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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/INTERNATIONAL/NATO.md
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---
---
category: "International Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- NATO
- Gladio
- StayBehind
- ColdWar
- StrategyOfTension
- SHAPE
- Intelligence
- Military
summary: "NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is the Western military alliance whose Cold War infrastructure included the Gladio stay-behind networks documented in this vault; its Brussels headquarters is adjacent to the Belgian elite networks investigated in the Dutroux affair, and its expansion and intelligence coordination mechanisms are referenced throughout vault subjects."
created: 2026-05-14
updated: 2026-05-17
- Belgium
- Italy
aliases:
- NATO
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- North Atlantic Treaty
- North Atlantic Alliance
summary: "NATO is the Western military alliance founded in 1949 whose Clandestine Planning Committee and Allied Clandestine Committee dealt with the stay-behind networks that Italian and Belgian parliaments investigated in 1990 and 1991."
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
created: 2026-05-14
updated: 2026-10-12
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Belgium]]"
reverse: true
start: 1949-04-04
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Italy]]"
reverse: true
start: 1949-04-04
fn: 2
- type: member_of
with: "[[West Germany]]"
reverse: true
start: 1955-05-09
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Operation Gladio]]"
start: 1956-11-26
role: "stay-behind agreement of the Italian and American services; the NATO-level Clandestine Planning Committee and Allied Clandestine Committee handled the networks"
fn: 9
- type: head_of
with: "[[Lyman Lemnitzer]]"
reverse: true
role: "Supreme Allied Commander Europe"
start: 1963-01-01
end: 1969-07-01
fn: 23
- type: head_of
with: "[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]]"
reverse: true
role: "Supreme Allied Commander Europe"
start: 1974
end: 1979
fn: 24
- type: head_of
with: "[[Isaac C. Kidd Jr.]]"
reverse: true
role: "Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic"
start: 1975
end: 1978
fn: 25
- type: head_of
with: "[[David K. E. Bruce]]"
reverse: true
role: "United States Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council"
start: 1974-10-17
end: 1976-02-12
fn: 26
- type: investigated
with: "[[Commissione Stragi]]"
reverse: true
role: "Italian parliamentary commission on terrorism and the massacres; the Gladio documentation was placed before it in 1990"
fn: 13
- type: investigated
with: "[[Belgian Senate]]"
reverse: true
role: "parliamentary inquiry into an international clandestine intelligence network in Belgium, rapporteurs Erdman and Hasquin"
start: 1991-10-01
fn: 17
---
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance founded on April 4, 1949, when twelve founding members - the [[United States]], Canada, the United Kingdom, France, [[Belgium]], the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, and Italy - signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington. The treaty's Article 5 commits members to mutual defense, treating an attack on any one member as an attack on all. NATO's current headquarters is located in Brussels, [[Belgium]], having moved there in 1967 when France under [[Charles de Gaulle]] withdrew from the integrated military command and expelled NATO from French soil.[^1]
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance founded on April 4, 1949, when twelve states signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington: the [[United States]], [[Canada]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[Iceland]], [[Portugal]] and [[Italy]].[^1] Article 5 of the treaty provides that "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all."[^1] [[Greece]] joined in 1952 and [[West Germany]] in 1955.[^2]
### Gladio and Stay-Behind Networks
The most consequential covert dimension of NATO documented in this vault is [[Operation Gladio]] - the NATO-wide network of stay-behind organizations established in the late 1940s to provide armed resistance in the event of a Soviet invasion or communist political takeover. The networks were organized under the authority of what NATO termed the "Clandestine Planning Committee" and the "Allied Co-ordination Committee," and were implemented by national intelligence services with CIA and [[MI6]] technical support.
The Gladio networks are documented to have existed in at minimum 14 NATO member states, including [[Italy]], [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], France, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, and Austria. Italian Prime Minister [[Giulio Andreotti]] confirmed Gladio's existence in October 1990 following a parliamentary investigation prompted by Italian judge [[Felice Casson]]'s discovery of the network's records in a military intelligence archive in Rome. The Belgian network, known as [[SDRA8]], has been linked by investigators to the unsolved [[Brabant massacres]] of 1983-1985.[^2]
### NATO Intelligence Sharing
NATO's integrated military command structure required unprecedented peacetime intelligence sharing among its members, creating institutional frameworks for signals intelligence (through the [[UKUSA Agreement]] and SIGINT sharing protocols), human intelligence liaison, and counterintelligence coordination. The CIA operated as the dominant partner in these arrangements, with American intelligence budgets and collection capabilities dwarfing those of most allies. NATO's nuclear planning arrangements also required sharing of classified nuclear targeting and weapon deployment data with allied governments.[^1]
The alliance's headquarters are in [[Brussels]], Belgium, at Evere. The Belgian Senate's 1991 report places the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ([[SHAPE]]) at Casteau, and records that American commands were moved from Rocquencourt to Casteau after [[Charles de Gaulle]] withdrew France from the integrated military command.[^3] In 1967 the headquarters moved to Belgium after France withdrew from the integrated command and expelled NATO from French soil.[^3][^4]
### Cold War Role
NATO's primary Cold War function was deterring a Soviet conventional military attack on Western [[Europe]] through the threat of American nuclear retaliation. The alliance maintained large conventional forces in [[Germany]] - particularly the U.S. Army's VII Corps and V Corps - alongside nuclear weapons pre-positioned at various European bases. The [[INF Treaty]] of 1987 between [[Ronald Reagan]] and Mikhail Gorbachev, which eliminated intermediate-range nuclear missiles, was a significant Cold War NATO diplomatic moment.
NATO's primary Cold War function was deterring a Soviet conventional attack on Western [[Europe]] through the threat of American nuclear retaliation. The alliance maintained large conventional forces in [[Germany]], particularly the U.S. Army's VII Corps and V Corps, alongside nuclear weapons pre-positioned at European bases.[^4] The [[INF Treaty]] of 1987 between [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], which eliminated intermediate-range nuclear missiles, was a diplomatic milestone of the period.
After the [[Cold War]], NATO expanded eastward to include former Warsaw Pact members, despite Russian objections. The alliance's Article 5 was invoked for the first time after the September 11, 2001 attacks, leading to NATO's deployment in [[Afghanistan]].[^1]
The integrated command required peacetime exchange of intelligence among members. The [[UKUSA Agreement]] and signals intelligence protocols, liaison between human intelligence services, and counterintelligence coordination were the main channels, with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] as the largest partner. NATO's nuclear planning also required classified targeting and deployment data to pass to allied governments.[^4]
After the [[Cold War]] ended, NATO admitted former Warsaw Pact members over Russian objections. Article 5 was invoked for the first time after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and NATO deployed to [[Afghanistan]].[^4]
### Stay-Behind Committees: the CPC and the ACC
The stay-behind networks were run through two multinational bodies that sat around the NATO command structure. The Italian parliamentary commission's 1992 report, Doc. XXIII n. 51, traces the first, the Clandestine Planning Committee (CPC). A British member of the service sent the head of the Italian service, SIFAR, a letter on April 7, 1952 informing him that the committee had been set up at the initiative of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. It was formally constituted in August 1951 under the SHAPE Standing Group, with representatives of the French, British and American services, and the SACEUR had asked that the services of the other NATO countries be added. Italy first attended a CPC meeting as an associate member on May 19, 1959.[^5]
The report describes the second body, the Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC), as created in 1958 on the initiative of the SACEUR and the CPC, with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg as participants. Italy joined on April 15, 1964, shortly after West Germany.[^6]
The Belgian Senate inquiry describes the Belgian branch of the CPC as the liaison between the Belgian services and the major NATO commands, above all SHAPE. It records that the Belgian CPC secretariat was a branch of SDRA, the military unit, and that no members of SDRA VIII or of the STC/Mob unit of the Sûreté took part in the CPC's work. The commission then asked why a body attached to SHAPE attended ACC meetings when the witnesses claimed the ACC had nothing to do with NATO's mission.[^7] Two witnesses told the commission that the Belgian CPC secretariat was abolished on April 1, 1991.[^8]
The Italian report dates the bilateral work of the Italian and American services to 1953 and 1954, when land was acquired for the Capo Marargiu base near Alghero in Sardinia and construction began with CIA financing under Colonel Santini. The name Gladio is first recorded at an October 18, 1956 meeting between SIFAR (Colonel Giulio Fettarappa Sandri and Major Mario Accasto) and the CIA (Bob Porter and John Edwards). The accord on the post-occupation Italian-American clandestine network exists in a text restated on November 26, 1956; the Italian approval of the American draft was communicated on November 29, and the accord was fixed as in force from November 28, 1956, the date of the first document in the Gladio series.[^9] The same report says the stay-behind networks, already organized in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, were later extended to Denmark and Norway and to the German and Austrian territories under Allied control.[^10] [[Daniele Ganser]]'s study lists stay-behind networks in at least fourteen European states, among them Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and the non-member Austria.[^11]
### Italy and the 1990 Disclosure
Italian investigators linked the Italian branch, [[Operation Gladio]], to the bombings of the [[strategy of tension]]. [[Felice Casson]], the magistrate who was working on the 1972 [[Peteano bombing]], obtained documents on the network. In 1984 [[Vincenzo Vinciguerra]], an [[Ordine Nuovo]] member who had become a state's witness, testified that stay-behind networks connected to NATO had organized attacks carried out by neofascist operatives, with military intelligence providing protection. The attacks in his account include the [[Piazza Fontana bombing]].[^12]
