glandorf.[^2] Dovey wrote that Glandorf was investigated alongside associates like Maasdam of the Bell Boys escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Dovey wrote that Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling, and that his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Rotterdam Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ He produced rape videos sold to wealthy buyers, using hidden cameras in his base
|
|||
Dutroux's properties yielded videos of him raping minors and constructing his basement cells, with police seizing hypnosis equipment and chloroform linked to conditioning victims. His early release in 1992 by Justice Minister [[Melchior Wathelet]], later implicated in the X-Dossier, fueled suspicions of protection. Dutroux's network overlapped with the [[Spartacus International]] child sex tourism operation via [[John Stamford]], whose death in 1995
|
||||
halted related trials.
|
||||
|
||||
Witnesses like [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]] detailed Dutroux attending Nihoul's blackmail parties in the 1980s, supplying drugs and girls. Dutroux frequented Amsterdam's [[G-Force nightclub]] nightclub and [[Roxanne Films]] studio, owned by [[Didier Pellerin]], where Nihoul's partner [[Marleen De Cokere]] worked. Phone records showed over 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around [[Laetitia Delhez]]'s 1996 abduction.
|
||||
Witnesses like [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]] detailed Dutroux attending Nihoul's blackmail parties in the 1980s, supplying drugs and girls. Dutroux frequented Amsterdam's [[G-Force nightclub]] nightclub and [[Roxanne Films]] studio, owned by [[Didier Pellerin]], where Nihoul's partner [[Marleen De Cokere]] worked. Phone records showed over 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around the August 1996 abduction of a 14-year-old girl at Bertrix.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's wife [[Michelle Martin]] and accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]] confirmed he acted on Nihoul's orders, kidnapping girls for delivery to clients. X-witnesses, including X1, accused Dutroux of participating in the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] at a mushroom farm, matching crime scene details unavailable publicly. X1 also linked him to [[Carine Dellaert]]'s 1983 death, describing her childbirth and subsequent murder.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -27,19 +27,19 @@ Dutroux's ties extended to German trafficker [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Robbie Va
|
|||
|
||||
Dutroux's 2004 trial resulted in life imprisonment for murders of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], An Marchal, and Eefje Lambrecks, but Nihoul was acquitted of the charges tied to the abductions, sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association, and paroled on April 28, 2006.[^3] Over 20 suspicious deaths, including prosecutor [[Hubert Massa]] and witness [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], plagued the investigation. The [[Apollo Disks]] from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s network contained materials linking back to Dutroux's circle, with Pardaens-Bernaer identifying a Dutroux-linked perpetrator in a snuff film before her 1998 death.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].[[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia Delhez were rescued from his dungeon in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^4]
|
||||
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].Two girls, aged 12 and 14, were rescued from his cellar in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^4]
|
||||
### Kidnappings and Trafficking Operations
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux kidnapped six girls between 1995 and 1996, holding them in a basement dungeon at his Marcinelle home. Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, aged 8, vanished July 22 1995; An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared August 22 1995; Sabine Dardenne, 12, abducted May 26 1996; Laetitia Delhez, 14, taken August 9 1996.
|
||||
Dutroux kidnapped six girls between 1995 and 1996, holding them in a basement dungeon at his Marcinelle home. Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, aged 8, vanished July 22 1995; An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared August 22 1995; a 12-year-old girl abducted in May 1996 on her way to school; a 14-year-old girl taken at Bertrix on August 9 1996.
|
||||
|
||||
Bodies of Julie and Melissa were found September 16 1996 under concrete at a [[Sars-la-Buissière, Belgium]] property, mutilated with video equipment suggesting production. An and Eefje were buried at another Dutroux property, murdered after two weeks of captivity. Sabine and Laetitia were rescued August 15 1996 from the Marcinelle dungeon.
|
||||
Bodies of Julie and Melissa were found September 16 1996 under concrete at a [[Sars-la-Buissière, Belgium]] property, mutilated with video equipment suggesting production. An and Eefje were buried at another Dutroux property, murdered after two weeks of captivity. The two surviving girls were rescued August 15 1996 from the Marcinelle dungeon.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's wife Michelle Martin fed the girls while he was jailed for auto theft. Surveillance on August 10 1995 missed the dungeon during initial searches. Dutroux used chloroform and hypnosis equipment seized from his home.
|
||||
|
||||
He transported victims in a white Mercedes from ASCO, linked to Nihoul. Dutroux admitted selling kidnapped girls to Nihoul's clients, with Michel Lelievre confirming conditioning for submission. X1 testified Dutroux attended Nihoul's parties
|
||||
as a supplier.
|
||||
|
||||
Phone records showed 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction. Dutroux's accounts showed large sums, some tied to kidnappings. Witnesses placed Dutroux at Amsterdam's G-Force and Roxanne Films with Robbie Van Der Plancken.
|
||||
Phone records showed 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around the August 9 1996 abduction. Dutroux's accounts showed large sums, some tied to kidnappings. Witnesses placed Dutroux at Amsterdam's G-Force and Roxanne Films with Robbie Van Der Plancken.
|
||||
|
||||
[[Robert Jan Warmerdam]] claimed Dutroux frequented these for child procurement. Dutroux linked to Zandvoort network via Ulrich's Apollo Disks, containing snuff films with Dutroux associates. X1 described Dutroux torturing Christine Van Hees in 1984, matching ligature and burn details.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -63,17 +63,27 @@ X1 detailed hunts at Lippens' estates and snuff films at ASCO Industries factory
|
|||
|
||||
[[Beat Meier]], Spartacus associate, smuggled boys with Roger Lawrence for films. Ties to Belgian royal family via X3's claims of abuse at castles. Over 20 witness deaths, including prosecutor Massa and Gina Pardaens-Bernaer, who identified Dutroux-linked snuff on Apollo Disks before her 1998 death.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The August 1996 Arrests and the Rescue
|
||||
|
||||
The parliamentary commission of inquiry found that the investigation cell set up at Tournai for the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl, abducted on May 27, 1996 on her way to school, was staffed by the gendarmerie. Information on Dutroux held by the missing-persons unit reached the cell only after a fax of June 20, 1996 from the General Police Support Service (SGAP); the unit told a coordination meeting on June 26 that Dutroux was the subject of an investigation, including surveillance, by the Charleroi criminal investigation brigade that had so far been negative. Assuming that Charleroi was following Dutroux closely, the investigating judge and the cell did not contact the Charleroi gendarmerie and did not learn that the surveillance had long since ended. The commission found the investigation "essentially passive" and limited to its own district.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
A 14-year-old girl was abducted at Bertrix, in the province of Luxembourg, on Friday, August 9. On Monday, August 12, a witness gave investigators three digits of a license plate; a door-to-door inquiry began at two in the afternoon, and at about five Dutroux, Michelle Martin and Michel Lelievre were arrested at Charleroi. Police and gendarmes searched Dutroux's house in [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]] on August 13 with tracker dogs and found nothing. On Thursday, August 15, Dutroux confessed, and on his directions both girls were found alive in the concealed cell in the cellar. The commission observed that the 14-year-old "was found through the memorization of a license plate number."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Lelievre blocked the 12-year-old's path on her bicycle near a factory while Dutroux seized her and forced her into a van with chloroform; that the 14-year-old was taken at a bus stop after visiting a local festival; that the witness saw the van circle twice and noted the plate as PBX 688, a vehicle linked to Nihoul's company ASCO; that the cell had been built in 1993 with the labor of [[Claude Thirault]] and hidden behind shelving; that Dutroux conditioned both girls with drugs and hypnosis into dependence on him, told one of them she was being held for ransom, and was embraced by both when they were found; and that at the trial they testified to the manipulation they had undergone and to the roles of Martin and Lelievre, while Lelievre spoke of orders from Nihoul and of Dutroux's boasts of obtaining girls in [[Slovakia]]. Dovey gives May 26 for the first abduction, the full plate number and August 13 for the arrests; the commission's chronology records May 27, three digits of the plate and August 12.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted Dutroux of the abduction, sequestration and rape of both girls and Lelievre of their abduction and sequestration; Martin was convicted of their sequestration. Nihoul was acquitted of the charges relating to the abductions, the jury finding that he had no involvement in the abduction and sequestration of the 14-year-old and rejecting the "network" thesis argued by the prosecution, the Marchal family and the girl's own lawyers.[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1989 Conviction and Early Release
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^6]
|
||||
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Witness X1 Corroboration and the De Baets Team
|
||||
|
||||
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^6][^7]
|
||||
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^10][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Gunderson, Gosch, and U.S. Parallels
|
||||
|
||||
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^8]
|
||||
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -82,6 +92,10 @@ Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau o
|
|||
[^3]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." La Libre Belgique, October 23, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/michel-nihoul-est-decede-5db04ec39978e218e36b29be Sentence: "'Most hated' Belgian in jail for life." Al Jazeera, June 22, 2004. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/6/22/most-hated-belgian-in-jail-for-life
|
||||
[^4]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^5]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux. Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0 (catalogue record from the Library of Congress, LCCN 2002406745, as listed in Open Library). https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9789052405360
|
||||
[^6]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
||||
[^7]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
||||
[^8]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
||||
[^6]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 86-88; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, p. 112 and the chronology of August 1996, pp. 264-266; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
[^9]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^10]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
||||
[^11]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
||||
[^12]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,32 +8,33 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Brussels companion of Jean-Michel Nihoul, arrested on September 24, 1996, as the twelfth suspect in the Dutroux investigation and described by police as part of its 'inner ring.'"
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
Marleen De Cockere, of Brussels, 40, was arrested on September 24, 1996, as the twelfth suspect in the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]]. Police described her as the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and said she was among those suspected of forming the "inner ring" of people involved in the abduction and sequestration of young girls and in child pornography, drugs, car theft and police corruption.[^2] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004.[^3]
|
||||
Marleen De Cockere, of Brussels, 40, was arrested on September 24, 1996, as the twelfth suspect in the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]]. Police described her as the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and said she was among those suspected of forming the "inner ring" of people involved in the abduction and sequestration of young girls and in child pornography, drugs, car theft and police corruption.[^1] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Marleen De Cokere, girlfriend of Jean-Michel Nihoul, lived with Nihoul in Brussels during the 1980s and 1990s, sharing a residence and business interests. De Cokere worked at the [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam, a venue linked to the red light district where [[Regina Louf]] (X1) claimed she was trafficked as a child prostitute. Louf testified that De Cokere was present at Nihoul's parties, where Louf was supplied for sexual acts. The X-Dossier, compiled by Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and Prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]], included Louf's accounts of De Cokere's involvement in the network's operations, with De Cokere driving Louf to events. De Cokere was not charged in the main Dutroux trial but was questioned during Nihoul's fraud investigations. She denied all allegations of involvement in abuse or trafficking.[^1]
|
||||
Marleen De Cokere, girlfriend of Jean-Michel Nihoul, lived with Nihoul in Brussels during the 1980s and 1990s, sharing a residence and business interests. De Cokere worked at the [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam, a venue linked to the red light district where [[Regina Louf]] (X1) claimed she was trafficked as a child prostitute. Louf testified that De Cokere was present at Nihoul's parties, where Louf was supplied for sexual acts. The X-Dossier, compiled by Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and Prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]], included Louf's accounts of De Cokere's involvement in the network's operations, with De Cokere driving Louf to events. De Cokere was not charged in the main Dutroux trial but was questioned during Nihoul's fraud investigations. She denied all allegations of involvement in abuse or trafficking.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
De Cokere's relationship with Nihoul placed her at the center of his activities, including parties at the Faulx-les-Tombes chateau and Avenue Louise mansion, where hidden cameras captured blackmail material. Louf described De Cokere as part of the group that used her for services, with Nihoul organizing events for elite clients. De Cokere's role at G-Force nightclub tied to Amsterdam's prostitution scene, where Louf claimed she was sent. The X-Dossier noted De Cokere's presence in photos identified by Louf as attendees at these gatherings. De Cokere's business ties included handling administrative tasks for Nihoul's companies like [[ASCO]], providing vehicles for abductions. Her involvement remained testimonial, with no direct evidence leading to charges.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere's relationship with Nihoul placed her at the center of his activities, including parties at the Faulx-les-Tombes chateau and Avenue Louise mansion, where hidden cameras captured blackmail material. Louf described De Cokere as part of the group that used her for services, with Nihoul organizing events for elite clients. De Cokere's role at G-Force nightclub tied to Amsterdam's prostitution scene, where Louf claimed she was sent. The X-Dossier noted De Cokere's presence in photos identified by Louf as attendees at these gatherings. De Cokere's business ties included handling administrative tasks for Nihoul's companies like [[ASCO]], providing vehicles for abductions. Her involvement remained testimonial, with no direct evidence leading to charges.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
De Cokere's connections extended to Nihoul's circle, including lawyer [[Annie Bouty]], with the couple's shared finances linked to payments from child sales. The X-Dossier detailed her role in facilitating Louf's transport to parties, where Louf was abused. De Cokere denied these claims, attributing them to fabrication. Her relationship with Nihoul continued post-arrest, with no legal repercussions for her in the Dutroux affair.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere's connections extended to Nihoul's circle, including lawyer [[Annie Bouty]], with the couple's shared finances linked to payments from child sales. The X-Dossier detailed her role in facilitating Louf's transport to parties, where Louf was abused. De Cokere denied these claims, attributing them to fabrication. Her relationship with Nihoul continued post-arrest, with no legal repercussions for her in the Dutroux affair.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Role in Network
|
||||
De Cokere accompanied Nihoul to events where Louf was present, driving her to locations like the chateau for orgies. Louf claimed De Cokere participated in the exploitation, using her for sexual acts at parties. The X-Dossier included De Cokere's name in contexts of blackmail videos filmed by [[Michelle Martin]]. De Cokere's work at G-Force involved managing nightclub operations, tying to Amsterdam's scene where Louf alleged trafficking. Investigations under Connerotte examined her role, but no charges resulted.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere accompanied Nihoul to events where Louf was present, driving her to locations like the chateau for orgies. Louf claimed De Cokere participated in the exploitation, using her for sexual acts at parties. The X-Dossier included De Cokere's name in contexts of blackmail videos filmed by [[Michelle Martin]]. De Cokere's work at G-Force involved managing nightclub operations, tying to Amsterdam's scene where Louf alleged trafficking. Investigations under Connerotte examined her role, but no charges resulted.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
De Cokere's administrative work for ASCO included vehicle logs, with the white van used in [[Laetitia Delhez]]'s abduction traced to the company. She confirmed Nihoul's orders to Dutroux for girl supplies in partial cooperation, but denied personal involvement. The X-Dossier linked her to the network through Nihoul's parties, with Louf describing her at events with elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]]. De Cokere's denial persisted, with her maintaining a low profile after the affair.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere's administrative work for ASCO included vehicle logs, with the white van used in the August 1996 abduction of a 14-year-old girl traced to the company. She confirmed Nihoul's orders to Dutroux for girl supplies in partial cooperation, but denied personal involvement. The X-Dossier linked her to the network through Nihoul's parties, with Louf describing her at events with elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]]. De Cokere's denial persisted, with her maintaining a low profile after the affair.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections
|
||||
De Cokere connected to Nihoul as his girlfriend, sharing residence and finances linked to fraud and trafficking. Her role at G-Force tied to Louf's claims of Amsterdam prostitution. The X-Dossier noted her driving Louf to parties, linking to ASCO's vehicle use. Connections to Bouty and Martin came through Nihoul's circle. De Cokere's involvement in the network remained uncharged, with no direct evidence beyond Louf's testimony.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere connected to Nihoul as his girlfriend, sharing residence and finances linked to fraud and trafficking. Her role at G-Force tied to Louf's claims of Amsterdam prostitution. The X-Dossier noted her driving Louf to parties, linking to ASCO's vehicle use. Connections to Bouty and Martin came through Nihoul's circle. De Cokere's involvement in the network remained uncharged, with no direct evidence beyond Louf's testimony.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
De Cokere's ties included shared business with Nihoul, with ASCO providing cover for payments. The investigation under Bourlet examined her role in logistics, but lack of evidence limited outcomes. De Cokere denied allegations, with no prosecution following the 2004 trial where Nihoul was convicted for association.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere's ties included shared business with Nihoul, with ASCO providing cover for payments. The investigation under Bourlet examined her role in logistics, but lack of evidence limited outcomes. De Cokere denied allegations, with no prosecution following the 2004 trial where Nihoul was convicted for association.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
De Cokere's relationship with Nihoul involved shared interests in the nightclub scene, with G-Force as a hub for network activities. Louf's accounts in the X-Dossier detailed her presence at abuse events, corroborated by location and timing. De Cokere's role was peripheral, focused on Nihoul's operations.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere's relationship with Nihoul involved shared interests in the nightclub scene, with G-Force as a hub for network activities. Louf's accounts in the X-Dossier detailed her presence at abuse events, corroborated by location and timing. De Cokere's role was peripheral, focused on Nihoul's operations.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Legal Outcome
|
||||
De Cokere faced no charges in the Dutroux affair, with no direct role in abductions. Her connection through Nihoul led to questioning, but no prosecution. The X-Dossier's allegations were not pursued, with De Cokere denying involvement. Post-trial, she remained out of the spotlight, with no legal repercussions documented.[^1]
|
||||
De Cokere faced no charges in the Dutroux affair, with no direct role in abductions. Her connection through Nihoul led to questioning, but no prosecution. The X-Dossier's allegations were not pursued, with De Cokere denying involvement. Post-trial, she remained out of the spotlight, with no legal repercussions documented.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; it spells her name De Cokere.
|
||||
[^2]: "Belgian pedophile case." United Press International, September 24, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/09/24/Belgian-pedophile-case/1297843537600/
|
||||
[^3]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Belgian pedophile case." United Press International, September 24, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/09/24/Belgian-pedophile-case/1297843537600/
|
||||
[^2]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It spells her name De Cokere.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 1966
|
||||
role: "President"
|
||||
fn: 34
|
||||
fn: 36
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[William P. Bundy]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 35
|
||||
fn: 37
|
||||
created: 2026-10-07
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-07
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
McGeorge Bundy served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under [[John F. Kennedy]] and remained in that post under [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], chaired the interagency committee that reviewed [[CIA]] covert operations, and in 1966 became president of the [[Ford Foundation]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
|
@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Bundy majored in mathematics at [[Yale University]] and returned to [[Harvard Un
|
|||
|
||||
### Harvard
|
||||
|
||||
Bundy began teaching government and world affairs at Harvard in 1949 and was named Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 1953, at age 34.[^6][^3] [[Kai Bird]], Bundy's biographer, wrote that Harvard negotiated with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] a policy under which the university would terminate the contracts of untenured scholars who refused to name names, would share information, sometimes from its confidential personnel files, with the FBI, and would use confidential FBI information to screen its employees.[^6]
|
||||
Bundy began teaching government and world affairs at Harvard in 1949 and was named Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 1953, at age 34.[^3][^6] [[Kai Bird]], Bundy's biographer, wrote that Harvard negotiated with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] a policy under which the university would terminate the contracts of untenured scholars who refused to name names, would share information, sometimes from its confidential personnel files, with the FBI, and would use confidential FBI information to screen its employees.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Sigmund Diamond]] stated in 1977 that in 1954, about three weeks after Bundy considered him for the post of Counsellor for Foreign Students and Dean of Special Students, the FBI asked him about his prior Communist Party membership and his associates, and that days later Bundy told him the appointment would be withdrawn if he refused to name names. Bundy responded that he was justified in withdrawing the recommendation because the post was administrative, and that only academic appointments "carried all the immunities of academic freedom."[^7] [[Robert Bellah]] wrote that in 1954 Bundy told him an "officer of the university" had informed Bundy of his political past, that he owed "complete candor," and that his fellowship would be cancelled if he failed to cooperate; the FBI then questioned Bellah, and he later declined a Harvard instructorship conditioned on his answering committees such as the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].[^7] [[Leon Kamin]], subpoenaed by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee under William Jenner and by [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s subcommittee, said Bundy urged him to name names and let him know that Bundy was in close contact with the FBI.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -135,13 +135,15 @@ In 1965, after the Long Subcommittee hearings on mail covers raised concern at t
|
|||
|
||||
### Ford Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
[[John J. McCloy]] offered Bundy the Ford Foundation presidency on November 7, 1965, and Bundy reported the offer to Johnson the next day. In a memorandum of December 4, 1965, Bundy told Johnson that he had asked the Ford trustees to let him accept "on the understanding that I shall always be free to accept any special assignments from you," that [[Jay Stratton]], McCloy's successor, had agreed in the name of the trustees, and that he would stay in the White House through February 1966; McCloy, for the foundation, had accepted the delay on November 29.[^34] On November 13, 1965, Johnson asked Under Secretary of State [[Thomas C. Mann]] about "Bill Bundy to succeed his brother."[^35] The [[Harvard Crimson]] reported on November 15, 1965 that McCloy, the foundation's chairman, approached Bundy in Washington about succeeding [[Henry T. Heald]] as president beginning January 1.[^36]
|
||||
[[John J. McCloy]] offered Bundy the Ford Foundation presidency on November 7, 1965, and Bundy reported the offer to Johnson the next day. A report by Garnett D. Horner in the Washington Star of December 8, 1965 gave the presidency's salary as 75,000 dollars a year, against his White House salary of 28,500 dollars.[^34] In a memorandum of December 4, 1965, Bundy told Johnson that he had asked the Ford trustees to let him accept "on the understanding that I shall always be free to accept any special assignments from you," that [[Julius A. Stratton|Jay Stratton]], McCloy's successor, had agreed in the name of the trustees,[^35] and that he would stay in the White House through February 1966; McCloy, for the foundation, had accepted the delay on November 29.[^36] On November 13, 1965, Johnson asked Under Secretary of State [[Thomas C. Mann]] about "Bill Bundy to succeed his brother."[^37] The [[Harvard Crimson]] reported on November 15, 1965 that McCloy, the foundation's chairman, approached Bundy in Washington about succeeding [[Henry T. Heald]] as president beginning January 1.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1966 the FBI learned that [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] had met with Bundy, "then Director of the Ford Foundation," and had received a tentative offer of a grant for the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]. The FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division decided that if the foundation's officials were briefed on King's advisers "this might preclude any assistance being granted," and Hoover approved a plan to have a former FBI agent, then a vice-president of the [[Ford Motor Company]], approach Bundy. In a memorandum of October 26, 1966, [[Cartha DeLoach]] reported that Bundy had refused to talk with the former agent about King, saying he would only talk with a person having first-hand knowledge; Hoover wrote on the memorandum, "Yes. We would get no where with Bundy."[^37]
|
||||
In October 1966 the FBI learned that [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] had met with Bundy, "then Director of the Ford Foundation," and had received a tentative offer of a grant for the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]. The FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division decided that if the foundation's officials were briefed on King's advisers "this might preclude any assistance being granted," and Hoover approved a plan to have a former FBI agent, then a vice-president of the [[Ford Motor Company]], approach Bundy. In a memorandum of October 26, 1966, [[Cartha DeLoach]] reported that Bundy had refused to talk with the former agent about King, saying he would only talk with a person having first-hand knowledge; Hoover wrote on the memorandum, "Yes. We would get no where with Bundy."[^39]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 23, 1966 Bundy wrote to Julius A. Stratton, then chairman of the board of trustees, that the foundation would make a grant of 7,000,000 dollars to the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] over six years. "It may raise a few eyebrows among those who know or think they know the previous financial history of the Congress," he wrote, "but it is the right thing to do at the right time."[^40] The foundation's annual report for 1966 records a grant of 1.5 million dollars in further support of the Congress, with a new board of trustees headed by [[Raymond Aron]].[^41]
|
||||
|
||||
### William P. Bundy
|
||||
|
||||
William P. Bundy, McGeorge Bundy's brother, was Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in November 1965.[^38] He joined the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of National Estimates in 1951 as chief of staff and liaison to the National Security Council staff, and served on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1964 to 1972.[^39]
|
||||
William P. Bundy, McGeorge Bundy's brother, was Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in November 1965.[^42] He joined the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of National Estimates in 1951 as chief of staff and liaison to the National Security Council staff, and served on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1964 to 1972.[^43]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -178,9 +180,13 @@ William P. Bundy, McGeorge Bundy's brother, was Assistant Secretary of State for
|
|||
[^31]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, *Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans*, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 465 (Hoover to Bundy, July 25, 1961, enclosing Interdepartmental Intelligence Conference report), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^32]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 483 (April 1965 request and Hoover's account), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^33]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), chapter on CIA mail opening, section "1965 Proposal to Inform President Johnson" (citing Karamessines testimony of October 8, 1975 and a staff summary of a Bundy interview of April 19, 1976), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^34]: Memorandum from Bundy to President Johnson, "Letter of resignation," December 4, 1965, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 159, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d159
|
||||
[^35]: Memorandum of telephone conversation between President Johnson and Under Secretary of State Mann, November 13, 1965, 12:15 p.m., *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 157, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d157
|
||||
[^36]: "Bundy, Bell Up for Key Posts," *The Harvard Crimson*, November 15, 1965, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1965/11/15/bundy-bell-up-for-key-posts/
|
||||
[^37]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 178 (October 1966 FBI plan concerning a Ford Foundation grant to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; DeLoach memorandum of October 26, 1966), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^38]: Memorandum from Gordon Chase to Bundy, "World Disarmament Conference," November 20, 1965, footnote identifying "your brother William Bundy, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs," *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 373, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d373
|
||||
[^39]: William P. Bundy Papers (MC189), Biography/History, Public Policy Papers, Princeton University Library, https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/PRIN_MUDD_MC189
|
||||
[^34]: Garnett D. Horner, Star staff writer, Washington Star, December 8, 1965, on Johnson's acceptance of Bundy's resignation effective February 28, 1966 and Bundy's move to the Ford Foundation presidency at $75,000 a year, against his $28,500 White House salary (CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000100560005-8). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000100560005-8
|
||||
[^35]: Ford Foundation, "Annual Report 1965," opening review (McCloy retiring December 31, 1965; Julius A. Stratton, president of MIT and a trustee since 1955, elected chairman) https://www.fordfoundation.org/media/2435/1965-annual-report.pdf; Langenkamp, note 67 (Julius A. Stratton, chair of the Board of Trustees, September 23, 1966); FRUS 1964-1968, vol. XXXIII, document 159 (December 4, 1965, "his successor, Jay Stratton"). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d159
|
||||
[^36]: Memorandum from Bundy to President Johnson, "Letter of resignation," December 4, 1965, *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 159, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d159
|
||||
[^37]: Memorandum of telephone conversation between President Johnson and Under Secretary of State Mann, November 13, 1965, 12:15 p.m., *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 157, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d157
|
||||
[^38]: "Bundy, Bell Up for Key Posts," *The Harvard Crimson*, November 15, 1965, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1965/11/15/bundy-bell-up-for-key-posts/
|
||||
[^39]: Senate Select Committee, *Final Report*, Book III, S. Rept. 94-755 (1976), p. 178 (October 1966 FBI plan concerning a Ford Foundation grant to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; DeLoach memorandum of October 26, 1966), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf
|
||||
[^40]: Langenkamp, "A Most Interesting and Complex Involvement," Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), p. 15 and note 67, citing Bundy to Julius A. Stratton, chair of the Board of Trustees, September 23, 1966 (Rockefeller Archive Center, Francis X. Sutton Papers, FA1141, Box 50, Folder 465). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^41]: Ford Foundation, "Annual Report 1966" (fiscal year ended September 30, 1966), International Affairs section, p. 34. https://www.fordfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1966-annual-report.pdf
|
||||
[^42]: Memorandum from Gordon Chase to Bundy, "World Disarmament Conference," November 20, 1965, footnote identifying "your brother William Bundy, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs," *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXIII, doc. 373, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d373
|
||||
[^43]: William P. Bundy Papers (MC189), Biography/History, Public Policy Papers, Princeton University Library, https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/PRIN_MUDD_MC189
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ created: 2026-04-28
|
|||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^1]
|
||||
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of a 14-year-old girl in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
After Connerotte's replacement by [[Jacques Langlois]] in October 1996, the families of the missing children continued to meet Bourlet, whom they trusted, rather than Langlois. On October 24, 1997, [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general at the court of appeal in Liège, wrote to Bourlet in a letter marked "personal and confidential" asking him to stop all contact with the press and, temporarily, with the parents of the missing children except on the parts of the files concerning them; the commission found that the families were thereby partly deprived of information on the investigation.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ In January 1998, amid a press campaign against the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]],
|
|||
|
||||
### The X-Dossier
|
||||
|
||||
According to S. Dovey, Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83, behind Golfpad 4, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. Chantal Storme corroborated X1's account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^3]
|
||||
According to S. Dovey, Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] in Knokke, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. A childhood friend of X1 corroborated her account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around the August 9 abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Dovey wrote that Bourlet's team was replaced in 1997 after accusations that it had fed details to X1, and that investigators were charged and cleared in 1999. The dossier was leaked to Flemish journalists and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers,* and King Albert sued in 2001. A summary of 1,235 pages, prepared for the 2004 trial, described 300 violent tapes from Nihoul's home, some with members of the elite, and was leaked through WikiLeaks in 2009. More than twenty witnesses died during the investigation, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], who had identified Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]], and Hubert Massa, by suicide in 1998. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and [[Melchior Wathelet]] sat on the European Court of Justice. The 2004 trial did not hear the X-witnesses; Bourlet criticized the acquittals and called for cases such as Dellaert's to be reopened.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Michel Forgeot founded Achats Services Commerces (ASCO), a company involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Michel Forgeot founded [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO), a company involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s. ASCO, under Forgeot's founding, provided white Mercedes vans used by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and [[Marc Dutroux]] for photographing schoolgirls and transporting victims in the child trafficking network. The company, registered in Charleroi, served as a front for Nihoul's schemes, with vans adapted for abductions, including the one used in [[Laetitia Delhez]]'s August 9, 1996, kidnapping, traced by partial license plate PBX 688. Forgeot's role as founder included overseeing early operations, with the company facilitating the use of vehicles for surveillance and transport. Police investigations post-Dutroux's August 1996 arrest linked ASCO vans to the kidnappings of Delhez and [[Sabine Dardenne]], leading to raids on ASCO premises uncovering financial records of payments to Dutroux. Forgeot was not directly charged in the Dutroux affair but was questioned during Nihoul's fraud probes, confirming the company's role in providing vehicles for non-business purposes.[^1]
|
||||
Michel Forgeot founded [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO), a company involved in fraud and vehicle supply during the 1990s. ASCO, under Forgeot's founding, provided white Mercedes vans used by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and [[Marc Dutroux]] for photographing schoolgirls and transporting victims in the child trafficking network. The company, registered in Charleroi, served as a front for Nihoul's schemes, with vans adapted for abductions, including the one used in the August 9, 1996, kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl, traced by partial license plate PBX 688. Forgeot's role as founder included overseeing early operations, with the company facilitating the use of vehicles for surveillance and transport. Police investigations post-Dutroux's August 1996 arrest linked ASCO vans to the kidnappings of two girls aged 14 and 12, leading to raids on ASCO premises uncovering financial records of payments to Dutroux. Forgeot was not directly charged in the Dutroux affair but was questioned during Nihoul's fraud probes, confirming the company's role in providing vehicles for non-business purposes.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Forgeot's founding of ASCO positioned the company as a key logistical element in the network, with white vans loaned to Dutroux for tasks including circling schools to select victims. The vehicles were ordinary for business but equipped for kidnappings with tinted windows and sedatives. Forgeot's oversight included administrative aspects that masked the fraud, including inflated invoices for money laundering. His involvement came under scrutiny during the investigation, with ASCO's bankruptcy following arrests. Forgeot's testimony or statements, if any, were not central, but the company's vehicles were pivotal evidence in linking the business to the trafficking. The investigation revealed ASCO's role in funneling funds from child sales and pornography tapes through the company, with Forgeot as the founder bearing responsibility for its establishment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Forgeot's early role in ASCO included setting up the company as a cover for Nihoul's operations, with the fleet used for both legitimate purchases and illicit transport. The white van from Delhez's abduction was traced to ASCO, leading to the company's downfall. Forgeot's founding position made him a target in the probe, though his direct involvement in abductions remained unclear. The company's location in Charleroi placed it near Dutroux's residence, facilitating the arrangement. Forgeot's name surfaced in financial trails showing transfers to Dutroux's accounts for vehicle use beyond normal business.[^1]
|
||||
Forgeot's early role in ASCO included setting up the company as a cover for Nihoul's operations, with the fleet used for both legitimate purchases and illicit transport. The white van from the August 9 abduction was traced to ASCO, leading to the company's downfall. Forgeot's founding position made him a target in the probe, though his direct involvement in abductions remained unclear. The company's location in Charleroi placed it near Dutroux's residence, facilitating the arrangement. Forgeot's name surfaced in financial trails showing transfers to Dutroux's accounts for vehicle use beyond normal business.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### ASCO Founding and Operations
|
||||
Forgeot established ASCO in the early 1990s, with the company engaging in car sales and services that provided the white vans central to the Dutroux abductions. The vans were registered under ASCO, loaned to Dutroux for surveillance and kidnappings, including the May 26 abduction of Sabine Dardenne and the August 9 seizure of Laetitia Delhez. Police seized documents from ASCO showing vehicle assignments to Dutroux, confirming the logistical role. Forgeot's founding included setting up the fraud scheme with inflated invoices to launder money from the network. The company's operations masked payments for child supplies, with financial records revealing the extent of the laundering.[^1]
|
||||
Forgeot established ASCO in the early 1990s, with the company engaging in car sales and services that provided the white vans central to the Dutroux abductions. The vans were registered under ASCO, loaned to Dutroux for surveillance and kidnappings, including the May 26 abduction of a 12-year-old girl and the August 9 seizure of a 14-year-old girl. Police seized documents from ASCO showing vehicle assignments to Dutroux, confirming the logistical role. Forgeot's founding included setting up the fraud scheme with inflated invoices to launder money from the network. The company's operations masked payments for child supplies, with financial records revealing the extent of the laundering.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Under Forgeot's founding, ASCO's vans were used in operations coordinated by Nihoul, with the fleet adapted for discreet transport. The investigation under [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] examined ASCO's records, uncovering the scheme. Forgeot's role as founder highlighted the business front's importance in the network, with vehicles key in the timeline of kidnappings. His establishment of ASCO enabled the logistical support for the crimes, with the company serving as a conduit for illicit funds.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -15,10 +15,17 @@ tags:
|
|||
- SouthAfrica
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
- NuclearWeapons
|
||||
summary: "P.W. Botha (1916-2006), South African Prime Minister (1978-1984) and State President (1984-1989), forged a covert wartime alliance with Israel and, after the 1979 VELA detection, publicly hinted at nuclear weapons capability."
|
||||
summary: "P.W. Botha (1916-2006), South African Prime Minister (1978-1984) and State President (1984-1989), forged a covert wartime alliance with Israel and, in 1979 told his party's congress that South Africa had weapons not known about."
|
||||
born: 1916-01-12
|
||||
died: 2006-10-31
|
||||
location: "Paul Roux, Orange Free State, South Africa"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "prime minister whose September 25, 1979 statement about unknown weapons drew comment from the U.S. embassy"
|
||||
start: 1979-09-25
|
||||
end: 1979-10-26
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
P.W. Botha served as Prime Minister of [[South Africa]] from 1978 to 1984 and as State President from 1984 to 1989. He had also served as Defense Minister and played a key role in developing South Africa's military and nuclear capabilities.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -31,10 +38,13 @@ Minutes of 1975 meetings between Botha and [[Shimon Peres]], reported by the [[M
|
|||
|
||||
### VELA Incident (1979)
|
||||
|
||||
On September 25, 1979, three days after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion over the South Indian Ocean, Botha warned the Cape National Party congress that South Africa had and could produce sufficient arms to counter terrorism. He hinted that they might have military weapons that others did not know about, suggesting that South Africa and its Israeli partners had successfully conducted a secret nuclear test.[^3]
|
||||
On September 25, 1979, three days after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded a double flash from a region that included the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Botha warned the Cape National Party congress that South Africa had and could produce sufficient arms to counter terrorism. He hinted that they might have military weapons that others did not know about, which [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote suggested that South Africa and its Israeli partners had successfully conducted a secret nuclear test.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A telegram from the American embassy in Pretoria dated October 26, 1979 recorded Botha's statement to the Cape National Party congress on September 25 "that South Africa had weapons to fight terrorism and that if anyone thought of trying something else, they might find that South Africa had weapons that are not known about." The ambassador wrote that he had asked Foreign Affairs Secretary [[Brand Fourie]] about the statement on September 27, and that Foreign Minister [[Pik Botha]] interjected on October 26 that the prime minister was referring to conventional weapons. The ambassador replied that there had been "media speculation at the time that P.W. was possibly hinting at nuclear weapons (speculation which was not specifically scotched subsequently)." The telegram records Pik Botha as saying that he had spoken to the prime minister by telephone.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
|
||||
[^2]: Chris McGreal, "Revealed: How Israel offered to sell SA nuclear weapons," *Mail & Guardian*, May 24, 2010. https://mg.co.za/article/2010-05-24-revealed-how-israel-offered-to-sell-sa-nuclear-weapons
|
||||
[^3]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^4]: Telegram from the Embassy in South Africa to the Department of State, October 26, 1979, "Suspected Nuclear Event: Talk With South African Foreign Minister," Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 366, paragraphs 7 and 8. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d366
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ aliases:
|
|||
- Dick Bissell
|
||||
- Richard Bissell Jr.
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-05
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
|
|
@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 1958
|
||||
end: 1962-02
|
||||
role: "senior CIA representative of the CIA-Air Force photosatellite project"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Operation PBSUCCESS]]"
|
||||
start: 1954
|
||||
|
|
@ -70,27 +70,33 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 1960
|
||||
end: 1961-04
|
||||
role: "Deputy Director for Plans responsible for the CIA operation"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[ZR RIFLE]]"
|
||||
start: 1960
|
||||
end: 1962-02
|
||||
role: "DDP under whom the Executive Action capability was established"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Church Committee]]"
|
||||
start: 1975-06-09
|
||||
end: 1975-09-10
|
||||
role: "testified June 9, June 11, July 17, July 22 and September 10, 1975"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 1952-01
|
||||
end: 1954
|
||||
role: "staff member from January 1952; described as a consultant by Langenkamp"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. (September 18, 1909 to February 7, 1994) was an economist who joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in January 1954 and became its Deputy Director for Plans (DDP), head of the clandestine service, on January 1, 1959. Until his resignation on February 17, 1962 he also kept personal control of the [[U-2 Spy Plane|U-2]] overflight program, the first photographic reconnaissance satellite project, and the design of the OXCART aircraft. Under him the agency organized the 1961 [[Bay of Pigs]] operation and, in 1960, made the first preparations in the [[Patrice Lumumba|Lumumba]] and [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] assassination plots later examined by the [[Church Committee]].[^1][^3]
|
||||
Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. (September 18, 1909 to February 7, 1994) was an economist who joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in January 1954 and became its Deputy Director for Plans (DDP), head of the clandestine service, on January 1, 1959. Until his resignation on February 17, 1962 he also kept personal control of the [[U-2 Spy Plane|U-2]] overflight program, the first photographic reconnaissance satellite project, and the design of the OXCART aircraft. Under him the agency organized the 1961 [[Bay of Pigs]] operation and, in 1960, made the first preparations in the [[Patrice Lumumba|Lumumba]] and [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] assassination plots later examined by the [[Church Committee]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Education and early career
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's official history of the U-2 program describes Bissell as a graduate of Groton and [[Yale University]] who studied at the [[London School of Economics]] for a year and took a doctorate at Yale in 1939. He taught economics at Yale and, from 1942, at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he became a full professor in 1948. During [[World War II]] he managed American shipping as executive officer of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board; after the war he was deputy director of the [[Marshall Plan]] from 1948 until the end of 1951, when he joined the staff of the [[Ford Foundation]].[^1]
|
||||
The CIA's official history of the U-2 program describes Bissell as a graduate of Groton and [[Yale University]] who studied at the [[London School of Economics]] for a year and took a doctorate at Yale in 1939. He taught economics at Yale and, from 1942, at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he became a full professor in 1948. During [[World War II]] he managed American shipping as executive officer of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board; after the war he was deputy director of the [[Marshall Plan]] from 1948 until the end of 1951. The Eisenhower Presidential Library's finding aid for his papers states that he joined the Ford Foundation staff in January 1952 after leaving the Economic Cooperation Administration (later the Mutual Security Agency) and resigned in 1954, and Langenkamp describes him as a consultant to the [[Ford Foundation]] who left in 1954 to become special assistant to [[Allen Dulles]].[^1][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
His first association with the agency came in late 1953 with a contract study of how the United States might respond to a rising in the Soviet bloc like the East Berlin riots of June 1953. He concluded, in his later words, that "very little could be done" by clandestine operations against the bloc, a view the CIA historians say made him a leading advocate of technical rather than human collection. He joined the agency in late January 1954 as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence, [[Allen Dulles]], for Planning and Coordination, and was soon occupied with coordination for the operation against Guatemalan President [[Jacobo Arbenz]] ([[Operation PBSUCCESS]]).[^1]
|
||||
His first association with the agency came in late 1953 with a contract study of how the United States might respond to a rising in the Soviet bloc like the East Berlin riots of June 1953. He concluded, in his later words, that "very little could be done" by clandestine operations against the bloc, a view the CIA historians say made him a leading advocate of technical rather than human collection. He joined the agency in late January 1954 as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles, for Planning and Coordination, and was soon occupied with coordination for the operation against Guatemalan President [[Jacobo Arbenz]] ([[Operation PBSUCCESS]]).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The U-2 and the Development Projects Staff
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -98,42 +104,44 @@ On November 26, 1954 Dulles told Bissell that [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]
|
|||
|
||||
The first flights over the Soviet Union began on Wednesday, July 4, 1956 (a June 20, 1956 mission had covered Poland and East Germany). Bissell gave the "Go" decision at the project headquarters just before midnight Washington time on July 3. When Dulles asked on July 5 whether the overflights of Moscow and Leningrad had been wise the first time, Bissell replied: "Allen, the first is the safest." The program continued, with Bissell bringing maps of proposed routes to Eisenhower in the Oval Office, until [[Francis Gary Powers]] was shot down near Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960; the Paris summit that opened on May 16 ended when Eisenhower refused [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s demand for an apology.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Bissell became DDP on January 1, 1959 and on February 16, 1959 turned the Development Projects Staff into a division of the Directorate of Plans, placing all agency air activities under himself; the history states he kept personal control of the U-2, the photosatellite project and OXCART. [[Edwin Land]] and [[James Killian]], his supporters among the presidential science advisers, came to fear he was too involved in covert action to give the reconnaissance programs enough time. The CIA's CORONA history names him the "recognized leader of the early CORONA program" and the senior CIA representative beside Air Force Brigadier General Osmond Ritland; Bissell recalled learning of his role "in an odd and informal way" from Land in 1958, and the first successful recovery, of mission 9009 (DISCOVERER XIV), came on August 19, 1960.[^1][^2]
|
||||
Bissell became DDP on January 1, 1959 and on February 16, 1959 turned the Development Projects Staff into a division of the Directorate of Plans, placing all agency air activities under himself; the history states he kept personal control of the U-2, the photosatellite project and OXCART. [[Edwin Land]] and [[James Killian]], his supporters among the presidential science advisers, came to fear he was too involved in covert action to give the reconnaissance programs enough time. The CIA's CORONA history names him the "recognized leader of the early CORONA program" and the senior CIA representative beside Air Force Brigadier General Osmond Ritland; Bissell recalled learning of his role "in an odd and informal way" from Land in 1958, and the first successful recovery, of mission 9009 (DISCOVERER XIV), came on August 19, 1960.[^1][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congo, 1960
|
||||
|
||||
According to the Church Committee's interim report, DDP Bissell in the summer of 1960 asked the Chief of the Africa Division, [[Bronson Tweedy]], to explore the feasibility of assassinating Lumumba, and asked a CIA scientist given the pseudonym Joseph Scheider, then Special Assistant to the DDP for Scientific Matters, to prepare to assassinate or incapacitate an unspecified "African leader." Scheider testified that Bissell told him he "had direction from the highest authority" and that he understood this to mean the President. Scheider reviewed a list of materials at the Army Chemical Corps installation at [[Fort Detrick]], chose one that "was supposed to produce a disease" indigenous to the region, and in late September delivered the lethal substances to the CIA station officer in Leopoldville with instructions to assassinate Lumumba.[^3]
|
||||
According to the Church Committee's interim report, DDP Bissell in the summer of 1960 asked the Chief of the Africa Division, [[Bronson Tweedy]], to explore the feasibility of assassinating Lumumba, and asked a CIA scientist given the pseudonym Joseph Scheider, then Special Assistant to the DDP for Scientific Matters, to prepare to assassinate or incapacitate an unspecified "African leader." Scheider testified that Bissell told him he "had direction from the highest authority" and that he understood this to mean the President. Scheider reviewed a list of materials at the Army Chemical Corps installation at [[Fort Detrick]], chose one that "was supposed to produce a disease" indigenous to the region, and in late September delivered the lethal substances to the CIA station officer in Leopoldville with instructions to assassinate Lumumba.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 19, 1960 Bissell signed a cable to Leopoldville stating "You are authorized proceed with operation," and on September 19 Bissell and Tweedy sent the station a cryptic message through a restricted channel. Bissell testified that it was "entirely probable" he discussed the assassination with Tweedy and "very probable" he discussed it with Scheider, that he "most certainly" approved the cables, and that his belief in presidential authorization "has to be described as inference." He read the Special Group minutes of August 25 as meaning that "if it had to be assassination, that that was a permissible means." He told the committee the August 26 cable from Dulles was, in his belief, a circumlocution for the President's wish that Lumumba be killed.[^3]
|
||||
On August 19, 1960 Bissell signed a cable to Leopoldville stating "You are authorized proceed with operation," and on September 19 Bissell and Tweedy sent the station a cryptic message through a restricted channel. Bissell testified that it was "entirely probable" he discussed the assassination with Tweedy and "very probable" he discussed it with Scheider, that he "most certainly" approved the cables, and that his belief in presidential authorization "has to be described as inference." He read the Special Group minutes of August 25 as meaning that "if it had to be assassination, that that was a permissible means." He told the committee the August 26 cable from Dulles was, in his belief, a circumlocution for the President's wish that Lumumba be killed.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A July 1981 clipping in the CIA's reading room from the London *Daily Telegraph* reported that Madeleine Kalb's *The Congo Cables*, then about to be published, named the scientist who brought the poison kit to the Congo as [[Sidney Gottlieb]], "the CIA's top scientist at the time"; a separate clipping in the same collection describes Gottlieb as head of the agency's [[Technical Services Division]], which, the clipping says, ran the drug experiments of the [[MKULTRA]] program and stored toxins. The Church report's description of Scheider's post as Bissell's science adviser is the record connecting the DDP's office to that division.[^3][^6]
|
||||
A July 1981 clipping in the CIA's reading room from the London *Daily Telegraph* reported that Madeleine Kalb's *The Congo Cables*, then about to be published, named the scientist who brought the poison kit to the Congo as [[Sidney Gottlieb]], "the CIA's top scientist at the time"; a separate clipping in the same collection describes Gottlieb as head of the agency's [[Technical Services Division]], which, the clipping says, ran the drug experiments of the [[MKULTRA]] program and stored toxins. The Church report's description of Scheider's post as Bissell's science adviser is the record connecting the DDP's office to that division.[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Castro, the Office of Security and ZR/RIFLE
|
||||
|
||||
The Church Committee found the earliest concrete evidence of the CIA's gambling-syndicate plot against Castro in a conversation between Bissell and Colonel [[Sheffield Edwards]], Director of the Office of Security, which the Inspector General placed in August 1960 and Bissell remembered as late summer or early autumn. Bissell testified that he asked Edwards to find someone to assassinate Castro and believed Edwards raised the idea of contacting members of a gambling syndicate; Edwards assigned the task to the chief of the Office of Security's Operational Support Division (the "Support Chief" of the report), who engaged [[Robert Maheu]], who recruited [[Johnny Roselli]], who in turn brought in "Sam Gold" ([[Sam Giancana]]). Edwards told Bissell contact had been made. On October 18, 1960 [[J. Edgar Hoover]] sent Bissell a memorandum reporting that Giancana had told friends Castro would be "done away with very shortly," in November. The Support Chief testified that Colonel [[J. C. King]] gave $50,000 in Bissell's office to be paid to a Cuban contact for the assassination and that Bissell authorized the delivery of communications equipment; Bissell did not recall the meeting and considered it unlikely, though he knew poison pills had been prepared. The Inspector General placed the money passed at $10,000.[^3]
|
||||
The Church Committee found the earliest concrete evidence of the CIA's gambling-syndicate plot against Castro in a conversation between Bissell and Colonel [[Sheffield Edwards]], Director of the Office of Security, which the Inspector General placed in August 1960 and Bissell remembered as late summer or early autumn. Bissell testified that he asked Edwards to find someone to assassinate Castro and believed Edwards raised the idea of contacting members of a gambling syndicate; Edwards assigned the task to the chief of the Office of Security's Operational Support Division (the "Support Chief" of the report), who engaged [[Robert Maheu]], who recruited [[Johnny Roselli]], who in turn brought in "Sam Gold" ([[Sam Giancana]]). Edwards told Bissell contact had been made. On October 18, 1960 [[J. Edgar Hoover]] sent Bissell a memorandum reporting that Giancana had told friends Castro would be "done away with very shortly," in November. The Support Chief testified that Colonel [[J. C. King]] gave $50,000 in Bissell's office to be paid to a Cuban contact for the assassination and that Bissell authorized the delivery of communications equipment; Bissell did not recall the meeting and considered it unlikely, though he knew poison pills had been prepared. The Inspector General placed the money passed at $10,000.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In early 1961, per Bissell's own account, [[William Harvey]] was assigned responsibility for a general capability within the CIA for disabling foreign leaders, with assassination as a last resort, called Executive Action and later covered by the cryptonym ZR/RIFLE. Bissell described it to the committee as "internal and purely preparatory" and said he was "quite certain" Dulles had full knowledge of it. Harvey's notes record that on November 16, 1961 Bissell asked him to take over the gambling-syndicate operation from Edwards and that they discussed the "application of ZR/RIFLE program to Cuba"; Bissell testified the operation was not reactivated until after he left in February 1962. Bissell and Harvey briefed [[Richard Helms]], who replaced him as DDP, and Bissell did not recall briefing [[John McCone]], who had succeeded Dulles as DCI; McCone testified he had no knowledge of the project. The committee records Bissell as DDP under McCone for three months, November 1961 to February 1962.[^3]
|
||||
In early 1961, per Bissell's own account, [[William Harvey]] was assigned responsibility for a general capability within the CIA for disabling foreign leaders, with assassination as a last resort, called Executive Action and later covered by the cryptonym ZR/RIFLE. Bissell described it to the committee as "internal and purely preparatory" and said he was "quite certain" Dulles had full knowledge of it. Harvey's notes record that on November 16, 1961 Bissell asked him to take over the gambling-syndicate operation from Edwards and that they discussed the "application of ZR/RIFLE program to Cuba"; Bissell testified the operation was not reactivated until after he left in February 1962. Bissell and Harvey briefed [[Richard Helms]], who replaced him as DDP, and Bissell did not recall briefing [[John McCone]], who had succeeded Dulles as DCI; McCone testified he had no knowledge of the project. The committee records Bissell as DDP under McCone for three months, November 1961 to February 1962.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bay of Pigs
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's official history of the Bay of Pigs operation records Bissell's direct involvement in the Guatemalan base arrangements. [[Jake Esterline]], Chief of WH/4, the Cuban task force, told the CIA historian [[Jack B. Pfeiffer]] that he went to Guatemala in 1960 "on specific instruction from Bissell and Dulles" to draw up a status-of-forces agreement with President Ydigoras; on November 14, 1960, when Ydigoras asked to borrow part of the Brigade to put down an uprising at Puerto Barrios, Bissell told Pfeiffer in 1975 that he was called at 2:30 in the morning and sent a cable saying "Yes" on his own responsibility because he did not think the decision should be left to the station. His Assistant DDP for Action was [[Tracy Barnes]].[^4]
|
||||
The CIA's official history of the Bay of Pigs operation records Bissell's direct involvement in the Guatemalan base arrangements. [[Jake Esterline]], Chief of WH/4, the Cuban task force, told the CIA historian [[Jack B. Pfeiffer]] that he went to Guatemala in 1960 "on specific instruction from Bissell and Dulles" to draw up a status-of-forces agreement with President Ydigoras; on November 14, 1960, when Ydigoras asked to borrow part of the Brigade to put down an uprising at Puerto Barrios, Bissell told Pfeiffer in 1975 that he was called at 2:30 in the morning and sent a cable saying "Yes" on his own responsibility because he did not think the decision should be left to the station. His Assistant DDP for Action was [[Tracy Barnes]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The agency's post-mortems pitted Bissell's directorate against its Inspector General. The Inspector General's survey of October 1961 was transmitted on November 20, 1961 with a 150-page report and ten recommendations; the Deputy Director, General Cabell, called it deficient in a memorandum of December 15, 1961. An unsigned memorandum to the DCI of December 1, 1961 in the same file listed three factors to which the failure should be charged: the government's lack of recognition of the operation's scale, its failure to plan for using regular U.S. forces, and its unwillingness to commit the resources needed. The DDP's analysis of January 18, 1962 blamed factors outside the agency's control and the failure of the air drops on Cuban reception crews; an agency memorandum of January 26, 1962 replied that it was "preoccupied with interdepartmental policy-making and military strategy" while the survey was concerned with the failure to build internal resistance in Cuba, and that its discussion of Miami activities was inaccurate. The Taylor Committee's conclusion, summarized in an August 15, 1961 memorandum, was that the operation's leaders "did not always present their case with sufficient force and clarity to the senior officers of the government" particularly concerning the cancellation of the D-Day strikes. In his memorandum of February 15, 1962 Dulles wrote that the Inspector General had not requested information from him or from the DDP, that the Brigade had reached the landing area on schedule and with complete surprise, and that the failure to land ammunition and supplies "was due to circumstances beyond the control of the Brigade commander."[^5]
|
||||
The agency's post-mortems pitted Bissell's directorate against its Inspector General. The Inspector General's survey of October 1961 was transmitted on November 20, 1961 with a 150-page report and ten recommendations; the Deputy Director, General Cabell, called it deficient in a memorandum of December 15, 1961. An unsigned memorandum to the DCI of December 1, 1961 in the same file listed three factors to which the failure should be charged: the government's lack of recognition of the operation's scale, its failure to plan for using regular U.S. forces, and its unwillingness to commit the resources needed. The DDP's analysis of January 18, 1962 blamed factors outside the agency's control and the failure of the air drops on Cuban reception crews; an agency memorandum of January 26, 1962 replied that it was "preoccupied with interdepartmental policy-making and military strategy" while the survey was concerned with the failure to build internal resistance in Cuba, and that its discussion of Miami activities was inaccurate. The Taylor Committee's conclusion, summarized in an August 15, 1961 memorandum, was that the operation's leaders "did not always present their case with sufficient force and clarity to the senior officers of the government" particularly concerning the cancellation of the D-Day strikes. In his memorandum of February 15, 1962 Dulles wrote that the Inspector General had not requested information from him or from the DDP, that the Brigade had reached the landing area on schedule and with complete surprise, and that the failure to land ammunition and supplies "was due to circumstances beyond the control of the Brigade commander."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Departure
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's U-2 history states that the Bay of Pigs "discredited Bissell with the Kennedy administration," that Dulles resigned in November 1961, and that Killian and Land pressed for removing the overhead reconnaissance programs from the DDP into a science-oriented directorate, which Bissell resisted. He resigned on February 17, 1962 after refusing McCone's offer to become the CIA's first Deputy Director for Research, and the new directorate absorbed the Development Projects Division two days later. Helms succeeded him as DDP.[^1][^3]
|
||||
The CIA's U-2 history states that the Bay of Pigs "discredited Bissell with the Kennedy administration," that Dulles resigned in November 1961, and that Killian and Land pressed for removing the overhead reconnaissance programs from the DDP into a science-oriented directorate, which Bissell resisted. He resigned on February 17, 1962 after refusing McCone's offer to become the CIA's first Deputy Director for Research, and the new directorate absorbed the Development Projects Division two days later. Helms succeeded him as DDP.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later life
|
||||
|
||||
After the CIA he worked at the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]] and in industry, and wrote *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs*, with Jonathan E. Lewis and Frances T. Pudlo, which Yale University Press published in 1996 after his death on February 7, 1994.[^7]
|
||||
After the CIA he worked at the [[Institute for Defense Analyses]] and in industry, and wrote *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs*, with Jonathan E. Lewis and Frances T. Pudlo, which Yale University Press published in 1996 after his death on February 7, 1994.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Pedlow, Gregory W., and Donald E. Welzenbach, *The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974* (CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998), chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10 and biographical glossary, including interviews of Bissell by Welzenbach (November 8, 1984) and Pedlow. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA355539
|
||||
[^2]: Ruffner, Kevin C., ed., *CORONA: America's First Satellite Program* (CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1995), including Kenneth E. Greer, "CORONA," *Studies in Intelligence*, Spring 1973 supplement. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA499635
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, 94th Cong., 1st sess. (1975), sections on the Congo and on Cuba, citing Bissell's testimony of June 9, June 11, July 17, July 22 and September 10, 1975, and Scheider, October 7 and 9, 1975. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit. The report states that pseudonyms were used for some individuals.
