vault backup: 2026-05-17 21:47:57
This commit is contained in:
parent
6293a6a777
commit
f17f037c56
347 changed files with 3025 additions and 1227 deletions
85
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Anatoli Golitsyn.md
Normal file
85
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Anatoli Golitsyn.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Anatoli Golitsyn
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Anatoli Golitsyn
|
||||
- Anatoliy Golitsyn
|
||||
- Anatoly Golitsyn
|
||||
- Anatoli Mikhailovich Golitsyn
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- KGB
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Defectors
|
||||
- MoleHunt
|
||||
- JamesAngleton
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
summary: "Anatoli Golitsyn was a KGB major who defected to the CIA in Helsinki in December 1961, provided intelligence that led to several confirmed Western penetrations, convinced James Angleton that a high-level Soviet mole existed in the CIA, and argued that subsequent defectors including Yuri Nosenko were KGB plants - a framework that paralyzed CIA Soviet operations for a decade without producing a confirmed mole."
|
||||
born: 1926-08-25
|
||||
location: "Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Anatoli Mikhailovich Golitsyn (born August 25, 1926, Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR) was a major in the [[KGB]] who defected to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] station in Helsinki, [[Finland]], on December 15, 1961. His defection produced intelligence that led to the exposure of several confirmed Western penetrations, including KGB sources in French intelligence and possibly a lead toward [[Kim Philby]]. It also produced a theoretical framework - the "monster plot" theory of Soviet strategic deception - that his primary CIA handler [[James Angleton]] adopted as the foundation of CIA counterintelligence analysis, leading to a decade-long mole hunt that damaged multiple innocent CIA officers' careers, caused the illegal imprisonment of [[Yuri Nosenko]], and substantially paralyzed CIA's Soviet operations division without producing any confirmed penetration of the type Golitsyn claimed existed.
|
||||
|
||||
### KGB Career and Defection
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn worked in the KGB's Information and Analysis Department and held other assignments within the organization's analytical and counterintelligence functions. His position gave him knowledge of KGB operations and assessments that was broad if not always specific: he knew the outlines of multiple penetration operations in Western services without always knowing the specific identities of the agents.
|
||||
|
||||
On December 15, 1961, Golitsyn presented himself at the CIA station in Helsinki and requested defection. He was initially taken to West Germany and then to the United States for extensive debriefing. His initial reception within CIA was managed by Angleton, who became his primary handler and advocate and who accepted Golitsyn's analytical framework with a conviction that shaped CI Staff operations for the following decade.
|
||||
|
||||
### Confirmed Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn's intelligence produced several actionable results:
|
||||
|
||||
In France, his reporting led to the identification of Georges Pâques, a NATO official who was a KGB source. Pâques was arrested in August 1963 and convicted of espionage. The case was one of Golitsyn's clearest operational contributions.
|
||||
|
||||
His general indications of penetration within the British intelligence community, while not providing specific names, contributed to the atmosphere of suspicion that focused attention on the Cambridge Five network. Philby had been under suspicion since at least the early 1950s; Golitsyn's reporting added pressure that led to Philby's interrogation and subsequent defection to Moscow in January 1963.
|
||||
|
||||
He provided information about Soviet operations in other NATO services - Norwegian, West German, and Canadian intelligence services all undertook internal investigations based on Golitsyn-derived leads - with varying results.
|
||||
|
||||
### The Monster Plot Theory
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn's most far-reaching contribution to CI analysis was his development of what Angleton called the "monster plot" - the theory that Soviet strategic deception was far more systematic and comprehensive than Western intelligence had understood. Golitsyn argued:
|
||||
|
||||
The apparent Sino-Soviet split of the early 1960s was a KGB-directed strategic deception designed to induce the West to relax its vigilance by presenting the appearance of communist bloc fragmentation. The split was, in Golitsyn's framework, coordinated theater.
|
||||
|
||||
The KGB's deception apparatus operated at a strategic level, directing not just individual agent operations but coordinated disinformation campaigns designed to shape Western intelligence assessments over years or decades. Understanding this required treating virtually all Soviet-provided intelligence as potentially controlled.
|
||||
|
||||
Any subsequent defector who provided intelligence contradicting Golitsyn's account was, by this logic, a KGB-dispatched plant. This claim was self-reinforcing: evidence against it was simply further evidence of the sophistication of the plot it posited.
|
||||
|
||||
### Nosenko and the Plant Theory
|
||||
|
||||
When [[Yuri Nosenko]] defected in February 1964 with an exculpatory account of the KGB's handling of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], Golitsyn immediately classified him as a KGB plant. Golitsyn's argument to Angleton: the timing - eleven weeks after Kennedy's assassination - was too convenient; Nosenko's primary contribution was a narrative that preemptively absolved the KGB; and the dispatch of false defectors to discredit Golitsyn was exactly what his framework predicted.
|
||||
|
||||
Angleton accepted this analysis. Nosenko was subjected to three and a half years of illegal imprisonment in a specially constructed CIA cell, undergoing extended hostile interrogation designed to break a fabricator's cover story. The interrogation failed to produce contradictions; Nosenko maintained his account throughout. CIA management ultimately concluded he was genuine, over Golitsyn's and Angleton's continued objection, and Nosenko was rehabilitated in 1968.
|
||||
|
||||
CIA's acceptance of Nosenko over Golitsyn's analysis was a significant institutional judgment against Golitsyn's framework. However, Angleton continued to work within that framework until his firing in 1974, and Golitsyn's supporters - particularly CIA officer Tennent Bagley, who had managed the Nosenko case - maintained the plant theory throughout their careers.
|
||||
|
||||
### Access to Allied Services
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn was granted unusual access to intelligence files in allied services in order to identify potential penetrations. He worked with MI5 and MI6 in Britain, where his allegations contributed to intense internal investigations and suspicion that persisted through the 1960s. His access to CIA files, which Angleton facilitated with minimal restriction, allowed him to pursue allegations through the agency's own records in ways that created both genuine investigative leads and opportunities for unfalsifiable accusations.
|
||||
|
||||
The breadth of his access raised concerns within CIA about whether a defector who claimed the existence of a mole - and was then given access to files to look for the mole - had any institutional incentive to resolve the search, since resolution would end his utility to the agency.
|
||||
|
||||
### Published Works
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn published *New Lies for Old* (Dodd, Mead & Company, 1984), which argued systematically for the monster plot thesis and predicted that Soviet strategic deception would culminate in a theatrical collapse of communist ideology designed to induce Western complacency. The book was completed before 1984 and thus before the Soviet Union actually collapsed in 1989-1991. When the Soviet collapse occurred, some analysts cited the prediction as vindication of Golitsyn's framework; others argued that an accurate prediction of the form of collapse did not validate the causal explanation.
|
||||
|
||||
He followed this with *The Perestroika Deception* (Edward Harle, 1995), which argued that Gorbachev's reforms were a continuation of the strategic deception operation rather than genuine liberalization - that perestroika and glasnost were the deception's operational climax, designed to extract Western concessions and investment while the KGB continued its underlying strategic objectives.
|
||||
|
||||
### Assessment
|
||||
|
||||
Golitsyn's confirmed contributions to Western counterintelligence - the Pâques case, pressure on Philby, alerts to other allied services - were real but fell short of what his theoretical framework claimed. The monster plot thesis was analytically powerful but empirically unfalsifiable: its structure made it resistant to disconfirmation by design. CIA officers who interacted with Golitsyn over years found his specific leads difficult to validate while his theoretical framework proved impossible to test against evidence without his classifying disconfirming evidence as deception.
|
||||
|
||||
The institutional damage of accepting his framework over a decade included: the persecution of innocent CIA officers; Nosenko's illegal imprisonment; the paralysis of Soviet operations from excessive suspicion of recruits; and the destruction of the working relationships between CIA's CI Staff and its Soviet operations division. Whether these costs were justified by genuine protection against penetrations that Golitsyn's analysis correctly identified, or were unnecessary damage caused by an analytically flawed but professionally compelling theory, remains one of the unresolved debates in CIA institutional history.
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Mangold, Tom. *Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton - The CIA's Master Spy Hunter.* Simon & Schuster, 1991, pp. 80-160 (primary secondary account of Golitsyn's defection and his relationship with Angleton). Bagley, Tennent H. *Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games.* Yale University Press, 2007 (Golitsyn-sympathetic account from his primary CIA advocate on the Nosenko case).
|
||||
[^2]: Golitsyn, Anatoli. *New Lies for Old: The Communist Strategy of Deception and Disinformation.* Dodd, Mead, 1984. Golitsyn, Anatoli. *The Perestroika Deception: Memoranda to the Central Intelligence Agency.* Edward Harle, 1995.
|
||||
[^3]: Church Committee (U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities). Final Report, S. Rept. 94-755, April 26, 1976 (covers Angleton's CI Staff activities informed by Golitsyn's framework). Wise, David. *Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors That Shattered the CIA.* Random House, 1992.
|
||||
|
|
@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ A contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party in February 1987, inv
|
|||
|
||||
### PROMIS Affidavits and INSLAW
|
||||
|
||||
After [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky — including one named E.B. Cartinhour — had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software. He stated one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^1]
|
||||
After [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky - including one named E.B. Cartinhour - had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software. He stated one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In two affidavits dated February 17 and March 21, 1991, submitted to the Bankruptcy Court, Ben-Menashe claimed personal knowledge of Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution. He alleged Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence's External Relations Department claiming ownership of PROMIS rights and stating that the CIA, NSA, DOJ, and Israeli intelligence had been using the software since 1982. He further alleged a 1982 meeting at which [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane for the Israeli Defense Force Signals Intelligence unit. He claimed knowledge of the 1987 sale of Enhanced PROMIS to the Israeli intelligence community and the Singapore Armed Forces, a public-domain version sold by the Israeli government to the Soviet Union, and an enhanced version sold to Canada.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,48 +1,19 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Bill Harvey
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Bill Harvey
|
||||
- William Harvey
|
||||
- William King Harvey
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
- FBI
|
||||
- Cuba
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
summary: "William King Harvey (1915-1976) was a CIA officer who built Berlin Base into a major Cold War station managing Operation Gold, then directed CIA-Mafia assassination plots against Fidel Castro before his marginalization following the Cuban Missile Crisis."
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
summary: "Redirect - see William Harvey."
|
||||
born: 1915-09-13
|
||||
died: 1976-06-09
|
||||
location: "Indianapolis, Indiana"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
William King Harvey was born September 13, 1915, in Danville, [[Indiana]]. He worked as an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent before joining the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in 1947, and built a career as one of the agency's most aggressive and unconventional [[Cold War]] operations officers. He died June 9, 1976, of a heart attack in Indianapolis.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### FBI Career and CIA Recruitment
|
||||
|
||||
Harvey worked for the FBI under [[J. Edgar Hoover]] before being recruited by the CIA in its early years. He left the FBI under circumstances that reportedly involved tensions with Hoover's management style. His FBI background gave him counterintelligence experience and contacts that were useful in the CIA's early Cold War operations.
|
||||
|
||||
### Berlin Base
|
||||
|
||||
Harvey took over the CIA's [[Berlin]] Base in 1952 and directed it until 1959, transforming it into one of the agency's most significant Cold War stations. His management style was confrontational and unconventional; he was known for carrying a pistol to meetings and maintaining an operations tempo that created friction with more cautious colleagues.
|
||||
|
||||
From Berlin Base, Harvey planned and directed [[Operation Gold]], the CIA-[[MI6]] tunnel operation that tapped [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military communications cables in the Soviet sector of Berlin from approximately 1955 to 1956. The operation produced a substantial intelligence harvest before being revealed - though it had been compromised from the planning stage by MI6 officer and [[KGB]] agent [[George Blake]].
|
||||
|
||||
Harvey was one of the CIA officers most deeply involved in the counterintelligence implications of the tunnel's compromise, investigating how the operation had been betrayed and working through the implications for other joint operations with MI6 and allied services.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cuba and the Castro Assassination Plots
|
||||
|
||||
Following his Berlin assignment, Harvey was given responsibility for ZRRIFLE, the CIA's general assassination capability development program, and became the agency's primary officer for the CIA-Mafia plots to assassinate [[Cuba|Cuban]] leader [[Fidel Castro]]. Harvey worked with organized crime figures - including Sam Giancana and [[John Roselli]] - in attempts to recruit assassins with access to Cuba. His handling of these operations, which included going around normal CIA oversight channels, created ongoing tensions with CIA leadership.
|
||||
|
||||
During the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, Harvey dispatched infiltration teams to Cuba without authorization from Director [[John McCone]], an action that triggered a furious confrontation and contributed to his reassignment. He was moved to [[Rome]] as Chief of Station, a demotion he accepted with poor grace.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Legacy
|
||||
|
||||
Harvey was regarded by colleagues as both one of the most effective operators of the early Cold War and one of the most personally difficult people in the agency's history - brilliant, heavy-drinking, combative, and genuinely dangerous. His career illustrated both the CIA's aggressive capabilities in the early Cold War period and the institutional tensions created when officers pursued operations with minimal oversight from CIA Headquarters at [[Langley]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.* Doubleday, 2007, pp. 104-111, 193-205. Mahoney, Richard D. *Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy.* Arcade Publishing, 1999 (on Harvey and the CIA-Mafia plots). Murphy, David E., Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey. *Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War.* Yale University Press, 1997.
|
||||
See [[William Harvey]].