On October 24, 1990, Prime Minister [[Giulio Andreotti]] told the Chamber of Deputies that the structure "esiste nel quadro della NATO" (exists within the framework of NATO). He described it as a network providing, in case of occupation by enemy forces, "una rete di salvaguardia, sia informativa sia di reazione" (a network of safeguard, both informational and of reaction), all within the framework of the Alliance. He also told the Chamber that he had opened the archives completely to Casson.[^13] The Italian government's figures, transmitted to the parliamentary commission, put the membership at dissolution at 622 persons, 45 of them deceased, covering 1958 to 1990: 408 members of the cells and 214 of the rapid-deployment units. Recruitment had been started for 1,915 names, two thirds of which ended negatively, and a file was kept on each. The commission recorded that 127 of the 622 were enrolled before the required information on them had been gathered, and that 24 were proposed or confirmed although they had belonged to the Fascist party, the Italian Social Republic or the Decima MAS.[^14]
A parliamentary question filed in Bonn on November 12, 1990 summarized the Italian statements. It said that Andreotti had confirmed the existence of a parallel NATO intelligence service under the name "Organisation Gladio" into the 1980s and possibly later, and that its basis was a secret addendum to the accession declarations of new NATO members. The question records that the former Greek prime minister [[Andreas Papandreou|Papandreou]] had confirmed the same basis for Greece and an activity under the codename "Haut des roten Berges." These are the questioners' statements, not findings.[^15]
### The European Parliament Resolution
On November 22, 1990 the [[European Parliament]] adopted a joint resolution on the Gladio affair, replacing five motions, published in the Official Journal C 324 of December 24, 1990 (page 201).[^16] Its recitals refer to "the existence for 40 years of a clandestine parallel intelligence and armed operations organization in several Member States of the Community," state that for over 40 years "this organization has escaped all democratic controls and has been run by the secret services of the states concerned in collaboration with NATO," and record that "in certain Member States military secret services (or uncontrolled branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime as evidenced by, various judicial inquiries." The operative paragraphs condemn "the clandestine creation of manipulative and operational networks" and call for "a full investigation into the nature, structure, aims and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations," including "the possible collusion of the secret services of Member States or third countries"; protest "vigorously at the assumption by certain US military personnel at SHAPE and in NATO of the right to encourage the establishment in Europe of a clandestine intelligence and operation network"; call on the member state governments "to dismantle all clandestine military and paramilitary networks"; call on the judiciaries concerned to clarify any action taken "to destabilize the democratic structure of the Member States"; request national parliamentary committees of inquiry to draw up a complete list of such organizations; and instruct the President to forward the resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Secretary-General of NATO, the member state governments and the United States Government.[^16]
### Belgium and the SDRA8 Network
The Belgian network, [[SDRA8]] (SDRA VIII), was the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into the existence in Belgium of an international clandestine intelligence network. The report by Erdman and Hasquin is dated October 1, 1991. It examines two units, the STC/Mob branch of the [[Sûreté de l'État|Sûreté]] and the SDRA VIII unit.[^17]
The inquiry looked at the [[Brabant massacres]], the robberies and killings attributed to the Brabant gang (the Bende van Nijvel) from early 1982 to November 1985, ending with the attack on a supermarket at Aalst. Twenty-eight people died and no one has been convicted; the limitation period, due to expire in 2015, was extended by ten years.[^18] Daniele Ganser dates the massacres 1983 to 1985.[^19]
The Senate report records that the magistrates in the Brabant investigation had turned first to the structure of the military and civil intelligence services and then to the stay-behind networks, and had interviewed the acting administrator-general of the Sûreté, the chief of the military service and Colonel Bodart on the subject. It also records that the chiefs of SDRA VIII and STC/Mob and several instructors did not give the magistrates the identities of their agents, citing their undertaking not to reveal them.[^20] Ganser wrote that the senators ordered Raes (director of the Sûreté from 1977 to 1990 and chief of STC/Mob) and Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Legrand (chief of SDRA8) to supply the names, or at least the birth dates, of the stay-behind agents; that both refused although the Justice Minister and the Defense Minister had ordered them to cooperate; and that in the end the senators could not identify the men behind the Brabant terror. He quotes Legrand: "there remain very good reasons not to reveal the names of the clandestines." He wrote also that Legrand answered in Le Soir with a coded notice addressed to "Dear friends in Operation Stay Behind, section SDRA8," ending "Adolphe is looking well!"[^19]
Daniele Ganser recounted the documentary maker Allan Francovich's thesis that segments of the Belgian stay-behind may have cooperated with the far-right Westland New Post; the statement of the former gendarme Martial Lekeu that members of the gendarmerie and the army were involved in the killings and that he was told to keep quiet when he reported it in December 1983; and the account of the Westland New Post member Michel Libert that from 1982 to 1985 his group, "with cover from the Gendarmerie, with cover from Security," surveyed supermarkets on orders whose purpose he was not told.[^11] The Senate, in its own finding, wrote that on the elements available to it no direct link could be established between SDRA VIII and STC/Mob on one side and the persons and organizations investigated in 1980 and 1988 on the other, and that no known instructor or recruiter of either unit was, in any capacity, involved in the judicial investigation into the Brabant killings. The same section records that a Sûreté official, a military intelligence officer, a court-appointed expert in several Brabant cases and a gendarmerie officer all had sustained relations in the same period with Major Bougerol, that two of them belonged with him to a confraternity (the hospitaliers of Notre-Dame d'Aulne), and that a member of the B.S.R. who had attended at least one far-right meeting acted as an investigating agent in files on the Brabant killings.[^20]
### U.S. Commanders and Envoys
[[Lyman Lemnitzer]] served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until September 30, 1962. His move to Europe was announced in July 1962: at the news conference of July 23, 1962 [[John F. Kennedy]] answered a question on his "swift appointment" as Commander in Chief of U.S. Forces in Europe on the retirement of General Lauris Norstad, said Norstad's resignation would take effect October 1, and said Lemnitzer "could have retired in October and there would have been a vacancy as Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."[^21] The Joint Staff's history records that Norstad announced his retirement in July 1962 and that his departure, delayed by the Cuban missile crisis, took place on January 2, 1963.[^22] He became Commander in Chief of the U.S. European Command on November 1, 1962 and Supreme Allied Commander Europe on January 1, 1963, a post he held until his retirement on July 1, 1969.[^23]
[[Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]] was announced in September 1974 as the successor to General Andrew J. Goodpaster as SACEUR, and he held the post until 1979.[^24] The Defense Planning Committee of the North Atlantic Council appointed [[Isaac C. Kidd Jr.]] Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic in March 1975, to succeed Admiral Ralph W. Cousins.[^25] [[David K. E. Bruce]] was appointed U.S. Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council on October 17, 1974 and left the post on February 12, 1976.[^26]
[[Vernon Walters]] wrote that after the war he served as aide to [[W. Averell Harriman]] at Marshall Plan headquarters in Paris, then helped establish NATO's Supreme Headquarters in 1951, and that during the 1950s he was aide and interpreter to Presidents [[Harry Truman]] and [[Dwight Eisenhower]] at international summits.[^27]
### Dozier and the Red Brigades
[[James L. Dozier]] was kidnapped from his apartment in Verona, Italy, on December 17, 1981 by the [[Red Brigades]]. A press clipping in the CIA reading room describes him as "the highest-ranking U.S. officer in NATO's southern Europe command."[^28] A memorandum of March 23, 1982 from the [[Grill Flame]] project manager records a debriefing of Dozier on February 9, 1982, at which he was asked to review remote-viewing drawings made during the search and to comment on places and events of his captivity.[^29] A January 1982 Army message reported visions by several private individuals in Kent, Washington, that concerned Dozier. The visions described a settlement called the "place of the shepherds" and a hallway behind metal bars, and the message records that the visions linked the settlement to Dozier's whereabouts.[^30]
### Narut and the 1975 Oslo Conference
[[Commander Narut]], a Navy clinical psychologist stationed in Naples, was reported by [[The Sunday Times|the Sunday Times]] on July 6, 1975 to have disclosed at a NATO conference in Oslo a Navy program to select and condition covert assassins. The Pentagon denied the report the same day. Narut partially withdrew his most specific claim within days, and [[Peter Watson]], the paper's science correspondent who wrote the story, did not withdraw it.[^31]
### The Assessment
Retired Army sergeant major [[Robert O. Dean]] has said in speeches and online postings that while stationed at SHAPE in the mid-1960s he read a classified document titled "The Assessment: An Evaluation of a Possible Threat to NATO Forces in Europe," which studied UFOs and the potential threat they posed to NATO.[^32] In a 1995 interview Dean said he held a "cosmic" clearance at SHAPE and found the document in the war-room vault in 1964. He described its origin as NATO detections of unidentified objects crossing from the Soviet Union over the Warsaw Pact countries and central Europe and vanishing over the Norwegian Sea, and a three-year military investigation in which aircraft sent to track "large metallic, circular objects" were outflown. He called the resulting report "mind-boggling" and said it found that "there was no military threat involved, because these dudes have enough technology that if they had wanted to take us over, they apparently had the ability to do it."[^33]
The SHAPE Historical Office has said it has been asked many times for a copy and has analyzed a photograph said to show the cover. It concluded that the cover page is a forgery and that SHAPE "prepared no report on UFOs during the 1960s." The office states that it takes no position on whether UFOs exist.[^32]
### Corporate and Political Links
In June 2026 WIRED reported on a leaked registration list for the 2026 retreat of the [[Dialog]] society, which [[Peter Thiel]] co-founded. The registration records list General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command.[^34]
The [[Liege]] pickup point for American matériel bought from NATO stocks in Europe appears in the account of [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], who described Israeli chartered cargo flights collecting the matériel for transfer to Iran.[^35] [[Barbara Honegger]] alleged in her 1989 book on the [[October Surprise]] that a heroin-smuggling network in Italy was used to launder NATO arms stocks for diversion to Iran, with the involvement of Italian intelligence officers linked to the [[P2]] lodge.[^36]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "North Atlantic Treaty Organization," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/topic/North-Atlantic-Treaty-Organization
[^2]: Ganser, Daniele. *NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe.* Frank Cass, 2005.