|
||||
[^4]: CIA History Staff, *Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation*, Volume II, "Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy" (Jack B. Pfeiffer), citing Oral History Interview, Richard M. Bissell by Jack B. Pfeiffer, October 17, 1975. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001237696
|
||||
[^5]: CIA Reading Room: Memorandum from Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick to John McCone, "Survey of the Cuban Operation," November 20, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160016-0); memorandum of December 1, 1961 and C. P. Cabell memorandum of December 15, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3); "The IG's Cuban Survey and the DD/P's Analysis of the Cuban Operation," January 26, 1962 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160009-8); "Taylor Report," August 15, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160002-5); Allen W. Dulles, "The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation," February 15, 1962 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160008-9). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160008-9
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*, 94th Cong., 1st sess. (1975), sections on the Congo and on Cuba, citing Bissell's testimony of June 9, June 11, July 17, July 22 and September 10, 1975, and Scheider, October 7 and 9, 1975. https://archive.org/details/allegedassassina00unit. The report states that pseudonyms were used for some individuals.
|
||||
[^3]: Eisenhower Presidential Library, Richard M. Bissell Jr. Papers, Ford Foundation Series finding aid, series description ("Richard Bissell joined the staff of the Ford Foundation in January 1952 after leaving the Economic Cooperation Administration (later the Mutual Security Agency). After a brief tenure he resigned in 1954."). https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/bissell-richard-m-jr-papers/ford-foundation-series.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Harm Langenkamp, "A Most Interesting and Complex Involvement," Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), note 8 (Bissell as consultant to the Ford Foundation, left 1954 to become Dulles's special assistant). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Ruffner, Kevin C., ed., *CORONA: America's First Satellite Program* (CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1995), including Kenneth E. Greer, "CORONA," *Studies in Intelligence*, Spring 1973 supplement. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA499635
|
||||
[^6]: Hugh Davies, "Eisenhower 'ordered Congo assassination,'" *The Daily Telegraph* (London), August 7, 1981, CIA-RDP90-00552R000403870002-9; "CIA Secrecy," CIA-RDP90-00965R000705910017-5 (reading room clipping). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403870002-9
|
||||
[^7]: Bissell, Richard M. Jr., with Jonathan E. Lewis and Frances T. Pudlo, *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs* (Yale University Press, 1996).
|
||||
[^7]: CIA History Staff, *Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation*, Volume II, "Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy" (Jack B. Pfeiffer), citing Oral History Interview, Richard M. Bissell by Jack B. Pfeiffer, October 17, 1975. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001237696
|
||||
[^8]: CIA Reading Room: Memorandum from Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick to John McCone, "Survey of the Cuban Operation," November 20, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160016-0); memorandum of December 1, 1961 and C. P. Cabell memorandum of December 15, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160013-3); "The IG's Cuban Survey and the DD/P's Analysis of the Cuban Operation," January 26, 1962 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160009-8); "Taylor Report," August 15, 1961 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160002-5); Allen W. Dulles, "The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation," February 15, 1962 (CIA-RDP80B01676R001900160008-9). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900160008-9
|
||||
[^9]: Bissell, Richard M. Jr., with Jonathan E. Lewis and Frances T. Pudlo, *Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs* (Yale University Press, 1996).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Victims & Witnesses"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- BelgiumScandals
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Twelve-year-old from the Tournai area abducted by Marc Dutroux on May 27, 1996, and freed from his Marcinelle cellar with Laetitia Delhez on August 15, 1996."
|
||||
born: 1983-10-28
|
||||
location: "Tournai, Belgium"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
||||
role: "abducted May 27, 1996; freed August 15, 1996"
|
||||
start: 1996-05-27
|
||||
end: 1996-08-15
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Sabine Dardenne, aged twelve, was abducted on May 27, 1996, on her way to school, and was freed on August 15, 1996.[^1][^2] The investigation cell set up for her disappearance at Tournai was staffed by the gendarmerie. Information on [[Marc Dutroux]] held by the missing-persons unit reached it only after a fax of June 20, 1996, from the General Police Support Service (SGAP); the missing-persons unit told a coordination meeting on June 26 that Dutroux was the subject of an investigation, including surveillance, by the Charleroi criminal investigation brigade that had so far been negative. Assuming that Charleroi was following Dutroux closely, the investigating judge and the cell did not contact the Charleroi gendarmerie, and did not learn that the surveillance had long since ended. The commission found the investigation "essentially passive" and limited to its own district.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
After a witness at Bertrix gave three digits of a license plate following the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] on August 9, Dutroux, his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested at about five in the afternoon on August 12, 1996. A search of the house on August 13 with tracker dogs found nothing; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Sabine and Laetitia were found alive in the concealed cell in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted Dutroux of her abduction, sequestration and rape, and Lelièvre, who did not deny it, of her abduction and sequestration; Martin was convicted of her sequestration. [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] was acquitted of the charges relating to the abductions.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Abduction and the Cellar
|
||||
|
||||
The cell in which she was held was the one in which [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] had been held. The writer S. Dovey wrote that Lelièvre blocked her path on her bicycle near a factory while Dutroux seized her and forced her into a van, using chloroform; that the cell had been built in 1993 with the labor of [[Claude Thirault]] and hidden behind shelving; that Dutroux conditioned her with drugs and hypnosis into dependence on him, told her she was being held for ransom, and was embraced by her when they were found; that more than twenty calls passed between Dutroux and Nihoul around the abductions; and that at the trial she testified to the manipulation she had undergone and to the roles of Martin and Lelièvre.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its dates for the abduction (May 26, 1996) and for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) are contradicted by the commission's report; its placing of the abduction at Farciennes is not supported by the report, which records the investigation as run from Tournai. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 86-88 and the chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
|
|
@ -13,16 +13,16 @@ Sidney Cooke led a gang of murderous pedophiles known as the "Dirty Dozen" who w
|
|||
|
||||
### Criminal Activities and Investigations
|
||||
|
||||
Scotland Yard investigated the possibility that Sidney Cooke and his gang had produced films of the deaths of boys during orgies held at a flat in east London. This investigation was closely linked to the murder of Jason Swift. The inquiry was launched after a British man arrested in [[Amsterdam]] in 1989 claimed such a film existed, and Scotland Yard suspected nine other kids were murdered in this way. During the 1980s, Scotland Yard conducted an investigation into Sidney Cooke called "Operation Orchid." During this investigation, it was learned that one of Cooke's accomplices, Lennie Smith, had been a rent boy in the West End thought to have been linked to the [[Elm Guest House]].[^1]
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that Scotland Yard investigated the possibility that Sidney Cooke and his gang had produced films of the deaths of boys during orgies held at a flat in east London. This investigation was closely linked to the murder of Jason Swift. The inquiry was launched after a British man arrested in [[Amsterdam]] in 1989 claimed such a film existed, and Scotland Yard suspected nine other kids were murdered in this way. During the 1980s, Scotland Yard conducted an investigation into Sidney Cooke called "Operation Orchid." During this investigation, it was learned that one of Cooke's accomplices, Lennie Smith, had been a rent boy in the West End thought to have been linked to the [[Elm Guest House]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
When detectives checked the original case files in 2014 to see if any further links between Cooke's gang and the Elm Guest House had been discovered, they found the files pertaining to that aspect of the investigation were missing. The Operation Orchid files weren't the only ones to go missing. It was also learned that the dossier [[Geoffrey Dickens]] handed over to [[Leon Brittan]] in 1983 had since been either lost or destroyed by the Home Office. Because [[Leon Brittan]] had been the minister in charge of overseeing domestic intelligence agencies at that time, it was soon suspected that past investigations into an alleged VIP pedophile ring had been covered-up by MI5. In 2014, detectives re-examining the case of [[Vishal Mehrotra]] learned that Cooke's gang had been looked at as suspects in the murder.[^1]
|
||||
When detectives checked the original case files in 2014 to see if any further links between Cooke's gang and the Elm Guest House had been discovered, they found the files pertaining to that aspect of the investigation were missing. The Operation Orchid files weren't the only ones to go missing. It was also learned that the dossier [[Geoffrey Dickens]] handed over to [[Leon Brittan]] in 1983 had since been either lost or destroyed by the Home Office. Because Leon Brittan had been the minister in charge of overseeing domestic intelligence agencies at that time, it was soon suspected that past investigations into an alleged VIP pedophile ring had been covered-up by MI5. In 2014, detectives re-examining the case of [[Vishal Mehrotra]] learned that Cooke's gang had been looked at as suspects in the murder.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### VIP Network and International Connections
|
||||
|
||||
According to research by Kevin Allen, there had been a private chauffeur company used by the Australian High Commission to hire stand-in drivers on occasion. This company had a number of convicted pedophiles on its payroll, including at one time Sidney Cooke, whose gang the "[[Dirty Dozen]]" would later be convicted and jailed for the torture and murder of three young boys in the 80s. Cooke and his pedophile cohort were understood to be some of the drivers who would pick up young care-home boys and rent boys in expensive cars and deliver them to organized orgies in Barnes, Pimlico and Kensington. Cooke was employed by the same chauffeur company that was investigated after the 1979 disappearance of [[Martin Allen]], the son of the personal chauffeur to the Australian High Commissioner.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The investigation into Cooke's suspected snuff films later became a joint-investigation with Dutch authorities in 1992 and 1993, targeting British foreign nationals in Amsterdam. This coincided with other international child pornography investigations involving [[Francis Shelden]] and other British nationals. The international scope of Cooke's activities connects to broader child trafficking networks operating between the UK and European child sex hotspots like [[Amsterdam]], where other pedophiles such as [[Warwick Spinks]] were known to operate. [^1]
|
||||
Dovey wrote that the investigation into Cooke's suspected snuff films later became a joint investigation with Dutch authorities, targeting British nationals in Amsterdam. This coincided with other international child pornography investigations involving [[Francis Shelden]] and other British nationals. The international scope of Cooke's activities connects to broader child trafficking networks operating between the UK and European child sex hotspots like Amsterdam, where other pedophiles such as [[Warwick Spinks]] were known to operate. [^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,19 +10,31 @@ summary: "Brzezinski dismissed suggestions from Prime Minister Begin that the U.
|
|||
born: 1928-03-28
|
||||
died: 2017-05-26
|
||||
location: "Warsaw, Poland"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "national security adviser during the White House response to the Vela event"
|
||||
start: 1979-09-22
|
||||
end: 1980-12-01
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] was the [[United States|U.S.]] National Security Adviser during the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration, playing a key role in foreign policy decisions during a period of significant Middle Eastern upheaval.
|
||||
|
||||
### Iran Policy
|
||||
|
||||
Brzezinski dismissed suggestions from [[Menachem Begin|Prime Minister Begin]] that the [[United States|U.S.]] should support [[Mehdi Bazargan|Mehdi Bazargan's]] government in [[Iran]] against the growing [[Iraq|Iraqi]] threat. Instead, Brzezinski and the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration believed [[Iran]] should be allowed to disintegrate until a [[United States|U.S.]]-supported leader emerged.[^1]
|
||||
Brzezinski dismissed suggestions from [[Menachem Begin|Prime Minister Begin]] that the U.S. should support [[Mehdi Bazargan|Mehdi Bazargan's]] government in [[Iran]] against the growing [[Iraq|Iraqi]] threat. Instead, Brzezinski and the Carter administration believed Iran should be allowed to disintegrate until a U.S.-supported leader emerged.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### VELA Satellite Nuclear Incident
|
||||
|
||||
On September 22, 1979, a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light over the South Indian Ocean, probable evidence of a nuclear explosion. This event, suspected to be a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, was reported to Brzezinski and President [[Jimmy Carter]]. [[Gerald G. Oplinger]], Brzezinski's aide for global issues, recalled that Brzezinski was present at an urgent meeting in the [[White House]] situation room where the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] stated that the odds were at least ninety percent that it had been a nuclear explosion. Brzezinski had little to say during this meeting.[^2]
|
||||
On September 22, 1979, a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light from a region of about 3,000 miles in diameter that included the southern Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the southern tip of Africa and part of Antarctica. The signal was a double flash of the kind associated with a nuclear explosion; a presidential science panel later judged it probably not nuclear.[^2] This event, suspected to be a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, was reported to Brzezinski and President Jimmy Carter. [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that [[Gerald G. Oplinger]], Brzezinski's aide for global issues, recalled that Brzezinski was present at an urgent meeting in the [[White House]] situation room where the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] stated that the odds were at least ninety percent that it had been a nuclear explosion, and that Brzezinski had little to say during this meeting.[^3] The summary of conclusions of the mini-Special Coordination Committee meeting held in the Situation Room on September 22, 1979 lists [[Henry Owen]] (chairman), William E. Odom, Jerry Schecter and Gerald Funk for the National Security Council. Owen "summed up the evidence as follows: Strong positive evidence. No negative evidence." The summary records that the meeting began with an intelligence briefing.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In September 1977 Brzezinski wrote to the secretary of state that, in response to Ambassador [[Samuel Lewis]]' cable from [[Tel Aviv]], the president "stated that it is obvious that past cooperation is excluded, and that we shouldn't push it any more for now." [[Gerard C. Smith]] replied on September 17, 1977 that the response was confined to the present and that "we could find it difficult to explain why we had accepted so reserved a response."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. _Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network_. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
|
||||
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. _The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy_. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, narrative. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/index.htm ; Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 362, September 23, 1979 ("south Atlantic, southern Indian Ocean, southern Africa, or Antarctica"). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d362
|
||||
[^3]: Hersh, Seymour M. _The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy_. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^4]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 361. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d361
|
||||
[^5]: Brzezinski, Zbigniew, memorandum to the Secretary of State, "Possible Israeli-South African Nuclear Connection," September 13, 1977, Secret, and Smith, Gerard C., memorandum to Brzezinski, September 17, 1977. Documents 2 and 3 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
74
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Bernie Houghton.md
Normal file
74
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Bernie Houghton.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- NuganHandBank
|
||||
- SaudiArabia
|
||||
- Sydney
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Bernie Houghton
|
||||
- Maurice Bernard Houghton
|
||||
- Maurice Houghton
|
||||
- Maurice Bernard "Bernie" Houghton
|
||||
summary: "Bernie Houghton, an American bar owner in Sydney, was described as the mystery man behind Nugan Hand Bank's Saudi Arabian operations and denied to Australian investigators in 1981 any CIA or drug involvement."
|
||||
born: 1920-07-25
|
||||
died: 2000-07-22
|
||||
location: "Sydney, Australia"
|
||||
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Nugan Hand Bank]]"
|
||||
role: Saudi Arabian operations, according to The Bulletin
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Bourbon and Beefsteak]]"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Parkes Development]]"
|
||||
role: real estate salesman
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
Bernie Houghton (Maurice Bernard Houghton, born July 25, 1920, in [[Dallas]], [[Texas]], died July 22, 2000, in [[Sydney]]) was an American businessman and bar owner in Sydney whom [[The Bulletin]] described in June 1984 as "the mystery man behind Nugan Hand's Saudi Arabian operations." The Task Force interviewed him in [[Acapulco]], Mexico, in June 1981.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early life and Sydney
|
||||
|
||||
Houghton's account to [[Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking|Task Force]] investigators, as reproduced by The Bulletin, gives his background. He was born in Texas in 1920, lived in various cities in the south-western United States where his father worked as an oil driller, and attended [[Southern Methodist University]] when the United States entered the Second World War. He enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] cadet training program and was discharged in 1946. He went into business in restaurants, clubs, surplus war material and miscellaneous ventures, went to [[Vietnam]] early in the 1960s, where he worked for a construction material expediter, and came to Sydney in January 1967. He worked for [[Parkes Development]] as a real estate salesman and opened the [[Bourbon and Beefsteak]] bar in [[Kings Cross]] in November 1967.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Houghton and [[Michael Hand]], an American from New York, met socially in 1967 and lived near each other in Kings Cross. Houghton said he had heard of Hand's combat record in Vietnam as early as 1964, and that he had a "Sergeant York image" of Hand.[^1] [[Jonathan Kwitny]] wrote that Houghton arrived in Australia eight months before Hand, that he was one of the first people Hand met there, and that he "may well have introduced Hand to Nugan."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nugan Hand operations
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1978 Hand asked Houghton to go to [[Germany]] to review an investment the bank had made there. Houghton said that he told Hand that he neither spoke German nor knew the banking business, and that Hand replied that Houghton's logic and judgment were what he wanted. Houghton then went to [[Hamburg]] for ten days with expenses paid by Hand.[^1] On his return he stopped in the United States and visited [[Earl P. Yates|Admiral Yates]], who encouraged him to join the organisation. The Bulletin added that Yates, a retired Navy rear admiral, joined Nugan Hand International in 1977 and was the first president of the company.[^1] Houghton told investigators that Hand was looking for senior executives to manage the various banks, and that Hand became aware that Yates was looking for a change of position and hired him after the two met. Houghton said Yates was "instrumental in the hiring of other senior retired military officers."[^1] Kwitny wrote that by most accounts Houghton recruited Yates into the Nugan Hand job.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Houghton said he went to Texas, learned of the potential for business in [[Saudi Arabia]], discussed it with Hand in [[Singapore]], and set up the Saudi operation after Hand assured him the company was financially strong. He said he agreed to a full-time appointment only after Hand agreed that he would not work for [[Frank Nugan]], and that he worked for the Nugan Hand Bank of the [[Cayman Islands]]. Certificates of deposit issued in Saudi Arabia were pre-signed by Hand, George Shaw or Steve Hill, whom the Bulletin described as directors of the bank in Sydney, and copies were forwarded to the Singapore office. The Bulletin reported that Houghton described how $4 million or $5 million deposited in Saudi Arabia was converted into $1,000 traveller's cheques and taken to Singapore.[^1] Houghton said that on about April 12, 1980 the bank's Jeddah office learned from a Saudi newspaper that the Hong Kong company had been put into receivership, that he was in [[Washington, D.C.]] when the Alkhobar manager telephoned him, and that the staff left the country.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Neil Evans]], a former bank executive, told the Task Force that Houghton was the CIA's top man in Australia, that Hand had said Houghton was involved in distributing drugs through his retail outlets, and that an account at [[Irving Trust]] in New York was a link between the CIA and the bank. Houghton denied each allegation. He said he had never been an employee of the CIA, and that he had never heard or seen evidence that the Irving Trust account was used for any clandestine purpose.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Edwin Wilson and the Geneva office
|
||||
|
||||
[[The Nation]] reported in March 1984 that the Task Force's fourth volume described [[Edwin Wilson]] and "Maurice Houghton, an official of Nugan Hand," as having a series of meetings at the end of which Wilson placed Nugan Hand's order for 10 million rounds of ammunition and 3,000 weapons.[^4] [[Keith Schneider]] of the [[New York Times]] wrote in March 1987 that the report said that on the day Nugan's body was discovered Houghton arrived at Wilson's office in [[Geneva]], and that according to an unidentified witness Houghton left a travel case at the office and departed. According to the report as Schneider described it, in April [[Tom Clines]] and [[Rafael Quintero]] arrived at the office, the bag was opened in the presence of all, they studied the documents inside and removed one, and during the search [[Richard Secord]]'s name was mentioned and Clines said: "We've got to keep Dick's name out of this."[^5] Kwitny wrote that the circles Houghton moved in included Secord, [[Heinie Aderholt]], Wilson and Clines.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nugan's death and the records
|
||||
|
||||
Kwitny wrote that after Nugan's death Hand returned to Sydney by way of the United States, was joined by Yates, and that Houghton met Hand and Yates at the airport and joined them, with Hill and Shaw, at the Nugan Hand offices.[^3] A Sydney butcher who worked on and off as manager of the Bourbon and Beefsteak told the Task Force that in late February 1980 he met Houghton and Shaw on the eighth floor of the bank's headquarters before moving records from an office in the [[AMP Centre]], that on one occasion Houghton went to the flat where the records were stored and asked an employee to kick in the back door to gain access, and that Hand later told him it would be better to give the same evidence as Hand "rather than involve George Shaw, Bernie Houghton and Barry Target."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Bulletin reported that Houghton left Australia in June 1980, two weeks after Hand's disappearance.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Task Force interview, 1981
|
||||
|
||||
Task Force investigators [[Kevin Woods]] and Bob Gray met Houghton and his [[San Francisco]] lawyer at Houghton's suite at the [[Princess Hotel]] in Acapulco on June 9, 1981, for a four-day interview.[^1] Houghton said that he left Australia in June 1980 "to take care of commercial commitments," and that "I left the country legally and openly." He said Hand telephoned him in the United States in March 1981, and that Hand was "lonesome, full of guilt and asking for forgiveness for having embroiled me in his problems."[^1] Houghton "absolutely denied" that the bank was operating on behalf of the CIA or as a drug-runner, according to the Bulletin's commentary on the interview.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Stannard, Bruce. "Nugan Hand from the Inside." The Bulletin (Sydney), June 5, 1984, pp. 22-27, with Sykes, Trevor, "Unsafe as a bank could possibly be," p. 27, reproducing the Task Force interviews of Maurice Bernard Houghton (June 9, 1981) and Robert Wallace Gehring (May 29, 1981); reproduced in Cabinet Documents on the Inquiry into the Nugan-Hand Group, Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, Part 1. https://archive.org/details/Nugan-Hand
|
||||
|
||||
[^2]: "Houghton, Maurice Bernard (Bernie) (1920-2000)." People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/houghton-maurice-bernard-bernie-34666
|
||||
|
||||
[^3]: Kwitny, Jonathan. *The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA*. W.W. Norton, 1987 (Touchstone edition, 1988, pp. 37-39, 55).
|
||||
|
||||
[^4]: "Dispatches: Australia: The Nugan Hand Investigation." The Nation, March 3, 1984. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1
|
||||
|
||||
[^5]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
|
||||
|
|
@ -7,16 +7,25 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Stargate
|
||||
- Nuclear
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "Acting director of defense programs at the Department of Energy who directed the Nuclear Intelligence Panel study of the 1979 Vela satellite flash, concluding it was a nuclear bomb."
|
||||
summary: "Acting director of defense programs at the Department of Energy, identified by Hersh, Richelson and Weiss as head of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel review of the 1979 Vela satellite flash."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "identified by Richelson and Weiss as head of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel review of the event"
|
||||
start: 1980-02-11
|
||||
end: 1980-02-14
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Donald M. Kerr, Jr. served in the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration as acting director of the defense programs at the [[Department of Energy]], making him responsible for [[America]]'s nuclear bombs. He directed the secret Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP) study into the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting. Kerr stated that the NIP had no doubt it was a nuclear bomb and believed the [[Jack P. Ruina|Ruina]] panel's mandate was driven by politics "to find a different explanation."[^1]
|
||||
Donald M. Kerr, Jr. served in the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration as acting director of the defense programs at the [[Department of Energy]], making him responsible for [[America]]'s nuclear bombs. [[Seymour Hersh]], Jeffrey Richelson and [[Leonard Weiss]] identify him as the head of the secret Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP) review of the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting.[^1][^2] The panel met on February 11 to 13, 1980. Its February 14, 1980 memorandum to the director of central intelligence states that the attached summary of panel views "was prepared by the Panel Chairman, Mr. Louis H. Roddis, Jr."[^1] Hersh wrote that Kerr said, "We had no doubt it was a bomb," and that Kerr believed the [[Jack P. Ruina|Ruina]] panel's mandate was driven by politics "to find a different explanation."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sun Streak
|
||||
|
||||
Donald M. Kerr was the director of [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]]. He was a member of the new science panel for the [[Stargate Project|Sun Streak]] program, which was established on January 31, 1986[^2].
|
||||
Donald M. Kerr was the director of [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]]. He was a member of the new science panel for the [[Stargate Project|Sun Streak]] program, which was established on January 31, 1986[^4].
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
[^1]: Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Judgments of the DCI's Nuclear Intelligence Panel on the 22 September 1979 Event," February 14, 1980, Secret. Document 6 in Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, whose narrative names Kerr as chairman. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/06.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Weiss, Leonard. "Flash from the Past: Why an Apparent Israeli Nuclear Test in 1979 Matters Today." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 8, 2015. https://thebulletin.org/2015/09/flash-from-the-past-why-an-apparent-israeli-nuclear-test-in-1979-matters-today/
|
||||
[^3]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^4]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 to March 30, 2021) was a former agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], a prosecutor in [[Dutchess County, New York]], an official of the [[Department of the Treasury]] and a member of the [[White House]] "[[White House Plumbers|Plumbers]]" unit. As general counsel and then finance committee counsel of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] he presented the intelligence plan known as Gemstone, and on January 30, 1973 he was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping offenses arising from the [[Watergate]] break-in; in 1974 he was also convicted for the 1971 burglary of the office of the psychiatrist of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]. [[Jimmy Carter]] commuted his sentence on April 12, 1977.[^1][^2][^3] He died on March 30, 2021.[^4]
|
||||
|
|
@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ Edward Jay Epstein wrote in 1977 that Liddy graduated from [[Fordham University
|
|||
|
||||
Epstein wrote that Liddy sought the Republican nomination for district attorney of Dutchess County in June 1968 and lost a party caucus, 25 to 4, then challenged Representative [[Hamilton Fish Jr.]] for the Republican congressional nomination and lost the primary by a few thousand votes, took the [[Conservative Party of New York State|New York Conservative Party]] line, and withdrew after [[Gerald R. Ford]], then House Republican leader, came to Poughkeepsie and arranged for Liddy to endorse Fish in return for a promise of a position in the Nixon administration. Epstein gave this account without attribution to a named participant.[^5] In 1969, Epstein wrote, Liddy became a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury under [[Eugene Rossides|Eugene T. Rossides]], who supervised the department's law enforcement bureaus, and Liddy was assigned to Task Force Number One, a joint [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and Treasury task force on narcotics smuggling. Epstein wrote that Rossides feared Attorney General [[John Mitchell]] would use the task force to enlarge the Justice Department's domain at the expense of the [[United States Customs Service|Customs Bureau]] and that Liddy was assigned to protect Treasury's interests.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] record, prepared in answer to the question whether the agency had any other dealings with Liddy while he was in Treasury or at the White House, states that in December 1969 security action was initiated to grant Liddy a number of agency clearances in connection with his Treasury employment, at which time he was listed as a member of the Presidential Task Force reporting on narcotics, marijuana and dangerous drugs; that in August 1971 he was briefed on several additional sensitive programs in connection with his assignment to the White House staff; that memoranda prepared in 1971 (the catalog text is partly illegible) indicated he was working with [[David R. Young]] on the investigation of leaks of classified information to the news media; and that he was debriefed from these special clearances on February 22, 1972. The record concludes that "Mr. Liddy held Agency clearances because of his White House duties, but he was not utilized by CIA."[^7]
|
||||
A [[Central Intelligence Agency]] record, prepared in answer to the question whether the agency had any other dealings with Liddy while he was in Treasury or at the White House, states that in December 1969 security action was initiated to grant Liddy a number of agency clearances in connection with his Treasury employment, at which time he was listed as a member of the Presidential Task Force reporting on narcotics, marijuana and dangerous drugs; that in August 1971 he was briefed on several additional sensitive programs in connection with his assignment to the White House staff; that memoranda prepared in 1971 indicated he was working with [[David R. Young]] on the investigation of leaks of classified information to the news media; and that he was debriefed from these special clearances on February 22, 1972. The record concludes that "Mr. Liddy held Agency clearances because of his White House duties, but he was not utilized by CIA."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 26, 1973 Henry S. Ruth, Deputy Special Prosecutor of the [[Watergate Special Prosecution Force]], wrote to John S. Warner, the CIA's Acting General Counsel, about questions arising in the investigation of [[ITT Corporation|ITT]] and "the persons who were employed by Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, and Bernard Barker." The letter asked whether the CIA had employed or been associated with Felipe de Diego, Pablo Fernandez, Angelo Ferrer, Hiram Gonzalez, Humberto Lopez and [[Hal Hendrix]]; whether it knew of intelligence or undercover activities by ITT against the Chilean government in the [[United States]]; whether it knew of arrangements between ITT and the [[Robert R. Mullen Company|Mullen Company]]; whether it had any working relationship with the ITT Public Relations Office at 495 Biltmore Way, [[Coral Gables, Florida|Coral Gables]], Florida; and whether it was aware "of any intelligence or undercover activities performed by Howard Hunt and/or Gordon Liddy for ITT." Warner forwarded the letter on August 3, 1973 to Bill Nelson with a note that it should be cross-checked with the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]]. The reply of the CIA's Cover and Commercial Staff dated August 7, 1973, which describes the letter as dated July 29, responds to the third and fourth questions only, stating that the staff had never discussed with the Mullen Company any association with ITT, that the Mullen file contained two brochures listing no ITT among its clients, and that the staff had no relationship with or information about the Coral Gables office; the released document does not address the fifth question.[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ The *New York Times* reported on April 14, 1980, summarizing excerpts from *Will
|
|||
|
||||
The New York *Daily News* reported on April 18, 1980 that Liddy said on two network television programs that Anderson was "a pain in the butt" to the Nixon White House and that assassinating him would have been "justifiable homicide," that he had made the recommendation at a White House meeting at which Hunt first suggested drugging Anderson with LSD, and that Anderson's columns had compromised an intelligence agent who was unmasked, tortured and killed. Anderson, meeting Liddy on the program, said that neither Liddy nor anyone else could name a CIA agent tortured or killed as a result of his columns: "It never happened." Liddy answered that he had not said CIA agent. Hunt declined to appear on the second program; the report stated that Hunt said he never discussed with Liddy a need to kill Anderson, that they considered how to discredit Anderson with LSD, and that they dropped the matter when a retired CIA doctor said attempts of that kind overseas had been unsuccessful.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
In an interview recorded for [[Mark Feldstein]]'s 2010 book *Poisoning the Press*, Hunt said before his death that [[Charles Colson]] had ordered him and Liddy to examine Anderson's home from the outside for vulnerabilities, and that Liddy had an idea involving poison wiped on a man's wrist.[^41] Colson's spokeswoman told NBC that Colson "believes everyone has debunked this story a long time ago and he has nothing to add to it."[^41] Feldstein's book also describes a lunch in March 1972 at the [[Hay-Adams Hotel]] with a recently retired CIA poison specialist.[^41]
|
||||
|
||||
United Press International reported on October 31, 1986 that Liddy told *USA Today* that he would have killed Anderson and Hunt if ordered to do so, that the decision had to be taken "from a much higher level than I was," that he had been ordered to discuss the Anderson problem with "[[Edward Gunn|Dr. Edward Gunn]] of the CIA," whom he described as "the CIA's assassination expert," and that "it was not until an Anderson column caused the death of one of our intelligence people posted abroad that that thought was even entertained." The report added that published reports in 1975 had said that a senior official in the Nixon White House ordered Anderson killed and the death made to look accidental.[^38]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
|
@ -179,3 +181,4 @@ United Press International reported on October 31, 1986 that Liddy told *USA Tod
|
|||
[^38]: "Liddy Says He Would Have Killed If Ordered," United Press International, October 31, 1986, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710003-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710003-5
|
||||
[^39]: Eddie Scarry, "G. Gordon Liddy Ends 20-year Radio Run," *Adweek*, September 20, 2012. https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/gordon-liddy-retirement-marsha-blackburn/
|
||||
[^40]: Thomas Raftery and Donald Singleton, "Liddy: Murder Was Rx for Our Pain in Papers," *New York Daily News*, April 18, 1980, in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP90-00552R000403710019-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000403710019-8
|
||||
[^41]: Michael Isikoff, "Nixon plot against newspaper columnist detailed," NBC News, September 13, 2010, reporting on Mark Feldstein, *Poisoning the Press* (2010), and on an interview with Howard Hunt provided to NBC. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39157420
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -7,16 +7,19 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Henry Hans Holthuis served as a Dutch district attorney during the 1990s, holding a position of significant authority within the Netherlands' judicial system."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Henry Hans Holthuis served as a Dutch district attorney during the 1990s, holding a position of significant authority within the Netherlands' judicial system. As a district attorney, Holthuis possessed substantial legal power and responsibility for prosecuting criminal cases, making his involvement in illicit activities particularly concerning given his role in upholding and enforcing Dutch law. His position placed him within the upper echelons of the Dutch legal establishment, where he would have had access to sensitive information, influence over legal proceedings, and the ability to shape investigative priorities within his jurisdiction.[^1]
|
||||
Henry Hans Holthuis served as a Dutch district attorney during the 1990s, with responsibility for prosecuting criminal cases within the Netherlands' judicial system.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Rolodex Affair and Bell Boys Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
Henry Hans Holthuis became embroiled in the [[Rolodex Investigation]] investigation of 1997-98, which exposed a sophisticated callboy service catering to Dutch justice officials and other influential figures. The investigation centered on the [[Bell Boys]] service operated by [[Karel Maasdam]] (alias 'Alex Privee'), which provided underage boys to high-profile clients throughout the Dutch establishment. Holthuis's private number was discovered in the rolodex of [[Professor Der Van Roon]] from the University of Amsterdam, who served as a reputable go-between for clients of Maasdam's service, facilitating connections between the prostitution operation and its elite clientele.[^1]
|
||||
Former detective [[Leendert de Koter]] testified on March 5, 2014 before an examining magistrate in Utrecht that the [[Rijksrecherche]] supplied the names of [[Joris Demmink]] and of three chief prosecutors, which he gave as [[Jan Wolter Wabeke]], Henry Hans Holthuis and [[Wooldrik]], and that the suspicion against the four was repeated sexual abuse of minors. He did not elaborate on the prosecutors.[^2][^3] The Dutch government's summary of the [[Rolodex Investigation]] records that a witness named two chief prosecutors, not named in the summary, as having appeared on a rolodex of a brothel owner; that the rolodex was never found; and that the College of Procurators-General concluded in March and May 1999 that the two could not be regarded as suspects.[^4] The March 2014 ministerial letter gives August 1998 as the start of the Rolodex probe.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The investigation revealed that Professor Van Roon frequented the [[Festival Bar]], a boy brothel in Amsterdam, and maintained detailed records of his clients in his rolodex, which was provided to police by an informant. Alongside Holthuis, the rolodex contained the private numbers of at least two other Dutch district attorneys: [[Henk Wooldrik]] and [[Jan Wolter Wabeke]]. This discovery made clear that multiple high-ranking justice officials were simultaneously involved in patronizing child prostitution services while holding positions responsible for prosecuting such crimes.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
According to information provided to the Dutch current affairs program EenVandaag by an alleged bookkeeper of Karel Maasdam named [[Richard Carl-Samson]], [[Warwick Spinks]] frequently pimped boys to both [[Joris Demmink]] and Henry Hans Holthuis. This connection directly linked Holthuis to one of the most notorious international child traffickers operating in Europe during the 1990s. Warwick Spinks, a British national who operated from Amsterdam, was known for his extensive involvement in child prostitution, pornography production, and trafficking across European borders, making his association with a sitting Dutch district attorney particularly alarming.[^1]
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that a rolodex held the private numbers of three district attorneys including Holthuis, Henk Wooldrik and Wabeke, and that the rolodex belonged to a university professor who served as an intermediary for clients of [[Karel Maasdam]]'s [[Bell Boys]] service, with Holthuis's number among those in it. Dovey also wrote that a man Dovey describes as Maasdam's bookkeeper told the Dutch current-affairs programme EenVandaag that [[Warwick Spinks]] frequently supplied boys to Demmink and Holthuis.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: NOS, "Politie onderzocht Demmink in '97," March 5, 2014. https://nos.nl/artikel/619220-politie-onderzocht-demmink-in-97
|
||||
[^3]: "Oud-hoofdofficier justitie Jan Wolter Wabeke uit Best genoemd in zedenzaak Joris Demmink," Omroep Brabant, March 5, 2014. https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/1720283/oud-hoofdofficier-justitie-jan-wolter-wabeke-uit-best-genoemd-in-zedenzaak-joris-demmink
|
||||
[^4]: "Samenvatting van de aanleiding, het verloop, de resultaten en de besluitvorming in het Rolodex-onderzoek," December 23, 2013. https://eerstekamer.nl/9370000/1/j4nvgs5kjg27kof_j9vvkfvj6b325az/vjigib8p5szh
|
||||
[^5]: Tweede Kamer, Kamerstuk 33 750 VI, nr. 116, letter of March 27, 2014. https://www.eerstekamer.nl/behandeling/20140327/brief_regering/document3/f=/vjifeja4nlzk.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -76,9 +76,10 @@ relations:
|
|||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
end: 1965
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board of trustees"
|
||||
fn: 22
|
||||
start: 1959
|
||||
end: 1965-12
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board of trustees (trustee from 1953)"
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
|
||||
start: 1953
|
||||
|
|
@ -112,36 +113,36 @@ relations:
|
|||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[ExxonMobil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Mobil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Gulf Oil]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Texaco]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Standard Oil of California]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[BP]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Royal Dutch Shell]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Seven Sisters oil companies"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Libyan Producers Agreement]]"
|
||||
start: 1971-01
|
||||
role: "counsel to whom the Business Review letters were addressed"
|
||||
fn: 34
|
||||
fn: 35
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Cuban Missile Crisis]]"
|
||||
start: 1962-10
|
||||
|
|
@ -152,9 +153,9 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Warren Commission]]"
|
||||
start: 1963-11-29
|
||||
role: "commissioner"
|
||||
fn: 50
|
||||
fn: 51
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Jay McCloy (born in [[Philadelphia]] on March 31, 1895; died in [[Stamford, Connecticut]], on March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, banker and government official. He served as Assistant Secretary of War, president of the [[World Bank]], U.S. Military Governor and High Commissioner for [[Germany]], chairman of the [[Chase Manhattan Bank]], the [[Ford Foundation]] and the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], counsel to the major international oil companies, chairman of the [[General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament]] and a member of the [[Warren Commission]]. [[Amherst College]], which holds his papers, records his name at birth as John McCloy, with "Snader" used as a middle name in college records until about 1935 and "Jay" thereafter.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -205,71 +206,71 @@ McCloy was brought into the Ford Foundation as a consultant by [[Henry Ford II]]
|
|||
|
||||
On April 29, 1953, McCloy, on Council on Foreign Relations letterhead, wrote Allen Dulles, by then Director of Central Intelligence, that he was "delighted to have a report from Shep Stone" that Dulles would join a Council study group on relations between the democratic nations and the [[Soviet Union]], "undertaken at the Council on Foreign Relations under a grant of the Ford Foundation," with a full-time staff under [[Henry L. Roberts]] of [[Columbia University]]. "Though the group will be entirely unofficial, its findings will be made available to our government," he wrote, adding that the CIA's [[Robert Amory]] would attend the first dinner meeting on May 6, 1953.[^23] In a letter of February 25, 1954, quoted by the historian [[Volker Berghahn]] and cited by Harm Langenkamp, Stone wrote McCloy about the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]]: "you know the sources of funds that have hitherto been supplied to the Congress, but in our conversation with these gentlemen [Nabokov and Rougemont] we should not reveal what we know."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum of May 21, 1954 by [[Don K. Price]] set the Foundation's policy on government-sponsored programs: such projects could be recommended if "worth support on their merits, regardless of any official interest," and with the prior approval of three trustees, "the Chairman, the President, and 'Mr. McCloy.'" Langenkamp, citing Price's 1972 oral history and McCloy's interview with [[Kai Bird]], writes that McCloy and Price later defended the arrangement as a means of limiting the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s access to Foundation officers and grantees, quotes McCloy as saying the Foundation could not keep its "shirts clean" had it closed the door on the Agency entirely, and quotes Price's warning to Dulles and [[Frank Wisner]]: "The first time you meddle with our boys, we'll quit this whole program." In 1958 Dulles invited Foundation officers to Washington for a briefing on Agency operations, and in 1959 Price reached an understanding allowing the CIA to approach Foundation fellows after their grants expired; in the early 1960s Foundation president [[Henry T. Heald]] repeated the Foundation's position to Director [[John McCone]].[^24] Writing of 1962, when Stone sought a five-year guarantee of some $2,000,000 a year to free the Congress for Cultural Freedom from the CIA's treasury, Langenkamp describes McCloy as Stone's "staunchest ally" and as having by then assumed the chairmanship of the board. The Congress, which the CIA had tried from the outset to transfer to the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, reached self-sufficiency through Ford's 1957 to 1962 grant at the moment the cover of the Agency's network of front organizations was blown; Stone's 1962 proposal itself foundered.[^25]
|
||||
A memorandum of May 21, 1954 by [[Don K. Price]] set the Foundation's policy on government-sponsored programs: such projects could be recommended if "worth support on their merits, regardless of any official interest," and with the prior approval of three trustees, "the Chairman, the President, and 'Mr. McCloy.'" Langenkamp, citing Price's 1972 oral history and McCloy's interview with [[Kai Bird]], writes that McCloy and Price later defended the arrangement as a means of limiting the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s access to Foundation officers and grantees, quotes McCloy as saying the Foundation could not keep its "shirts clean" had it closed the door on the Agency entirely, and quotes Price's warning to Dulles and [[Frank Wisner]]: "The first time you meddle with our boys, we'll quit this whole program." In 1958 Dulles invited Foundation officers to Washington for a briefing on Agency operations, and in 1959 Price reached an understanding allowing the CIA to approach Foundation fellows after their grants expired; in the early 1960s Foundation president [[Henry T. Heald]] repeated the Foundation's position to Director [[John McCone]].[^24] Writing of 1962, when Stone sought a five-year guarantee of some $2,000,000 a year to free the Congress for Cultural Freedom from the CIA's treasury, Langenkamp describes McCloy as Stone's "staunchest ally" and as having by then assumed the chairmanship of the board. The Congress, which the CIA had tried from the outset to transfer to the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, reached self-sufficiency through Ford's 1957 to 1962 grant at the moment the cover of the Agency's network of front organizations was blown; Stone's 1962 proposal itself foundered.[^25] The foundation's 1965 annual report states that McCloy served on the board of trustees from 1953 and as its chairman from 1959, retiring on December 31, 1965, and that [[Julius A. Stratton]], president of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] and a trustee since 1955, was elected chairman to replace him.[^26]
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|
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McCloy was chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1953 to 1971.[^1]
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|
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### Chase Manhattan
|
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|
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McCloy was chairman of the board of the Chase National Bank from January 1953 to December 1960; the bank merged with the [[Bank of the Manhattan Company]] in April 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank.[^1] His papers include six volumes of appointment and telephone logs kept as chairman from 1953 to 1958, consisting mostly of names with almost no notation of subject matter, and correspondence of March 1960 concerning his retirement from the bank.[^26] On April 20, 1962, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[Marshall S. Carter]] wrote him at One Chase Manhattan Plaza that he was being briefed that afternoon on "the other matter" they had discussed by telephone and would come back with "a substantive proposal."[^27]
|
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McCloy was chairman of the board of the Chase National Bank from January 1953 to December 1960; the bank merged with the [[Bank of the Manhattan Company]] in April 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank.[^1] His papers include six volumes of appointment and telephone logs kept as chairman from 1953 to 1958, consisting mostly of names with almost no notation of subject matter, and correspondence of March 1960 concerning his retirement from the bank.[^27] On April 20, 1962, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence [[Marshall S. Carter]] wrote him at One Chase Manhattan Plaza that he was being briefed that afternoon on "the other matter" they had discussed by telephone and would come back with "a substantive proposal."[^28]
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### Counsel to the Oil Companies
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|
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From 1961 McCloy was a name partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hope, Hadley & McCloy.[^1] For much of the 1960s and 1970s he advised the "McCloy Group," representatives of most of the major American oil companies and several European and British firms, on legal questions and on foreign and domestic policy, and advocated on their behalf in the Justice Department, the State Department and Congress. His files on the group include representation agreements dated March 20 to August 2, 1962. He kept the Antitrust Division informed of oil group meetings and negotiations, sought specific clearance for actions that might have been construed as violations of the antitrust laws, and "made a point of holding briefing meetings with each new Attorney General to ensure a continuity of contact and goodwill with the Department."[^28]
|
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From 1961 McCloy was a name partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hope, Hadley & McCloy.[^1] For much of the 1960s and 1970s he advised the "McCloy Group," representatives of most of the major American oil companies and several European and British firms, on legal questions and on foreign and domestic policy, and advocated on their behalf in the Justice Department, the State Department and Congress. His files on the group include representation agreements dated March 20 to August 2, 1962. He kept the Antitrust Division informed of oil group meetings and negotiations, sought specific clearance for actions that might have been construed as violations of the antitrust laws, and "made a point of holding briefing meetings with each new Attorney General to ensure a continuity of contact and goodwill with the Department."[^29]
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|
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From the early 1960s McCloy represented the Seven Sisters ([[Gulf Oil|Gulf]], [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]], [[BP]], [[ExxonMobil|Exxon]], [[Standard Oil of California|Socal]], [[Texaco]] and [[Mobil]]) and was engaged by other companies operating in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. He testified to the [[Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations]] of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], that while an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] he raised the possibility of joint action by the companies against the combined pressure of the producing countries, and that the President arranged a meeting with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]]. Asked whether the understanding was ever formalized, he answered: "No, I don't believe I ever got a letter from him in regard to it." He informed Deputy Attorney General [[Byron White]] and Attorneys General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], [[Ramsey Clark]] and [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]] of his concerns about [[OPEC]] in informal conversations.[^29]
|
||||
From the early 1960s McCloy represented the Seven Sisters ([[Gulf Oil|Gulf]], [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]], [[BP]], [[ExxonMobil|Exxon]], [[Standard Oil of California|Socal]], [[Texaco]] and [[Mobil]]) and was engaged by other companies operating in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. He testified to the [[Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations]] of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee|Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], chaired by Senator [[Frank Church]], that while an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] he raised the possibility of joint action by the companies against the combined pressure of the producing countries, and that the President arranged a meeting with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]]. Asked whether the understanding was ever formalized, he answered: "No, I don't believe I ever got a letter from him in regard to it." He informed Deputy Attorney General [[Byron White]] and Attorneys General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]], [[Ramsey Clark]] and [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]] of his concerns about [[OPEC]] in informal conversations.[^30]
|
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|
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On January 11, 1967, as the [[Internal Revenue Service]] questioned the industry's pricing practices, McCloy wrote Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] about an IRS audit of the tax returns of the five American majors: "I believe that the Department of State has a particular responsibility to make known to the Treasury Department the implications of its proposed attack on crude oil prices," because the system of royalties and creditable local income taxes "was recommended to the oil companies and to the foreign governments involved in the Department of State and the Treasury Department," and without it "large amounts of direct foreign aid might well be required." The subcommittee found that the failure of the IRS to reverse its original ruling after posted and realized prices diverged in 1957 "has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars in revenues"; in 1973 Exxon paid an effective rate of 11.2 percent on earnings of $2.98 billion, Mobil 5 percent and Texaco 2.3 percent.[^30]
|
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On January 11, 1967, as the [[Internal Revenue Service]] questioned the industry's pricing practices, McCloy wrote Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] about an IRS audit of the tax returns of the five American majors: "I believe that the Department of State has a particular responsibility to make known to the Treasury Department the implications of its proposed attack on crude oil prices," because the system of royalties and creditable local income taxes "was recommended to the oil companies and to the foreign governments involved in the Department of State and the Treasury Department," and without it "large amounts of direct foreign aid might well be required." The subcommittee found that the failure of the IRS to reverse its original ruling after posted and realized prices diverged in 1957 "has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars in revenues"; in 1973 Exxon paid an effective rate of 11.2 percent on earnings of $2.98 billion, Mobil 5 percent and Texaco 2.3 percent.[^31]
|
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|
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On December 9, 1969, McCloy joined [[David Rockefeller]] and the men listed as [[J. K. Jamieson|Jamieson]], Anderson, [[Rawleigh Warner|Warner]] and [[John Swearingen|Swearingen]] in a meeting with President [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] on the [[Middle East]]; Kissinger's briefing memorandum titled it "Your Meeting with the David Rockefeller Group."[^31]
|
||||
On December 9, 1969, McCloy joined [[David Rockefeller]] and the men listed as [[J. K. Jamieson|Jamieson]], Anderson, [[Rawleigh Warner|Warner]] and [[John Swearingen|Swearingen]] in a meeting with President [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] on the [[Middle East]]; Kissinger's briefing memorandum titled it "Your Meeting with the David Rockefeller Group."[^32]
|
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|
||||
### The Libyan Producers Agreement and the Business Review Letters
|
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|
||||
On September 25, 1970, McCloy attended, as attorney for several of the major companies, a meeting at which Under Secretary of State [[U. Alexis Johnson]] told the companies operating in [[Libya]] that United States intervention with the Libyan government would be "ineffective at best."[^32] On September 29, 1970, [[Peter Flanigan]], the President's Assistant for International Economic Affairs, recorded that McCloy, "representative of the International Oil Company," had spoken with Johnson; that Flanigan had cleared with Attorney General Mitchell that the companies could discuss a Libyan proposal together "if they were to sit down together with a member of the Justice Department"; and that "[t]his information was given to John McCloy who also spoke to Mitchell." Flanigan suggested to McCloy that the penalties of a break with Libya were greater than those of a settlement, reasoning that a settlement's cost increase would fall on all European and Japanese supplies but only a small part of American supplies, so that "the result would be a competitive benefit to the United States"; he told McCloy the government would expect the companies "to follow the course that they and he thought best."[^33] On January 7, 1971, Johnson met representatives of Esso, Mobil, Gulf, Texaco and Socal and "attorney John McCloy" on OPEC's demands; McCloy said the producers' cartel was in "very strong bargaining position" and asked whether the State Department "could be helpful with Department of Justice in obtaining permission under anti-trust laws for companies to coordinate response."[^34] [[James Akins]] of the State Department and [[Dudley Chapman]] of the Antitrust Division were detailed to work with the companies and McCloy on the documents.[^29]
|
||||
On September 25, 1970, McCloy attended, as attorney for several of the major companies, a meeting at which Under Secretary of State [[U. Alexis Johnson]] told the companies operating in [[Libya]] that United States intervention with the Libyan government would be "ineffective at best."[^33] On September 29, 1970, [[Peter Flanigan]], the President's Assistant for International Economic Affairs, recorded that McCloy, "representative of the International Oil Company," had spoken with Johnson; that Flanigan had cleared with Attorney General Mitchell that the companies could discuss a Libyan proposal together "if they were to sit down together with a member of the Justice Department"; and that "[t]his information was given to John McCloy who also spoke to Mitchell." Flanigan suggested to McCloy that the penalties of a break with Libya were greater than those of a settlement, reasoning that a settlement's cost increase would fall on all European and Japanese supplies but only a small part of American supplies, so that "the result would be a competitive benefit to the United States"; he told McCloy the government would expect the companies "to follow the course that they and he thought best."[^34] On January 7, 1971, Johnson met representatives of Esso, Mobil, Gulf, Texaco and Socal and "attorney John McCloy" on OPEC's demands; McCloy said the producers' cartel was in "very strong bargaining position" and asked whether the State Department "could be helpful with Department of Justice in obtaining permission under anti-trust laws for companies to coordinate response."[^35] [[James Akins]] of the State Department and [[Dudley Chapman]] of the Antitrust Division were detailed to work with the companies and McCloy on the documents.[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division|Antitrust Division]] under Assistant Attorney General [[Richard W. McLaren]] issued [[Business Review letter|Business Review letters]] to McCloy covering a joint "[[Message to OPEC]]" and the [[Libyan Producers Agreement]] (the Safety Net Agreement), under which Libyan producers would replace the production of any company shut in for resisting Libyan demands, with Persian Gulf production to be shared under specified circumstances. The letters stated that the Department "does not presently intend to institute any proceedings under the antitrust laws." The subcommittee's report dates the letters January 19, 1971, and in the next paragraph places a January 15 meeting of McCloy and the chief executives with Secretary of State [[William P. Rogers]] and Under Secretary [[John N. Irwin II]] "two days after the issuance of the Business Review letters." At that meeting the companies sought a high-level mission to the producing countries; asked by Church whether he had suggested Irwin, McCloy answered: "No. As long as it was a person of dignity, with clout, to use that expression." Irwin, sent with Nixon's authorization, recommended from [[Tehran]] that the companies negotiate with the Gulf states separately; Rogers communicated the recommendation to McCloy, who informed the chief executives, and the subcommittee found that the State Department had thereby abandoned the strategy of a single global negotiation that lay at the heart of the Message to OPEC and the Business Review letters.[^34] [^35]
|
||||
The [[United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division|Antitrust Division]] under Assistant Attorney General [[Richard W. McLaren]] issued [[Business Review letter|Business Review letters]] to McCloy covering a joint "[[Message to OPEC]]" and the [[Libyan Producers Agreement]] (the Safety Net Agreement), under which Libyan producers would replace the production of any company shut in for resisting Libyan demands, with Persian Gulf production to be shared under specified circumstances. The letters stated that the Department "does not presently intend to institute any proceedings under the antitrust laws." The subcommittee's report dates the letters January 19, 1971, and in the next paragraph places a January 15 meeting of McCloy and the chief executives with Secretary of State [[William P. Rogers]] and Under Secretary [[John N. Irwin II]] "two days after the issuance of the Business Review letters." At that meeting the companies sought a high-level mission to the producing countries; asked by Church whether he had suggested Irwin, McCloy answered: "No. As long as it was a person of dignity, with clout, to use that expression." Irwin, sent with Nixon's authorization, recommended from [[Tehran]] that the companies negotiate with the Gulf states separately; Rogers communicated the recommendation to McCloy, who informed the chief executives, and the subcommittee found that the State Department had thereby abandoned the strategy of a single global negotiation that lay at the heart of the Message to OPEC and the Business Review letters.[^35] [^36]
|
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|
||||
The companies formed a [[London Policy Group]], with a parallel group in New York. Each London Policy Group meeting, on dates from January 20 to June 18, 1971, "was attended by a partner or associate from the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, counsel for the oil companies, whose function was to assure that the discussions remained within the terms of the Message to OPEC, the Libyan Producers Agreement, and the pertinent business review letters from the Antitrust Division." "No member of the Departments of Justice or State attended any of these meetings; instead, both Departments relied upon ex post-factor [sic] oral reports by oil company executives to Akins and written reports from McCloy to McLaren."[^35] The subcommittee found "no evidence of any Department of Justice monitoring of the negotiations"; not until October 1973, after subcommittee staff began to inquire, did anyone at the Department read the cable record of the company-OPEC negotiations.[^36] The February 14, 1971 [[Tehran Agreement]] raised the Gulf governments' take by an estimated $11.7 billion over five years, a cost McCloy described to McLaren as "extremely high."[^35]
|
||||
The companies formed a [[London Policy Group]], with a parallel group in New York. Each London Policy Group meeting, on dates from January 20 to June 18, 1971, "was attended by a partner or associate from the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, counsel for the oil companies, whose function was to assure that the discussions remained within the terms of the Message to OPEC, the Libyan Producers Agreement, and the pertinent business review letters from the Antitrust Division." "No member of the Departments of Justice or State attended any of these meetings; instead, both Departments relied upon ex post-factor [sic] oral reports by oil company executives to Akins and written reports from McCloy to McLaren."[^36] The subcommittee found "no evidence of any Department of Justice monitoring of the negotiations"; not until October 1973, after subcommittee staff began to inquire, did anyone at the Department read the cable record of the company-OPEC negotiations.[^37] The February 14, 1971 [[Tehran Agreement]] raised the Gulf governments' take by an estimated $11.7 billion over five years, a cost McCloy described to McLaren as "extremely high."[^36]
|
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|
||||
On October 15, 1971, McCloy informed McLaren that Libya had taken unilateral steps on exchange rates, and on October 19 he asked for further Business Review letters covering joint negotiation on currency parity and participation and an extension of the sharing agreement; the Department issued new letters addressed to him.[^37] At a State Department meeting on January 3, 1972 attended by the chairmen of the major companies, [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and McCloy, the Under Secretary of State proposed an industry advisory body; on January 20 McCloy and Akins agreed that an informal body was acceptable, and McCloy reported that some executives were "disturbed" by Akins's insistence that the companies change their relationship with the producing countries by 1976.[^38]
|
||||
On October 15, 1971, McCloy informed McLaren that Libya had taken unilateral steps on exchange rates, and on October 19 he asked for further Business Review letters covering joint negotiation on currency parity and participation and an extension of the sharing agreement; the Department issued new letters addressed to him.[^38] At a State Department meeting on January 3, 1972 attended by the chairmen of the major companies, [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and McCloy, the Under Secretary of State proposed an industry advisory body; on January 20 McCloy and Akins agreed that an informal body was acceptable, and McCloy reported that some executives were "disturbed" by Akins's insistence that the companies change their relationship with the producing countries by 1976.[^39]
|
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|
||||
The Business Review letters required the companies to report to the Justice Department through McCloy. In March 1973 a suit by the [[Corporate Accountability Research Group]] for the documents was pending against the Justice Department, "[a] similar request by [[New York Times|The New York Times]] in 1971 had been averted under the [[Freedom of Information Act]]," and the companies told State Department officials that the sharing agreement was a "form of insurance" that had allowed Bunker Hunt Oil Company to "stand firm" against Libyan demands. On March 23, 1973, [[Warren Clark]] of the North African Office in the Bureau of African Affairs wrote that release would show Libya that the companies had banded together to "denationalize" part of British Petroleum, and that the matter was "very sensitive from a domestic political point of view. The State Department and the USG have sanctioned in these Business Review Letters a strengthening of the international cartel of seven Anglo-Saxon oil companies." A Senate subcommittee "would fry the State Department if it was revealed that we classified these documents in order to protect the 'cartel,' and that we had taken the position that what was good for the cartel was good for US national security." Clark approved keeping the agreement and the letters classified on the narrow ground of proprietary interest.[^39]
|
||||
The Business Review letters required the companies to report to the Justice Department through McCloy. In March 1973 a suit by the [[Corporate Accountability Research Group]] for the documents was pending against the Justice Department, "[a] similar request by [[New York Times|The New York Times]] in 1971 had been averted under the [[Freedom of Information Act]]," and the companies told State Department officials that the sharing agreement was a "form of insurance" that had allowed Bunker Hunt Oil Company to "stand firm" against Libyan demands. On March 23, 1973, [[Warren Clark]] of the North African Office in the Bureau of African Affairs wrote that release would show Libya that the companies had banded together to "denationalize" part of British Petroleum, and that the matter was "very sensitive from a domestic political point of view. The State Department and the USG have sanctioned in these Business Review Letters a strengthening of the international cartel of seven Anglo-Saxon oil companies." A Senate subcommittee "would fry the State Department if it was revealed that we classified these documents in order to protect the 'cartel,' and that we had taken the position that what was good for the cartel was good for US national security." Clark approved keeping the agreement and the letters classified on the narrow ground of proprietary interest.[^40]