|
||||
|
|
@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ C. Madison "Brick" Brewer was a [[Department of Justice|DOJ]] attorney who serve
|
|||
|
||||
### Administration of the INSLAW Contract
|
||||
|
||||
Brewer attended negotiating sessions for the March 1982 implementation contract. In April 1982, at a meeting with INSLAW representatives, he called a Hamilton memorandum asserting proprietary rights "scurrilous" — a characterization that [[George Francis Bason, Jr.|Bankruptcy Judge Bason]] would later cite as evidence of Brewer's adversarial posture. Brewer consistently opposed escrow arrangements that would have protected INSLAW's proprietary claims while the rights dispute was being litigated, taking positions Hamilton characterized as designed to deny INSLAW any protection for its privately-funded software enhancements.[^1]
|
||||
Brewer attended negotiating sessions for the March 1982 implementation contract. In April 1982, at a meeting with INSLAW representatives, he called a Hamilton memorandum asserting proprietary rights "scurrilous" - a characterization that [[George Francis Bason, Jr.|Bankruptcy Judge Bason]] would later cite as evidence of Brewer's adversarial posture. Brewer consistently opposed escrow arrangements that would have protected INSLAW's proprietary claims while the rights dispute was being litigated, taking positions Hamilton characterized as designed to deny INSLAW any protection for its privately-funded software enhancements.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
When INSLAW disclosed in November 1982 that it had pledged government invoices to the Bank of Bethesda as collateral for a line of credit — a violation of the contract's advance payments clause — Brewer was described as "extremely angry" and supported terminating the advance payments arrangement. INSLAW alleged this decision was used to exacerbate a financial crisis that DOJ had helped engineer; Brewer characterized it as a straightforward enforcement of a contractual violation by a company he believed had been dishonest.[^1]
|
||||
When INSLAW disclosed in November 1982 that it had pledged government invoices to the Bank of Bethesda as collateral for a line of credit - a violation of the contract's advance payments clause - Brewer was described as "extremely angry" and supported terminating the advance payments arrangement. INSLAW alleged this decision was used to exacerbate a financial crisis that DOJ had helped engineer; Brewer characterized it as a straightforward enforcement of a contractual violation by a company he believed had been dishonest.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
DOJ employees who received INSLAW's formal complaints about Brewer's conduct received instructions that Brewer "should not take the point outside the Department" on data rights issues — a restriction on his external negotiating role that INSLAW interpreted as protective of Brewer rather than corrective.[^1]
|
||||
DOJ employees who received INSLAW's formal complaints about Brewer's conduct received instructions that Brewer "should not take the point outside the Department" on data rights issues - a restriction on his external negotiating role that INSLAW interpreted as protective of Brewer rather than corrective.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bankruptcy Judge Bason's Findings
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Bason also found that Brewer had originated a plan to convert INSLAW's Chapter 1
|
|||
|
||||
### House Judiciary Committee Findings
|
||||
|
||||
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report cited Brewer as a central figure in the DOJ's misappropriation of PROMIS. The committee found that high-level DOJ officials had "deliberately ignored INSLAW's proprietary rights" and misappropriated the software, and that Brewer's documented adversarial conduct was a key mechanism through which this occurred. The report raised the question of whether Brewer's actions were independent or directed from above — specifically, whether [[Lowell Jensen]] had knowingly allowed Brewer's campaign to proceed as part of a broader conspiracy with [[Earl Brian]].[^3]
|
||||
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report cited Brewer as a central figure in the DOJ's misappropriation of PROMIS. The committee found that high-level DOJ officials had "deliberately ignored INSLAW's proprietary rights" and misappropriated the software, and that Brewer's documented adversarial conduct was a key mechanism through which this occurred. The report raised the question of whether Brewer's actions were independent or directed from above - specifically, whether [[Lowell Jensen]] had knowingly allowed Brewer's campaign to proceed as part of a broader conspiracy with [[Earl Brian]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bua Report Findings
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,24 +1,32 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||
title: Danny Casolaro
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Danny Casolaro
|
||||
- Joseph Daniel Casolaro
|
||||
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- DoJ
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||
summary: "Joseph Daniel Casolaro (1947-1991) was a freelance journalist investigating the 'Octopus' conspiracy linking PROMIS, Iran-Contra, the October Surprise, and BCCI who was found dead in a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel room on August 10, 1991, his wrists slashed twelve times in a death ruled suicide."
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||
- IranContra
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- OctoberSurprise
|
||||
summary: "Joseph Daniel Casolaro (1947-1991) was a freelance journalist whose investigation into the PROMIS software scandal expanded into a unified theory of an intelligence-criminal network he called 'The Octopus,' found dead in a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel room on August 10, 1991, with both wrists slashed twelve times in a death officially ruled suicide."
|
||||
born: 1947-06-16
|
||||
died: 1991-08-10
|
||||
location: "Fort Meade, Maryland"
|
||||
location: "McLean, Virginia"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Joseph Daniel Casolaro (June 16, 1947 — August 10, 1991) was an American freelance journalist and former computer-trade magazine owner. Born in Fort Meade, Maryland, he grew up in McLean, Virginia, attended Providence College until 1968, and married Terrill Pace, a former Miss Virginia, with whom he had one son, Trey. He owned several computer-industry trade publications through the 1970s and 1980s, which he sold toward the end of the decade. In early 1990, he returned to investigative journalism, beginning the work that would consume the last eighteen months of his life.[^1]
|
||||
Joseph Daniel Casolaro (June 16, 1947 - August 10, 1991) was an American freelance journalist and former computer-trade magazine owner. Born in Fort Meade, Maryland, he grew up in McLean, Virginia, attended Providence College until 1968, and married Terrill Pace, a former Miss Virginia, with whom he had one son, Trey. He owned several computer-industry trade publications through the 1970s and 1980s, which he sold toward the end of the decade. In early 1990, he returned to investigative journalism, beginning the work that would consume the last eighteen months of his life.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Octopus Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
In 1990, [[Bill Hamilton]], founder of [[INSLAW]], contacted Casolaro regarding the alleged theft of INSLAW's [[PROMIS]] software by the [[Department of Justice]]. Casolaro's investigation expanded well beyond the INSLAW contract dispute into what he called "[[The Octopus]]" — a unified criminal conspiracy he believed linked the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] to the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], the [[October Surprise]], the collapse of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], drug trafficking by intelligence-connected networks, and organized crime reaching back to the Cold War era.[^1][^2]
|
||||
In 1990, [[Bill Hamilton]], founder of [[INSLAW]], contacted Casolaro regarding the alleged theft of INSLAW's [[PROMIS]] software by the [[Department of Justice]]. Casolaro's investigation expanded well beyond the INSLAW contract dispute into what he called "[[The Octopus]]" - a unified criminal conspiracy he believed linked the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] to the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], the [[October Surprise]], the collapse of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], drug trafficking by intelligence-connected networks, and organized crime reaching back to the Cold War era.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The theory held that a core group of intelligence operatives, arms dealers, and organized crime figures had operated since at least the 1970s as a self-sustaining criminal enterprise intertwined with official U.S. covert operations. Casolaro was working on a book about this network, at various points titled "Behold, A Pale Horse" and "The Octopus," though he had been unable to secure a publisher; Little, Brown rejected his manuscript more than a month before his death.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -28,7 +36,7 @@ Casolaro's investigation also touched the [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]]-Ca
|
|||
|
||||
### Final Days
|
||||
|
||||
On August 5, 1991, Casolaro phoned retired Army CID officer Bill McCoy claiming Time magazine had assigned him a story on "the Octopus" and that Little, Brown had made him an offer — both claims false.[^1] On August 6, he met friend Ben Mason to discuss finances and showed him a 22-point book outline, complaining that a literary agent had been unable to sell it for eighteen months and that late-night harassing calls had been disturbing his sleep for three months. His housekeeper Olga had received calls on his behalf, including one that said: "I will cut his body and throw it to the sharks."[^1]
|
||||
On August 5, 1991, Casolaro phoned retired Army CID officer Bill McCoy claiming Time magazine had assigned him a story on "the Octopus" and that Little, Brown had made him an offer - both claims false.[^1] On August 6, he met friend Ben Mason to discuss finances and showed him a 22-point book outline, complaining that a literary agent had been unable to sell it for eighteen months and that late-night harassing calls had been disturbing his sleep for three months. His housekeeper Olga had received calls on his behalf, including one that said: "I will cut his body and throw it to the sharks."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Casolaro arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in [[Martinsburg, West Virginia]] on August 8, 1991, to meet a source who had promised crucial information about the Octopus investigation. On the afternoon of August 9, he met Honeywell engineer William Richard Turner at the hotel, receiving documents Turner had brought. That evening, he was seen at the Heatherfields cocktail lounge with an unidentified man described by witnesses as "maybe Arab or Iranian." Later that night, he told adjacent-room tenant Mike Looney that his source had failed to appear. He purchased coffee at a convenience store around 10:00 p.m.; those were his last confirmed movements.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -36,7 +44,7 @@ Before leaving for Martinsburg, Casolaro had warned his brother Anthony: if anyt
|
|||
|
||||
### Death and Autopsy
|
||||
|
||||
On the morning of August 10, 1991, a hotel housekeeper found Casolaro's naked body in the bathtub of room 517. Both wrists had been slashed twelve times — seven to eight cuts on the left, three to four on the right, with one cut deep enough to sever a tendon. The cause of death was determined to be exsanguination (blood loss), occurring approximately one to four hours before discovery. The rest of the room was clean and orderly; a handwritten note on legal stationery read: "To those who I love the most: Please forgive me for the worst possible thing I could have done. Most of all I'm sorry to my son. I know deep down inside that God will let me in."[^1]
|
||||
On the morning of August 10, 1991, a hotel housekeeper found Casolaro's naked body in the bathtub of room 517. Both wrists had been slashed twelve times - seven to eight cuts on the left, three to four on the right, with one cut deep enough to sever a tendon. The cause of death was determined to be exsanguination (blood loss), occurring approximately one to four hours before discovery. The rest of the room was clean and orderly; a handwritten note on legal stationery read: "To those who I love the most: Please forgive me for the worst possible thing I could have done. Most of all I'm sorry to my son. I know deep down inside that God will let me in."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Items found in the room included an empty Milwaukee beer can, two white plastic trash bags, a single-edge razor blade under the body, a half-empty wine bottle, and four additional unopened razor blades in a small package. No sign of forced entry, no evidence of struggle. The hotel room had not been disturbed. West Virginia authorities ruled the death a suicide.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -48,7 +56,7 @@ The family disputed the suicide ruling, citing Casolaro's known fear of blood an
|
|||
|
||||
Casolaro had packed his notes, handwritten outlines, a 12-page Riconosciuto memo detailing PROMIS allegations, newspaper clippings, and names of former CIA officers and arms dealers into a black leather tote bag and a dark brown briefcase when he left for Martinsburg. The briefcase, which his associates said contained documents central to his investigation, was not recovered.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In 2024, Martinsburg police released records under a Freedom of Information Act request by researchers Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen. These records indicated that another person had visited Casolaro's room on the night of August 9, and that an eyewitness had provided police with a written statement and sketch of this visitor — a description matching [[Joseph Cuellar]], a man who had made contact with Casolaro weeks earlier at a local bar. Cuellar had described himself to Casolaro as a Special Forces operative and had offered to arrange a meeting between Casolaro and [[Peter Videnieks]], the DOJ contracting official central to the PROMIS case, through Videnieks' wife Barbara, who served as executive assistant to Senator [[Robert Byrd]].[^1]
|
||||
In 2024, Martinsburg police released records under a Freedom of Information Act request by researchers Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen. These records indicated that another person had visited Casolaro's room on the night of August 9, and that an eyewitness had provided police with a written statement and sketch of this visitor - a description matching [[Joseph Cuellar]], a man who had made contact with Casolaro weeks earlier at a local bar. Cuellar had described himself to Casolaro as a Special Forces operative and had offered to arrange a meeting between Casolaro and [[Peter Videnieks]], the DOJ contracting official central to the PROMIS case, through Videnieks' wife Barbara, who served as executive assistant to Senator [[Robert Byrd]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congressional and Official Findings
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -56,7 +64,7 @@ The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report noted that Casolaro had "e
|
|||
|
||||
The Bua Report, completed in March 1993, concluded that the physical evidence "strongly supported" the suicide finding, that DOJ had not influenced the local investigation, and that Casolaro had possessed "ample reason to commit suicide," being unemployed, financially dependent on family, facing a balloon mortgage, and unable to sell his book.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
FBI task force members assigned to examine Casolaro's death privately "questioned the conclusion of suicide" and recommended further investigation; expressing doubt about the ruling reportedly "risked one's career" within the Bureau as of December 1992. FBI documents related to Casolaro remain partially withheld from public release under national security exemptions, while the Bureau simultaneously claims the files are missing — a contradiction noted by MuckRock journalists who filed FOIA requests.[^1]
|
||||
FBI task force members assigned to examine Casolaro's death privately "questioned the conclusion of suicide" and recommended further investigation; expressing doubt about the ruling reportedly "risked one's career" within the Bureau as of December 1992. FBI documents related to Casolaro remain partially withheld from public release under national security exemptions, while the Bureau simultaneously claims the files are missing - a contradiction noted by MuckRock journalists who filed FOIA requests.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In early 1994, the [[Department of Justice]] announced it was opening "a nationwide investigation" into Casolaro's death, ordered by associate attorney general [[Webb Hubbell]]. Shortly thereafter, Hubbell pleaded guilty to crimes committed while an Arkansas lawyer and resigned from DOJ. Whether the Casolaro investigation proceeded or produced findings was never made public.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ location: "Nampa, Idaho"
|
|||
|
||||
Elgin demonstrated strong psychic abilities, performing well in remote viewing tests and even trying his hand at psychokinesis. He claimed to have made a pendulum swing wildly just by concentrating on it. His interest in [[Parapsychology|psi]] phenomena intensified and began to profoundly change his life. He wrote a futurological report declaring that if psi were not taken more seriously by mainstream science, there might soon be a "civil war" between psychics and non-psychics.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Elgin eventually left SRI and took up with a Tibetan guru. He remained sane and functional, later becoming a successful author. His psi experiences at SRI were deeply transformative for him, leading him to believe that "Once you discover that space doesn't matter, or that time can be travelled through at will so that time doesn't matter, and that matter can be moved by consciousness so that matter doesn't matter—well, you can't go home again."[^1]
|
||||
Elgin eventually left SRI and took up with a Tibetan guru. He remained sane and functional, later becoming a successful author. His psi experiences at SRI were deeply transformative for him, leading him to believe that "Once you discover that space doesn't matter, or that time can be travelled through at will so that time doesn't matter, and that matter can be moved by consciousness so that matter doesn't matter - well, you can't go home again."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,23 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||
title: Earl Brian
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Earl Brian
|
||||
- Earl W. Brian
|
||||
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- DoJ
|
||||
summary: "Earl Brian was a California physician and businessman who served in Ronald Reagan's California cabinet alongside Edwin Meese and was named by INSLAW, Michael Riconosciuto, and the House Judiciary Committee as the central figure in the alleged conspiracy to steal and distribute the PROMIS software."
|
||||
- Business
|
||||
- OctoberSurprise
|
||||
- IranContra
|
||||
born: 1942-02-26
|
||||
died: 2020-11-02
|
||||
location: "California"
|
||||
summary: "Earl Brian was a California physician, businessman, and Reagan cabinet official who served alongside Edwin Meese and was named by INSLAW, Michael Riconosciuto, and the House Judiciary Committee as the alleged central figure in the theft and international distribution of the PROMIS software."