[^1]: North Atlantic Treaty, Washington, April 4, 1949, Article 5 and the signatory list. NATO official text. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17120.htm
[^2]: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 11/8452, Kleine Anfrage, November 12, 1990, which gives the accession years of Italy (1949), Greece (1952) and the Federal Republic of Germany (1955). https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/11/084/1108452.pdf
[^3]: Belgian Senate, Doc. 1117-4 (1990-1991), "Enquête parlementaire sur l'existence en Belgique d'un réseau de renseignements clandestin international," rapport fait au nom de la commission par MM. Erdman et Hasquin, October 1, 1991. Passages on the NATO headquarters at Evere, SHAPE at Casteau, and the transfer of commands from Rocquencourt to Casteau after France's withdrawal from the integrated commands. https://senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf
[^4]: "North Atlantic Treaty Organization," *Encyclopaedia Britannica*. https://www.britannica.com/topic/North-Atlantic-Treaty-Organization
[^5]: Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi, *Relazione sull'inchiesta condotta sulle vicende connesse all'operazione Gladio*, Doc. XXIII n. 51, approved April 1992, chapter "La storia di Gladio," on the CPC, the letter of April 7, 1952 from Peter Frazier, and Italy's associate membership from May 19, 1959. Translated from the Italian. https://www.parlamento.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/909971.pdf
[^6]: Same report, chapter "La storia di Gladio," on the Allied Clandestine Committee created in 1958 and Italy's entry on April 15, 1964. Translated from the Italian. https://www.parlamento.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/909971.pdf
[^7]: Belgian Senate, Doc. 1117-4 (1990-1991), section on the Belgian branch of the Clandestine Planning Committee, report page 23. https://senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf
[^8]: Belgian Senate, Doc. 1117-4 (1990-1991), same section, on the abolition of the Belgian CPC secretariat on April 1, 1991, as stated by two witnesses. https://senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf
[^9]: Same report of 1992, chapter "La storia di Gladio," on the land purchases and CIA-financed works at Capo Marargiu (1953 and 1954), the meeting of October 18, 1956, the restatement text of November 26, 1956 (annex 2), the approval of November 29 and the entry into force from November 28, 1956 (document "Gladio/1"). Translated from the Italian. https://www.parlamento.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/909971.pdf
[^10]: Same report of 1992, chapter on the origins of the stay-behind networks, on the networks in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, their extension to Denmark and Norway, and the German and Austrian territories under Allied control. Translated from the Italian. https://www.parlamento.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/909971.pdf
[^11]: Daniele Ganser, *NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe* (Frank Cass, 2005), pp. 139-144. https://archive.org/details/natos-secret-armies-operation-gladio-and-terrorism-in-western-europe-contemporar
[^12]: Vincenzo Vinciguerra, testimony to the Italian investigating magistrates, 1984, as cited for this passage.
[^13]: Camera dei deputati, X Legislatura, *Discussioni*, seduta del 24 ottobre 1990 (no. 537), statement of Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Translated from the Italian. https://legislature.camera.it/_dati/leg10/lavori/stenografici/sed0537/sed0537.pdf
[^14]: Same report of 1992, note 9 to the chapter on the organization of Gladio, on the 622 members at dissolution, the 408 and 214 split, the 1,915 names and the 127 and 24 cases. Translated from the Italian. https://www.parlamento.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/909971.pdf
[^15]: Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 11/8452, Kleine Anfrage of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen group, November 12, 1990. Translated from the German. https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/11/084/1108452.pdf
[^16]: European Parliament, Resolution on the Gladio affair, November 22, 1990, replacing motions B3-2021, B3-2058, B3-2068, B3-2078 and B3-2087/90, Official Journal of the European Communities C 324, December 24, 1990, p. 201 (EUR-Lex CELEX 51990IP2021). English text of recitals A to G and paragraphs 1 to 8 as reproduced at https://www.voltairenet.org/article219618.html
[^17]: Belgian Senate, Doc. 1117-4 (1990-1991), title page and the table of contents chapters on the STC/Mob and SDRA VIII units. https://senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf
[^18]: Joery Matthys, "Ghosts from a (terrorist?) past: the Brabant Killers in Belgium," Leiden Security and Global Affairs Blog, November 13, 2017, on the series beginning in early 1982, ending with the Aalst supermarket robbery of November 1985, and the ten-year extension of the limitation period. https://www.leidensecurityandglobalaffairs.nl/articles/ghosts-from-a-terrorist-past-the-brabant-killers-in-belgium
[^19]: Daniele Ganser, "Terrorism in Western Europe: An Approach to NATO's Secret Stay-Behind Armies," *The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations*, Winter/Spring 2005, pp. 84-85 (Belgium section), citing the Belgian Senate inquiry. https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1122&context=diplo_ir
[^20]: Belgian Senate, Doc. 1117-4 (1990-1991), section on the Brabant investigations and the STC/Mob and SDRA VIII units. The French text reads "aucun lien direct n'a pu être établi entre S.D.R.A. VIII et S.T.C./Mob. d'une part et les personnes et organisations qui firent l'objet des enquêtes de 1980 et 1988" and "aucun instructeur ou recruteur connu du S.T.C./Mob. ou du S.D.R.A. VIII n'est impliqué." https://senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf
[^21]: John F. Kennedy, news conference no. 39, July 23, 1962, answer on General Lemnitzer and General Norstad. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-press-conferences/news-conference-39
[^22]: Joint Chiefs of Staff Historical Division, *The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy*, vol. VIII, chapter on NATO, on Norstad's July 1962 announcement and the January 2, 1963 departure. https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/Policy/Policy_V008.pdf
[^23]: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, biography of General Lyman Louis Lemnitzer, archived copy (Wayback Machine, 2024). https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Lyman-Louis-Lemnitzer
[^24]: Office of the White House Press Secretary, announcement of the appointment of General Alexander M. Haig, Jr. as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, replacing General Andrew J. Goodpaster. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. https://fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0248/whpr19740916-010.pdf
[^25]: Office of the White House Press Secretary, March 19, 1975, notice of the appointment of Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Jr. as Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, to succeed Admiral Ralph W. Cousins. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. https://fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0248/whpr19750319-007.pdf
[^26]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, biography of David K. E. Bruce, archived copy (Wayback Machine, 2024). https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bruce-david-kirkpatrick-este
[^27]: Vernon A. Walters, *Silent Missions* (Doubleday, 1978).
[^28]: CIA-RDP96-00788R000100240026-8, press clipping on the Red Brigades kidnapping of Brigadier General James L. Dozier, describing him as "the highest-ranking U.S. officer in NATO's southern Europe command." https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r000100240026-8
[^29]: CIA-RDP96-00788R000100250001-4, memorandum of March 23, 1982 from Robert J. Jachim, GRILL FLAME project manager, on the debriefing of BG Dozier at the Command SCIF, Fort Meade, on February 9, 1982. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r000100250001-4
[^30]: CIA-RDP96-00788R000100250011-3, Army Intelligence and Security Command message of January 25, 1982 reporting visions concerning BG Dozier, including "THE PLACE OF THE SHEPHERDS." https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r000100250011-3
[^31]: Peter Watson, "The Strange Tale of Commander Narut," *The Sunday Times* (London), July 6, 1975.
[^32]: Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Historical Office, statement on the alleged 1960s SHAPE "Assessment" of UFOs, archived copy (Wayback Machine, 2023). It names Robert O. Dean and quotes the title of the document he described. https://web.archive.org/web/2023/https://shape.nato.int/page2148213115
[^33]: "Bob Dean is flying high," *Tucson Weekly*, June 29, 1995, quoting Dean. https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/06-29-95/cover.htm
[^34]: Dell Cameron and Yulia Almazova, "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society," *WIRED*, June 16, 2026. https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/
[^35]: Ari Ben-Menashe, *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network* (Sheridan Square Press, 1992).