|
||||
|
||||
### Oil Diplomacy in 1973 and 1974
|
||||
|
||||
[[William J. Casey]] sat on McCloy's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament; the committee's letterheads of June 1970 and March and May 1971 list him among the members.[^40] On September 5, 1973, McCloy met Casey, by then Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, and asked that the government send a strong note on the illegality of Libya's nationalization, work with the Europeans "to make the Libyan expropriation attempt fail" by obtaining agreement not to buy oil from fields operated by the majors, and lift the environmental sulphur restriction as a demonstration of political determination. [[John Knubel]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff recorded for Kissinger McCloy's estimate that the net shortfall to the United States would be "about 50,000 barrels per day" if the majors stopped pumping Libyan oil, "a manageable amount (according to McCloy)".[^41] On October 12, 1973, during the [[October War]], McCloy sent [[Alexander Haig]] a memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, stating that the "chief ARAMCO shareholders" wished it "placed in the President's hands as soon as possible"; the memorandum warned that OPEC's demands could raise the free world's oil cost from the Persian Gulf alone by $15 billion a year, and a notation on Kissinger's covering memorandum of November 3 indicates that Nixon saw it.[^42]
|
||||
[[William J. Casey]] sat on McCloy's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament; the committee's letterheads of June 1970 and March and May 1971 list him among the members.[^41] On September 5, 1973, McCloy met Casey, by then Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, and asked that the government send a strong note on the illegality of Libya's nationalization, work with the Europeans "to make the Libyan expropriation attempt fail" by obtaining agreement not to buy oil from fields operated by the majors, and lift the environmental sulphur restriction as a demonstration of political determination. [[John Knubel]] of the [[National Security Council]] staff recorded for Kissinger McCloy's estimate that the net shortfall to the United States would be "about 50,000 barrels per day" if the majors stopped pumping Libyan oil, "a manageable amount (according to McCloy)".[^42] On October 12, 1973, during the [[October War]], McCloy sent [[Alexander Haig]] a memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, stating that the "chief ARAMCO shareholders" wished it "placed in the President's hands as soon as possible"; the memorandum warned that OPEC's demands could raise the free world's oil cost from the Persian Gulf alone by $15 billion a year, and a notation on Kissinger's covering memorandum of November 3 indicates that Nixon saw it.[^43]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 20, 1973, Kissinger met ten oil industry executives and McCloy, listed as "Milbank and Tweed," with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust [[Thomas Kauper]] among the officials present; Kissinger told McCloy he wanted to meet him "and a group of Atlanticists" about the Europeans, and the next day [[Brent Scowcroft]] reported that McCloy was prepared to assemble Americans and Europeans for the purpose. On February 8, 1974, Kissinger telephoned McCloy that "[w]e cannot have the Community organized against us as anti-American."[^43] Opening a meeting with the oil company heads on March 29, 1974, Kissinger said he had called it "after talking with Jack McCloy," and that "[t]he transcript taken here isn't going to go anywhere, except into my own personal files." When Deputy Secretary of Defense [[William Clements]] described the encouragement of technology and industry transfers into [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Atlantic Richfield]] chairman, [[Robert O. Anderson]], added, "In exchange for which we get a preferential position," McCloy said: "In other words, pick up the Yamani offer."[^44]
|
||||
On November 20, 1973, Kissinger met ten oil industry executives and McCloy, listed as "Milbank and Tweed," with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust [[Thomas Kauper]] among the officials present; Kissinger told McCloy he wanted to meet him "and a group of Atlanticists" about the Europeans, and the next day [[Brent Scowcroft]] reported that McCloy was prepared to assemble Americans and Europeans for the purpose. On February 8, 1974, Kissinger telephoned McCloy that "[w]e cannot have the Community organized against us as anti-American."[^44] Opening a meeting with the oil company heads on March 29, 1974, Kissinger said he had called it "after talking with Jack McCloy," and that "[t]he transcript taken here isn't going to go anywhere, except into my own personal files." When Deputy Secretary of Defense [[William Clements]] described the encouragement of technology and industry transfers into [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Atlantic Richfield]] chairman, [[Robert O. Anderson]], added, "In exchange for which we get a preferential position," McCloy said: "In other words, pick up the Yamani offer."[^45]
|
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|
||||
In a letter of September 21, 1973 to Kauper, McCloy listed his clients and reported that the producing states were again demanding changes to the Tehran and Tripoli agreements. In a later letter to Church he stated that American companies in the Middle East had made an affirmative contribution of over $2 billion to the 1972 balance of payments; the subcommittee found that the Commerce Department estimates on which he relied had "recently been found to be substantially in error" because they were computed on posted rather than realized prices.[^45] The McCloy Group appears to have been inactive from June 1973 to February 1979.[^28]
|
||||
In a letter of September 21, 1973 to Kauper, McCloy listed his clients and reported that the producing states were again demanding changes to the Tehran and Tripoli agreements. In a later letter to Church he stated that American companies in the Middle East had made an affirmative contribution of over $2 billion to the 1972 balance of payments; the subcommittee found that the Commerce Department estimates on which he relied had "recently been found to be substantially in error" because they were computed on posted rather than realized prices.[^46] The McCloy Group appears to have been inactive from June 1973 to February 1979.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Critchfield Reports and the Oil Files
|
||||
|
||||
The International Oil series of his papers contains sub-series I, "Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973," consisting of 49 "perspectives on development" and 16 special reports on Middle East issues. The Amherst archivists state that "[m]ost, if not all," were prepared by [[Basic Resources International]], a [[Falls Church, Virginia]], consulting firm "headed by [[James H. Critchfield]], formerly CIA bureau chief for the Middle East," and that Report 60 is a prospectus for the firm. Sub-series K of the same series holds a folder titled "Chase Manhattan Bank. Financial analysis of thirty-one petroleum companies" among oil company reports for 1964 to 1966. Other folders in the series hold a draft legal brief on taxes on oil company income and drafts of a proposed letter from President Nixon to the Shah of Iran.[^46]
|
||||
The International Oil series of his papers contains sub-series I, "Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973," consisting of 49 "perspectives on development" and 16 special reports on Middle East issues. The Amherst archivists state that "[m]ost, if not all," were prepared by [[Basic Resources International]], a [[Falls Church, Virginia]], consulting firm "headed by [[James H. Critchfield]], formerly CIA bureau chief for the Middle East," and that Report 60 is a prospectus for the firm. Sub-series K of the same series holds a folder titled "Chase Manhattan Bank. Financial analysis of thirty-one petroleum companies" among oil company reports for 1964 to 1966. Other folders in the series hold a draft legal brief on taxes on oil company income and drafts of a proposed letter from President Nixon to the Shah of Iran.[^47]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brazil and the McCone File
|
||||
|
||||
On February 21, 1964, Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] reported from [[Rio de Janeiro]] that President [[Joao Goulart|João Goulart]] "said looking forward to McCloy visit and thought Hanna case could have constructive solution." On February 29, 1964, McCloy, then a partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, met Goulart in Rio to discuss the status of the M.A. [[Hanna Mining Company]].[^47] On April 9, 1964, at 11:10 a.m., Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and McCloy spoke by telephone; four pages of the source text of the transcript, filed in McCone's "Eyes Only" telephone records, have not been declassified. The same day the three military ministers, [[Artur da Costa e Silva|Artur Costa e Silva]], [[Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo]] and [[Augusto Rademaker|Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald]], signed Brazil's [[Institutional Act]].[^48] On June 10, 1964, President [[Humberto Castelo Branco]] showed Gordon a staff report on "areas of friction abroad," including the Hanna case, and said work on resolving all of them was going forward rapidly.[^49]
|
||||
On February 21, 1964, Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] reported from [[Rio de Janeiro]] that President [[Joao Goulart|João Goulart]] "said looking forward to McCloy visit and thought Hanna case could have constructive solution." On February 29, 1964, McCloy, then a partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, met Goulart in Rio to discuss the status of the M.A. [[Hanna Mining Company]].[^48] On April 9, 1964, at 11:10 a.m., Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and McCloy spoke by telephone; four pages of the source text of the transcript, filed in McCone's "Eyes Only" telephone records, have not been declassified. The same day the three military ministers, [[Artur da Costa e Silva|Artur Costa e Silva]], [[Francisco de Assis Correia de Melo]] and [[Augusto Rademaker|Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald]], signed Brazil's [[Institutional Act]].[^49] On June 10, 1964, President [[Humberto Castelo Branco]] showed Gordon a staff report on "areas of friction abroad," including the Hanna case, and said work on resolving all of them was going forward rapidly.[^50]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Warren Commission
|
||||
|
||||
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] created the Commission by [[Executive Order 11130]] of November 29, 1963, and selected from private life two lawyers, Allen Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence, and McCloy; Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], Senators [[Richard B. Russell]] and [[John Sherman Cooper]], and Representatives [[Hale Boggs]] and [[Gerald R. Ford]] completed its membership. Its first meeting was on December 5, 1963.[^50] A transcript titled "Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," dated July 9, 1964, records a meeting attended by General Counsel [[J. Lee Rankin]], staff, McCloy and Dulles, at which Drs. [[Dale C. Cameron]], [[Howard P. Rome]] and [[David A. Rothstein]] gave "an informal colloquy, interrogation, and explanation" on a psychiatric interpretation of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]; its pages, 7821 to 8071, indicate that it was volume 57 of the Commission's transcripts.[^51] Rankin's files, donated to the JFK Collection, include memoranda and handwritten changes to draft chapters of the report that Ford, McCloy and Dulles, among others, recommended.[^52]
|
||||
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] created the Commission by [[Executive Order 11130]] of November 29, 1963, and selected from private life two lawyers, Allen Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence, and McCloy; Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], Senators [[Richard B. Russell]] and [[John Sherman Cooper]], and Representatives [[Hale Boggs]] and [[Gerald R. Ford]] completed its membership. Its first meeting was on December 5, 1963.[^51] A transcript titled "Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," dated July 9, 1964, records a meeting attended by General Counsel [[J. Lee Rankin]], staff, McCloy and Dulles, at which Drs. [[Dale C. Cameron]], [[Howard P. Rome]] and [[David A. Rothstein]] gave "an informal colloquy, interrogation, and explanation" on a psychiatric interpretation of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]; its pages, 7821 to 8071, indicate that it was volume 57 of the Commission's transcripts.[^52] Rankin's files, donated to the JFK Collection, include memoranda and handwritten changes to draft chapters of the report that Ford, McCloy and Dulles, among others, recommended.[^53]
|
||||
|
||||
Among the papers of Director McCone, the [[Assassination Records Review Board]] found a notation for a meeting of May 19, 1964, participants "DCI, J.J. McCloy," a dinner at the Director's residence, "Re: Oswald," annotated "Destroyed 1-28-72"; CIA historians had found the document missing when they reviewed the files in 1986, along with a record of a November 26, 1963 meeting between McCone and [[McGeorge Bundy]] on the assassination. The Board designated the notations as assassination records.[^53]
|
||||
Among the papers of Director McCone, the [[Assassination Records Review Board]] found a notation for a meeting of May 19, 1964, participants "DCI, J.J. McCloy," a dinner at the Director's residence, "Re: Oswald," annotated "Destroyed 1-28-72"; CIA historians had found the document missing when they reviewed the files in 1986, along with a record of a November 26, 1963 meeting between McCone and [[McGeorge Bundy]] on the assassination. The Board designated the notations as assassination records.[^54]
|
||||
|
||||
### Disarmament and the Cuban Missile Crisis
|
||||
|
||||
On January 27, 1961, Kennedy designated McCloy his adviser on disarmament and arms control, including the nuclear test ban, with offices in the [[White House]] and the State Department. On February 7, 1961, Dulles answered a McCloy letter on the test ban by naming [[Herbert Scoville]], the CIA's Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, as the Agency's point of contact.[^54] In July 1961 McCloy and [[Valerian Zorin]] conducted bilateral disarmament talks in Moscow; McCloy reported "little point in continuing while Zorin talks about plans and I talk about principles."[^55] McCloy chaired the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1961 to 1974, and the committee's sessions drew briefings from CIA officers including [[Arthur Lundahl]] of the National Photographic Interpretation Center and [[David Brandwein]], chairman of the Guided Missile Committee; in November 1969 he asked Director [[Richard Helms]] for a CIA specialist on Chinese strategic questions, noting that the content of the committee's discussions "is classified and should not be revealed beyond the Committee."[^40]
|
||||
On January 27, 1961, Kennedy designated McCloy his adviser on disarmament and arms control, including the nuclear test ban, with offices in the [[White House]] and the State Department. On February 7, 1961, Dulles answered a McCloy letter on the test ban by naming [[Herbert Scoville]], the CIA's Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, as the Agency's point of contact.[^55] In July 1961 McCloy and [[Valerian Zorin]] conducted bilateral disarmament talks in Moscow; McCloy reported "little point in continuing while Zorin talks about plans and I talk about principles."[^56] McCloy chaired the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1961 to 1974, and the committee's sessions drew briefings from CIA officers including [[Arthur Lundahl]] of the National Photographic Interpretation Center and [[David Brandwein]], chairman of the Guided Missile Committee; in November 1969 he asked Director [[Richard Helms]] for a CIA specialist on Chinese strategic questions, noting that the content of the committee's discussions "is classified and should not be revealed beyond the Committee."[^41]
|
||||
|
||||
In the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] McCloy chaired the Coordinating Committee and negotiated with the Soviet representative [[Vasily Kuznetsov]] in New York. On October 26, 1962, he joined [[Adlai Stevenson]] in talks with the [[United Nations]] Secretary-General and his aides on inspection and the removal of the missiles and IL-28 aircraft. A draft United States declaration headed "McCloy draft" and dated November 21, 1962 conditioned an assurance against invading Cuba on the withdrawal of offensive weapons. On January 2 and 3, 1963, McCloy and Kuznetsov negotiated the joint letter withdrawing the matter from the Security Council.[^56]
|
||||
In the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] McCloy chaired the Coordinating Committee and negotiated with the Soviet representative [[Vasily Kuznetsov]] in New York. On October 26, 1962, he joined [[Adlai Stevenson]] in talks with the [[United Nations]] Secretary-General and his aides on inspection and the removal of the missiles and IL-28 aircraft. A draft United States declaration headed "McCloy draft" and dated November 21, 1962 conditioned an assurance against invading Cuba on the withdrawal of offensive weapons. On January 2 and 3, 1963, McCloy and Kuznetsov negotiated the joint letter withdrawing the matter from the Security Council.[^57]
|
||||
|
||||
### Iran
|
||||
|
||||
From 1979 to 1981 McCloy was a member of a "Special Project Team" working to gain asylum in the United States for the deposed [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]; the team was headed by David Rockefeller, then chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, and included Kissinger and Chase vice president [[Joseph Verner Reed Jr.]] The team lobbied the President and the Secretary of State for the Shah's admission; he was admitted in October 1979 for cancer treatment, which was followed by the November 1979 seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran. Rockefeller in particular "was accused of helping the Shah out of self-interest, because of the millions of dollars of Iranian loans and assets held by the Chase Manhattan Bank."[^57]
|
||||
From 1979 to 1981 McCloy was a member of a "Special Project Team" working to gain asylum in the United States for the deposed [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]; the team was headed by David Rockefeller, then chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, and included Kissinger and Chase vice president [[Joseph Verner Reed Jr.]] The team lobbied the President and the Secretary of State for the Shah's admission; he was admitted in October 1979 for cancer treatment, which was followed by the November 1979 seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran. Rockefeller in particular "was accused of helping the Shah out of self-interest, because of the millions of dollars of Iranian loans and assets held by the Chase Manhattan Bank."[^58]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Papers
|
||||
|
||||
McCloy gave his papers to Amherst College, where he was a trustee from 1947 to 1989, by a deed of gift in July 1985. Before their transfer, "roughly half of the papers underwent a national security review by the Department of State"; the bulk arrived in May 1986, "with several batches sent later following clearance by the relevant government agency," and a second installment received in June 1990, after his death, was reviewed by the State Department and legal counsel. The collection holds only photocopies of his War Department diaries; the originals are at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]. Names or other details were removed from some entries to protect the privacy of individuals, and "there are a few places where information was removed from the original by an unknown party prior to the diaries' transfer to Amherst College."[^58]
|
||||
McCloy gave his papers to Amherst College, where he was a trustee from 1947 to 1989, by a deed of gift in July 1985. Before their transfer, "roughly half of the papers underwent a national security review by the Department of State"; the bulk arrived in May 1986, "with several batches sent later following clearance by the relevant government agency," and a second installment received in June 1990, after his death, was reviewed by the State Department and legal counsel. The collection holds only photocopies of his War Department diaries; the originals are at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]. Names or other details were removed from some entries to protect the privacy of individuals, and "there are a few places where information was removed from the original by an unknown party prior to the diaries' transfer to Amherst College."[^59]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -298,36 +299,37 @@ McCloy gave his papers to Amherst College, where he was a trustee from 1947 to 1
|
|||
[^23]: John J. McCloy, Council on Foreign Relations, to Allen W. Dulles, April 29, 1953, CIA-RDP80R01731R001200020045-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001200020045-2
|
||||
[^24]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), notes 50 (Stone to McCloy, February 25, 1954, cited by Volker Berghahn), 56 (Price memorandum of May 21, 1954; Price oral history, June 22, 1972, p. 70; McCloy interview in Bird, *The Chairman*, p. 427) and 57 (John B. Howard oral history; Henry T. Heald oral history). https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^25]: Langenkamp, Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports (2021), abstract, text at notes 58 and 59, and conclusion. https://rockarch.issuelab.org/resources/38323/38323.pdf
|
||||
[^26]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 2, sub-series F and G (Chase Manhattan Bank appointment records and telephone logs) and Series 1 (retirement from Chase Manhattan, 1960 Mar). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^27]: Marshall S. Carter, Lieutenant General, USA, to John J. McCloy, April 20, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001300050094-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001300050094-2
|
||||
[^28]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, 1946-1981, scope note and sub-series B, C and E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^29]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, report together with individual views, 93d Cong., 2d sess., committee print, January 2, 1975, pp. 126 to 127. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^30]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 13 and 92 to 93 (McCloy to Rusk, January 11, 1967, Multinational Corporations hearings, Part 9). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^31]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, *Energy Crisis, 1969-1974*, Document 21, note 6, and Document 24 (Kissinger to Nixon, December 8, 1969) and note 5. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^32]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 125. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^33]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 57 (memorandum for the files by Peter Flanigan, September 29, 1970), pp. 130 to 131. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 66 (telegram 3565 from the Department of State, January 8, 1971), pp. 167 to 168; *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 127 to 129. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf ; https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^35]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 129 to 133. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^36]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 17. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^37]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 134 to 135. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^38]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 104 (memorandum of conversation, Washington, January 3, 1972) and note 2, pp. 246 to 247. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^39]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 173 (editorial note), pp. 438 to 440. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^40]: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament letterheads and correspondence: McCloy to Arthur Lundahl, June 5, 1970, CIA-RDP78B05703A000400090083-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp78b05703a000400090083-2 ; McCloy to David S. Brandwein, March 26, 1971, CIA-RDP81R00560R000100110004-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81r00560r000100110004-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, May 28, 1971, CIA-RDP74B00681R000100160009-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74b00681r000100160009-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, November 10, 1969, CIA-RDP80B01495R000100010004-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01495r000100010004-9
|
||||
[^41]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 201 (memorandum from John Knubel to Kissinger, September 5, 1973), pp. 548 to 549. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^42]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 212 (memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, New York, October 12, 1973) and note 1. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^43]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 243 (memorandum of conversation, November 20, 1973, 5 p.m.) and note 8, pp. 684 to 690; Document 311 (Kissinger and David Rockefeller, February 8, 1974), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^44]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 345 (memorandum of conversation, March 29, 1974, 5:15 p.m.), pp. 954 to 977. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^45]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 14, 127 and 169. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^46]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, sub-series B, I (Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973, Reports 1 to 65) and K (Oil Company Annual Reports, 1964-1966). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^47]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, *South and Central America; Mexico*, Document 183 (telegram 1761 from the Embassy in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, February 21, 1964), paragraph 8 and note 10, pp. 402 to 403. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^48]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 210 (transcript of telephone conversation between Director of Central Intelligence McCone and John J. McCloy, April 9, 1964, 11:10 a.m.; source: CIA, Job 80-B01285A, DCI (McCone) Files, Telephone Calls, Eyes Only), p. 461, and Document 211 (telegram 2235 from Rio de Janeiro, April 10, 1964), note 2. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^49]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 214 (telegram 2790 from Rio de Janeiro, June 10, 1964). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^50]: *Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy*, Foreword, p. ix, National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/foreword
|
||||
[^51]: National Archives, "Inventory of the Warren Commission's Records," Entry 46 ("Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," July 9, 1964, National Archives Identifier 607521). https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/inventory
|
||||
[^52]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "J. Lee Rankin: Warren Commission Papers." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^53]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "John McCone." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^54]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, *Arms Control and Disarmament*, Document 2 (Kennedy to McCloy, January 27, 1961) and note 1, https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub ; Allen W. Dulles to John J. McCloy, February 7, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R000800050039-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r000800050039-9
|
||||
[^55]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, Document 41 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub
|
||||
[^56]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XI, *Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath*, Documents 86 (telegram 1484 from the Mission to the United Nations, October 26, 1962) and 263 (editorial note), https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v11/ebook/frus1961-63v11.epub ; "McCloy Draft," 11/21/62, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900100035-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900100035-5
|
||||
[^57]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 28: Shah of Iran, 1979-1981, scope note. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^58]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, "History of the Collection," "Processing Information" and Series 2: Diaries and Communication Logs, notes. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^26]: Ford Foundation, "Annual Report 1965" (fiscal year ended September 30, 1965), opening review by the president, on the retirement of John J. McCloy as chairman effective December 31, 1965 ("as a member of the Board since 1953 and as chairman since 1959") and the election of Julius A. Stratton as chairman. https://www.fordfoundation.org/media/2435/1965-annual-report.pdf
|
||||
[^27]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 2, sub-series F and G (Chase Manhattan Bank appointment records and telephone logs) and Series 1 (retirement from Chase Manhattan, 1960 Mar). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^28]: Marshall S. Carter, Lieutenant General, USA, to John J. McCloy, April 20, 1962, CIA-RDP80B01676R001300050094-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001300050094-2
|
||||
[^29]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, 1946-1981, scope note and sub-series B, C and E. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^30]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, report together with individual views, 93d Cong., 2d sess., committee print, January 2, 1975, pp. 126 to 127. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^31]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 13 and 92 to 93 (McCloy to Rusk, January 11, 1967, Multinational Corporations hearings, Part 9). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^32]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, *Energy Crisis, 1969-1974*, Document 21, note 6, and Document 24 (Kissinger to Nixon, December 8, 1969) and note 5. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^33]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 125. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^34]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 57 (memorandum for the files by Peter Flanigan, September 29, 1970), pp. 130 to 131. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^35]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 66 (telegram 3565 from the Department of State, January 8, 1971), pp. 167 to 168; *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 127 to 129. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf ; https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^36]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 129 to 133. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^37]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, p. 17. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^38]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 134 to 135. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^39]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 104 (memorandum of conversation, Washington, January 3, 1972) and note 2, pp. 246 to 247. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^40]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 173 (editorial note), pp. 438 to 440. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^41]: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament letterheads and correspondence: McCloy to Arthur Lundahl, June 5, 1970, CIA-RDP78B05703A000400090083-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp78b05703a000400090083-2 ; McCloy to David S. Brandwein, March 26, 1971, CIA-RDP81R00560R000100110004-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp81r00560r000100110004-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, May 28, 1971, CIA-RDP74B00681R000100160009-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp74b00681r000100160009-6 ; McCloy to Richard Helms, November 10, 1969, CIA-RDP80B01495R000100010004-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01495r000100010004-9
|
||||
[^42]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 201 (memorandum from John Knubel to Kissinger, September 5, 1973), pp. 548 to 549. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^43]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 212 (memorandum by the chairmen of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California, New York, October 12, 1973) and note 1. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^44]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 243 (memorandum of conversation, November 20, 1973, 5 p.m.) and note 8, pp. 684 to 690; Document 311 (Kissinger and David Rockefeller, February 8, 1974), note 3. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^45]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976*, vol. XXXVI, Document 345 (memorandum of conversation, March 29, 1974, 5:15 p.m.), pp. 954 to 977. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1969-76v36/pdf/frus1969-76v36.pdf
|
||||
[^46]: *Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy*, pp. 14, 127 and 169. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-93SPRT77795O
|
||||
[^47]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 20: International Oil, sub-series B, I (Critchfield Reports, 1968-1973, Reports 1 to 65) and K (Oil Company Annual Reports, 1964-1966). https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^48]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, *South and Central America; Mexico*, Document 183 (telegram 1761 from the Embassy in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, February 21, 1964), paragraph 8 and note 10, pp. 402 to 403. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^49]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 210 (transcript of telephone conversation between Director of Central Intelligence McCone and John J. McCloy, April 9, 1964, 11:10 a.m.; source: CIA, Job 80-B01285A, DCI (McCone) Files, Telephone Calls, Eyes Only), p. 461, and Document 211 (telegram 2235 from Rio de Janeiro, April 10, 1964), note 2. https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^50]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968*, vol. XXXI, Document 214 (telegram 2790 from Rio de Janeiro, June 10, 1964). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v31/pdf/frus1964-68v31.pdf
|
||||
[^51]: *Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy*, Foreword, p. ix, National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/foreword
|
||||
[^52]: National Archives, "Inventory of the Warren Commission's Records," Entry 46 ("Report of Meeting of Members of Staff," July 9, 1964, National Archives Identifier 607521). https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/inventory
|
||||
[^53]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "J. Lee Rankin: Warren Commission Papers." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^54]: Assassination Records Review Board, *Final Report* (September 1998), chapter 6, "John McCone." https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/arrb-final-report.txt
|
||||
[^55]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, *Arms Control and Disarmament*, Document 2 (Kennedy to McCloy, January 27, 1961) and note 1, https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub ; Allen W. Dulles to John J. McCloy, February 7, 1961, CIA-RDP80B01676R000800050039-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r000800050039-9
|
||||
[^56]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. VII, Document 41 (editorial note). https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v07/ebook/frus1961-63v07.epub
|
||||
[^57]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963*, vol. XI, *Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath*, Documents 86 (telegram 1484 from the Mission to the United Nations, October 26, 1962) and 263 (editorial note), https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v11/ebook/frus1961-63v11.epub ; "McCloy Draft," 11/21/62, CIA-RDP80B01676R001900100035-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r001900100035-5
|
||||
[^58]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, Series 28: Shah of Iran, 1979-1981, scope note. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
[^59]: Amherst finding aid MA.00035, "History of the Collection," "Processing Information" and Series 2: Diaries and Communication Logs, notes. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/393545/original/McCloy%2BPapers.pdf
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- NuganHand
|
||||
- WallStreetJournal
|
||||
- InvestigativeJournalism
|
||||
summary: "Jonathan Kwitny (1941-1998) was a Wall Street Journal investigative journalist whose The Crimes of Patriots (1987) is the authoritative account of Nugan Hand Bank and whose Endless Enemies (1984) documented covert U.S. interventions and their consequences."
|
||||
summary: "Jonathan Kwitny (1941-1998) was a Wall Street Journal investigative journalist who wrote The Crimes of Patriots (1987) on Nugan Hand Bank and Endless Enemies (1984) on covert U.S. interventions."
|
||||
born: 1941-03-23
|
||||
died: 1998-11-26
|
||||
location: "Indianapolis, Indiana"
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ Kwitny's most significant work, *The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Di
|
|||
|
||||
Among the key findings Kwitny reported: [[Michael Hand]], the bank's American co-founder and a former Green Beret with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] associations from the [[Laos]] operation, fled [[Australia]] under a false identity on June 14, 1980, shortly after co-founder [[Frank Nugan]] was found shot to death. Kwitny identified a man code-named "Charlie" - described as a former U.S. Special Forces member and ex-CIA operative - as having helped Hand escape to Fiji. Australian authorities were never able to locate Hand after his disappearance. The book documented how the network of American military and intelligence veterans surrounding Nugan Hand connected to the broader private covert operations infrastructure associated with [[Ted Shackley]], [[Tom Clines]], and [[Air America]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 16, 1983 the Wall Street Journal printed "Nugan Hand," by Kwitny, which reported the Australian Task Force's fourth volume. The article said the report named [[Earl P. Yates]] as then president of the bank and named Ted Shackley among the people newly connected with Nugan Hand. It also said that Hand had been smuggled out of Australia by another former CIA operative, James Oswald Spencer, whom investigators found in Arizona.[^3] The article quotes the report as saying that "if the CIA or any other intelligence organization had intended to use Nugan Hand as a cover for covert operations, it was a clumsy attempt," and says that Spencer declined to answer most questions but said he last saw Hand "several years ago" and that Hand "was in the CIA" at the time.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Endless Enemies
|
||||
|
||||
*Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World* (Congdon and Weed, 1984) documented Kwitny's thesis that American covert interventions and support for repressive regimes consistently created the conditions for blowback - producing enemies rather than allies. The book drew on Kwitny's reporting from Africa, Asia, [[Latin America]], and the [[Middle East]] to argue that the logic of anti-Communist intervention had systematically damaged American interests by associating the United States with corrupt and brutal governments. The book received positive reviews from foreign policy analysts and won the George Polk Award for journalism.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -36,9 +38,10 @@ Kwitny's final major work, *Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John
|
|||
|
||||
### Legacy
|
||||
|
||||
Kwitny's reporting on Nugan Hand Bank preceded by years the broader academic and investigative literature on the private covert operations networks of the 1970s and 1980s. His sourcing and reconstruction of the bank's operations remained the documentary foundation for subsequent treatments of the subject, including accounts connecting Nugan Hand to the broader [[Ted Shackley]]-centered network and to the financial infrastructure that supported operations from Angola to Southeast Asia to Iran-Contra.
|
||||
Kwitny's reporting on Nugan Hand Bank preceded by years the broader academic and investigative literature on the private covert operations networks of the 1970s and 1980s. His sourcing and reconstruction of the bank's operations remained the documentary foundation for subsequent treatments of the subject, including accounts connecting Nugan Hand to the broader Ted Shackley-centered network and to the financial infrastructure that supported operations from Angola to Southeast Asia to Iran-Contra.
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Kwitny, Jonathan. *Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World.* Congdon and Weed, 1984. Obituary notice, Wall Street Journal, November 1998.
|
||||
[^2]: Kwitny, Jonathan. *The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money and the CIA.* W.W. Norton, 1987.
|
||||
[^3]: Kwitny, Jonathan. "Nugan Hand." Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1983. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00552R000302510001-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302510001-1
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -15,33 +15,33 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "abducted June 24, 1995; body found August 17, 1996"
|
||||
start: 1995-06-24
|
||||
end: 1996-08-17
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Julie Lejeune, aged eight, was abducted with her friend [[Melissa Russo]] on Saturday, June 24, 1995, between five and seven in the evening, while the two were playing in the fields beside the Russo family's house at Grâce-Hollogne, near [[Liège]]; the gendarmerie brigade at Grâce-Hollogne opened the case that day. A witness saw the children get into a car.[^2][^3] Her mother was Louisa Lejeune.[^4]
|
||||
Julie Lejeune, aged eight, was abducted with her friend [[Melissa Russo]] on Saturday, June 24, 1995, between five and seven in the evening, while the two were playing in the fields beside the Russo family's house at Grâce-Hollogne, near [[Liège]]; the gendarmerie brigade at Grâce-Hollogne opened the case that day. A witness saw the children get into a car.[^1][^2] Her mother was Louisa Lejeune.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Investigation of 1995
|
||||
|
||||
The gendarmerie of Charleroi had passed information on [[Marc Dutroux]] as a suspect to the gendarmerie of Liège from July 7, 1995. A confidential report sent to the Charleroi gendarmerie command on August 10, 1995, and passed to the national criminal intelligence bureau (BCR), recorded two informants who did not know each other. The first said Dutroux had offered him work at Sars-la-Buissière and asked him to take part in abducting children in the Mechelen area. The second, adding to what he had reported in 1993, said Dutroux had told him of young girls, "c'est frais, ça se vend bien et rapporte beaucoup" ("they're fresh, they sell well and bring in a lot"), that the price was between 100,000 and 150,000 francs, and that in about October 1993 Dutroux had explained that the work in his cellars at Marchienne-Docherie was to make hiding places for abducted children; at the end of June 1995 Dutroux had asked him to keep watch during a job. The witness at Grâce-Hollogne recognized the type of car described by the informants.[^2] The surveillance of Dutroux under the name [[Operation Othello]], led by the gendarme [[Rene Michaux]], did not find the girls.[^1][^2]
|
||||
The gendarmerie of Charleroi had passed information on [[Marc Dutroux]] as a suspect to the gendarmerie of Liège from July 7, 1995. A confidential report sent to the Charleroi gendarmerie command on August 10, 1995, and passed to the national criminal intelligence bureau (BCR), recorded two informants who did not know each other. The first said Dutroux had offered him work at Sars-la-Buissière and asked him to take part in abducting children in the Mechelen area. The second, adding to what he had reported in 1993, said Dutroux had told him of young girls, "c'est frais, ça se vend bien et rapporte beaucoup" ("they're fresh, they sell well and bring in a lot"), that the price was between 100,000 and 150,000 francs, and that in about October 1993 Dutroux had explained that the work in his cellars at Marchienne-Docherie was to make hiding places for abducted children; at the end of June 1995 Dutroux had asked him to keep watch during a job. The witness at Grâce-Hollogne recognized the type of car described by the informants.[^1] The surveillance of Dutroux under the name [[Operation Othello]], led by the gendarme [[Rene Michaux]], did not find the girls.[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Lejeune and Russo were held in a concealed cell in the cellar of Dutroux's house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. Dutroux was arrested on December 13, 1995, on a warrant from the Charleroi investigating judge Lorent for violent theft and illegal detention in a separate matter; his accomplice [[Bernard Weinstein]] was listed as on the run. The gendarmerie obtained warrants to search his houses and reported that work was indeed being done in the cellars, "but without any connection with the content of the information in our possession, namely the fitting out of transit cells for the abduction of children." Lorent released Dutroux on March 20, 1996, and the prosecutor's office did not appeal. During his imprisonment the two girls starved to death in the cell; his wife, [[Michelle Martin]], testified that she had been too afraid to go downstairs to feed them.[^2][^4]
|
||||
Lejeune and Russo were held in a concealed cell in the cellar of Dutroux's house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. Dutroux was arrested on December 13, 1995, on a warrant from the Charleroi investigating judge Lorent for violent theft and illegal detention in a separate matter; his accomplice [[Bernard Weinstein]] was listed as on the run. The gendarmerie obtained warrants to search his houses and reported that work was indeed being done in the cellars, "but without any connection with the content of the information in our possession, namely the fitting out of transit cells for the abduction of children." Lorent released Dutroux on March 20, 1996, and the prosecutor's office did not appeal. During his imprisonment the two girls starved to death in the cell; his wife, [[Michelle Martin]], testified that she had been too afraid to go downstairs to feed them.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
After the arrest of Dutroux, Martin and [[Michel Lelievre]] on August 12, 1996, and the rescue of [[Sabine Dardenne]] and [[Laetitia Delhez]] on August 15, the bodies of Julie and Melissa were found at Sars-la-Buissière on Saturday, August 17, 1996.[^2]
|
||||
After the arrest of Dutroux, Martin and [[Michel Lelievre]] on August 12, 1996, and the rescue of two girls, aged 12 and 14, on August 15, the bodies of Julie and Melissa were found at Sars-la-Buissière on Saturday, August 17, 1996.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Trial
|
||||
|
||||
At the assize court in Arlon, the jury on June 17, 2004, convicted Dutroux of the abduction of Julie and Melissa, rejecting his defense that Lelièvre, one Pierre Rochow or members of "the Courcelles gang" were responsible. Martin was convicted of their sequestration, with the aggravating circumstance that it was accompanied by torture causing death. [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] was acquitted of the abduction charges: only seven jurors voted to convict, one short of the majority of eight, and the professional judges then sided with the minority; a second deliberation on complicity also acquitted him. The verdict adopted the view of the investigating judge Jacques Langlois that Dutroux was an isolated predator, and set aside the "network" thesis argued by the prosecution and the families' lawyers. Louisa Lejeune said: "This has confirmed what I thought: They worked together."[^4][^5]
|
||||
At the assize court in Arlon, the jury on June 17, 2004, convicted Dutroux of the abduction of Julie and Melissa, rejecting his defense that Lelièvre, one Pierre Rochow or members of "the Courcelles gang" were responsible. Martin was convicted of their sequestration, with the aggravating circumstance that it was accompanied by torture causing death. [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] was acquitted of the abduction charges: only seven jurors voted to convict, one short of the majority of eight, and the professional judges then sided with the minority; a second deliberation on complicity also acquitted him. The verdict adopted the view of the investigating judge Jacques Langlois that Dutroux was an isolated predator, and set aside the "network" thesis argued by the prosecution and the families' lawyers. Louisa Lejeune said: "This has confirmed what I thought: They worked together."[^3][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Cellar and Nihoul
|
||||
|
||||
The parliamentary commission recorded that during the search of 128 rue de Philippeville in December 1995 [[Rene Michaux]], alone in the cellar, heard children's voices, which fell silent when he called for quiet, and that he put them down to children in the street, as the locksmith suggested; cassettes seized in the searches were sent to Brussels, and the question of who had viewed them was never answered.[^2] The writer S. Dovey wrote that Lejeune and Russo were lured into a white van driven by Dutroux and Lelièvre, who had been scouting victims on the instructions of Nihoul; that the cell was built in 1993 with the help of a handyman, [[Claude Thirault]], who reported Dutroux's plans to kidnap girls for profit; that Dutroux, on his release, found the girls dead and buried them at Sars-la-Buissière beside Weinstein, whom he had killed in November 1995; that the autopsies showed malnutrition, restraint and sexual trauma; that phone records showed more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul in early August 1996 and investigators of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) found vehicles matching witness descriptions; and that a letter to Lejeune's father described the abduction as ordered for a "snuff orgy." Nihoul, the lawyer [[Annie Bouty]] and [[Marleen De Cokere]] were charged as accomplices in the Delhez abduction. The [[X-Dossier]], compiled under the prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]] and the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], linked the case to the murder of [[Christine Van Hees]]; [[Regina Louf]] (X1) described abductions for blackmail parties at venues linked to [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and [[Count Leopold Lippens]]; and the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] reported possible matches of Lejeune in pornography connected to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] and [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s Zandvoort files, and to [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte's removal in October 1996 was followed by the White March; Justice Minister [[Melchior Wathelet]] had approved Dutroux's early release in 1992.[^1]
|
||||
The parliamentary commission recorded that during the search of 128 rue de Philippeville in December 1995 Rene Michaux, alone in the cellar, heard children's voices, which fell silent when he called for quiet, and that he put them down to children in the street, as the locksmith suggested; cassettes seized in the searches were sent to Brussels, and the question of who had viewed them was never answered.[^1] The writer S. Dovey wrote that Lejeune and Russo were lured into a white van driven by Dutroux and Lelièvre, who had been scouting victims on the instructions of Nihoul; that the cell was built in 1993 with the help of a handyman, [[Claude Thirault]], who reported Dutroux's plans to kidnap girls for profit; that Dutroux, on his release, found the girls dead and buried them at Sars-la-Buissière beside Weinstein, whom he had killed in November 1995; that the autopsies showed malnutrition, restraint and sexual trauma; that phone records showed more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul in early August 1996 and investigators of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) found vehicles matching witness descriptions; and that a letter to Lejeune's father described the abduction as ordered for a "snuff orgy." Nihoul, the lawyer [[Annie Bouty]] and [[Marleen De Cokere]] were charged as accomplices in the August 1996 abduction of the 14-year-old girl at Bertrix. The [[X-Dossier]], compiled under the prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]] and the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], linked the case to the murder of [[Christine Van Hees]]; [[Regina Louf]] (X1) described abductions for blackmail parties at venues linked to [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and [[Count Leopold Lippens]]; and the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] reported possible matches of Lejeune in pornography connected to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] and [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s Zandvoort files, and to [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte's removal in October 1996 was followed by the White March; Justice Minister [[Melchior Wathelet]] had approved Dutroux's early release in 1992.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its November 1995 date for Weinstein's death sits uneasily with the commission's listing of him as a fugitive on December 13, 1995. Its dates for the abduction (July 9, 1995, from Charleroi) and for the discovery of the bodies (August 18, 1996) are contradicted by the commission's chronology; it describes Nihoul's 2004 acquittal as "despite jury conviction," which the verdict does not bear out. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 47-48, table 4 ("Julie et Mélissa, du 24 juin au 24 août 1995") and the chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Planchar, Roland. "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue..." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2005/06/22/arlon-22-juin-2004-lepilogue-BW2M2Z52HRFRFJL4PLKBLTDEHE/
|
||||
[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 47-48, table 4 ("Julie et Mélissa, du 24 juin au 24 août 1995") and the chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Planchar, Roland. "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue..." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2005/06/22/arlon-22-juin-2004-lepilogue-BW2M2Z52HRFRFJL4PLKBLTDEHE/
|
||||
[^3]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^4]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its November 1995 date for Weinstein's death sits uneasily with the commission's listing of him as a fugitive on December 13, 1995. Its dates for the abduction (July 9, 1995, from Charleroi) and for the discovery of the bodies (August 18, 1996) are contradicted by the commission's chronology; it describes Nihoul's 2004 acquittal as "despite jury conviction," which the verdict does not bear out.
|
||||
[^5]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,33 +1,86 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- AbuseNetworks
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Netherlands
|
||||
- PedophileNetwork
|
||||
- BoyProstitution
|
||||
- BellBoys
|
||||
- RolodexInvestigation
|
||||
summary: "Karel Maasdam, alias 'Alex Privee,' ran the Bell Boys callboy service in the Netherlands in the 1980s, which supplied underage male prostitutes to Dutch judicial and political figures, and is named in the Rolodex Investigation."
|
||||
- PedophileNetwork
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Karel Maasdam
|
||||
- Alex Privee
|
||||
summary: "Karel Maasdam, alias 'Alex Privee,' was described by Nick Davies in 1998 as the owner of the Bell Boys escort agency in the Netherlands."
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
location: "Netherlands"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Bell Boys]]"
|
||||
start: 1998
|
||||
role: "owner of the escort agency, as described by Nick Davies"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
Karel Maasdam, using the alias "Alex Privee," operated the [[Bell Boys]] callboy service in the [[Netherlands]] during the 1980s, a commercial sexual abuse enterprise that provided underage boys to clients drawn from the Dutch legal, judicial, and political establishment. Maasdam also operated the [[Festival Bar]], a venue connected to the networks documented in Dutch pedophile investigations of the period. His operations were connected to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] through companies including [[Korper and Korver]] and [[Adonis]].[^1]
|
||||
Karel Maasdam is a man in the [[Netherlands]] whom the journalist [[Nick Davies]] identified in 1998 as the owner of the [[Bell Boys]] escort agency, known in [[Amsterdam]] as "Alex Privee."[^1] The Dutch government's account of a 1997 to 1999 probe of an Amsterdam brothel for homosexual clients with an attached escort agency refers to the brothel's owner only as "A."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bell Boys and Dutch Judicial Network
|
||||
### Bell Boys and the alias
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Rolodex Investigation]], a Dutch police inquiry into organized boy prostitution, identified Maasdam as a central figure in the supply of minors to high-profile clients. A rolodex discovered during the investigation, kept by a professor who served as an intermediary, contained the private contact details of senior Dutch justice officials alongside Maasdam's operation. The presence of serving judicial and prosecutorial figures in the client records created the institutional dimension that gave the case its political sensitivity and has been cited as a reason the investigation stalled.[^1]
|
||||
Nick Davies wrote in 1998 of a search for a missing German boy that took him to the [[Paardenstraat]] in Amsterdam, where he found three bars, the [[Festival Bar]], the [[Music Box]] and the [[Cupido]]. In the same passage he wrote of finding "a man who looked like Fagin in a flat hat," and of that man: "His real name is Karel Maasdam but he is known here as Alex Privee, owner of the Bell Boys escort agency, producer of boy pornography, close friend of [[Lothar Glandorf]]."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Henry Hans Holthuis]], who served as Chief Prosecutor of the [[International Criminal Court|International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] from 2003 to 2007, is among the prominent Dutch officials named in connection with the Bell Boys investigation. [[Robert Jan Warmerdam]], a witness in Dutch investigations, described attending events connected to Maasdam's network and provided testimony linking the Bell Boys service to the broader international pedophile infrastructure centered on [[Amsterdam]].[^1]
|
||||
Davies wrote that Maasdam did not say he had never met the missing boy, nor that the boy had never been seen in the Paardenstraat. According to Davies, Maasdam said he had come across a boy who looked very like the missing boy, that he had checked it out and that he was sure it was only a lookalike.[^1] Davies also wrote that an Englishman he interviewed in Amsterdam, who is not named, said a boy who worked as an escort for "Alex Privee's agency, Bell Boys" had mentioned seeing the missing boy in Glandorf's clubs in [[Rotterdam]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### International Connections
|
||||
[[Het Parool]] carried classified advertisements headed "Bell Boys" in its "Diverse clubs" column from December 24, 1983 ("BELL BOYS. 24 uur escorts") through at least October 28, 1985, among them "Bell Boys 24-uurs Escort" on January 30 and February 1, 1984.[^3] On March 4, 6 and 8, 1985, the same newspaper carried an advertisement signed "Alex Privee. 5 Leuke jongens ontvangen u in gezellige sfeer. Ook Peter. S/M."[^4] The two sets of advertisements carry different telephone numbers.
|
||||
|
||||
Maasdam's Festival Bar and Bell Boys service intersected with the broader international pedophile network centered on Amsterdam, including [[PAN Magazine]] distribution networks and the [[Pedophile Information Exchange|PIE]]-connected organizations that used Amsterdam as a publishing and organizational base. The [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam - connected through company structures to Maasdam's enterprises - was also investigated as a venue whose management had links to the [[Gero-Video]] and [[TAG Films]] production networks connected to [[Warwick Spinks]].[^1]
|
||||
### Rolodex investigation
|
||||
|
||||
The Dutch government's summary of December 23, 2013 states that the [[Rolodex Investigation]] was the third assignment of a multidisciplinary team formed in Amsterdam on August 25, 1998 under the responsibility of the Amsterdam chief prosecutor. The underlying probe of the brothel had begun in February 1997, was halted for tactical reasons and was reopened in May 1998, after a man under investigation in an unrelated sex-offence case began to describe the brothel in detail. On July 17, 1998, that witness said he had seen the names of two chief prosecutors on a rolodex, a card file of the clients of the brothel owner "A."[^2] The summary states that the rolodex was never found in searches of the suspects' homes and premises.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The main case ended in the prosecution and conviction of the owner, "A," and of a recruiter, "B." The [[Rechtbank Amsterdam]] sentenced them on February 26, 1999, to three years and fifteen months respectively, the latter with six months suspended.[^2] A letter from the Minister of Veiligheid en Justitie to the [[Tweede Kamer]] in July 2015 gives the same sentences for a conviction in 1999, without naming either man.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[College of Procurators-General]] concluded provisionally on March 24, 1999 that the allegations against the two chief prosecutors rested on the statements of one person, whom the police regarded as unreliable, and that the two could not be regarded as suspects. After the [[Rijksrecherche]] heard the two, the College saw no reason on May 26, 1999 to change that conclusion. The summary records that two other officials with legal government functions came into view during the probe, that findings of the main investigation (witness statements, wiretaps and observations) indicated that they were customers of the brothel's homosexual services, and that on September 21, 1999 the College found it had not been shown that they committed offences.[^2] The 2015 letter repeats that findings showed these two to be customers of the brothel.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Former detective [[Leendert de Koter]] testified on March 5, 2014 before an examining magistrate in Utrecht. He said the Rijksrecherche had supplied the names of [[Joris Demmink]] and of three chief prosecutors, which he gave as [[Jan Wolter Wabeke]], [[Henry Hans Holthuis]] and [[Wooldrik]], and that the suspicion against the four was repeated sexual abuse of minors. He said the probe produced no further indications against Demmink and did not elaborate on the prosecutors.[^6][^7] De Koter said that searches at the home of a university professor, the person on whom the probe concentrated, found the computer, video recorder and videotapes gone, and that a request for an observation team on Demmink and the prosecutors was refused. He also said [[Fred Teeven]], then the chief prosecutor for criminal intelligence in Amsterdam, led working meetings of the investigation team and knew the names.[^6][^7] Jaap Hoek, a former head of the Amsterdam youth and vice police who was heard the same day, said he did not remember Demmink's name or the names of chief prosecutors appearing in the Rolodex investigation.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A ministerial letter of March 27, 2014 states that the former secretary-general of the ministry did not appear in the Rolodex file in any way, and that no information came forward on two chief prosecutors named in the investigation that would justify a criminal investigation.[^8] The start date is given as 1997 by De Koter, who worked on the probe, and as August 1998 in that letter.[^6][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Civil hearings, 2016
|
||||
|
||||
In April 2016 [[DutchNews]] reported that "Charles Maasdam, who was sentenced in 1998 for operating a child brothel in Amsterdam's Oost neighbourhood, is expected to give evidence" at hearings in Amsterdam at which witnesses testified to allegations that politicians used underage male prostitutes in the 1980s.[^9] [[NL Times]] reported the same day: "Charles Maasdam, who owned a youth brothel in the capital for years, is also set to testify."[^10] The government summary dates the judgment against the brothel owner to February 26, 1999. Records found do not establish whether the Charles Maasdam in these reports is the Karel Maasdam described by Davies.[^2][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Name in the X-Dossier
|
||||
|
||||
A Brussels magistrate identified in X-Dossier witness statements only by the first name Karel (PV 117.535, November 19, 1996) is not identified in those statements as Karel Maasdam.[^2]
|
||||
A [[Brussels]] magistrate identified in [[X-Dossier]] witness statements only by the first name Karel (PV 117.535, November 19, 1996) is not identified in those statements as Karel Maasdam.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Accounts in the Dovey book
|
||||
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that Maasdam had a bookkeeper who told the Dutch current-affairs programme EenVandaag that [[Warwick Spinks]] frequently supplied boys to Demmink and Holthuis, and that Maasdam's accountant gave Dutch intelligence services a dossier identifying [[Gero-Video]] as a distributor of child pornography. Dovey also wrote that Glandorf was investigated alongside associates such as Maasdam.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
The Morkhoven Workgroup dossier, as reported by Dovey, identified the owner of the [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam as an American named John Edward Mullaney and linked him through a company called [[Korper and Korver]] to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] and through a company called [[Adonis]] to Maasdam. Dovey also wrote that Gero-Video was linked to [[TAG Films]].[^12] The Dutch commercial register lists a J.E. Mullaney Holding B.V., registered in Amsterdam and no longer active, and an active Korper B.V. and Adonis B.V.; the register entries do not state who held the companies.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Belgian X-Dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: the Accused," Institute for the Study of Globalization and Covert Politics, 2007. https://www.isgp-studies.com/belgian-x-dossiers-of-the-marc-dutroux-affair-the-accused
|
||||
[^2]: "Dutroux case and X-Dossier victim-witnesses," crimesandconsequences.com, updated 2021. https://crimesandconsequences.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dutroux-case-and-x-dossier-victim-witnesses.pdf
|
||||
[^1]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile network trafficks young boys across Europe," nickdavies.net, dated October 1, 1998 and marked previously unpublished. https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||
|
||||
[^2]: "Samenvatting van de aanleiding, het verloop, de resultaten en de besluitvorming in het Rolodex-onderzoek," December 23, 2013, enclosure to a letter of the Minister van Veiligheid en Justitie to the Tweede Kamer (Kamerstuk 33 750 VI, nr. 116), Eerste Kamer copy. https://eerstekamer.nl/9370000/1/j4nvgs5kjg27kof_j9vvkfvj6b325az/vjigib8p5szh
|
||||
|
||||
[^3]: Het Parool, classified advertisements, December 24, 1983 (ABCDDD:010846300:mpeg21:a0137), January 30, 1984 (ABCDDD:010833158:mpeg21:a0039), February 1, 1984 (ABCDDD:010833236:mpeg21:a0079) and October 28, 1985 (ABCDDD:010831481:mpeg21:a0029), Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Delpher. http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010846300:mpeg21:a0137
|
||||
|
||||
[^4]: Het Parool, classified advertisements, March 4, 1985 (ABCDDD:010831409:mpeg21:a0033), March 6, 1985 (ABCDDD:010831411:mpeg21:a0060) and March 8, 1985 (ABCDDD:010831413:mpeg21:a0023), Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Delpher. http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010831413:mpeg21:a0023
|
||||
|
||||
[^5]: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Kamerstuk 31 015, nr. 115, letter of the Minister van Veiligheid en Justitie, July 1, 2015, answers to questions 2 and 8. https://eerstekamer.nl/9370000/1/j4nvi0xeni9vr2l_j9vvkfvj6b325az/vme26leaeuex/f=/vjvdn6hc42z9.pdf
|
||||
|
||||
[^6]: "Politie onderzocht Demmink in '97," NOS, March 5, 2014. https://nos.nl/artikel/619220-politie-onderzocht-demmink-in-97
|
||||
|
||||
[^7]: "Oud-hoofdofficier justitie Jan Wolter Wabeke uit Best genoemd in zedenzaak Joris Demmink," Omroep Brabant, March 5, 2014. https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/1720283/oud-hoofdofficier-justitie-jan-wolter-wabeke-uit-best-genoemd-in-zedenzaak-joris-demmink
|
||||
|
||||
[^8]: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, Kamerstuk 33 750 VI, nr. 116, letter of the Minister van Veiligheid en Justitie, March 27, 2014. https://www.eerstekamer.nl/behandeling/20140327/brief_regering/document3/f=/vjifeja4nlzk.pdf
|
||||
|
||||
[^9]: "Politicians and officials named in court as 'boy brothel' case begins," DutchNews.nl, April 18, 2016. https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2016/04/politicians-and-officials-named-in-court-as-boy-brothel-case-begins/
|
||||
|
||||
[^10]: "Forced child prostitution case: Netherlands elite, royalty under microscope," NL Times, April 18, 2016. https://nltimes.nl/node/28758
|
||||
|
||||
[^11]: "Dutroux case and X-Dossier victim-witnesses," crimesandconsequences.com, updated 2021. PV 117.535, November 19, 1996, as quoted in the document. https://crimesandconsequences.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dutroux-case-and-x-dossier-victim-witnesses.pdf
|
||||
|
||||
[^12]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
|
||||
[^13]: Kamer van Koophandel, Handelsregister, entries 33304101, 65922646 and 09208081. https://opencorporates.com/companies/nl/33304101
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,8 +10,16 @@ location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
|||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Margaret Mead was a renowned American cultural anthropologist. In 1969, she delivered a rousing conference speech that contributed to the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]'s decision to admit the [[Parapsychological Association]] to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
||||
Margaret Mead was a renowned American cultural anthropologist. [[Jim Schnabel]] wrote that in 1969 she delivered a rousing conference speech that contributed to the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]'s decision to admit the [[Parapsychological Association]] to its ranks of approved disciplines. Her support helped lend a degree of legitimacy to the field of parapsychology, which had long struggled for scientific acceptance.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
The AAAS Council met on December 30, 1969, in the ballroom of the Statler-Hilton Hotel in Boston, with [[Bentley Glass]], the AAAS president for 1969, in the chair.[^2] The Board of Directors had approved the Parapsychological Association's application. [[E. Douglas Dean]], a former president of the association who had pressed the application since 1967, wrote that Mead spoke after Glass asked for further comments. In his report she said that for the previous ten years the Council had been discussing what science and scientific method are and which societies make use of them, and had changed its rules as a result; that the association used statistical methods, blinding, placebos, double-blind procedures and other standard methods; and that the history of scientific progress was full of scientists who investigated phenomena the scientific establishment held not to exist. She proposed that the Council vote in favor of the society's work.[^3] Glass called a show of hands, which Dean estimated at 160 to 180 in favor and 30 to 35 opposed, and declared the motion carried.[^3] Science reported that the Council voted to grant affiliation to the American Orthopsychiatric Association and to the Parapsychological Association.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[[John Archibald Wheeler]], who had voted against the admission as a member of the AAAS Board of Directors, wrote to the AAAS in 1979: "I know that the views of our late and beloved Margaret Mead were strong in getting parapsychology admitted to the AAAS. I was present at the meeting where it happened."[^4] [[Martin Gardner]] wrote in the [[New York Review of Books]] that the decision was made "at the insistence of Margaret Mead."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^2]: Dael Wolfle, "AAAS Council Meeting, 1969," Science 167, no. 3921 (February 20, 1970), pp. 1151-1153. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.167.3921.1151
|
||||
[^3]: E. Douglas Dean, "Die Parapsychological Association, affiliiertes Mitglied der American Association for the Advancement of Science," Zeitschrift für Anomalistik 15 (2015), pp. 47-54, account of the December 1969 Council session; an English typescript is in the STARGATE collection, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400040024-0. https://www.anomalistik.de/images/pdf/zfa/zfa2015_12_047_dean.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: John Archibald Wheeler, letter to William D. Carey, "'A Decade of Permissiveness'," New York Review of Books, May 17, 1979. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/05/17/a-decade-of-permissiveness/
|
||||
[^5]: Martin Gardner, "Quantum Theory and Quack Theory," New York Review of Books, May 17, 1979. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/05/17/quantum-theory-and-quack-theory/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Robert Andrews Millikan]]"
|
||||
role: son
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel]]"
|
||||
role: "member"
|
||||
start: 1955-06-05
|
||||
end: 1955-06-10
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Max F. Millikan was an economist at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] who was a member of the [[Project Troy]] study group of 1950 to 1951, took leave in January 1951 to head the Office of Research and Reports at the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and became the first director of the [[Center for International Studies]] at MIT in 1952.