|
||||
---
|
||||
Earl W. Brian was a physician, businessman, and California government official who served in Governor [[Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan's]] state cabinet alongside [[Edwin Meese]]. Brian co-founded Biotech Capital Corporation and held a controlling interest in [[Hadron]], a technology and information services company. He later founded Infotechnology, Inc. He had served in Vietnam, where his background in the Phoenix Program reportedly brought him into contact with intelligence networks that would intersect with his later activities.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -31,11 +39,11 @@ The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report (House Report 102-857) des
|
|||
|
||||
Brian owned [[Hadron]] at the time of Riconosciuto's 1992 drug trial in Tacoma, Washington. During that trial, [[Peter Videnieks]] testified about his contact with PROMIS software but denied ever hearing of the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture or meeting Brian. When pressed about his familiarity with Hadron and its ownership, Videnieks was evasive; he acknowledged knowing Hadron existed but declined to elaborate on any connection to Brian.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Bua Report investigation surfaced a reference to "Project Eagle," a multi-million dollar DOJ technology modernization initiative, in connection with Brian. Jensen denied any involvement in awarding Project Eagle contracts. The Report noted that the project's Request for Proposals was issued in May 1986 — while Jensen was still at DOJ — though Jensen was appointed to the bench the following month.[^2]
|
||||
The Bua Report investigation surfaced a reference to "Project Eagle," a multi-million dollar DOJ technology modernization initiative, in connection with Brian. Jensen denied any involvement in awarding Project Eagle contracts. The Report noted that the project's Request for Proposals was issued in May 1986 - while Jensen was still at DOJ - though Jensen was appointed to the bench the following month.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### October Surprise Allegations
|
||||
|
||||
Riconosciuto further claimed that he and Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to persuade them not to release the U.S. hostages before Reagan's inauguration — an allegation that would link Brian directly to the [[October Surprise]] conspiracy. This claim created what Riconosciuto described as a "domino effect" in Washington and generated additional investigations and media attention.[^3]
|
||||
Riconosciuto further claimed that he and Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to persuade them not to release the U.S. hostages before Reagan's inauguration - an allegation that would link Brian directly to the [[October Surprise]] conspiracy. This claim created what Riconosciuto described as a "domino effect" in Washington and generated additional investigations and media attention.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Bua Report found no credible evidence to support the Iran trip allegation. Evidence placed Brian in New York at the time of the alleged journey. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had separately found "no proof" of any connection between Brian or Hadron and DOJ with regard to the INSLAW contract as early as September 1989.[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,18 +1,41 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Ed Dames
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Ed Dames
|
||||
- Edward Dames
|
||||
- Major Ed Dames
|
||||
category: "Military"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
summary: "U.S. Army officer who served as remote viewing session monitor and analyst in the Stargate Project, later a controversial public figure in the field."
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
- 1990s
|
||||
summary: "Ed Dames was a U.S. Army Major who served as the remote viewing unit's training and operations officer at Fort Meade during the Center Lane and Sun Streak programs before retiring to found PSI Tech and becoming a controversial public figure known for apocalyptic predictions."
|
||||
born: 1946-03-22
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ed Dames was a [[U.S. Army]] Major who served as training and operations officer in the classified remote viewing unit at [[Fort Meade]], Maryland, during the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Center Lane]] and Sun Streak phases of the program in the 1980s and early 1990s. Within the unit he occupied a managerial and analytical role rather than being a primary operational viewer himself, working with [[Edwin May]] and the DIA sponsorship structure. His post-military public profile, built on commercial remote viewing training and alarming predictions about planetary catastrophe, made him simultaneously the most publicly visible and most criticized figure to emerge from the Fort Meade program.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Ed Dames]] was a [[U.S. Army]] officer who served as a [[Remote Viewing|remote viewing]] session monitor and analyst within the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Stargate Project]]. He later became a public figure in remote viewing circles, known for his predictions and teachings on the subject. Dames' public profile contributed to the popularization of remote viewing after the program's declassification, though his claims often generated controversy.[^1]
|
||||
### Fort Meade Service
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
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.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
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]
|
||||
|
||||
### PSI Tech and Public Career
|
||||
|
||||
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.
|
||||
|
||||
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.
|
||||
|
||||
The contrast between Dames's specific, confident, and typically non-materializing predictions and the more methodologically careful public statements of other former unit personnel such as [[Joe McMoneagle]] and [[Lyn Buchanan]] became a defining tension in how the program's legacy was presented to the public. McMoneagle in particular explicitly distanced himself from Dames's claims and methods in his own writing and interviews.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^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.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
73
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ewen Cameron.md
Normal file
73
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ewen Cameron.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Ewen Cameron
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- D. Ewen Cameron
|
||||
- Donald Ewen Cameron
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- MKULTRA
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Psychiatry
|
||||
- Canada
|
||||
- HumanExperimentation
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
summary: "Ewen Cameron was a Scottish-Canadian psychiatrist and president of the American Psychiatric Association who ran CIA-funded MKULTRA Subproject 68 at McGill University's Allan Memorial Institute from 1957 to 1963, subjecting unconsenting psychiatric patients to multi-week drug-induced sleep, massive electroconvulsive shocks, and LSD under his theory of 'psychic driving' as behavioral depatterning."
|
||||
born: 1901-12-24
|
||||
died: 1967-09-08
|
||||
location: "Montreal, Quebec, Canada"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Donald Ewen Cameron (December 24, 1901 - September 8, 1967) was a Scottish-born psychiatrist who served simultaneously as director of the [[Allan Memorial Institute]] at [[McGill University]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec|Quebec, Canada]], president of the [[American Psychiatric Association]] (1952-1953), founding president of the [[World Psychiatric Association]], and a recipient of [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] funding under [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]] Subproject 68 to test his theory of "psychic driving" - the belief that human personalities could be erased and rebuilt through extended sensory deprivation, electroconvulsive therapy, and drug administration. The patients subjected to his experimental protocols had not consented to research; they sought treatment for ordinary psychiatric conditions and emerged, in many cases, with severe and permanent cognitive damage. Cameron died in 1967 before the program's exposure, but the Canadian government ultimately paid compensation to approximately 80 identified victims.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career and Standing
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron was born in Bridge of Allan, [[Scotland]], and emigrated to [[Canada]] via the [[United States]], where he trained in psychiatry at the Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins and at the Burgholzli clinic in [[Zurich]] under Hans W. Maier. He joined McGill University in 1943 and was appointed professor and director of psychiatry. He founded and directed the Allan Memorial Institute, established in 1943 at Ravenscrag, a Victorian mansion on the slopes of Mount Royal donated to McGill for psychiatric use.
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron was not a marginal or disreputable figure in his field. He was among the most prominent psychiatrists in North America: the American Psychiatric Association elected him president for 1952-1953, and he later helped found and led the World Psychiatric Association. He participated in the Nuremberg medical trials as a consultant, assessing the mental fitness of Rudolf Hess. His institutional standing made him precisely the kind of researcher through whom the CIA could fund sensitive experimentation with a veneer of academic legitimacy.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Psychic Driving Theory
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron's theoretical framework rested on a conviction that the human personality was not permanently fixed and could be "depatterned" - that existing behavioral and psychological structures could be dismantled through sufficiently prolonged physiological disruption, and that new patterns could then be installed through repetitive auditory suggestion ("psychic driving"). His research publications from the 1950s articulate this theory and describe early experiments at Allan Memorial using sleep therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and drug administration.
|
||||
|
||||
The theory had no established empirical foundation and significant contradictory evidence. Cameron pursued it with institutional resources and CIA funding in the conviction that the mechanism was real and therapeutically and operationally valuable.
|
||||
|
||||
### MKULTRA Subproject 68
|
||||
|
||||
[[Sidney Gottlieb]], directing MKULTRA from the CIA's [[Technical Services Division]], funded Cameron through the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]] (a CIA cut-out foundation) beginning in 1957. The Society approved Cameron's proposals and provided funding without identifying the CIA as the ultimate source. Cameron's participation in the funding relationship is debated: CIA documents suggest he knew the source was a government intelligence program; Cameron's defenders argued he believed he was receiving conventional research funding and did not know it was CIA money. The documentary record is ambiguous.
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron's experimental protocol under Subproject 68 included:
|
||||
- "Depatterning": drug-induced sleep lasting from 15 to 65 continuous days, maintained by barbiturates and other sedatives. Patients in this phase had no normal waking periods and were kept sedated around the clock.
|
||||
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) administered at voltages 20 to 40 times the normal therapeutic level and at frequencies of two to three times daily rather than the normal schedule of several times per week.
|
||||
- LSD and other psychotropic drugs including mescaline administered throughout the sleep and ECT phases.
|
||||
- Isolation from external sensory stimulation.
|
||||
- "Psychic driving": extended playback of recorded verbal phrases, sometimes the patient's own voice, repeated 150,000 to 500,000 times over weeks through speakers installed under the patient's pillow.
|
||||
|
||||
The patients subjected to these protocols presented for treatment of conditions including depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia - not the severe, intractable psychiatric illness that might conceivably have justified experimental interventions. None was informed their treatment was experimental. None consented to research participation. None was told CIA funding was involved.
|
||||
|
||||
Many patients emerged from the depatterning protocols with severe and permanent retrograde amnesia - loss of memories of their adult lives, their families, and sometimes childhood. Some lost basic skills including bladder control and the ability to feed themselves and required months of institutional care to relearn them. Psychological damage beyond the original presenting conditions was common. Several patients have described emerging from Cameron's care effectively as new persons, unable to remember their previous lives.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The KUBARK Connection
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron's depatterning and psychic driving research was directly incorporated into the CIA's [[KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation]] manual, a classified 1963 document that codified interrogation techniques for operational use. KUBARK drew explicitly on MKULTRA-era research, including techniques for disorientation, identity disruption through environmental manipulation, and the use of prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation to accelerate psychological regression. The specific techniques Cameron developed - extended isolation, sleep disruption, and repetitive auditory input - appear in KUBARK's discussion of coercive interrogation as methods with documented physiological and psychological effects.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Exposure and Compensation
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron died of a heart attack while mountain climbing in [[Vermont]] on September 8, 1967 - before MKULTRA was publicly disclosed and before any legal or institutional accountability for his experiments became possible.
|
||||
|
||||
When the surviving MKULTRA documents were disclosed through FOIA in 1977, the Allan Memorial experiments became one of the most publicly reported aspects of the program because of the documented severity of the harm to patients and because the victims were Canadian citizens who had sought treatment rather than prisoners or drug users who could be marginalized.
|
||||
|
||||
Nine victims filed suit against the CIA in the [[United States]] District Court for the District of Columbia. After years of litigation over jurisdictional questions and state secrets claims, the CIA settled with the nine plaintiffs in 1988 for $750,000 total.
|
||||
|
||||
The Canadian government, under pressure from the settlements and public disclosure, established a compensation program in 1994 that paid C$100,000 to each of approximately 80 identified victims of Cameron's experimental protocols. The program excluded victims who could not document participation in the specific experimental regimen, and advocacy groups argued the number of affected patients was considerably higher than the 80 compensated.
|
||||
|
||||
McGill University declined to participate in compensation and maintained that the research had been conducted independently of the university's oversight structures.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Collins, Anne. *In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada.* Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1988 (the primary account of Cameron and the Allan Memorial experiments). Marks, John. *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control.* Times Books, 1979, Chapter 8. Kinzer, Stephen. *Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control.* Henry Holt and Company, 2019.
|
||||
[^2]: CIA. *KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation.* July 1963 (declassified 1997). Available: nsarchive.gwu.edu. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 122.
|
||||
|
|
@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Contra_War
|
||||
summary: Salvadoran elite and D'Aubuisson aide caught with $5.9 million in cash at a Texas airport who later flew Contra drug flights out of Ilopango.
|
||||
---
|
||||
Francisco "Chico" Guirola Beeche was the scion of one of [[El Salvador]]'s most influential families and a top aide to Salvadoran death squad leader [[Roberto D'Aubuisson]] who became one of the busiest Contra drug pilots at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]]. He had been caught with $5.9 million in cash—the largest cash seizure in Texas history—yet received only probation from the Justice Department.[^1]
|
||||
Francisco "Chico" Guirola Beeche was the scion of one of [[El Salvador]]'s most influential families and a top aide to Salvadoran death squad leader [[Roberto D'Aubuisson]] who became one of the busiest Contra drug pilots at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]]. He had been caught with $5.9 million in cash - the largest cash seizure in Texas history - yet received only probation from the Justice Department.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The $5.9 Million Seizure
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,22 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Frank Church
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Frank Church
|
||||
- Frank Forrester Church III
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- US_Senate
|
||||
- Church_Committee
|
||||
- USSenate
|
||||
- ChurchCommittee
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- FBI
|
||||
- Congressional_Investigation
|
||||
- Cold_War
|
||||
- 1975
|
||||
- 1976
|
||||
summary: "Frank Church (1924-1984) was a Democratic senator from Idaho who chaired the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (1975-1976), the landmark investigation that documented COINTELPRO, Operation CHAOS, assassination plots against foreign leaders, and illegal domestic surveillance by the CIA, FBI, and NSA."
|
||||
- CongressionalInvestigation
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Frank Church was a Democratic senator from Idaho who chaired the 1975-1976 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities that documented COINTELPRO, Operation CHAOS, assassination plots against foreign leaders, and illegal domestic surveillance by the CIA, FBI, and NSA."
|
||||
born: 1924-07-25
|
||||
died: 1984-04-07
|
||||
location: "Boise, Idaho"
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,38 +1,51 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Frederick Atwater
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Frederick Atwater
|
||||
- Skip Atwater
|
||||
- Frederick Holmes Atwater
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
summary: "Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater was born in Glendale, California, growing up in a house with land, dogs, cats, a goat, and a donkey."
|
||||
born: 1947
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- RemoteViewing
|
||||
- MonroeInstitute
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
category: "Military"
|
||||
summary: "Frederick 'Skip' Atwater was the U.S. Army intelligence officer who proposed and organized the military remote viewing program at Fort Meade in 1977, recruited and managed the original STARGATE viewers including Joe McMoneagle and Mel Riley, and served as the program's operations officer until his retirement in 1987."
|
||||
born: 1947-01-01
|
||||
location: "Glendale, California"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater (born 1947, Glendale, California) was the [[U.S. Army]] intelligence officer at [[Fort Meade]], Maryland, who proposed the formation of a military remote viewing unit in 1977, recruited its initial personnel, and served as its operations officer through the program's most active period until his retirement from the Army in 1987. His proposal directly initiated what became the [[STARGATE PROJECT]] series of programs - Gondola Wish, Grill Flame, Center Lane, Sun Streak - that constituted the military's remote viewing research and intelligence effort for nearly two decades.