[^36]: Barbara Honegger, *October Surprise* (1989).

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/INTERNATIONAL/United Nations.md
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@ -1,38 +1,264 @@
---
---
category: "International Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- International
- UnitedNations
- Intelligence
- UNSecurityCouncil
- ColdWar
summary: "The United Nations is the international organization founded in 1945 that appears throughout this vault primarily as an institutional arena for Cold War conflicts and covert operations: the Security Council veto dynamic that constrained collective responses to U.S.- and Soviet-backed proxy wars, the Oil-for-Food scandal that implicated international figures in Iraqi sanctions evasion, and the UNSCOM weapons inspection program."
- Congo
- DagHammarskjold
- PatriceLumumba
- Iraq
- OilForFood
- UNSCOM
- KurtWaldheim
- NSA
- Intelligence
- Epstein
- UFO
- Grenada
aliases:
- United Nations
- UN
- U.N.
- United Nations Organization
summary: "The United Nations is the 1945 international organization whose record here runs through the Congo, Dag Hammarskjöld's death, Iraqi inspections, Oil-for-Food, NSA penetration, and Grenada's UFO item."
created: 2026-05-14
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-12
location: "New York City, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Dag Hammarskjöld]]"
reverse: true
start: 1953-04
end: 1961-09-18
role: "Secretary-General of the United Nations"
fn: 25
- type: head_of
with: "[[Kurt Waldheim]]"
reverse: true
start: 1972-01-01
end: 1981-12-31
role: "Secretary-General of the United Nations"
fn: 54
- type: appointed
with: "[[Folke Bernadotte]]"
reverse: true
start: 1948-05-14
role: "United Nations Mediator in Palestine"
fn: 15
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Benon Sevan]]"
reverse: true
role: "Executive Director of the Oil-for-Food Programme"
fn: 53
- type: appointed
with: "[[Mohamed Chande Othman]]"
reverse: true
start: 2017
role: "Eminent Person on the death of Dag Hammarskjöld"
fn: 34
- type: appointed
with: "[[Cyrus Vance]]"
reverse: true
start: 1991-10-08
end: 1993-05
role: "Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yugoslavia"
fn: 66
- type: appointed
with: "[[James A. Baker III]]"
reverse: true
start: 1997
end: 2004
role: "Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara"
fn: 67
---
The United Nations is an international organization founded on October 24, 1945, by 51 original member states following [[World War II]]. Its founding charter established six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. The Security Council holds primary responsibility for international peace and security; its five permanent members ([[United States]], United Kingdom, France, [[Soviet Union|Russia]], and China) hold veto power over substantive resolutions. Headquarters is located in [[New York City]].[^1]
The United Nations is an international organization founded on October 24, 1945, by 51 original member states following [[World War II]]. Its charter established six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General. The Security Council holds primary responsibility for international peace and security. Its five permanent members, the [[United States]], the United Kingdom, France, [[Soviet Union|Russia]], and China, hold a veto over substantive resolutions, which require nine votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members. Headquarters is in [[New York City]].[^1]
### Cold War Role
### Security Council and the Cold War
The UN Security Council's veto structure largely paralyzed the organization as a collective security mechanism during the Cold War, as the United States and Soviet Union each blocked resolutions adverse to their clients. The United States used its veto to protect [[Israel]] from resolutions censuring its occupation policies; the Soviet Union used its veto to protect clients including [[Cuba]], [[Syria]], and [[Vietnam]]. This dynamic meant that most of the proxy conflicts documented in this vault - the Contra war in [[Nicaragua]], the covert operations in [[El Salvador]] and [[Guatemala]], Soviet operations in [[Afghanistan]] - proceeded without effective UN constraint.[^1]
The first veto was cast by the Soviet Union on February 16, 1946, on a draft resolution concerning the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon and Syria. The first United States veto followed on March 17, 1970, on a draft concerning Southern Rhodesia.[^2] On September 10, 1972, the United States vetoed S/10784, a draft submitted by Guinea, Somalia and Yugoslavia that called on the parties to the Middle East conflict to "cease immediately all military operations and to exercise the greatest restraint."[^3] Later United States vetoes on Middle East drafts included S/10974 (July 1973, the Middle East situation and the occupied territories), S/11898 (December 1975, [[Israel|Israeli]] air attacks against [[Lebanon]]) and S/11940 (January 1976, Palestinian self-determination and withdrawal from the territories occupied since 1967); the United States cast the only negative vote on each.[^4] The same tabulation lists further United States vetoes on Middle East drafts in the following decades.
### UNSCOM and Iraq Inspections
The United States also vetoed the Security Council draft on the 1983 invasion of [[Grenada]] (S/16077/Rev.1, October 27, 1983, 13-1-1), Nicaragua's draft on the mining of its ports (S/16463, April 4, 1984, 13-1-1), and the draft on compliance with the International Court of Justice judgment in Nicaragua's case against the United States (S/18428, October 28, 1986, 11-1-3).[^5] No Security Council measure came out of the Contra war in [[Nicaragua]], and the covert operations in [[El Salvador]] and [[Guatemala]] proceeded without effective United Nations constraint.
Following the [[Gulf War]], the UN Security Council established the [[UN Special Commission|United Nations Special Commission]] (UNSCOM) under Resolution 687 (April 1991) to verify the elimination of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs and ballistic missiles. UNSCOM operated in [[Iraq]] from 1991 until December 1998, when [[Saddam Hussein]]'s government expelled the inspectors. The inspections were technically groundbreaking but operationally compromised: UNSCOM's executive chairman [[Richard Butler]] and earlier chair [[Rolf Ekeus]] later acknowledged that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had used UNSCOM's communications infrastructure to conduct intelligence collection beyond the mandate of weapons verification.[^2]
On January 7, 1980, the Council voted 13-2-0 on S/13729, the draft on the Soviet intervention in [[Afghanistan]]; two days later resolution 462 recorded "the lack of unanimity of its permanent members" that had "prevented it from exercising its primary responsibility" and called an emergency special session of the General Assembly.[^6] That session's resolution ES-6/2 of January 14, 1980 called for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.[^7] The Soviet Union cast the veto when drafts on [[Vietnam|Viet Nam]]'s intervention in Cambodia (S/13027, January 15, 1979) and on the China-Viet Nam border (S/13162, March 16, 1979) failed 13-2-0, and Russia and China vetoed a series of drafts on [[Syria]] beginning with S/2011/612 in October 2011.[^8] The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 came before the Council on a United States draft (S/5182, October 22, 1962) calling for the dismantling and withdrawal of offensive weapons from [[Cuba]] and for a United Nations observer corps.[^9]
UNSCOM was succeeded by [[UNMOVIC]] (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) in 1999. UNMOVIC inspectors under [[Hans Blix]] were in Iraq when the United States and United Kingdom invaded in March 2003, asserting that [[Saddam Hussein]] retained prohibited weapons programs. No such programs were found.
When the Security Council was blocked, the General Assembly acted in the 1956 crises. On November 2, 1956, its first emergency special session called for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting around the Suez Canal and the withdrawal of forces behind the armistice lines.[^10] On November 4, its second emergency special session addressed the situation in [[Hungary]] caused by foreign intervention.[^11] On November 1, [[Imre Nagy]]'s cabinet had decided unanimously, [[János Kádár]] included, to renounce Hungary's membership in the [[Warsaw Pact]] and declare neutrality, and the government asked the Secretary-General in a telegram to place the question on the United Nations agenda with special dispatch and asked the four great powers to help defend the country's neutrality.[^12]
### Oil-for-Food Scandal
On July 7, 1950, the Security Council requested that the United States designate the commander of the forces made available to a unified command in Korea, in the [[Korean War]].[^13] [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that [[David Ben-Gurion]] had secretly offered to send Israeli troops to fight alongside United Nations forces in South Korea, and that [[Harry S. Truman]] declined the offer, reportedly fearing it would bind him to a security arrangement with Israel.[^14]
The Oil-for-Food Programme, established under Security Council Resolution 986 (1995) and operational from December 1996, permitted Iraq to sell oil in order to purchase food and medicine under UN supervision. A 2004-2005 independent inquiry chaired by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman [[Paul Volcker]] found that the programme had been corrupted by systematic kickback schemes in which Iraqi officials collected surcharges on oil contracts and suppliers inflated invoices. The inquiry identified approximately 2,200 companies and individuals from 66 countries as having paid surcharges to the Iraqi government, including officials at UN member states and individuals connected to [[Benon Sevan]], the programme's executive director, who was found to have received allocations.[^2]
### Israel and the Bernadotte mission
### Other Relevant Bodies
On May 14, 1948, the General Assembly authorized a United Nations Mediator in Palestine.[^15] The post went to Count [[Folke Bernadotte]]. Bernadotte was assassinated in [[Jerusalem]] on September 17, 1948, in the part of the city under Jewish control, together with a French United Nations observer.[^16] On September 20, 1948, [[Anthony Eden]] told the [[House of Commons]] that he felt sure the whole House would join in deploring "the callous and the seemingly purposeless assassination of Count Bernadotte."[^17] The General Assembly's resolution of December 11, 1948, on the Palestinian refugees resolved that refugees wishing to return to their homes should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid to those who chose not to return.[^18]
The United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control (UNFDAC), a precursor to the [[UN Office on Drugs and Crime]], received funding from sources connected to the CIA-backed anti-narcotics efforts that intersected with the Contra resupply networks. [[UNICEF]]'s institutional name was exploited by the [[CRIES]] pedophile network in Belgium, which used a UNICEF umbrella for operations until the connection was exposed in 1986.