|
||||
|
|
@ -80,15 +86,25 @@ Bessner says that soon after Millikan arrived at the center he asked Gaither of
|
|||
|
||||
In April 1956 the Office of National Estimates of the CIA circulated to its Board, and proposed possibly to pass to the Director of Central Intelligence, Millikan's comments, sent on the center's letterhead, on the draft National Intelligence Estimate 100-3-56, "Sino-Soviet Policy and Its Probable Effects in Underdeveloped Areas." They were accompanied by an imaginary statement by Molotov written by Walt Rostow.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, as director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and that he expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, when Millikan would review the center's first ten years.[^13]
|
||||
Millikan wrote the preface to Rostow's *The Dynamics of Soviet Society* (W. W. Norton, 1953) as director of the center, which the title page credits to "W. W. Rostow in collaboration with Alfred Levin, and with the assistance of others at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology."[^13] A CIA Office of Security memorandum of April 11, 1958 records that Rostow was approved as a consultant to the agency's Office of Research and Reports in March 1951, with status extended to June 1953, and that [[Alfred Kohlberg]] wrote to Senator [[Styles Bridges]] in October 1957 criticizing the agency for supporting the center.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1961 [[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]] wrote to Millikan, as director of the center, that he was "very deeply interested in the proposal in your letter of January 23," and that he expected to attend at least part of the meetings of May 18 to 21, 1961, when Millikan would review the center's first ten years.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, 1955
|
||||
|
||||
In June 1955 Millikan was one of eleven experts whom [[Nelson Rockefeller]] invited to [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel|Quantico]], Virginia, to study methods of exploiting Communist bloc vulnerabilities. The panel met June 5 to 10. [[Walt Rostow]] of the Center for International Studies was designated its chairman, and the other members included [[Frederick Dunn]], [[C. D. Jackson]], [[Philip Mosely]] and Hans Speier.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding
|
||||
|
||||
[[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 that the CIA had secretly financed an MIT research project on how to turn Soviet scientists into agents, carried out by [[Anthony J. Wiener]], "who at the time 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." The article placed the project under "Project MK-ULTRA" and said the money passed through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]].[^14] [[Time]] of February 24, 1967 reported "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.'" In the same article Millikan, described as "the sage director of M.I.T.'s International Center," was quoted: "The number of my friends around here who have swallowed this 'invisible government' line is disturbing."[^15] Testifying before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [[Andreas Lowenfeld]] 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." Asked whether [[Walt Rostow]] was in charge, he said: "He was acting, I guess … and then Mr. Millikan came."[^16]
|
||||
[[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 that the CIA had secretly financed an MIT research project on how to turn Soviet scientists into agents, carried out by [[Anthony J. Wiener]], "who at the time 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." The article placed the project under "Project MK-ULTRA" and said the money passed through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]].[^17] [[Time]] of February 24, 1967 reported "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.'" In the same article Millikan, described as "the sage director of M.I.T.'s International Center," was quoted: "The number of my friends around here who have swallowed this 'invisible government' line is disturbing."[^18] Testifying before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [[Andreas Lowenfeld]] 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." Asked whether Walt Rostow was in charge, he said: "He was acting, I guess … and then Mr. Millikan came."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Philadelphia Inquirer]] clipping in agency files, headlined "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," states: "On April 26, Dr. Max Millikan, director of the MIT Center of International Studies, said the college would reluctantly drop research contracts with the CIA because they were 'subject to misinterpretation.'" It quotes Millikan, "There never was a secret" about the contracts.[^20] A letter of April 21, 1971, on the center's letterhead and sent to [[Richard Helms]] by a writer whose name is redacted in the copy, states that "some years ago our Center for International Studies cancelled contracts with the CIA." The writer places the break with the agency: "It was the CIA and not the university which declined to continue relations on such terms."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
MIT's archival description of his papers states that Millikan was a member of the MIT faculty from 1949, was appointed professor of economics and director of the Center for International Studies on returning to MIT in 1952, and held both posts until his death on December 14, 1969.[^1] MIT's account of the center says that its first director served for more than fifteen years and urged faculty to become "social science entrepreneurs."[^11] MIT News in 2026 describes him as an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] who drafted the proposal for the [[Peace Corps]], and says that a 1961 memorandum from him to Kennedy helped inspire its creation.[^17]
|
||||
MIT's archival description of his papers states that Millikan was a member of the MIT faculty from 1949, was appointed professor of economics and director of the Center for International Studies on returning to MIT in 1952, and held both posts until his death on December 14, 1969.[^1] MIT's account of the center says that its first director served for more than fifteen years and urged faculty to become "social science entrepreneurs."[^11] MIT News in 2026 describes him as an adviser to President [[John F. Kennedy]] who drafted the proposal for the [[Peace Corps]], and says that a 1961 memorandum from him to Kennedy helped inspire its creation.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
The MIT President's report for 1969 to 1970 states that he was "Director of the Center since a few months after its founding in 1952" and died on December 14, 1969, aged 56, and the Dean's report for that year calls him "A valued member of both the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science."[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -104,8 +120,14 @@ MIT's archival description of his papers states that Millikan was a member of th
|
|||
[^10]: Daniel Morris Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD diss., Duke University, 2013), p. 255 (CENIS, the fall 1951 start, Millikan's CIA year and February 1952 appointment), and p. 256 and notes 107 to 109 (Millikan's request to Gaither, Speier's February 1952 visit, the $875,000 grant), citing Donald L. M. Blackmer, The MIT Center for International Studies: The Founding Years, 1951 to 1969 (Cambridge: MIT Center for International Studies, 2002), as cited there. https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/232a76ac-f2d8-4827-99fe-50b3b109fa6c/content
|
||||
[^11]: MIT Center for International Studies, "History." https://cis.mit.edu/about/history
|
||||
[^12]: CIA Office of National Estimates, Staff Memorandum No. 33-56, "Views of Max Millikan on NIE 100-3-56: Sino-Soviet Policy and Its Probable Effects in Underdeveloped Areas," April 26, 1956, J. C. Graham, with attached letter from Millikan of April 25, 1956, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP79R01012A008400030013-4. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79r01012a008400030013-4
|
||||
[^13]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, Director, Center for International Studies, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
|
||||
[^14]: 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
|
||||
[^15]: Time, February 24, 1967, vol. 89, no. 8, The Nation, pp. 15 to 16, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
|
||||
[^16]: 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 (Part 3, pp. 331 to 332), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
|
||||
[^17]: MIT News, "Understanding the world, from the Cold War to the age of AI," September 17, 2026. https://news.mit.edu/2026/understanding-world-from-cold-war-to-age-of-ai-0917
|
||||
[^13]: A. S., review, *The New International* 20, no. 4 (July-August 1954), pp. 222-224, https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/vol20/no04/stein2.html ; title-page credit as listed in the *American Historical Review* 60, no. 1 (1955), https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/60/1/107/148629
|
||||
[^14]: CIA Office of Security, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, April 11, 1958, CIA reading room document 0001477407, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001477407
|
||||
[^15]: Allen W. Dulles, letter to Max F. Millikan, Director, Center for International Studies, February 27, 1961, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01676R003500160028-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01676r003500160028-9
|
||||
[^16]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Volume XIX, National Security Policy*, document 26, editorial note on the Quantico Panel, p. 84, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v19/d26
|
||||
[^17]: 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
|
||||
[^18]: Time, February 24, 1967, vol. 89, no. 8, The Nation, pp. 15 to 16, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210135-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp84-00161r000400210135-8
|
||||
[^19]: 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 (Part 3, pp. 331 to 332), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000400560007-3. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000400560007-3
|
||||
[^20]: Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, headline "Penn Denies Campus Has CIA Agents," CIA reading room document CIA-RDP73-00475R000401020013-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp73-00475r000401020013-7
|
||||
[^21]: Letter dated April 21, 1971, on Center for International Studies letterhead, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, to Richard M. Helms, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80B01086A000900210009-2. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01086a000900210009-2
|
||||
[^22]: MIT News, "Understanding the world, from the Cold War to the age of AI," September 17, 2026. https://news.mit.edu/2026/understanding-world-from-cold-war-to-age-of-ai-0917
|
||||
[^23]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Report of the President for the academic year 1969 to 1970, Center for International Studies, p. 218, and report of the Dean of Humanities and Social Science, p. 196. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160013
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,146 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Meyer Lansky
|
||||
- Maier Suchowljansky
|
||||
- Maier Suchowljanski
|
||||
- Little Meyer
|
||||
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
summary: "Prominent Florida mobster whose Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas was financed through Jimmy Hoffa loans and linked to Bobby Baker networks."
|
||||
- MeyerLansky
|
||||
- Gambling
|
||||
- Casinos
|
||||
- LasVegas
|
||||
- Cuba
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
- Bahamas
|
||||
- KefauverCommittee
|
||||
- OperationUnderworld
|
||||
- Flamingo
|
||||
summary: "Florida gambling operator whose casino interests ran from Las Vegas to Havana and the Bahamas, and whose 1972 expulsion from Israel was upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court."
|
||||
born: 1902
|
||||
died: 1983
|
||||
location: "Grodno, Russian Empire (now Belarus)"
|
||||
created: 2025-08-05
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Operation Underworld]]"
|
||||
role: "intermediary between Charles Luciano in prison and Naval Intelligence contacts"
|
||||
start: 1942-05
|
||||
end: 1944
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Kefauver Committee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "witness who invoked the Fifth Amendment on questions about Las Vegas and Florida gambling"
|
||||
start: 1950-10
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "criminal contempt, income tax and Flamingo skimming charges, Southern District of Florida"
|
||||
start: 1971-03-24
|
||||
end: 1974-08-22
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Bahamas Commission of Inquiry into Gambling]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "named by Louis Chesler as the adviser who reviewed casino staff for Grand Bahama"
|
||||
start: 1967-04
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Meyer Lansky]] was a prominent Florida mobster. His Fremont Hotel in [[Las Vegas]] was financed through a [[Jimmy Hoffa|Hoffa]] loan. [[Edward Levinson]], a Las Vegas gambler, was a lieutenant of Lansky. Through [[Bobby Baker]], Levinson became acquainted with [[Clint Murchison, Sr.]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
Meyer Lansky (1902 to 1983) was a [[Florida]] gambling operator whose casino interests ran through [[Las Vegas]], [[Havana]], and the [[Bahamas]]. During the Second World War the [[New York County District Attorney's Office]] and the [[U.S. Navy]] used his access to the imprisoned [[Charles Luciano]] and to Italian-American waterfront contacts. [[Israel]] refused him an immigrant's visa under the Law of Return, and in September 1972 the [[Supreme Court of Israel]] upheld his expulsion. He was born in [[Grodno]] in the Russian Empire, on July 4, 1902 according to the FBI's files.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Wartime work with Naval Intelligence
|
||||
|
||||
In 1942 the New York County district attorney's office and [[Charles R. Haffenden]], a Naval Intelligence officer, sought access to the waterfront and to Italian-American contacts there. The plan used [[Moses Polakoff]], Luciano's lawyer, who proposed Lansky as the man to carry messages between Luciano and his outside associates. Luciano was moved from [[Clinton Correctional Facility]] to [[Great Meadow Correctional Facility]] on May 12, 1942. For about two years Lansky, Polakoff, [[Joe Lanza]], [[Mike Lascari]], [[Frank Costello]], [[Willie Moretti]], and others visited him there to carry his instructions to the outside. [[William B. Herlands]], the New York State Commissioner of Investigation whose 1954 report reviewed the arrangement, recorded that when Gurfein asked whether he would take part, Lansky said he "definitely would."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Herlands also recorded Lansky's own account, given to the inquiry, that through these associates he was given a number of Italians whom he brought to the [[Hotel Astor]] and, on two or three occasions, to Haffenden's office at [[90 Church Street]]. He said that Haffenden turned those men over to his assistants, and that at times he himself listened to the discussions, which covered the coastline and the terrain off Sicily before the invasion. Lansky testified that each of the associates who accompanied him on his visits to Luciano later cooperated with Naval Intelligence. Herlands reported that [[Johnny Dunn]] complained to Polakoff that ships were being loaded in a way that let a bomb be placed aboard them, and that it was decided Lansky would take Dunn to Haffenden to give the information directly.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Herlands called the arrangement the War-Aid Project. A letter from [[Carl F. Espe]], Director of Naval Intelligence, to Herlands, dated July 26, 1954, confirmed it, and Herlands reproduced the letter in his report.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Kefauver Committee testimony
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Kefauver Committee]] questioned Lansky in executive session in [[New York City]] on October 11, 1950, with the questioning resuming the next morning. He declined to answer many questions on the ground that the answers might tend to incriminate him. Asked "Did you ever have an interest in the Flamingo Hotel at Las Vegas?" he answered, "I decline to answer on the ground that it may tend to incriminate me," and he gave the same answer when asked whether he had ever been in Las Vegas, Nevada.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cuba under Batista
|
||||
|
||||
An FBI memorandum in the Lansky file describes him as spending most of his time in Havana in late 1957. The same memorandum describes him as having organized [[Cuba]]'s gambling arrangements for [[Fulgencio Batista]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1958 a [[New York Mirror]] item reported a Havana dispatch quoting Cuba's Interior Minister, [[Santiago Rey]], to the effect that Lansky would not be readmitted to Cuba because of charges pending against him in the United States. Lansky told the paper that he would like to return because of his gambling interests.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In a telephone call to the Legal Attaché in Havana on January 4, 1959, Lansky said he was still in Havana looking after hotel personnel, and he wanted the American embassy to have a record that he remained there. In a later interview with an FBI agent, he admitted a connection with the Riviera casino in Havana but said he did not own it and expected to acquire an interest. He denied any interest in the National casino, which he had worked for before it was sold in early October 1958 to New York interests. He said that under the Batista government it had been necessary to pay off government officials, and that he was surprised at how many casino employees turned out to be members of the July 26th Movement.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Las Vegas Sun]] interviewed Lansky on January 5, 1959. Its staff writer, [[Alan Jarlson]], reported that Lansky hoped the new government would emerge from Fidel Castro's liberation of Cuba and would continue to permit American gamblers to operate. The paper described him as holed up at his "$16,000,000.00 Habana Riviera," with an associate, [[Charles Baron]], whom it described as his right-hand man at the Riviera. The same FBI memorandum quotes another report of that date that the Lanskys also operated the Internacional casino in the [[Hotel Nacional]].[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
An undated newspaper article in the file describes a Cuban law that allowed gambling only in hotels worth a million dollars or more, which the article says Lansky's interests had arranged so that his dealers would be classed as "valuable technicians."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Israel, 1970 to 1972
|
||||
|
||||
Lansky arrived in Israel in July 1970 on a visitor's visa and announced that he intended to apply for an immigrant's visa. A [[Miami Herald]] article by [[James Savage]], which the FBI copied into the file, reported that he had been living in [[Tel Aviv]] and traveling in Israel's resort areas for four months, and that unconfirmed rumors said he would apply for citizenship. The article quoted state and federal organized-crime experts describing a stay in Israel as a voluntary exile from the United States, and noted that a federal grand jury in [[Miami]] was examining his financial dealings in Las Vegas.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
His lawyer, [[Yoram Alroy]], stated that the Minister of the Interior, [[Yosef Burg]], was weighing whether to grant the immigrant's visa, and that the Minister then informed Lansky at the end of December 1970 that he had decided not to grant it or renew the visitor's visa. On September 23, 1971 the Ministry refused to extend his tourist visa. The Ministry relied on section 2 of the [[Law of Return]], which allows the Minister to refuse an immigrant's visa to a person with a criminal past who is likely to endanger public welfare.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 14, 1971 the Supreme Court issued a temporary order against his expulsion and an order nisi requiring Burg to show cause why he should not grant the visa or reverse the extension refusal. The [[Jerusalem Post]] reported the interim order on November 15, 1971. The Ministry's later reply to the court said that it was prepared to issue Lansky a laissez-passer to enter any country willing to accept him.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The FBI recorded on September 12, 1972 that the Supreme Court of Israel had decided that Lansky must leave Israel, with the decision dated September 11, 1972.[^12] The Chief Justice, [[Shimon Agranat]], wrote an 83-page decision, which [[TIME]] magazine described as unanimous and precedent-setting. TIME quoted Agranat as writing that "the particular phenomenon of organized crime as it has developed in the U.S. has not yet struck root here in Israel. Heaven forbid that we should encourage opening a door for it." A government spokesman told TIME that if Lansky lingered he would be taken to the airport and asked to choose a flight.[^13] A case note by [[Claude Klein]], titled "The Lansky Case," appeared in the [[Israel Law Review]] in 1973.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The Jerusalem Post staff writer [[David Landau]] wrote on November 8, 1972 that the expulsion treated a Jew unfairly under the Law of Return. He compared Lansky's rejection by one country after another on November 5 and 6, 1972 to the wandering homeless Jews of earlier decades. The column is summarized in the FBI file, which records that it attacked the Interior Minister and the State Attorney, [[Gabriel Bach]].[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
Lansky left Tel Aviv on November 5, 1972 on Swissair, by way of [[Geneva]], for [[Rio de Janeiro]]. Brazilian authorities refused to admit him. He then flew on to [[Buenos Aires]] and was placed on a Braniff flight that stopped at several Latin American capitals and reached Miami on November 7, 1972. The FBI had recorded an allegation that he had obtained a Paraguayan immigrant visa in Israel. Agents took him into custody at Miami International Airport on a warrant for criminal contempt of the Miami grand jury, issued March 24, 1971.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Las Vegas, the Flamingo, and the Fremont
|
||||
|
||||
[[Cheri Seymour]] wrote that the [[Fremont Hotel]] in Las Vegas was financed through a loan from [[Jimmy Hoffa]]. She described [[Edward Levinson]], a Las Vegas gambler, as a lieutenant of Lansky, and wrote that through [[Bobby Baker]] Levinson became acquainted with [[Clint Murchison, Sr.]].[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
An FBI informant's report recorded on April 30, 1963 stated that Lansky owned large shares of the [[Sands Hotel]], the Fremont, the [[Horseshoe Hotel]], and the Flamingo casinos.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 25, 1971 a federal grand jury in Miami indicted Lansky, [[Morris Lansburgh]], and [[Sam Cohen]] on a charge of conspiring to skim proceeds from the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas during 1960 to 1967, in order to avoid taxes on the skimmed money. The indictment named [[Louis Poller]] as an unindicted co-conspirator. A Las Vegas grand jury returned a superseding indictment on October 22, 1971.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
Lansburgh and Cohen pleaded guilty, and on April 27, 1973 each was sentenced to one year in prison. Lansky's trial was postponed to January 7, 1974 because of his health.[^19] On August 22, 1974 Judge [[Roger D. Foley]] of the United States District Court in Las Vegas granted a sixth continuance and, in the order, stated that the case would lie dormant on the court calendar until Lansky died or government counsel dismissed the indictment; the FBI summary adds that Foley stated the case should be dismissed, after medical evidence indicated that Lansky would never be well enough to stand trial. A newspaper report in the same file says the indictment was dismissed.[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 25, 1973 Lansky was acquitted, as the FBI summary records, of income tax evasion. That charge concerned gambling debts of customers of the Colony Sporting Club in London, which he was accused of not reporting as income.[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Separately, Lansky was charged with criminal contempt on March 24, 1971 for failing to answer a grand jury subpoena. He was found guilty on February 28, 1973, and on June 14, 1973 he was sentenced to one year and a day at the federal medical center in [[Springfield, Missouri]]. On June 28, 1974 the [[Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]] reversed the contempt conviction, holding that he should not have been convicted for failing to answer the subpoena.[^22]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Bahamas
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Wall Street Journal]] reported on October 5, 1965, in an article titled "Las Vegas East," that Lansky's associates [[Dino Cellini]] and [[George Sadlow]] figured prominently in the operation of the casino at the [[Lucayan Beach Hotel]] on [[Grand Bahama]]. The article quoted an unnamed man in a position to know the casino's operations, who said that Cellini and Sadlow were Lansky's men.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Louis Chesler]], a Canadian promoter, appeared before the Bahamian commission of inquiry into gambling and testified on April 18, 1967 that he had met Lansky and Lansky's brother at the [[Fontainebleau Hotel]] in [[Miami Beach]] about April 1, 1963, to seek advice on hiring staff for the Monte Carlo casino at [[Freeport, Bahamas|Freeport]]. Chesler said he went to Lansky because, "from what I was told," Lansky was "the dean of gambling - the most knowledgeable man to ask," and that Lansky looked over a list of prospective employees. Chesler testified that Lansky then offered the services of Sadlow, who was eighty, and that Sadlow controlled hiring and firing when the casino opened. Chesler also insisted that he had never done business with Lansky. The Miami Herald and the Wall Street Journal reported the testimony on April 19, 1967, and the [[New York Times]] reported further testimony before the commission on April 22, 1967.[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
The commission also heard [[Stafford Sands]]. An undated newspaper article in the FBI file reports that Sands later acknowledged to the commission that Lansky had offered him a payment in 1960 to permit gambling on Grand Bahama, and that Sands turned the offer down.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
In an FBI interview arranged for May 21, 1963 at Hollywood, Florida, Lansky said that the FBI, by painting him as a hoodlum, had succeeded in keeping him out of any Bahamian venture. He added that he thought gambling there would be a lucrative business, though one that would hurt the Miami Beach hotels.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^1]: FBI file 62-97928 and file 92-2831 Section 01 (birth recorded as July 4, 1902, Grodno; a school record in Section 02 gives August 28, 1902). https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^2]: William B. Herlands, report to Governor Thomas E. Dewey on the commutation of the sentence of Charles Luciano, September 17, 1954, introduction and "Synopsis of the Evidence," pp. 1 to 8, and pp. 45 to 46 (printed pagination). Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 13, University of Rochester Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. https://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/ATTACHMENTS/Series-13-17-2-Herlands-report.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Herlands report, September 17, 1954, pp. 45 to 46 and 65 to 66 (Polakoff, the Haffenden meetings, Lansky's testimony, the informants and Dunn), and "Official Confirmation of the War-Aid Project," p. 11, Espe letter of July 26, 1954. https://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/ATTACHMENTS/Series-13-17-2-Herlands-report.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Senate, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, *Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce*, Hearings, 82nd Congress, 1st session, Part 7 (New York-New Jersey), testimony of Meyer Lansky, executive session of October 11, 1950, pp. 149 to 153 (Flamingo and Las Vegas questions at p. 152; Lansky's testimony indexed at pp. 138 to 163). https://archive.org/details/investigationofo07unit
|
||||
[^5]: FBI file 62-97928 and file 92-2831, Section 01 and Section 09 (memorandum quoting the *Las Vegas Sun* on Lansky's organization of Batista's casinos). Meyer Lansky FBI Files, Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^6]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 02, memorandum citing "Cuba to Bar Lansky," Havana dispatch of February 20, 1958, and *New York Mirror*, February 22, 1958, p. 5. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^7]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 03, Legal Attaché Havana memorandum of January 4, 1959 (telephone call from Lansky), and FBI memorandum of an interview with Lansky, 1959. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^8]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 09, quoting *Las Vegas Sun*, January 5, 1959, interview by Alan Jarlson. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^9]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 16, undated newspaper article on Cuban gambling law. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky.
|
||||
[^10]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 16, article by James Savage, *Miami Herald*, undated (written after Lansky had lived in Israel for about four months). https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^11]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 18 (decision of September 23, 1971 against extending the tourist visa) and Section 19, FBI letter of May 9, 1972 enclosing the *Jerusalem Post* of November 15, 1971 (interim order, Supreme Court of Israel, November 14, 1971), and a later *Jerusalem Post* report of the Interior Ministry's reply to the order nisi, quoting the petition of Lansky's counsel Yoram Alroy. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^12]: FBI teletype, Miami to Director, September 12, 1972, file 92-2831, Section 19 (Israeli Supreme Court decision of September 11, 1972). https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^13]: "The World: Non-Returnable Lansky," *TIME*, September 25, 1972. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C903591%2C00.html
|
||||
[^14]: Claude Klein, "The Lansky Case," *Israel Law Review*, vol. 8, no. 2 (April 1973), pp. 286 to 295. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223700004167
|
||||
[^15]: David Landau, "Lansky's Odyssey and the Law of Return, Personal Opinion," *Jerusalem Post*, November 8, 1972, as summarized in FBI file 92-2831, Section 19. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^16]: FBI teletypes and memoranda of November 5 to 7, 1972, file 92-2831, Section 19 (departure from Tel Aviv, Brazilian refusal, Paraguayan visa allegation, arrest at Miami International Airport on a warrant of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, March 24, 1971, Title 18, section 401). https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^17]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^18]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 10, informant report recorded April 30, 1963. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky. Informant report.
|
||||
[^19]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 17 (indictment of March 25, 1971 as printed in a Florida newspaper of March 29, 1971) and Section 20 (summary of the Flamingo skimming indictment, its superseding return on October 22, 1971, and the April 27, 1973 sentences). https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^20]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 20, order of Judge Roger D. Foley, August 22, 1974, and a newspaper report of the dismissal reproduced in the same section. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^21]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 20, summary of the July 25, 1973 acquittal on income tax evasion charges arising from the Colony Sporting Club debts. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^22]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 19 and Section 20, summary of the contempt case (sentence of June 14, 1973, Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri) and of the Fifth Circuit ruling of June 28, 1974. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^23]: "Las Vegas East," *Wall Street Journal*, October 5, 1965, by Monroe W. Karmin and Stanley Penn, as summarized in FBI file 92-2831, Section 13. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^24]: Louis Chesler testimony before the Bahamian commission of inquiry, April 18, 1967, as reported in *Miami Herald*, April 19, 1967 (Clarence Jones), *Wall Street Journal*, April 19, 1967 (Monroe W. Karmin), and *New York Times*, April 22, 1967, "Gambling Ties Traced in Nassau," as summarized in FBI file 92-2831, Sections 12 and 13. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^25]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 16, undated newspaper article on the Lucayan Beach casino and Groves companies, including Sands's acknowledgment to the commission. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky.
|
||||
[^26]: FBI file 92-2831, Section 10, FBI interview with Meyer Lansky arranged for May 21, 1963, Hollywood, Florida. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,24 +1,138 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "After his first tour in Vietnam, Hand moved to the clandestine CIA war in Laos, according to Ted Shackley, a former station chief in Indo-China."
|
||||
- SpecialForces
|
||||
- NuganHandBank
|
||||
- AirAmerica
|
||||
- GoldenTriangle
|
||||
- Fugitive
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Michael Hand
|
||||
- Michael J. Hand
|
||||
- Michael John Hand
|
||||
- Michael Jon Hand
|
||||
- Jon Michael Hand
|
||||
- Michael Jon Fuller
|
||||
summary: "Michael Hand, a decorated Green Beret who co-founded Nugan Hand Bank in Sydney, disappeared from Australia in June 1980 and was reported living in Idaho under another surname in 2015."
|
||||
born: 1941-12-08
|
||||
location: "New York City, New York, USA"
|
||||
location: "The Bronx, New York, USA"
|
||||
created: 2025-08-05
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Nugan Hand Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Frank Nugan]]"
|
||||
start: 1970
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nugan Hand Bank]]"
|
||||
role: chairman
|
||||
start: 1980
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: CIA contract agent, according to Jonathan Kwitny; contractor operative, according to an Australian investigation as reported by ProPublica
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Michael Hand]] was a highly decorated Special Forces Green Beret soldier in [[Vietnam]]. He later co-founded [[Nugan Hand Bank]] in [[Australia]] with [[Frank Nugan]] and officials of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-owned [[Air America]]. Hand had special knowledge of intelligence operations in the [[Golden Triangle]].[^1]
|
||||
Michael Hand (born December 8, 1941, in the [[Bronx]], New York) was a [[United States Army Special Forces|Special Forces]] soldier in [[Vietnam]] who co-founded the [[Sydney]] merchant bank [[Nugan Hand Bank]] with [[Frank Nugan]]. The bank collapsed in 1980 after Nugan was found dead and Hand left [[Australia]]. In 2015 the Australian writer [[Peter Butt]] reported that Hand had been living in [[Idaho]] under the surname Fuller.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
After his first tour in [[Vietnam]], Hand moved to the clandestine [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] war in [[Laos]], according to [[Ted Shackley]], a former station chief in Indo-China.[^1]
|
||||
### Military service
|
||||
|
||||
[[Nugan Hand Bank]], a primary [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] operation in the Pacific area, reportedly laundered profits from drug trafficking in the [[Golden Triangle]]. These laundered profits, in turn, financed subversive paramilitary activities in Southeast [[Asia]]. The bank collapsed in 1980, $5 billion in debt, and Michael Hand disappeared.[^1]
|
||||
[[Jonathan Kwitny]] wrote that Hand completed a one-year course at the New York State Ranger School in 1961, a school attached to Syracuse University, and that in 1962 Hand wrote to his instructor that he was managing a swim and sports school in Palos Verdes Estates, California.[^2] Hand enlisted in the Army in May 1963 and volunteered for the Green Berets.[^3] He served with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. The [[Military Times]] Hall of Valor transcribes the Distinguished Service Cross citation (General Orders No. 23, 1966, Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific) as presented to Private First Class Michael John Hand for "exceptionally valorous actions on 9 and 10 June 1965 during a 1-hour communist attack on the Special Forces compound at Dong Ha." The transcription continues that he "braved a barrage of fire in an attempt to rescue a wounded comrade, then darted into a building and dragged to safety a wounded American captain and a Seabee," was wounded by shrapnel, "found a machine gun and raked the enemy until the weapon jammed," and, hit by a second blast and ordered to withdraw, volunteered to rescue another wounded man.[^4] Kwitny wrote that, according to the citation, Hand on June 9, 1965 "almost single-handedly held off a fourteen-hour Vietcong attack on the Special Forces compound at Dong Xaoi."[^2] [[Bob Bottom]] wrote that, according to contemporary reports, Hand was one of six survivors of a 200-member unit that held out against 1,200 North Vietnamese at [[Dong Xoai]], 135 kilometres north of [[Saigon]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the book *The Crimes of Patriots* by [[Jonathan Kwitny]], Michael Hand reportedly fled [[Australia]] under a false identity on June 14, 1980, on a flight to [[Fiji]]. He was allegedly helped to escape by an American code-named "[[Codename Charlie|Charlie]]," identified by Kwitny as a former member of the [[United States Army Special Forces|U.S. Special Forces]] and ex-[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] operative.[^1]
|
||||
[[Jonathan Marshall]], writing in [[Inquiry]] in November 1980, gave a different account of the decoration. He wrote that Hand won it for rescuing his commanding officer during a savage firefight in the highlands of central Vietnam. Marshall also wrote that Hand studied forestry at [[Syracuse University]], worked briefly as a teacher in [[Los Angeles]], went to Vietnam in 1965, and left in 1968 to settle in Sydney.[^6] [[Raymond Bonner]] of [[ProPublica]] wrote that Hand studied forestry for a year before enlisting in 1963 and was awarded a Purple Heart, a Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross.[^1] Kwitny wrote that a resume Hand later submitted to the State Department gave his date of leaving the Army as May 1966 and the next entry as "1966-1967, worked directly for U.S. Government," that banking associates said Hand sometimes referred to undercover activities in Laos during those years, that men who said they had encountered him described him training Montagnards and working closely with the Air America crews that supplied them, and that Hand migrated to Australia in September 1967.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1991, Australian journalist [[Brian Toohey]] reported in his *The Eye* magazine that Michael Hand had a postal drop at a suite in NE Bellevue, Washington State, and his wife was reportedly living with him there. [[Michael Riconosciuto]], who was living near Tacoma, Washington State, when he was arrested in 1991, claimed to have been in direct communication with Michael Hand before and after Hand's disappearance, and that he had handled money transfers for Hand when he fled [[Australia]].[^1]
|
||||
[[Cheri Seymour]] wrote that [[Ted Shackley]], a former station chief in Indo-China, said Hand moved to the clandestine [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] war in [[Laos]] after his first tour in Vietnam.[^7] Seymour also wrote that Hand had special knowledge of intelligence operations in the [[Golden Triangle]].[^7] [[Keith Schneider]] of the [[New York Times]] wrote in March 1987 that the Australian Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking report noted that Hand did extensive business with American intelligence officers in Southeast Asia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and said there was "evidence" that "Hand retained his U.S. intelligence ties through the 1970's and probably the 1980s," evidence that remained classified. Schneider described Hand as a former Army Green Beret and military intelligence officer who served in Laos during the late 1960s with [[Air America]], the CIA-owned airline, in the period when [[Richard Secord]] played a large role in directing Air America's operations. Schneider wrote that the report said Ted Shackley and [[Tom Clines]] were the two top officers of the CIA's Laotian station in that period, and that Secord, Shackley, Clines and [[Rafael Quintero]] were close to Hand.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The Task Force was told by an American witness that Hand was involved in a 1976 shipment of 10 million rounds of ammunition and 3,000 weapons, including rifles and machine guns, that left Boston by way of Africa and was delivered to U.S.-supported forces in [[Angola]]. The report also said that Hand and the bank took part in the movement by the United States Navy of a spy ship to [[Iran]] in 1976. Both transactions are linked in the report to [[Edwin Wilson]], a former CIA officer who worked for a Navy intelligence group known as [[Task Force 157]].[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nugan Hand Bank
|
||||
|
||||
Seymour wrote that Nugan Hand Bank was a primary CIA operation in the Pacific area, that it reportedly laundered profits from drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle, and that these profits financed subversive paramilitary activities in Southeast Asia.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Hand and Nugan entered a partnership in 1970 as investment advisers. Most of their clients were American servicemen whom Hand had met in Vietnam or in Sydney bars, and the pair made money in land and mining speculation during the boom of the early 1970s.[^6] A 1981 Washington News Bureau report printed in the [[New York Daily News]] said that Nugan and Hand began in 1969 with a company called [[Australasian and Pacific Holding]], and that four shareholders in the venture gave their business address as Air America.[^3] Kwitny wrote that the list of thirty-seven shareholders filed with the government in May 1970 showed four with the address "c/o Air America, A.P.O. San Francisco," one with the address "c/o Continental Air Service," and five reachable through the U.S. Agency for International Development.[^2] The [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]] says that the two set up the merchant bank Nugan Hand Ltd in 1973 with a nominal paid-up capital of $1 million.[^10] Bonner gave the starting capital as $80.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The bank operated offices in several countries. The Task Force report, as Schneider summarized it, counted offices and mail drops in 13 countries in two hemispheres during the seven years the bank was in business.[^8] Its senior staff included retired officers. The [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]] reported in May 1980 that [[Edwin Black]], a former general, had acted as the company's representative in [[Hawaii]], that retired Navy admiral [[Earl P. Yates]] headed the Washington office, and that Donald Beazley was president of U.S. operations.[^11] The Task Force report, as reported by Kwitny in the Journal in August 1983, described Yates as then president of the Nugan Hand Bank.[^9] Kwitny wrote in his book that Black became president of Nugan Hand, Inc., Hawaii in 1977, and that Yates had been president of the Nugan Hand Bank for nearly three years and helped maintain a Washington office.[^2] According to the Daily News, [[George Farris]], a former Green Beret buddy of Hand, worked in the bank's Washington office.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[[William Colby]], the former CIA director, confirmed to the Journal that he had done legal work for Nugan and said that this was the extent of their relationship.[^11] The Daily News reported Colby as saying that Nugan told him he wanted to expand into the United States, and that he had "no idea" how the bank had prospered so rapidly.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Bernie Houghton]], an American who had lived in Sydney since 1967, was described by [[The Bulletin]] in June 1984 as the man behind Nugan Hand's [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabian]] operations.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Frank Nugan's death and the 1980 disappearance
|
||||
|
||||
Nugan was found dead in his car on a lonely road outside Sydney on January 27, 1980, with a bullet wound in his head and a rifle beside the body.[^11] Australian police described the wound as self-inflicted.[^3] The coroner's inquest recorded that he died "of the effects of a gunshot wound, self-inflicted and with the intention of taking his own life."[^10] A lawyer for two insurance companies that had insured Nugan's life told the inquest that the position of the body showed that he could not have shot himself, as police had assumed.[^11] A business card for William Colby was among the items found on the body.[^11] After a reported sighting of Nugan in the United States, his body was exhumed, and a second inquest in March 1981 confirmed the earlier findings on the basis of dental evidence.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
At the same inquest Hand, by then chairman of the bank, said that Nugan had misappropriated several million dollars and had made loans of $3.3 million to persons and groups whose identity was not known. He also said: "The company is insolvent and unable to pay its debts as they fall due."[^11] Bonner reported that Hand testified the bank was insolvent and owed investors, large and small, some $50 million.[^1] Seymour wrote that the bank collapsed in 1980, $5 billion in debt, and that Hand disappeared.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A Sydney butcher and friend of Hand, who was granted immunity from prosecution in 1981, told [[Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking|Task Force]] investigators that in late February 1980 he met Bernie Houghton and George Shaw, a director of the bank, on the eighth floor of the bank's headquarters at 55 Macquarie Street, and was told to go to the [[AMP Centre]] in Bridge Street. He said that in an office in room 1709 Shaw filled about fifteen boxes with records from the filing cabinets, and that the boxes were moved to a flat in [[Ultimo]] and later to a cold store. Hand had told him not to tell him where the records had been moved, because he did not want to know.[^12] [[Kevin Woods]], a Task Force investigator, told the butcher that Hand had stated in his [[Corporate Affairs Commission]] cross-examination that he helped remove the records.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
Hand left Australia in June 1980. The butcher told investigators that Hand's own attempts to obtain an Australian passport in another name had failed, and that the butcher then obtained one in the name of an employee, through a travel agent, after Hand gave him cash for a round-the-world ticket. The passport was issued in the name of Alan Glen Winter.[^12] Kwitny wrote that the passport application was lodged on June 5.[^2] The butcher said an American he knew only as "Charlie," white, six foot one, about 180 pounds, with dark hair, probably about 35, came from the United States, provided a false beard, moustache and glasses, and was with Hand when he left for [[Vancouver]] by way of [[Fiji]] and [[Honolulu]]; Hand told him he was flying to Canada because from there he could enter the United States without a visa, and that he left "on the long weekend in June."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
Kwitny quoted the Task Force report of March 1983 as saying that "Charlie" was James Oswald Spencer, who was resident in [[Arizona]], "a former member of the U.S. Special Forces" who "like Hand was loaned to the Central Intelligence Agency during the latter half of the 1960s for operations in the Southeast Asian conflict." Kwitny wrote that Spencer arrived in Australia on May 14, 1980 and left on June 14 on the same Fiji-bound flight as Hand, who travelled as Alan Winter; that the FBI interviewed Spencer in November 1982 at the request of the Task Force; that Spencer said he had last seen Hand "several years ago when Hand was in the CIA" and declined other questions; and that the Task Force rejected Spencer's denial and concluded that he was Charlie.[^2] Kwitny reported in the Journal in August 1983 that the report said Hand was smuggled out of Australia by another former CIA operative, Spencer, whom investigators found in Arizona, and that Spencer said Hand "was in the CIA" at the time.[^9] [[The Nation]] reported in March 1984 that the Australians had identified Charlie as Spencer, a former Special Forces member "loaned" to the CIA during the Vietnam War, and that Spencer was interviewed by the FBI but refused to talk about his dealings with Hand.[^13] ProPublica wrote in 2015 that Hand fled in June 1980 with the assistance of a former CIA officer, flying to Fiji and then to Canada.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The New York Daily News reported on February 13, 1981 that "Australian police have a fugitive warrant out for Hand, who took key bank deposit records with him," and that they wanted him on a conspiracy charge.[^3] The same report said that the [[United States Customs Service]] was investigating the bank's currency transactions and that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] had quietly begun investigating the bank in [[Manila]] and Honolulu.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Official investigations
|
||||
|
||||
The Commonwealth and New South Wales Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking produced a report on Nugan Hand in parts. Volume 2 (Part I) is dated June 1982 and Volume 4 (Part II) was completed in March 1983.[^14] The Journal reported in November 1982 that a cabinet minister had called the report's material "compelling evidence" that the bank was engaged in widespread criminal activity, and that the report said there were "strong grounds to believe" that bank officers were involved with U.S. and Australian intelligence agencies, but that there was not conclusive proof that the bank was connected to an intelligence operation.[^15] Kwitny quoted the report as saying that "if the CIA or any other intelligence organization had intended to use Nugan Hand as a cover for covert operations, it was a clumsy attempt."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 24, 1983 the Prime Minister's office announced that the [[Royal Commission into Drug Trafficking]] under Mr Justice [[Donald Stewart]] would be extended, and that the Commonwealth was discussing terms of reference for an inquiry into Nugan Hand.[^16] Special Minister of State Mr Young told the House of Representatives on November 27, 1985 that on March 28, 1983 the terms of reference of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking had been extended to allow Mr Justice Stewart to inquire into the activities of the Nugan Hand Group; that the first interim report was presented to the government on October 13, 1983 and tabled on December 6, 1983; and that the second was presented on December 13, 1984 and tabled on March 20, 1985.[^17] The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Nugan Hand Group issued its final report in 1985.[^10] According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, the Corporate Affairs Commission reported in 1983 that Nugan had been involved in massive international and local fraud and had deliberately falsified the bank's accounts to conceal debt.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The Australian Dictionary of Biography says that the 1983 to 1985 royal commission "uncovered little new information."[^10] The New York Times reported that the 1985 report disputed some of the Task Force conclusions.[^8] In the same statement Mr Young said the Commission found that the allegations of CIA involvement "lacked substance," that the Royal Commissioner found it inherently implausible that the CIA would have used a group with the shortcomings of Nugan Hand, and that "there was simply no objective evidence that the CIA used or was used by the Nugan Hand group in, or in connection with, any of the group's activities." He said the Commission found "no evidence to support the allegation that the office in Chiang Mai was established to attract deposits from drug producers of the so-called 'Golden Triangle'," concluded that on at least one occasion the group transferred money overseas for collection by a member of the Mr Asia drug syndicate, and noted that evidence could not be obtained from Hand.[^17] Bonner wrote that one Australian investigation found links between Hand and the CIA, while another did not.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's public response was a terse "no comment" when asked about the bank in February 1981, according to the Daily News.[^3] The Nation reported in 1984 that the agency had flatly denied any connection with Nugan Hand but had refused to cooperate with the Australian inquiry.[^13] In a letter to [[Time]] in January 1982, [[John H. Holdridge]], Assistant Secretary of State, wrote that [[George H.W. Bush|George H. W. Bush]] had confirmed during a visit to Australia that there had been no CIA involvement, and that [[Frank Church]] had said his Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found no evidence implicating the agency.[^18] A CBS broadcast of September 22, 1982 quoted former bank executive [[Neil Evans]], who had been given immunity from prosecution, as saying: "We were to become the paymasters for the CIA around the world."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### 1980s and later sightings
|
||||
|
||||
[[Brian Toohey]] reported in [[The Eye]] in 1991 that Hand had a postal drop at a suite in northeast [[Bellevue]], Washington, and that his wife was reportedly living with him there.[^20] Seymour wrote that [[Michael Riconosciuto]], who was living near [[Tacoma]], Washington, when he was arrested in 1991, claimed to have been in direct communication with Hand before and after the disappearance, and to have handled money transfers for Hand when he fled Australia.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In November 2015 Peter Butt, the author of *Merchants of Menace*, reported that Hand had been living in a small town in Idaho as Michael Jon Fuller, having changed his name only slightly. Butt said Hand had not obtained a new Social Security number.[^1] The Idaho company [[G.M.I. Manufacturing]], registered with the [[Idaho Secretary of State]], was described by Butt as manufacturing tactical weapons for U.S. Special Forces, special operations groups and hunters.[^1] The Idaho Secretary of State's business records list a G.M.I. Manufacturing, Inc., a general business corporation filed on January 4, 1999 and recorded as dissolved on March 9, 2023; the record names a registered agent and a mailing address in Ucon, Idaho, and records found do not establish whether it is the company Butt described.[^21] ProPublica reported, citing an Australian intelligence document declassified earlier in 2015, that in 1982 Hand was working as a military adviser in the region of [[Nicaragua]] where the anti-Sandinista contras were based. The CIA has previously denied any links to Hand.[^1] The Australian program [[60 Minutes]] filmed Hand, identified as Fuller, in [[Idaho Falls]], and reported that he refused to answer questions. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^1]: Bonner, Raymond. "Decades After Disappearing From Australia, a CIA-Linked Fugitive Is Found in Idaho." ProPublica, November 10, 2015 (co-published with The Daily Beast). https://www.propublica.org/article/after-disappearing-from-australia-a-cia-linked-fugitive-found-in-idaho
|
||||
|
||||
[^2]: Kwitny, Jonathan. *The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA*. W.W. Norton, 1987 (Touchstone edition, 1988, pp. 41-42, 46, 54-55, 73, 85, 159, 336-339).
|
||||
|
||||
[^3]: "Failed Bank Linked to CIA Ripoffs." New York Daily News, February 13, 1981, Washington News Bureau report. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820040-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820040-5
|
||||
|
||||
[^4]: Military Times Hall of Valor, "Michael Hand," Distinguished Service Cross, Vietnam War, General Orders No. 23 (1966), Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific. https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-4866/
|
||||
|
||||
[^5]: Bottom, Bob. *Connections 1*, excerpt "The Nugan Hand Connection," Sydney Crime Museum. https://sydneycrimemuseum.com/crime-stories/the-nugan-hand-connection/
|
||||
|
||||
[^6]: Marshall, "The Friends of Michael Hand," Inquiry, November 24, 1980. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302510007-5
|
||||
|
||||
[^7]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
|
||||
[^8]: Schneider, "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study," New York Times, March 8, 1987. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
|
||||
|
||||
[^9]: Kwitny, Jonathan. "Nugan Hand." Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1983. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00552R000302510001-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302510001-1
|
||||
|
||||
[^10]: Farrell, Frank. "Nugan, Francis John (1942-1980)." Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, 2000. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nugan-francis-john-11266
|
||||
|
||||
[^11]: "An Australian Bank Faces Many Charges in Fiction-Like Case" (subhead "Nugan Hand Chairman Found Dead, Accused of Stealing; CIA Link Is Alleged"). Wall Street Journal, May 1, 1980. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820048-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820048-7
|
||||
|
||||
[^12]: Stannard, Bruce. "Nugan Hand from the Inside." The Bulletin (Sydney), June 5, 1984, pp. 22-27, reproducing the Task Force interviews of Robert Wallace Gehring (May 29, 1981) and Maurice Bernard Houghton (June 9, 1981); reproduced in Cabinet Documents on the Inquiry into the Nugan-Hand Group, Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, Part 1. https://archive.org/details/Nugan-Hand
|
||||
|
||||
[^13]: "Dispatches: The Nugan Hand Investigation." The Nation, March 3, 1984. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1
|
||||
|
||||
[^14]: New South Wales Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking, Volume 2 (June 1982) and Volume 4 (March 1983). Dates from the Wellcome Collection catalogue (https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jzzwv5ng) and Schneider, New York Times, March 8, 1987.
|
||||
|
||||
[^15]: "Australian Probe Links Nugan Hand to Illegalities." Wall Street Journal, November 12, 1982. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00552R000302510003-9. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302510003-9
|
||||
|
||||
[^16]: Fraser, Malcolm. Prime Minister's media release, "Royal Commission into Drug Trafficking," February 24, 1983. PM Transcripts, Transcript 6034. https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00006034.pdf
|
||||
|
||||
[^17]: Young, Michael. Ministerial statement, "Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Nugan Hand Group: Report and Ministerial Statement," Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, November 27, 1985, pp. 3784-3786.
|
||||
|
||||
[^18]: Holdridge, John H. Letter, "Australian Intrigue," Time, January 3, 1982. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820017-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820017-1
|
||||
|
||||
[^19]: CBS, "The Nugan Hand Bank," transcript of the Evening News segment, September 22, 1982, by Gary Shepard. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00552R000201840002-6. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP90-00552R000201840002-6
|
||||
|
||||
[^20]: Toohey, Brian. "The Eye," 1991.
|
||||
|
||||
[^21]: Idaho Secretary of State, business entity search, G.M.I. Manufacturing, Inc. (file 388708). https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -15,22 +15,22 @@ relations:
|
|||
end: 1996-08-12
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Michel Lelièvre was arrested with [[Marc Dutroux]] and [[Michelle Martin]] at about five in the afternoon on August 12, 1996, three days after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] at Bertrix, when a witness had remembered three digits of a license plate.[^2] At the trial in Arlon he admitted abducting [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]] in August 1995 but denied raping or killing them.[^4] Dutroux told the court that Lelièvre and [[Bernard Weinstein]] had come to take the two young women from his house after fifteen days, and he attributed the abduction of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] to Lelièvre and one Pierre Rochow, a defense the jury rejected.[^3][^5]
|
||||
Michel Lelièvre was arrested with [[Marc Dutroux]] and [[Michelle Martin]] at about five in the afternoon on August 12, 1996, three days after the abduction of a 14-year-old girl at Bertrix, when a witness had remembered three digits of a license plate.[^1] At the trial in Arlon he admitted abducting [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]] in August 1995 but denied raping or killing them.[^2] Dutroux told the court that Lelièvre and [[Bernard Weinstein]] had come to take the two young women from his house after fifteen days, and he attributed the abduction of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] to Lelièvre and one Pierre Rochow, a defense the jury rejected.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury convicted Lelièvre of taking part in a criminal association engaged in abducting children and in one engaged in selling drugs and trafficking human beings, and of the abduction of An, [[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia, which he did not deny. It also convicted him of the sequestration of the young victims, rejecting his lawyer Slusny's argument that he had never met some of them at Dutroux's house in [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]], and found for An and Eefje the aggravating circumstance of torture causing death.[^5] He was sentenced to 25 years. The Brussels sentence-enforcement court granted him conditional release at the end of September 2019 over the unfavorable opinion of the Brussels prosecutor's office, with about a dozen conditions including training or work and compensation of the civil parties, and he left prison on December 2, 2019.[^6]
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury convicted Lelièvre of taking part in a criminal association engaged in abducting children and in one engaged in selling drugs and trafficking human beings, and of the abduction of An and of two girls aged 12 and 14, which he did not deny. It also convicted him of the sequestration of the young victims, rejecting his lawyer Slusny's argument that he had never met some of them at Dutroux's house in [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]], and found for An and Eefje the aggravating circumstance of torture causing death.[^4] He was sentenced to 25 years. The Brussels sentence-enforcement court granted him conditional release at the end of September 2019 over the unfavorable opinion of the Brussels prosecutor's office, with about a dozen conditions including training or work and compensation of the civil parties, and he left prison on December 2, 2019.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements Attributed to Him
|
||||
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that he was born in 1967, met Dutroux in 1995 through a mutual acquaintance, was an unemployed man with a minor record, and was paid in drugs; that he blocked Sabine's path near her school while Dutroux seized her and waited in the vehicle during Laetitia's abduction; and that he told investigators of Dutroux's drugging and hypnosis of victims, of seeing An and Eefje naked and made to clean tiles, of a man in a Mercedes who came to the house demanding money after seeing them, of girls ordered by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] from [[Slovakia]] and the Czech Republic, and of Dutroux's boast of raping and abandoning a girl near Trenčín.[^1]
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that he was born in 1967, met Dutroux in 1995 through a mutual acquaintance, was an unemployed man with a minor record, and was paid in drugs; that he blocked the path of a 12-year-old girl near her school while Dutroux seized her and waited in the vehicle during the abduction of a 14-year-old girl; and that he told investigators of Dutroux's drugging and hypnosis of victims, of seeing An and Eefje naked and made to clean tiles, of a man in a Mercedes who came to the house demanding money after seeing them, of girls ordered by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] from [[Slovakia]] and the Czech Republic, and of Dutroux's boast of raping and abandoning a girl near Trenčín.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that his involvement began only after Dutroux's release in March 1996 and that he was paroled in 2005 are contradicted by his conviction for the August 1995 abduction of An Marchal and by his release in December 2019; its dates for the Dardenne abduction and Dutroux's arrest are contradicted by the commission's chronology. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^3]: Fleury, Elisabeth. "Le calvaire d'An et Eefje." *Le Parisien,* April 5, 2004. https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/le-calvaire-d-an-et-eefje-05-04-2004-2004887724.php
|
||||
[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^5]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
[^6]: "Belgique. 'L'homme à tout faire' de Marc Dutroux, Michel Lelièvre, est sorti de prison." *Ouest-France,* December 2, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.ouest-france.fr/europe/belgique/belgique-l-homme-tout-faire-de-marc-dutroux-michel-lelievre-est-sorti-de-prison-6634935
|
||||
[^4]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
[^5]: "Belgique. 'L'homme à tout faire' de Marc Dutroux, Michel Lelièvre, est sorti de prison." *Ouest-France,* December 2, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.ouest-france.fr/europe/belgique/belgique-l-homme-tout-faire-de-marc-dutroux-michel-lelievre-est-sorti-de-prison-6634935
|
||||
[^6]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that his involvement began only after Dutroux's release in March 1996 and that he was paroled in 2005 are contradicted by his conviction for the August 1995 abduction of An Marchal and by his release in December 2019; its dates for the May 1996 abduction and Dutroux's arrest are contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
Michelle Martin was the wife of [[Marc Dutroux]] and one of his accomplices. [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]], both eight, were abducted at Grâce-Hollogne on June 24, 1995, and held in a concealed cell in the cellar of Dutroux's house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]].[^1] While Dutroux was in prison on a separate charge from December 13, 1995, to March 20, 1996, the two girls starved to death; Martin testified that she had been too frightened to go into the cellar to feed them.[^1][^2] She was arrested with Dutroux and [[Michel Lelievre]] on August 12, 1996.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted her of taking part in a criminal association engaged in abducting and sequestering children, and of the sequestration of [[Laetitia Delhez]], [[Sabine Dardenne]], [[An Marchal]], [[Eefje Lambrecks]], Melissa and Julie, with the aggravating circumstance for Julie and Melissa that their detention was accompanied by torture causing death, and for some counts of death threats. She was also convicted of the rape of Yancka Mackova, having admitted putting the antipsychotic Haldol in the young woman's food. The jury rejected her defense that she had committed no positive act of participation.[^3] She was sentenced to 30 years.[^4] Martin apologized to the court for not feeding Julie and Melissa. Dutroux accused [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] of being his link to a ring kidnapping girls in eastern Europe for prostitution, a scenario the prosecutors said they had found no evidence for; the jury acquitted Nihoul of the abduction charges and adopted the view that Dutroux had acted as an isolated predator.[^2][^3]
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted her of taking part in a criminal association engaged in abducting and sequestering children, and of the sequestration of two girls aged 14 and 12, [[An Marchal]], [[Eefje Lambrecks]], Melissa and Julie, with the aggravating circumstance for Julie and Melissa that their detention was accompanied by torture causing death, and for some counts of death threats. She was also convicted of the rape of a young woman, having admitted putting the antipsychotic Haldol in her food. The jury rejected her defense that she had committed no positive act of participation.[^3] She was sentenced to 30 years.[^4] Martin apologized to the court for not feeding Julie and Melissa. Dutroux accused [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] of being his link to a ring kidnapping girls in eastern Europe for prostitution, a scenario the prosecutors said they had found no evidence for; the jury acquitted Nihoul of the abduction charges and adopted the view that Dutroux had acted as an isolated predator.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Martin was granted early release in 2012 after serving 16 years and moved to a convent. She was released without conditions in August 2022.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
title: Peter Hurkos
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Peter Hurkos
|
||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Parapsychology
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
summary: "Peter Hurkos was a Dutch psychic who gained international fame for psychometry - divining information from objects by touch - and was studied by Andrija Puharich at the Round Table Foundation in 1956 before achieving notoriety as a police psychic consultant in the United States."