|
||||
|
||||
Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater was born in Glendale, California, growing up in a house with land, dogs, cats, a goat, and a donkey. His father was a dentist, and his mother, a homemaker, held a strong belief in the paranormal. Atwater himself had out-of-body experiences as a teenager, sometimes using this ability to "float" to distant locations. He was intrigued by the possibilities of the paranormal and had heard rumors of Soviet and CIA psi research, including successful outcomes.[^1]
|
||||
### Army Career and STARGATE Initiation
|
||||
|
||||
He joined the [[U.S. Army]] and after officer candidate training and espionage school at [[Fort Huachuca]], Arizona, he arrived at [[Fort Meade]] in the summer of 1977. This was a period of significant reorganization within Army intelligence, with the formation of the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command]] (INSCOM). Atwater was assigned to an operations security (opsec) team that became part of the [[Systems Exploitation Detachment]] (SED).[^1]
|
||||
Atwater joined the U.S. Army and completed officer candidate school and military intelligence training at [[Fort Huachuca]], Arizona, before arriving at Fort Meade in the summer of 1977. He was assigned to the [[Systems Exploitation Detachment]] (SED) within the [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] structure. He had a personal interest in parapsychology and had heard reports of extensive Soviet research into psychic phenomena and CIA experiments at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]].
|
||||
|
||||
Atwater had a strong interest in psychic phenomena and, after discovering documents left by a predecessor, Colonel Kowalski, he began to argue that remote viewing represented a potential security threat that the Army's opsec teams should study. He proposed to the head of SED, Colonel [[Robert Keenan]], that a small remote-viewing team be assembled, screening Army intelligence personnel for psychic abilities. The proposal was approved by Major General [[Edmund Thompson]], the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence (ACSI), who had his own interest in psi and wanted a secret unit of experimental psychic spies.[^1]
|
||||
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.
|
||||
|
||||
The project was initially codenamed [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]], and Atwater, along with his commanding officer, Major [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]], was tasked with selecting and training the first remote viewers. They recruited a team of six from the local population of Army intelligence personnel, including [[Mel Riley]], [[Joe McMoneagle]], and [[Ken Bell]]. Atwater and Watt visited [[Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI) to understand how to select good remote viewers, learning that artistic talent, visual-spatial intelligence, and creativity were associated with high scores. They used a stealthier approach to recruitment, contacting INSCOM unit commanders and the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) to identify potential candidates, particularly photo-interpreters, and then conducting personal interviews focusing on paranormal beliefs and experiences.[^1]
|
||||
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.
|
||||
|
||||
Atwater served as the unit's operations officer, shaping incoming taskings into remote-viewing strategies, deciding who would serve as monitor and viewer, and presenting the final product. He was a firm believer in the potential of remote viewing and was a staunch defender of the program. He often dealt with officials from other agencies, ensuring the remote viewers provided the necessary information. He emphasized a "blind" protocol for initial sessions, where the viewer knew only the target type, allowing for self-correction. He also discovered that certain viewers had unique talents, such as [[Ken Bell]]'s ability to connect with human targets, [[Mel Riley]]'s artistic skill, [[Hartleigh Trent]]'s ability to take directions, and [[Joe McMoneagle]]'s talent for picking up technological details and perceiving radioactive material as a green haze.[^1]
|
||||
### Operations Officer
|
||||
|
||||
Atwater experimented with various applications of remote viewing, including informal "associative remote viewing" (ARV) experiments to win the Maryland lottery and a treasure hunt in Virginia, though these were unsuccessful. He also came up with suggestions for psi countermeasures, such as placing gifts from Communist countries in innocuous locations and festooning sensitive sites with strange objects to confuse Soviet remote viewers, though these were largely dismissed by mainstream intelligence officials.[^1]
|
||||
When the program transitioned from experimental to operational status and was redesignated Grill Flame in late 1978, Atwater continued as operations officer. His role was to receive incoming intelligence taskings from requesting agencies - CIA, NSA, DIA, military commands - shape them into appropriate remote viewing protocols, select the viewer and monitor for each session, manage the actual session process, and package the product. He maintained a deliberate "blind" protocol for initial sessions, ensuring viewers received only the minimum necessary targeting information (often just a geographic coordinate or object description) to minimize analytical contamination.
|
||||
|
||||
When the program became operational and was renamed [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]], Atwater continued in his role as operations officer. He faced challenges, including the "giggle factor" from skeptical officials and the intense pressure during the Iran hostage crisis, which led to burnout among the remote viewers. He remained with the unit until his retirement from the Army in 1987 or 1988, managing to keep a nucleus of original members in place.[^1]
|
||||
He identified the unique operational profiles of each viewer: McMoneagle's particular accuracy with technical details and nuclear material; Riley's artistic descriptive ability; Bell's strength with human targets; Trent's responsiveness to structured guidance. Matching viewer profiles to target types became a core element of his operational management.
|
||||
|
||||
After retiring from the Army, Atwater became the director of research for the [[Monroe Institute]] and then acting director following the death of [[Laurie Monroe]] and finally President in 2006 until his retirement in 2012.
|
||||
The program faced intense pressure during the 1980 Iran hostage crisis, with remote viewers receiving repeated taskings to identify the hostages' location and condition. The sustained operations tempo during this period contributed to burnout among some viewers.
|
||||
|
||||
### Publications
|
||||
Atwater published or contributed to numerous papers regarding [[Hemi-Sync]] for the [[Monroe Institute]].
|
||||
### Books
|
||||
Atwater wrote a book of memoirs released 2001 entitled *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance* (ISBN-10 1571742476).
|
||||
In 2024, he released *Project 8200: UFO/UAP Bases and Activities: The original Remote Viewing Transcripts* (ISBN-10 3911151047).
|
||||
# Footnotes
|
||||
### Retirement and Monroe Institute
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
Atwater retired from the Army approximately in 1987. He subsequently joined the [[Monroe Institute]] in Faber, Virginia - the consciousness research organization founded by Robert Monroe that had been a resource for some STARGATE viewers interested in out-of-body techniques and altered states. He served as the institute's director of research, then acting director following Laurie Monroe's death, and was appointed president in 2006, a position he held until his retirement in 2012.
|
||||
|
||||
He published a memoir, *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance* (Hampton Roads, 2001), describing his Army remote viewing career and subsequent work at the Monroe Institute. In 2024, he published *Project 8200: UFO/UAP Bases and Activities: The Original Remote Viewing Transcripts*, presenting declassified STARGATE session transcripts.
|
||||
|
||||
### 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, pp. 103-130 (comprehensive account of Atwater's STARGATE role). Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997, pp. 135-170.
|
||||
[^2]: Atwater, Frederick Holmes. *Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance.* Hampton Roads, 2001.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was a copilot who flew CIA-protected drug and weapons flights for the Contras and testified under oath as a Justice Department witness.
|
||||
location: "Akron, Ohio"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was a copilot who flew weapons and drug missions for Colombian trafficker [[George Morales]] in support of the [[Contras]]. Betzner, who had pleaded guilty to federal drug charges, testified during a federal trial in Oklahoma as a witness for the Justice Department—not as a defendant.[^1]
|
||||
Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was a copilot who flew weapons and drug missions for Colombian trafficker [[George Morales]] in support of the [[Contras]]. Betzner, who had pleaded guilty to federal drug charges, testified during a federal trial in Oklahoma as a witness for the Justice Department - not as a defendant.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sworn Testimony
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ When asked by a defense lawyer if CIA people permitted him to fly airplanes into
|
|||
|
||||
Betzner said he was not surprised that his boss Morales was helping the Contras: "No, actually, I wasn't surprised by it because I knew that George was anti-Communist, as are most Colombians. So the Cartel and people like that are definitely anti-Communist. . .It's strictly a capitalist movement, this drug business."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Betzner and [[Fabio Ernesto Carrasco|"Tito" Carrasco]] both confirmed George Morales's story about flying weapons to [[John Hull]]'s ranch in northern [[Costa Rica]] and returning with cocaine—under oath as U.S. government witnesses. George Morales also passed a DEA-administered lie detector test about his Contra drug dealings.[^1]
|
||||
Betzner and [[Fabio Ernesto Carrasco|"Tito" Carrasco]] both confirmed George Morales's story about flying weapons to [[John Hull]]'s ranch in northern [[Costa Rica]] and returning with cocaine - under oath as U.S. government witnesses. George Morales also passed a DEA-administered lie detector test about his Contra drug dealings.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,19 +1,23 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: George Blake
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- George Blake
|
||||
- Georgi Behar
|
||||
- Georg Ernst Behar
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- MI6
|
||||
- KGB
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
- DoubleAgent
|
||||
- OperationGold
|
||||
- Soviet
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
summary: "George Blake (1922-2020) was a British MI6 officer and KGB double agent, recruited during Korean War captivity, who betrayed approximately 40 agents and revealed Operation Gold before its construction, before escaping a 42-year sentence to Moscow in 1966."
|
||||
summary: "George Blake was a British MI6 officer and KGB double agent, recruited during Korean War captivity, who betrayed approximately 40 agents and revealed Operation Gold before construction began, escaped a 42-year sentence from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966, and died in Moscow in December 2020 at age 98."
|
||||
born: 1922-11-11
|
||||
died: 2020-12-26
|
||||
location: "Moscow, Russia"
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Judge
|
||||
summary: "George Francis Bason Jr. was the D.C. Bankruptcy Court judge who ruled in 1987 that the DOJ stole INSLAW's PROMIS software by trickery, fraud, and deceit, and whose non-reappointment generated allegations of DOJ retaliation."
|
||||
---
|
||||
George Francis Bason Jr. was appointed to the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia on February 8, 1984, to fill a vacancy. His four-year term expired February 8, 1988. The two proceedings he presided over in the [[INSLAW]] case produced the most damaging judicial findings against the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]] in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] — findings that were ultimately reversed on jurisdictional grounds but that shaped congressional investigations for years afterward.[^1]
|
||||
George Francis Bason Jr. was appointed to the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia on February 8, 1984, to fill a vacancy. His four-year term expired February 8, 1988. The two proceedings he presided over in the [[INSLAW]] case produced the most damaging judicial findings against the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]] in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] - findings that were ultimately reversed on jurisdictional grounds but that shaped congressional investigations for years afterward.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Independent Handling Proceeding (June 1987)
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,20 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Henry Belk
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Henry Belk
|
||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||
- Henry Belk
|
||||
category: "Philanthropists & Benefactors"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
summary: "Henry Belk was a department store tycoon and a wealthy benefactor of Andrija Puharich's research into ESP and other anomalous mental phenomena."
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- Parapsychology
|
||||
- RoundTableFoundation
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
summary: "Henry Belk was a North Carolina department store magnate and wealthy funder of Andrija Puharich's Round Table Foundation who brought Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos to Maine for testing in 1956 and helped finance Puharich's Brazilian expeditions."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Henry Belk
|
||||
|
||||
Henry Belk was a department store tycoon and a wealthy benefactor of [[Andrija Puharich]]'s research into [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and other anomalous mental phenomena. He was part of the elite circle of individuals who supported the [[Round Table Foundation]] in Maine[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Belk was one of the wealthy individuals who joined the [[Round Table Foundation]], flying to Maine in his private jet for foundation meetings. His financial contributions helped keep the foundation afloat, particularly after it gained prestige from its affiliation with [[Samuel Rosen]]'s groundbreaking surgical procedure[^1].
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
|||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
summary: "Beecher's work contributed to the understanding of how perception of an event or a situation—real or imagined, rational or irrational—can cause consequential actions to occur."
|
||||
summary: "Beecher's work contributed to the understanding of how perception of an event or a situation - real or imagined, rational or irrational - can cause consequential actions to occur."
|
||||
born: 1904-02-04
|
||||
died: 1976-07-25
|
||||
location: "Peck, Kansas"
|
||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "Peck, Kansas"
|
|||
|
||||
Henry K. Beecher (1904–1976) was a controversial anesthesiologist who, for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in the 1950s, studied the [[Placebo Effect]]. The placebo effect is a remarkable phenomenon whereby a harmless pill or simulated treatment produces real-world physiological effects in humans[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Beecher's work contributed to the understanding of how perception of an event or a situation—real or imagined, rational or irrational—can cause consequential actions to occur. This concept is also related to the [[Thomas Theorem]], which states that "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"[^1].
|
||||
Beecher's work contributed to the understanding of how perception of an event or a situation - real or imagined, rational or irrational - can cause consequential actions to occur. This concept is also related to the [[Thomas Theorem]], which states that "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"[^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.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ summary: Pseudonym of a Venezuelan CIA contract agent who handled logistics on t
|
|||
|
||||
### Meetings with Cabezas
|
||||
|
||||
In April or May 1982, [[Horacio Pereira]] and [[Troilo Sanchez|Troilo Sánchez]] introduced Carlos Cabezas to Gómez at a San José hotel. Gómez told Cabezas he was with the CIA—the agency's "man in Costa Rica"—and was there to "ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket." Cabezas saw Gómez only once more, in late summer 1982, when he was met at the San José airport by Pereira and the CIA agent, but Gómez did not speak during the second meeting.[^2]
|
||||
In April or May 1982, [[Horacio Pereira]] and [[Troilo Sanchez|Troilo Sánchez]] introduced Carlos Cabezas to Gómez at a San José hotel. Gómez told Cabezas he was with the CIA - the agency's "man in Costa Rica" - and was there to "ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket." Cabezas saw Gómez only once more, in late summer 1982, when he was met at the San José airport by Pereira and the CIA agent, but Gómez did not speak during the second meeting.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### CIA Confirmation
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -125,6 +125,12 @@ His Church Committee testimony across 1975-1976 was extensive and carefully mana
|
|||
|
||||
He never wrote a memoir. He grew orchids and tied fly-fishing lures and continued to believe in the reality of Soviet strategic penetration until his death from lung cancer on May 11, 1987.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Assessment
|
||||
|
||||
Angleton's defenders argue that he identified real Soviet penetration threats that the CIA's operational leadership underestimated, and that the mole hunt's failures reflected the inherent difficulty of counterintelligence work rather than his analytical failures. His critics argue that his post-Philby paranoia made him an unreliable analyst whose certainty that moles existed caused him to manufacture evidence of penetrations that did not exist, damaging innocent officers and paralyzing Soviet operations while the genuine problems he was addressing went inadequately addressed.