### Congo, Lumumba, and the death of Dag Hammarskjöld
On July 14, 1960, the Security Council authorized the Secretary-General to take the steps needed to provide the Congolese government with military assistance after the [[Katanga]] secession.[^19] On August 9, 1960, it called on [[Belgium]] to withdraw its troops from Katanga and reaffirmed that the United Nations Force in the Congo "will not be a party to or in any way intervene in or be used to influence the outcome of any internal conflict, constitutional or otherwise."[^20] [[Patrice Lumumba]], who had appealed to the United Nations, visited Washington in late July 1960, where Secretary of State [[Christian Herter]] pledged economic aid. After he was dismissed by [[Joseph Kasavubu]] on September 5 and lost the power struggle to Kasavubu and [[Joseph Mobutu]], who seized power on September 14, Lumumba asked the United Nations force for protection.[^21]
The [[Church Committee]] documented the American side of the same weeks. A cable of August 18, 1960 from [[Bronson Tweedy]], chief of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s Africa Division, referred to "your and our belief Lumumba must be removed if possible"; on August 19 [[Richard Bissell]] cabled "You are authorized proceed with operation" to replace Lumumba with a pro-Western group; and on August 26 [[Allen Dulles]] cabled the Leopoldville station that "targets of opportunity may present themselves to you" and authorized up to $100,000 for "crash programs."[^22] The Committee reported that in the fall of 1960 two CIA officials were asked by superiors to assassinate Lumumba, that poisons were sent to the Congo and that exploratory steps were taken toward gaining access to Lumumba, and wrote that it "does not appear from the evidence that the United States was in any way involved in the killing" by Congolese rivals in early 1961. On the question of authority, the Committee wrote that the chain of events was "strong enough to permit a reasonable inference that the plot to assassinate Lumumba was authorized by President Eisenhower," while the countervailing testimony and the ambiguity of the records precluded a finding that the President intended an assassination effort.[^23]
Lumumba was transferred on January 17, 1961 to the custody of the Katanga authorities, who announced his death several weeks later.[^21] On February 21, 1961, the Security Council noted "with deep regret" the announced killing of Lumumba, [[Maurice Mpolo]] and [[Joseph Okito]], urged the immediate withdrawal and evacuation from the [[Congo]] of all Belgian and other foreign military and paramilitary personnel and political advisers not under United Nations Command, and of mercenaries, provided for the use of force, as a last resort, to prevent civil war, and decided that "an immediate and impartial investigation be held in order to ascertain the circumstances of the death of Mr. Lumumba and his colleagues and that the perpetrators of these crimes be punished."[^24]
[[Dag Hammarskjöld]], the second Secretary-General, died on the night of September 17 and 18, 1961, when a Swedish aircraft carrying sixteen people, flight SE-BDY, crashed near [[Ndola]] in what was then [[Northern Rhodesia]]. All aboard died. The Rhodesian civil aviation board of investigation found no definitive cause and could not rule out a "wilful act of some person or persons unknown"; a Rhodesian commission of inquiry under Chief Justice Sir John Clayden reported in February 1962 that the pilots had allowed the aircraft to descend too low; and the United Nations commission of inquiry reported in April 1962 that it had found no evidence of sabotage or attack but that these possibilities could not be excluded, and was unable to determine the cause.[^25] On October 26, 1962, the General Assembly adopted resolution 1759 (XVII), which took note of that report and requested the Secretary-General to inform the Assembly of any new evidence.[^26]
In 2013 a commission of jurists chaired by Sir [[Stephen Sedley]], assembled by an enabling committee under [[Lord Lea of Crondall]] rather than by the United Nations, and including [[Hans Corell]], [[Richard Goldstone]] and [[Wilhelmina Thomassen]], reported on whether the evidence would justify reopening the inquiry. Its report recorded that "there appear also to be relevant but classified records held by the US National Security Agency." It set out the account of Charles Southall, who in September 1961 was stationed at the NSA naval communications facility in Cyprus and recalled that shortly after midnight on the night of the crash a recording was played back in which a male voice said "I see a transport plane coming low. All the lights are on. I'm going down to make a run on it. Yes, it's the Transair DC6. It's the plane," followed by the sound of cannon fire and the words "I've hit it. There are flames. It's going down. It's crashing."[^27] The Commission concluded: "There is persuasive evidence that the aircraft was subjected to some form of attack or threat as it circled to land at Ndola." It also wrote that "from the broader evidence of the US National Security Agency's worldwide monitoring activities in and about 1961, it is highly likely that the entirety of the local and regional Ndola radio traffic on the night of 17-18 September 1961 was tracked and recorded by the NSA, and possibly also by the CIA," and that the sabotage claim was not capable of verification.[^28]
The Independent Panel of Experts, appointed under General Assembly resolution 69/246 and headed by [[Mohamed Chande Othman]], reported in July 2015. It assigned moderate probative value to nine new eyewitness accounts of more than one aircraft in the air, to the claims of two persons who heard or read alleged intercepts of an attack on SE-BDY, to new information on the air capability of Katanga, and to the possibility that communications from Hammarskjöld's CX-52 cryptographic machine were intercepted. It found that claims by mercenaries that they shot the aircraft down lacked credibility.[^29] In December 2016 the General Assembly, by resolution 71/260, requested the Secretary-General to appoint an eminent person, urged all Member States to release relevant records, and encouraged them to declassify records that "remain classified, more than 50 years after the fact."[^30]
On September 5, 2017, the Secretary-General transmitted the report of Othman, appointed as Eminent Person. The transmittal letter records his conclusion "that it is almost certain that Dag Hammarskjöld and the members of the party accompanying him were not assassinated after landing and that all passengers died from injuries sustained during the plane crash, either instantaneously or soon after," and that he "considered it plausible that an external attack or threat was a cause of the crash." Othman cited "ample eyewitness evidence that tends to establish that there was more than one aircraft in the air at the time flight SE-BDY made its approach to Ndola, that any aircraft present other than flight SE-BDY was a jet and that flight SE-BDY was on fire before it collided with the ground," and wrote that SE-BDY "may have been fired upon or otherwise actively engaged by one or more other aircraft." He noted that "it remains possible that the crash was an accident caused by pilot error without external interference," that it was "not possible at present to conclude whether sabotage was a cause," and "a lack of access to original documents concerning an 'Operation Celeste'" relating to the hypothesis that a bomb had been planted on the aircraft.[^31] He further concluded "that the burden of proof has now shifted to Member States to show that they have conducted a full review of records and archives in their custody or possession, including those that remain classified, for potentially relevant information."[^31]
The eight Member States identified in April and May 2017 as most likely to hold relevant information were Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States; responses came from Belgium, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.[^32] The report stated that new information from the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Nations and individuals "appears to establish that Rhodesian and United Kingdom authorities intercepted United Nations communications in the Congo in 1961," and that the United States confirmed "for the first time" the presence of its military assets in and around Ndola on the night of the crash, including between one and three Dakota aircraft with equipment able to intercept, transmit and receive communications over long distances. Of the two American personnel who had claimed to have heard or read a transmission about an attack, Southall had died in 2015, and the service record of the other, Paul Abram, a United States Air Force Security Services officer, was confirmed by the United States only in July 2017, with information that disputed his location at the time.[^33]
The report of September 12, 2019 reaffirmed those conclusions: "My work under the current mandate does not provide grounds to disturb either finding," namely that it was plausible that an external attack or threat was a cause and that the burden of proof had shifted to Member States.[^34] In 2018 the Eminent Person requested fourteen Member States to each appoint an independent and high-ranking official to review their intelligence, security and defence archives: Angola, Belgium, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Portugal, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.[^35] The Secretary-General's letter recorded new information on probable intercepts by Member States of relevant communications, the capacity of the armed forces of Katanga or others to stage an attack, including with aircraft and airstrips, the presence in the area of foreign paramilitary personnel, including pilots, and intelligence personnel, and further information on the [[South African Institute for Maritime Research]] in the context of Operation Celeste. It also recorded that not all Member States appointed an Independent Appointee, that searches had not been exhaustive in all, and that the burden of proof remained with Member States.[^34]
The 2019 report stated that Member States including the United Kingdom and the United States received intercepts of communications of the United Nations Operation in the Congo throughout 1961, including encoded communications on sensitive military matters, discussed at a high level by the British High Commissioner Lord Alport, the United States Consul in Elisabethville William C. Canup and the Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Sir Roy Welensky. It stated that communications sent from Hammarskjöld's CX-52 cryptographic machine "appear to have been intercepted by British and United States signals and intelligence agencies," that two United States personnel confirmed as working for or in support of National Security Agency activities said they overheard a transmission or recording of an attack on flight SE-BDY, that both had died by 2018 without a substantive response from the United States to requests for clarification made since 2015, and that it had not been possible to conclude whether sabotage was a cause, owing in part to difficulties in obtaining access to documentation in South Africa.[^36]
### Cuba and the United Nations
On April 15, 1961, the day of the air raids that preceded the invasion at the [[Bay of Pigs]], the General Assembly's First Committee heard Cuban Foreign Minister [[Raúl Roa]] accuse the United States of aggression, and [[Adlai Stevenson]] told the committee that according to his information the raids had been carried out by defectors from the Cuban Air Force who had landed in Florida and asked for political asylum.[^37] On April 16, Stevenson cabled the Department of State, for the Secretary of State ([[Dean Rusk]]) and Dulles, that he was "greatly disturbed by clear indications" that the bombing incidents "were launched in part at least from outside Cuba," that his answers to Roa "were hastily concocted in Department, and revised by me at last minute on assumption this was clear case of attacks by defectors inside Cuba," and that he did not understand why he had not been "warned and provided pre-prepared material."[^38] The operation ended on April 19, 1961, with the capture of its exile force.[^39]