|
||||
summary: "Peter Hurkos was a Dutch psychic known for psychometry, studied by Andrija Puharich at the Round Table Foundation in 1956 before becoming a police psychic consultant in the United States."
|
||||
born: 1911-05-21
|
||||
died: 1988-06-01
|
||||
location: "Dordrecht, Netherlands"
|
||||
|
|
@ -21,15 +21,21 @@ location: "Dordrecht, Netherlands"
|
|||
|
||||
Peter Hurkos was a Dutch psychic who gained international fame for his purported abilities, particularly psychometry - the claimed ability to divine information from an object through touch. A former house painter, Hurkos claimed his psychic powers manifested after he suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall in 1941[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
In the fall of 1956, Hurkos was brought to the [[Round Table Foundation]] in Maine by [[Henry Belk]], a department store tycoon and one of [[Andrija Puharich]]'s investors. Hurkos's arrival boosted morale at the foundation, and he formed a close bond with [[Harry Stump]], another psychic working there[^1].
|
||||
In the fall of 1956, Hurkos was brought to the [[Round Table Foundation]] in Maine by [[Henry Belk]], a department store tycoon and one of [[Andrija Puharich]]'s investors. Hurkos's arrival boosted morale at the foundation, and he formed a close bond with [[Harry Stump]], another psychic working there[^1]. An anonymous mid-1960s paper in the CIA's files states that Puharich, director of a nonprofit foundation in Maine, "was responsible for bringing Peter Hurkos to this country."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Hurkos took part in a demonstration for members of the Psychic Research Society of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] at the foundation on September 29 and 30, 1956. In split Matching Abacus Test series, Hurkos and a second subject (Harry Stump, written "Mr. Stone" in the report) sat in separate Faraday cages about 18 feet apart and tried to reproduce each other's arrangements of symbols. Most runs scored at chance; for Demonstration No. 11 (50 trials, 18 on-target hits) the report states that the results "were considered evidence for the existence of telepathic interaction on the part of Mr. Stone and Mr. Hurkos."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich began regularly dosing Hurkos with hallucinogenic mushrooms, specifically *teonanáctl*, using himself as a control. Under the influence, Hurkos became fixated on outer space, claiming to see a flying saucer and extraterrestrials on Owl's Head beach. He also reported seeing ghosts and experiencing premonitions, including a poltergeist incident that coincided with the unexpected death of [[Alice Astor Bouverie]], a key financial supporter of the foundation[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Hurkos's psychometric talents were observed by [[Bep Hermans]], Puharich's au pair and later wife. Hermans recalled that Hurkos, while blindfolded, could provide detailed information about the owner of an object simply by touching it[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
After the death of [[Alice Astor Bouverie]], Puharich and Hurkos traveled to Mexico in search of more *God's flesh* mushrooms. Despite the turmoil, the [[Round Table Foundation]] continued its activities, with Hurkos participating in experiments involving [[Telepathy]], [[Dowsing]], palmistry, and [[Eyeless Sight]][^1].
|
||||
After the death of Alice Astor Bouverie, Puharich and Hurkos traveled to Mexico in search of more *God's flesh* mushrooms. Despite the turmoil, the Round Table Foundation continued its activities, with Hurkos participating in experiments involving [[Telepathy]], [[Dowsing]], palmistry, and [[Eyeless Sight]][^1].
|
||||
|
||||
In the 1960s, Puharich and Hurkos traveled to the Sixth Naval District Personnel Conference in Charleston, [[South Carolina]], to demonstrate [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and psychometry to submariners[^1].
|
||||
In November 1959, Puharich and Hurkos traveled to the Sixth Naval District Personnel Conference in Charleston, [[South Carolina]], to demonstrate [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and psychometry to submariners[^1]. Puharich's curriculum vitae titles the talk "Demonstration of ESP by Peter Hurkos, and an Explanation by Dr. Puharich," presented at the conference on November 6 and 7, 1959, and published in the Navy's Guidelines in December 1959.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### 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]: "The World of the Supra-Sensory," anonymous typescript, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400040032-1, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000400040032-1.
|
||||
[^3]: Plaintiff's Exhibit 7, Puharich report, Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), Appendix, section 8.80 and following. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^4]: Curriculum vitae, Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, Appendix; CIA-RDP96-00787R000100190001-2, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000100190001-2.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -7,10 +7,25 @@ summary: "Deputy director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency who was tro
|
|||
born: 1924-10-24
|
||||
died: 2012-08-10
|
||||
location: "New York City, New York, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "deputy director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, forwarded Garwin's proposal for a longer review"
|
||||
start: 1979-10-19
|
||||
end: 1980-02-27
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr. was the deputy director of the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency|ACDA]]. He was a senior bureaucrat involved in high-level scientific issues since the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administration. Keeny realized that he and his colleagues needed to "buy some time" after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion on September 22, 1979. He was troubled by the intelligence community's assurance that its assessment was 90 percent accurate, believing that middle-level bureaucrats could not know all the facts. Keeny claimed it was his idea to set up an outside panel to study the VELA data and ensure the satellite had not made an error with enormous political consequences.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Keeny sent Ambassador [[Henry Owen]] on October 19, 1979 a copy of a letter from [[Richard Garwin]] dated October 18, with a note that he continued to believe there was merit in a more detailed review of the technical data "by a group of senior scientists of the type suggested by Garwin." Garwin's letter said he would "bet 2 to 1 in favor of the hypothesis," called for "another one- or two-day meeting of a group of skeptical critical experts," and named [[Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky|Panofsky]], [[Richard Muller]], [[Luis Alvarez]] and [[Burton Richter|Burt Richter]].[^2] In a January 17, 1980 letter to Owen and [[Gerard C. Smith]], [[Frank Press]] called the panel "the panel that I brought together at your request."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Keeny's claim to have proposed the panel is reported by [[Leonard Weiss]] from a 2004 interview.[^4] Keeny was dismissive of a February 1980 account, relayed through [[Jack P. Ruina|Jack Ruina]], that an Israeli missile expert at MIT had described the event as an Israeli-South African operation.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Keeny, Spurgeon, memorandum transmitting Garwin letter to Henry Owen, October 19, 1979, Secret. Document 11 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^3]: Press, Frank, letter to Henry Owen and Gerard Smith, January 17, 1980, Document 32 in Burr and Cohen. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^4]: Weiss, Leonard, "Flash from the Past: Why an Apparent Israeli Nuclear Test in 1979 Matters Today," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 8, 2015. https://thebulletin.org/2015/09/flash-from-the-past-why-an-apparent-israeli-nuclear-test-in-1979-matters-today/
|
||||
[^5]: Burr and Cohen, Briefing Book No. 570, Documents 38A and 38B (State Department telegrams of February 25 and 27, 1980, Vienna), and Document 32 note. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "counterintelligence and counterespionage officer; retired in uniform in 1997 as a lieutenant colonel, then a civilian intelligence officer until 2019"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-05
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Thomas M. McNear was a captain of military intelligence who became, with [[Rob Cowart]], one of the first two soldiers trained by [[Ingo Swann]] in [[Coordinate Remote Viewing]] (CRV). The [[Omega Institute]] describes him as a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the Army's remote viewing program from 1981 to 1985, the first member of the program personally trained by Swann in CRV and the only member Swann trained through what the biography calls Stage VII (phonetics).[^1] [[Jim Schnabel]] gave him the pseudonym "Tom Nance" in *Remote Viewers* (1997); the book's list of pseudonyms includes the name, and an Omega Institute biography of McNear quotes Schnabel's passage on Swann's "true protégé" as "Tom (McNear)."[^2]
|
||||
|
|
@ -60,21 +60,23 @@ A third trip report records Stage Three training at SRI, [[Menlo Park, Californi
|
|||
|
||||
On April 13, 1984 the INSCOM commander, Major General [[Albert Stubblebine]], toured the Center Lane buildings and "spent approximately 10 minutes in a one-to-one session with CPT McNear behind closed doors."[^9] On April 24, 1984 Buzby wrote to Puthoff that "upon completion of Stage IV training by Tom McNear" under the contract he had not received the written evaluations of the trainee's progress after each two-week session or the final report within 30 days of each stage, and he asked about the status of research on Stage V and about "the trainee currently in Stage VI with regard to Stage V."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
In May 1984, Schnabel wrote, near the close of his formal training, Swann put McNear through a valedictory series of sessions that were bound into a red folder and shown to Army and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] officials. Schnabel listed among the targets [[Grand Coulee Dam]], drawn accurately and modeled in white clay, with an SRI photographer later sent to photograph the dam from the same angle; a site in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma|Tulsa]] that McNear took by Stage Four for a university and named as [[Oral Roberts University]]; [[Bunker Hill Monument]]; [[Grant's Tomb]]; and a ruin in [[Mexico]] for which, in Stage Seven phonics, he produced "Tuh," "too," "luh," "loo," and the name "Tulum." Schnabel noted that Swann gave constant feedback during such sessions and apparently was not blinded to the targets. He wrote that Swann considered McNear his true protégé, "the formal prototype for the CRV-trained military remote viewer," with training begun in late 1982 that would not end until Swann's contract with INSCOM expired two years later.[^11]
|
||||
SRI's July 1984 report on Stage IV, covering February 1983 to April 1984, describes a trainee identified only as Trainee #059. The trainee began Stage IV in December 1983 and "completed the requirements for S-IV on 22 March 1984."[^11] Puthoff's December 1984 report on Stages V and VI calls the same trainee "Army INSCOM Trainee #059," the "first individual to complete the six-stage training package described in this report."[^12] The reports do not name the trainee. The Stage IV completion date falls within a month of the April 24, 1984 letter's reference to "completion of Stage IV training by Tom McNear," and the program, unit and stage sequence match. The records found do not establish whether Trainee #059 is McNear.
|
||||
|
||||
A DIA memorandum of April 23, 1985, signed by Buzby, states that SRI-International's training of three source personnel by its subcontractor ended in December 1984 "upon completion of the training contract" and that in-house training modeled on Swann's procedure, with its progressive multi-stage acquisition process, took over in January 1985.[^12]
|
||||
In May 1984, Schnabel wrote, near the close of his formal training, Swann put McNear through a valedictory series of sessions that were bound into a red folder and shown to Army and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] officials. Schnabel listed among the targets [[Grand Coulee Dam]], drawn accurately and modeled in white clay, with an SRI photographer later sent to photograph the dam from the same angle; a site in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma|Tulsa]] that McNear took by Stage Four for a university and named as [[Oral Roberts University]]; [[Bunker Hill Monument]]; [[Grant's Tomb]]; and a ruin in [[Mexico]] for which, in Stage Seven phonics, he produced "Tuh," "too," "luh," "loo," and the name "Tulum." Schnabel noted that Swann gave constant feedback during such sessions and apparently was not blinded to the targets. He wrote that Swann considered McNear his true protégé, "the formal prototype for the CRV-trained military remote viewer," with training begun in late 1982 that would not end until Swann's contract with INSCOM expired two years later.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
The Omega Institute biography adds that McNear was a member of Swann's five-person team that on June 15, 1984 remote viewed the planet [[Mars]]. A transcript in the CIA collection headed "Mars Exploration, May 22, 1984" records a monitor and a subject, the subject not named, given a sealed envelope reading "The planet Mars. Time of interest approximately 1 million years B.C." and the geographic coordinates "40.89 degrees north, 9.55 degrees west"; the subject reported "a pyramid or pyramid form" and "very large people," "very tall...thin."[^13] [[Annie Jacobsen]] reported that McNear needed two and a half years to reach Stage Six, the stage in which the viewer builds a three-dimensional clay model of the target; that photographs of his models beside pictures of the targets were used in briefings of the [[National Security Council]]; and that Swann told colleagues McNear was "better than me."[^14]
|
||||
A DIA memorandum of April 23, 1985, signed by Buzby, states that SRI-International's training of three source personnel by its subcontractor ended in December 1984 "upon completion of the training contract" and that in-house training modeled on Swann's procedure, with its progressive multi-stage acquisition process, took over in January 1985.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The Omega Institute biography adds that McNear was a member of Swann's five-person team that on June 15, 1984 remote viewed the planet [[Mars]]. A transcript in the CIA collection headed "Mars Exploration, May 22, 1984" records a monitor and a subject, the subject not named, given a sealed envelope reading "The planet Mars. Time of interest approximately 1 million years B.C." and the geographic coordinates "40.89 degrees north, 9.55 degrees west"; the subject reported "a pyramid or pyramid form" and "very large people," "very tall...thin."[^15] [[Annie Jacobsen]] reported that McNear needed two and a half years to reach Stage Six, the stage in which the viewer builds a three-dimensional clay model of the target; that photographs of his models beside pictures of the targets were used in briefings of the [[National Security Council]]; and that Swann told colleagues McNear was "better than me."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1985 working paper
|
||||
|
||||
"Coordinate Remote Viewing, Stages I-VI and Beyond," dated February 1985 and marked as a working paper with "Project Officer" and the name withheld, runs to eleven chapters and a glossary. It is written in the first person. Its introduction says it provides "the basics that have been learned in the past three years of training" and that CRV "must be learned by doing." Its sample session, a Stage I to Stage VII sequence, ends with ideograms and phonetic sounds ("tooloo," "the site is the Mayan Temple at Tolum") and a photograph of the Stage VI model, captioned as the Tulum ruins in Mexico. A Stage V example used the site of [[Grant's Farm]] outside [[St. Louis]].[^15]
|
||||
"Coordinate Remote Viewing, Stages I-VI and Beyond," dated February 1985 and marked as a working paper with "Project Officer" and the name withheld, runs to eleven chapters and a glossary. It is written in the first person. Its introduction says it provides "the basics that have been learned in the past three years of training" and that CRV "must be learned by doing." Its sample session, a Stage I to Stage VII sequence, ends with ideograms and phonetic sounds ("tooloo," "the site is the Mayan Temple at Tolum") and a photograph of the Stage VI model, captioned as the Tulum ruins in Mexico. A Stage V example used the site of [[Grant's Farm]] outside [[St. Louis]].[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
Its tenth chapter, headed "Future Stages," is presented as "the personal thoughts of the writer," the product of "the last three and one-half years of training." It proposes Stage VII "Analytics," the ability to make yes/no decisions without analytical overlay, developed by Swann; Stage VIII "Phonetics/Sonics," with the example of "Carribah," produced when tasked against [[Kariba Dam]]; Stage IX "Telepathic Signals," in two phases, receiving and transmitting; Stage X "Remote Action," or psychokinesis, with phases of interaction with objects at the site and teleportation of things from and to it; and Stage XI "Altering the Dimensionality at the Site," in which time at the site "could be frozen, moved forward, or moved back." The writer says: "I realize these concepts are difficult to grasp and impossible to believe, but, they are a natural flow of the signal." The conclusions state: "After four years of training I know the CRV training program is a usable program for instructing personnel to RV."[^15] Jacobsen reported that a forty-one-page [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] how-to manual of 1985 with this title was by McNear and was declassified in 2000.[^14]
|
||||
Its tenth chapter, headed "Future Stages," is presented as "the personal thoughts of the writer," the product of "the last three and one-half years of training." It proposes Stage VII "Analytics," the ability to make yes/no decisions without analytical overlay, developed by Swann; Stage VIII "Phonetics/Sonics," with the example of "Carribah," produced when tasked against [[Kariba Dam]]; Stage IX "Telepathic Signals," in two phases, receiving and transmitting; Stage X "Remote Action," or psychokinesis, with phases of interaction with objects at the site and teleportation of things from and to it; and Stage XI "Altering the Dimensionality at the Site," in which time at the site "could be frozen, moved forward, or moved back." The writer says: "I realize these concepts are difficult to grasp and impossible to believe, but, they are a natural flow of the signal." The conclusions state: "After four years of training I know the CRV training program is a usable program for instructing personnel to RV."[^17] Jacobsen reported that a forty-one-page [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] how-to manual of 1985 with this title was by McNear and was declassified in 2000.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Departure and later career
|
||||
|
||||
McNear did not wish to remain at Fort Meade. In Jacobsen's account he cited the program's inconsistent funding, the deaths of two members from cancer, and the medical retirement for cancer of Cowart, his fellow trainee and friend; he said he had become very withdrawn; and the Army granted his transfer. Schnabel wrote that "Nance" was gone by the end of 1985, that he left "to get back to ordinary life," that his marriage and Army career had suffered from the remote viewing work, and that he took a post overseas; Schnabel also recorded that, after Nance's divorce, he and Swann traveled together to the [[Yucatan Peninsula|Yucatan]], where Nance visited Tulum and experienced "a certain strange thrill that told him he had already been there."[^16] Shortly afterward, Schnabel wrote, a viewer in the unit circulated memoranda about "the loss of their comrade, Tom," in the context of the hostility General [[William Odom|Odom]] directed at the unit.[^16]
|
||||
McNear did not wish to remain at Fort Meade. In Jacobsen's account he cited the program's inconsistent funding, the deaths of two members from cancer, and the medical retirement for cancer of Cowart, his fellow trainee and friend; he said he had become very withdrawn; and the Army granted his transfer. Schnabel wrote that "Nance" was gone by the end of 1985, that he left "to get back to ordinary life," that his marriage and Army career had suffered from the remote viewing work, and that he took a post overseas; Schnabel also recorded that, after Nance's divorce, he and Swann traveled together to the [[Yucatan Peninsula|Yucatan]], where Nance visited Tulum and experienced "a certain strange thrill that told him he had already been there."[^18] Shortly afterward, Schnabel wrote, a viewer in the unit circulated memoranda about "the loss of their comrade, Tom," in the context of the hostility General [[William Odom|Odom]] directed at the unit.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
The Omega Institute states that McNear continued in counterintelligence and counterespionage and "was the leader of a team that neutralized eight persons committing espionage against the United States," retired from uniformed service in 1997, served as a civilian intelligence officer until 2019, "culminating in 45 years of service," and holds a master's degree in counseling psychology from [[Saint Mary's University]] in [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -82,7 +84,7 @@ The Omega Institute states that McNear continued in counterintelligence and coun
|
|||
|
||||
[^1]: Omega Institute, "Thomas (Tom) McNear," teacher biography, https://www.eomega.org/workshops/teachers/thomas-tom-mcnear.
|
||||
[^2]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies* (Dell, 1997), "Pseudonyms," https://archive.org/details/jim-schnabel-remote-viewers-the-secret-history-of-americas-psychic-spies_2; Omega Institute, "Thomas (Tom) McNear," https://www.eomega.org/workshops/teachers/thomas-tom-mcnear.
|
||||
[^3]: McNear, Thomas M., "Purchasing of Maps," memorandum for the record, March 16, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200060026-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200060026-6; "Briefing for Mr. Doug Olin," memorandum for the record, April 12, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100270001-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001100270001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^3]: McNear, Thomas M., "Purchasing of Maps," memorandum for the record, March 16, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200060026-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200060026-6; "Briefing for Mr. Doug Olin," memorandum for the record, April 12, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100270001-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001100270001-1.
|
||||
[^4]: Schnabel, Jim, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies*, Dell, 1997, chapters on the arrival of Nance and Cowart and on Swann's training program; Omega Institute, "Thomas (Tom) McNear," quoting Schnabel.
|
||||
[^5]: McNear, Thomas M., "CRV Stage Three Training," March 24, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200220006-0, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200220006-0; McNear, Thomas M., "CRV Stage Three Training," April 18, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200220005-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200220005-1; "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001100020001-8; Schnabel, *Remote Viewers*, Dell, 1997. The trip report of July 6 to 22, 1982 is cited in both 1983 memoranda.
|
||||
[^6]: McNear, Thomas M., "Trip Report 21 Aug-2 Sep 83," October 5, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200220002-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200220002-4; McNear, Thomas M., "Trip Report 27-28 Sep 83," October 5, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200220001-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001200220001-5.
|
||||
|
|
@ -90,9 +92,11 @@ The Omega Institute states that McNear continued in counterintelligence and coun
|
|||
[^8]: INSCOM, "Personnel Assignments," October 3, 1983, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700300005-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001700300005-7.
|
||||
[^9]: "Visit by CG, INSCOM 13 Apr 84," memorandum for record, April 16, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700220008-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001700220008-3.
|
||||
[^10]: Buzby, Brian, letter to Dr. Harold E. Puthoff, "Contract Requirements," April 24, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001500120028-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001500120028-4.
|
||||
[^11]: Schnabel, *Remote Viewers*, Dell, 1997, chapter on Swann's training program, including its footnotes on Swann's feedback to Nance.
|
||||
[^12]: Buzby, Brian, "SUN STREAK Training Report," memorandum for Dr. Vorona, April 23, 1985, with the "Training Report, First Quarter 1985," CIA-RDP96-00789R002100160001-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00789r002100160001-1.
|
||||
[^13]: Omega Institute, "Thomas (Tom) McNear"; "Mars Exploration, May 22, 1984," transcript, CIA-RDP96-00788R001900760001-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001900760001-9.
|
||||
[^14]: Jacobsen, Annie, *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*, Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
[^15]: "Coordinate Remote Viewing: Stages I-VI and Beyond," working paper, February 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001000400001-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001000400001-7.
|
||||
[^16]: Schnabel, *Remote Viewers*, Dell, 1997, chapters on Swann's training program and on the unit's decline; Jacobsen, *Phenomena*, 2017.
|
||||
[^11]: SRI International, "Special Orientation Techniques: S-IV," final report, SRI Project 5590, covering February 1, 1983 to April 30, 1984, July 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800200001-1. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001800200001-1.pdf.
|
||||
[^12]: Harold E. Puthoff, "Special Orientation Techniques: S-V, S-VI," CENTER LANE-3 final report, December 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800280001-3. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001800280001-3.pdf.
|
||||
[^13]: Schnabel, *Remote Viewers*, Dell, 1997, chapter on Swann's training program, including its footnotes on Swann's feedback to Nance.
|
||||
[^14]: Buzby, Brian, "SUN STREAK Training Report," memorandum for Dr. Vorona, April 23, 1985, with the "Training Report, First Quarter 1985," CIA-RDP96-00789R002100160001-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00789r002100160001-1.
|
||||
[^15]: Omega Institute, "Thomas (Tom) McNear"; "Mars Exploration, May 22, 1984," transcript, CIA-RDP96-00788R001900760001-9, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001900760001-9.
|
||||
[^16]: Jacobsen, Annie, *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*, Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
[^17]: "Coordinate Remote Viewing: Stages I-VI and Beyond," working paper, February 1985, CIA-RDP96-00788R001000400001-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00788r001000400001-7.
|
||||
[^18]: Schnabel, *Remote Viewers*, Dell, 1997, chapters on Swann's training program and on the unit's decline; Jacobsen, *Phenomena*, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
title: Andrija Puharich
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Andrija Puharich
|
||||
|
|
@ -24,6 +24,22 @@ summary: "Physician and parapsychologist who lectured the Pentagon on ESP in psy
|
|||
born: 1918-02-19
|
||||
died: 1995-01-03
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Round Table Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 1948
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Round Table Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "director of research"
|
||||
start: 1949
|
||||
end: 1958
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Intelectron Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "president and director of medical research"
|
||||
start: 1961
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
---
|
||||
Henry Karel "Andrija" Puharich (1918-1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the [[United States|U.S. government]]'s investigations into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]] during the [[Cold War]]. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -31,7 +47,7 @@ Born in [[Chicago]] on February 19, 1918, to poor [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslavian]] imm
|
|||
|
||||
After completing his medical degree in 1947, Puharich worked with leading physicians, including his mentor, Dr. [[Andrew C. Ivy]]. During his residency at the [[Permanente Research Foundation]], he formulated the Puharich Theory, which posited an unknown energy force linking the brain and nervous system to cells, with instructions flowing between them as "dynamics." He believed this energy radiated on the [[Electromagnetic Spectrum|electromagnetic spectrum]] but was beyond current measurement technology. His theory gained traction when [[Lloyd H. Beck]] and [[Walter S. Miles]] of [[Yale University]] reported that the olfactory nerve of a bee radiated energy in the infrared spectrum[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Inspired by microbiologist [[Paul De Kruif]], who warned him to "Beware the Establishment!"[^1], Puharich began lecturing on his ideas, merging philosophy, mysticism, and science. This attracted wealthy benefactors, notably [[Joyce Borden Balokovic]] and [[Zlatko Balokovic]], and later [[Alice Astor Bouverie]] and [[Marcella Miller du Pont]]. With their financial backing, Puharich established the [[Round Table Foundation]] in [[Glen Cove, Maine]], in 1949. The foundation, named in homage to King Arthur, aimed to conduct experiments on ESP and related phenomena[^1].
|
||||
Inspired by microbiologist [[Paul De Kruif]], who warned him to "Beware the Establishment!"[^1], Puharich began lecturing on his ideas, merging philosophy, mysticism, and science. This attracted wealthy benefactors, notably [[Joyce Borden Balokovic]] and [[Zlatko Balokovic]], and later [[Alice Astor Bouverie]] and [[Marcella Miller du Pont]]. With their financial backing, Puharich established the [[Round Table Foundation]] in [[Glen Cove, Maine]]. His curriculum vitae gives the start of his directorship as 1948, and his trial testimony gives 1949.[^2] The foundation, named in homage to King Arthur, aimed to conduct experiments on ESP and related phenomena[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Warrenton Estate]], Puharich's home and laboratory, became the center of his research. Here, he conducted experiments on audio waves and human hearing, collaborating with ear surgeon [[Samuel Rosen]], whose accidental discovery of the "Rosen stapes" operation brought prestige and grants to the foundation[^1]. Puharich's mystical beliefs deepened through his mentorship with [[John Hays Hammond Jr.]], a wealthy inventor and ESP advocate. Hammond, influenced by [[Nikola Tesla]], believed scientific inspiration could come from an unknown energy force in dreams. Together, they built a [[Faraday Cage]] to test ESP on [[Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Waves|ELF waves]]. Their "Project I" involved psychics like [[Eileen Garrett]], whose ESP abilities reportedly increased inside the cage[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -39,13 +55,15 @@ Puharich also investigated audio aberrations, collaborating with [[Warren S. McC
|
|||
|
||||
Puharich's work caught the attention of the [[Pentagon]]. In 1952, Lieutenant Colonel [[John B. Stanley]] of the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare]], who also served as an Army liaison to the CIA, met with Puharich. This led to Puharich delivering classified briefings and being recalled to military service in March 1953, where he worked at the [[U.S. Army Chemical Center]] in [[Edgewood Arsenal|Edgewood, Maryland]][^1]. His task was to find a drug that could enhance ESP, mirroring the Central Intelligence Agency's quest for a truth serum[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich testified in 1968 that the Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare of the Army approached him in 1952 and early 1953 to run a test (photographs sealed in opaque envelopes, held by a subject who described the contents), and that the results were given in confidence to the Army officers involved.[^3] From 1953 to 1955 he served as a captain in the Medical Corps and chief of the outpatient service at the U.S. Army Dispensary, Army Chemical Center, Maryland, where his curriculum vitae lists specialized training in chemical, radiological and biological warfare and classified responsibilities.[^4] [[Roger A. Beaumont]] wrote in [[Signal (magazine)|Signal]] in January 1982 that Puharich worked at the Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare Center at Ft. Detrick, Md., in the early 1950s.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
During this period, Puharich became obsessed with the hallucinogenic mushroom *teonanáctl* (God's flesh), after Alice Astor Bouverie informed him of [[Harry Stump]]'s channeling of an "Egyptian persona" that spoke of such a drug. Puharich learned of [[R. Gordon Wasson]]'s expeditions to [[Mexico]] in search of the mushroom and briefed his Army superiors on it[^1]. However, the CIA, through [[James Moore]], bypassed Puharich and approached Wasson directly, leading to Puharich being sidelined from the [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA Subproject 58]][^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich's personal life suffered during his Army service. His wife, Jinny, battled severe depression and underwent insulin shock therapy. After their divorce, Jinny died by suicide in 1959[^1]. Puharich later married [[Bep Hermans]].
|
||||
|
||||
Upon his return to civilian life in 1955, Puharich continued his research at the Round Table Foundation. He experimented with *teonanáctl* on himself and others, including Harry Stump, with [[Aldous Huxley]] as a witness. While the experiments did not yield the divinatory powers Puharich hoped for in Stump, they highlighted the ethical complexities of his research[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
After the death of Alice Astor Bouverie, a key financial supporter, and growing paranoia about CIA interest in his research, Puharich and [[Peter Hurkos]] traveled to Mexico in search of more mushrooms. The Round Table Foundation eventually closed in 1957[^1].
|
||||
After the death of Alice Astor Bouverie, a key financial supporter, and growing paranoia about CIA interest in his research, Puharich and [[Peter Hurkos]] traveled to Mexico in search of more mushrooms. The Round Table Foundation eventually closed in 1957[^1]. A Down East magazine account also gives 1957 as the year the foundation shut down, and Puharich's own curriculum vitae and trial testimony give 1958 as the end of his directorship.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich continued to work on secret government contracts, including for [[NASA]] and the [[Air Force Systems Command]], exploring concepts like "skin reading" - the idea that the skin could function as an organ of sensory communication beyond touch. He demonstrated this with deaf individuals, convincing [[Paul S. Henshaw]] of the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] of its legitimacy[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -57,24 +75,39 @@ Throughout his life, Puharich maintained a theory that extraterrestrials were tr
|
|||
|
||||
Andrija Puharich died tragically in 1995, alone and impoverished, under threat of eviction from the estate of his last benefactor, [[R. J. Reynolds]]. He was 76 and suffering from dementia, kidney failure, and gangrene[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
The CIA's own history of its interest in parapsychology, written in 1977, began with Puharich: "in 1952 the [[Department of Defense]] was lectured on the possible usefulness of extrasensory perception in psychological warfare," citing his paper "On the Possible Usefulness of Extrasensory Perception in Psychological Warfare" to a Pentagon conference of that year, which "induced one of the earliest U.S. Government parapsychology investigations" when the chief of the [[Technical Services Division]] commissioned a review from [[Stephen Abrams]] of the parapsychology laboratory at [[Oxford University|Oxford]]. In January 1973 an officer of the [[Office of Research and Development (CIA)|Office of Research and Development]], reviewing the SRI film of Uri Geller, wrote that "Geller's connections with Dr. A. Puharich, with whom many unsavory reports have been linked, also is disturbing."[^2]
|
||||
The CIA's own history of its interest in parapsychology, written in 1977, began with Puharich: "in 1952 the [[Department of Defense]] was lectured on the possible usefulness of extrasensory perception in psychological warfare," citing his paper "On the Possible Usefulness of Extrasensory Perception in Psychological Warfare" as "delivered to a 1952 Pentagon conference." Kress states that parapsychology "induced one of the earliest U. S. Government parapsychology investigations" when the chief of the CIA's [[Office of Technical Service]] became interested in ESP, and that technical project officers then contacted [[Stephen Abrams]] of [[Oxford University|Oxford]], who prepared a review under [[Project ULTRA]] (draft report, December 14, 1965). Puharich's curriculum vitae dates the paper November 23, 1952, presented to a conference on psychological warfare, Department of Defense, Pentagon.[^7] The Kress footnote cites a Washington Post item of August 7, 1977 (J. Wilhelm, "Psychic Spying?"). In January 1973 an officer of the [[Office of Research and Development (CIA)|Office of Research and Development]], reviewing the SRI film of Uri Geller, wrote that "Geller's connections with Dr. A. Puharich, with whom many unsavory reports have been linked, also is disturbing."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Patent litigation
|
||||
|
||||
In 1963 Puharich applied for a patent, Serial No. 291,096, on a Method and Apparatus for Creating a Controlled Condition for the Observation of the Sensory Abilities of a Human Subject. The Patent Office rejected the claims and the Board of Appeals affirmed. The district court entered judgment for the Commissioner of Patents, and on June 25, 1969 the D.C. Circuit affirmed, Circuit Judge [[Leventhal]] writing that the device was "a kind of cage."[^9] From 1961 Puharich was president and director of medical research of the [[Intelectron Corporation]] in New York, which he testified was formed "to develop and market certain of my ideas and patents in the field of hearing."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Round Table Foundation in CIA Records
|
||||
|
||||
A questionnaire submitted in 1952 by the Select Committee of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] created by House Resolution 561, Eighty-second Congress, Second Session, to investigate tax-exempt foundations and comparable organizations (the [[Cox Committee]]) is held in CIA records as a 78-page copy approved for release on December 5, 2001. The foundation address list in the questionnaire includes "Round Table Foundation," Glen Cove, Maine, between the [[Religious Education Foundation]] and the [[Rubicon Foundation]].[^3]
|
||||
A questionnaire submitted in 1952 by the Select Committee of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] created by House Resolution 561, Eighty-second Congress, Second Session, to investigate tax-exempt foundations and comparable organizations (the [[Cox Committee]]) is held in CIA records as a 78-page copy approved for release on December 5, 2001. The foundation address list in the questionnaire includes "Round Table Foundation," Glen Cove, Maine, between the [[Religious Education Foundation]] and the [[Rubicon Foundation]].[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
An anonymous mid-1960s paper in the CIA's files, "The World of the Supra-Sensory," states that Puharich "was director of a nonprofit foundation in Maine for several years where he studied various sensitives under 'scientific' conditions" and "was responsible for bringing Peter Hurkos to this country."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Round Table Foundation in the Maine Press, 1949
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Portland Press Herald]] (Sunday Telegram section) of January 9, 1949 carried a staff-written story by [[Jim Moore]], datelined [[Camden, Maine|Camden]], headed "Secrets Of Life." It reported that Dr. Henry K. Puharich, a Chicago physician then about thirty, with his wife Virginia (born Jackson) and their daughter Svetlana, aged eighteen months, had settled at Camden, near Zlatko Balokovic and his wife, and had set up the "Round Table Foundation Laboratory of experimental electrobiology" in a converted barn on the [[Bald Mountain]] retreat. The story gave his schooling as a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a medical degree from Northwestern University, followed by a rotating internship at [[Permanente Hospital]] in [[Oakland, California]], and described Mrs. Puharich as a former [[Office of War Information]] editor and Northwestern laboratory assistant. It stated his theory, which it said he had presented in 1946 to a zoology seminar at the [[University of California]] and to the [[Society of Junior Fellows]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], that nerve units radiate and receive energy waves, with the "plasma membrane" acting as a piezo-electric crystal that behaves as a radio receiver and transmitter. The story added that the theory might explain the microphonics of the ear and might account for mental telepathy by electronic equipment "which may not yet be developed," and that his crystal work was done with Dr. [[Raymond C. Tibbetts]] of Camden.[^4]
|
||||
The [[Portland Press Herald]] (Sunday Telegram section) of January 9, 1949 carried a staff-written story by [[Jim Moore]], datelined [[Camden, Maine|Camden]], headed "Secrets Of Life." It reported that Dr. Henry K. Puharich, a Chicago physician then about thirty, with his wife Virginia (born Jackson) and their daughter Svetlana, aged eighteen months, had settled at Camden, near Zlatko Balokovic and his wife, and had set up the "Round Table Foundation Laboratory of experimental electrobiology" in a converted barn on the [[Bald Mountain]] retreat. The story gave his schooling as a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a medical degree from Northwestern University, followed by a rotating internship at [[Permanente Hospital]] in [[Oakland, California]], and described Mrs. Puharich as a former [[Office of War Information]] editor and Northwestern laboratory assistant. It stated his theory, which it said he had presented in 1946 to a zoology seminar at the [[University of California]] and to the [[Society of Junior Fellows]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], that nerve units radiate and receive energy waves, with the "plasma membrane" acting as a piezo-electric crystal that behaves as a radio receiver and transmitter. The story added that the theory might explain the microphonics of the ear and might account for mental telepathy by electronic equipment "which may not yet be developed," and that his crystal work was done with Dr. [[Raymond C. Tibbetts]] of Camden.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reference in the Scott Jones papers
|
||||
|
||||
The finding aid of the C. B. "Scott" Jones papers at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]] lists, in Series 6 ("Special Assistant to [[Claiborne Pell|Senator Claiborne Pell]]"), under Reports and organizations, a file titled "National Science Foundation: Andrija Puharich reports and correspondence." The saved container tree gives the title only, without dates or box number.[^5]
|
||||
The finding aid of the C. B. "Scott" Jones papers at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]] lists, in Series 6 ("Special Assistant to [[Claiborne Pell|Senator Claiborne Pell]]"), under Reports and organizations, a file titled "National Science Foundation: Andrija Puharich reports and correspondence." The saved container tree gives the title only, without dates or box number.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### 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]: Kress, Kenneth A. "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions," *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 21, no. 4, winter 1977, declassified. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Research and Development, memorandum ORD-413-73, "Briefing by Stanford Research Institute," January 24, 1973, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400070029-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^3]: "Questionnaire submitted by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, created by House Resolution 561, Eighty-second Congress, Second Session, to investigate tax-exempt foundations and comparable organizations," CIA-RDP91-00682R000300080029-3, CIA Reading Room, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp91-00682r000300080029-3. The document page carries OCR text only; the PDF has no text layer, and the foundation name is read from that OCR.
|
||||
[^4]: Jim Moore, "Secrets Of Life," *Portland Press Herald* (Portland, Me.), January 9, 1949, p. 61, https://www.newspapers.com/image/848421406/.
|
||||
[^5]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 6, fetched October 3, 2026 from the vault owner's browser.
|
||||
[^2]: Henry K. Puharich, curriculum vitae and direct testimony, Transcript of Record, Appendix, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), Appx. 22a and the curriculum vitae in the appendix. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^3]: Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, Appx. 66a-67a.
|
||||
[^4]: Curriculum vitae, Transcript of Record, Appendix, and CIA-RDP96-00787R000100190001-2, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000100190001-2.
|
||||
[^5]: Roger A. Beaumont, "On the Strategic Potential of ESP," Signal, January 1982, p. 39, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700360003-3, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001700360003-3.
|
||||
[^6]: Henry K. Puharich, curriculum vitae and direct testimony, Transcript of Record, Appendix, Puharich v. Brenner, Appx. 22a; Down East, "When a Shadowy Maine Estate Was an Epicenter of Psychics and Psychedelics," https://downeast.com/history/psych-out
|
||||
[^7]: Curriculum vitae, Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, Appendix, list of papers; CIA-RDP96-00787R000100190001-2.
|
||||
[^8]: Kress, Kenneth A. "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions," *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 21, no. 4, winter 1977, declassified. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Research and Development, memorandum ORD-413-73, "Briefing by Stanford Research Institute," January 24, 1973, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400070029-2.
|
||||
[^9]: Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286, Appendix; Puharich v. Brenner, 415 F.2d 979 (D.C. Cir. 1969), https://static.case.law/f2d/415/cases/0979-01.json.
|
||||
[^10]: Henry K. Puharich, curriculum vitae and direct testimony, Transcript of Record, Appendix, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.). https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^11]: "Questionnaire submitted by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, created by House Resolution 561, Eighty-second Congress, Second Session, to investigate tax-exempt foundations and comparable organizations," CIA-RDP91-00682R000300080029-3, CIA Reading Room, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp91-00682r000300080029-3.
|
||||
[^12]: "The World of the Supra-Sensory," anonymous typescript, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400040032-1, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000400040032-1.
|
||||
[^13]: Jim Moore, "Secrets Of Life," *Portland Press Herald* (Portland, Me.), January 9, 1949, p. 61, https://www.newspapers.com/image/848421406/.
|
||||
[^14]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 6.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,9 +8,34 @@ summary: "Co-founder of Nugan Hand Bank in Australia, linked to CIA-connected Ai
|
|||
born: 1942-12-30
|
||||
died: 1980-01-27
|
||||
location: "Griffith, New South Wales, Australia"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Nugan Hand Bank]]"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Hand]]"
|
||||
start: 1970
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Frank Nugan]] was a co-founder of [[Nugan Hand Bank]] in [[Australia]], along with [[Michael Hand]] and officials of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-owned [[Air America]].[^1]
|
||||
[[Frank Nugan]] was a co-founder of [[Nugan Hand Bank]] in [[Australia]], along with [[Michael Hand]] and four shareholders who gave [[Air America]] as their business address.[^1] Seymour wrote that the founders included officials of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-owned Air America.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early career
|
||||
|
||||
Francis John Nugan was born on December 30, 1942, at Griffith, New South Wales, the son of a fruit packer. He took an LL.B. at the University of Sydney in 1964 and an LL.M. at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965. He was admitted as a solicitor in Sydney in 1968. He was a director of Meekatharra Minerals N.L. from 1970 to 1972. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says that "with a New Yorker named Michael Hand, Nugan engaged in land-deals and share-trading," and that the two set up the merchant bank Nugan Hand Ltd in 1973 with a nominal paid-up capital of $1 million.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
Nugan was found dead in his car on January 27, 1980, with a bullet wound and a rifle beside him. The New York Times gave his age as 37.[^4] The Wall Street Journal's report of May 1, 1980 gave it as 35. An inquest ruled the death a suicide, and a lawyer for the insurers of his life told the inquest that the position of the body indicated he could not have shot himself. A business card for [[William Colby]] was among the items found on the body.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Corporate Affairs Commission
|
||||
|
||||
The Australian Dictionary of Biography reports that the New South Wales [[Corporate Affairs Commission]] concluded in 1983 that Nugan had been involved in "massive international and local fraud" and had deliberately falsified the bank's accounts to conceal debt.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^1]: "Failed Bank Linked to CIA Ripoffs." New York Daily News, February 13, 1981, Washington News Bureau report. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820040-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820040-5
|
||||
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^3]: Farrell, Frank. "Nugan, Francis John (1942-1980)." Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, 2000. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nugan-francis-john-11266
|
||||
[^4]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
|
||||
[^5]: "An Australian Bank Faces Many Charges in Fiction-Like Case" (subhead "Nugan Hand Chairman Found Dead, Accused of Stealing; CIA Link Is Alleged"). Wall Street Journal, May 1, 1980. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820048-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820048-7
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,9 +8,20 @@ summary: "Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the Carter adm
|
|||
born: 1924-12-04
|
||||
died: 2020-01-29
|
||||
location: "Brooklyn, New York, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Jack P. Ruina]]"
|
||||
role: "appointed chairman of the outside panel on the September 22 Event"
|
||||
start: 1979-10
|
||||
end: 1980-05-23
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration. He was a seismologist who had worked for years on classified nuclear detection issues and knew the [[VELA Satellite]] program well. After a VELA satellite recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion on September 22, 1979, Press suggested convening an unbiased outside study to determine if it was a test. He was concerned about the political implications if it leaked that the administration had concluded there had been a nuclear explosion.[^1]
|
||||
Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration. He was a seismologist who had worked for years on classified nuclear detection issues and knew the [[VELA Satellite]] program well. After a VELA satellite recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion on September 22, 1979, Press, in Hersh's account, suggested convening an unbiased outside study to determine if it was a test. He was concerned about the political implications if it leaked that the administration had concluded there had been a nuclear explosion.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Press appointed the outside panel in late October 1979 and chose [[Jack P. Ruina]], a former director of the [[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]], to chair it. The panel was to examine whether a nuclear explosion occurred, and it was limited to technical questions about natural causes and false alarm. In a letter of January 17, 1980 to [[Henry Owen]] and [[Gerard C. Smith]], Press wrote that "we cannot exclude the possibility that this continuing data gathering and analysis may turn up some corroborative evidence in the future if a nuclear explosion had actually taken place."[^2] Press described it in that letter as "the panel that I brought together at your request." [[Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr.|Spurgeon Keeny]] told [[Leonard Weiss]] in a 2004 interview that the idea for the outside panel was his.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Press, Frank, letter to Henry Owen and Gerard Smith, "South Atlantic Event," January 17, 1980, Secret. Document 32 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016, and the posting's note on the panel charter (Document 14). https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
[^3]: Weiss, Leonard. "Flash from the Past: Why an Apparent Israeli Nuclear Test in 1979 Matters Today." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 8, 2015. https://thebulletin.org/2015/09/flash-from-the-past-why-an-apparent-israeli-nuclear-test-in-1979-matters-today/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -2,18 +2,107 @@
|
|||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Politician
|
||||
summary: "Pender played a significant role in FIDCO's activities in Lebanon."
|
||||
- Engineer
|
||||
- Executive
|
||||
- FIDCO
|
||||
- Lebanon
|
||||
- Octopus
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- Inslaw
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- George K. Pender
|
||||
- George Pender
|
||||
- George Keyburn Pender
|
||||
summary: "Engineer who founded First Intercontinental Development Corporation in 1970, according to his 1999 obituary, and signed the 1983 FIDCO letters on the reconstruction of Lebanon that Cheri Seymour published."
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]]"
|
||||
start: 1970
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "president and chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
start: 1983
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Burns & Roe, Inc.]]"
|
||||
role: "sales representative; established West Coast division"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Aerojet]]"
|
||||
role: "set up architectural engineering division of General Aerojet Corporation"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[General Electric]]"
|
||||
role: "apprentice course; jet propulsion division, Lockland plant"
|
||||
end: 1957
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Los Angeles field office name check and file review, Major Case 90 (Front Door); closed without interview"
|
||||
start: 1990
|
||||
end: 1990
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[George K. Pender]] was a Director of [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]] and a former Director of the [[Pacific Ocean]] area for Burns & Roe, Inc., an international engineering and construction corporation. He also served as a Senior Engineer Consultant to Burns & Roe, Inc.[^1]
|
||||
[[George K. Pender]] (George Keyburn Pender, died January 6, 1999, at age 86) was an engineer who founded [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]] in 1970 and served as its president and chief executive officer, according to his obituary in the [[College of the Holy Cross|Holy Cross Magazine]].[^1] [[Cheri Seymour]] wrote that he was a Director of FIDCO, a former Director of the [[Pacific Ocean]] area for [[Burns & Roe, Inc.]], an international engineering and construction corporation, and a Senior Engineer Consultant to that firm.[^2] The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[Los Angeles]] office described him in 1990 as the chairman of FIDCO and a self-employed consulting engineer.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Pender played a significant role in [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]]'s activities in [[Lebanon]]. A letter dated July 12, 1983, from Pender to [[Amin Gamayel]], the president of [[Lebanon]], indicated [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]]'s interest in arranging financing for the redevelopment of [[Lebanon]], specifically mentioning the rebuilding of Damour and Alkhyam. This letter also noted that Pender had previously visited Beirut in February and May 1983 to discuss [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]]'s participation, with meetings held with the Chamouns, [[Maurice Ghanem]], and Mourad Baroudy.[^1]
|
||||
### Engineering career
|
||||
|
||||
Pender's letter to President Gamayel also notably listed [[Robert Booth Nichols]]' telex number (652483 RBN ASSOCS LSA) for responses, indicating a close operational link between Pender and Nichols. The Arab Bank Limited in Amman, [[Jordan]], responded positively to a potential financial transaction of "US$ three billion or more" for the reconstruction of [[Lebanon]], though the text suggests it is unlikely such reconstruction fully materialized.[^1]
|
||||
The obituary states that he worked for his family's clothing store in [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts|Pittsfield]], Massachusetts, at the start of his career. After completing the apprentice course at [[General Electric]] he worked in [[Schenectady, New York|Schenectady]], New York. In 1947 he was transferred to [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], Ohio, where he was part of a group that established the jet propulsion division at the [[Lockland, Ohio|Lockland]] plant. In 1957 he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he set up the architectural engineering division of [[Aerojet|General Aerojet Corporation]]. He then joined Burns & Roe, Inc. in [[Oradell, New Jersey|Oradell]], New Jersey, as a sales representative, and was responsible for establishing a West Coast division for the firm.[^1] The obituary names a design engineering project in [[Cairo]], Egypt, as his most recent work, and records his death in Pittsfield. It appears in the magazine's list of deaths among the class of 1934.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed to have worked directly under [[Maurice Ghanem]] and [[George K. Pender]] in [[Lebanon]], further linking Pender to the alleged drug/intelligence operations in the region. Riconosciuto also stated that [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]] had a companion company called Euramae Trading, which operated throughout the [[Middle East]] and was involved in the drug trade, allegedly as a [[National Security Council|NSC]]-directed operation.[^1]
|
||||
Seymour listed the Burns & Roe positions as "former Director of Pacific Ocean area of Burns & Roe, Inc., an international engineering & construction corporation with active projects on all seven continents of the world" and "Senior engineer consultant to Burns & Roe, Inc."; the same list gave [[Kenneth A. Roe]] as chairman and president of the firm.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### First Intercontinental Development Corporation
|
||||
|
||||
The obituary describes FIDCO as "a consulting and engineering firm he founded in 1970."[^1] A 2016 FOIA request filed by [[Emma Best]] with the FBI describes the company as "founded by George K. Pender in 1970" and lists its board of directors as of January 11, 1983 as including [[Robert Maheu]], [[Michael A. McManus]], [[Robert Booth Nichols]], George K. Pender, Kenneth A. Roe, [[Frances T. Fox]], [[Clint W. Murchison, Jr.]], [[William M. Pender]] and [[Glen R. Shockley]].[^4] Seymour lists the same nine as the board, from FIDCO corporate documents she obtained through a contact of [[Michael Riconosciuto]], together with a letter dated January 11, 1983, on FIDCO letterhead from Santa Monica, California, to Nichols in Marina del Rey, signed by Pender, referring to a resolution of the board.[^2] William M. Pender is listed as Director and Senior Vice President and as a licensed contractor in California; records found do not state whether he is related to George K. Pender.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The FBI reported no responsive documents on the 2016 request for FIDCO records (FBI number 1344462-000), and on appeal the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy recorded the final disposition on June 21, 2016, as affirmed on appeal with no records.[^4] A California stock corporation named First Intercontinental Development Corporation, company number 0871867, is recorded in the OpenCorporates registry.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### FBI Los Angeles file, 1990
|
||||
|
||||
An FBI airtel from the Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles, to the Director, dated December 3, 1990, captioned "Front Door; Major Case 90," resubmitted findings on leads set out in a Bureau teletype of August 13, 1990, after a file review found the earlier findings missing from the file. Item 3 of the findings is headed "George K. Pender, Chairman of First Intercontinental Development Cooperation." It states that confidential indices were searched on August 16, 1990, and Elsur indices on August 17, 1990, with negative results, and that a search of the general indices and FOIMS on August 15, 1990, "revealed three references." The review of those files uncovered information identifiable with a George Keyburn Pender. The airtel gives a Santa Monica residence and a business address in Santa Monica and states that investigation "revealed PENDER to be a self-employed consulting engineer," that "No derogatory information was developed, nor was there any indication that he was a security risk," and that "The case was closed without any interview of PENDER." The remaining paragraphs of the page are redacted under exemptions b6 and b7C.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The FBI released these two pages on June 24, 2019, in response to a request Emma Best filed on January 30, 2016, for records on Pender (FBI numbers 1344385-000 and 1344385-002). The FBI's release letter, dated June 20, 2019, states that four pages were reviewed and two released and that the enclosures are the final release. An appeal of the fee category assigned to the request (DOJ-AP-2018-008427) had been decided on October 18, 2018, as "Completely Reversed/Remanded."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Lebanon, 1983
|
||||
|
||||
Seymour published three letters from the summer and autumn of 1983. The first, on [[White House]] letterhead and dated June 29, 1983, was from McManus, Assistant to the President ([[Ronald Reagan]]), to Pender in Santa Monica: "I appreciate the update you and your associates gave me concerning the status of your efforts in the rebuilding of Lebanon," and "Without question FIDCO seems to have a considerable role to offer particularly in the massive financial participation being made available to the government of Lebanon."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The second, on FIDCO letterhead and dated July 12, 1983, was from Pender, signing as President of FIDCO, to [[Amin Gamayel]], president of [[Lebanon]]. Pender wrote that he had visited [[Beirut]] in February and May 1983 to discuss FIDCO participation in the redevelopment of Lebanon, in meetings with the Chamouns, [[Maurice Ghanem]] and Mourad Baroudy; that FIDCO offered to arrange financing for projects in the government sector; that he had expressed specific interest in the rebuilding of Damour and Alkhyam; and that FIDCO had presented these projects to "an international Trust with whom we have a close relationship." He asked to meet Gamayel in Washington, D.C., on July 21, 1983, and wrote "As per copy of attached letter, the White House is actively interested in our efforts." The letter states that Pender was "a good friend of Bechir" ([[Bashir Gemayel]]), was with him in Beirut in 1976 when the Syrian Army came in, and went with his wife to [[Framingham, Massachusetts|Framingham]], Massachusetts, to meet him during a speaking tour of the United States. It gives the telex number "652483 RBN [Robert Booth Nichols] ASSOCS LSA" for replies.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The third, on [[Arab Bank Limited]] letterhead and dated November 23, 1983, was from [[Abdul Majeed Shoman]], chairman and general manager of the bank in [[Jordan|Amman]], to Pender in Santa Monica. Shoman wrote that "Mr. Ahmad has talked to me about the fund to reconstruct Lebanon and we the Arab Bank together with a group of other banks will be glad to cooperate with you," and that "You have mentioned in your letter to Mr. Ahmad on September 27th that this fund amounts to US$ three billion or more. There is no problem to take care of this by the Arab Bank and the other group of banks," subject to conditions in Lebanon and "the approval and counter guarantees of the Lebanese Authority." Seymour wrote that it was unlikely any reconstruction funded by FIDCO took place in Lebanon, and that only a congressional investigation could determine what the three billion dollars was used for.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Seymour wrote that Nichols and Pender, when not in Lebanon, operated a [[National Security Council]] listening post from a condominium at Marina del Rey, which she described as allegedly the American end of the operation in [[Nicosia]], [[Cyprus]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reports of CIA and intelligence ties
|
||||
|
||||
Seymour wrote that Riconosciuto often stated that Pender and Glen Shockley were [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officials, which she later corroborated through [[Peter Zokosky]], a partner of Nichols. In a February 14, 2001, interview with Seymour and [[Kelly O'Meara]], Zokosky said FIDCO was a [[National Security Agency|NSA]] front corporation used in Lebanon, that all its corporate directors were intelligence people, and that the $3 billion mentioned in the "White House" documents bearing the names of McManus, Pender and Nichols was used to pay the president of Lebanon for the release of an American prisoner.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The cast of characters for [[Danny Casolaro]]'s "Octopus" manuscript, faxed in July 1991, lists "George Pender - former CIA agent."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
An [[INSLAW]] memorandum to the record dated July 18, 1990, summarizing statements by Riconosciuto, reported that for a 1980 mission to [[Iran]] [[Earl Brian]] "liaised with George Pender, whom we have later discovered was Chairman of the First Intercontinental Development Corporation (FIDCO)." It reported Riconosciuto's statement that FIDCO had [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] Royal Family money for rebuilding Beirut and that Mr. and Mrs. Reagan owned shares in FIDCO through proxies held by Pender, his daughter or McManus. Citing a former colleague of Riconosciuto who served on the FIDCO board, the memorandum stated that Pender was then in his seventies, lived in Southern California and "may" well have known [[William J. Casey]], Brian and Reagan, that FIDCO was engaged in part in covert intelligence-related operations such as building an electronic listening post in Nigeria under the guise of building a steel mill, and that the memorandum's authors inferred that Pender served as Casey's project manager for the 1980 mission to Iran.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Riconosciuto's account
|
||||
|
||||
Michael Riconosciuto told Seymour in telephone calls that he worked directly under Maurice Ghanem and Pender in Lebanon, that Ghanem was CIA "in country," and that "George Pender and Bob Clark were the high level contacts on all of this," later "George Pender and McFarland and Michael McManus." He said the CEO of FIDCO was Pender and that "FIDCO was an NSC [National Security Council] corporate cutout," created to secure financing for the reconstruction of Beirut and Damour and working out of an office in Nicosia. He said FIDCO had a companion company, [[Euramae Trading Company]], which operated throughout the [[Middle East]] and was involved in the drug trade, and that he was in a warehouse near [[Larnaca]] where [[Michael T. Hurley]], Pender and a third man told him that upwards of twenty-two tons of heroin was stored. He said he handled communications protocol and financial transactions for the operation. Riconosciuto also said that in 1983 Pender, [[Ted Gunderson]], Nichols, Zokosky and others were together at a country club in Indio, California, where Nichols spoke of Shockley and [[Jose Londono]] having 3,500 "soldiers," and he listed Pender among the people for whom he handled gold transfers and money laundering before his arrest.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^1]: College of the Holy Cross, *Holy Cross Magazine*, "In Memoriam," Summer 1999, entry for George K. Pender (died Jan. 6, 1999). Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20040812105331/http://www.holycross.edu/departments/publicaffairs/hcm/summer99/in_memoriam/1927.html
|
||||
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010, chapter 7 (FIDCO board list; letters of June 29, July 12 and November 23, 1983; Marina del Rey listening post; Riconosciuto and Zokosky on Pender and Shockley).