|
||||
|
||||
The structural problem his career illustrated was the difficulty of evaluating counterintelligence work: a counterintelligence chief who produces no confirmed moles might be doing excellent work that prevents penetrations, or might be failing to identify penetrations that exist, or might be generating false positives. Angleton's record combined a real strategic contribution - building the CIA's Israeli intelligence relationship, developing its understanding of KGB active measures - with institutional damage that was extensive and in several cases provably wrongful. The actual moles he feared - Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen - were not identified until years after his death, vindicating his premise about the reality of Soviet penetration while confirming his methods had targeted entirely the wrong people.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Mangold, Tom. *Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton - The CIA's Master Spy Hunter*. Simon & Schuster, 1991. Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Burleigh, Nina. *A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer*. Bantam Books, 1998.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,23 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: John B. Alexander
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- John B. Alexander
|
||||
- John B. Alexander
|
||||
- Lieutenant Colonel John B. Alexander
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
- Colonel John Alexander
|
||||
category: "Military"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "Lieutenant Colonel John B."
|
||||
born: 1937
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- INSCOM
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- Army
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
- 1990s
|
||||
summary: "John B. Alexander was a Green Beret colonel and Special Forces Vietnam veteran who authored the 1980 Military Review article on psychic warfare, ran INSCOM's Advanced Human Technology Office under Albert Stubblebine, and became one of the most prominent advocates for non-lethal weapons and anomalous phenomena research within the U.S. military establishment."
|
||||
born: 1937-01-01
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Gacy lured victims with job offers through PDM. Gacy used a handcuff trick to in
|
|||
The investigation started after [[Robert Piest]]'s disappearance on December 11, 1978. Pharmacy owner [[Phil Torf]] and coworker [[Kim Byers]] identified Gacy as the contractor Piest met. Des Plaines Police Captain [[Joseph Kozenczak]] pulled Gacy's 1968 assault record and executed a search warrant on December 13 at Gacy's home, seizing incriminating items including [[John Szyc]]'s ring. Cram reported on December 16 Gacy's syndicate claims, dead persons' driver's licenses in the garage, and Gacy entering the crawlspace post-search. Rossi confirmed on December 17 receiving Szyc's car from Gacy and the licenses. Kozenczak spoke with ex-wife [[Carole Hoff]] on December 17 about Butkovich, making Gacy prime suspect in three disappearances. A second search warrant on December 21, based on a photo processing receipt from Piest's pocket found in Gacy's trash and Detective [[Robert Schultz]] smelling decomposition on December 19 surveillance, revealed a flooded crawlspace; once drained, it yielded the first of 29 bodies. Gacy was arrested on December 21 at a gas station and stated upon arrival "Who else do we have in the police station. There are others involved." During interrogation, Gacy named Cram and Rossi and confessed to some murders. The trial began in February 1980, resulting in conviction in March 1980 for 33 murders and a death sentence. Prosecutor [[Terry Sullivan]] published "The Killer Clown" in 1983. In 1979, police investigated three potential accomplices including Rossi for involvement or knowledge of assaults and murders. Court files listed [[Phillip Paske]] as a possible witness for prosecution and defense. A 1987 [[Chicago Tribune]] article noted the [[Chicago Ripper Crew]] leader, suspected of killing 17 women in 1981-1982, did construction work for Gacy and criticized his body disposal.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections to Networks
|
||||
Gacy connected to [[John David Norman]] through [[Phillip Paske]], Norman's accomplice in the [[Delta Project]] and [[Odyssey Network]]. Gacy claimed in 1992 interviews that Paske and Norman made snuff films with young boys, pimping and selling them, though Gacy was evasive about meeting Norman and suggested learning of him via news on Paske's jail newsletter. Paske, paroled in January 1976 after assisting Norman from Cook County Jail, lived with Norman in a Chicago, Illinois, basement apartment on W. Wrightwood Avenue in May 1977, twenty minutes from Gacy's home, where they produced pornography until a June 1978 raid, after which Paske joined PDM in September 1978. Gacy's 1994 pre-execution recording stated twelve keys were distributed to his house, with Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman involved, and archives confirmed Paske's employment and Gacy's absences aligning with victim disappearances during Norman's free periods in [[Chicago]]. Similarities to [[Dean Corll]]'s crimes include handcuff tricks and torture boards, 28 to 33 male youth victims aged 13 to 21, burying most under properties, teenage accomplices claiming syndicate ties, and connections to Norman's network—Corll via investigation suspicions, Gacy via confirmed Paske employment.[^1]
|
||||
Gacy connected to [[John David Norman]] through [[Phillip Paske]], Norman's accomplice in the [[Delta Project]] and [[Odyssey Network]]. Gacy claimed in 1992 interviews that Paske and Norman made snuff films with young boys, pimping and selling them, though Gacy was evasive about meeting Norman and suggested learning of him via news on Paske's jail newsletter. Paske, paroled in January 1976 after assisting Norman from Cook County Jail, lived with Norman in a Chicago, Illinois, basement apartment on W. Wrightwood Avenue in May 1977, twenty minutes from Gacy's home, where they produced pornography until a June 1978 raid, after which Paske joined PDM in September 1978. Gacy's 1994 pre-execution recording stated twelve keys were distributed to his house, with Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman involved, and archives confirmed Paske's employment and Gacy's absences aligning with victim disappearances during Norman's free periods in [[Chicago]]. Similarities to [[Dean Corll]]'s crimes include handcuff tricks and torture boards, 28 to 33 male youth victims aged 13 to 21, burying most under properties, teenage accomplices claiming syndicate ties, and connections to Norman's network - Corll via investigation suspicions, Gacy via confirmed Paske employment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Execution
|
||||
Gacy exhausted appeals up to the Supreme Court by 1992. Gacy claimed accomplices Cram, Rossi, Paske, and Norman in TV interviews to seek reexamination and delay execution, stating Paske procured boys and all had house keys during his travels. In April 1994, a $1.99-per-minute reverse-charge phone line played Gacy's recording proclaiming innocence and implicating employees with keys, including Rossi, Cram, Paske, and Norman. Gacy was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -18,13 +18,13 @@ Joseph Fernandez served as the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s station chief i
|
|||
|
||||
### Knowledge of Drug Trafficking
|
||||
|
||||
Fernandez confirmed in a secret congressional hearing in April 1987 that the CIA had substantiated cases of drug trafficking in [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] organization: "There were certainly substantiated cases—and we can name names if you wish—of people in his coterie, of supporters and his lieutenants that did have connections with drug traffickers and, in fact, he himself received funds from a person who was known to be affiliated with drug traffickers."[^1]
|
||||
Fernandez confirmed in a secret congressional hearing in April 1987 that the CIA had substantiated cases of drug trafficking in [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] organization: "There were certainly substantiated cases - and we can name names if you wish - of people in his coterie, of supporters and his lieutenants that did have connections with drug traffickers and, in fact, he himself received funds from a person who was known to be affiliated with drug traffickers."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Fernandez testified that former CIA official [[Alan Fiers|Alan Fiers Jr.]] once ordered him to use two suspected drug traffickers in a still-secret CIA operation involving the Contras. "For political considerations, there were two individuals who were associated with Pastora who had allegations against them for drug involvement and [the chief of the Central American Task Force] wanted [censored]," the declassified transcript states. "I objected to it in cable traffic, in person, and it was deemed necessary [censored], at least since these were only allegations and not proof, and so I was overruled and we proceeded to do it." When Senator Daniel Inouye asked if the situation went beyond mere allegation in his mind, Fernandez replied: "Yes, sir. [Censored] there were indications that our suspicions might be more well founded than. . ." The rest was censored for national security.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Promotion of UDN-FARN
|
||||
|
||||
Fernandez was instrumental in throwing CIA support behind Fernando "El Negro" Chamorro's [[UDN-FARN]] as the replacement for Pastora. He acknowledged to Congress that the CIA decided "to diminish Pastora's influence" and "raise up the stature of the Negro Chamorro people." Chamorro's forces proved militarily inept—Fernandez testified that Chamorro "to this day" had never entered Nicaragua—and created such difficulties that Fernandez was catching flak from both the Costa Rican government and the U.S. ambassador to "get those people under control."[^1]
|
||||
Fernandez was instrumental in throwing CIA support behind Fernando "El Negro" Chamorro's [[UDN-FARN]] as the replacement for Pastora. He acknowledged to Congress that the CIA decided "to diminish Pastora's influence" and "raise up the stature of the Negro Chamorro people." Chamorro's forces proved militarily inept - Fernandez testified that Chamorro "to this day" had never entered Nicaragua - and created such difficulties that Fernandez was catching flak from both the Costa Rican government and the U.S. ambassador to "get those people under control."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ During the 1991–92 criminal trials of Camarena's alleged killers, a longtime C
|
|||
|
||||
### CIA Cover-Up Allegations
|
||||
|
||||
Both Harrison and his DEA overseer, Hector Berrellez, who headed the Camarena murder investigation, believed the agent was killed because his investigations into "protected" marijuana plantations threatened to expose the CIA-cartel collaboration. Based on his investigation—which discovered audiotapes the killers made during torture sessions—Berrellez recommended that a federal grand jury be convened to examine the CIA's knowledge of Camarena's murder. Soon afterwards, Berrellez, one of the DEA's most decorated agents, was transferred to Washington and given a do-nothing desk job until his retirement.[^1]
|
||||
Both Harrison and his DEA overseer, Hector Berrellez, who headed the Camarena murder investigation, believed the agent was killed because his investigations into "protected" marijuana plantations threatened to expose the CIA-cartel collaboration. Based on his investigation - which discovered audiotapes the killers made during torture sessions - Berrellez recommended that a federal grand jury be convened to examine the CIA's knowledge of Camarena's murder. Soon afterwards, Berrellez, one of the DEA's most decorated agents, was transferred to Washington and given a do-nothing desk job until his retirement.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ summary: "Laetitia Delhez, aged 14, disappeared from Bertrix, Belgium, on August
|
|||
|
||||
Laetitia Delhez, aged 14, disappeared from Bertrix, Belgium, on August 9, 1996, while waiting at a bus stop after visiting a local festival. She vanished into a white van driven by [[Marc Dutroux]], with accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]] positioned nearby to assist in the abduction using chloroform to subdue her. The incident occurred amid Dutroux's ongoing operations, following the May 26 kidnapping of [[Sabine Dardenne]], with both girls held in a soundproofed basement dungeon at Dutroux's Marcinelle residence, constructed in 1993 with help from [[Claude Thirault]]. A witness observed the suspicious van circling the area twice before the seizure, noting the partial license plate PBX 688, which matched Dutroux's ASCO-registered vehicle linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s company. This clue prompted police action, leading to Dutroux's arrest on August 13, 1996, and the subsequent rescue of Laetitia and Sabine from the hidden cells behind disguised shelving.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
During captivity, Laetitia endured starvation and abuse, conditioned through hypnosis and drugs to view Dutroux as a protector, resisting rescuers upon discovery and embracing him instead. The dungeon, overlooked in prior 1995 searches during Dutroux's auto theft incarceration—when screams from [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were ignored—featured ventilation and restraints for prolonged confinement. [[Michelle Martin]], Dutroux's wife, fed the girls minimally while he was free, confirming abductions on Nihoul's orders for client delivery. Laetitia's brief two-day hold contrasted with Sabine's months-long ordeal, both tied to video production evidenced by seized tapes of rapes and cell construction returned to Martin.[^1]
|
||||
During captivity, Laetitia endured starvation and abuse, conditioned through hypnosis and drugs to view Dutroux as a protector, resisting rescuers upon discovery and embracing him instead. The dungeon, overlooked in prior 1995 searches during Dutroux's auto theft incarceration - when screams from [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were ignored - featured ventilation and restraints for prolonged confinement. [[Michelle Martin]], Dutroux's wife, fed the girls minimally while he was free, confirming abductions on Nihoul's orders for client delivery. Laetitia's brief two-day hold contrasted with Sabine's months-long ordeal, both tied to video production evidenced by seized tapes of rapes and cell construction returned to Martin.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Rescued alongside Sabine on August 15, 1996, Laetitia provided details confirming the dungeon's layout and contents, including chloroform bottles and chains. Her testimony detailed the abduction sequence, with Lelievre blocking escape routes and Dutroux pulling her inside. The white van, used for photographing schoolgirls in client catalogues, facilitated transport, with over twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around the event tracing payments to their European accounts funding seven properties.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Posada was sent to [[Venezuela]] and began working as an official of the Venezue
|
|||
|
||||
CIA records show the agency was fully aware of its agent's involvement with drug traffickers. It received word in February 1973 that "Posada may be involved in smuggling cocaine from [[Colombia]] through Venezuela to Miami, also counterfeit U.S. money in Venezuela." But the agency decided "not to directly confront Posada with allegation so as not to compromise ongoing investigation."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
According to notes of a congressional investigator who reviewed Posada's voluminous CIA files in the late 1970s, cables indicated "concern that Posada [was a] serious potential liability. Anxious to terminate association promptly if allegations prove true. By April 1973, it seems sure that Posada involved in narcotics, drug trafficking—seen with known big time drug trafficker." After questioning Posada, the agency found him "guilty only of having the wrong kind of friends" and continued his employment.[^1]
|
||||
According to notes of a congressional investigator who reviewed Posada's voluminous CIA files in the late 1970s, cables indicated "concern that Posada [was a] serious potential liability. Anxious to terminate association promptly if allegations prove true. By April 1973, it seems sure that Posada involved in narcotics, drug trafficking - seen with known big time drug trafficker." After questioning Posada, the agency found him "guilty only of having the wrong kind of friends" and continued his employment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His associations continued: in January 1974 he asked the CIA to provide a Venezuelan passport for a Dominican military official, which the agency refused on the grounds that it "cannot permit controlled agents to become directly involved with illicit drug trafficking." A few months later the DEA received a report that Posada was trading weapons for cocaine with a man the DEA believed "is involved in political assassinations."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,41 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Lyn Buchanan
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Lyn Buchanan
|
||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||
- Lyn Buchanan
|
||||
- Leonard "Lyn" Buchanan
|
||||
category: "Military"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "Remote viewer in the U.S. Army's psychic research program at Fort Meade, part of the Stargate Project."