### Iraq: sanctions, inspections, and Oil-for-Food
The Security Council condemned the invasion of [[Kuwait]] by [[Iraq]] and decided on August 6, 1990 that all States should prevent trade with Iraq, in the aftermath of the [[Gulf War]].[^40] Resolution 687 of April 3, 1991, set the cease-fire terms and provided for a special commission to verify the destruction of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.[^41] The [[UN Special Commission|United Nations Special Commission]] (UNSCOM) operated in Iraq from 1991. UNSCOM evacuated all of its personnel from Iraq in December 1998, immediately before the American and British strikes, and Iraq has barred arms inspections since.[^42]
[[Barton Gellman]] reported in the [[Washington Post]] on March 2, 1999 that United States intelligence services had infiltrated agents and espionage equipment for three years into the arms control teams to eavesdrop on the Iraqi military without the knowledge of UNSCOM. According to that report, the technicians who installed the commission's remote camera monitoring system in 1996 were intelligence operatives, the repeater stations they built contained antennas that intercepted Iraqi microwave military communications, and at least two technicians lent to run the system were employees of the CIA's clandestine service. A second channel, code-named Shake the Tree, used commercial scanners to intercept Iraqi radio transmissions; it was known to UNSCOM's leaders, was disclosed by the Post and the [[Boston Globe]] in January 1999, and was confirmed by the United States government that month. Gellman wrote that the United States decided not to inform Executive Chairman [[Rolf Ekeus]] or his successor [[Richard Butler]] about the second operation, and that the CIA notified [[Charles Duelfer]], the American deputy to both, to help ensure that headquarters staff did not interfere.[^42]
Ekeus said in that report that he did not believe covert antennas could have been built into the video relay system, and that if the United States had used UNSCOM cover for espionage "we have always stood against that"; he cited the 1991 inspection in which American team leaders reported directly to Washington, which, in his words, "we stopped." Butler's spokesman said Butler had no knowledge of the allegations, and Gellman reported that Butler was quoted in a private conversation as saying "If all this stuff turns out to be true, then Rolf Ekeus and I have been played for suckers, haven't we?"[^42] In a [[PBS]] [[Frontline (PBS)|Frontline]] interview, Butler said that he had approved "gifts to us, of persons and technology" to crack Iraqi deceit, that he had disapproved of some proposals as edging "towards a line that we shouldn't cross," and that he could not know whether others were piggy-backing on UNSCOM without telling him.[^43] Gellman told Frontline that when [[David Kay]] was in the parking lot and smuggled out documents in 1991, Washington heard of their contents as soon as New York, that Ekeus was angry and forbade direct communications like that, and that he was "quite confident they continued."[^44] The [[Financial Times]] reported on July 30, 2002 that Ekeus told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that he had learned after leaving his position that the United States had placed two of its own agents among the inspectors.[^45]
On January 6, 1999, the spokesman for the Secretary-General, [[Fred Eckhard]], told the noon briefing that the Secretary-General had "no evidence of any kind" that UNSCOM had assisted United States intelligence, and that Butler had "categorically denied them" when the Secretary-General asked him.[^46]
UNSCOM was succeeded by [[UNMOVIC]] (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission), established by Security Council resolution 1284 on December 17, 1999.[^47] UNMOVIC inspectors under [[Hans Blix]] were in Iraq when the United States and United Kingdom invaded in March 2003, asserting that [[Saddam Hussein]] retained prohibited weapons programs. No such programs were found.
The UN inspection effort also employed [[Karen Jansen]], a U.S. Army major and United Nations inspector who worked on the search for Iraqi biological weapons sites. [[Ruth Sinai]] reported for the [[Associated Press]] that Jansen carried sketches of two sites where the Iraqi leader had supposedly stashed biological weapons, produced by [[Ed Dames]] of [[Psi]], a private firm specializing in remote viewing, and that the sketches were generated through remote viewing.[^48]
The Oil-for-Food Programme, established under Security Council Resolution 986 of April 14, 1995, permitted Iraq to sell oil in order to purchase food and medicine under UN supervision, and became operational in December 1996.[^49] The Independent Inquiry Committee chaired by [[Paul Volcker]], a former chairman of the [[Federal Reserve]], issued its final report on October 27, 2005. The report found that more than 2,200 companies had paid kickbacks to the Iraqi government in the form of inland transportation fees, after-sales-service fees, or both, and listed 2,253 companies in its humanitarian kickback tables. Oil surcharges were paid in connection with the contracts of 139 companies.[^50] The Christian Science Monitor reported on October 28, 2005 that the report named companies and individuals from 66 countries as having sent kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government, and from 40 countries as having paid illegal oil surcharges.[^51] The report also stated that Iraq dispensed oil allocations to a wide array of individuals and groups "whom it considered influential in their respective countries and who espoused pro-Iraq views or organized anti-sanctions activities," and that Iraq favored companies from countries it perceived as friendly, in particular permanent members of the Security Council.[^52]
The committee's findings on [[Benon Sevan]], the programme's executive director, were that he corruptly received oil allocations and cash proceeds from 1998 through 2001. The proceeds passed through a business controlled by [[Fakhry Abdelnour]] and reached a Swiss bank account controlled by [[Fred Nadler]], the brother-in-law of former Secretary-General [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]]. The committee also described an Iraqi scheme in 1996 to bribe Boutros-Ghali through [[Samir Vincent]], and wrote that it did not have evidence that Boutros-Ghali took part in or was aware of any of this corrupt activity.[^53]
### Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim
[[Kurt Waldheim]] served as the fourth Secretary-General from January 1, 1972, to December 31, 1981.[^54] He was elected President of [[Austria]] in 1986. On December 14, 1987, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the United States had placed him on its watch list for unwanted aliens, that [[Neil Sher]] of the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations said the documents behind the decision showed direct involvement in atrocities and could not be handed over to the international commission of historians that Waldheim had convened, and that Waldheim again rejected charges that he participated in reprisals against civilians or in the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.[^55]
On April 27, 2001, the [[National Archives and Records Administration]] opened the CIA's name files on Waldheim, together with files on [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Klaus Barbie]], [[Adolf Eichmann]], [[Josef Mengele]], and [[Heinrich Müller]]. The Archives stated that Waldheim had not been an intelligence resource for the United States, and that the CIA could not conclude that the Soviet Union had used or blackmailed Waldheim with information about his Nazi past.[^56]
### Penetration of UN communications
A January 31, 2003 email from [[Frank Koza]], chief of staff of the Regional Targets section of the [[National Security Agency]], to the British signals agency [[GCHQ]] asked for insight into plans to vote on Iraq-related resolutions and for a "surge effort to revive/create efforts against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea." [[The Observer]] published the memo on March 2, 2003 under the headline "Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war"; its article described the targets as the delegations of Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan, the "Middle Six," and quoted the memo's request for the "whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises." The Observer reported that three former intelligence operatives judged the memo authentic and that the NSA switchboard connected its reporters to Koza's extension.[^57][^58]
The memo was leaked by [[Katharine Gun]], who worked at GCHQ. She had been charged under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989, and on February 25, 2004 the Crown offered no evidence at the Central Criminal Court. The Attorney General's statement to Parliament said that the evidential deficiency related to the prosecution's inability "to disprove the defence of necessity to be raised on the particular facts of this case," and that the determination had nothing to do with advice given by the Attorney General on the legality of the Iraq war.[^59]
In August 2013 [[Der Spiegel]] reported, on the basis of documents obtained by [[Edward Snowden]], that the National Security Agency had bugged the United Nations' New York headquarters. According to the report, NSA experts cracked the codes of the UN video conferencing system in the summer of 2012, and the number of decoded communications rose from 12 to 458 within three weeks. The same documents reportedly showed collection against the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]], which is part of the UN system, and an NSA bugging program in more than 80 embassies and consulates.[^60]
### Chile, arms embargoes, and the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] wrote that [[Alan Sanders]] of [[ITICO]] supplied blueprints for cluster bombs to [[Carlos Cardoen]], and that Cardoen produced the bombs under a covert United States license despite a United Nations arms embargo against Chile.[^61] Security Council resolution 232 of December 16, 1966 imposed mandatory measures against Southern Rhodesia, including a prohibition on the sale or shipment of arms, and resolution 418 of November 4, 1977, adopted unanimously under Chapter VII, imposed a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.[^62][^63]
On July 14, 1976, [[Carmelo Soria]], a Spanish-Chilean official of the Latin American Demographic Center (CELADE) of [[ECLAC]], was kidnapped by [[DINA]] agents as he left work and was murdered. The [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] found in Report 133/99 that his body and car were left in a stream, that the Chilean courts had determined that State agents participated in the crime and their identities were established, that Chile had violated his rights, and that the self-amnesty decree law was incompatible with the American Convention.[^64]
In an October 1991 affidavit given to [[Bill Hamilton]] of [[INSLAW]], [[Lester Coleman]] stated that third-party funds, including from the [[United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control]] in [[Vienna]], were generally made available for the purchase of the PROMIS systems that a DEA proprietary company sold to drug abuse control agencies in several Middle Eastern countries.[^65] The fund was a precursor to the [[UN Office on Drugs and Crime]]. The fund received funding from sources connected to the CIA-backed anti-narcotics efforts that intersected with the Contra resupply networks.