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles, airtel to the Director, "Front Door; Major Case 90," December 3, 1990, page 2, item 3, "George K. Pender, Chairman of First Intercontinental Development Cooperation," released June 2019 in FBI file 1344385-002 (pages 6 and 7 of the release PDF cited in note 4).
|
||||
[^4]: Best, Emma. FOIA request "FIDCO," submitted February 9, 2016, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation through MuckRock (FBI number 1344462-000; appeal DOJ-AP-2016-002797, final disposition June 21, 2016). The founding date and board list are as stated in the request text. https://web.archive.org/web/20191224043712/https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/fidco-23873/
|
||||
[^5]: OpenCorporates, First Intercontinental Development Corporation, California company number 0871867. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0871867
|
||||
[^6]: Best, Emma. FOIA request "Freedom of Information Request: George K. Pender," submitted January 30, 2016, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation through MuckRock (request 23694; FBI numbers 1344385-000 and 1344385-002; appeal DOJ-AP-2018-008427, final disposition October 18, 2018; FBI release letter of June 20, 2019, posted June 24, 2019). The request text quotes the 1999 obituary. https://web.archive.org/web/20230530151228/https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/george-k-pender-23694/ ; release: https://cdn.muckrock.com/foia_files/2019/07/01/6-24-19_MR23694.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Seymour, *The Last Circle*, chapter 22, "The Octopus Exposed" (interview of Peter Zokosky, February 14, 2001).
|
||||
[^8]: Casolaro, Danny, "The Octopus," cast of characters (fax dated July 22, 1991), in John C. Dwyer Miscellaneous Inslaw Papers, NW 15457, DocID 70098640, pages 72 and 82. https://archive.org/details/JohnC.DwyerMiscellaneousInslawPapers
|
||||
[^9]: INSLAW, Inc., Memorandum to the Record, July 18, 1990, in "Inslaw - Press Releases," Internet Archive item InslawPressReleases. https://archive.org/details/InslawPressReleases
|
||||
[^10]: Seymour, *The Last Circle*, chapter 6 (telephone calls with Michael Riconosciuto).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -5,10 +5,22 @@ tags:
|
|||
- CIA
|
||||
- DIA
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
summary: "Aide to National Security Advisor Brzezinski present at the White House situation room meeting responding to the 1979 Vela satellite nuclear test detection."
|
||||
summary: "Aide to National Security Advisor Brzezinski who, in Hersh's account, attended the White House situation room meeting on the 1979 Vela satellite double flash and wrote to Henry Owen in January 1980."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "National Security Council staff, wrote to Henry Owen holding the press release and congressional consultations"
|
||||
start: 1980-01-23
|
||||
end: 1980-01-23
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
Gerald G. Oplinger was an aide to [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] for global issues. He had retired from the Foreign Service and worked at the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission|NRC]] before joining Brzezinski's staff. Oplinger was summoned back to an urgent meeting in the [[White House]] situation room after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light over the South Indian Ocean on September 22, 1979, probable evidence of a nuclear explosion. He recalled that [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Brzezinski]] was present at the meeting, where the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] stated that the odds were at least ninety percent that it had been a nuclear explosion. Oplinger personally had no doubt that it was a nuclear event.[^1]
|
||||
Gerald G. Oplinger was an aide to [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] for global issues. He had retired from the Foreign Service and worked at the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission|NRC]] before joining Brzezinski's staff. Oplinger was summoned back to an urgent meeting in the [[White House]] situation room after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded a double flash of light on September 22, 1979, from a region that included the southern Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the southern tip of Africa.[^1] [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that Oplinger recalled that Brzezinski was present at the meeting, where the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] stated that the odds were at least ninety percent that it had been a nuclear explosion, and that Oplinger personally had no doubt that it was a nuclear event.[^2] The mini-Special Coordination Committee meeting of September 22, 1979 in the Situation Room is summarized in the Foreign Relations of the United States, which lists [[Henry Owen]], Odom, Schecter and Funk for the National Security Council.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In a memorandum of January 23, 1980 to Owen, Oplinger wrote that he had told the State Department to put the press release and congressional consultations on hold, and that the [[Department of Energy]], the [[Department of Defense]] and technical people within the intelligence community had "sufficient doubts about the Press panel report to make it very dangerous to proceed without another look." He wrote that [[John Deutch]] and Dan Murphy felt strongly that unless the questions were given "a further airing, there will be continued internal dissent and an appearance that policy people (including the White House) did a whitewash for political reasons."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^1]: Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, narrative. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/index.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 361. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d361
|
||||
[^4]: Oplinger, Jerry, memorandum to Henry Owen, "South Atlantic Event," January 23, 1980, Secret. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, NLC-28-32-4-16-5; Document 33 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Parapsychological Association]]"
|
||||
start: 1957
|
||||
role: "charter member; vice-president 1958 and 1960; president 1959"
|
||||
role: "charter member; vice-president 1957, 1958 and 1960; president 1959 and 1971"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Parapsychology Foundation]]"
|
||||
|
|
@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
fn: 2
|
||||
reverse: true
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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-10-05
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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Gertrude Raffel Schmeidler was born on July 15, 1912, in [[Long Branch]], New Jersey, and died on March 9, 2009. She was an experimental psychologist at the [[City College of New York]] (CCNY) with a doctorate from [[Radcliffe College]] and [[Harvard University]], who ran card-guessing experiments in the 1940s in which subjects were classed by their stated attitude to extrasensory perception as "sheep" or "goats," and in 1971 to 1973 tested the psychokinetic abilities of [[Ingo Swann]] on temperature recorders. Her papers are held at [[Duke University]] with those of the [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]].[^1]
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@ -63,50 +63,54 @@ Gertrude Raffel Schmeidler was born on July 15, 1912, in [[Long Branch]], New Je
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A reference entry drawn from [[Helene Pleasants]]'s *Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology* (1964) and from Arthur and Joyce Berger's *Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research* (1991) states that she took a B.A. magna cum laude at [[Smith College]] in 1932, an M.A. at [[Clark University]] in 1933, and a Ph.D. at Radcliffe College and Harvard in 1935; that she first met parapsychology through a just-published copy of [[J. B. Rhine]]'s *Extra-Sensory Perception* in 1934 and took a course in psychical research with [[Gardner Murphy]] before completing her degree; that she taught at [[Monmouth College]] in Long Branch, New Jersey (1935 to 1937), was a research associate at Harvard (1942 to 1944) and a research officer of the [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (1945 to 1946), and began a long tenure at the City College of New York in 1945; that she was a charter member of the [[Parapsychological Association]], elected vice-president in 1958 and 1960 and president in 1959; and that she received a research grant from the [[Parapsychology Foundation]] for 1955 to 1959. Her books listed there include *ESP and Personality Patterns* (with [[Robert A. McConnell]], [[Yale University Press]], 1958), *ESP in Relation to Rorschach Test Evaluation* (Parapsychology Foundation, 1960), *Extrasensory Perception* ([[Atherton Press]], 1969), *Parapsychology: Its Relation to Physics, Biology, Psychology, and Psychiatry* ([[Scarecrow Press]], 1976) and *Parapsychology and Psychology: Matches and Mismatches* ([[McFarland]], 1988).[^2]
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At the founding in June 1957, when the founding council was chosen at Duke University, she was elected vice-president of the Parapsychological Association.[^3] The association's convention table lists her as president for 1959 (New York City) and 1971 (Durham, North Carolina).[^4]
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The Duke finding aid to her papers calls Murphy "Schmeidler's mentor and the person who first interested her in psychical research," and describes the collection as consisting chiefly of research data gathered "through her work with students and colleagues as an experimental psychologist and parapsychologist" at City College.[^1]
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### The sheep and goats, 1942 to 1945
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Schmeidler's first report, "Predicting Good and Bad Scores in a Clairvoyance Experiment: A Preliminary Report," appeared in the *[[Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research]]* in July 1943 (vol. 37, pp. 103 to 110), and "A Final Report" in October 1943 (pp. 210 to 221). The final report states that the experiment "was conducted for Dr. Gardner Murphy, and made possible by moneys available to him from the [[Richard Hodgson Fund|Hodgson Fund]] of Harvard University," and that his advice "determined the topic of the research."[^3]
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Schmeidler's first report, "Predicting Good and Bad Scores in a Clairvoyance Experiment: A Preliminary Report," appeared in the *[[Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research]]* in July 1943 (vol. 37, pp. 103 to 110), and "A Final Report" in October 1943 (pp. 210 to 221). The final report states that the experiment "was conducted for Dr. Gardner Murphy, and made possible by moneys available to him from the [[Richard Hodgson Fund|Hodgson Fund]] of Harvard University," and that his advice "determined the topic of the research."[^5]
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The report describes the design. Subjects used standard ESP cards, 25 to a deck, with five hits expected by chance. Each was asked whether he had experienced telepathy, premonitions or crossed letters, or at least heard of such experiences, and then: "When that happens (or when you hear or read about it) is your first reaction, 'Oh, it was just a coincidence,' or do you first think, 'How interesting!' and then, 'Maybe it was a coincidence.'" Subjects who described themselves as uniformly skeptical were classed as goats, and those who admitted even a momentary "How interesting!" were classed with those who wholeheartedly embraced the ESP hypothesis, the sheep. Once classified, subjects "were exposed to a standard set of agreeable or disagreeable physical conditions." Goats made fifty successive runs without knowledge of their scores, were not offered cigarettes or candy, were signalled by "a rather raucous buzzer," filled out sheets on which many runs were crowded together, and sat in a "dark room" with no windows and battered furniture. Sheep were shown their score after each run and encouraged to discuss the procedure, were limited to ten runs a session, could stop when they pleased, were offered cigarettes and sometimes candy, were signalled by a small light, received a new record sheet for each run, and sat in "a reasonably pleasant office." The report states that it was predicted that sheep "would on the whole score better than five" and that goats "would make scores at the level of chance or lower."[^3]
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The report describes the design. Subjects used standard ESP cards, 25 to a deck, with five hits expected by chance. Each was asked whether he had experienced telepathy, premonitions or crossed letters, or at least heard of such experiences, and then: "When that happens (or when you hear or read about it) is your first reaction, 'Oh, it was just a coincidence,' or do you first think, 'How interesting!' and then, 'Maybe it was a coincidence.'" Subjects who described themselves as uniformly skeptical were classed as goats, and those who admitted even a momentary "How interesting!" were classed with those who wholeheartedly embraced the ESP hypothesis, the sheep. Once classified, subjects "were exposed to a standard set of agreeable or disagreeable physical conditions." Goats made fifty successive runs without knowledge of their scores, were not offered cigarettes or candy, were signalled by "a rather raucous buzzer," filled out sheets on which many runs were crowded together, and sat in a "dark room" with no windows and battered furniture. Sheep were shown their score after each run and encouraged to discuss the procedure, were limited to ten runs a session, could stop when they pleased, were offered cigarettes and sometimes candy, were signalled by a small light, received a new record sheet for each run, and sat in "a reasonably pleasant office." The report states that it was predicted that sheep "would on the whole score better than five" and that goats "would make scores at the level of chance or lower."[^5]
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Three series were run, repeated, in the report's words, until the difference "either became non-significant or became unmistakably significant," with a criterion of a probability of one in a thousand. In the first series the open-minded subjects made 129 decks with a deviation of +56 (mean 5.43) and the subjects who expected chance scores 200 decks with a deviation of -10 (mean 4.95); the second series gave +33 over 127 decks (5.26) against -12 over 175 decks (4.93); and the third +31 over 133 decks (5.23). Combined, the open-minded subjects made 389 decks with a deviation of +120, a mean of 5.308, a critical ratio of 3.04 and a probability of .001, and the experiment was closed. Schmeidler drew the conclusion that "subjects who hope to score above chance in card-guessing tend to do so when tested under agreeable conditions; but that subjects who expect only chance scores and are tested under disagreeable conditions will tend to score at or below chance." She wrote that negative results "are to be expected if subjects are skeptical and bored, or uncooperative for some other reason, such as a too formal approach on the part of the experimenter." A footnote records that two subjects tested beyond the planned number, and one who presented himself after the third series, were discarded.[^3]
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Three series were run, repeated, in the report's words, until the difference "either became non-significant or became unmistakably significant," with a criterion of a probability of one in a thousand. In the first series the open-minded subjects made 129 decks with a deviation of +56 (mean 5.43) and the subjects who expected chance scores 200 decks with a deviation of -10 (mean 4.95); the second series gave +33 over 127 decks (5.26) against -12 over 175 decks (4.93); and the third +31 over 133 decks (5.23). Combined, the open-minded subjects made 389 decks with a deviation of +120, a mean of 5.308, a critical ratio of 3.04 and a probability of .001, and the experiment was closed. Schmeidler drew the conclusion that "subjects who hope to score above chance in card-guessing tend to do so when tested under agreeable conditions; but that subjects who expect only chance scores and are tested under disagreeable conditions will tend to score at or below chance." She wrote that negative results "are to be expected if subjects are skeptical and bored, or uncooperative for some other reason, such as a too formal approach on the part of the experimenter." A footnote records that two subjects tested beyond the planned number, and one who presented himself after the third series, were discarded.[^5]
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[[Annie Jacobsen]] wrote in *Phenomena* (2017) that Schmeidler conducted an experiment in 1942 with psychology students at the City University of New York, coined the terms "sheep" and "goats" from her analysis of the data, and that sheep were those confident of the possible reality of ESP and psychokinesis and goats those who doubted it. Jacobsen added that "this explicit difference between believers and disbelievers has existed in the upper echelons of the U.S. military and intelligence communities since World War II."[^4]
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[[Annie Jacobsen]] wrote in *Phenomena* (2017) that Schmeidler conducted an experiment in 1942 with psychology students at the City University of New York, coined the terms "sheep" and "goats" from her analysis of the data, and that sheep were those confident of the possible reality of ESP and psychokinesis and goats those who doubted it. Jacobsen added that "this explicit difference between believers and disbelievers has existed in the upper echelons of the U.S. military and intelligence communities since World War II."[^6]
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A review of 1958 for the Parapsychology Foundation, a copy of which is in the CIA's STARGATE collection, by [[Gordon L. Mangan]] of [[Victoria University of Wellington]] collated published attempts to repeat the finding and reported that "in 5 out of 6 cases, the sheep had higher ESP scores than the goats," while noting that "Schmeidler herself changed the criterion" of classification as her experiments progressed; in the series of 1943 subjects "were merely questioned as to their attitude to psychic phenomena in general."[^5] The Duke finding aid lists sheep and goat inspection records for 1950 and 1951 and ESP record sheets from August 1941 to 1951, and notes later work on the series by [[Murray Melnick]] and [[Christopher Scott]].[^1]
|
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A review of 1958 for the Parapsychology Foundation, a copy of which is in the CIA's STARGATE collection, by [[Gordon L. Mangan]] of [[Victoria University of Wellington]] collated published attempts to repeat the finding and reported that "in 5 out of 6 cases, the sheep had higher ESP scores than the goats," while noting that "Schmeidler herself changed the criterion" of classification as her experiments progressed; in the series of 1943 subjects "were merely questioned as to their attitude to psychic phenomena in general."[^7] The Duke finding aid lists sheep and goat inspection records for 1950 and 1951 and ESP record sheets from August 1941 to 1951, and notes later work on the series by [[Murray Melnick]] and [[Christopher Scott]].[^1]
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|
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Jacobsen also reported that [[Martin Gardner]] noted that psychic researchers often held that psychics were harmed by the presence of "goats," quoting Rhine: "The subtlest influences seem to disturb the operation of these [psychic] abilities... If the scientist is a disbeliever it will upset the delicate operation of the subject's [psychic] abilities."[^4]
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Jacobsen also reported that [[Martin Gardner]] noted that psychic researchers often held that psychics were harmed by the presence of "goats," quoting Rhine: "The subtlest influences seem to disturb the operation of these [psychic] abilities... If the scientist is a disbeliever it will upset the delicate operation of the subject's [psychic] abilities."[^6]
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|
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### Eileen Garrett, Duke and Rhine
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|
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The Duke finding aid lists correspondence with the medium [[Eileen Garrett]], president of the Parapsychology Foundation, for 1953 to 1955, and proxy sittings with Garrett and with the medium [[Caroline Chapman]] whose results for Garrett were never published; correspondence with [[J. G. Pratt]] of the Duke laboratory about the Chapman sittings in the mid-1950s; with [[Betty Humphrey]], who worked in the Duke laboratory in the late 1940s and early 1950s; and with [[Charles E. Ozanne]] for 1953 to 1956. It states that "there is scattered correspondence between Schmeidler and J. B. and [[Louisa Rhine]], but not a substantial amount."[^1] The finding aid of the Parapsychology Laboratory records lists Schmeidler among the correspondents of Rhine from the postwar period.[^6]
|
||||
The Duke finding aid lists correspondence with the medium [[Eileen Garrett]], president of the Parapsychology Foundation, for 1953 to 1955, and proxy sittings with Garrett and with the medium [[Caroline Chapman]] whose results for Garrett were never published; correspondence with [[J. G. Pratt]] of the Duke laboratory about the Chapman sittings in the mid-1950s; with [[Betty Humphrey]], who worked in the Duke laboratory in the late 1940s and early 1950s; and with [[Charles E. Ozanne]] for 1953 to 1956. It states that "there is scattered correspondence between Schmeidler and J. B. and [[Louisa Rhine]], but not a substantial amount."[^1] The finding aid of the Parapsychology Laboratory records lists Schmeidler among the correspondents of Rhine from the postwar period.[^8]
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|
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### Ingo Swann and the thermistors, 1971 to 1973
|
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The Duke finding aid lists Swann among the correspondents "who studied PK (psychokinesis) effects on temperature" and states that Schmeidler "collaborated with Swann" and co-authored journal articles from the research.[^1] Her paper "PK effects upon continuously recorded temperature" appeared in the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research* in 1973 (vol. 67, p. 325).[^7] In their paper in the *Proceedings of the IEEE* in March 1976, [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] wrote that Swann "had come to our laboratory fresh from a lengthy and apparently successful series of experiments with Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler at City College of New York."[^8] Jacobsen wrote that Swann cited the City College experiments in writing to Puthoff about investigating the boundary between the physics of the animate and the inanimate.[^4]
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The Duke finding aid lists Swann among the correspondents "who studied PK (psychokinesis) effects on temperature" and states that Schmeidler "collaborated with Swann" and co-authored journal articles from the research.[^1] Her paper "PK effects upon continuously recorded temperature" appeared in the *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research* in 1973 (vol. 67, p. 325).[^9] In their paper in the *Proceedings of the IEEE* in March 1976, [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] wrote that Swann "had come to our laboratory fresh from a lengthy and apparently successful series of experiments with Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler at City College of New York."[^10] Jacobsen wrote that Swann cited the City College experiments in writing to Puthoff about investigating the boundary between the physics of the animate and the inanimate.[^6]
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In the *[[Princeton Alumni Weekly]]* of December 4, 1978, [[Robert G. Jahn]] of [[Princeton University]] wrote that he and an undergraduate, [[Carol Kay Curry]], "chose to replicate an experiment using thermistors that was performed by Gertrude Schmeidler and the psychic Ingo Swann at the City University of New York a few years ago": two thermistors in vacuum bottles, tied into a balanced electrical bridge, with the subject attempting to make one reading rise or fall relative to the other.[^9]
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In the *[[Princeton Alumni Weekly]]* of December 4, 1978, [[Robert G. Jahn]] of [[Princeton University]] wrote that he and an undergraduate, [[Carol Kay Curry]], "chose to replicate an experiment using thermistors that was performed by Gertrude Schmeidler and the psychic Ingo Swann at the City University of New York a few years ago": two thermistors in vacuum bottles, tied into a balanced electrical bridge, with the subject attempting to make one reading rise or fall relative to the other.[^11]
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|
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### In the files of the STARGATE program
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|
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An unsigned paper in the CIA's STARGATE collection, "The World of the Supra-Sensory," undated but citing events as late as 1965, names "Dr. Gertrude Schneidler [sic], City College, New York" among "the better known individuals" associated with J. B. Rhine's group and the Parapsychological Association, alongside [[Carroll B. Nash]] of St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, [[John Freeman]] of the Institute of Parapsychology in Durham, [[Sally Feather]], Robert A. McConnell of the University of Pittsburgh, [[Montague Ullman]], [[Rhea White]] and "Dr. Lawrence Cusler" of City College.[^10]
|
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An unsigned paper in the CIA's STARGATE collection, "The World of the Supra-Sensory," undated but citing events as late as 1965, names "Dr. Gertrude Schneidler [sic], City College, New York" among "the better known individuals" associated with J. B. Rhine's group and the Parapsychological Association, alongside [[Carroll B. Nash]] of St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, [[John Freeman]] of the Institute of Parapsychology in Durham, [[Sally Feather]], Robert A. McConnell of the University of Pittsburgh, [[Montague Ullman]], [[Rhea White]] and "Dr. Lawrence Cusler" of City College.[^12]
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SRI's *Free World Psychoenergetics Research Survey* of November 1983, by [[Beverly Humphrey]] and [[Edwin May]] for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] under contract MDA908-82-C-0034, lists Schmeidler's "Moods and ESP Scores in Group Testing" (July 1972) among its entries.[^11] An SRI final report of December 1988 on enhanced human performance investigations cites Schmeidler (1984) among "many excellent examples" of descriptive literature reviews in parapsychology.[^12] In a letter of May 13, 1995 to a CIA officer, May described a *[[NOVA]]* program of about 1983, "The Case of ESP," in which "Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler shows the sheep/goat effect in which 'believers' score better than do 'skeptics,'" and called the result "some of the strongest evidence (in the clear) for an anomaly in the field to that date."[^13]
|
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SRI's *Free World Psychoenergetics Research Survey* of November 1983, by [[Beverly Humphrey]] and [[Edwin May]] for the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] under contract MDA908-82-C-0034, lists Schmeidler's "Moods and ESP Scores in Group Testing" (July 1972) among its entries.[^13] An SRI final report of December 1988 on enhanced human performance investigations cites Schmeidler (1984) among "many excellent examples" of descriptive literature reviews in parapsychology.[^14] In a letter of May 13, 1995 to a CIA officer, May described a *[[NOVA]]* program of about 1983, "The Case of ESP," in which "Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler shows the sheep/goat effect in which 'believers' score better than do 'skeptics,'" and called the result "some of the strongest evidence (in the clear) for an anomaly in the field to that date."[^15]
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### Footnotes
|
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[^1]: Guide to the Gertrude Raffel Schmeidler Papers, 1943-1983, RL.01147, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University (30.8 linear feet, about 24,000 items), read in the Wayback Machine capture of September 5, 2019 of https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/schmeid/
|
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[^2]: "Schmeidler, Gertrude Raffel (1912-)," *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology* (Gale), citing Berger and Berger, *The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research* (New York: Paragon House, 1991), and Pleasants, ed., *Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology* (New York: Helix Press, 1964). https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/schmeidler-gertrude-raffel-1912
|
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[^3]: Schmeidler, Gertrude Raffel. "Predicting Good and Bad Scores in a Clairvoyance Experiment: A Final Report." *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,* vol. 37, no. 4, October 1943, pp. 210-221, with reference to the preliminary report, vol. 37, July 1943, pp. 103-110. Read in the archive.org scan https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-the-american-society-for-psychical-research_1943-10_37_4
|
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[^4]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
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[^5]: Mangan, Gordon L. *A Review of Published Research on the Relationship of Some Personality Variables to ESP Scoring Level,* Parapsychological Monographs no. 1, Parapsychology Foundation, 1958, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400100014-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^6]: Guide to the Parapsychology Laboratory Records, 1893-1984, RL.00992, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University, scope note on postwar correspondents, read in the Wayback Machine capture of 2019 of https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/paralab/
|
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[^7]: Schmeidler, G. R. "PK effects upon continuously recorded temperature." *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,* vol. 67, 1973, p. 325, as cited in Jahn, Robert G., "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things That Go Bump in the Night," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* December 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500380004-4, and in Puthoff and Targ's 1976 *Proceedings* paper, reference 56.
|
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[^8]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research." *Proceedings of the IEEE* 64, no. 3 (March 1976), section on learner subject S4, read in CIA-RDP96-00787R000500020001-6, archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^9]: Jahn, Robert G. "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things That Go Bump in the Night," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* special report, December 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500380004-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^10]: "The World of the Supra-Sensory," unsigned and undated paper, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400040032-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^11]: Humphrey, Beverly S., and Edwin C. May. *Free World Psychoenergetics Research Survey,* final report, November 1983, contract MDA908-82-C-0034, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800130001-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^12]: *Enhanced Human Performance Investigations,* SRI final report, December 1988 (period November 1983 to October 1985), CIA-RDP96-00789R002200400001-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^13]: May, Edwin C., letter to a CIA officer, May 13, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190060-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
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[^3]: "Announcement of Formation of the Parapsychological Association," Journal of Parapsychology 21, no. 4 (December 1957), pp. 315-316. https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-parapsychology_1957-12_21_4
|
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[^4]: "PA Convention History," Parapsychological Association website, archived December 29, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229231222/http://www.parapsych.org/section/23/convention_history.aspx
|
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[^5]: Schmeidler, Gertrude Raffel. "Predicting Good and Bad Scores in a Clairvoyance Experiment: A Final Report." *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,* vol. 37, no. 4, October 1943, pp. 210-221, with reference to the preliminary report, vol. 37, July 1943, pp. 103-110. Read in the archive.org scan https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-the-american-society-for-psychical-research_1943-10_37_4
|
||||
[^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]: Mangan, Gordon L. *A Review of Published Research on the Relationship of Some Personality Variables to ESP Scoring Level,* Parapsychological Monographs no. 1, Parapsychology Foundation, 1958, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400100014-4.
|
||||
[^8]: Guide to the Parapsychology Laboratory Records, 1893-1984, RL.00992, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University, scope note on postwar correspondents, read in the Wayback Machine capture of 2019 of https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/paralab/
|
||||
[^9]: Schmeidler, G. R. "PK effects upon continuously recorded temperature." *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,* vol. 67, 1973, p. 325, as cited in Jahn, Robert G., "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things That Go Bump in the Night," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* December 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500380004-4, and in Puthoff and Targ's 1976 *Proceedings* paper, reference 56.
|
||||
[^10]: Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. "A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research." *Proceedings of the IEEE* 64, no. 3 (March 1976), section on learner subject S4, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500020001-6.
|
||||
[^11]: Jahn, Robert G. "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things That Go Bump in the Night," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* special report, December 4, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500380004-4.
|
||||
[^12]: "The World of the Supra-Sensory," unsigned and undated paper, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400040032-1.
|
||||
[^13]: Humphrey, Beverly S., and Edwin C. May. *Free World Psychoenergetics Research Survey,* final report, November 1983, contract MDA908-82-C-0034, CIA-RDP96-00788R001800130001-9.
|
||||
[^14]: *Enhanced Human Performance Investigations,* SRI final report, December 1988 (period November 1983 to October 1985), CIA-RDP96-00789R002200400001-3.
|
||||
[^15]: May, Edwin C., letter to a CIA officer, May 13, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190060-1.
|
||||
|
|
|
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|
|
@ -80,11 +80,11 @@ relations:
|
|||
end: 1951-02
|
||||
fn: 39
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Quantico I and II]]"
|
||||
with: "[[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel]]"
|
||||
role: "panel member, Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel"
|
||||
start: 1955-06
|
||||
end: 1955-06
|
||||
fn: 49
|
||||
fn: 50
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "consultant on the Behavioral Sciences Program"
|
||||
|
|
@ -94,10 +94,10 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]"
|
||||
role: "professor of sociology"
|
||||
start: 1969
|
||||
fn: 51
|
||||
fn: 52
|
||||
---
|
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|
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Hans Speier (February 3, 1905 to February 17, 1990) was a German sociologist who emigrated in 1933, helped found the Graduate Faculty (the University in Exile) at the [[New School for Social Research]], co-directed a Rockefeller-funded study of Nazi radio propaganda, and then moved through the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]], the [[Office of War Information]] and the [[U.S. Department of State]] into the [[Rand Corporation]], where he headed the Social Science Division from 1948 to 1960. He sat on the State Department's [[Project Troy]] panel in 1950 and 1951 and on the 1955 [[Quantico I and II|Quantico]] panel convened by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], and he drafted the plan that became the [[Ford Foundation]]'s Behavioral Sciences Program and Stanford's [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]].[^1]
|
||||
Hans Speier (February 3, 1905 to February 17, 1990) was a German sociologist who emigrated in 1933, helped found the Graduate Faculty (the University in Exile) at the [[New School for Social Research]], co-directed a Rockefeller-funded study of Nazi radio propaganda, and then moved through the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]], the [[Office of War Information]] and the [[U.S. Department of State]] into the [[Rand Corporation]], where he headed the Social Science Division from 1948 to 1960. He sat on the State Department's [[Project Troy]] panel in 1950 and 1951 and on the 1955 [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel|Quantico]] panel convened by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], and he drafted the plan that became the [[Ford Foundation]]'s Behavioral Sciences Program and Stanford's [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]].[^1]
|
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|
||||
### Berlin and Heidelberg
|
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|
||||
|
|
@ -181,15 +181,15 @@ For the MIT program, Speier visited Millikan in February 1952, and in the spring
|
|||
|
||||
### Quantico I
|
||||
|
||||
Nelson Rockefeller, then Eisenhower's Special Assistant for Cold War Planning, invited Speier on May 25, 1955. The Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel met at the Marine Corps Schools from June 5 to 10, 1955, with [[Henry Kissinger]] and members of the State and Defense Departments, the CIA, the Operations Coordinating Board and the National Security Council attending some sessions. Its report lists Speier as of the RAND Corporation. Its chairman was [[Walt Rostow]] of MIT; the other members were Frederick Dunn, [[C. D. Jackson]], Ellis Johnson, Paul Linebarger, Max Millikan, Philip Mosely, George Pettee, Stefan Possony, Speier and Charles A. H. Thomson. On June 13, 1955, Rockefeller sent [[Allen Dulles]] a copy (Copy No. 42), thanking him for the participation of members of his agency in the panel discussions; on July 25, 1955, [[Richard Bissell]], Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence for Planning and Coordination, sent the Assistant Director for National Estimates a memorandum drawing attention to Ellis Johnson's supporting paper on the requirements for the United States and NATO to win the arms race. Its report, stamped Secret, recommends proposals including "a proposed agreement for mutual inspection of military installations, forces, and armaments" and a convention on the right of aircraft to fly over any country. Speier's memorandum for the panel held that the Soviets would use the Geneva summit for advantage in "the international struggle for power" and that the United States should "force them to retreat." Rockefeller handed Eisenhower a note recommending mutual aerial inspection on July 6 and sent him a memorandum, "Psychological Strategy at Geneva," on July 11. On July 21, 1955, Eisenhower proposed Open Skies, and Rockefeller cabled panel members that they "should be reading newspapers tonight with great pride and satisfaction." Speier did not attend Quantico II (September 25 to 29, 1955), because he was in Germany for RAND; Kissinger attended in his place, and Rockefeller became Kissinger's patron. According to Bessner, Speier never again consulted for the executive branch.[^49]
|
||||
Nelson Rockefeller, then Eisenhower's Special Assistant for Cold War Planning, invited Speier on May 25, 1955. The Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel met at the Marine Corps Schools from June 5 to 10, 1955, with [[Henry Kissinger]] and members of the State and Defense Departments, the CIA, the Operations Coordinating Board and the National Security Council attending some sessions. Its report lists Speier as of the RAND Corporation. Its chairman was [[Walt Rostow]] of MIT, whom the editorial note in the Foreign Relations volume designates "the panel chairman";[^49] the other members were Frederick Dunn, [[C. D. Jackson]], Ellis Johnson, Paul Linebarger, Max Millikan, Philip Mosely, George Pettee, Stefan Possony, Speier and Charles A. H. Thomson. On June 13, 1955, Rockefeller sent [[Allen Dulles]] a copy (Copy No. 42), thanking him for the participation of members of his agency in the panel discussions; on July 25, 1955, [[Richard Bissell]], Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence for Planning and Coordination, sent the Assistant Director for National Estimates a memorandum drawing attention to Ellis Johnson's supporting paper on the requirements for the United States and NATO to win the arms race. Its report, stamped Secret, recommends proposals including "a proposed agreement for mutual inspection of military installations, forces, and armaments" and a convention on the right of aircraft to fly over any country. Speier's memorandum for the panel held that the Soviets would use the Geneva summit for advantage in "the international struggle for power" and that the United States should "force them to retreat." Rockefeller handed Eisenhower a note recommending mutual aerial inspection on July 6 and sent him a memorandum, "Psychological Strategy at Geneva," on July 11. On July 21, 1955, Eisenhower proposed Open Skies, and Rockefeller cabled panel members that they "should be reading newspapers tonight with great pride and satisfaction." Speier did not attend Quantico II (September 25 to 29, 1955), because he was in Germany for RAND; Kissinger attended in his place, and Rockefeller became Kissinger's patron. According to Bessner, Speier never again consulted for the executive branch.[^50]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Political Game
|
||||
|
||||
With Herbert Goldhamer, Speier developed a free-form political simulation, played four times at RAND in 1955 and 1956 and presented to the Social Science Research Council, the Army War College and West Point. Players took national roles, wrote justifications for each move and met random events refereed by staff; State Department officials joined the fourth game. In 1960 CENIS held the game POLEX II, the Joint War Games Agency adopted it, and in September and October 1961 two Berlin crisis games directed by [[Thomas Schelling]] were played by officials including McGeorge Bundy, Alain Enthoven, Carl Kaysen, Henry Kissinger, Robert Komer and John McNaughton's aide Henry Rowen. Kaysen briefed President Kennedy on the results.[^50]
|
||||
With Herbert Goldhamer, Speier developed a free-form political simulation, played four times at RAND in 1955 and 1956 and presented to the Social Science Research Council, the Army War College and West Point. Players took national roles, wrote justifications for each move and met random events refereed by staff; State Department officials joined the fourth game. In 1960 CENIS held the game POLEX II, the Joint War Games Agency adopted it, and in September and October 1961 two Berlin crisis games directed by [[Thomas Schelling]] were played by officials including McGeorge Bundy, Alain Enthoven, Carl Kaysen, Henry Kissinger, Robert Komer and John McNaughton's aide Henry Rowen. Kaysen briefed President Kennedy on the results.[^51]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later Career
|
||||
|
||||
Speier remained in RAND's Research Council until 1968, wrote on West Germany and Berlin (Divided Berlin, 1961), held a Senior Fellowship at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] in 1964 at the request of [[John J. McCloy]], and left for a professorship in sociology at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] in 1969. He later edited with Lasswell and [[Daniel Lerner]] the three-volume Propaganda and Communication in World History (1979 to 1980), and was named professor emeritus of the New School's Graduate Faculty. He died in Sarasota, Florida.[^51]
|
||||
Speier remained in RAND's Research Council until 1968, wrote on West Germany and Berlin (Divided Berlin, 1961), held a Senior Fellowship at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] in 1964 at the request of [[John J. McCloy]], and left for a professorship in sociology at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] in 1969. He later edited with Lasswell and [[Daniel Lerner]] the three-volume Propaganda and Communication in World History (1979 to 1980), and was named professor emeritus of the New School's Graduate Faculty. He died in Sarasota, Florida.[^52]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -241,6 +241,7 @@ Speier remained in RAND's Research Council until 1968, wrote on West Germany and
|
|||
[^46]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 241-246 and notes 54-76, citing Carroll and Speier, "Psychological Warfare in Germany," December 1, 1950, RG 466, National Archives II, and PSB D-21, FRUS 1952-1954, vol. 7, Document 156; Bessner observes at p. 245 that the appendix tasks echoed the Speier and Carroll report.
|
||||
[^47]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 247-255 and notes 82-104, citing Speier, Marquis and Berelson, "The Ford Foundation Behavioral Sciences Program: Proposed Plan," December 1951 (Ford Foundation Archives, Report 002072). Speier's CASBS year is given as 1956 to 1957 by Bessner (p. 255) and by University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm); Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans," gives 1957 and 1958. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology: "1951 Consultant, Ford Foundation."
|
||||
[^48]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 255-258 and notes 106-116 (trustees' grant "in the spring of 1952"; Pool as research director after Speier declined, p. 257 note 110), citing Speier et al., Research in International Communication: An Advisory Report of the Planning Committee (MIT Center for International Studies, June 1953), and Blackmer, Donald L. M., The MIT Center for International Studies: The Founding Years, 1951-1969 (2002).
|
||||
[^49]: Report of the Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, June 10, 1955, with Rockefeller's letter to Allen W. Dulles of June 13, 1955 and Richard M. Bissell's memorandum of July 25, 1955 (CIA-RDP86B00269R000800070001-5), CIA Reading Room. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000800070001-5. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 260-266 and notes 126-148, citing Rockefeller to Speier, May 25, July 21 and August 16, 1955, Rockefeller to Eisenhower, July 11, 1955 (FRUS 1955-1957, vol. 5, Document 154), and Speier, "U.S. Strategy at the Forthcoming Conference," Speier Papers Box 4, Folder 60. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), container list (folders for Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1955-1956, and the Rockefeller Foundation, 1944 and 1975, Box 4).
|
||||
[^50]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 266-278 and notes 152-187, citing Goldhamer and Speier, "Some Observations on Political Gaming," World Politics 12, no. 1 (October 1959), and Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon, The Worlds of Herman Kahn (Harvard University Press, 2005), chapter 6.
|
||||
[^51]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 283, 303, 307 (Council on Foreign Relations fellowship at McCloy's request; move to the University of Massachusetts in 1969; Propaganda and Communication in World History). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, dates his Amherst teaching 1969 to 1973 and the RAND Research Council 1960 to 1968, and gives the death as February 17, 1990, in Sarasota, Florida; University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), adds that he died while vacationing there.
|
||||
[^49]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Volume XIX, National Security Policy*, document 26, editorial note on the Quantico Panel, p. 84, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v19/d26. Report of the Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, June 10, 1955, transmittal letter signed "W. W. Rostow (Center of International Studies, MIT) Panel Chairman," CIA-RDP86B00269R000800070001-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000800070001-5
|
||||
[^50]: Report of the Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, June 10, 1955, with Rockefeller's letter to Allen W. Dulles of June 13, 1955 and Richard M. Bissell's memorandum of July 25, 1955 (CIA-RDP86B00269R000800070001-5), CIA Reading Room. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000800070001-5. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 260-266 and notes 126-148, citing Rockefeller to Speier, May 25, July 21 and August 16, 1955, Rockefeller to Eisenhower, July 11, 1955 (FRUS 1955-1957, vol. 5, Document 154), and Speier, "U.S. Strategy at the Forthcoming Conference," Speier Papers Box 4, Folder 60. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), container list (folders for Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1955-1956, and the Rockefeller Foundation, 1944 and 1975, Box 4).
|
||||
[^51]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 266-278 and notes 152-187, citing Goldhamer and Speier, "Some Observations on Political Gaming," World Politics 12, no. 1 (October 1959), and Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon, The Worlds of Herman Kahn (Harvard University Press, 2005), chapter 6.
|
||||
[^52]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 283, 303, 307 (Council on Foreign Relations fellowship at McCloy's request; move to the University of Massachusetts in 1969; Propaganda and Communication in World History). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, dates his Amherst teaching 1969 to 1973 and the RAND Research Council 1960 to 1968, and gives the death as February 17, 1990, in Sarasota, Florida; University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), adds that he died while vacationing there.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Harry Stump
|
||||
- Harry Stone
|
||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Psi
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
summary: "Harry Stump was a Dutch sculptor and channeler who gained the attention of Andrija Puharich and his wealthy benefactors due to his purported psychic abilities, particularly his capacity to enter trance states and produce automatic writings and drawings."
|
||||
summary: "Harry Stump was a Dutch sculptor and channeler whose trance states, automatic writing and drawings drew the attention of Andrija Puharich and his wealthy benefactors."
|
||||
born: 1923
|
||||
died: 1998
|
||||
location: "Netherlands"
|
||||
|
|
@ -17,9 +18,17 @@ Stump was a [[World War II]] resistance fighter in his native Holland, honored b
|
|||
|
||||
Puharich met Stump at a dinner party hosted by [[Alice Astor Bouverie]]. In June 1954, Bouverie contacted Puharich about an incident where Stump, after handling a 3,400-year-old scarab-shaped necklace, entered a trance state and began drawing Egyptian hieroglyphs and speaking in a guttural voice, seemingly channeling an entity from ancient Egypt. During this trance, Stump spoke of "a drug that would stimulate one's psychic faculties" and drew a picture of a mushroom, which Puharich later identified as *Amanita muscaria*[^1]. This event was significant as it provided the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] with a key lead in their year-long, unsuccessful quest to locate the *teonanáctl* mushroom for [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA Subproject 58]][^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich testified in 1968 that Stump was one of nine principal subjects he tested at the Round Table Foundation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Puharich became obsessed with Stump's channeling abilities and the hallucinogenic mushroom. He brought Stump to the [[Round Table Foundation]] and, in August 1955, attempted to drug him with *teonanáctl* to test its divinatory powers, with [[Aldous Huxley]] as a witness. The experiment did not yield the desired results, with Stump appearing drunk and confused[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
On September 29 and 30, 1956, Puharich ran a demonstration at the foundation for members of the Psychic Research Society of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. The demonstration included split Matching Abacus Test series between [[Peter Hurkos]] and Stump, each in a separate [[Faraday cage]] about 18 feet apart. Most runs scored at chance; for Demonstration No. 11 (50 trials, 18 on-target hits) the report states that the results "were considered evidence for the existence of telepathic interaction on the part of Mr. Stone and Mr. Hurkos."[^3] The report writes the subject's name "Mr. Stone"; appellant's counsel writes "Harry Stone," and Puharich's testimony spells it "Harry Stump."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Stump's psychic powers began to wane, and the "Egyptian persona" rarely appeared. He became depressed as his trance powers vanished, and his traditional sculpture and painting work suffered[^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.
|
||||
[^2]: Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), Appx. 66a-67a. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^3]: Plaintiff's Exhibit 7, Puharich report, Transcript of Record, Puharich v. Brenner, Appendix, sections 8.80 to 8.85 (Appx. p. 178a). https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^4]: Transcript of Record, Appendix, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), Appx. 66a-67a and the Plaintiff's Exhibit 7 report. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
title: Ingo Swann
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Ingo Swann
|
||||
|
|
@ -45,20 +45,22 @@ Swann participated in the initial [[SCANATE]] experiments under CIA contract fro
|
|||
|
||||
Swann's most significant contribution to the program was the coordinate targeting method that became CRV. He proposed using geographic coordinates - latitude and longitude - as the only targeting information provided to a viewer, hypothesizing that coordinates served as an access key to the location rather than as descriptive information about it. Puthoff and Targ initially resisted this as theoretically implausible, but experiments using coordinates as the sole targeting information produced results the team assessed as anomalous, and the technique became the program's standard approach.
|
||||
|
||||
After Price's death in 1975, Swann returned to SRI and worked with Puthoff to formalize CRV into a six-stage structured protocol. The protocol trained viewers to progress through stages from initial ideogram responses (reflexive markings produced in response to presented coordinates) through increasingly specific descriptive and analytical phases. The design was intended to minimize contamination from imagination and prior knowledge by structuring viewer responses before analytical interpretation was introduced. Swann believed remote viewing was a natural perceptual ability that could be developed through disciplined training.
|
||||
After Price's death in 1975, Swann returned to SRI and worked with Puthoff to formalize CRV into a six-stage structured protocol. The protocol trained viewers to progress through stages from initial ideogram responses (reflexive markings produced in response to presented coordinates) through increasingly specific descriptive and analytical phases. The design was intended to minimize contamination from imagination and prior knowledge by structuring viewer responses before analytical interpretation was introduced. Swann believed remote viewing was a natural perceptual ability that could be developed through disciplined training. The October 1984 training plan credits Swann with the name: "Ingo Swann, who coined the term CRV."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The SCANATE Sessions
|
||||
|
||||
SRI's SCANATE report records that "as a result of the experimentation carried out on what might be termed micro-abilities, Swann expressed the opinion that the insights obtained had strengthened a macro-ability which had been researched prior to his joining the SRI program; namely, the ability to view remote locations." In a training series "100 targets on the earth's surface, ten per day for ten days, were chosen at random," Swann "being given a target location by latitude and longitude only," each run of ten finished "in less than thirty minutes"; the report itself cautioned that "an individual could, in principle, obtain good results on the basis of memory" or "subliminally from an experimenter who knows the target location." On May 29, 1973, at 4:34 in the afternoon, Hal Puthoff gave him coordinates supplied by the sponsor, 38°23'N, 79°25'W, "described simply as being in [[West Virginia]]," with no maps, on videotape: "This seems to be some sort of mounds or rolling hills. There is a city to the north (I can see the taller buildings and some smog). This seems to be a strange place, somewhat like the lawns that one would find around a military base, but I get the impression that there are either some old bunkers around, or maybe this is a covered reservoir. There must be a flagpole, some highways to the west, possibly a river over to the far east, to the south more city." The next morning: "Cliffs to the east, fence to the north. There's a circular building (a tower?), buildings to the south. Is this a former Nike base or something like that? I seem to get the impression of something underground, but I'm not sure." On July 21, 1973, given 49°20'S, 70°14'E, he said: "My initial response is that it's an island, maybe a mountain sticking up through a cloud cover," with buildings "rather mathematically laid out," one orange, "something like a radar antenna, a round disc," two white cylindrical tanks, and "to the northwest a small airstrip," and the next day mapped its coastline. Later, surprised in a New York hotel room with an abacus locked in the adjoining room, bought as "a target analogous to a cipher machine of particular interest," he drew its outline "in approximately one minute" and called it "a game box with little balls." The 1975 final report's West Virginia sessions are coded to subject S3.[^6]
|
||||
SRI's SCANATE report records that "as a result of the experimentation carried out on what might be termed micro-abilities, Swann expressed the opinion that the insights obtained had strengthened a macro-ability which had been researched prior to his joining the SRI program; namely, the ability to view remote locations." In a training series "100 targets on the earth's surface, ten per day for ten days, were chosen at random," Swann "being given a target location by latitude and longitude only," each run of ten finished "in less than thirty minutes"; the report itself cautioned that "an individual could, in principle, obtain good results on the basis of memory" or "subliminally from an experimenter who knows the target location." On May 29, 1973, at 4:34 in the afternoon, Hal Puthoff gave him coordinates supplied by the sponsor, 38°23'N, 79°25'W, "described simply as being in [[West Virginia]]," with no maps, on videotape: "This seems to be some sort of mounds or rolling hills. There is a city to the north (I can see the taller buildings and some smog). This seems to be a strange place, somewhat like the lawns that one would find around a military base, but I get the impression that there are either some old bunkers around, or maybe this is a covered reservoir. There must be a flagpole, some highways to the west, possibly a river over to the far east, to the south more city." The next morning: "Cliffs to the east, fence to the north. There's a circular building (a tower?), buildings to the south. Is this a former Nike base or something like that? I seem to get the impression of something underground, but I'm not sure." On July 21, 1973, given 49°20'S, 70°14'E, he said: "My initial response is that it's an island, maybe a mountain sticking up through a cloud cover," with buildings "rather mathematically laid out," one orange, "something like a radar antenna, a round disc," two white cylindrical tanks, and "to the northwest a small airstrip," and the next day mapped its coastline. Later, surprised in a New York hotel room with an abacus locked in the adjoining room, bought as "a target analogous to a cipher machine of particular interest," he drew its outline "in approximately one minute" and called it "a game box with little balls." The 1975 final report's West Virginia sessions are coded to subject S3.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
At [[Maimonides Medical Center]], in an experiment reported to the American Physical Society in February 1976, [[Edwin May]] and [[Charles Honorton]] had him attempt to influence a noise-driven binary random generator: 29 runs gave a mean of 493 against 500 expected (p = 0.011), improving as he was moved twelve feet away behind "two double steel walls," while a control run after he left gave 499.7. "We conclude that Mr. Swann was successful in exerting a psychokinetic influence on the instrument." The SRI final report's instrumented magnetometer series of 1974 and 1975, thirteen ten-trial runs on a Develco gradiometer at four metres giving p = 0.004, was run with subject S1, the code that matches Pat Price's sessions, not S3; the "early research (1972)" perturbation "of a Josephson effect magnetometer" is described there as a pilot study of "a few hours" that "prevented a proper investigation." He visited the [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] on October 17, 1978, and was still reporting to Puthoff as a consultant in April 1984.[^7]
|
||||
At [[Maimonides Medical Center]], in an experiment reported to the American Physical Society in February 1976, [[Edwin May]] and [[Charles Honorton]] had him attempt to influence a noise-driven binary random generator: 29 runs gave a mean of 493 against 500 expected (p = 0.011), improving as he was moved twelve feet away behind "two double steel walls," while a control run after he left gave 499.7. "We conclude that Mr. Swann was successful in exerting a psychokinetic influence on the instrument." The SRI final report's instrumented magnetometer series of 1974 and 1975, thirteen ten-trial runs on a Develco gradiometer at four metres giving p = 0.004, was run with subject S1, the code that matches Pat Price's sessions, not S3; the "early research (1972)" perturbation "of a Josephson effect magnetometer" is described there as a pilot study of "a few hours" that "prevented a proper investigation." He visited the [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] on October 17, 1978, and was still reporting to Puthoff as a consultant in April 1984.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The report of the Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] of December 1979 recorded that "in July 1978, DIA sponsored a series of four unique experiments" in which "the DIA Project Officer had prepared three sets of Soviet/Bloc target coordinates, and one US control set," and that "Swann provided a 'moderate to high', lengthy description of the last target, a Soviet strategic missile field east of Moscow... Swann passed through a silo cover, 'traveling' down until reaching a connecting tunnel. Going through this passageway he entered a command and control room. One comment, among many, stands out: 'The floors are paved in "white tiles".'" The same report put SRI's experiments with him at "7000+," "only a fraction" of them published.[^8]
|
||||
The report of the Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] of December 1979 recorded that "in July 1978, DIA sponsored a series of four unique experiments" in which "the DIA Project Officer had prepared three sets of Soviet/Bloc target coordinates, and one US control set," and that "Swann provided a 'moderate to high', lengthy description of the last target, a Soviet strategic missile field east of Moscow... Swann passed through a silo cover, 'traveling' down until reaching a connecting tunnel. Going through this passageway he entered a command and control room. One comment, among many, stands out: 'The floors are paved in "white tiles".'" The same report put SRI's experiments with him at "7000+," "only a fraction" of them published.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Training the Army Program
|
||||
|
||||
From 1984, Swann traveled to [[Fort Meade]] to train the Army's operational remote viewing unit - the military successor to the SRI research, operating under the code names [[Center Lane]] and [[Sun Streak]] - in the CRV protocol. He trained the initial Army cadre in the six-stage method, including viewers who became the operational core of the program in its final decade before declassification.
|
||||
|
||||
The Army's chronology records that [[Grill Flame]] personnel began training at SRI-International in the new CRV method in July 1982, two years before the Fort Meade work described above.[^10] An INSCOM training plan dated October 22, 1984 states that CRV training "is conducted at SRI-International facilities in Menlo Park, CA and New York, NY."[^6] Schnabel wrote in 1995 that "Swann taught the technique to five new recruits to the Fort Meade unit."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Writing and Later Career
|
||||
|
||||
Swann published several books articulating his theoretical and experiential framework: *To Kiss Earth Goodbye* (1975), *Natural ESP: A Layman's Guide to Unlocking the Extra Sensory Power of Your Mind* (Bantam, 1987), *Everybody's Guide to Natural ESP* (Tarcher, 1991), and *Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy* (Ingo Swann Books, 1998). The last described alleged remote viewings of artificial structures on the Moon's surface and contact with what Swann interpreted as non-human intelligence monitoring the program; it was controversial among program participants and former government officials who considered it an embarrassment to the program's credibility.
|
||||
|
|
@ -70,8 +72,11 @@ Swann maintained an active painting career throughout his life, exhibiting abstr
|
|||
[^1]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies* (Dell, 1997), passage on Scientology following the Time cover story; chapter note "Puthoff and Swann resign: Puthoff; Swann." https://archive.org/details/jim-schnabel-remote-viewers-the-secret-history-of-americas-psychic-spies_2
|
||||
[^2]: Leon Jaroff, "Boom Times on the Psychic Frontier," *Time*, March 4, 1974 (CIA-RDP96-00787R000100030002-8). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000100030002-8
|
||||
[^3]: John L. Wilhelm, "The Scientology Link," *Washington Post*, 1977, in CIA-RDP96-00788R001700360003-3. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001700360003-3
|
||||
[^4]: Tony Ortega, as cited on the vault page Scientology for the paper's title and the 1973 conference (not independently opened; coordinator should reopen before merging). Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^4]: Tony Ortega, cited for the paper's title and the 1973 conference.