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- CRV
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
- 1990s
|
||||
summary: "Lyn Buchanan was a U.S. Army sergeant assigned to the Fort Meade remote viewing unit under the Center Lane and Sun Streak programs beginning in the early 1980s, trained by Ingo Swann in Coordinate Remote Viewing, and after retirement founded Problems Solutions Innovations (PSI) and wrote The Seventh Sense (2003)."
|
||||
born: 1939-07-28
|
||||
location: "Waco, Texas"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Lyn Buchanan was a remote viewer in the [[U.S. Army]]'s psychic research program. He was part of the unit at [[Fort Meade]] and is mentioned as one of the viewers who noticed [[David Morehouse]]'s odd behavior, specifically his moonlighting with a construction company[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Lyn Buchanan was a [[U.S. Army]] sergeant who served as a remote viewer in the classified Army program at [[Fort Meade]] that operated under the successive designations [[STARGATE PROJECT|Center Lane]], Sun Streak, and STAR GATE during the 1980s and early 1990s. He was trained in [[Coordinate Remote Viewing]] (CRV) by [[Ingo Swann]] after Swann returned to the program to train Army viewers beginning in 1984, and became one of the unit's more consistently producing operational viewers.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Military Remote Viewing Career
|
||||
|
||||
Buchanan joined the Fort Meade remote viewing unit after the initial group of six viewers recruited by [[Frederick Atwater]] in 1977. He received formal CRV training in Swann's six-stage protocol, which was designed to provide a structured methodology for acquiring and reporting remote viewing impressions in a way that minimized contamination from imagination or prior knowledge.
|
||||
|
||||
Within the unit, Buchanan served in both operational tasking and as a trainer for newer viewers as the program expanded. He also served as the unit's data manager, responsible for maintaining the operational records of remote viewing sessions. He had a reputation for methodological discipline and was among the viewers who completed full training through all stages of Swann's CRV protocol.
|
||||
|
||||
Buchanan remained with the program through multiple command transitions and participated in the program during the period when the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] was the primary government sponsor. He witnessed the various organizational pressures that affected the unit in its final years, including the controversy surrounding [[David Morehouse]], a later viewer whose claims of operational misconduct and visionary experiences eventually led to a court-martial proceeding that damaged the unit's internal cohesion and congressional support.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Post-Military Career
|
||||
|
||||
After retiring from the Army, Buchanan founded Problems - Solutions - Innovations (PSI), a civilian remote viewing consultancy and training organization. Unlike some former viewers who focused primarily on teaching the experiential aspects of remote viewing, Buchanan emphasized the structured CRV methodology and the data management protocols he had developed at Fort Meade.
|
||||
|
||||
In 2003, Buchanan published *The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a "Psychic Spy" for the U.S. Military* (Hampton Roads Publishing), an account of his Army remote viewing experience and his understanding of the CRV process. The book drew on his experience as both viewer and unit data manager and provided one of the more technically detailed accounts of operational military remote viewing from the Fort Meade period.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ Aguado was the chief pilot for [[Eden Pastora]]'s ARDE Contra forces in Costa Ri
|
|||
|
||||
After [[Oliver North]] set up his resupply operation at Ilopango, Aguado moved there permanently, working as an aide to a high-ranking Salvadoran air force commander. [[Enrique Miranda]] testified that Aguado "became a colonel in the Salvadoran Air Force, sharing all the privileges of a high-ranking military officer in El Salvador and was accepted by subordinate ranks as Deputy Commander of the Salvadoran Air Force." Miranda said Aguado directed flights that "went as far as [[Colombia]], where they were loaded with cocaine and then redirected to the United States, to a U.S. Air Force base located in the state of Texas."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Miranda and former Nicaraguan antidrug czar Roger Mayorga identified the base as near Fort Worth—likely the now-closed Carswell Air Force Base, home of a Strategic Air Command bomber squadron. The U.S. Air Force told FOIA requesters that all flight records that may have shown arrivals and departures of Salvadoran military aircraft during the mid-1980s were destroyed years ago.[^1]
|
||||
Miranda and former Nicaraguan antidrug czar Roger Mayorga identified the base as near Fort Worth - likely the now-closed Carswell Air Force Base, home of a Strategic Air Command bomber squadron. The U.S. Air Force told FOIA requesters that all flight records that may have shown arrivals and departures of Salvadoran military aircraft during the mid-1980s were destroyed years ago.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Miranda testified that at Ilopango, Aguado and Norwin Meneses supervised the loading of cocaine onto U.S.-bound aircraft owned by the Salvadoran Air Force and, on occasion, the Miami-based CIA contractor [[Southern Air Transport]]. Miranda met Aguado for dinner at Meneses's mansion in [[Managua]] in 1991, where Aguado boasted of flying for the Colombian cartels—including once taking a Salvadoran Air Force bomber to level a warehouse full of [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín cartel]] cocaine on behalf of the rival Cali cartel, and making plans to bomb the prison where Medellín cartel chief Pablo Escobar was briefly imprisoned. Aguado also boasted of flying weapons from the Salvadoran military to the Colombian cartels, a story Miranda said he doubted until a Salvadoran Air Force colonel and associates were arrested in 1992 for selling bombs and high explosives to Colombian drug dealers.[^1]
|
||||
Miranda testified that at Ilopango, Aguado and Norwin Meneses supervised the loading of cocaine onto U.S.-bound aircraft owned by the Salvadoran Air Force and, on occasion, the Miami-based CIA contractor [[Southern Air Transport]]. Miranda met Aguado for dinner at Meneses's mansion in [[Managua]] in 1991, where Aguado boasted of flying for the Colombian cartels - including once taking a Salvadoran Air Force bomber to level a warehouse full of [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín cartel]] cocaine on behalf of the rival Cali cartel, and making plans to bomb the prison where Medellín cartel chief Pablo Escobar was briefly imprisoned. Aguado also boasted of flying weapons from the Salvadoran military to the Colombian cartels, a story Miranda said he doubted until a Salvadoran Air Force colonel and associates were arrested in 1992 for selling bombs and high explosives to Colombian drug dealers.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Role in the Meneses Network
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ summary: Octaviano Cesar was a CIA asset and former social director of Norwin Me
|
|||
|
||||
### Background
|
||||
|
||||
Octaviano Cesar was the former social director of [[Norwin Meneses]]'s VIP nightclub in [[Managua]]. The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] acknowledged that Cesar was one of its intelligence operatives: "Agency officers met occasionally with Cesar—usually in the United States—to gather information and to promote unity among the Southern Front groups," the CIA Inspector General found.[^1]
|
||||
Octaviano Cesar was the former social director of [[Norwin Meneses]]'s VIP nightclub in [[Managua]]. The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] acknowledged that Cesar was one of its intelligence operatives: "Agency officers met occasionally with Cesar - usually in the United States - to gather information and to promote unity among the Southern Front groups," the CIA Inspector General found.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Drug Deals for the Contras
|
||||
|
||||
In March 1984, Cesar and two other Contra officials close to the CIA—ARDE logistics chief Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro and ARDE air force commander [[Marcos Aguado]]—met with Colombian drug trafficker [[George Morales]] at his offices in Fort Lauderdale and asked him to contribute to [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] [[ARDE]] Contra army. "During our conversation they told me they were CIA agents. Two of them said they were, Octaviano Cesar and Marcos Aguado," Morales testified before Congress.[^1]
|
||||
In March 1984, Cesar and two other Contra officials close to the CIA - ARDE logistics chief Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro and ARDE air force commander [[Marcos Aguado]] - met with Colombian drug trafficker [[George Morales]] at his offices in Fort Lauderdale and asked him to contribute to [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] [[ARDE]] Contra army. "During our conversation they told me they were CIA agents. Two of them said they were, Octaviano Cesar and Marcos Aguado," Morales testified before Congress.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Cesar assured Morales that if he assisted the Contras, his pending cocaine indictment would be resolved through CIA intervention. Cesar "told me he had plenty of friends, being him, the CIA, can advise the superiors about my financial support and airplane and training and therefore they will finally, eventually, will take care of my problem, which they did," Morales testified.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Caldwell expressed significant concern about the Soviet advancements in parapsychology and psychic warfare."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Oliver J. Caldwell was a former [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] officer who was known to run operations for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. He is cited in [[John L. LaMothe]]'s 1972 report, *Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR*, regarding the perceived [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] psychoenergetic threat[^1].
|
||||
Oliver J. Caldwell was a former [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] officer who was known to run operations for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. He is cited in [[John L. LaMothe]]'s 1972 report, *Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR*, regarding the perceived [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] psychoenergetic threat[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Caldwell expressed significant concern about the Soviet advancements in [[Parapsychology|parapsychology]] and psychic warfare. He told LaMothe, "I am really disturbed... because if the [[United States]] does not make a serious effort to move forward on this new frontier, in another ten years it may be too late"[^1]. His statement underscored the urgency felt by some within the U.S. intelligence community to counter perceived Soviet capabilities in [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]][^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "The study noted that it would not be conceptually difficult to imagine the utility of psychokinesis in disrupting electrical systems, such as those associated with an ICBM's guidance program, as displayed by Geller."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
P. T. Van Dyke was a co-author of the Pentagon briefing, "Paranormal Phenomena—Briefing on a Net Assessment Study," published in January 1973. This report discussed the potential military utility of [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]], particularly in the context of [[Uri Geller]]'s alleged abilities[^1].
|
||||
P. T. Van Dyke was a co-author of the Pentagon briefing, "Paranormal Phenomena - Briefing on a Net Assessment Study," published in January 1973. This report discussed the potential military utility of [[Extrasensory Perception|ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis|PK]], particularly in the context of [[Uri Geller]]'s alleged abilities[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
The study noted that it would not be conceptually difficult to imagine the utility of psychokinesis in disrupting electrical systems, such as those associated with an [[Intercontinental Ballistic Missile|ICBM]]'s guidance program, as displayed by Geller. The report emphasized a serious need for detailed analytical studies of these phenomena by specialists in various scientific disciplines[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
Van Dyke and his co-author, [[M. L. Juncosa]], also highlighted the challenge facing anyone working on such studies, noting that the subject matter "tends to be polarized into uncritical acceptance or total rejection" of fact. They lamented that little progress was likely to be made as long as the research field remained a "childish battle between 'true believers' and 'the incredulous [who] dismiss the matter out of hand'"[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
### Publications
|
||||
* "Paranormal Phenomena—Briefing on a Net Assessment Study" (1973, co-authored with M. L. Juncosa)
|
||||
* "Paranormal Phenomena - Briefing on a Net Assessment Study" (1973, co-authored with M. L. Juncosa)
|
||||
|
||||
### 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.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,17 +1,26 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
title: Rafael Eitan
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Rafael Eitan
|
||||
- Rafi Eitan
|
||||
- Rafi the Stinker
|
||||
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
- Mossad
|
||||
- LAKAM
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
summary: "Rafael Eitan, also known as 'Rafi the stinker,' was an ambitious Israeli clandestine operative and a crony of Ariel Sharon."
|
||||
- JonathanPollard
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Rafael Eitan was a veteran Israeli intelligence operative who led the LAKAM science intelligence bureau, ran Jonathan Pollard as an intelligence asset against the United States, and was alleged by multiple sources to have acquired and internationally distributed PROMIS software with a hidden surveillance backdoor."