### Envoys and mediators
Security Council resolution 721 of November 27, 1991 approved the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy to Yugoslavia, a post held from October 8, 1991 by [[Cyrus Vance]].[^66] In resolution 1495 of July 31, 2003 the Council supported the peace plan for self-determination of the people of [[Western Sahara]] presented by the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, [[James A. Baker III]], who served in that role from 1997 to 2004.[^67]
### CRIES and UNICEF
The [[CRIES]] (Study and Research Center on Children and Sexuality) was a Belgian group whose members were convicted in Brussels in March 1988. A UPI report of March 7, 1988 stated that sixteen people were convicted of participating in a child sex ring that used a laboratory in the cellar of a [[UNICEF]] office to develop photographs, that Jozef Verbeeck, the former director of UNICEF's Brussels office, received two years in prison, and that CRIES served as a cover organization for the ring.[^68] UNICEF's institutional name was exploited by the CRIES network, which used a UNICEF umbrella for operations until the connection was exposed in 1986. S. Dovey wrote that the X-witness dossier compiled under Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] after the 1996 appeal described the network as having used UNICEF in the production of pornography.[^69]
### Epstein-linked diplomacy
Between November 2015 and January 2017, [[Jeffrey Epstein]] exchanged iMessages with [[Vitaly Churkin]], Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from April 2006 until his death. The Justice Department's Epstein productions include a message log beginning November 16, 2015, in which Epstein wrote, "I'm in town wed- fri if you have time . Jeffrey Epstein."[^70] On August 28, 2016 Epstein wrote to Churkin, "Ehud Barak and TOM Barrack at house tomorw . You are always welcome," and an email from his office that day recorded that Churkin would join the lunch with Epstein, [[Ehud Barak]] and [[Tom Barrack]]; on September 6, 2016 Epstein offered an introduction to [[Tom Pritzker]], and the logs reference a meeting with [[Larry Summers]] in January 2016.[^71]
Churkin collapsed in his office in February 2017 and died on February 20, 2017, at the age of 64. [[CBS News]] reported on March 10, 2017 that the State Department had asked the city in writing on February 24 not to reveal the autopsy results, because Churkin's diplomatic immunity survives his death, and that the city's law department then told the medical examiner's office not to release further information.[^72]
### Unidentified flying objects at the United Nations
In July 1968, [[J. Allen Hynek]] told the [[House Committee on Science and Astronautics]] that "the United States seek the cooperation of the United Nations in establishing a means for the impartial and free interchange among nations of information about, and reports of, unidentified flying objects," which he described as "a sort of international clearinghouse for the exchange of information on this subject," and that Congress should establish a UFO Scientific Board of Inquiry.[^73]
On July 7, 1978, Grenada's Deputy Permanent Representative asked for the inclusion on the agenda of the thirty-third session of the General Assembly of an item entitled "Establishment of an agency or a department of the United Nations for undertaking, co-ordinating and disseminating the results of research into unidentified flying objects and related phenomena," with an explanatory memorandum; the General Assembly allocated it to the Special Political Committee on September 20, 1978.[^74] In the general debate on October 12, 1978, [[Eric Gairy]], the prime minister of Grenada, told the General Assembly that the subject of unidentified flying objects should be studied with research coordinated by United Nations organizations, and that a centre for UFO research might be established in Grenada.[^75]
On November 27, 1978, Gairy introduced to the Special Political Committee draft resolution A/SPC/33/L.20, which would have recommended that the United Nations, in consultation with the appropriate specialized agencies, "initiate, conduct and co-ordinate research into the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects," asked the Secretary-General to invite Member States, specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations to submit information and proposals by May 31, 1979, and provided for a group of experts to meet during the sessions of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. After consultations the Committee agreed by consensus on a draft decision, and Grenada did not press the draft resolution to a vote.[^74] The decision, adopted by consensus by the General Assembly on December 18, 1978 as decision 33/426, took note of Grenada's statements and draft resolutions, invited interested Member States to co-ordinate at the national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects, requested the Secretary-General to transmit the Grenada statements and documentation to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space for its 1979 session, and provided that the Committee would permit Grenada, at its request, to present its views.[^76]
In 1994, [[Laurance Rockefeller]] wrote to the White House science adviser, [[John H. Gibbons]], that preliminary talks had been held about a United Nations conference on extraterrestrial intelligence.[^77]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "United Nations," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations
[^2]: Volcker, Paul, et al. *Report of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme.* 2005.
[^1]: "Charter of the United Nations," signed June 26, 1945, in force October 24, 1945; Article 27 on Security Council voting. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text
[^2]: Security Council Report, "The Veto," Security Council working methods: first veto cast by the USSR on February 16, 1946 on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon and Syria (S/PV.23); first United States veto March 17, 1970. https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/un-security-council-working-methods/the-veto.php
[^3]: United Nations Security Council, document S/10784, "Guinea, Somalia and Yugoslavia: draft resolution," September 10, 1972. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2F10784&l=en&t=pdf
[^4]: Security Council Report, "The Security Council Veto" (table of vetoes and drafts not adopted), rows for September 10, 1972 (S/10784, 13-1-1), July 1973 (S/10974), December 1975 (S/11898) and January 1976 (S/11940). https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/working%20methods_the%20veto-3.pdf
[^5]: Security Council Report, "The Security Council Veto" (table), rows for October 27, 1983 (S/16077/Rev.1), April 4, 1984 (S/16463) and October 28, 1986 (S/18428, S/PV.2718); drafts S/16463 and S/18428 at https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2F16463&l=en&t=pdf and https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2F18428&l=en&t=pdf
[^6]: United Nations Security Council, document S/13729 (draft resolution, January 6, 1980) and resolution 462 (1980), January 9, 1980; Security Council Report veto table, row for January 7-9, 1980 (S/PV.2190, 13-2-0). https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F462%281980%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^7]: United Nations General Assembly, Sixth Emergency Special Session, resolution ES-6/2, January 14, 1980, "The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security." https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2FES-6%2F2&l=en&t=pdf
[^8]: Security Council Report, "The Security Council Veto" (table), rows for January 15, 1979 (S/13027, S/PV.2112), March 16, 1979 (S/13162, S/PV.2129) and S/2011/612 (Syria, 9-2-4). Each 1979 draft failed 13-2-0, and the thirteen affirmative votes listed do not include the USSR. https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/working%20methods_the%20veto-3.pdf
[^9]: United Nations Security Council, document S/5182, "United States of America: draft resolution," October 22, 1962. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2F5182&l=en&t=pdf
[^10]: United Nations General Assembly, First Emergency Special Session, resolution 997 (ES-I), November 2, 1956, on the Middle East. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F997%20%28ES-I%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^11]: United Nations General Assembly, Second Emergency Special Session, resolution 1004 (ES-II), November 4, 1956, "The situation in Hungary." https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F1004%20%28ES-II%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^12]: "Minutes of the Nagy Government's Fourth Cabinet Meeting, November 1, 1956," Document No. 7, National Security Archive, George Washington University. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/doc7.pdf
[^13]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 84 (1950), July 7, 1950. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F84%20%281950%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^14]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991.
[^15]: United Nations General Assembly, resolution 186 (S-2), May 14, 1948, "Appointment and terms of reference of a United Nations Mediator in Palestine." https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F186%20%28S-2%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^16]: *Yearbook of the United Nations 1947-48*, "Tributes to Count Bernadotte and Colonel Serot," and the index entry for document A/648, Progress report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, dated September 18, 1948.
[^17]: House of Commons, "Count Bernadotte (Assassination)," HC Deb 20 September 1948, vol. 456, col. 521. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1948/sep/20/count-bernadotte-assassination
[^18]: United Nations General Assembly, resolution 194 (III), December 11, 1948, paragraph 11. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F194%20%28III%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^19]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 143 (1960), July 14, 1960, "The Congo Question," paragraph 2. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F143%20%281960%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^20]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 146 (1960), August 9, 1960, paragraphs 2 and 4. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F146%20%281960%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^21]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee), *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report,* Senate Report No. 94-465, 94th Congress, 1st Session, 1975, section on the Congo (Lumumba's visit to Washington in late July 1960; dismissal of September 5; request to the United Nations force for protection; transfer to Katanga on January 17, 1961). https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^22]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots,* Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, section "Dulles Cable to Leopoldville: August 26, 1960," quoting CIA cables of August 18, 19 and 26, 1960. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^23]: Church Committee, *Alleged Assassination Plots,* Senate Report No. 94-465, 1975, summary of the evidence concerning Patrice Lumumba, and findings and conclusions on Presidential authorization. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf
[^24]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 161 (1961), February 21, 1961, preamble and paragraphs 1 to 4. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F161%20%281961%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^25]: Commission of Jurists on the Inquiry into the Death of Dag Hammarskjöld, annexed to the letter of the Secretary-General, United Nations General Assembly document A/68/800, 2014, paragraphs 1.1, 1.2 and 9.1 to 9.4. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F68%2F800&l=en&t=pdf
[^26]: United Nations General Assembly, resolution 1759 (XVII), October 26, 1962, "Report of the Commission of investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Mr. Dag Hammarskjold and of members of the party accompanying him." https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F1759%20%28XVII%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^27]: United Nations General Assembly document A/68/800, paragraphs 1.5, 2.5 and 13.23 to 13.28. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F68%2F800&l=en&t=pdf
[^28]: United Nations General Assembly document A/68/800, paragraphs 15.4, 15.5 and 15.7 to 15.10. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F68%2F800&l=en&t=pdf
[^29]: Independent Panel of Experts appointed under General Assembly resolution 69/246, report transmitted by the Secretary-General, United Nations General Assembly document A/70/132, July 2, 2015, summary of key findings. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F70%2F132&l=en&t=pdf
[^30]: United Nations General Assembly, resolution 71/260, December 23, 2016, paragraphs 1 to 3. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2FRES%2F71%2F260&l=en&t=pdf
[^31]: Report of the Eminent Person, Mohamed Chande Othman, transmitted by letter of the Secretary-General dated September 5, 2017, United Nations General Assembly document A/71/1042, transmittal letter. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F71%2F1042&l=en&t=pdf
[^32]: United Nations General Assembly document A/71/1042, report of the Eminent Person, paragraphs 4 and 6. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F71%2F1042&l=en&t=pdf
[^33]: United Nations General Assembly document A/71/1042, report of the Eminent Person, paragraphs 7 and 8. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F71%2F1042&l=en&t=pdf
[^34]: Letter dated September 12, 2019 from the Secretary-General, attaching the report of the Eminent Person, United Nations General Assembly document A/73/973, transmittal letter and report paragraphs 2, 3 and 33. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F73%2F973&l=en&t=pdf
[^35]: United Nations General Assembly document A/73/973, report of the Eminent Person, paragraph 3. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F73%2F973&l=en&t=pdf
[^36]: United Nations General Assembly document A/73/973, report of the Eminent Person, paragraphs 11 and 16 to 19. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F73%2F973&l=en&t=pdf
[^37]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963,* Volume X, Cuba, January 1961-September 1962, Document 104, editorial note on the meeting of the Political (First) Committee of April 15, 1961 (U.N. doc. A/C.1/SR.1149). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d104
[^38]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963,* Volume X, Document 105, Telegram from the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, April 16, 1961. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d105
[^39]: Central Intelligence Agency, Inspector General, "Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation," October 1961, declassified 1998; published in Kornbluh, Peter, ed. *Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba.* New Press, 1998.
[^40]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 661 (1990), August 6, 1990. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F661%20%281990%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^41]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 687 (1991), April 3, 1991. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F687%20%281991%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^42]: Gellman, Barton. "U.S. Spied on Iraq Via U.N.," *Washington Post,* March 2, 1999, p. A1. https://web.archive.org/web/2005/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/march99/unscom2.htm
[^43]: PBS *Frontline,* "Spying on Saddam," interview with Richard Butler. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/unscom/interviews/butler.html
[^44]: PBS *Frontline,* "Spying on Saddam," interview with Barton Gellman. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/unscom/interviews/gellman.html
[^45]: *Financial Times,* July 30, 2002, reporting Rolf Ekeus's interview with *Svenska Dagbladet,* as quoted at https://www.eurotrib.com/?op=displaystory&sid=2007%2F5%2F31%2F16410%2F6211
[^46]: United Nations, noon briefing by the spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, January 6, 1999. https://press.un.org/en/1999/19990106.db010699.html
[^47]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 1284 (1999), December 17, 1999. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F1284%20%281999%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^48]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^49]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 986 (1995), April 14, 1995. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F986%20%281995%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^50]: Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, *Final Report,* October 27, 2005, Introduction and Executive Summary. https://web.archive.org/web/20051028130508/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf
[^51]: Grier, Peter. "UN Team Names Firms in Oil-for-Food Scandal," *Christian Science Monitor,* October 28, 2005. https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/oilforfood/2005/1028fifthreport.htm
[^52]: Independent Inquiry Committee, *Final Report,* October 27, 2005, Introduction and Executive Summary, on oil allocations and countries perceived as friendly to Iraq. https://web.archive.org/web/20051028130508/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf
[^53]: Independent Inquiry Committee, *Final Report,* October 27, 2005, Chapter Seven, "Financial Review of the Former Secretary-General," and the Committee's findings on Benon Sevan, Fakhry Abdelnour and Fred Nadler. https://web.archive.org/web/20051028130508/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf
[^54]: United Nations, "Former Secretaries-General," Kurt Waldheim, January 1, 1972 to December 31, 1981. https://www.un.org/sg/en/node/401498
[^55]: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Waldheim Denies New Charges of Involvement in Atrocities," December 14, 1987. https://www.jta.org/archive/waldheim-denies-new-charges-of-involvement-in-atrocities
[^56]: National Archives and Records Administration, press release nr01-61, April 27, 2001. https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2001/nr01-61
[^57]: Bright, Martin, Ed Vulliamy and Peter Beaumont. "Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war," *The Observer,* March 2, 2003. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/02/usa.iraq
[^58]: McGovern, Ray. "When Truth Tried to Stop War," *Consortium News,* January 31, 2013, quoting the Koza email of January 31, 2003. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/01/31/when-truth-tried-to-stop-war/
[^59]: House of Commons, "Katharine Gun," HC Deb 26 February 2004, vol. 418, cc. 427-40, statement of the Attorney General read by the Solicitor-General. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2004/feb/26/katharine-gun
[^60]: Al Jazeera, "Report: US bugged UN headquarters," August 25, 2013, reporting the *Der Spiegel* account of documents obtained by Edward Snowden. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/8/25/report-us-bugged-un-headquarters
[^61]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
[^62]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 232 (1966), December 16, 1966. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F232%20%281966%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^63]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 418 (1977), November 4, 1977. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F418%20%281977%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^64]: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report No. 133/99, Case 11.725, Carmelo Soria Espinoza (Chile), November 19, 1999, paragraphs 1 and 2. https://hrlibrary.umn.edu/cases/133-99.html
[^65]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010, reporting Lester Coleman's October 1991 affidavit.
[^66]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 721 (1991), November 27, 1991, paragraph 1. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F721%20%281991%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^67]: United Nations Security Council, resolution 1495 (2003), July 31, 2003, preamble and paragraph 1. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S%2FRES%2F1495%20%282003%29&l=en&t=pdf
[^68]: "Child sex ring run out of UNICEF office," United Press International, Brussels, March 7, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/03/07/Child-sex-ring-run-out-of-UNICEF-office/2464573714000/
[^69]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023, drawing on Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Houtekiet, 1999.
[^70]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619434, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to February 23, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf
[^71]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," May 23, 2016 to September 7, 2016, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf ; EFTA02044775, email "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; EFTA01619434, message of January 13, 2016.
[^72]: "Russia Ambassador Vitaly Churkin's cause of death won't be released," *CBS News / Associated Press,* March 10, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-ambassador-cause-of-death-wont-be-released/
[^73]: Hynek, J. Allen, statement at the *Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,* Hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, House of Representatives, 90th Congress, 2d session, July 29, 1968, pp. 14-15. https://nicap.org/books/1968Sym/1968_UFO_Symposium.pdf
[^74]: United Nations General Assembly, 33rd session, document A/33/512, "Establishment of an agency or a department of the United Nations for undertaking, co-ordinating and disseminating the results of research into unidentified flying objects and related phenomena: Report of the Special Political Committee," December 16, 1978, paragraphs 1 to 9. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F33%2F512&l=en&t=pdf
[^75]: United Nations General Assembly, 33rd session, plenary meeting record A/33/PV.32, October 12, 1978, statement of Sir Eric Gairy, paragraphs 225 to 236. Verbatim record: https://un-project.org/debate/33/3504/
[^76]: United Nations General Assembly, 33rd session, 87th plenary meeting, December 18, 1978, record A/33/PV.87, report of the Special Political Committee on agenda item 126 (A/33/512), decision 33/426. https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A%2F33%2FPV.87&l=en&t=pdf
[^77]: Melvin R. Laird to Laurance Rockefeller, May 9, 1994, and Rockefeller to John H. Gibbons, June 1, 1994, attached to http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-6-13-94.htm