|
||||
[^5]: "Preliminary Group Report for the Psychological Testing of Subjects from the Parapsychology Study at Stanford Research Institute," unsigned (CIA-RDP96-00787R000200140007-0). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000200140007-0
|
||||
[^6]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^7]: May, Edwin C., and Charles Honorton. "A Dynamic PK Experiment with Ingo Swann," Maimonides Medical Center, abstract for the American Physical Society meeting of February 1976, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. "Visit of Ingo Swann to AMSAA, 17 October 1978," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240010-3, and "Memo to Dr. H.E. Puthoff from I. Swann, Consultant, Subject: Work Report," April 15, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00792R000100140033-6, titles only.
|
||||
[^8]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^6]: Memorandum for record, IAGPA-F-SD, "Training Plan 1 October 1984 - 31 December 1984," October 22, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00788R001500090053-0. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001500090053-0.pdf.
|
||||
[^7]: Stanford Research Institute, "Project SCANATE, Exploratory Research in Remote Viewing," 1973, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100480002-4. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report.
|
||||
[^8]: May, Edwin C., and Charles Honorton. "A Dynamic PK Experiment with Ingo Swann," Maimonides Medical Center, abstract for the American Physical Society meeting of February 1976, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part one, executive summary, SRI Project 3183, covering January 1974 to February 1975, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100420001-1. Puthoff, Harold E., and Russell Targ. *Perceptual Augmentation Techniques,* final report, part two, research report, December 1, 1975, SRI Project 3183, 153 pp., CIA-RDP96-00791R000100410001-2. The report codes its subjects; S3 and S1 are identified as Swann and Price by matching their responses to the named sessions in the SCANATE report. "Visit of Ingo Swann to AMSAA, 17 October 1978," CIA-RDP96-00788R001200240010-3, and "Memo to Dr. H.E. Puthoff from I. Swann, Consultant, Subject: Work Report," April 15, 1984, CIA-RDP96-00792R000100140033-6, titles only.
|
||||
[^9]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, Manfred Gale, chairman, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5.
|
||||
[^10]: "List of Events from September 1977 to January 1986," Army chronology, undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001100020001-8.pdf. Entry "JULY 82": "Grill Flame personnel begin training at SRI-International in the new Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) method."
|
||||
[^11]: Jim Schnabel, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Psi," *Independent on Sunday*, August 27, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030073-5. cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030073-5.pdf.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,12 +8,23 @@ summary: "His panel's assignment was carefully weighted towards investigating th
|
|||
born: 1923-08-19
|
||||
died: 2015-02-04
|
||||
location: "Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Ad Hoc Panel on the September 22 Event"
|
||||
start: 1979-11-01
|
||||
end: 1980-05-23
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jack P. Ruina was a professor of electrical engineering at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] and a longtime consultant to the [[Pentagon]] on military and scientific issues. He was chosen by [[Frank Press]] to direct an outside panel to study the [[VELA Satellite]] data after a probable nuclear explosion was detected on September 22, 1979. Ruina held many sensitive clearances and was known for his discretion.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His panel's assignment was carefully weighted towards investigating the possibility that the VELA sighting had been a false alarm. The panel concluded that the VELA sighting "contains sufficient internal inconsistency to cast serious doubt whether that signal originated from a nuclear explosion or in fact from any light sources in the proximity of the VELA satellite." They also found no collateral signs of a nuclear event. The panel eventually reported in July 1980 that the flash was "probably not from a nuclear explosion," suggesting it might have been a "zoo event" (a signal of unknown cause), possibly a meteoroid impact.[^1]
|
||||
[[Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr.|Spurgeon Keeny]] told [[Leonard Weiss]] in a 2004 interview that the idea for an outside panel was his. The panel was formed in late October 1979 under Press, began work on November 1, 1979, and was chaired by Ruina.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
His panel's assignment was carefully weighted towards investigating the possibility that the VELA sighting had been a false alarm. The panel concluded that the VELA sighting "contains sufficient internal inconsistency to cast serious doubt whether that signal originated from a nuclear explosion or in fact from any light source not in the proximity of the VELA satellite." They also found no collateral signs of a nuclear event. The panel's report is dated May 23, 1980, and a declassified version appeared in July 1980.[^3] It stated that the signal was "probably not from a nuclear explosion," suggesting it might have been a "zoo event" (a signal of unknown cause), possibly a meteoroid impact.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
|
||||
[^2]: Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, "The Vela Incident: South Atlantic Mystery Flash in September 1979 Raised Questions about Nuclear Test," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016, narrative and Document 14. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test ; Weiss, Leonard, "Flash from the Past," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 8, 2015 (Keeny interview of July 30, 2004). https://thebulletin.org/2015/09/flash-from-the-past-why-an-apparent-israeli-nuclear-test-in-1979-matters-today/
|
||||
[^3]: Office of Science and Technology Policy, "Ad Hoc Panel Report on the September 22 Event," May 23, 1980, Secret, partially declassified, p. 19 and cover. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/09.pdf ; Wright, Christopher M., and Lars-Erik De Geer, "The 22 September 1979 Vela Incident: The Detected Double-Flash," Science & Global Security, vol. 25, no. 3 (2017), reference 7. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929882.2017.1394047
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ Through the Confrérie des Maîtres Brasseurs, the free radio Radio Activité, o
|
|||
|
||||
### Informant
|
||||
|
||||
In 1995 and 1996 Nihoul was an informant of the gendarmerie's BSR in Dinant; the gendarmerie had registered him as a coded informant. In May 1995 he passed on information, obtained through [[Michel Lelievre|Michel Lelièvre]], about a stolen car and collected a 30,000-franc reward from the insurer Royale Belge; he later introduced Lelièvre to his handlers. The BSR took no action against Lelièvre in the first half of 1996, though he was wanted to serve a prison sentence and though, the commission found, there were indications that the BSR knew he and Dutroux had stolen a truck in 1995; Nihoul had asked his handler to leave Lelièvre alone. "In the end," the commission wrote, "it was the informant who directed his handlers and not the reverse." Its first report had listed eight indications of protection for Nihoul, among them witnesses who testified under oath that two associates from the entourage of a former minister protected him, and his hold as an informant over a policeman who failed to arrest Lelièvre before Lelièvre took part in the abductions of [[Sabine Dardenne]] and [[Laetitia Delhez]]. The commission concluded that "the Nihoul movement" had operated amid "the relaxation of norms and corrupting behavior" and in that sense had received and granted protection, "rarely in a very spectacular way and, most of the time, in the context of services between friends."[^1]
|
||||
In 1995 and 1996 Nihoul was an informant of the gendarmerie's BSR in Dinant; the gendarmerie had registered him as a coded informant. In May 1995 he passed on information, obtained through [[Michel Lelievre|Michel Lelièvre]], about a stolen car and collected a 30,000-franc reward from the insurer Royale Belge; he later introduced Lelièvre to his handlers. The BSR took no action against Lelièvre in the first half of 1996, though he was wanted to serve a prison sentence and though, the commission found, there were indications that the BSR knew he and Dutroux had stolen a truck in 1995; Nihoul had asked his handler to leave Lelièvre alone. "In the end," the commission wrote, "it was the informant who directed his handlers and not the reverse." Its first report had listed eight indications of protection for Nihoul, among them witnesses who testified under oath that two associates from the entourage of a former minister protected him, and his hold as an informant over a policeman who failed to arrest Lelièvre before Lelièvre took part in the abductions of two girls aged 12 and 14. The commission concluded that "the Nihoul movement" had operated amid "the relaxation of norms and corrupting behavior" and in that sense had received and granted protection, "rarely in a very spectacular way and, most of the time, in the context of services between friends."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### ASCO and the Dutroux Case
|
||||
|
||||
[[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) was founded on July 2, 1991, at Wasmes by the operator of Le Dolo, Nihoul's companion and a third Dolo client, went into voluntary liquidation on June 23, 1995, and was declared bankrupt by the commercial court of Mons on October 9, 1995; Nihoul was at least its de facto manager in 1994, and the commission linked the company to the reports of white Mercedes cars.[^1] He had met Dutroux a year before his arrest through Lelièvre, to whom he sold drugs. [[Michelle Martin]] told investigators that Dutroux had been in frequent contact with Nihoul around the abduction of Laetitia Delhez, and Dutroux said Nihoul was looking for girls for a Belgian prostitution network. Nihoul was led from the courthouse at Neufchâteau on August 16, 1996, to shouts of "à mort." His companion [[Marleen De Cokere]] was arrested in late September. His warrant in the Dutroux case was lifted in January 1997.[^3][^4] In an interview with *Der Spiegel* in 2001, in his two-room flat in Jette with De Cokere beside him, Nihoul said of children, "I never did anything with children. I love children," and that Dutroux had taken the girls "for his own consumption." The magazine reported that the investigation files showed Dutroux had asked his advice on getting into the trade in girls and that Nihoul had advised him to organize sadomasochistic parties, which Nihoul said he had understood to mean adults. He spoke of the group-sex parties he and De Cokere had organized, "but with style," attended by influential politicians and officials at Le Dolo and Faulx-les-Tombes, and said: "Ich habe die Regierung in der Hand" (I have the government in hand). For 20,000 marks more he offered "a sitting minister who is involved in a murder," and, for a six-figure sum, a photograph of the then Prince Albert with a naked sixteen-year-old taken on the second floor of the Mirano club twenty years earlier.[^5] [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1, alleged that he organized parties at which children were abused; the prosecutors-general closed the files opened on her testimony in April 1998.[^6]
|
||||
[[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) was founded on July 2, 1991, at Wasmes by the operator of Le Dolo, Nihoul's companion and a third Dolo client, went into voluntary liquidation on June 23, 1995, and was declared bankrupt by the commercial court of Mons on October 9, 1995; Nihoul was at least its de facto manager in 1994, and the commission linked the company to the reports of white Mercedes cars.[^1] He had met Dutroux a year before his arrest through Lelièvre, to whom he sold drugs. [[Michelle Martin]] told investigators that Dutroux had been in frequent contact with Nihoul around the abduction of a 14-year-old girl, and Dutroux said Nihoul was looking for girls for a Belgian prostitution network. Nihoul was led from the courthouse at Neufchâteau on August 16, 1996, to shouts of "à mort." His companion [[Marleen De Cokere]] was arrested in late September. His warrant in the Dutroux case was lifted in January 1997.[^3][^4] In an interview with *Der Spiegel* in 2001, in his two-room flat in Jette with De Cokere beside him, Nihoul said of children, "I never did anything with children. I love children," and that Dutroux had taken the girls "for his own consumption." The magazine reported that the investigation files showed Dutroux had asked his advice on getting into the trade in girls and that Nihoul had advised him to organize sadomasochistic parties, which Nihoul said he had understood to mean adults. He spoke of the group-sex parties he and De Cokere had organized, "but with style," attended by influential politicians and officials at Le Dolo and Faulx-les-Tombes, and said: "Ich habe die Regierung in der Hand" (I have the government in hand). For 20,000 marks more he offered "a sitting minister who is involved in a murder," and, for a six-figure sum, a photograph of the then Prince Albert with a naked sixteen-year-old taken on the second floor of the Mirano club twenty years earlier.[^5] [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1, alleged that he organized parties at which children were abused; the prosecutors-general closed the files opened on her testimony in April 1998.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
At the trial in Arlon in 2004, Dutroux accused Nihoul of being his link to a ring kidnapping girls for prostitution, which Nihoul denied. Véronique Laurent, convicted of ordering the killing of her husband, [[Michel Piro]], testified that Nihoul had come to their bar, La Terrasse, four or five times.[^7] Only seven of the twelve jurors found him guilty of the abductions, and the professional judges acquitted him of every charge connected with the children; the court had returned the jury to consider a lesser charge of complicity in the kidnappings, on which it acquitted him, and the jury convicted him of membership of a gang that smuggled drugs and people into Belgium.[^8] On June 22, 2004, he was sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association. He left Saint-Gilles prison on parole on April 28, 2006, and retired with his companion to the Belgian coast, where he died on October 23, 2019.[^3][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
124
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jim Schnabel.md
Normal file
124
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jim Schnabel.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Jim Schnabel
|
||||
- James Schnabel
|
||||
- James Schnabel (writer)
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JimSchnabel
|
||||
- RemoteViewing
|
||||
- StargateProject
|
||||
- CropCircles
|
||||
- UFOAbduction
|
||||
- Journalism
|
||||
- ScienceWriting
|
||||
- Books
|
||||
summary: "Writer whose books Round in Circles (1993), Dark White (1994) and Remote Viewers (1997) cover crop circles, alien abduction claims and the American remote-viewing program."
|
||||
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[The Real X-Files]]"
|
||||
role: "writer and narrator of the Channel 4 documentary"
|
||||
start: 1995-08-27
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jim Schnabel is a journalist, author and science writer who published Round in Circles (1993), on the crop formations of [[Wiltshire]] and the people drawn to them, Dark White (1994), on alien abduction claims, Remote Viewers (1997), a history of the [[Stargate Project]], and Forever Young (1998), on the science of aging. He wrote and narrated the [[Channel 4]] documentary The Real X-Files, first broadcast in 1995, and has written science articles for [[Nature (journal)|Nature]], [[Science (journal)|Science]] and [[New Scientist]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Books
|
||||
|
||||
Round in Circles: Poltergeists, Pranksters, and the Secret History of the Cropwatchers was published in [[London]] by [[Hamish Hamilton]] in 1993 and in [[Amherst, New York]] by [[Prometheus Books]] in 1994. The Prometheus edition runs to xi and 293 pages with eight pages of plates.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Dark White: Aliens, Abductions, and the UFO Obsession was published in London by Hamish Hamilton in 1994 (303 pages) and later issued by [[Penguin Books]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies was published by [[Dell Publishing]] in January 1997. Schnabel has described the research and writing as taking place from 1993 to 1996. The book follows the program from the [[Stanford Research Institute]] contract work that [[Hal Puthoff]] began in 1972 through the [[U.S. Army]] unit at [[Fort Meade]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Forever Young: Science and the Search for Immortality was published by [[Bloomsbury]] in 1998. A German edition of Remote Viewers, Geheimwaffe Gehirn: Die PSI-Agenten des CIA, was published by [[Herbig]] in 1998.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Remote Viewers and its sources
|
||||
|
||||
The list of interview sources in Remote Viewers includes [[Frederick Atwater|Fred "Skip" Atwater]], Hal Puthoff, [[Ingo Swann]], [[Joe McMoneagle]], [[Uri Geller]], [[Keith Harary]] and [[Michael Persinger]], among others. The list states that a number of sources who spoke on background are not named in it, and that not all those listed spoke on the record all the time.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The acknowledgments single out Atwater, Puthoff, [[Mel Riley]] and Edith Riley, and [[Edmund Thompson]] as "heroically cooperative" sources to whom the author owed "a special debt."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The book uses pseudonyms for a number of the people it names. Its notes state that certain names in the text are pseudonyms, and a "Pseudonyms" page near the end of the book identifies them.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The acknowledgments thank the [[U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] Freedom of Information Act office and the [[Fort Bragg]] FOIA office. The chapter notes describe a set of memoranda summarizing Project Landbroker, cited under 1984, as "Released to the author after a FOIA request, 1995. Pages heavily redacted." The notes on the case of [[David Morehouse]] describe the court-martial case file and a set of INSCOM investigation documents as "available by requests under the Freedom of Information Act."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Real X-Files and the Stargate records of 1995
|
||||
|
||||
In a memorandum of May 30, 1995, Joe McMoneagle described a series of calls from Schnabel over the preceding eight months, six or seven by his count, and wrote that Schnabel had at first said he was interested only in the science side of the subject. McMoneagle wrote that he learned Schnabel would attend a Gateway seminar at the [[Monroe Institute]] in May 1995 and had seen his name on the participant list. He wrote that Schnabel gave himself as the writer of a program for Channel 4 on the history of remote viewing, covering the CIA's Project Scanate and the Army unit at Fort Meade, with a live remote viewing to close the second part.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
McMoneagle wrote that he declined to take part, and that he believed Schnabel "wasn't entirely open and honest with me during those conversations." He wrote that Schnabel told him the producer would guarantee in writing that McMoneagle would not be linked to military or Cold War issues if he performed the live remote viewing. He wrote that Schnabel said he had made promises to protect others, naming Puthoff among them, and that Schnabel said he had spoken with Harary. McMoneagle also wrote that Schnabel said he had a film of three experimental remote viewings McMoneagle had done at the Monroe Institute in 1983, which had been forwarded to Schnabel by a person whose name is redacted.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 31, 1995, [[Edwin May]] of the [[Cognitive Sciences Laboratory]] in [[Palo Alto]] wrote a memorandum about Schnabel's approach to the program. May wrote that Schnabel was preparing a piece for Channel 4 that would cover Project Scanate and the Army's remote-viewing unit, that Schnabel listed five individuals by name, all retired from the program, and that Schnabel had also named some current personnel and retired senior officials. May wrote that it was his impression that Schnabel and Channel 4 were interested in an exposé.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Schnabel wrote and narrated The Real X-Files, a one-hour documentary for Channel 4 directed by [[Bill Eagles]], with [[Alex Graham]] of [[Wall to Wall]] as executive producer. It was first broadcast on August 27, 1995. An edited version was broadcast in the [[United States]] on the [[Discovery Channel]] on March 12, 1996.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
His article "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Psi" ran in the [[The Independent|Independent on Sunday]]'s Sunday Review on August 27, 1995, pages 10 to 13. A [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] memorandum of August 28, 1995, filed in the STARGATE collection, circulated a [[Foreign Broadcast Information Service]] transcription of the article. The reference line of the memorandum reads "FYI. Interesting stuff."[^12] Schnabel has written that the feature "got some official attention."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In a memorandum of September 21, 1995, May wrote that he had obtained a videotape of the program, that it presented Schnabel's written piece in video form and featured Mel Riley and [[Ed Dames]] with interviews of Thompson, Adm. Turner, Puthoff, [[Lyn Buchanan]] and [[John Alexander]], and that in his opinion "the show is sensational and makes no attempt to separate fact from fiction." May added that he had been told the producers of [[ABC News]] 20/20 had seen the Schnabel tape.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Crop circles
|
||||
|
||||
Round in Circles examines crop circles around the world and the people drawn to them.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1992 Schnabel took second place in a circlemaking competition held at West Wycombe on July 11 and 12, and wrote "The Art of Circular Science" for The Cerealogist no. 7 (Harvest 1992). In November 1992 the [[MUFON]] UFO Journal, edited by [[Dennis Stacy]], printed his article "Confessions of a Crop Circle Spy," five pages long, which recounts telephone conversations with a caller using the name Ntumba, whom Schnabel wrote that the photographer [[Rob Irving]] recognized as Henry Azadehdel, also known as [[Armen Victorian]]. Schnabel wrote that in a light-hearted moment he had suggested to the caller "that yes, it was all true, he was indeed a spy."[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
The Circular, the journal of the [[Centre for Crop Circle Studies]] edited by [[George Wingfield]], prepared an interview with Schnabel recorded by Victorian. The introduction to that interview, as reprinted by [[Bill Eatwell]] in the HUFON Report of the Houston UFO Network, stated that Schnabel had written an item in [[The Washington Post]] in 1991, had collaborated with Irving on a piece for the Independent Magazine implying that many major mid-Wiltshire formations were the work of the UBI group, and was a postgraduate student in sociology at the [[University of Bath]], with a connection to [[Lincoln College, Oxford]] that the college had said at the beginning of 1992 no longer existed. The introduction presented the recording as Schnabel revealing himself as a paid disinformation agent for an unnamed Western intelligence organization, and stated that Schnabel now denied it and had telephoned to say he had been "winding up" Victorian.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
Eatwell wrote that Wingfield gave him a copy of the interview in October 1992 and said that his English publisher, Michael Green, had pulled it from The Circular. Eatwell wrote that on comparing the interview with Schnabel's account of it, some sentences were not word for word, and that Schnabel's article contained a statement about "ultra-secret Stars Wars weapons testing" that he could not find in the interview text.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Journalism
|
||||
|
||||
A Science article listed on Schnabel's website is "New Alzheimer's therapy suggested," published June 18, 1993, pages 1719 to 1720.[^15] Later articles by Schnabel in Nature include "The sounds of silent movies" (August 5, 2008), "Neuroscience: Standard model" (August 2008), "Protein folding: The dark side of proteins" (April 7, 2010) and "Amyloid: Little proteins, big clues" (July 2011, in a Nature Outlook supplement).[^16] His website also lists articles for New Scientist, the Scripps Research magazine Endeavor, NYU Physician and the UNC Gillings School of Public Health, and the books Everything and Nothing: an introduction to quantum probability (Natura, 2012; revised as Quantum Theory and the Structure of Reality, 2023) and Age of Despair: Toxic Science and the End of History (Natura, 2024).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reception
|
||||
|
||||
[[Susan Blackmore]] reviewed Dark White in Nature under the title "Minds possessed" on November 17, 1994.[^17] Praise for Dark White quoted on Schnabel's website is attributed to Anthony Clare in The Sunday Times ("His ironic, wry account contains all the classic UFO stories"), Boyd Tonkin in The New Statesman & Society and Jonathan Sale in the Independent on Sunday.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Anthony Campbell]]'s review of Dark White, carrying a 1999 copyright line, called the book "an excellent book on a difficult subject." Campbell wrote that the epilogue states Schnabel's position: "Here he makes it clear that he discounts the extra-terrestrial hypothesis."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Robin Ramsay]] reviewed Remote Viewers in [[Lobster (magazine)|Lobster]] in the summer of 1997. He wrote that he approached the book "with some caution," that Armen Victorian and others were intensely suspicious of Schnabel's activities in the UFO and paranormal fields and "some suspect him of being a CIA asset," and that "On this I am an agnostic." He concluded: "But whatever Schnabel's role, he has written a very good book."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jim Schnabel, personal website, "I've been a journalist, author and science writer/editor since the 1990s," with listed articles and books, https://jimschnabel.github.io/.
|
||||
|
||||
[^2]: Jim Schnabel, *Round in Circles: Poltergeists, Pranksters, and the Secret History of the Cropwatchers* (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1993; Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1994). Catalog records, Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2825562W, and Internet Archive lending copy, https://archive.org/details/roundincirclespo0000schn (xi, 293 pages, [8] pages of plates).
|
||||
|
||||
[^3]: Jim Schnabel, *Dark White: Aliens, Abductions, and the UFO Obsession* (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1994), 303 pages per Internet Archive record https://archive.org/details/darkwhitealiensa0000schn; Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2825561W. Listing in *Nature* for the review cited in note 17 gives "Hamish Hamilton: 1994. Pp. 304." Campbell's review (note 19) gives a Penguin edition, London, 1995.
|
||||
|
||||
[^4]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies* (New York: Dell, 1997), "Copyright © 1997 by Jim Schnabel." Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2825559W. Schnabel's description of the research period, the January 1997 publication and the Independent feature is on his website, https://jimschnabel.github.io/remote-viewers/.
|
||||
|
||||
[^5]: Jim Schnabel, *Forever Young: Science and the Search for Immortality* (London: Bloomsbury, 1998), listed at https://jimschnabel.github.io/forever-young/ and Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2825560W; *Geheimwaffe Gehirn: Die PSI-Agenten des CIA* (Herbig, 1998), Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2825557W.
|
||||
|
||||
[^6]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers* (Dell, 1997), acknowledgments and "Interview Sources."
|
||||
|
||||
[^7]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers* (Dell, 1997), chapter note on the first appearance of pseudonymous names ("These are pseudonyms. See this page for a complete list of pseudonyms."), and the "Pseudonyms" page at the back of the book.
|
||||
|
||||
[^8]: Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers* (Dell, 1997), acknowledgments; chapter notes on the Morehouse case and on the Project Landbroker memoranda, including the citation "Released to the author after a FOIA request, 1995. Pages heavily redacted."
|
||||
|
||||
[^9]: Joseph W. McMoneagle, memorandum on a production for British television, May 30, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190069-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00791r000200190069-2. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
|
||||
[^10]: Edwin C. May, memorandum "Publicity and British TV," May 31, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190068-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00791r000200190068-3. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
|
||||
[^11]: Jim Schnabel and Bill Eagles, *The Real X-Files*, one-hour documentary for Channel Four (U.K.), first broadcast August 27, 1995, with a U.S. broadcast on the Discovery Channel on March 12, 1996; Schnabel writer and narrator, Eagles director, Alex Graham of Wall to Wall TV executive producer. Bibliography of Jim Schnabel, *Remote Viewers* (Dell, 1997).
|
||||
|
||||
[^12]: Jim Schnabel, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Psi," *The Independent on Sunday*, Sunday Review, August 27, 1995, pp. 10-13, as transcribed by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and filed in CIA memorandum "US Use of 'Psychic Spies' Reported," August 28, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030073-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00791r000100030073-5. Online edition, https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tinker-tailor-soldier-psi-1598203.html.
|
||||
|
||||
[^13]: Edwin C. May, memorandum "Publicity and things," September 21, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000100030077-1, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00791r000100030077-1. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
|
||||
[^14]: Bill Eatwell, "Crop Circle Update - Field of Schemes I," *HUFON Report* (Houston UFO Network), posted by the MUFONET-BBS network January 29, 1993, and to Usenet February 11, 1993, https://docs.google.com/document/d/16wziNWOWDT9wAMM4RbrzUuMBboEDxWrX/export?format=txt, reproducing the introduction to the interview prepared for *The Circular*, a reply by George Wingfield, and Eatwell's summary of Jim Schnabel, "Confessions of a Crop Circle Spy," *MUFON UFO Journal*, November 1992. Sole source for the passages so cited; the contents of the MUFON article are as summarized by Eatwell.
|
||||
|
||||
[^15]: Jim Schnabel, "New Alzheimer's therapy suggested," *Science* 260 (June 18, 1993): 1719-20, PubMed 8323582, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8323582/.
|
||||
|
||||
[^16]: Jim Schnabel, "The sounds of silent movies," *Nature* news, August 5, 2008, https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2008.1014; "Neuroscience: Standard model," *Nature* 454 (2008), https://www.nature.com/articles/454682a; "Protein folding: The dark side of proteins," *Nature* 464 (April 7, 2010), https://www.nature.com/articles/464828a; "Amyloid: Little proteins, big clues," *Nature* 475 supplement (July 2011), https://www.nature.com/articles/475S12a.
|
||||
|
||||
[^17]: Susan Blackmore, "Minds possessed," review of *Dark White: Aliens, Abductions and the UFO Obsessions* by Jim Schnabel, *Nature* 372, 290 (November 17, 1994), https://doi.org/10.1038/372290a0.
|
||||
|
||||
[^18]: Jim Schnabel, personal website, "Dark White," https://jimschnabel.github.io/dark-white/, quoting Anthony Clare, *The Sunday Times*; Boyd Tonkin, *The New Statesman & Society*; Jonathan Sale, *The Independent on Sunday*. The quotations are as printed on the author's site.
|
||||
|
||||
[^19]: Anthony Campbell, review of *Dark White* by Jim Schnabel, copyright 1999, https://acampbell.org.uk/bookreviews/r/schnabel.html.
|
||||
|
||||
[^20]: Robin Ramsay, review of *Remote Viewers*, *Lobster* 33 (Summer 1997), https://lobster-magazine.co.uk/article/issue/33/remote-viewers-psychic-warrior.
|
||||
|
|
@ -7,13 +7,27 @@ tags:
|
|||
- JohnPalmer
|
||||
- Parapsychology
|
||||
- RhineResearchCenter
|
||||
summary: "Parapsychologist and Rhine Research Center research director, three times president of the Parapsychological Association, who wrote a 1985 assessment of the field for the Army Research Institute and was among the reviewers the NRC named for Star Gate in 1995."
|
||||
summary: "Parapsychologist, Rhine Research Center research director and Parapsychological Association president in 1979 and 1992, who wrote a 1985 Army Research Institute assessment of the field."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Parapsychological Association]]"
|
||||
start: 1979
|
||||
end: 1979
|
||||
role: "president, convention year 1979 (Moraga, California)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Parapsychological Association]]"
|
||||
start: 1992
|
||||
end: 1992
|
||||
role: "president, convention year 1992 (Las Vegas, Nevada)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John A. Palmer graduated from [[Duke University]] in psychology, took his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, spent two years on the psychology faculty at [[McGill University]] and "entered parapsychology on a full-time basis," heading the graduate program in parapsychology at John F. Kennedy University from 1977 to 1981 and holding research posts at the [[University of Virginia]], the [[University of California, Davis]] and the University of Utrecht. He was president of the Parapsychological Association in 1971, 1979 and 1992, and became director of research at the [[Rhine Research Center]] in Durham, editor of the *Journal of Parapsychology* and director of its summer study program. His publications include, with Whitson, Bogart and [[Charles Tart]], "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" (Proceedings of the IEEE, 1976), "In defense of parapsychology: A reply to [[James Alcock|James E. Alcock]]" (*Zetetic Scholar,* 1983), "An evaluative report on the current status of parapsychology," under contract DAJA 45-84-M-0405 for the [[United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences|U.S. Army Research Institute]] (1985), and, with [[Charles Honorton]] and [[Jessica Utts]], the Parapsychological Association's reply to the [[National Research Council]]'s 1988 report. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^1]
|
||||
John A. Palmer graduated from [[Duke University]] in psychology, took his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, spent two years on the psychology faculty at [[McGill University]] and "entered parapsychology on a full-time basis," heading the graduate program in parapsychology at John F. Kennedy University from 1977 to 1981 and holding research posts at the [[University of Virginia]], the [[University of California, Davis]] and the University of Utrecht. The association's member directory states that he was president of the Parapsychological Association in 1971, 1979 and 1992; the association's convention table lists Gertrude Schmeidler as president for 1971 and Palmer for 1979 and 1992.[^1] He became director of research at the [[Rhine Research Center]] in Durham, editor of the *Journal of Parapsychology* and director of its summer study program. His publications include, with Whitson, Bogart and [[Charles Tart]], "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" (Proceedings of the IEEE, 1976), "In defense of parapsychology: A reply to [[James Alcock|James E. Alcock]]" (*Zetetic Scholar,* 1983), "An evaluative report on the current status of parapsychology," under contract DAJA 45-84-M-0405 for the [[United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences|U.S. Army Research Institute]] (1985), and, with [[Charles Honorton]] and [[Jessica Utts]], the Parapsychological Association's reply to the [[National Research Council]]'s 1988 report. The CIA's chronology of the Star Gate transfer records that on March 15, 1995, "Jessica Utts, John Palmer, James Alcock, and Ray Hyman contacted by NRC and agree to act as commissioned reviewers," and that on May 10 the NRC "formally rejects" the study.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Who is John Palmer?" Parapsychological Association member directory, archived.parapsych.org/members/j_palmer.html, Wayback Machine capture of 2020. "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^1]: "PA Convention History," Parapsychological Association website, archived December 29, 2016, listing John Palmer as president for the 1979 convention (Moraga, California) and the 1992 convention (Las Vegas, Nevada) and Gertrude Schmeidler for 1971. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229231222/http://www.parapsych.org/section/23/convention_history.aspx
|
||||
[^2]: "Who is John Palmer?" Parapsychological Association member directory, archived.parapsych.org/members/j_palmer.html, Wayback Machine capture of 2020. "Star Gate Transfer Chronology: 1995," CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190017-9.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -15,24 +15,24 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "abducted June 24, 1995; body found August 17, 1996"
|
||||
start: 1995-06-24
|
||||
end: 1996-08-17
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
Melissa Russo, aged eight, was abducted with her friend [[Julie Lejeune]] on Saturday, June 24, 1995, between five and seven in the evening, from the fields beside her family's house at Grâce-Hollogne, near [[Liège]].[^2][^3] The gendarmerie had passed information on [[Marc Dutroux]] as a suspect between its Charleroi and Liège units from July 7, 1995, and a confidential report of August 10, 1995, recorded an informant's account that Dutroux sold girls for 100,000 to 150,000 francs and had described the work in his cellars as hiding places for abducted children. The surveillance of Dutroux, [[Operation Othello]], led by the gendarme [[Rene Michaux]], did not find the girls.[^1][^2]
|
||||
Melissa Russo, aged eight, was abducted with her friend [[Julie Lejeune]] on Saturday, June 24, 1995, between five and seven in the evening, from the fields beside her family's house at Grâce-Hollogne, near [[Liège]].[^1][^2] The gendarmerie had passed information on [[Marc Dutroux]] as a suspect between its Charleroi and Liège units from July 7, 1995, and a confidential report of August 10, 1995, recorded an informant's account that Dutroux sold girls for 100,000 to 150,000 francs and had described the work in his cellars as hiding places for abducted children. The surveillance of Dutroux, [[Operation Othello]], led by the gendarme [[Rene Michaux]], did not find the girls.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The two were held in a concealed cell in the cellar of Dutroux's house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. When Dutroux was arrested on December 13, 1995, in a separate matter, the gendarmerie searched his houses and reported that the cellar work had no connection with "the fitting out of transit cells for the abduction of children." He was released on March 20, 1996. The girls starved to death during his imprisonment; his wife, [[Michelle Martin]], testified that she had been too afraid to go downstairs to feed them.[^2][^4] Their bodies were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17, 1996, five days after the arrest of Dutroux, Martin and [[Michel Lelievre]] and two days after the rescue of [[Sabine Dardenne]] and [[Laetitia Delhez]].[^2]
|
||||
The two were held in a concealed cell in the cellar of Dutroux's house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. When Dutroux was arrested on December 13, 1995, in a separate matter, the gendarmerie searched his houses and reported that the cellar work had no connection with "the fitting out of transit cells for the abduction of children." He was released on March 20, 1996. The girls starved to death during his imprisonment; his wife, [[Michelle Martin]], testified that she had been too afraid to go downstairs to feed them.[^1][^4] Their bodies were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17, 1996, five days after the arrest of Dutroux, Martin and [[Michel Lelievre]] and two days after the rescue of two girls aged 12 and 14.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2004, the jury at Arlon convicted Dutroux of the abduction of Julie and Melissa and Martin of their sequestration with torture causing death, and acquitted [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] of the abduction charges, adopting the investigating judge Jacques Langlois's view that Dutroux had acted as an isolated predator.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Cellar and the Searches
|
||||
|
||||
The parliamentary commission found that during the December 1995 search of the Marcinelle house [[Rene Michaux]], alone in the cellar, heard children's voices that stopped when he called for silence, and attributed them, as the locksmith suggested, to children in the street. It also found that he had taken chloroform, a speculum and vaginal cream from the house, that these items were missing from the investigating judge's inventory, and that he told the commission he had later handed them to the lawyer of Dutroux's wife.[^2] The writer S. Dovey wrote that the cellar was built in 1993 with the help of [[Claude Thirault]] under the guise of drainage work, with soundproofed cells behind shelving; that the Othello team eliminated Dutroux as a suspect in January 1996 and missed the abduction of [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]] on August 22, 1995, while he was under surveillance; that white vans registered to Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]] carried victims, that more than twenty calls passed between Nihoul and Dutroux around the Delhez abduction, and that payments reached accounts of Dutroux in several European countries; and that a letter from Dutroux to Julie's father said the abduction served an organized "snuff orgy." The removal of Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] in October 1996 was followed by the White March; Justice Minister [[Melchior Wathelet]] had approved Dutroux's release in 1992.[^1]
|
||||
The parliamentary commission found that during the December 1995 search of the Marcinelle house Rene Michaux, alone in the cellar, heard children's voices that stopped when he called for silence, and attributed them, as the locksmith suggested, to children in the street. It also found that he had taken chloroform, a speculum and vaginal cream from the house, that these items were missing from the investigating judge's inventory, and that he told the commission he had later handed them to the lawyer of Dutroux's wife.[^1] The writer S. Dovey wrote that the cellar was built in 1993 with the help of [[Claude Thirault]] under the guise of drainage work, with soundproofed cells behind shelving; that the Othello team eliminated Dutroux as a suspect in January 1996 and missed the abduction of [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]] on August 22, 1995, while he was under surveillance; that white vans registered to Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]] carried victims, that more than twenty calls passed between Nihoul and Dutroux around the August 1996 abduction at Bertrix, and that payments reached accounts of Dutroux in several European countries; and that a letter from Dutroux to Julie's father said the abduction served an organized "snuff orgy." The removal of Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] in October 1996 was followed by the White March; Justice Minister [[Melchior Wathelet]] had approved Dutroux's release in 1992.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its account of the abduction (July 22, 1995, from Charleroi, "for over a year" of captivity), Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and the exhumation (September 16, 1996) is contradicted by the commission's chronology. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 47-48, table 4, and the chronologies of December 1995, March 1996 and August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Planchar, Roland. "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue..." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2005/06/22/arlon-22-juin-2004-lepilogue-BW2M2Z52HRFRFJL4PLKBLTDEHE/
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, pp. 47-48, table 4, and the chronologies of December 1995, March 1996 and August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Planchar, Roland. "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue..." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2005/06/22/arlon-22-juin-2004-lepilogue-BW2M2Z52HRFRFJL4PLKBLTDEHE/
|
||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its account of the abduction (July 22, 1995, from Charleroi, "for over a year" of captivity), Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and the exhumation (September 16, 1996) is contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
||||
[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011
|
||||
[^5]: "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Person
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
summary: "Michael Riconosciuto is a computer scientist and self-proclaimed former CIA asset who claimed to have modified the PROMIS software for worldwide intelligence distribution through the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture, becoming a central source for Danny Casolaro's Octopus investigation."
|
||||
summary: "Michael Riconosciuto is a computer scientist and self-proclaimed former CIA asset who claimed to have modified the PROMIS software through the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture and became a central source for Danny Casolaro's Octopus investigation."
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] is a computer scientist and self-proclaimed former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] asset, known for his involvement in various clandestine operations and his claims regarding the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]]. He was described as a child prodigy, wiring his parents' neighborhood with a private telephone system at age 10 and winning science fairs with laser technology, leading to a summer research assistantship at Stanford's Cooper Vaper Laser Laboratory.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ In 1953, Rockefeller accepted appointment as chair of the President's Advisory C
|
|||
|
||||
On March 3, 1955, Bureau of the Budget Director Rowland Hughes recommended that Eisenhower designate Rockefeller as a member and vice chairman of the OCB and as chairman of a new Planning Coordination Group. Eisenhower approved these recommendations on March 10, 1955. The Planning Coordination Group (PCG), operating within the framework of [[NSC 5412]] governing covert operations, comprised Rockefeller as chairman, the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence. Its function was to "advise and assist the responsible operating agencies in the coordinated development of plans and programs" and to serve as the "normal channel for giving policy approval" for CIA covert operations. CIA director [[Allen Dulles]] and State Department officials refused to cooperate, and their obstruction stymied the PCG's initiatives. Rockefeller recommended the group's abolishment in September 1955 and resigned as Special Assistant to the President in December 1955.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
In this role, he commissioned and partly directed the [[Quantico I and II]] strategy panels. Quantico I convened June 5-10, 1955, at the Marine Corps School in [[Quantico]], [[Virginia]], where eleven experts in Soviet-American relations (including [[W.W. Rostow]] of [[MIT]] as panel chairman, [[C.D. Jackson]] of [[Time-Life]], and [[Hans Speier]] of the [[RAND Corporation]]) assessed the US position in the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and developed the "Open Skies" proposal that Eisenhower then brought to the Geneva Summit. Quantico II met in late August 1955 in Washington and Quantico to examine the psychological aspects of US national security policy. He brought [[Henry Kissinger]], then a young Harvard academic, in as director of the Special Studies Project of the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]], whose six panel reports appeared between January 1958 and September 1960; Kissinger directed the project until June 30, 1958.[^24] Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett wrote that the reports shaped the Kennedy administration's counterinsurgency strategy.[^25]
|
||||
In this role, he commissioned and partly directed the [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel|Quantico I and II]] strategy panels. Quantico I convened June 5-10, 1955, at the Marine Corps School in [[Quantico]], [[Virginia]], where eleven experts in Soviet-American relations (including [[W.W. Rostow]] of [[MIT]] as panel chairman, [[C.D. Jackson]] of [[Time-Life]], and [[Hans Speier]] of the [[RAND Corporation]]) assessed the US position in the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and developed the "Open Skies" proposal that Eisenhower then brought to the Geneva Summit. Quantico II met in late August 1955 in Washington and Quantico to examine the psychological aspects of US national security policy. He brought [[Henry Kissinger]], then a young Harvard academic, in as director of the Special Studies Project of the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]], whose six panel reports appeared between January 1958 and September 1960; Kissinger directed the project until June 30, 1958.[^24] Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett wrote that the reports shaped the Kennedy administration's counterinsurgency strategy.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Brazil and the 1964 Coup
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,16 +13,19 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Bahamian minister and lawyer who arranged casino exemptions for clients tied to Meyer Lansky, was disgraced by a 1967 royal commission, and was kept as a client by Wackenhut during its Florida war on crime."
|
||||
location: "Nassau, Bahamas"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-21
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-21
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Sir Stafford Sands was a lawyer and minister in the government of the [[Bahamas]] before 1967. He acted for [[Wallace Groves]] at Freeport, and when [[James Crosby]]'s [[Mary Carter Paint Company]] bought [[Paradise Island]] it acquired "the legal services of Sir Stafford Sands." Crosby called him "a very impressive intellectual." In the middle of 1965 Sands "arranged permission for the construction of the desired bridge connecting Paradise to [[Nassau]], and obtained transfer of the Bahamian Club's certificate of exemption" from the gambling laws to the new casino.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
After the election of [[Lynden Pindling]]'s government in 1967 a royal commission under Sir [[Ranulph Bacon]] examined the casinos. "Sir Stafford Sands, disgraced by revelations of the millions that he'd made drafting legislation for Mob-connected entrepreneurs, retired to his castle in [[Spain]]."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1967 the crime reporter [[Hank Messick]] resigned from the [[Wackenhut Corporation]], which Governor [[Claude Kirk]] had hired to fight organized crime in [[Florida]], because the company kept Sands as a private client while it was supposed to be pursuing [[Meyer Lansky]]. "I quit the Wackenhut Corp. because I have reluctantly concluded a cruel hoax is being perpetrated upon the people of Florida," he said.[^2]
|
||||
The commission also took testimony on Lansky's approaches to Sands. Sands later acknowledged to the commission that [[Meyer Lansky]] had offered him a payment in 1960 to permit gambling on [[Grand Bahama]], and that he turned the offer down.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1967 the crime reporter [[Hank Messick]] resigned from the [[Wackenhut Corporation]], which Governor [[Claude Kirk]] had hired to fight organized crime in [[Florida]], because the company kept Sands as a private client while it was supposed to be pursuing Meyer Lansky. "I quit the Wackenhut Corp. because I have reluctantly concluded a cruel hoax is being perpetrated upon the people of Florida," he said.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hougan, Jim. *Spooks: The Haunting of America: The Private Use of Secret Agents*. William Morrow, 1978, pp. 381-382, 392-393.
|
||||
[^2]: "Wackenhut Aide Quits; 'Cruel Hoax,'" *The Tampa Tribune,* February 17, 1967, and *St. Petersburg Times* clipping, in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Tampa file on the Wackenhut Corporation. https://archive.org/details/WackenhutCorporation
|
||||
[^2]: FBI file 92-2831 (Meyer Lansky, Miami office), Section 16, undated newspaper article on the Lucayan Beach casino and the Groves companies, including Sands's acknowledgment to the commission. https://archive.org/details/MeyerLansky
|
||||
[^3]: "Wackenhut Aide Quits; 'Cruel Hoax,'" *The Tampa Tribune,* February 17, 1967, and *St. Petersburg Times* clipping, in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Tampa file on the Wackenhut Corporation. https://archive.org/details/WackenhutCorporation
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ aliases:
|
|||
- Theodore Shackley
|
||||
- The Blond Ghost
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-08
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- 1960s
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Ted Shackley (1927-2002), ‘The Blond Ghost,’ was a CIA operations officer who served as station chief at JMWAVE, Laos, and Saigon, rose to Associate Deputy Director for Operations, was forced out by DCI Turner in 1979, and became a central node in the Safari Club and Iran-Contra private network."
|
||||
summary: "Ted Shackley (1927-2002), 'The Blond Ghost,' was a CIA operations officer who ran JMWAVE, Laos and Saigon stations, rose to Associate Deputy Director for Operations, and left in 1979."
|
||||
born: 1927-07-16
|
||||
died: 2002-12-09
|
||||
location: "Springfield, Massachusetts"
|
||||
|
|
@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ Shackley’s transformation from capable officer to major CIA figure came with h
|
|||
|
||||
After an interim Domestic Operations Division assignment, Shackley was appointed CIA station chief in Laos in 1966, directing what was then the largest covert paramilitary operation in CIA history. The Laos operation - officially concealed because the United States had signed the 1962 Geneva Accords neutralizing Laos - centered on the Hmong irregular army commanded by General Vang Pao, which was funded, supplied, and advised by CIA as a proxy force fighting the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese infiltrators who used the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laotian territory. At its peak the Hmong force numbered approximately 36,000 fighters. Shackley oversaw air operations through Air America and Continental Air Services, the CIA-affiliated airlines that supplied the Hmong forces and that were later implicated in transporting opium from the Golden Triangle cultivation areas controlled by Hmong and other tribal leaders.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michael Hand]], the Australian Special Forces veteran and future co-founder of the Nugan Hand Bank, first encountered the CIA network through Laos operations during this period. Hand’s connection to Shackley’s network was the initial link that would eventually tie the Nugan Hand Bank to CIA financial operations.[^2]
|
||||
[[Michael Hand]], the Australian Special Forces veteran and future co-founder of the Nugan Hand Bank, first encountered the CIA network through Laos operations during this period, according to Seymour, who wrote that Hand moved to the clandestine CIA war in Laos after his first tour in Vietnam.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Saigon (1968-1972)
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -65,7 +65,9 @@ Shackley’s network intersected with the Iran-Contra Affair through multiple ch
|
|||
|
||||
Shackley was also connected through Michael Hand to the Nugan Hand Bank (Sydney, founded 1973, collapsed 1980), an Australian merchant bank that multiple sources identified as a CIA financial conduit. The bank’s board and senior advisers included former CIA Director William Colby (in a legal advisory role) and a number of Shackley-connected U.S. military and intelligence veterans. Its collapse after co-founder Frank Nugan’s death in January 1980 and Hand’s subsequent disappearance generated significant Australian investigative journalism about CIA connections to the bank.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[[David Corn]] writes that [[Barbara Studley]], a former Miami talk-show host, and [[John Singlaub]], who had worked with Shackley in Laos, had created [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], a weapons firm, and that Studley came to Shackley for advice on the arms market in Latin America.[^3]
|
||||
The Australian Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking's report, as described by Keith Schneider in the New York Times in March 1987, named Shackley and [[Tom Clines]] as the two top officers of the CIA's Laotian station during the late 1960s. Schneider wrote that Hand served in Laos in the late 1960s with [[Air America]], and that the report said [[Richard Secord]], Shackley, Clines and [[Rafael Quintero]] were close to Hand.[^3] The Wall Street Journal reported in August 1983 that the report named Shackley among the people newly connected with Nugan Hand. Shackley declined to be interviewed, and his attorney said that an Australian detective who helped compile the report had "formally advised" Shackley that he was not suspected of any illegalities.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
[[David Corn]] writes that [[Barbara Studley]], a former Miami talk-show host, and [[John Singlaub]], who had worked with Shackley in Laos, had created [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]], a weapons firm, and that Studley came to Shackley for advice on the arms market in Latin America.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Publications
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -75,4 +77,6 @@ Shackley authored *The Third Option: An American View of Counterinsurgency Opera
|
|||
|
||||
[^1]: Corn, David, and Jeff Goldberg. "The Old Boy Network." *Mother Jones*, October 1994 (on Shackley’s post-CIA network). Shackley, Theodore G. *The Third Option: An American View of Counterinsurgency Operations*. Reader’s Digest Press, 1981. Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA*. Doubleday, 2007, pp. 316-320, 361-368.
|
||||
[^2]: Trento, Joseph. *Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America’s Private Intelligence Network*. Carroll & Graf, 2005, pp. 55-85. Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||
[^3]: David Corn, *Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades* (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
|
||||
[^3]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
|
||||
[^4]: Kwitny, Jonathan. "Nugan Hand." Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1983. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00552R000302510001-1. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302510001-1
|
||||
[^5]: David Corn, *Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades* (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
212
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Walt Rostow.md
Normal file
212
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Walt Rostow.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags: [OSS, EnemyObjectivesUnit, AirTargeting, MITCenterForInternationalStudies, QuanticoVulnerabilitiesPanel, OpenSkies, KennedyAdministration, JohnsonAdministration, VietnamWar, BombingOfNorthVietnam, PolicyPlanning, NationalSecurityCouncil, SecurityClearance, UniversityOfTexas]
|
||||
aliases: [Walt Rostow, Walt Whitman Rostow, Walter W. Rostow, W. W. Rostow, W.W. Rostow, Walter Rostow]
|
||||
summary: "American economist who served in the OSS Enemy Objectives Unit in London, chaired the State Department Policy Planning Council from 1961 to 1966, and was Johnson's national security adviser from 1966 to 1969."