|
||||
born: 1926-11-23
|
||||
died: 2019-03-23
|
||||
location: "Kibbutz Ein Harod, British Mandate Palestine"
|
||||
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
|
||||
---
|
||||
Rafael Eitan, also known as "Rafi the stinker," was an ambitious Israeli clandestine operative and a crony of [[Ariel Sharon]]. He was appointed the new head of [[LAKAM]] (Science Liaison Bureau) and also served as [[Menachem Begin]]'s special assistant for counterterrorism. Eitan had participated in the 1960 kidnapping of [[Adolf Eichmann]] in [[Buenos Aires]] and was a veteran of many operations inside the Arab world. He had been forced to resign from [[Mossad]] years earlier and was bitter about his stunted career and the failure of [[Mossad]] and [[Israel]]'s other intelligence agencies to cooperate with his counterterrorism office.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -25,7 +34,7 @@ After the [[Sabra and Shatila massacres]], Eitan remained in [[Menachem Begin]]'
|
|||
|
||||
### PROMIS and LAKAM Intelligence Operations
|
||||
|
||||
Eitan is alleged to have played a central role in the Israeli acquisition and international distribution of the [[PROMIS]] software. According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies*, Eitan traveled to the [[United States]] posing as an Israeli Ministry of Justice assistant prosecutor and met with [[INSLAW]] founder [[Bill Hamilton]], acquiring a copy of PROMIS through back-channel contacts with the [[Department of Justice]].[^2] Eitan then assembled a team of former [[LAKAM]] programmers who deconstructed the software, rearranged its components, and embedded a "trapdoor" — a built-in chip enabling covert remote monitoring of any database queried by a user of the modified program.[^2]
|
||||
Eitan is alleged to have played a central role in the Israeli acquisition and international distribution of the [[PROMIS]] software. According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies*, Eitan traveled to the [[United States]] posing as an Israeli Ministry of Justice assistant prosecutor and met with [[INSLAW]] founder [[Bill Hamilton]], acquiring a copy of PROMIS through back-channel contacts with the [[Department of Justice]].[^2] Eitan then assembled a team of former [[LAKAM]] programmers who deconstructed the software, rearranged its components, and embedded a "trapdoor" - a built-in chip enabling covert remote monitoring of any database queried by a user of the modified program.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Eitan stated regarding PROMIS: "We can use that program to stamp out terrorism by keeping track of everyone. But not only that, we can find out what our enemies know too."[^3] He reportedly admitted collaborating with CIA officials in selling "more than half a billion dollars worth of INSLAW's PROMIS to foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies" as part of joint covert operations to steal intelligence from foreign governments.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ location: "Tournai, Belgium"
|
|||
|
||||
Sabine Dardenne, aged 12, disappeared from her hometown of Farciennes, Belgium, on May 26, 1996, while riding her bicycle to school. She was abducted by [[Marc Dutroux]] with assistance from accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]], who positioned himself to block her path near a local factory, allowing Dutroux to seize her and force her into a white van registered to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s [[ASCO]] company using chloroform for sedation. The van, used for photographing potential victims near schools for client catalogues, transported Sabine to Dutroux's Marcinelle residence, where she was confined in a soundproofed basement dungeon constructed in 1993 with labor from [[Claude Thirault]] and disguised behind plywood shelving. Held for nearly three months alongside earlier captive [[Laetitia Delhez]] after her August abduction, Sabine endured starvation, abuse, and conditioning through hypnosis and drugs, emerging so dependent on Dutroux that she resisted rescuers and embraced him during the August 15, 1996, liberation.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The dungeon, overlooked in 1995 searches during Dutroux's auto theft incarceration—when screams from [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were attributed to external sources by Inspector [[Rene Michaux]]—featured reinforced walls, ventilation, and restraints for extended confinement. [[Michelle Martin]], Dutroux's wife, provided sporadic feedings during his jail time, contributing to the younger girls' deaths, whose bodies were exhumed from a Sars-la-Buissière property in September 1996 showing mutilation. Sabine's captivity involved video-recorded assaults, with equipment like a speculum, chains, and chloroform seized but returned to Martin, documenting cell construction and rapes sold internationally.[^1]
|
||||
The dungeon, overlooked in 1995 searches during Dutroux's auto theft incarceration - when screams from [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were attributed to external sources by Inspector [[Rene Michaux]] - featured reinforced walls, ventilation, and restraints for extended confinement. [[Michelle Martin]], Dutroux's wife, provided sporadic feedings during his jail time, contributing to the younger girls' deaths, whose bodies were exhumed from a Sars-la-Buissière property in September 1996 showing mutilation. Sabine's captivity involved video-recorded assaults, with equipment like a speculum, chains, and chloroform seized but returned to Martin, documenting cell construction and rapes sold internationally.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Rescued post-Dutroux's August 13 arrest triggered by Laetitia's witness plate, Sabine detailed the horrors in interrogations, confirming Lelievre's logistical role and Nihoul's orders for victim specifications. Her conditioned state, induced via repeated hypnosis sessions, prevented escape, mirroring methods on [[An Marchal]] and [[Eefje Lambrecks]]. Over twenty phone calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around the abductions traced payments to joint accounts funding seven properties.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-16
|
||||
title: Sam Giancana
|
||||
|
|
@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ born: 1908-05-19
|
|||
died: 1975-06-19
|
||||
location: "Chicago, Illinois"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Salvatore "Sam" Giancana (May 19, 1908 - June 19, 1975) was the boss of the [[La Cosa Nostra|Chicago Outfit]] from 1957, one of the most powerful organized crime figures in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was recruited by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in 1960 as part of the agency's operation to assassinate [[Fidel Castro]] and was the target of an intense [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] campaign under [[Robert Kennedy]]'s direction as Attorney General. He was murdered in his home kitchen on June 19, 1975, one day before he was scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee investigating the CIA-organized crime anti-Castro plots.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Criminal Career
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Gonzalez suspected Meneses was moving cocaine while serving as an informant. [[R
|
|||
|
||||
### Warning to Thomas Gordon
|
||||
|
||||
When [[LASD Major Violators]] detective [[Thomas Gordon]] ran NADDIS checks on Blandón and [[Ronald Lister|Lister]] in September 1986, he discovered Gonzalez "owned" both cases from Costa Rica. Gordon called Gonzalez, who "went through the ceiling," screaming that phone lines went through Nicaragua and ordering Gordon not to put any details in search warrant affidavits. "It's a burn," Gonzalez told him—cop slang meaning the investigation had been exposed. Gordon was baffled: his investigation hadn't even started yet, and only Gonzalez knew about it. When Gordon called the DEA's L.A. office, he was told the Costa Rican office was not investigating Lister and Blandón—a Riverside agent was. Gonzalez's reaction and the conflicting information deepened Gordon's suspicions.[^2]
|
||||
When [[LASD Major Violators]] detective [[Thomas Gordon]] ran NADDIS checks on Blandón and [[Ronald Lister|Lister]] in September 1986, he discovered Gonzalez "owned" both cases from Costa Rica. Gordon called Gonzalez, who "went through the ceiling," screaming that phone lines went through Nicaragua and ordering Gordon not to put any details in search warrant affidavits. "It's a burn," Gonzalez told him - cop slang meaning the investigation had been exposed. Gordon was baffled: his investigation hadn't even started yet, and only Gonzalez knew about it. When Gordon called the DEA's L.A. office, he was told the Costa Rican office was not investigating Lister and Blandón - a Riverside agent was. Gonzalez's reaction and the conflicting information deepened Gordon's suspicions.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Operation Perico
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,20 +1,114 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Sidney Gottlieb
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Sidney Gottlieb
|
||||
- Joseph Scheider
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- RemoteViewer
|
||||
summary: "Sidney Gottlieb was a CIA chemist and spymaster, notorious for his involvement in controversial programs like Project MKUltra, which explored mind control and chemical interrogation."
|
||||
- MKULTRA
|
||||
- MindControl
|
||||
- ChemicalWeapons
|
||||
- Assassination
|
||||
- ColdWar
|
||||
- 1950s
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
summary: "Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA's Technical Services Division chief who created and directed Project MKULTRA, ran Operation Midnight Climax and the Ewen Cameron subprojects, carried biological assassination materials to the Congo targeting Patrice Lumumba, and ordered destruction of nearly all MKULTRA records before congressional investigation."
|
||||
born: 1918-08-03
|
||||
died: 1999-03-07
|
||||
location: "Bronx, New York"
|
||||
location: "Bronx, New York / Washington, D.C."
|
||||
---
|
||||
Sidney Gottlieb (August 3, 1918 - March 7, 1999) was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] chemist and the chief of the agency's [[Technical Services Division]] (TSD) who created, directed, and ultimately destroyed the records of [[Project MKUltra]] - the CIA's two-decade program of human behavioral experimentation using [[LSD]], hypnosis, sensory deprivation, electroconvulsive therapy, and other methods on subjects who had not consented. Gottlieb authorized experiments that killed at least one CIA officer, institutionalized thousands of psychiatric patients in [[Canada]] and the [[United States]], and used brothels as operational platforms for dosing unwitting men. He personally carried biological assassination materials to [[Congo]] in 1960 intending to poison [[Patrice Lumumba]], and in January 1973 ordered the destruction of nearly all MKULTRA documentation before congressional investigators could examine it.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Sidney Gottlieb was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] chemist and spymaster, notorious for his involvement in controversial programs like [[Project MKUltra]], which explored mind control and chemical interrogation. In 1977, Gottlieb testified at a congressional hearing, revealing a strange complaint made by President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]].[^1]
|
||||
### Background and CIA Entry
|
||||
|
||||
According to Gottlieb, Nixon claimed that he and several members of his staff, including his personal physician, Walter Tkach, had exhibited unusual behavior, including "inappropriate tears and crying," during a visit to an unnamed "potentially hostile country" in the early 1970s. Nixon visited both [[China]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in 1972. This incident, while not directly linked to psi research, contributed to the U.S. intelligence community's broader concerns about foreign influence and unconventional warfare.[^1]
|
||||
Gottlieb was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrant parents. He was born with a club foot that produced a distinctive limp, and he had a pronounced stutter throughout his life - conditions that disqualified him from military service during [[World War II]] and shaped his compensatory academic drive. He earned a doctorate in chemistry from the [[California Institute of Technology]] in 1943 and worked in agricultural chemistry before being recruited by the CIA around 1951.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
He joined the CIA's Technical Services Staff (later Technical Services Division), the agency's scientific and technical operations unit responsible for developing disguises, forgeries, surveillance equipment, and chemical and biological materials for operational use. He rose to become chief of the Chemical Division and, subsequently, director of the TSD itself. His cover name was "Joseph Scheider."
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
Alongside his professional life - which included managing some of the most extreme covert programs in American government history - Gottlieb was known for practicing folk dancing, playing the recorder, keeping a goat farm in rural [[Virginia]], and working as a hospice volunteer late in life. His biographer Stephen Kinzer characterized the contrast as reflecting a genuine internal split rather than deliberate irony.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### MKULTRA Authorization and Scope
|
||||
|
||||
On April 13, 1953, CIA Director [[Allen Dulles]] authorized Project MKULTRA on the basis of a proposal Gottlieb had drafted. The program's stated rationale was defensive: Soviet and Chinese interrogation techniques, apparently effective in producing false confessions from American prisoners during the [[Korean War]], suggested an enemy capability in "brain warfare" that the United States needed to match and counter. Gottlieb used this framing to obtain authorization for an extraordinarily broad research mandate covering drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, electroshock, surgery, and psychological manipulation.
|
||||
|
||||
MKULTRA was divided into approximately 150 research subprojects funded through cut-out academic and private institutions, primarily the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]] (a CIA front foundation) and the [[Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation]]. The use of cutouts was deliberate: it distributed the research across enough institutions that no single investigator could piece together the program's full scope, and it provided a layer of deniability between CIA funding and individual experiments.
|
||||
|
||||
Gottlieb's personal conviction was that LSD represented a qualitative breakthrough - a substance that could reliably disrupt cognitive function to the point where subjects would reveal information or could be controlled. He tested this theory systematically and without ethical restraint throughout the 1950s. His standard practice was to administer LSD to people without their knowledge, then observe the effects.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Operation Midnight Climax
|
||||
|
||||
The most operationally developed form of MKULTRA's LSD research was [[Operation Midnight Climax]], which ran from approximately 1955 to 1963. Gottlieb authorized [[George Hunter White]] - a Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent working under CIA contract - to establish safe houses in [[San Francisco]] (initially on Telegraph Hill, later at 225 Chestnut Street in the [[Fillmore District|Fillmore neighborhood]]) and [[New York City]].
|
||||
|
||||
White recruited prostitutes to bring men to the safe houses under the pretext of sexual encounters. The men - typically from vulnerable populations unlikely to file credible complaints, including drug users, petty criminals, and social outcasts - were served drinks spiked with LSD. CIA observers watched through one-way mirrors, recording behavioral and psychological responses. The purpose was to test LSD's effectiveness as an interrogation adjunct in conditions that replicated operational field use.
|
||||
|
||||
White operated the safe houses with CIA-provided funds and reported directly to Gottlieb. He described the program in his own diaries (later discovered by Marks) with considerable enthusiasm. The San Francisco operation ran for approximately eight years; the New York operation ran concurrently. Together they represent the most sustained use of unwitting American civilian subjects in the program's history.
|
||||
|
||||
The program was illegal under constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure and under the Nuremberg Code on human experimentation, both of which require informed consent.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ewen Cameron and the Canadian Subprojects
|
||||
|
||||
Among the most damaging of MKULTRA's international operations was the collaboration with [[Ewen Cameron]], chairman of psychiatry at [[McGill University]] in [[Montreal]] and director of the [[Allan Memorial Institute]]. Cameron was conducting research into "psychic driving" - a theory that psychiatric patients could be remolded by erasing existing behavioral patterns through sensory deprivation and electroconvulsive therapy and then implanting new ones through repeated auditory suggestion.
|
||||
|
||||
Gottlieb funded Cameron's research under Subproject 68 beginning in 1957. Cameron's methods included:
|
||||
- Continuous sleep induction lasting up to 65 days ("depatterning")
|
||||
- Electroconvulsive therapy at voltages 30 to 40 times the normal therapeutic dose
|
||||
- Prolonged LSD administration
|
||||
- Isolation chambers with sustained auditory input ("psychic driving")
|
||||
- Drug-induced coma
|
||||
|
||||
The patients at Allan Memorial were psychiatric patients seeking treatment for conditions including depression and anxiety. They were not informed they were research subjects or that their treatment was being paid for by the CIA. Many emerged from Cameron's experimental regimen with severe cognitive damage, memory loss, and new psychological problems worse than the original conditions that brought them to treatment. Some were permanently disabled.
|
||||
|
||||
Cameron died in 1967 before the program was publicly disclosed. A class action lawsuit by nine Canadian victims reached settlement with the CIA in 1988 for $750,000. The Canadian government separately paid C$100,000 per victim to approximately 80 identified patients. The true number of patients subjected to the experimental protocol is estimated at several hundred.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Frank Olson
|
||||
|
||||
On November 18-19, 1953, Gottlieb convened a working retreat of approximately ten Technical Services Staff officers and scientists at a cabin at Deep Creek Lake, [[Maryland]]. After two days of meetings, Gottlieb spiked the after-dinner Cointreau with LSD - a dose sufficient to produce extended psychedelic effects - without informing the attendees. [[Frank Olson]], a bacteriologist who worked on the CIA's biological weapons programs at [[Fort Detrick]], was among those dosed.
|
||||
|
||||
Olson had a severe adverse reaction. In the days following the retreat he exhibited paranoid behavior, disturbed sleep, and what witnesses described as mental collapse. CIA supervisors arranged for him to see a New York psychiatrist. On the night of November 28, 1953 - nine days after the dosing - Olson fell from a tenth-floor window of the Hotel Statler in [[New York City]], through a shade and a closed window. He died on impact. The death was ruled a suicide.
|
||||
|
||||
CIA Director Allen Dulles was briefed on the circumstances and the program was concealed. Olson's family was told only that he had fallen from a window during a mental breakdown. Gottlieb was not prosecuted.
|
||||
|
||||
In 1994, Olson's son Eric had his father's body exhumed. Forensic examination by James Starrs of George Washington University found a hematoma on Olson's skull inconsistent with the fall - suggesting he had been struck before going through the window. The New York District Attorney reopened the case as a possible homicide; it was never prosecuted due to insufficient surviving evidence. Gottlieb died in March 1999; he had been under investigation for Olson's death.
|
||||
|
||||
Olson's son maintained until his own death that his father was murdered because he had developed doubts about the CIA's biological weapons programs and CIA interrogation methods - doubts that made him a security risk.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congo: Biological Assassination Materials
|
||||
|
||||
In August 1960, following the election of [[Patrice Lumumba]] as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]]'s National Security Council authorized covert operations to remove Lumumba from power. CIA Director [[Allen Dulles]] interpreted the authorization as including assassination. He directed Gottlieb to develop a biological assassination capability.
|
||||
|
||||
Gottlieb personally traveled to [[Congo|Leopoldville]] (now [[Kinshasa]]) in September 1960, carrying biological materials - including lethal bacteria prepared at Fort Detrick - intended for introduction into Lumumba's food or toothpaste. Station chief [[Larry Devlin]] received the materials from Gottlieb but declined to use them, reporting that operational circumstances (Lumumba was under UN protection) made the plot infeasible.
|
||||
|
||||
Lumumba was subsequently captured by Congolese security forces loyal to [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Mobutu]], transferred to Katanga province, and executed on January 17, 1961, by Belgian officers and Katangan soldiers - with CIA knowledge and without direct CIA execution. The biological materials Gottlieb had brought were returned or destroyed. The Church Committee documented Gottlieb's travel and the biological materials; the episode is among the clearest documented cases of a senior CIA officer personally transporting assassination materials for use against a foreign leader.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Records Destruction
|
||||
|
||||
In January 1973, with Watergate investigations expanding and congressional scrutiny of CIA activities intensifying, Gottlieb ordered the destruction of essentially all MKULTRA records. He was about to retire, and the destruction was carried out with Director [[Richard Helms]]'s knowledge and implied authorization. Helms was simultaneously ordering the destruction of [[Operation CHAOS]] operational records.