|
||||
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]"
|
||||
role: "professor of economic history"
|
||||
start: "1950"
|
||||
end: "1961"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Center for International Studies]]"
|
||||
role: "staff member"
|
||||
start: "1951"
|
||||
end: "1961"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "consultant to the Office of Research and Reports"
|
||||
start: "1951-03"
|
||||
end: "1953-06"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Enemy Objectives Unit]]"
|
||||
role: "intelligence analyst, London"
|
||||
start: "1942-09-13"
|
||||
end: "1945"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
start: "1955-06-05"
|
||||
end: "1955-06-10"
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Special Studies Project]]"
|
||||
role: "consultant and author"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Taylor Mission to Vietnam]]"
|
||||
role: "member, with General Maxwell Taylor"
|
||||
start: "1961-10-15"
|
||||
end: "1961-11-03"
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[John F. Kennedy]]"
|
||||
role: "Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs"
|
||||
start: "1961"
|
||||
end: "1961"
|
||||
fn: 20
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[State Department]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Policy Planning Council; director of the Policy Planning Staff from 1962; counselor of the department from 1962"
|
||||
start: "1961-12"
|
||||
end: "1966"
|
||||
fn: 26
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]"
|
||||
role: "Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs"
|
||||
start: "1966"
|
||||
end: "1969"
|
||||
fn: 29
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[University of Texas at Austin]]"
|
||||
role: "professor of economics"
|
||||
start: "1969"
|
||||
end: "2003"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Elspeth Davies Rostow]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Eugene V. Rostow]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Walt Whitman Rostow (1916-2003) was an American economist who worked in the London office of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] during the Second World War, taught economic history at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], and served under [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] as a White House adviser on national security affairs.[^1] He took a Yale doctorate in economics in 1940, taught at [[Columbia University]] that year, and served as a major in the OSS from 1942 to 1945.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Enemy Objectives Unit and bombing target selection
|
||||
|
||||
Rostow reached London on September 13, 1942, with [[Chandler Morse]], who was chief of the [[Enemy Objectives Unit]], and [[Roselene Honerkamp]], the unit's secretary. The unit was formally part of the Economic Warfare Division of the American Embassy and was housed at 40 Berkeley Square, whose door, by Rostow's account, was barred to all but the American ambassador and a few designated Air Force officers.[^3] He wrote that the unit "was the child of Air Corps Col. [[Richard D'Oyly Hughes]]," and that its task was "to develop and apply criteria for the selection of one target system versus another," and, where a target was large enough and bombing precise enough, one aiming point versus another.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Rostow described the intellectual level of development of these criteria on the unit's arrival in London as "quite primitive."[^3] Within the unit's first six months, he wrote, it developed concepts that "came close to constituting a general theory of strategic air bombardment," and several of its terms entered the air intelligence vocabulary: "target system, interdiction, cushion, depth, pattern of consumption, pipeline."[^4] The unit's target studies examined eleven factors for each target system, among them the importance of indirect effect, ease of repair and the possibility of substitution, the last two addressing what the unit called the cushion.[^5] In an essay on the beginnings of air targeting, written in 1963 and later released by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], Rostow wrote: "In strategic bombing the target is the vast structure of economic and civil life which supports the military effort."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Charles Kindleberger]] took over from Morse as chief of the unit in February 1943 and left in May 1944, ultimately to join General Bradley's staff.[^3] The unit's 285 aiming point reports earned it a favorable reputation in the Eighth Air Force and the Fifteenth Air Force, and Rostow wrote that the unit "probably had its greatest operational impact through [[Operation Octopus]]."[^5] Rostow's account of the 1944 decision on bombing priorities was published as [[Pre-Invasion Bombing Strategy]] (University of Texas Press, 1981). A draft chapter sent to [[Richard M. Bissell Jr.]] in 1980 carried the title "Marshalling Yards vs. Oil: General Eisenhower's Decision of March 25, 1944."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Center for International Studies
|
||||
|
||||
Rostow was appointed professor of economic history at MIT in 1950 and in 1951 became a staff member of the [[Center for International Studies]] there, holding both posts until 1961.[^2] A memorandum of the CIA Office of Security dated April 11, 1958 records that the agency approved him as a consultant to its Office of Research and Reports in March 1951 and extended the status to June 1953; that in May and June 1953 an Agency Employment Review Board and Loyalty Board processed his case with a favorable finding; and that his contract as a consultant was not renewed after it expired in June 1953.[^7] A letter that [[Max Millikan]], then assistant director of the agency for research and reports, signed 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."[^8] He gave a talk in Moscow on May 25, 1959, titled "The Stages of Economic Growth and the Problems of Peaceful Coexistence," a copy of which is in the Bissell papers.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1953 W. W. Norton published *The Dynamics of Soviet Society*, a 282-page book credited to "W. W. Rostow in collaboration with Alfred Levin, and with the assistance of others at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology," with a preface by Millikan as the center's director.[^9] A paperback edition followed from Mentor Books in 1954 under the subtitle "An Expert Analysis of the World Behind the Iron Curtain."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The MIT Center for International Studies, which Millikan directed, was described by [[Patrick Oster]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] in the [[Washington Post]] of September 11, 1977 as "set up in 1951 with CIA money," with Millikan, "a former assistant director of the agency," as its first director. The same report said that the agency had financed a related project on Soviet scientists through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]].[^10] In a letter to Senator [[Styles Bridges]] in October 1957, [[Alfred Kohlberg]] criticized the agency for supporting the center and criticized Rostow in particular, as the CIA Office of Security recorded in its memorandum of April 11, 1958.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA memorandum of February 16, 1959 from the Assistant to the Director forwards the text of an item in the [[National Review]] Bulletin. The item names [[Richard Bissell]] and [[Robert Amory]] and reads: "Bissell and his favored CIA teammate, Robert Amory, lean ideologically on CIA's outriding auxiliary at MIT, the Center for International Studies. They have been particularly influenced by the neo-Marxian theories of W. W. Rostow, director of the Center."[^11] The MIT President's report for 1962 to 1963 refers to "Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center for International Studies," and the center's section of the 1963 to 1964 report is signed by Millikan.[^12][^13] The 1958 to 1959 President's report lists Rostow and Elspeth Davies Rostow on leave at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], England.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
In June 1977 the [[Harvard Crimson]], in an article on Harvard's offer to [[Henry Kissinger]], wrote that Rostow "left MIT in the 1960s to work for former President Johnson as chairman of the Policy Planning Council during the Vietnam war and was not invited back to MIT in part because of his involvement with the war." The same article quoted an unnamed Harvard source on the invitation to Kissinger: "We didn't want a Rostow in our faculty."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel and Open Skies
|
||||
|
||||
In June 1955 [[Nelson Rockefeller]], then Special Assistant to the President, invited eleven experts to Quantico, Virginia, to explore methods of exploiting Communist bloc vulnerabilities. The panel met June 5 to 10. Its members were [[Frederick Dunn]], [[C. D. Jackson]] of Time-Life, [[Ellis A. Johnson]] and [[George Pettee]] of the Operations Research Office, [[Paul Linebarger]], Max Millikan, [[Philip Mosely]], [[Stefan Possony]] of the Department of the Air Force, [[Hans Speier]] of the [[Rand Corporation]], [[Charles A. H. Thomson]] of the [[Brookings Institution]], and Rostow of the MIT Center, who was designated the chairman of the [[Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel]]. Rostow transmitted the report to Rockefeller under a letter of June 10 that he signed as panel chairman. The letter reported "the unanimous belief of the Panel members that the U.S. now enjoys a significant but transitory period of over-all strength vis-a-vis the Soviet bloc." The report included ten papers by individual members; Rostow's was titled "Asia Policy."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The Eisenhower Library holds a folder titled "Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel 1955" in its Miscellaneous Series.[^17] The papers of C. D. Jackson include a 1955 log entry titled "From Quantico to Geneva" and a file on "Rostow, Walt W."[^18] Rostow's own draft, "President Eisenhower's Open Skies Proposal: July 21, 1955," dated March 12, 1981, is in the Bissell papers.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Special Studies Project
|
||||
|
||||
Rostow is listed among the "Consultants and Authors" of the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]] Special Studies Project in *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports* (1961). His brother [[Eugene V. Rostow]], dean of the Yale Law School, is listed as a member of Panel IV, which dealt with the American economy.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Kennedy administration and the Taylor mission
|
||||
|
||||
By January 1961 Rostow was Kennedy's deputy special assistant for national security affairs, writing memoranda to [[McGeorge Bundy]].[^20] In July 1961 he sent [[Dean Rusk]] a memorandum on [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] that said "we must know quite precisely what kind of international action we want," and on July 21 he wrote a paper titled "Evaluation of Positive and Negative Forces in Viet-Nam."[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 11, 1961, Kennedy decided to send a mission headed by [[Maxwell Taylor]] with Rostow, General [[Edward Lansdale]], a Joint Chiefs representative, and officials from State and Defense. The memorandum for the record by Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Roswell L. Gilpatric|Roswell Gilpatric]] records that Taylor, "accompanied by Dr. Rostow from the White House," General Lansdale, a representative of the Joint Chiefs, Mr. Cottrell from State and probably someone from ISA would leave for Vietnam over the weekend. The editorial note to the document reproduces a telegram from General Lemnitzer reporting that the mission planned to leave Washington on October 15 and spend about two weeks in Vietnam.[^22] A paper prepared by the mission, datelined Saigon on October 18, is printed alongside, and on October 16 Rostow sent Taylor a memorandum from Honolulu.[^22][^23] In Taylor's letter to Kennedy of November 3, he wrote: "In addition to Dr. Rostow, the members of my party included representatives of State, ICA, Defense, JCS, and CIA."[^24] On November 11 Rostow urged Kennedy to place "some minimal U.S. ground force in Viet Nam as part of the initial package," a step that "commits us-in our minds-to a full scale U.S. effort to save that country."[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
### Policy Planning Council
|
||||
|
||||
The State Department record lists Rostow as chairman of the Policy Planning Council in December 1961, as director of the Policy Planning Staff in April 1962, and as counselor of the department in September 1962.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 15, 1965, Rostow sent Assistant Secretary [[William Bundy]] three points on a possible negotiation. He thought [[Hanoi]] might be driving for a settlement, that a "land grab" was likely, perhaps in the [[Laos]] corridor, and that the United States should consider a preemptive ground force move in that area and inside [[South Vietnam]], because air and naval power would be hard to use during a negotiation.[^27] Eight days earlier McGeorge Bundy's memorandum from Saigon had set out a "policy of sustained reprisal", described in Annex A as "graduated and continuing reprisal" against [[North Vietnam]].[^28]
|
||||
|
||||
### National Security Adviser, 1966 to 1969
|
||||
|
||||
By April 1966 Rostow was the President's special assistant, as the headings of his memoranda show.[^29]
|
||||
|
||||
#### POL strikes, June 1966
|
||||
|
||||
On June 14, 1966, Johnson wrote [[Harold Wilson]] that Rusk had discussed "the problem of POL in Haiphong and Hanoi" with him. POL is the standard abbreviation for petroleum, oil and lubricants.[^30] At the National Security Council meeting of June 17, Rostow argued: "Striking the POL targets is an extension of our bombing program, not a change in our policy." He added that "our bombing program is forcing the North Vietnamese to divert laborers to the repair of roads and bridges." [[Arthur Goldberg]] argued that the risk of widening the bombing to POL targets was too great. Rostow's memorandum to Johnson of the previous day said he had "marched carefully through all the considerations" with Goldberg.[^31] On June 28 [[Robert McNamara]] telephoned Johnson and asked for authority to strike the two major POL storage installations in the Hanoi-Haiphong area that evening.[^32] On July 5 a telegram from the acting secretary of state reported that "Bob McNamara and Walt Rostow are going to the Ranch tomorrow." On July 7 Rostow wrote Johnson that the speech at Omaha on June 30 had been "a personal breakthrough, against the background of your decision to go for POL."[^32][^33]
|
||||
|
||||
#### The Rostow thesis
|
||||
|
||||
In a memorandum of September 15, 1966, Rostow set out the case that bombing imposed a cumulative burden on Hanoi, and that without it Hanoi had no incentive to stop. He wrote that bombing "has imposed a severe but not decisive general burden on the North Vietnamese." He listed its effects: it engaged a large amount of civilian manpower for repair and air defense, caused economic stagnation or decline, imposed "a political and psychological burden and morale problems which have, on firm evidence, increased with the passage of time," limited shipping, and left most foreign aid shoring up the North rather than the South. "Put another way," he wrote, "without the bombing, Hanoi could keep the war going without any significant incentive to knock it off." He cited a 1962 interview with Hanoi leaders published in the [[Saturday Evening Post]], whose "punch line" was: "Americans do not like long, inconclusive wars, and this is going to be a long, inconclusive war. Thus we are sure to win."[^34]
|
||||
|
||||
#### Tet, 1968
|
||||
|
||||
On January 31, 1968, Rostow sent Rusk an outline of headings for a presidential speech on Asia. A marginal note in an unknown hand reads "This is WWR not LBJ."[^35] On February 5 he gave Johnson a written account of the fighting, which he said was in answer to a question from [[Elspeth Davies Rostow]], his wife. He described the attacks on the cities and at [[Khe Sanh]] as the enemy committing a large part of its "capital," its pools of military forces and firepower, on the believed vulnerability of the South Vietnamese government and of American public opinion.[^36] On February 6 he reported the findings from captured prisoners and documents. One prisoner captured on January 31 said that the attack "was to create conditions which would bring the U.S. Government to negotiate in order to proceed with peace."[^36]
|
||||
|
||||
#### Israel, 1967
|
||||
|
||||
On May 25, 1967, Rostow sent Johnson an Israeli intelligence estimate with a CIA appraisal attached. The appraisal, he noted, "throws a great deal of cold water on the Israeli estimate."[^37] On June 5 Rostow telephoned Johnson to read him a draft statement on the outbreak of fighting.[^38] His covering memorandum on a meeting among [[Meir Amit]], [[Walworth Barbour]] and [[Harry C. McPherson Jr.]] said that Amit's account was consistent with [[Levi Eshkol]]'s, and added: "At least that's his story."[^39]
|
||||
|
||||
### Security clearance
|
||||
|
||||
A CIA Office of Security memorandum to the Director of Central Intelligence dated April 11, 1958, furnished in case Mr. Dillon should seek the agency's opinion of "Rostow's record and security standing," states that Rostow "has twice been denied clearance for OCB employment by the NSC Security Office," that he "was also disapproved for employment by Under Secretary of State, Herbert Hoover," and that he "has been denied a security clearance by the Office of the Secretary of Defense." The memorandum adds that in 1953 a CIA employee, since resigned, had threatened to take Rostow's case to the McCarran Committee.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1967 Senator [[Strom Thurmond]] reported in his column in *The Clinton Chronicle* on a brief filed for [[Otto Otepka]], a State Department security officer, before a departmental hearing officer. The column stated that under the Eisenhower administration Rostow had twice been denied a State Department clearance "to handle" sensitive data, that Otepka had expressed reservations in 1960 about a proposed clearance for Rostow and had indicated to Dean Rusk and Attorney General-designate [[Robert F. Kennedy]] that he would probably still evaluate the file in the same manner, and that Rostow was then given immediate clearance as a White House aide.[^40] *Human Events* of October 23, 1967 reported the brief's account that the Air Force "had previously made a security finding adverse to Mr. Rostow" and that Under Secretary of State [[Herbert Hoover Jr.]], as chairman of the Operations Coordinating Board, decided that Rostow would not be used as an employee or consultant by the State Department in connection with a psychological warfare project.[^41]
|
||||
|
||||
The Associated Press reported that Rostow denied the account. "From 1951 onward," he told a reporter, "I had continuous security clearance from various agencies of the federal government." The Associated Press noted that he did not say what assignment in 1951 had required clearance, and that his Who's Who entry listed him as a staff member of the Center for International Studies from 1951 to 1960.[^42]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 19, 1967 the CIA Director of Security, replying to an inquiry of December 15, wrote that Rostow "was granted a Special Intelligence Clearance by this Agency on 3 February 1961 based on a favorable investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1960."[^43]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later career and death
|
||||
|
||||
Rostow taught economics at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] from 1969 until his death in Austin on February 13, 2003.[^1] His official files are in the National Security File, "Memos to the President," at the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library]], which the Foreign Relations volumes cite as "Memos to the President-Walt W. Rostow."[^30][^36] Drafts and correspondence by and about Rostow, including drafts of his historical manuscripts, are in the Bissell papers at the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family
|
||||
|
||||
His brother Eugene V. Rostow (1913-2002) became Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. A 1967 letter from the Under Secretary to the Israeli ambassador was drafted by Eugene Rostow and cleared by Walt Rostow.[^44] In January 1983, as director of the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]], Eugene was told by [[George Shultz]] that the President wanted his resignation. Spokesmen for the State Department and the White House, as reported by Joseph C. Harsch in the *Christian Science Monitor*, said that he "had not been a team player."[^45] Another brother, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson Rostow]] (1920-2006), is listed in the same family memorial record.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His wife, Elspeth Davies Rostow (1917-2007), is listed as his spouse in the same memorial record.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Find a Grave, "Dr. Walt Whitman Rostow (1916-2003)," memorial 62181838, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62181838 (birth October 7, 1916; death February 13, 2003; Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx; siblings Eugene Victor Debs Rostow (1913-2002) and Ralph Waldo Emerson Rostow (1920-2006); spouse Elspeth Vaughan Davies Rostow (1917-2007); biography lists professorships at Oxford, MIT and Columbia, and professor of economics at the University of Texas, 1969 to 2003).
|
||||
[^2]: Encyclopedia.com, "Rostow, Walt Whitman (1916-2003)," Gale biography, https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/walt-whitman-rostow (Ph.D. in economics, Yale, 1940; taught economics at Columbia that year; major in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, 1942-45).
|
||||
[^3]: Walt W. Rostow, "Waging Economic Warfare From London," *Studies in Intelligence*, 1992, from an essay given July 11, 1991, at an OSS symposium at the National Archives, https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Waging-Economic-Warfare-London.pdf (arrival in London "on 13 September 1942" with Chandler Morse and Roselene Honerkamp; criteria "quite primitive" on arrival; Kindleberger took over from Morse as chief in February 1943 and left in May 1944; Economic Warfare Division of the American Embassy; 40 Berkeley Square; "the child of Air Corps Col. Richard D'Oyly Hughes"; "selection of one target system versus another"; the unpublished history "Economic Outpost with Economic Warfare Division," volume 5 of the OSS London war diary, located in the National Archives).
|
||||
[^4]: Walt W. Rostow, "The Beginnings of Air Targeting," CIA Historical Review Program, released September 22, 1993, https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Beginnings-of-Air-Targeting.pdf (the essay appeared earlier in *Studies in Intelligence* 7, no. 1, Winter 1963, as cited in Ballew, note 18; also the "general theory of strategic air bombardment" and "target system, interdiction, cushion, depth, pattern of consumption, pipeline" passages).
|
||||
[^5]: Brian P. Ballew, *The Enemy Objectives Unit in World War II: Selecting Targets for Aerial Bombardment that Support the Political Purpose of War*, School of Advanced Military Studies monograph, Fort Leavenworth, AY 2011, DTIC ADA545102, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA545102 (the eleven target-system factors, including importance of indirect effect, ease of repair and possibility of substitution, with "cushion" as the unit's term for redundancy; 285 aiming point reports and the favorable reputation in the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces; the "Operation Octopus" quotation from Rostow, citing Rostow, *Concept and Controversy: Sixty Years of Taking Ideas to Market* (University of Texas Press, 2003), and Rostow, *Pre-Invasion Bombing Strategy* (University of Texas Press, 1981)).
|
||||
[^6]: Eisenhower Presidential Library, finding aid, "Richard M. Bissell Jr. Papers, Walt and Eugene Rostow Series," 1945-1993, Boxes 1-3, https://eisenhower.archives.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/bissell-richard-m-jr-papers/walt-and-eugene-rostow-series.pdf (drafts "Marshalling Yards vs. Oil: General Eisenhower's Decision of March 25, 1944," January 7, 1980; "President Eisenhower's Open Skies Proposal: July 21, 1955," March 12, 1981; "The Stages of Economic Growth and the Problems of Peaceful Coexistence," talk delivered in Moscow, May 25, 1959).
|
||||
[^7]: CIA Office of Security, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Walt Whittman Rostow," April 11, 1958, CIA reading room document 0001477407, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001477407 (paragraphs 4 to 7: consultant to the Office of Research and Reports from March 1951, status extended to June 1953; favorable Employment Review Board and Loyalty Board finding, May-June 1953, and contract not renewed; twice denied clearance for Operations Coordinating Board employment by the NSC Security Office; disapproved for employment by Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover; denied a security clearance by the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Alfred Kohlberg's October 1957 letter to Senator Bridges criticizing the agency for supporting CENIS and Rostow; the 1953 threat to take the case to the McCarran Committee).
|
||||
[^8]: Max F. Millikan, letter of November 26, 1951 (addressee redacted), CIA reading room document CIA-RDP80R01731R003000200096-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r003000200096-6
|
||||
[^9]: W. W. Rostow, *The Dynamics of Soviet Society* (New York: W. W. Norton, 1953), xvi, 282 pp., https://archive.org/details/dynamicsofsoviet0000rost ; Mentor Book edition, 1954, subtitle "An Expert Analysis of the World Behind the Iron Curtain," https://archive.org/details/dynamicsofsoviet0000walt ; title-page credit as given in the review listing in the *American Historical Review* 60, no. 1 (1955), https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/60/1/107/148629 ; A. S., review, *The New International* 20, no. 4 (July-August 1954), pp. 222-224, https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/vol20/no04/stein2.html (describes Millikan's preface and the study as the outgrowth of a collective effort at the Center for International Studies).
|
||||
[^10]: Patrick Oster, "CIA Envisioned Soviet Scientists as U.S. Agents," Chicago Sun-Times, reprinted in the Washington Post, September 11, 1977, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP88-01315R000400460003-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000400460003-8
|
||||
[^11]: 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
|
||||
[^12]: 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
|
||||
[^13]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President's Report Issue 1963 to 1964, Center for International Studies section, pp. 255 to 257, signed Max F. Millikan. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160044
|
||||
[^14]: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Report of the President, 1959 (MIT Bulletin, November 1959), School of Humanities and Social Science, "Comings and Goings," p. 153: "To Cambridge, England - Professor Walt W. Rostow and Assistant Professor Elspeth D. Rostow on a year's leave of absence." https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/160021
|
||||
[^15]: *The Harvard Crimson*, June 1, 1977, article on Harvard's offer to Henry Kissinger, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1977/6/1/kissinger-is-cool-to-harvard-offer/ (the statement about Rostow and MIT carries no attribution to a named person).
|
||||
[^16]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Volume XIX, National Security Policy*, document 26, editorial note on the Quantico Panel, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v19/d26 (eleven experts, June 5-10, 1955; membership list; Rostow "designated the panel chairman"); Report of the Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, June 10, 1955, with Rostow's transmittal letter signed as Panel Chairman and Tab 3(b), "Asia Policy" by W. W. Rostow, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP86B00269R000800070001-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000800070001-5
|
||||
[^17]: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, finding aid, "Dwight D. Eisenhower: Papers as President, Miscellaneous Series," container list, "Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel 1955 (1)(2)," https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/eisenhower-dwight-papers-as-president/miscellaneous-series.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, subject guide, "'Open Skies' and the 1955 Geneva Summit," listing the C. D. Jackson Papers, box 56 (1955 log, "From Quantico to Geneva") and box 75 ("Rostow, Walt W."), https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/research/subject-guides/pdf/cold-war-open-skies-1955-geneva-conference.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports* (Garden City: Doubleday, 1961), "Consultants and Authors" (listing "Walt W. Rostow") and the Panel IV member list ("Eugene Rostow, dean, Yale University Law School"), https://archive.org/details/prospect-for-america-the-rockefeller-panel-reports
|
||||
[^20]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume I, Vietnam, 1961*, document 4, memorandum from the President's Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Rostow) to McGeorge Bundy, January 30, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d4
|
||||
[^21]: *FRUS 1961-1963, Volume I*, document 88 (Rostow to Rusk, July 13, 1961), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d88 ; document 102 (paper by Rostow, July 21, 1961, "Evaluation of Positive and Negative Forces in Viet-Nam"), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d102
|
||||
[^22]: *FRUS 1961-1963, Volume I*, document 156, memorandum for the record by Gilpatric, October 11, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d156 ; document 173, paper prepared by the Taylor mission, Saigon, October 18, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d173
|
||||
[^23]: *FRUS 1961-1963, Volume I*, document 170, memorandum from Rostow to Taylor, Honolulu, October 16, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d170
|
||||
[^24]: *FRUS 1961-1963, Volume I*, document 210, letter from Taylor to Kennedy, November 3, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d210
|
||||
[^25]: *FRUS 1961-1963, Volume I*, document 233, memorandum from Rostow to Kennedy, November 11, 1961, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d233
|
||||
[^26]: *FRUS 1961-1963*, Volume I, document 335 ("Chairman of the Policy Planning Council," December 22, 1961), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d335 ; Volume II, document 140 ("Director of the Policy Planning Staff," April 3, 1962), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v02/d140, and document 275 ("Counselor of the Department of State," September 5, 1962), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v02/d275; Volume III, document 206 ("Counselor and Chairman of the Policy Planning Council," July 4, 1963), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v03/d206
|
||||
[^27]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume II, Vietnam, January-June 1965*, document 121, memorandum from Rostow to Bundy, February 15, 1965, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d121
|
||||
[^28]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume II*, document 84, memorandum from Bundy to Johnson, "The Situation in Vietnam," February 7, 1965, with Annex A, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02/d84
|
||||
[^29]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV, Vietnam, 1966*, document 115, memorandum from the President's Special Assistant (Rostow) to Johnson, April 5, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d115
|
||||
[^30]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV*, document 156, message from Johnson to Wilson, June 14, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d156 (source line: "Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President-Walt W. Rostow").
|
||||
[^31]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV*, document 159, summary notes of the 559th National Security Council meeting, June 17, 1966, with footnote on Rostow's memorandum of June 16, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d159
|
||||
[^32]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV*, document 164, editorial note on McNamara's telephone call to Johnson, June 28, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d164 ; document 173, telegram from the Department of State to Rusk, July 5, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d173
|
||||
[^33]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV*, document 176, memorandum from Rostow to Johnson, "Reflections on Omaha and Los Angeles," July 7, 1966, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d176
|
||||
[^34]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume IV*, document 232, memorandum from Rostow to Johnson, September 15, 1966, "A reflection on bombing the North," quoting Bernard B. Fall, "Master of the Red Jab," *Saturday Evening Post* 235 (November 24, 1962), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04/d232
|
||||
[^35]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume VI, Vietnam, January-August 1968*, document 42, memorandum from Rostow to Rusk, January 31, 1968, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d42
|
||||
[^36]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume VI*, document 55, memorandum from Rostow to Johnson, February 5, 1968, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d55 ; document 57, memorandum from Rostow to Johnson, February 6, 1968, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d57
|
||||
[^37]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967*, document 61, memorandum from Rostow to Johnson, May 25, 1967, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
|
||||
[^38]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume XIX*, editorial note on Rostow's telephone call to Johnson, June 5, 1967, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d152
|
||||
[^39]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume XIX*, document 158, telegram from the Embassy in Israel, with Rostow's covering memorandum to Johnson, June 5, 1967, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d158
|
||||
[^40]: Senator Strom Thurmond, column in *The Clinton Chronicle*, October 19, 1967, p. 19, "Otepka and Rostow," https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn86063780/1967-10-19/ed-1/seq-19/ (the column reports the brief's claims, and describes Rostow as "Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs").
|
||||
[^41]: "The Rostow Story," *Human Events*, October 23, 1967, CIA reading room document CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040001-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000600040001-4
|
||||
[^42]: Associated Press, "Rostow Denies Report on Security Clearance," as printed in newspaper clippings of October 1967, CIA reading room documents CIA-RDP75-00149R000700080008-2 and CIA-RDP75-00149R000700080006-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000700080008-2
|
||||
[^43]: Howard J. Osborn, Director of Security, CIA, letter of December 19, 1967 replying to an inquiry of December 15, 1967, regarding "Mr. Walter Whitman Rostow," CIA reading room document 0001475810, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001475810
|
||||
[^44]: *FRUS 1964-1968, Volume XIX*, document 36, letter from the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Eugene Rostow) to the Israeli ambassador (Harman), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d36 (drafted by Eugene Rostow, Meeker and Robert T. Grey; cleared by Rusk, Walt Rostow and others).
|
||||
[^45]: Joseph C. Harsch, "The Rostow affair," *Christian Science Monitor*, January 20, 1983, https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0120/012025.html (Eugene Rostow summoned to the office of Secretary of State Shultz and told the President wanted his resignation; "had not been a team player").
|
||||
|
|
@ -19,13 +19,11 @@ TAG Films represented a sophisticated approach to child pornography production,
|
|||
|
||||
### Operation Framework Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
Williams became a primary target of [[Operation Framework]], a joint investigation between Scotland Yard and Dutch authorities conducted between 1992 and 1993. The investigation targeted suspected snuff pornography produced by British nationals operating in Amsterdam, with Williams and his associates being central figures in the inquiry. The investigation revealed the extensive nature of their operations and their connections to other trafficking networks across Europe.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Operation Framework faced significant challenges due to the nature of the alleged crimes and the international scope of the investigation. Traditional law enforcement methods were complicated by jurisdictional issues and the extreme nature of the alleged offenses, including the production of snuff films. Despite these challenges, the investigation gathered substantial evidence about Williams' activities and his connections to other traffickers.[^4]
|
||||
Nick Davies wrote that Williams, who managed Boys Club 21, was among the figures named by informants to [[Scotland Yard]] detectives in the reports that led to [[Operation Framework]], an inquiry into suspected snuff films made by British nationals in Amsterdam, and that the inquiry ended in frustration.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Network Connections and Associates
|
||||
|
||||
Williams maintained extensive connections within the international child trafficking network. An informant called "Edward" told Davies he had mixed with Spinks and Williams and their friends, and an informant close to Williams told [[Scotland Yard]] he had seen Spinks selling a special video for £4,000.[^1]
|
||||
Williams maintained extensive connections within the international child trafficking network. An informant called "Edward" told Davies he had mixed with Spinks and Williams and their friends, and an informant close to Williams told Scotland Yard he had seen Spinks selling a special video for £4,000.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Welsh connection represented by Williams, John Gay, and Lee Tucker suggested a coordinated effort by British traffickers to establish operations in Amsterdam. Their ability to work together and establish legitimate business fronts demonstrated the sophisticated nature of their criminal enterprise.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -38,6 +36,5 @@ The use of legitimate business fronts like Boys Club 21 provided Williams with c
|
|||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
[^2]: 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000; Operation Framework investigation files, 1992-1993
|
||||
[^2]: 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000
|
||||
[^3]: "Nur die kleinen Fische," Der Spiegel 32/1998, August 2, 1998, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/nur-die-kleinen-fische-a-fc226181-0002-0001-0000-000007956187
|
||||
[^4]: 'Nur die kleinen Fische'(Only the small fish), Der Spiegel, August 2 1998; Scotland Yard investigation reports on British traffickers in Amsterdam, 1992-1993
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,16 +13,19 @@ born: 1937-04-29
|
|||
died: 2025-03-05
|
||||
location: "Davis, California"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Charles T. Tart was born in Morrisville, [[Pennsylvania]], on April 29, 1937, "but grew up mostly in [[New Jersey]]," a teenage radio engineer who entered the engineering program at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] and, "after several personal experiences" of drugs "that produced altered states of consciousness" and after reading [[J. B. Rhine]], "transferred from MIT to [[Duke University]] in order to meet and be mentored by Rhine." He took his doctorate in psychology at the University of North Carolina in 1963 on "post-hypnotic suggestions to influence dreaming," did post-doctoral work with [[Ernest Hilgard]] at [[Stanford University]], and served 28 years on the psychology faculty of the [[University of California, Davis]], holding concurrently a senior research fellowship at the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]], the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a post as "a consultant on government funded parapsychological research at the [[Stanford Research Institute]]." His *Altered States of Consciousness* appeared in 1969 and *Transpersonal Psychologies* in 1975; he was president of the Parapsychological Association. He died on March 5, 2025.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
A report entered as Plaintiff's Exhibit 7 in Puharich v. Brenner lists a Charles Tart among five student members of the MIT Psychic Research Society who observed the demonstrations of September 29 and 30, 1956 at the [[Round Table Foundation]] of [[Andrija Puharich]].[^2] The report gives only the name; Tart entered the engineering program at MIT before transferring to Duke University, and records found do not establish whether he is the Charles Tart listed.
|
||||
|
||||
### The Rejudging
|
||||
|
||||
With Whitson, Bogart and [[John Palmer]] he published "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" in the Proceedings of the IEEE in 1976. When [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] argued in Nature in 1978 that cues in the transcripts explained the [[Pat Price]] series, [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] turned the nine transcripts over to "an independent research psychologist," Tart, "for rejudging on the basis of the criteria implied by the Marks-Kammann criticism." By his own account he first tested two candidate judges on transcripts from "another successful remote-viewing series," disqualifying the one who scored at chance, "edited them to delete all references that could conceivably give any indication as to the order of the experiments," and had the judge, [[Phyllis Matson]], rate each transcript at each site; "for seven of the nine target sites the highest correspondence rating was given to the correct transcript." "I would hypothesize that Marks and Kammann were unable to obtain significant results in their reanalysis of the subset of the Price series because their judges either lacked the necessary discriminative skills and/or were not sufficiently motivated to use them effectively." The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] met "Mr. Targ/Dr. Puthoff/Dr. Tart" at SRI on July 24 and 25, 1979.[^2]
|
||||
With Whitson, Bogart and [[John Palmer]] he published "Preliminary experiments in group 'remote viewing'" in the Proceedings of the IEEE in 1976. When [[David Marks]] and [[Richard Kammann]] argued in Nature in 1978 that cues in the transcripts explained the [[Pat Price]] series, [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] turned the nine transcripts over to "an independent research psychologist," Tart, "for rejudging on the basis of the criteria implied by the Marks-Kammann criticism." By his own account he first tested two candidate judges on transcripts from "another successful remote-viewing series," disqualifying the one who scored at chance, "edited them to delete all references that could conceivably give any indication as to the order of the experiments," and had the judge, [[Phyllis Matson]], rate each transcript at each site; "for seven of the nine target sites the highest correspondence rating was given to the correct transcript." "I would hypothesize that Marks and Kammann were unable to obtain significant results in their reanalysis of the subset of the Price series because their judges either lacked the necessary discriminative skills and/or were not sufficiently motivated to use them effectively." The Army's [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]] met "Mr. Targ/Dr. Puthoff/Dr. Tart" at SRI on July 24 and 25, 1979.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schwartz, Stephan A. "Charles T. Tart Obituary, 29 April 1937 - 5 March 2025." Institut Metapsychique International, April 2025. https://www.metapsychique.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tart-VO.pdf The obituary gives his age at death as 86, which its own dates do not support.
|
||||
[^2]: Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Jachim, Robert J., "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, June 1, 1979, part 2, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^2]: Plaintiff's Exhibit 7, Transcript of Record, Appendix, Puharich v. Brenner, No. 22286 (D.C. Cir.), section 8.80. https://archive.org/details/dc_circ_1968_22286_henry_k_puharich_v_edward_j_brenner
|
||||
[^3]: Puthoff, H. E., and Russell Targ, "Information Transmission in Remote Viewing Experiments: II," and Tart, Charles T., "Reanalysis of SRI Remote Viewing Experiments," January 1979, CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090017-5. *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Jachim, Robert J., "Information Briefing for Senator Clairborne Pell," October 6, 1982, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100320001-5. Snyder, Harry L., and Arlene G. Snyder. *Summary and Critical Evaluation of Research in Remote Viewing,* Report RV-79-1, June 1, 1979, part 2, CIA-RDP96-00787R000100260003-2.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Claude Thirault, a petty criminal, assisted [[Marc Dutroux]] in 1993 with renova
|
|||
Two days after the July 22, 1995, disappearance of eight-year-old [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] from Charleroi, Thirault reiterated his 1993 concerns to authorities, emphasizing Dutroux's earlier statement as evidence of premeditation. Despite this, the Othello investigation led by Inspector [[Rene Michaux]] did not pursue Dutroux as a suspect until much later. Thirault's involvement remained peripheral, limited to the construction assistance and subsequent warnings, which highlighted early opportunities for intervention that were overlooked amid Dutroux's escalating crimes.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Role in Basement Construction
|
||||
Thirault's labor contributed directly to the dungeon's functionality, featuring reinforced walls, ventilation adjustments, and hidden access points that enabled Dutroux to hold victims like Julie, Melissa, [[Sabine Dardenne]], and [[Laetitia Delhez]] undetected during initial 1995 searches. Police inspected the renovations in 1993 but accepted Dutroux's drainage excuse, ignoring Thirault's report. The setup allowed for prolonged captivities, with screams from the basement during Dutroux's December 1995 auto theft incarceration - while Thirault was not present - dismissed as external noise by searching officers, including Michaux.[^1]
|
||||
Thirault's labor contributed directly to the dungeon's functionality, featuring reinforced walls, ventilation adjustments, and hidden access points that enabled Dutroux to hold victims like Julie, Melissa, a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl undetected during initial 1995 searches. Police inspected the renovations in 1993 but accepted Dutroux's drainage excuse, ignoring Thirault's report. The setup allowed for prolonged captivities, with screams from the basement during Dutroux's December 1995 auto theft incarceration - while Thirault was not present - dismissed as external noise by searching officers, including Michaux.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The dungeon's design facilitated abuse and potential video production, as evidenced by seized equipment like chloroform, chains, and a speculum returned to Dutroux's wife [[Michelle Martin]]. Thirault's post-disappearance alert linked the structure to the missing girls, but systemic delays prevented action, allowing Dutroux to abduct [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]] on August 22, 1995, while under surveillance. His testimony underscored how the basement enabled the network's operations, coordinated with [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via [[ASCO]] for victim supply.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Thirault connected primarily to Dutroux through this employment, unaware of the
|
|||
Thirault's role highlighted informant value in fragmented investigations, with no evidence of his deeper involvement beyond labor. His alerts, ignored amid Othello's focus on unrelated theft, exemplified institutional oversights enabling Dutroux's murders of An, Eefje, and the younger victims, whose bodies were exhumed in September 1996 from sites including Sars-la-Buissière.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Legal Outcome
|
||||
Thirault faced no charges for the renovations, as his participation predated knowledge of criminal use and stemmed from a legitimate job offer. Police did not implicate him in abductions or abuses, treating him solely as a witness whose 1993 and 1995 reports could have prevented tragedies. Unlike Lelievre and Martin, convicted as accomplices, Thirault avoided scrutiny, his testimony aiding the case buildup leading to Dutroux's August 13, 1996, arrest via Laetitia Delhez's witness plate.[^1]
|
||||
Thirault faced no charges for the renovations, as his participation predated knowledge of criminal use and stemmed from a legitimate job offer. Police did not implicate him in abductions or abuses, treating him solely as a witness whose 1993 and 1995 reports could have prevented tragedies. Unlike Lelievre and Martin, convicted as accomplices, Thirault avoided scrutiny, his testimony aiding the case buildup leading to Dutroux's August 13, 1996, arrest via the license plate given by a witness to the August 9 abduction.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
title: Edwin Wilson
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Edwin Wilson
|
||||
|
|
@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- IranContra
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Edwin P. Wilson was a CIA and DIA officer who supplied weapons, explosives, and training to Libya's Qaddafi, was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to 52 years, and had his conviction overturned in 2003 after the government acknowledged falsely representing his CIA status at trial."
|
||||
summary: "Edwin P. Wilson was a CIA and DIA officer convicted in 1983 of supplying weapons, explosives and training to Libya, whose conviction was overturned in 2003 over false testimony on his CIA status."
|
||||
born: 1928-05-03
|
||||
died: 2012-09-10
|
||||
location: "Rockland, Idaho"
|
||||
|
|
@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ Frank Terpil, another former CIA officer who had left the agency, was Wilson's p
|
|||
|
||||
The Libya operations were illegal under American law because they provided material support to a state sponsor of terrorism. CIA Director Stansfield Turner and other senior officials claimed they were unaware of Wilson's activities or had taken steps to prevent them when informed. Wilson consistently maintained that he had been acting with CIA knowledge and authority throughout.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Nugan Hand Bank
|
||||
|
||||
The Australian Joint Task Force on Drug Trafficking's report on Nugan Hand, as summarized in The Nation in March 1984, described Wilson as hired in 1973 by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence to expand the operations of Task Force 157 by setting up proprietary companies to serve as fronts. One of these was World Marine, with offices at 1425 K Street in Washington, from which Wilson worked until late 1979.[^2] The report said that Wilson also placed an order for Nugan Hand, for 10 million rounds of ammunition and 3,000 weapons, including machine guns. The weapons were shipped from Boston and diverted to South Africa, and the report concludes that they were received by [[Michael Hand]] and shipped to CIA-supported guerrillas in [[Angola]].[^2] The New York Times reported that Hand was said to have taken part in this transaction and in a 1976 movement of a U.S. Navy spy vessel to Iran, both with Wilson.[^3] The Nation reported that the Task Force report described Wilson and "Maurice Houghton, an official of Nugan Hand," as having a series of meetings at the end of which Wilson placed Nugan Hand's order.[^2] Schneider wrote that the report said that on the day Nugan's body was discovered [[Bernie Houghton]] arrived at Wilson's office in Geneva, that according to an unidentified witness Houghton left a travel case there, and that in April Tom Clines and [[Rafael Quintero]] arrived, opened the bag, removed one document, and Clines said: "We've got to keep Dick's name out of this."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Arrest, Trial, and Conviction
|
||||
|
||||
Wilson was arrested in 1982 after being lured from Libya through an intermediary and traveling to the Dominican Republic, where he was apprehended. He was tried and convicted in multiple proceedings, culminating in a 1983 conviction on charges of illegally transferring arms and explosives to Libya. He received a combined sentence of 52 years.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -52,15 +56,17 @@ At trial, the government presented an affidavit from CIA's director of operation
|
|||
|
||||
### Overturned Conviction
|
||||
|
||||
While imprisoned, Wilson continued to challenge his conviction based on the government's affidavit. In 2003, Federal Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston reviewed documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and found that the CIA's 1983 affidavit had been materially false: CIA records showed approximately 80 contacts between Wilson and CIA officers after 1971, not zero as the affidavit stated. The court found that the government had presented false evidence to obtain the conviction and that Wilson had been denied a fair trial.[^2]
|
||||
While imprisoned, Wilson continued to challenge his conviction based on the government's affidavit. In 2003, Federal Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston reviewed documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and found that the CIA's 1983 affidavit had been materially false: CIA records showed approximately 80 contacts between Wilson and CIA officers after 1971, not zero as the affidavit stated. The court found that the government had presented false evidence to obtain the conviction and that Wilson had been denied a fair trial.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Judge Hughes vacated Wilson's conviction in October 2003, finding that "the government had misrepresented to the court, the jury, and Wilson himself" the nature of his CIA relationship. Wilson was released after 22 years in federal prison. The case became a significant precedent in discussions of government disclosure obligations in criminal cases involving intelligence community defendants.[^2]
|
||||
Judge Hughes vacated Wilson's conviction in October 2003, finding that "the government had misrepresented to the court, the jury, and Wilson himself" the nature of his CIA relationship. Wilson was released after 22 years in federal prison. The case became a significant precedent in discussions of government disclosure obligations in criminal cases involving intelligence community defendants.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Network Context
|
||||
|
||||
Wilson's case illustrated the structural ambiguities of former-CIA officer networks operating in the private arms market. The network that Wilson, Terpil, Shackley, and Clines represented - former professionals with operational skills, foreign contacts, and residual institutional connections operating outside formal government authorization - was the same network that provided the operational infrastructure for the [[Safari Club]] operations and eventually for the Iran-Contra Enterprise. The distinction between authorized covert operations and criminal enterprise was, in this environment, sometimes a matter of bureaucratic records and political protection rather than operational reality.[^1]
|
||||
Wilson's case illustrated the structural ambiguities of former-CIA officer networks operating in the private arms market. The network that Wilson, Terpil, Shackley, and Clines represented - former professionals with operational skills, foreign contacts, and residual institutional connections operating outside formal government authorization - was the same network that provided the operational infrastructure for the Safari Club operations and eventually for the Iran-Contra Enterprise. The distinction between authorized covert operations and criminal enterprise was, in this environment, sometimes a matter of bureaucratic records and political protection rather than operational reality.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Corn, David. *Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades*. Simon & Schuster, 1994, pp. 298-330. Mahon, Gigi. "Edwin Wilson's Strange World of Spooks and Hoods." *New York Times Magazine*, March 13, 1983.
|
||||
[^2]: *United States v. Wilson*, No. H-82-139, U.S. District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division, Order of Judgment of Acquittal, October 29, 2003. (Judge Lynn Hughes ruling.)
|
||||
[^2]: "Dispatches: Australia: The Nugan Hand Investigation." The Nation, March 3, 1984. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820008-1
|
||||
[^3]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
|
||||
[^4]: *United States v. Wilson*, No. H-82-139, U.S. District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division, Order of Judgment of Acquittal, October 29, 2003. (Judge Lynn Hughes ruling.)
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,24 +4,25 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Person
|
||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||
summary: "Courier and associate of Alan Williams and John Gay, sentenced in absence at Swindon Crown Court in 2000 to eight years for abusing boys after jumping bail; arrested in South Africa in 2016."
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Lee Tucker functioned as a central child pornographer in the [[TAG Films]] enterprise during the 1980s and 1990s, partnering with [[Alan Williams]] and [[John Gay]] to fabricate and propagate explicit recordings of underage boys conveyed from the [[United Kingdom]] to exploitation venues in [[Amsterdam]]. Headquartered in [[Cardiff, Wales]], Tucker aided in documenting compelled interactions with adolescents procured from institutional care and metropolitan environments, chronicling episodes of debasement and ferocity for underground propagation linked to [[Gero-Video]] in [[Dusseldorf]].
|
||||
|
||||
### Production Role in TAG Films
|
||||
Tucker's duties involved orchestrating depictions with masochistic features like agony and deformation, substantiated by disclosures from informants in [[Operation Framework]], the collaborative Dutch-Scotland Yard inquiry of 1992-1993, which pinpointed a recording in a German barn illustrating the emasculation and vivisection of a youth aged roughly 13 to 15, afterward exhibited by [[Warwick Spinks]] to distinguished clientele. Tucker's initiatives advanced the inter-state transfer of boys through ferry conveyances from the UK, outfitting sites such as [[Boys Club 21]] and [[Gay Palace]] in Amsterdam's [[Spuistraat district]], with revenues from exclusive editions sold for as much as $5,000 apiece to affluent buyers, encompassing Americans, supporting progress in digital dissemination via [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] and associations with [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]].
|
||||
Tucker's duties involved orchestrating depictions with masochistic features like agony and deformation, substantiated by disclosures from informants in [[Operation Framework]], the [[Scotland Yard]] inquiry, which pinpointed a recording in a German barn illustrating the emasculation and vivisection of a youth aged roughly 13 to 15, afterward exhibited by [[Warwick Spinks]] to distinguished clientele. Tucker's initiatives advanced the inter-state transfer of boys through ferry conveyances from the UK, outfitting sites such as [[Boys Club 21]] and [[Gay Palace]] in Amsterdam's [[Spuistraat district]], with revenues from exclusive editions sold for as much as $5,000 apiece to affluent buyers, encompassing Americans, supporting progress in digital dissemination via [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] and associations with [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]].
|
||||
|
||||
Tucker's participation encompassed backing the transnational repositioning of minors, supplying brothels with susceptible juveniles for mistreatment, and facilitating the commercialization of restricted videos to prosperous patrons. These dealings underwrote additional developments in electronic distribution through networks affiliated with the [[Spartacus International]]. The materials generated under Tucker's supervision incorporated sadistic aspects such as suffering and mutilation, with Scotland Yard informant "Frank" asserting that TAG Films manufactured a snuff film displayed by Spinks, while informant "Terry" verified particulars of an analogous slaying by the identical German offender. This syndicate's endeavors were examined in Operation Framework for associations with radical pornography, resulting in a 1993 German constabulary assault on Gero-Video, although Tucker circumvented significant indictments, emphasizing the difficulties in eradicating such cross-national undertakings involving British citizens in Amsterdam.
|
||||
Tucker's participation encompassed backing the transnational repositioning of minors, supplying brothels with susceptible juveniles for mistreatment, and facilitating the commercialization of restricted videos to prosperous patrons. These dealings underwrote additional developments in electronic distribution through networks affiliated with the [[Spartacus International]]. The materials generated under Tucker's supervision incorporated sadistic aspects such as suffering and mutilation, with Scotland Yard informant "Frank" asserting that TAG Films manufactured a snuff film displayed by Spinks, while informant "Terry" verified particulars of an analogous slaying by the identical German offender. Nick Davies wrote that the Bristol detectives who followed Tucker and Gay led German police to raid a video distributor in Dusseldorf.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The alliance among Tucker, Williams - recognized as "The Welsh Witch" for his ferocious assaults in Cardiff - and Gay constituted a fundamental fabrication team within an extensive framework of pedophile circles, encompassing relations with [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s brothels in [[Rotterdam]] and [[Russell Tricker]]'s connections to Spartacus International through [[Peter Glencross]]. Tucker's contributions fostered the vanishing and presumed demise of boys akin to the German adolescent in the recorded snuff film, with Spinks conceding awareness of the fabrication to an undercover operative, delineating the victim's lethal misleading for a pledged 200 guilders. These exposures illuminate Tucker's essential status in upholding a provision chain of child casualties throughout Europe, from procurement in Wales to propagation via German pathways, sustaining a pattern of maltreatment chronicled in probes into Amsterdam's boy sex commerce. Further linkages extended to Belgian syndicates under [[Marc Dutroux]] and the sourcing of youths like [[Manuel Schadwald]] for Amsterdam exchanges, with Tucker's coercive strategies employing pharmaceuticals and coercion to guarantee adherence in both prostitution and filming.[^1]
|
||||
The alliance among Tucker, Williams - recognized as "The Welsh Witch" for his ferocious assaults in Cardiff - and Gay constituted a fundamental fabrication team within an extensive framework of pedophile circles, encompassing relations with [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s brothels in [[Rotterdam]] and [[Russell Tricker]]'s connections to Spartacus International through [[Peter Glencross]]. Tucker's contributions fostered the vanishing and presumed demise of boys akin to the German adolescent in the recorded snuff film, with Spinks conceding awareness of the fabrication to an undercover operative, delineating the victim's lethal misleading for a pledged 200 guilders. These exposures illuminate Tucker's essential status in upholding a provision chain of child casualties throughout Europe, from procurement in Wales to propagation via German pathways, sustaining a pattern of maltreatment chronicled in probes into Amsterdam's boy sex commerce. Further linkages extended to Belgian syndicates under [[Marc Dutroux]] and the sourcing of youths like [[Manuel Schadwald]] for Amsterdam exchanges, with Tucker's coercive strategies employing pharmaceuticals and coercion to guarantee adherence in both prostitution and filming.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Conviction and Flight
|
||||
|
||||
Tucker, a courier, and John Gay were friends of Alan Williams of Cardiff and for some twenty years abused boys in Bristol and South Wales. In 1993 he, Gay and Tony Stevens were arrested and jailed in Portugal after being caught paying local children to make pornographic videos in their camper van. Arrested in the Avon and Somerset inquiry Operation Panorama, which also led German police to raid a video distributor in Düsseldorf, they were tried at Swindon Crown Court in September 2000. Tucker was sentenced to eight years on nine counts of buggery and indecent assault of under-aged boys and administering stupefying drugs; he had been given bail for treatment for HIV and three days before the verdict jumped bail and disappeared.[^2][^3] He was traced to [[South Africa]] and arrested there in 2016 pending extradition to the United Kingdom.[^3]
|
||||
Tucker, a courier, and John Gay were friends of Alan Williams of Cardiff and for some twenty years abused boys in Bristol and South Wales. In 1993 he, Gay and Tony Stevens were arrested and jailed in Portugal after being caught paying local children to make pornographic videos in their camper van. Arrested in the Avon and Somerset inquiry Operation Panorama, which also led German police to raid a video distributor in Düsseldorf, they were tried at Swindon Crown Court in September 2000. Tucker was sentenced to eight years on nine counts of buggery and indecent assault of under-aged boys and administering stupefying drugs; he had been given bail for treatment for HIV and three days before the verdict jumped bail and disappeared.[^1][^3] He was traced to [[South Africa]] and arrested there in 2016 pending extradition to the United Kingdom.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 1: how police finally caught up with a network of child abusers." *The Guardian,* November 25, 2000. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/25/paedophilia-is-easy-how-police-finally-caught-up-with-a-network-of-child-abusers/
|
||||
[^3]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
[^3]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 1: how police finally caught up with a network of child abusers." *The Guardian,* November 25, 2000. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/25/paedophilia-is-easy-how-police-finally-caught-up-with-a-network-of-child-abusers/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,23 +9,26 @@ summary: "Robert Jan Warmerdam operated as a transvestite prostitute in Amsterda
|
|||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam operated as a transvestite prostitute in Amsterdam, Netherlands, providing testimony that linked child trafficking networks to the [[Marc Dutroux]] case and the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] during the late 1990s. His accounts described associations with [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] and [[Marc Dutroux]] at locations including the [[G-Force nightclub]] nightclub and hardcore studios [[Rex Productions]] and [[Roxanne Films]] at 111 Admiraal de Ruijter Road, owned by transvestite [[Didier Pellerin]]. Warmerdam's statements detailed a snuff film matching the "Poison Dwarf" video, involving a 13-year-old German boy suffocated in a bungalow near [[Amsterdam]], aligning with informant "Edward"'s account in [[Operation Framework]] of a boy suffocating on a boat during abuse by men.[^1]
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam operated as a transvestite prostitute in Amsterdam, Netherlands, providing testimony that linked child trafficking networks to the [[Marc Dutroux]] case and the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] during the late 1990s. His accounts described associations with [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] and Marc Dutroux at locations including the [[G-Force nightclub]] nightclub and hardcore studios [[Rex Productions]] and [[Roxanne Films]] at 111 Admiraal de Ruijter Road, owned by transvestite [[Didier Pellerin]]. Warmerdam's statements detailed a snuff film matching the "Poison Dwarf" video, involving a 13-year-old German boy suffocated in a bungalow near [[Amsterdam]], aligning with informant "Edward"'s account in [[Operation Framework]] of a boy suffocating on a boat during abuse by men.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Testimony on Snuff Films and Trafficking
|
||||
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam testified to knowing both [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] and [[Marc Dutroux]], claiming they frequented the [[G-Force nightclub]] nightclub and studios [[Rex Productions]] and [[Roxanne Films]] in [[Amsterdam]]. He described a snuff film involving a 13-year-old German boy suffocated in a bungalow near [[Amsterdam]], which aligned with details from the "Poison Dwarf" video distributed by [[Gero-Video]] in Dusseldorf, Germany. Warmerdam's information contributed to the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] dossier, including 20 CD-ROMs from the [[Apollo Disks]], sent to prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]] overseeing the [[Marc Dutroux]] case in 2001 and leaked to the press before Dutroux's 2004 trial. This dossier linked [[Marc Dutroux]] to Amsterdam's red-light scene and international pedophile rings, including mentions of [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] through companies [[Korper and Korver]] and [[Adonis]] connected to [[Karel Maasdam]]'s [[Bell Boys]] service and [[Festival Bar]].
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam testified to knowing both Robbie Van Der Plancken and Marc Dutroux, claiming they frequented the G-Force nightclub nightclub and studios Rex Productions and Roxanne Films in Amsterdam. He described a snuff film involving a 13-year-old German boy suffocated in a bungalow near Amsterdam, which aligned with details from the "Poison Dwarf" video distributed by [[Gero-Video]] in Dusseldorf, Germany. Warmerdam's information contributed to the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] dossier, including 20 CD-ROMs from the [[Apollo Disks]], sent to prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]] overseeing the Marc Dutroux case in 2001 and leaked to the press before Dutroux's 2004 trial. This dossier linked Marc Dutroux to Amsterdam's red-light scene and international pedophile rings, including mentions of [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] through companies [[Korper and Korver]] and [[Adonis]] connected to [[Karel Maasdam]]'s [[Bell Boys]] service and [[Festival Bar]].
|
||||
|
||||
Warmerdam's accounts connected to the 1993 raid on [[Gero-Video]] during investigations into [[Warwick Spinks]]' [[TAG Films]] production company, confirming Van Der Plancken's appearance in at least five films. His testimony intersected with the [[HIK Investigation]] into Glandorf's smuggling of boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels for VIP clients and pornographers. The dossier from Warmerdam's information exposed intersections with the [[Rolodex Investigation]] into Maasdam's VIP callboy service, implicating officials like [[Joris Demmink]] and [[Henry Hans Holthuis]]. Warmerdam's descriptions of the snuff film aligned with survivor accounts from the [[Marc Dutroux]], including those from [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]], detailing similar abuses in Belgian and Dutch locations.
|
||||
Warmerdam's accounts connected to the raid on Gero-Video during investigations into [[Warwick Spinks]]' [[TAG Films]] production company, confirming Van Der Plancken's appearance in at least five films. His testimony intersected with the [[HIK Investigation]] into Glandorf's smuggling of boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels for VIP clients and pornographers. The dossier from Warmerdam's information exposed intersections with the [[Rolodex Investigation]], in which former detective Leendert de Koter testified in 2014 that the Rijksrecherche supplied the names of [[Joris Demmink]] and [[Henry Hans Holthuis]], while the Dutch government's summary of that investigation states that the former secretary-general of the ministry did not appear in it.[^2][^3] Warmerdam's descriptions of the snuff film aligned with survivor accounts from the Marc Dutroux, including those from [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]], detailing similar abuses in Belgian and Dutch locations.
|
||||
|
||||
Warmerdam's role as a witness extended to providing details on the broader network involving [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s brothels [[Euro Boys]] and [[Young Boys]] in [[Rotterdam]], where boys like [[Manuel Schadwald]] were forced into prostitution. His statements supported claims of sales to [[Warwick Spinks]] in [[Amsterdam]]'s Spuistraat district, where Spinks managed [[Gay Palace]] and [[Boys Club 21]]. The testimony contributed to the exposure of the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] through connections to [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]], with Warmerdam's knowledge of the red-light scene linking to the [[Spartacus International]] and [[Toff's Travel]] operations. These details fueled probes into related entities such as [[CRIES]] and [[Centre du Christ Liberateur]], revealing patterns of abuse tied to [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and [[Annie Bouty]].
|
||||
Warmerdam's role as a witness extended to providing details on the broader network involving [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s brothels [[Euro Boys]] and [[Young Boys]] in [[Rotterdam]], where boys like [[Manuel Schadwald]] were forced into prostitution. His statements supported claims of sales to Warwick Spinks in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, where Spinks managed [[Gay Palace]] and [[Boys Club 21]]. The testimony contributed to the exposure of the Apollo Bulletin Board Service through connections to [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]], with Warmerdam's knowledge of the red-light scene linking to the [[Spartacus International]] and [[Toff's Travel]] operations. These details fueled probes into related entities such as [[CRIES]] and [[Centre du Christ Liberateur]], revealing patterns of abuse tied to [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and [[Annie Bouty]].
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections to Larger Networks
|
||||
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam's testimony bridged the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] and the [[Marc Dutroux]], with his descriptions of snuff films matching materials on the [[Apollo Disks]] analyzed by [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]]. The leaked dossier from Warmerdam's information influenced international cooperation, including examinations of [[John David Norman]]'s records and [[Peter Righton]]'s pedophile information exchange. His accounts corroborated links to UK scandals, such as the [[Elm Guest House]] and [[Operation Yewtree]] inquiries into [[Jimmy Savile]] and [[Gary Glitter]]. Warmerdam's knowledge of the Amsterdam scene connected to the [[Walton Hop Disco]] and [[Stoke Lodge]] abuses, with testimonies aligning with those from [[David Smith]] and [[Lee Sullivan]].
|
||||
Robert Jan Warmerdam's testimony bridged the Apollo Bulletin Board Service and the Marc Dutroux, with his descriptions of snuff films matching materials on the Apollo Disks analyzed by [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]]. The leaked dossier from Warmerdam's information influenced international cooperation, including examinations of [[John David Norman]]'s records and [[Peter Righton]]'s pedophile information exchange. His accounts corroborated links to UK scandals, such as the [[Elm Guest House]] and [[Operation Yewtree]] inquiries into [[Jimmy Savile]] and [[Gary Glitter]]. Warmerdam's knowledge of the Amsterdam scene connected to the [[Walton Hop Disco]] and [[Stoke Lodge]] abuses, with testimonies aligning with those from [[David Smith]] and [[Lee Sullivan]].
|
||||
|
||||
Warmerdam's statements on the "Poison Dwarf" film implicated [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]'s father, who claimed during his son's trial that Van Der Plancken appeared in the video where a boy from [[Berlin]] died. This tied to German reports confirming Van Der Plancken's appearance in five [[Gero-Video]] films, linked to the 1993 raid. Warmerdam's role as an associate of Van Der Plancken placed him within the network involving [[Karel Maasdam]]'s [[Bell Boys]] and [[Festival Bar]], exposed in the leaked [[HIK Report]]. The testimony supported claims of connections to [[Joris Demmink]] and [[Henry Hans Holthuis]] in the [[Rolodex Investigation]], with details on VIP callboy services.
|
||||
Warmerdam's statements on the "Poison Dwarf" film implicated Robbie Van Der Plancken's father, who claimed during his son's trial that Van Der Plancken appeared in the video where a boy from [[Berlin]] died. This tied to German reports confirming Van Der Plancken's appearance in five Gero-Video films, linked to the raid on Gero-Video. Warmerdam's role as an associate of Van Der Plancken placed him within the network involving Karel Maasdam's Bell Boys and Festival Bar, exposed in the leaked [[HIK Report]]. The testimony supported claims of connections to Demmink and Holthuis in the Rolodex Investigation, with details on VIP callboy services; the Dutch government's summary of that investigation does not name the chief prosecutors it mentions.
|
||||
|
||||
The broader implications of Warmerdam's testimony extended to the [[International Child Trafficking Network Overview]], with links to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[Odyssey Foundation]] and [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]]. His accounts contributed to the understanding of cross-border operations from [[Berlin]] to [[Amsterdam]], involving [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Warwick Spinks]]. Warmerdam's witness role influenced subsequent probes like [[Operation Fernbridge]] and [[Operation Midland]], corroborating testimonies from the [[Marc Dutroux]] involving [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]].[^1]
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The broader implications of Warmerdam's testimony extended to the [[International Child Trafficking Network Overview]], with links to [[Francis Shelden]]'s [[Odyssey Foundation]] and John Stamford's Spartacus Network. His accounts contributed to the understanding of cross-border operations from Berlin to Amsterdam, involving Lothar Glandorf and Warwick Spinks. Warmerdam's witness role influenced subsequent probes like [[Operation Fernbridge]] and [[Operation Midland]], corroborating testimonies from the Marc Dutroux involving [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and Jean-Michel Nihoul.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: NOS, "Politie onderzocht Demmink in '97," March 5, 2014. https://nos.nl/artikel/619220-politie-onderzocht-demmink-in-97
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[^3]: "Samenvatting van de aanleiding, het verloop, de resultaten en de besluitvorming in het Rolodex-onderzoek," December 23, 2013. https://eerstekamer.nl/9370000/1/j4nvgs5kjg27kof_j9vvkfvj6b325az/vjigib8p5szh
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