|
||||
|
||||
The destruction was comprehensive. File boxes from facilities across the country were collected and shredded or burned. The intention was to eliminate any documentary record of the program before investigators could subpoena it. The destruction succeeded in eliminating the core operational files.
|
||||
|
||||
A partial record survived by accident. Approximately 20,000 documents - primarily budget and financial records - had been misfiled in a records annex maintained by the TSD's financial office rather than with the main program files. When journalist John Marks filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 1977, a CIA archivist located the misfiled documents. These formed the basis of Marks's subsequent investigation and the August 1977 Senate Health Subcommittee hearings.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congressional Testimony
|
||||
|
||||
Gottlieb testified before the Church Committee in 1975 and before the Senate Health Subcommittee on August 3, 1977 ("Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification"). His testimony was carefully hedged: he acknowledged the program's existence, confirmed the records destruction, and defended the program as a reasonable Cold War response to genuine threats. He expressed regret for specific outcomes including the Frank Olson episode while maintaining that the program's overall design had been defensible.
|
||||
|
||||
He confirmed under oath that he had personally administered LSD to unconsenting subjects, that the Midnight Climax safe houses had operated as described, and that he had ordered the records destruction with his superior's knowledge.
|
||||
|
||||
### Post-CIA Life and Death
|
||||
|
||||
Gottlieb retired from the CIA in 1973 at age 55. He traveled to India, where he spent approximately a year working at a hospital for leprosy patients and the rural poor. He returned to the United States and maintained a farm in rural Virginia, practicing folk dancing, playing the recorder, and doing hospice and social work. He gave few interviews and made no public apologies for MKULTRA.
|
||||
|
||||
He died March 7, 1999, in [[Washington, D.C.]], of a heart ailment, at age 80. He was under active investigation for Frank Olson's possible murder at the time of his death. No criminal charges were filed before or after his death.
|
||||
|
||||
Stephen Kinzer's biography *Poisoner in Chief* (2019) provides the most comprehensive account of Gottlieb's career based on declassified documents, court records, and interviews with former associates.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Kinzer, Stephen. *Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control.* Henry Holt and Company, 2019 (the essential biography). Marks, John. *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control.* Times Books, 1979 (uses surviving MKULTRA documents; the foundational investigative account). Church Committee (U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities). Final Report, Book I ("Foreign and Military Intelligence"), S. Rept. 94-755, April 26, 1976.
|
||||
[^2]: "Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification." Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977. Available: intelligence.senate.gov.
|
||||
[^3]: Starrs, James E. Report of forensic examination, Olson exhumation, 1994. New York County District Attorney investigation files (partial public record). Albarelli, H.P. *A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments.* Trine Day, 2009.
|
||||
|
|
@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ While working with USACA and the Contras, Dowling appeared before Congress in 19
|
|||
|
||||
### Funding from North and Calero
|
||||
|
||||
Dowling admitted receiving about $73,000 in cash and travelers checks from [[Oliver North]], [[Adolfo Calero]], and other members of North's operation between 1986 and 1987 "to affect public opinion favorably toward the Reagan position inside, regarding Central America." The money went to a nonprofit Dowling set up called the Latin America Strategic Studies Institute (LASSI). LASSI employed G. James Quesada, a recently retired CIA officer with extensive Latin American experience who was Nicaraguan. Quesada met [[Norwin Meneses]] and [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] at an FDN meeting but said he stayed away from them, recognizing Meneses was involved in drug trafficking on "the other side" — the military part of the Contra operation.[^1]
|
||||
Dowling admitted receiving about $73,000 in cash and travelers checks from [[Oliver North]], [[Adolfo Calero]], and other members of North's operation between 1986 and 1987 "to affect public opinion favorably toward the Reagan position inside, regarding Central America." The money went to a nonprofit Dowling set up called the Latin America Strategic Studies Institute (LASSI). LASSI employed G. James Quesada, a recently retired CIA officer with extensive Latin American experience who was Nicaraguan. Quesada met [[Norwin Meneses]] and [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] at an FDN meeting but said he stayed away from them, recognizing Meneses was involved in drug trafficking on "the other side" - the military part of the Contra operation.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### CAUSA Connection
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -17,15 +17,15 @@ Since 1982, Gordon and his colleagues on the Majors II squad had tangled with th
|
|||
|
||||
### The Project Sahara Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
When Bell PD detective [[Jerry Guzzetta]] delivered his "Project Sahara" reports to the Majors, they landed on Gordon's desk. The reports had a bit of everything, including an element the Majors had never before faced—a [[Central Intelligence Agency]]-linked guerrilla army allegedly dealing in dope. "There was no telling where this investigation could take them," the unit realized.[^1]
|
||||
When Bell PD detective [[Jerry Guzzetta]] delivered his "Project Sahara" reports to the Majors, they landed on Gordon's desk. The reports had a bit of everything, including an element the Majors had never before faced - a [[Central Intelligence Agency]]-linked guerrilla army allegedly dealing in dope. "There was no telling where this investigation could take them," the unit realized.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Analyzing information from the flipped [[Torres Brothers|Torres brothers]], Gordon's squad reached the conclusion that the Los Angeles crack market was far more disciplined and well organized than anyone had dreamed. Through two mystery dealers named Rick and Ollie, the gangs had established a direct pipeline to the Colombian cartels. The Majors now had names and addresses of everyone at the top of the distribution chain—from Colombian importers to Nicaraguan middlemen to Black wholesalers controlling the South Central marketplace. If everything went right, Gordon could take down the biggest crack operation ever uncovered.[^1]
|
||||
Analyzing information from the flipped [[Torres Brothers|Torres brothers]], Gordon's squad reached the conclusion that the Los Angeles crack market was far more disciplined and well organized than anyone had dreamed. Through two mystery dealers named Rick and Ollie, the gangs had established a direct pipeline to the Colombian cartels. The Majors now had names and addresses of everyone at the top of the distribution chain - from Colombian importers to Nicaraguan middlemen to Black wholesalers controlling the South Central marketplace. If everything went right, Gordon could take down the biggest crack operation ever uncovered.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
"This was going to be my last hurrah," said Gordon, who was scheduled to be rotated out of the Majors. "Like anyone, I've got an ego, and I wanted to go out with a bang."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The NADDIS Discovery
|
||||
|
||||
On September 17, 1986, Gordon ran computer checks on names the Torres brothers provided through NIN and NADDIS databases. Blandón's file showed a Class One trafficker with addresses in Glendale, linked to associates Roger Sandino and [[Norwin Meneses]]. Meneses's file was staggering: in the database since 1976, twelve aliases, mentioned in thirty-two [[DEA]] investigations, houses across the Bay Area, a mansion in Managua—yet never charged. [[Ronald Lister|Lister]]'s file showed an ex-policeman under active DEA investigation, owned by DEA agent [[Sandalio Gonzalez]] in Costa Rica—the same agent who "owned" Blandón. When Gordon called Gonzalez, the DEA agent "went through the ceiling," screaming that phone lines went through Nicaragua and ordering Gordon not to mention anything in search warrant affidavits: "It's a burn." Gordon was baffled—his investigation hadn't even started yet.[^2]
|
||||
On September 17, 1986, Gordon ran computer checks on names the Torres brothers provided through NIN and NADDIS databases. Blandón's file showed a Class One trafficker with addresses in Glendale, linked to associates Roger Sandino and [[Norwin Meneses]]. Meneses's file was staggering: in the database since 1976, twelve aliases, mentioned in thirty-two [[DEA]] investigations, houses across the Bay Area, a mansion in Managua - yet never charged. [[Ronald Lister|Lister]]'s file showed an ex-policeman under active DEA investigation, owned by DEA agent [[Sandalio Gonzalez]] in Costa Rica - the same agent who "owned" Blandón. When Gordon called Gonzalez, the DEA agent "went through the ceiling," screaming that phone lines went through Nicaragua and ordering Gordon not to mention anything in search warrant affidavits: "It's a burn." Gordon was baffled - his investigation hadn't even started yet.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Gordon obtained a DEA informant's report from Riverside agent Thomas Schrettner describing the Blandón organization purchasing 400 kilos per month and confirming all the Torres brothers' intelligence. He also learned FBI agent [[Douglas Aukland]] had independently received a walk-in informant exposing the Blandón-Meneses Contra drug ring. With three independent sources telling the same story, Gordon decided the Majors would move ahead regardless of federal reluctance.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "Poway, California"
|
|||
|
||||
DeLonge has had a lifelong interest in UAP and has used his celebrity to bring attention to the issue. In 2017, he founded [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] with the goal of creating a platform for serious scientific research into UAP and educating the public about the phenomenon. He assembled a team of former high-ranking government officials and scientists, including [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Jim Semivan]], and [[Hal Puthoff]], to lead the organization.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
TTSA was instrumental in the public release of the three declassified UAP videos—"FLIR" (Tic Tac), "GIMBAL," and "GoFast"—and produced the television show "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation" on the History Channel. While the organization was not a long-term financial success, it played a crucial role in raising the public profile of the UAP issue and helping to break the long-standing stigma surrounding the topic.[^1]
|
||||
TTSA was instrumental in the public release of the three declassified UAP videos - "FLIR" (Tic Tac), "GIMBAL," and "GoFast" - and produced the television show "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation" on the History Channel. While the organization was not a long-term financial success, it played a crucial role in raising the public profile of the UAP issue and helping to break the long-standing stigma surrounding the topic.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,26 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: Uri Geller
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Uri Geller
|
||||
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- PSI
|
||||
- SRI
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Stargate
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "When Geller was ten, his parents separated, and he moved with his mother to Cyprus."
|
||||
- Mossad
|
||||
- RemoteViewing
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Uri Geller is an Israeli-British illusionist and psychic claimant who was tested by Stanford Research Institute under CIA contract in 1972-1973, reportedly worked for Israeli military intelligence on clairvoyance taskings, and became the most publicly known subject of the U.S. government's parapsychology program."
|
||||
born: 1946-12-20
|
||||
location: "Tel Aviv, British Mandate Palestine"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
[[Uri Geller]] is a famous [[Israel|Israeli]]-British illusionist, mentalist, and spoon bender. He was born on the winter solstice of 1946, in Tel Aviv, to Hungarian emigré parents. According to the Geller legend, at the age of four, he was visited by a strange luminous apparition, after which he began to manifest paranormal talents. Unlike [[Ingo Swann]] and [[Pat Price]], he did not have out-of-body experiences or premonitions; instead, he claimed to be able to read minds, visualize hidden objects and drawings clairvoyantly, and bend small pieces of metal.[^1]
|
||||
Uri Geller is a famous Israeli-British illusionist, mentalist, and spoon bender. He was born on the winter solstice of 1946, in Tel Aviv, to Hungarian emigré parents. According to the Geller legend, at the age of four, he was visited by a strange luminous apparition, after which he began to manifest paranormal talents. Unlike [[Ingo Swann]] and [[Pat Price]], he did not have out-of-body experiences or premonitions; instead, he claimed to be able to read minds, visualize hidden objects and drawings clairvoyantly, and bend small pieces of metal.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
When Geller was ten, his parents separated, and he moved with his mother to Cyprus. At seventeen, he returned to Israel, joined the paratroops, and was wounded during the Six-Day War in 1967. After recuperating, he worked as a model. Encouraged by a friend, [[Shippi Strang]], he began public performances of mind reading and metal-bending in 1969. His celebrity grew, and he performed for prestigious figures, including Prime Minister Golda Meir and General Moshe Dayan, who reportedly asked him, "Now, what can you do for Israel?"[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -24,7 +34,7 @@ After leaving SRI, Geller continued his career as an entertainer and reportedly
|
|||
|
||||
In the winter of 1975, Geller was tested by a group of nuclear physicists and engineers from [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]]. The tests, which included attempts to interfere with laser beams and erase magnetic computer program cards, were conducted to assess the potential threat of psychokinesis to nuclear weapons systems. While the scientists concluded that Geller's abilities were not effective over long distances, they experienced a series of bizarre, hallucination-inducing phenomena after their involvement with him, which became known as the "[[Geller Effect]]."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^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]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies.* Dell, 1997.
|
||||
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.* Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ During [[World War II]], von Braun was a leading figure in Nazi Germany's rocket
|
|||
|
||||
In 1972, von Braun met with [[Uri Geller]], a meeting arranged by [[Andrija Puharich]]. During this meeting, Geller asked von Braun to hold his gold wedding band in his clenched palm. Geller concentrated, and when von Braun opened his palm, the ring had been bent into an oval shape. Von Braun reportedly stated, "Uri Geller has bent my ring in the palm of my hand without ever touching it. Personally, I have no scientific explanation for it"[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
In a second incident, von Braun presented Geller with a non-working electronic pocket calculator. Geller held the machine and concentrated, and witnesses confirmed that the electronic panel inexplicably lit up. These incidents caught the attention of the [[Pentagon]], leading to a briefing on "Paranormal Phenomena—Briefing on a Net Assessment Study." The briefing noted the potential utility of [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] (if feasible) in disrupting electrical systems, such as those associated with an [[Intercontinental Ballistic Missile|ICBM]]'s guidance program, as displayed by Geller[^1].
|
||||
In a second incident, von Braun presented Geller with a non-working electronic pocket calculator. Geller held the machine and concentrated, and witnesses confirmed that the electronic panel inexplicably lit up. These incidents caught the attention of the [[Pentagon]], leading to a briefing on "Paranormal Phenomena - Briefing on a Net Assessment Study." The briefing noted the potential utility of [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] (if feasible) in disrupting electrical systems, such as those associated with an [[Intercontinental Ballistic Missile|ICBM]]'s guidance program, as displayed by Geller[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,22 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
||||
title: William Colby
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- William Colby
|
||||
- William Egan Colby
|
||||
- Bill Colby
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
- Vietnam_War
|
||||
- Church_Committee
|
||||
- Operation_CHAOS
|
||||
- Iran_Contra
|
||||
- Franklin_Scandal
|
||||
summary: "William Egan Colby (1920-1996) served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1973 to 1976, dismissing James Angleton, cooperating with the Church Committee, revealing the Family Jewels, and earlier directing the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program."
|
||||
- VietnamWar
|
||||
- ChurchCommittee
|
||||
- OperationCHAOS
|
||||
- PhoenixProgram
|
||||
- 1960s
|
||||
- 1970s
|
||||
summary: "William Egan Colby served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1973 to 1976, dismissing James Angleton, cooperating with the Church Committee, and revealing the Family Jewels, having earlier directed the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program under the CORDS framework."
|
||||
born: 1920-01-04
|
||||
died: 1996-04-27
|
||||
location: "Saint Paul, Minnesota"
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue