diff --git a/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md b/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md index 6dd4bbfa..d667fdd5 100644 --- a/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/00 - META/CHANGELOG.md @@ -1,3 +1,35 @@ +- 2026-10-08T1346 · [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] +- 2026-10-08T1346 · [[Gerald S. Walker]] +- 2026-10-08T1344 · [[Gerald S. Walker]] +- 2026-10-08T1342 · [[October Surprise]] +- 2026-10-08T1342 · [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Open Philanthropy]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Nick Beckstead]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Anthropic]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Jacob Coxon]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Carla Cremer]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Jacob Coxon]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Carla Cremer]] +- 2026-10-08T1337 · [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Carter Cornick]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Danny Casolaro]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Robert Parry]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Lee Hamilton]] +- 2026-10-08T1331 · [[Spencer Oliver]] +- 2026-10-08T1329 · [[Francis J. McNeil]] +- 2026-10-08T1329 · [[Wackenhut Corporation]] +- 2026-10-08T1329 · [[Eugene Propper]] +- 2026-10-08T1329 · [[Robert Scherrer]] +- 2026-10-08T1328 · [[James B. Motley]] +- 2026-10-08T1328 · [[James B. Motley]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[House October Surprise Task Force]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[Greg Kehoe]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[House October Surprise Task Force]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[Greg Kehoe]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] +- 2026-10-08T1323 · [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] - 2026-10-08T1214 · [[Jacques Bergier]] - 2026-10-08T1213 · [[Gerard Messadie]] - 2026-10-08T1213 · [[U.S. Navy]] @@ -13,88 +45,3 @@ - 2026-10-08T1213 · [[Telepathy]] - 2026-10-08T1209 · [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)]] - 2026-10-08T1209 · [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)]] -- 2026-10-08T1209 · [[_FOIA_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1209 · [[_REVIEW_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_U.S. Navy_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Rand Corporation_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Telepathy_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_The Nautilus_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Psi Gap_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Pavel Naumov_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Lynn Schroeder_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Sheila Ostrander_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Leonid Vasiliev_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Jacques Bergier_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Gerard Messadie_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Disinformation_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Eduard Naumov_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1208 · [[_DELTA_Controlled Offensive Behavior - USSR_G1]] -- 2026-10-08T1206 · [[George Lawrence]] -- 2026-10-08T1206 · [[Stanford Research Institute]] -- 2026-10-08T1206 · [[Sun Streak]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Walter Reed Army Institute of Research]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Uri Geller]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Russell Targ]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Richard S. Cesaro]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Richard DeLauer]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Project Pandora]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Moscow Signal]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Kirlian Photography]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Kenneth A. Kress]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[John Poindexter]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Jack Vorona]] -- 2026-10-08T1205 · [[Center Lane]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Six-Day War]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Ronald Moultrie]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Pentagon]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Marco Rubio]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Luis Elizondo]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Jay Stratton]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[Garry Reid]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[David Grusch]] -- 2026-10-08T1204 · [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Samson Option]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Moshe Dayan]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Dean Rusk]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[James Jesus Angleton]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Zalman Mordecai Shapiro]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Yom Kippur War]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Walworth Barbour]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[USS Liberty Incident]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Richard Helms]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Mossad]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Meir Amit]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Dimona]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Clark Clifford]] -- 2026-10-08T1203 · [[Charles de Gaulle]] -- 2026-10-08T1201 · [[UAP Task Force]] -- 2026-10-08T1201 · [[UAP Task Force]] -- 2026-10-08T1201 · [[_REVIEW_G2]] -- 2026-10-08T1201 · [[Lockheed Skunk Works]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[Waco Siege]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[Vietnam War]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[Lockheed Skunk Works]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[John L. Wilhelm]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[Igor Smirnov]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[Samuel Koslov]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[DARPA]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[DARPA]] -- 2026-10-08T1200 · [[_REVIEW_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Richard S. Cesaro_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Walter Reed Army Institute of Research_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Uri Geller_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Sun Streak_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Stanford Research Institute_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Russell Targ_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Richard DeLauer_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Project Pandora_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Moscow Signal_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Kirlian Photography_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Kenneth A. Kress_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_John Poindexter_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Jack Vorona_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_George Lawrence_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Center Lane_G4]] -- 2026-10-08T1159 · [[_DELTA_Advanced Research Projects Agency_G4]] diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carla Cremer.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carla Cremer.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bcb32ade --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carla Cremer.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +category: "Scientists & Researchers" +aliases: + - "Carla Cremer" + - "Carla Zoe Cremer" + - "Zoe Cremer" + - "CarlaZoeC" +tags: + - Researcher + - ExistentialRisk + - EffectiveAltruism + - AISafety + - Oxford +summary: "Existential risk researcher who co-wrote the 2021 paper Democratising Risk with Luke Kemp and reported that senior scholars privately warned that critiquing central EA figures could cost funding from sources such as Open Philanthropy." +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Future of Humanity Institute]]" + role: "research scholar and DPhil scholarship holder" + fn: 3 + - type: participant_in + with: "[[Human Information Processing Lab]]" + role: "doctoral student" + fn: 4 +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +--- + +Carla Zoe Cremer is a researcher on existential risk who co-wrote the 2021 paper "Democratising Risk: In Search of a Methodology to Study Existential Risk" with [[Luke Kemp]] and wrote about its reception on the [[Effective Altruism]] Forum under the name CarlaZoeC.[^1][^2] + +### The 2021 paper + +The paper by Cremer and Kemp was posted to arXiv on December 27, 2021. Its abstract argues that existing approaches to existential risk studies "are not yet fit for purpose, and perhaps even run the risk of increasing harm." It singles out the "techno-utopian approach," which it says "relies on a non-representative moral worldview, uses ambiguous and inadequate definitions, fails to incorporate insights from risk assessment in relevant fields, chooses arbitrary categorisations of risk, and advocates for dangerous mitigation strategies," and adds that "Its moral and empirical assumptions might be particularly vulnerable to securitisation and misuse."[^2] + +### The Effective Altruism Forum post + +On December 28, 2021 Cremer posted "Democratising Risk - or how EA deals with critics" on the Effective Altruism Forum. It begins "Luke Kemp and I just published a paper which criticises existential risk for lacking a rigorous and safe methodology." She wrote that "the creation of this paper has not signalled epistemic health" and that "It has been the most emotionally draining paper we have ever written." She listed what the authors had lost over disagreements on "whether this work should be published, whether potential EA funders would decide against funding us and the institutions we're affiliated with, and whether the authors whose work we critique would be upset." She wrote that the version posted was version 28 and had been seen by "approximately 20 + reviewers," around half of whom the authors sought out as likely sceptics.[^1] + +She wrote that "the burden of proof placed on our claims was unbelievably high in comparison to papers which were considered less 'political' or simply closer to orthodox views," and that "Making the case for democracy was heavily contested."[^1] + +Cremer also wrote: "We were told by some that our critique is invalid because the community is already very cognitively diverse and in fact welcomes criticism." She continued that "It was these same people that then tried to prevent this paper from being published," which they did "largely out of fear that publishing might offend key funders who are aligned with the TUA," the techno-utopian approach. Of those individuals, "often senior scholars within the field," she wrote that they "told us in private that they were concerned that any critique of central figures in EA would result in an inability to secure funding from EA sources, such as OpenPhilanthropy. We don't know if these concerns are warranted."[^1] + +### Affiliations + +A profile on the archived CERN SPARKS site lists Cremer as a research scholar at the [[Future of Humanity Institute]] and a research affiliate of the [[Centre for the Study of Existential Risk]], and states that she was to begin a doctorate in computational neuroscience at the [[University of Oxford]] in autumn 2021 with an FHI DPhil scholarship.[^3] The home page of the [[Human Information Processing Lab]] at Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology, directed by [[Chris Summerfield]], lists her among its alumni (PhD students and research assistants) with the entry "Zoe is now working for a nonprofit somewhere."[^4] + +[[David Morris]] reports that Cremer's appointment at the Future of Humanity Institute ended in 2021, that the institute was closed by Oxford in 2024, and that she has not posted on the Effective Altruism Forum under her own name for three years and did not answer an attempt to reach her at a listed email address.[^5] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Carla Zoe Cremer (CarlaZoeC), "Democratising Risk - or how EA deals with critics," Effective Altruism Forum, December 28, 2021. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/gx7BEkoRbctjkyTme/democratising-risk-or-how-ea-deals-with-critics-1 +[^2]: Carla Zoe Cremer and Luke Kemp, "Democratising Risk: In Search of a Methodology to Study Existential Risk," arXiv:2201.11214, submitted December 27, 2021 (abstract). http://arxiv.org/abs/2201.11214 The authors' SSRN version is https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3995225 +[^3]: "Cremer, Carla Zoe," CERN SPARKS (site archived September 11, 2026). https://sparks.web.cern.ch/node/562 +[^4]: Human Information Processing Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, people page, "Alumni (PhD Students / RAs)." https://humaninformationprocessing.com/people +[^5]: David Morris, "'AI Safety' Research Is a Hallucination," Zero Knowledge, October 8, 2026. https://www.zero-knowledge.com/blog/ai-safety-research-techno-utopian-propaganda Sole source for the end of the appointment, the forum-activity statement and the unanswered email. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carter Cornick.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carter Cornick.md index 2fab90a8..0773115f 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carter Cornick.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carter Cornick.md @@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ tags: summary: "FBI agent who received informant reports on Puerto Rican independence groups, ran the Chilbom investigation of the 1976 Letelier and Moffitt murders, and in 1988 founded Counter Terrorism Consultants with the case's prosecutor." location: "Washington, D.C." relations: + - type: represented + with: "[[Government of Jamaica]]" + start: 1989-09 + end: 1990-04 + role: "short-form registrant for CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., FARA registration 4294" + fn: 22 - type: employed_by with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]" start: 1967 @@ -75,7 +81,7 @@ relations: role: "co-founder of Counter Terrorism Consultants" fn: 5 created: 2026-10-01 -updated: 2026-10-01 +updated: 2026-10-08 --- L. Carter Cornick Jr. was a special agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] from 1967 to 1988.[^1] He was a former Marine,[^2] described in 1978 as "descended from several generations of Virginians,"[^3] and held a bachelor's degree in Asian history from the [[University of Virginia]].[^4] He spent sixteen of his twenty-one bureau years on terrorism.[^5] In San Juan in 1972 and 1973 he received informant reports for the bureau's file on the [[Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño]]; from September 1976 he was case agent of the investigation code-named Chilbom into the murders of [[Orlando Letelier]] and [[Ronni Moffitt]]; in the 1980s he worked in the counterterrorism section at FBI headquarters; and in August 1988 he and the case's prosecutor, [[Eugene Propper]], formed [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]][^1][^5][^6] @@ -134,19 +140,25 @@ In September 1980 the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Colum ### Headquarters, 1980 to 1988 -Cornick became a supervisor in the terrorism section at FBI headquarters, where, he wrote, he found reports from the Letelier case that had been marked for dissemination to the legal attaché in Argentina still in a file cabinet.[^1] On November 27, 1984 the executive secretary of the [[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]] of the Director of Central Intelligence sent "FBI/L. Carter Cornick" and the other members of its Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee a draft of standards for video disc maps, to be produced under a [[Defense Mapping Agency]] contract.[^16] A memorandum of March 11, 1985 called the subcommittee to a meeting on March 22 to discuss the contracts; its membership list gives Cornick's office as Room 4445 of the J. Edgar Hoover Building.[^17] In April 1985 he attended, as a supervisory special agent, the tenth annual symposium on the role of behavioral science in physical security, "Outthinking the Terrorist," at Springfield, Virginia.[^18] Townley was paroled in May 1983 after 62 months, and Fernandez Larios, who in early 1986 had approached the American government through Willoughby and the embassy's Chilean lawyer, [[Alfredo Etcheberry]], met State Department, United States Attorney and FBI representatives in Santiago on January 14, 1987; because of fears that he would be recognized there, Cornick worked with a secondary team in [[Buenos Aires]].[^2] Cornick wrote that Fernandez Larios agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder; Dorfman wrote that he pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact and served seven months.[^1][^2] +Cornick became a supervisor in the terrorism section at FBI headquarters, where, he wrote, he found reports from the Letelier case that had been marked for dissemination to the legal attaché in Argentina still in a file cabinet.[^1] On November 27, 1984 the executive secretary of the [[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]] of the Director of Central Intelligence sent "FBI/L. Carter Cornick" and the other members of its Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee a draft of standards for video disc maps, to be produced under a [[Defense Mapping Agency]] contract.[^16] A memorandum of March 11, 1985 called the subcommittee to a meeting on March 22 to discuss the contracts; its membership list gives Cornick's office as Room 4445 of the J. Edgar Hoover Building.[^17] In April 1985 he attended, as a supervisory special agent, the tenth annual symposium on the role of behavioral science in physical security, "Outthinking the Terrorist," at Springfield, Virginia.[^18] The program lists [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], then senior litigation counsel in the United States Attorney's Office, presenting "Terrorism: The Law as an Effective Deterrent," and the participant list includes [[James B. Motley]] as director of terrorist research and low-intensity conflict studies at the [[National Institute for Public Policy]].[^18] Townley was paroled in May 1983 after 62 months, and Fernandez Larios, who in early 1986 had approached the American government through Willoughby and the embassy's Chilean lawyer, [[Alfredo Etcheberry]], met State Department, United States Attorney and FBI representatives in Santiago on January 14, 1987; because of fears that he would be recognized there, Cornick worked with a secondary team in [[Buenos Aires]].[^2] Cornick wrote that Fernandez Larios agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder; Dorfman wrote that he pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact and served seven months.[^1][^2] A resume packet that Counter Terrorism Consultants circulated in 1990 describes Cornick's last years in the bureau. It states that he spent sixteen of his twenty-one FBI years in the counterterrorism program, the last eight at headquarters; that he had headed the FBI's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center and, at his retirement, the section's computer center; that he had supervised the investigations of the 1983 bombings of the American embassy and the Marine compound in [[Beirut]] and of the 1984 seizure of American hostages in Lebanon, and in 1985 had supported the investigations of the [[TWA Flight 847]] hijacking and the [[Achille Lauro]] case; that he had created the FBI's crisis management protocol for special events and held posts in security for the 1980 Winter Olympics, the 1984 Summer Olympics, the 1984 party conventions, the 1986 rededication of the Statue of Liberty and the 1987 Pan American and World Games; and that he had helped create logistical, operational and computer support for the [[Hostage Rescue Team]]. It also states that he "was the FBI representative to the [[Hostage Locating Task Force]] at the [[White House]], the inter-agency group coordinating American policy on U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and to the State Department's Persian Gulf Threat Working Group," and that he received the FBI Director's Award in 1986.[^4] ### Counter Terrorism Consultants -Cornick retired in May 1988 by his own account, and on June 1, 1988 according to the company's resume packet.[^1][^4] In early August 1988 he and Propper, then with the Washington law firm [[Lane and Edson]], announced Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc., to sell foreign "democratic" governments, airlines, shipping companies and sponsors of events such as the Olympic Games "pro-active" strategies against terrorism and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Cornick was president; Propper said he was a full partner without a title. Scherrer, recently retired as the FBI's records chief, joined as a consultant, and Barcella, then with [[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]], was to advise on extradition. The company's services included "amassing in-depth intelligence files for a client," "liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies," hostage negotiation and "media leak investigations." It was seeded with about $500,000 from "a lot" of investors whom the founders declined to name, and they said their success would not depend on classified information. Cornick said he would draw on fifteen to twenty part-time consultants retired from the [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]], the State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI and the [[Defense Investigative Service]], and had developed "artificial intelligence" computer models of terrorist behavior. "This is the first time anyone has retired from the FBI's terrorism section" to sell such services, he said. [[Jeff Stein]] of [[United Press International]] reported that the four men had also worked together on the investigation of [[Edwin Wilson]], and listed Cornick's direction of the FBI investigations of the Beirut bombings, the TWA 847 hijacking and the Achille Lauro seizure and his management of security at the [[1980 Winter Olympics|Lake Placid]] Games.[^5] +Cornick retired in May 1988 by his own account, and on June 1, 1988 according to the company's resume packet.[^1][^4] In early August 1988 he and Propper, then with the Washington law firm [[Lane and Edson]], announced Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc., to sell foreign "democratic" governments, airlines, shipping companies and sponsors of events such as the Olympic Games "pro-active" strategies against terrorism and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Cornick was president; Propper said he was a full partner without a title. Scherrer, recently retired as the FBI's records chief, joined as a consultant, and Barcella, then with [[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]], was to advise on extradition. The company's services included "amassing in-depth intelligence files for a client," "liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies," hostage negotiation and "media leak investigations." It was seeded with about $500,000 from "a lot" of investors whom the founders declined to name, and they said their success would not depend on classified information. Cornick said he would draw on fifteen to twenty part-time consultants retired from the [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]], the State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI and the [[Defense Investigative Service]], and had developed "artificial intelligence" computer models of terrorist behavior. "This is the first time anyone has retired from the FBI's terrorism section" to sell such services, he said. [[United Press International]] reported that the four men had also worked together on the investigation of [[Edwin Wilson]], and listed Cornick's direction of the FBI investigations of the Beirut bombings, the TWA 847 hijacking and the Achille Lauro seizure and his management of security at the [[1980 Winter Olympics|Lake Placid]] Games.[^5] -By 1990 the firm was CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., at 2300 M Street NW in Washington, with Cornick as co-founder and chief executive officer. A copy of its resume packet, bearing a fax header of 1990, is among the papers of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]. Besides Cornick, Propper and Barcella, the associates listed were an unnamed former senior CIA operations officer described as a former chief of counterterrorism for the agency and its representative on White House, State Department and [[National Security Council]] counterterrorism committees, who had retired in 1987 and had earlier been chief of the agency's air and maritime elements from 1974 to 1977; [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], ambassador to [[Costa Rica]] from 1980 to 1983 and later senior deputy for intelligence and research at the State Department; [[James B. Motley]], vice president for national security studies and programs at [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation since September 1987, who had appeared before the [[Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism]] in 1985; and a former foreign service officer, Nudell, who had served in [[Nicaragua]] and in the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism.[^4] +By 1990 the firm was CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., at 2300 M Street NW in Washington, with Cornick as co-founder and chief executive officer. A copy of its resume packet, bearing a fax header of June 20, 1990, is among the papers of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]. Besides Cornick, Propper and Barcella, the associates listed were an unnamed former senior CIA operations officer described as a former chief of counterterrorism for the agency and its representative on White House, State Department and [[National Security Council]] counterterrorism committees, who had retired in 1987 and had earlier been chief of the agency's air and maritime elements from 1974 to 1977; [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], ambassador to [[Costa Rica]] from 1980 to 1983 and later senior deputy for intelligence and research at the State Department; James B. Motley, vice president for national security studies and programs at [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation|Advanced Technologies Corporation]] since September 1987, who had appeared before the [[Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism]] in 1985; and [[Mayer Nudell]], formerly executive director of the Institute on Terrorism and Subnational Conflict, a former foreign service officer who had held posts in [[El Salvador]] and [[Nicaragua]] and served in the State Department's Bureau of Inter-American Affairs and Office of Counterterrorism and Emergency Planning.[^4] + +CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. was filed as a [[Delaware]] limited partnership (file number 2168210) on August 1, 1988, and registered in the District of Columbia as a foreign limited partnership on August 5, 1988, with CounterTerrorism Consultants, Inc., at 2300 M Street NW, 8th floor, as its registered agent.[^19][^20] The International Association of Chiefs of Police directory for 1988 lists "Cornick, Jr., L. Carter" as president of Counterterrorism Consultants Inc. at 2300 M Street NW, Suite 800.[^21] + +The partnership registered with the Department of Justice under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] as registration number 4294 on September 18, 1989, at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 230, [[Alexandria, Virginia]]; the registration ended October 25, 1990. Its one foreign principal was the [[Government of Jamaica]], registered the same day and terminated April 15, 1990. Cornick, Propper and Gerald S. Walker are listed as short-form registrants, each with the October 25, 1990 termination date.[^22] The Attorney General's report to Congress for 1988 through 1991 lists the registration with activities "None Reported" and $25,000.00 received prior to registration on September 18, 1989.[^23] In January 1990 the Newhouse News Service described Cornick as a former FBI agent who "now heads a counterterrorism consulting company in Alexandria, Va."; he said in the article that the FAA had responded to [[Pan Am Flight 103]] in the best way it could and called the thermal neutron analysis bomb detector better than what had been available.[^24] A 1990 book on corporate intelligence quoted Cornick as head of the Washington-based Counter-Terrorism Consultants.[^25] + +In September 1989 [[Mary McGrory]] reported that Cornick, who had been in charge of the Letelier case at FBI headquarters, proposed to Saul Landau of the Institute for Policy Studies that Scherrer receive an award from the institute.[^26] ### After the bureau -After Pinochet's arrest in [[London]] in October 1998, the Justice Department approved Cornick's testimony before the Spanish judge [[Baltasar Garzón]] at the federal courthouse in Washington, and he was deputized as a deputy United States marshal so that he could review the case files, then still on manual index cards.[^1] On September 19, 2001, in Washington, he gave a statement to United States judicial authorities in the presence of the Italian prosecutor [[Giancarlo Capaldo]] for the Rome investigation of [[Operation Condor]]; he described Scherrer's contacts with the Argentine [[Secretaría de Inteligencia|SIDE]] and with DINA, said that Scherrer had received his information on Condor from an Argentine SIDE officer, and said that Contreras was known as "Condor One."[^19] A letter of May 18, 2005 from twenty members of the House of Representatives to President [[George W. Bush]], placed in the [[Congressional Record]] by [[Dennis Kucinich]], quoted Cornick as having said in an interview that the Cubana bombing and the Letelier bombing were both planned at a June 1976 meeting in [[Santo Domingo]] attended by Posada, who was involved "up to his eyeballs."[^20] +After Pinochet's arrest in [[London]] in October 1998, the Justice Department approved Cornick's testimony before the Spanish judge [[Baltasar Garzón]] at the federal courthouse in Washington, and he was deputized as a deputy United States marshal so that he could review the case files, then still on manual index cards.[^1] On September 19, 2001, in Washington, he gave a statement to United States judicial authorities in the presence of the Italian prosecutor [[Giancarlo Capaldo]] for the Rome investigation of [[Operation Condor]]; he described Scherrer's contacts with the Argentine [[Secretaría de Inteligencia|SIDE]] and with DINA, said that Scherrer had received his information on Condor from an Argentine SIDE officer, and said that Contreras was known as "Condor One."[^27] A letter of May 18, 2005 from twenty members of the House of Representatives to President [[George W. Bush]], placed in the [[Congressional Record]] by [[Dennis Kucinich]], quoted Cornick as having said in an interview that the Cubana bombing and the Letelier bombing were both planned at a June 1976 meeting in [[Santo Domingo]] attended by Posada, who was involved "up to his eyeballs."[^28] Cornick wrote in 2016 that the Letelier case, more than the assassination of the Swedish prime minister [[Olof Palme]], the Beirut embassy and Marine bombings, or the kidnapping and murder of the CIA station chief in Beirut, [[William Buckley]], was the culmination of his career as an investigator.[^1] @@ -156,7 +168,7 @@ Cornick wrote in 2016 that the Letelier case, more than the assassination of the [^2]: Zach Dorfman, "Codename: Chilbom," *The Atavist Magazine*, no. 59, June 21, 2016, https://magazine.atavist.com/2016/codename-chilbom. [^3]: Timothy S. Robinson, "The Letelier Case," *The Washington Post*, May 21, 1978, p. A4, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP99-00498R000100050048-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp99-00498r000100050048-7. [^4]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents the Resumes of its Associates," fax copy (header 1990), pp. 141 P01 to P12, in the Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. -[^5]: Jeff Stein, "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/. +[^5]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/. [^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Juan field office, file 100-4014 (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño), FD-306 cover sheets for informant reports received by SA L. Carter Cornick Jr., dated between November 22, 1972 and October 10, 1973, released to Representative José Serrano and posted by the project "The FBI Files on Puerto Ricans," file parts SJ-100-4014 33 and 34, https://archive.org/details/PartidoIndependentistaPuertorriqueno. [^7]: John Dinges and Saul Landau, *Assassination on Embassy Row* (New York: Pantheon, 1980; McGraw-Hill paperback, 1981), pp. 211, 229 to 236, https://archive.org/details/assassination-on-embassy-row. [^8]: Secretary of State to American Embassy Caracas, "Interrogation of Bosch," telegram 1976STATE277225, November 11, 1976 (drafted and approved by Harry W. Shlaudeman, quoting Richard L. Thornburgh's letter of November 5, 1976), Department of State, released 2006, https://archive.org/details/State-Dept-cable-1976-272754. @@ -170,5 +182,13 @@ Cornick wrote in 2016 that the Letelier case, more than the assassination of the [^16]: Executive Secretary, Intelligence Information Handling Committee, to GISS Members, "Proposed Video Disc Standards," memorandum IHC/MM 84-92, November 27, 1984, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP86M00017R000400310007-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86m00017r000400310007-4. [^17]: Acting Chairman, Intelligence Information Handling Committee, to GISS Members, "GISS Meeting," memorandum IHC/MM 85-50, March 11, 1985, with Geographic Information Systems Subcommittee membership list, CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP87M00220R000500530039-7, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp87m00220r000500530039-7. [^18]: *Supplemental Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security (10th): Outthinking the Terrorist, an International Challenge*, Springfield, Virginia, April 23 to 24, 1985, attendee list, Defense Technical Information Center ADA161669, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA161669. -[^19]: Operation Condor proceeding (Rome), ordinanza di custodia cautelare, part 2, note 1731 and a later note, citing C. Cornick, statement before United States judicial authorities in the presence of PM G. Capaldo, Washington, September 19, 2001, Rogatoria USA, fd. 1, fll. 941 to 975, DocumentCloud 6165069, https://archive.org/details/6165069-Condor-Ordinanza-custodia-cautelare-2. -[^20]: Dennis J. Kucinich, "Letter to President Bush Regarding Luis Posada Carriles," extension of remarks, May 18, 2005, *Congressional Record* (bound edition) 151, pt. 8, p. 10512, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2005-pt8/pdf/CRECB-2005-pt8-Pg10512.pdf. +[^19]: OpenCorporates, company record us_de/2168210 (CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P.), mirroring the Delaware Division of Corporations registry, https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/2168210. +[^20]: District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Business One Stop Shop entity record 058088, Counterterrorism Consultants L.P., viewed October 8, 2026, https://boss.dc.gov. +[^21]: The Police Chief, vol. 55 (1988), p. 93, membership directory of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. +[^22]: U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act public bulk files, registration 4294 (registrants, foreign principals, short forms), https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_Registrants.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ForeignPrincipals.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ShortForms.csv.zip. +[^23]: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Attorney General to the Congress on the Administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, for the Calendar Years 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, Volume 1, Jamaica section, p. 599, https://www.justice.gov/media/910066/dl?inline. +[^24]: Hugh Vickery, "Airport bomb detectors' efficiency queried," Newhouse News Service, in The Times (Trenton, New Jersey), January 4, 1990, p. 41, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1196585158/. +[^25]: George S. Roukis, Hugh Conway and Bruce H. Charnov, eds., *Global Corporate Intelligence* (New York: Quorum Books, 1990), p. 198 and index, https://archive.org/details/globalcorporatei00rouk. +[^26]: Mary McGrory, column on the Institute for Policy Studies and Robert Scherrer, The York Dispatch (York, Pennsylvania), September 25, 1989, p. 8, https://www.newspapers.com/image/613938311/. +[^27]: Operation Condor proceeding (Rome), ordinanza di custodia cautelare, part 2, note 1731 and a later note, citing C. Cornick, statement before United States judicial authorities in the presence of PM G. Capaldo, Washington, September 19, 2001, Rogatoria USA, fd. 1, fll. 941 to 975, DocumentCloud 6165069, https://archive.org/details/6165069-Condor-Ordinanza-custodia-cautelare-2. +[^28]: Dennis J. Kucinich, "Letter to President Bush Regarding Luis Posada Carriles," extension of remarks, May 18, 2005, *Congressional Record* (bound edition) 151, pt. 8, p. 10512, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2005-pt8/pdf/CRECB-2005-pt8-Pg10512.pdf. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md index b1858746..b5b60300 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danny Casolaro.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases: - Danny Casolaro - Joseph Daniel Casolaro created: 2024-04-25 -updated: 2026-05-17 +updated: 2026-10-08 category: "Authors & Journalists" tags: - KeyFigure @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ tags: - 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." +summary: "Freelance journalist whose investigation of the PROMIS software affair grew into his theory of an intelligence-criminal network he called the Octopus; found dead in a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel on August 10, 1991." born: 1947-06-16 died: 1991-08-10 location: "McLean, Virginia" @@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ In early 1994, the Department of Justice announced it was opening "a nationwide Casolaro's investigation intersected with the drug-trafficking networks documented by journalist Gary Webb. He was investigating connections between the Cabazon Indian tribe, [[Wackenhut International]], and weapons manufacturing for Third World armies including the [[Contras]] in Nicaragua. He had told friends he was convinced that "spies, arms merchants and others were using the reservation as a low-profile site on which to develop weapons for Third World armies, including the Nicaraguan Contras." The [[San Francisco]] Chronicle reported that Contra leader [[Eden Pastora]] had visited a firing range near the reservation for a weapons demonstration in 1981. Casolaro's notebooks also contained the name of former CIA officer [[John Vandewerker]] in connection with activities at the Cabazon reservation.[^3] +### The research files + +Casolaro's research files, photographed by [[Christian Hansen]] at the Missouri State Historical Society and published on the Internet Archive, include a folder labelled "Promotional Material" of corporate and weapons literature, hand-numbered "BD|AI|PM-01" onward. Its items are a brochure for the Inter-Probe modular energy transfer catalyzer (PM-01), a printed page numbered 207 on fuel air munitions (PM-02), a [[Brunswick Corporation]] defense division data package for the Rifleman's Assault Weapon for urban warfare dated October 1976 (PM-03), a sales sheet of the defense division of the Chilean firm [[Industrias Cardoen]] (PM-04) and a twelve-page fax of the resumes of the associates of [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] (PM-05), whose page headers carry the date June 20, 1990 and times from 16:53 to 17:01.[^5] The packet names [[Carter Cornick]], [[Eugene Propper]], [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], [[Francis J. McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] (a vice president of [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]), [[Mayer Nudell]] and a former CIA counterterrorism chief whose entry carries no name.[^5] The files also contain a folder of 1980s newspaper and magazine material on [[Frank Terpil]] and [[Edwin Wilson]], folders of Wackenhut annual reports, correspondence, profiles and newsletters, and, in a folder of Department of Defense publications, a magazine article by David Corn on Barcella and the Pan Am 103 bombing.[^6] + ### Bibliography - *Behold, A Pale Horse* / *The Octopus* (unfinished manuscript, never published) @@ -83,4 +87,5 @@ Casolaro's investigation intersected with the drug-trafficking networks document [^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* House Report 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992. [^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty." [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993. -[^5]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. +[^5]: Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," Internet Archive items casolaro-notebooks (PromotionalMaterial.pdf) and PromotionalMaterial, https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^6]: Danny Casolaro papers, folders "CIA Frank Terpil Renegades," "Wackenhut - Newsletters" and "DOD PUBLICATIONS," https://archive.org/details/ddosecrets_casolaro_files (the Corn item is headed "SPECIAL EDITION - TERRORISM / Did It Blow Up Flight 103?"). diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md index cf0f80f4..7083ea5c 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr..md @@ -3,82 +3,200 @@ aliases: - Lawrence Barcella - Larry Barcella - E. Lawrence Barcella + - E. Lawrence Barcella Jr. + - Lawrence Barcella Jr. - Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" created: 2024-04-25 -updated: 2026-09-23 +updated: 2026-10-08 tags: - Person - OctoberSurprise - Lawyer - Prosecutor - BCCI + - EdwinWilson + - CounterTerrorismConsultants born: 1945-05-23 died: 2010-11-04 location: "Washington, D.C." -summary: "Former federal prosecutor who built the case against Edwin Wilson, coordinated BCCI's defense after its 1988 Tampa indictment, and was chief counsel of the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992 and 1993." +summary: "Former federal prosecutor who built the Edwin Wilson case, helped coordinate BCCI's defense after its 1988 Tampa indictment, and was chief counsel of the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992 and 1993." relations: - type: employed_by with: "[[Department of Justice]]" role: "Assistant United States Attorney, District of Columbia; deputy chief, major crimes division" + start: 1970 end: 1986 fn: 1 + - type: investigated + with: "[[Orlando Letelier]]" + role: "leader of the initial government investigation of the 1976 car-bomb murder" + start: 1976 + fn: 1 - type: investigated with: "[[Edwin Wilson]]" - role: "prosecutor who gathered the evidence and arranged the 1982 arrest" + role: "prosecutor who gathered the evidence with Carol Bruce and arranged the 1982 arrest" + start: 1978 + end: 1982 fn: 1 - type: represented with: "[[Lyn Nofziger]]" + start: 1987 + fn: 3 + - type: represented + with: "[[Melvyn Paisley]]" start: 1988 - fn: 1 + fn: 3 + - type: represented + with: "[[Jose Blandon]]" + start: 1990 + fn: 3 - type: represented with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]" role: "defense coordinator, Tampa money-laundering case" start: 1988 + fn: 7 + - type: partner_of + with: "[[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]]" + start: 1988 + fn: 7 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]" + role: "active consultant named in 1988; associate listed in the 1990 resume packet" + start: 1988 + end: 1990 + fn: 5 + - type: partner_of + with: "[[Katten Muchin Zavis & Dombroff]]" + start: 1991 + fn: 4 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Paul Hastings]]" + role: "partner, Washington office, white-collar and government contract matters" fn: 2 - - type: investigated - with: "[[October Surprise]]" - role: "chief counsel, House October Surprise Task Force" + - type: appointed + with: "[[House October Surprise Task Force]]" + role: "chief counsel" start: 1992 end: 1993 - fn: 5 + fn: 12 + - type: reported_to + with: "[[Lee Hamilton]]" + role: "chief counsel to the task force chairman" + start: 1992 + end: 1993 + fn: 12 --- -E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. was a [[Washington, D.C.]] attorney and former federal prosecutor. He served as chief counsel for the House [[October Surprise]] Task Force, the bipartisan investigative panel co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. [[Henry Hyde]] (R-Illinois) that investigated allegations that the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] campaign had secretly negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the 1980 hostage release. Before taking that post he had been one of the Washington lawyers of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI). +E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. (May 23, 1945 to November 4, 2010) was a [[Washington, D.C.]] lawyer and former federal prosecutor. He built the government's case against [[Edwin Wilson]], helped coordinate the defense of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) after its 1988 indictment in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], and served as chief counsel of the [[House October Surprise Task Force]], the bipartisan panel co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. [[Henry Hyde]] (R-Illinois) that investigated the [[October Surprise]] allegations that the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] campaign had negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the 1980 hostage release.[^1] -### Prosecutor +### Prosecutor (1970 to 1986) -Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. was born in Washington on May 23, 1945, to Ernest and Louise Berniere Barcella; his father was a reporter and news executive for [[United Press International]]. He graduated from [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] in 1967 and received his law degree from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] in 1970, and soon afterwards was hired as a clerk in the United States Attorney's office in Washington.[^1] +Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. was born in Washington on May 23, 1945, to Ernest and Louise Berniere Barcella. His father was a reporter and news executive for [[United Press International]]. He graduated from [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] in 1967 and received his law degree from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]] in 1970.[^1] A family account published by the [[Washington Post]] says that a summer interview at the [[Department of Justice]] produced no summer position, and that the Justice Department official [[Harold H. Titus Jr.]] offered him a full-time job after he finished law school.[^2] He served as an assistant United States attorney in Washington, in the major crimes division, until 1986.[^1][^2] -His first major international case was the government's initial investigation of the September 21, 1976, car-bomb assassination in Washington of [[Orlando Letelier]], the former Chilean foreign minister, and his aide [[Ronni Moffitt|Ronni Karpen Moffitt]], which was traced to the Chilean intelligence service [[DINA]]; the DINA agent [[Michael Townley]] pleaded guilty in the [[United States]] in 1978. With a fellow prosecutor, [[Carol Bruce]], Barcella spent four years gathering evidence against [[Edwin Wilson]], a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operative who had supplied the Libyan government of [[Muammar Qaddafi]] with 21 tons of C-4 plastic explosive and had fled to [[Libya]]. In 1982, when Barcella was deputy chief of the major crimes division, Wilson was lured to the [[Dominican Republic]] by a former associate who proposed a deal involving support for the clandestine war against the government of [[Nicaragua]], and was arrested on arrival in [[Santo Domingo]]. Wilson then plotted to have Barcella and Bruce killed. He was sentenced to 52 years; in 2003 a federal judge in [[Texas]] vacated his conviction for selling explosives to Libya, ruling that prosecutors had used false testimony. The case was the subject of the 1986 book *Manhunt* by [[Peter Maas]]. Barcella also worked on the inquiries into the 1983 bombings of the American embassies in [[Beirut]] and [[Kuwait]] and the Marine barracks in Beirut, and into the 1985 hijacking of the *[[Achille Lauro]]*.[^1] +His first major international case was the government's initial investigation of the September 21, 1976, car-bomb assassination in Washington of [[Orlando Letelier]], the former Chilean foreign minister, and his aide [[Ronni Moffitt|Ronni Karpen Moffitt]]. The killing was traced to the Chilean intelligence service [[DINA]]. The DINA agent [[Michael Townley]] pleaded guilty in the [[United States]] in 1978 and served 62 months in prison.[^1] -He left federal service in 1986. In private practice he conducted internal investigations for corporations and defended clients charged with securities fraud, antitrust violations, tax evasion and money laundering. His client [[Lyn Nofziger]], a political adviser to President Reagan, was convicted of illegal lobbying in 1988; an appeals court overturned the conviction the following year.[^1] +### The Wilson case (1978 to 1982) -### BCCI +With a fellow prosecutor, [[Carol Bruce]], Barcella spent four years gathering evidence against Edwin Wilson, a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operative who had supplied the Libyan government of [[Muammar Qaddafi]] with explosives and had fled to [[Libya]].[^1] Wilson's shipments to Libya are put at 20 tons of high explosives in the 1992 press account of Barcella's record.[^3] -The Senate subcommittee of Senator [[John Kerry]] listed Barcella with [[Lawrence Wechsler]] and [[Raymond Banoun]] as the former federal prosecutors in BCCI's Washington "cadre of professional help," which also included [[Clark Clifford]]. He was brought onto the case shortly after BCCI's indictment in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] in October 1988; Wechsler, with whom he had worked at the [[Department of Justice]], recruited him "to coordinate the bank's defense." The report stated that "the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown" and recorded the following. In 1988 he tried to persuade the lead partner of his firm, former Senator [[Paul Laxalt]], to meet BCCI's chief executive, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], in [[London]] and to lobby for the bank on Capitol Hill; the subcommittee could not determine what, if anything, Laxalt did for BCCI. In 1989 and 1990 he joined [[John Vardaman]] of [[Williams & Connolly]] and [[Robert Altman]] in warning the journalist [[Larry Gurwin]], then writing about BCCI and [[First American Bank|First American]] for *Regardie's* magazine, that it would be improper to link the two institutions, and called Gurwin's allegations "absurd." In early 1990, after members of Congress criticized the bank's plea bargain as too lenient, he met Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], one of the critics, "in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed."[^2] +In 1982, when Barcella was deputy chief of the major crimes division, Wilson was lured to the [[Dominican Republic]] by a former associate who proposed a deal allowing him to return to the United States if he supported the clandestine war against the leftist government of [[Nicaragua]]. When he stepped off the plane in [[Santo Domingo]], he was arrested and flown to New York.[^1] Wilson then plotted to have Barcella and Bruce killed. He received a sentence of 52 years.[^1] In 2003 a federal judge in [[Texas]] threw out his conviction for selling explosives to Libya, ruling that prosecutors had used false testimony. Wilson was released from prison in 2004.[^1][^2] The case was the subject of the 1986 book *Manhunt* by [[Peter Maas]].[^1] -In mid-December 1989 Barcella and Wechsler represented BCCI in the meetings with the Tampa prosecutors at which the bank offered to plead guilty to money laundering in return for an end to its exposure for all offenses then known to the government; the agreement was reached in January 1990. After the United States Attorney in Tampa, [[Robert Genzman]], told Florida regulators on January 31, 1990, that he took no position on BCCI's state license, "BCCI's lawyers, principally former federal prosecutors Lawrence Wechsler, Lawrence Barcella, and Raymond Banoun, dissatisfied with this result, decided to talk to others in the Justice Department to bring about a different result." Two weeks later [[Charles Saphos]] of the Criminal Division wrote to the Florida comptroller, [[Gerald Lewis]], asking that BCCI be permitted to operate. Genzman's first assistant, [[Greg Kehoe]], testified that "[they] tried to go behind my back."[^3] +Barcella also worked on the inquiries into the 1983 bombings of the American embassies in [[Beirut]] and [[Kuwait]] and of the Marine garrison in Beirut, and into the 1985 hijacking of the *[[Achille Lauro]]*.[^1] -### Antigua +### Private practice (1986 to 1991) -In April 1989 a network of Israeli arms traffickers operating out of [[Miami]] shipped 500 Israeli-made machine guns through the Caribbean island of [[Antigua and Barbuda|Antigua]] for members of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellin cartel]]; one was later used in the assassination of the Colombian presidential candidate [[Luis Carlos Galan]]. The principals included [[Yair Klein]], [[Pinchas Shahar]] and [[Maurice Sarfati]]. The government of Antigua commissioned an investigation of the affair from Barcella, which, according to the Senate report, "left many questions unanswered." The shipment had grown out of a "melon farm" set up in Antigua in 1983 by Sarfati and financed by a two million dollar loan from the [[Overseas Private Investment Corporation]], granted partly on financial references supplied by BCCI's Miami branch.[^4] +He left federal service in 1986 and went into private practice in Washington, initially at a firm where the lawyer for [[Barbara Studley]] also worked.[^3] His private work covered internal investigations for corporations and the defense of clients charged with securities fraud, antitrust violations, tax evasion and money laundering.[^1] -### October Surprise Task Force +His client [[Lyn Nofziger]], a political adviser to President Reagan, was represented by Barcella from 1987 and was convicted of illegal lobbying in 1988. A federal appeals court overturned that conviction the following year.[^1][^3] From 1988 Barcella represented [[Melvyn Paisley]], a former Pentagon official who was later convicted in the wide-ranging "Ill Wind" contracting investigation.[^3] Around 1990 he represented [[Jose Blandon]], a former senior intelligence officer in Panama and political foe of [[Manuel Noriega]].[^3] -The Task Force operated from 1992 through January 1993, conducting over 250 interviews. Barcella and his staff directed the investigative work and managed the documentary record. As the investigation drew toward its close, Barcella reportedly requested that Hamilton extend the probe by three months, citing substantial new evidence that had arrived in the final weeks of the investigation. Hamilton declined the request, a decision that Barcella and others subsequently cited as a significant limitation on the Task Force's completeness.[^5] +[[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]] had been formed in December 1987 by Paul Laxalt and Robert B. Washington Jr.[^4] A business column in the *Chicago Tribune* of July 23, 1991 reported that the Chicago-based [[Katten Muchin Zavis & Dombroff]] (then Katten Muchin & Zavis) had added Barcella, "a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington and partner at Washington, Perito & Dubuc," to its Washington office.[^4] -The Task Force's final report, released January 1993, concluded there was "no credible evidence" of a secret deal. Barcella's request to extend the investigation was not reflected in the public report, and only emerged through subsequent reporting by journalist [[Robert Parry]], who obtained information about the Task Force's internal deliberations.[^5] +### Counter Terrorism Consultants (1988 to 1990) -The Senate BCCI report, issued in December 1992, noted that Barcella had been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the October Surprise allegations, and that Greg Kehoe was on leave from the Justice Department to assist him; Kehoe was "the Justice Department official with whom BCCi lawyers, including Barcella, negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa."[^2] +In August 1988 [[Carter Cornick]], a retired FBI terrorism official, and [[Eugene Propper]], a former prosecutor in the Letelier case, announced [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], which offered governments, airlines and event sponsors counterterrorism strategies and the management of kidnappings and hijackings. Barcella, then with Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc, was to be called on for legal consultation on matters such as extradition procedures. The announcement named Robert Scherrer and Barcella as active consultants, and said that the four men had worked together on the Letelier case and on the investigation of Wilson, in which Barcella had obtained information that Wilson was shipping explosives to Libya.[^5] + +A resume packet circulated by the firm, by then named CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., with a fax header of 1990, lists Barcella among its associates. The others listed were Cornick, Propper, [[Robert Scherrer]], an unnamed former senior CIA counterterrorism officer, [[Francis J. McNeil|Frank McNeil]], [[James B. Motley]] of [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation, and a former foreign service officer named Nudell.[^6] + +### BCCI (1988 to 1990) + +Barcella was brought onto the BCCI case shortly after the October 1988 indictment of the bank in Tampa. [[Lawrence Wechsler]], with whom he had worked at the Department of Justice, recruited him "to coordinate the bank's defense." The Senate subcommittee chaired by [[John Kerry]] listed him, with [[Raymond Banoun]] and Wechsler, among the former federal prosecutors in BCCI's Washington "cadre of professional help," which also included [[Clark Clifford]]. The report stated that "the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown" and recorded the following.[^7] + +In 1988 Barcella tried to persuade his firm's lead partner, former senator [[Paul Laxalt]], to meet BCCI's chief executive, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], in [[London]] and to lobby for the bank on Capitol Hill. The subcommittee "has been unable to determine what, if any, services Senator Laxalt performed on behalf of BCCI."[^7] In 1989 and 1990 he joined [[John Vardaman]] of [[Williams & Connolly]] and [[Robert Altman]] in warning the journalist [[Larry Gurwin]], who was writing about BCCI and [[First American Bank|First American]] for *[[Regardie's]]* magazine, that it would be improper to link the two institutions. Barcella called Gurwin's allegations "absurd."[^7] In early 1990, after members of Congress criticized the bank's plea bargain as too lenient, he met Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], one of the critics, "in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed."[^7] + +One 1992 newspaper account gave a different start date, saying that in 1990 Barcella "was hired to represent" the bank.[^3] + +In mid-December 1989 Barcella and Wechsler represented BCCI in meetings with the Tampa prosecutors at which the bank offered to plead guilty to money laundering in return for an end to its exposure for offenses then known to the government. The agreement was reached in January 1990.[^8] After the United States Attorney in Tampa, [[Robert Genzman]], told Florida regulators on January 31, 1990, that his office took no position on BCCI's state license, the Senate report recorded that "BCCI's lawyers, principally former federal prosecutors Lawrence Wechsler, Lawrence Barcella, and Raymond Banoun, dissatisfied with this result, decided to talk to others in the Justice Department to bring about a different result."[^8] Two weeks later [[Charles Saphos]] of the Criminal Division agreed to write to the state regulators. His letter of February 13, 1990, asked that BCCI be permitted to operate, and the Florida comptroller, [[Gerald Lewis]], answered it the next day.[^8] Genzman's first assistant, [[Greg Kehoe]], testified that "[they] tried to go behind my back."[^8] The Senate report described Kehoe as "the Justice Department official with whom BCCI lawyers, including Barcella, negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa."[^7] + +### Antigua (1989) + +In April 1989 a network of Israeli arms traffickers operating out of [[Miami]] shipped 500 Israeli-made machine guns through the Caribbean island of [[Antigua and Barbuda|Antigua]] for members of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellin cartel]]. One of the weapons was later used in the assassination of the Colombian presidential candidate [[Luis Carlos Galan]]. The principals included [[Yair Klein]], [[Pinchas Shahar]] and [[Maurice Sarfati]]. A subsequent investigation for the government of Antigua, conducted by Barcella, left many questions unanswered.[^9] The shipment grew out of a "melon farm" that Sarfati set up on Antigua in 1983, financed by a $2 million loan from the [[Overseas Private Investment Corporation]]. BCCI's Miami office wrote to the lender on June 14, 1983, that Sarfati was "one of our valued customers."[^9] + +### Hiring by the House (1992) + +House Resolution 258, adopted on February 5, 1992, created a task force of thirteen members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, appointed by the Speaker, to investigate allegations that the 1980 Reagan campaign had communicated with Iranians to delay the release of the hostages. The House agreed to the resolution by a recorded vote of 247 to 158.[^10] + +The task force adopted its rules on March 11, 1992. House Resolution 258 authorized the chairman, in consultation with the ranking Republican member, to employ attorneys, investigators and consultants and allowed the task force to require its staff to enter nondisclosure agreements. Rule 9 of the rules ("Staff, Detailees, and Consultants") addressed the hiring of staff and the security procedures for classified material.[^11] The final report states that Barcella "was hired as Chief Counsel," and that his services were retained because of his experience as a federal prosecutor and as a white-collar criminal defense counsel. The staff biography in the report describes him as "presently a partner in the Washington office of Katten, Muchin, Zavis and Dombroff," states that he served in the United States Attorney's Office in Washington from 1970 to 1986, and states that since then he "has represented a variety of national and international clients in complex criminal matters and internal investigations."[^12] + +Hamilton, as chairman, selected Barcella, and a May 29, 1992 press account dated the hiring to March 1992. Hamilton said in that account, "I was looking for someone that had a large amount of international experience, had done a lot of investigative-type law practice, who had worked as a prosecutor and, of course, whose reputation was very good." The same account stated that in the summer of 1985, while an assistant United States attorney, Barcella had given a legal opinion clearing a private $5 million shipment of Soviet-bloc rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers to the Nicaraguan contras. The shipment was arranged by [[John Singlaub]] and Barbara Studley, who had created [[GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.]]. In telephone interviews that month, Barcella "refused to explain" how the opinion came about.[^3] Studley, in a deposition quoted in the same account, answered the question of who in the Justice Department approved the shipment with "Larry Barcella signed it"; her lawyer, Frank Koszorus Jr., said he was "not at all certain that she was ever issued a written opinion."[^3] + +Asked about the opinion in May 1992, Barcella said, "It was a simple situation where somebody in the government came to me," and said he did not identify the official who sought it. Asked about his past contacts with intelligence agencies, he said, "I don't see where that causes a problem," and "I'm going to do as thorough and independent and professional an investigation as I can." [[Joseph diGenova]], the United States Attorney in Washington in those years, first said, "Assistant U.S. attorneys do not issue legal opinions on arms shipments," and "Larry would never have done that." A week later diGenova said, "Larry was sought out by a lot of people in intelligence and by a lot of people in the marshals service and the FBI who knew that he was creative." diGenova said that Barcella, through his anti-terrorism work, knew [[Oliver North]]; Barcella said he had met North once and that North was not the official who sought the opinion.[^3] Hamilton said he had learned of the opinion after the newspaper's inquiries, and when asked whether he would look into it, said, "I will investigate all aspects of criticisms of staff, including Larry or anybody else."[^3] + +### House October Surprise Task Force (1992 to 1993) + +The task force's chairman was Hamilton and its ranking Republican was Hyde. The Democrats were [[Stephen Solarz]], [[Sam Gejdenson]], [[Mervyn Dymally]], [[Robert Torricelli]], [[Howard Berman]], [[Edward Feighan]] and [[Ted Weiss]]. The Republicans were [[Jim Leach]], [[Olympia Snowe]], [[Doug Bereuter]] and [[Porter Goss]].[^12] Barcella and [[Richard J. Leon]], the chief minority counsel, selected the legal staff.[^12] + +The majority staff included [[Michael F. Zeldin]] as deputy chief counsel, the former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer [[Sotiris Planzos]], and two lawyers from the Katten office, [[Nancy Luque]] and [[Anne Pings]]. The minority staff included Greg Kehoe, deputy chief minority counsel, who had been first assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida and joined the task force on June 18, 1992.[^12] The Senate report, published in December 1992, stated that Barcella "has been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee" and that Kehoe was "on leave from the Justice Department to assist Barcella in his investigation."[^7] + +On October 2, 1992, the House considered House Resolution 585, which authorized the task force to file its final report with the Clerk after adjournment sine die and before noon on January 3, 1993, and limited its expenses to the amounts in House Resolution 512. Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing the resolution, said its purpose was to make clear that the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year," and that the budget would be no higher than $1.35 million. In the same debate a member speaking for the resolution said that Hamilton and Hyde had told the Rules Committee that the work would be finished "by probably the middle of November."[^13] The task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. The transmittal letter to Speaker [[Thomas S. Foley]] is dated January 3, 1993, and cites House Resolutions 258 and 585.[^12] + +The report concludes that the allegations were either "wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate" them.[^12] Its transmittal letter says the report "was approved unanimously by the Task Force on December 10, 1992." Dymally later told [[Robert Parry]] that he knew of no such vote on that date or any other. Hamilton told Parry that he would not have claimed a unanimous vote if there had not been one. A House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman, [[David Barnes]], wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^14] The printed report states that Dymally "has declined to sign the report."[^12] + +The report states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people."[^12] The report describes the October Surprise Group as "a group of individuals who provided foreign policy and defense advice to the campaign," and lists ten members: [[Richard V. Allen]], [[Fred C. Ikle]], [[Charles M. Kupperman]], [[John R. Lehman, Jr.]], [[Thomas H. Moore]], [[Robert G. Neumann]], [[Eugene V. Rostow]], [[Laurence Silberman]], [[William R. Van Cleave]] and [[Seymour Weiss]].[^12] Parry wrote that Barcella and [[Michael Ledeen]] were personal friends, that Barcella had sold Ledeen a house and that the two shared a housekeeper, citing Peter Maas's book *Manhunt* for a 1982 night visit by Ledeen to Barcella, during the Wilson investigation, about two associates who had come under suspicion in the Wilson case, [[Ted Shackley]] and [[Erich von Marbod]].[^15] Parry wrote that the secret draft report named six informal members of the group, among them Ledeen, and that "the final report deleted the names of six informal members" of the group. The six were Ledeen, [[Richard Stillwell]], [[William Middendorf]], [[Richard Perle]], General [[Louis Walt]] and Admiral [[James Holloway]].[^15] + +Parry reported that Barcella told him, years after the report, that so much incriminating evidence arrived in the final month of the inquiry that he asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months, and that Hamilton declined.[^16] Barcella said Hamilton "declined to go through the necessary reauthorization of the task force and instead ordered him to proceed with the final report."[^17] In Meldon's 2008 article, with a Parry addendum, Barcella is quoted as saying that Hamilton cited the complexity of getting the task force reauthorized in a new Congress.[^18] Hamilton told Parry in 2010, as Parry reported in 2013, that he might have explained the problem of the authorization running out at the end of the session: "All I could have done is go before the next Congress and request reauthorization."[^19] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he had no recollection of such a proposal, and in 2011 that he had no recollection of Barcella's request.[^16][^17] Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed, titled "Case Closed," stated that the task force's staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions." A 2008 article by [[Jerry Meldon]], with an addendum by Parry, quoted the op-ed as saying that the report "should put the controversy to rest once and for all." The addendum says that Barcella recommended the extension to Hamilton.[^18] + +The Russian report was requested by Hamilton on October 21, 1992, and reached the task force on January 11, 1993.[^20] Parry identified it as provided by [[Sergey V. Stepashin]], chairman of the Supreme Soviet's Committee on Defense and Security Issues. As Parry described it, the report said that the 1980 hostage negotiations amounted to a competition between the Carter administration and the Reagan campaign.[^17] Hamilton presided over a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^18] Parry wrote that Hamilton told him, "I don't recall seeing it." Barcella first said he did not recall whether he showed Hamilton the report, then wrote, "I do specifically recall discussing it with Lee."[^20] Barcella told Parry that the task force did not want to be bothered with trying to get the report declassified.[^18] +In a memo dated December 8, 1992, which Parry quotes, Barcella instructed his deputies "to put some language in, as a trap door" in case later disclosures disproved parts of it or complaints arose about selective omission of evidence. The memo language quoted by Parry states that "This report does not and could not reflect every single lead that was investigated."[^15][^21] + +Parry wrote in 1996 that Barcella and Hamilton pressed Dymally to withdraw a dissent. According to sources who saw it, the dissent argued that "just because phones ring and planes fly doesn't mean that someone is there to answer the phone or is on the plane."[^22] In the same article Parry wrote that Barcella and his law firm had earned more than $2 million from BCCI, that the Laxalt and BCCI links were left out of the public report, and that the conflict "was handled simply by purging any reference to BCCI and Barcella's associates from the final report."[^22] In 2005 Parry wrote that Barcella told him he did not believe his work for BCCI created a conflict of interest, and that the Senate report said Barcella worked directly with Laxalt on the BCCI account.[^15] Parry also wrote that Henry Hyde denounced the allegations as a "myth" in a House special order on February 3, 1993.[^22] + +### Later career (1993 to 2010) + +The alumni magazine of Dartmouth published a cover profile in March 1993 that listed Barcella as a partner of Katten, Muchin, Zavis & Dombroff. The profile described his private clients as including BCCI and Reagan's former press secretary, who was charged with ethics violations.[^23] Parry reported that the Clinton administration considered Barcella "at the top of the list" for under-secretary of the Treasury for law enforcement, and that others in the administration opposed the appointment.[^24] + +At his death he was a partner in the Washington office of [[Paul Hastings]], Janofsky and Walker, where he specialized in cases involving bribery, political corruption, fraud and government contract violations.[^2] + +### Dispute with Parry + +In an e-mail to Parry in 2010, Barcella wrote: "You're no longer merely cherry-picking facts and misrepresenting events, but flat out lying." He wrote that he would not go "line by line" through Parry's work.[^20] ### Death -Barcella died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010, at a hospital near his home in Washington, at 65. He was survived by his wife of 40 years, Mary Lashley, from whom he was separated, his daughter, Laura Barcella, and his sister, Andrea Kelleher.[^1] +Barcella died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010, at a hospital near his home in Washington, at 65. The Washington Post gave the hospital as Georgetown University Hospital.[^1][^2] He was survived by his wife of 40 years, Mary Lashley, from whom he was separated, his daughter, Laura Barcella, and his sister, Andrea Kelleher.[^1][^2] ### Footnotes -[^1]: Hevesi, Dennis. "E. Lawrence Barcella, Prosecutor of Terrorism Cases, Dies at 65." *The New York Times,* November 17, 2010 (corrected November 23, 2010). https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20240709144843/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html) -[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm -[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm -[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm -[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force. *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*. 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 1993; Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. +[^1]: Hevesi, Dennis. "E. Lawrence Barcella, Prosecutor of Terrorism Cases, Dies at 65." *The New York Times*, November 17, 2010 (corrected November 23, 2010). https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20240709144843/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/18barcella.html) +[^2]: Shapiro, T. Rees. "E. Lawrence Barcella Jr., lawyer." *The Washington Post*, November 9, 2010. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110905919.html (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/2020/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110905919.html) +[^3]: Bixby, Lyn. "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal." *Hartford Courant*, May 29, 1992; reprinted as "A Surprise in 'October Surprise' Investigation: Congress' Lead Investigator Linked to Contra-Arms Deal," *The Seattle Times*, May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/ and https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19920529/1494391/a-surprise-in-october-surprise-investigation----congress-lead-investigator-linked-to-contra-arms-deal +[^4]: "Kinder, gentler profession urged," business column, *Chicago Tribune*, July 23, 1991. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/07/23/kinder-gentler-profession-urged/ Firm formation: Karlyn Barker and Kathleen Day, "Robert Washington, Laxalt Team Up to Replace Failed Law Firm," *The Washington Post*, December 23, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/12/23/robert-washington-laxalt-team-up-to-replace-failed-law-firm/71c2b588-772c-47c4-acdb-68bc9bdfe123/ +[^5]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," *United Press International*, August 2, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/ +[^6]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents the Resumes of its Associates," fax copy (header 1990), pp. 141 P01 to P12, in the Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. Sole source for the passages so cited. +[^7]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm +[^8]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm +[^9]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm +[^10]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Journal of the House*, February 5, 1992, pp. T 9.18 to T 9.19 (H. Res. 258 agreed to, 247 yeas, 158 nays). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HJOURNAL-1992/pdf/HJOURNAL-1992-02-05-para9-18.pdf +[^11]: Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, *Rules of the Task Force*, adopted March 11, 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992), Rule 9. https://archive.org/details/RulesOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce +[^12]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, transmittal letter dated January 3, 1993 (Part I, sections "Task Force Organization and Structure" and "Staff"; Task Force Members; the October Surprise Group discussion in the chapter on Reagan campaign activities). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force +[^13]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (H. Res. 585, "Providing for completion of activities of Task Force to investigate certain allegations concerning holding of Americans as hostages in Iran in 1980"; text of the resolution and floor statements of Representative Beilenson and another member speaking for it). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm +[^14]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010 (article on the task force report's cover letter). https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html Sole source for the Dymally, Barnes and Hamilton statements as reported by Parry. +[^15]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups," *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html Sole source for the trap door memo, the Ledeen and October Surprise Group claims, and the Laxalt account, as reported by Parry. +[^16]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up," *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the extension request and the Hamilton response as reported by Parry. +[^17]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries," *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Barcella and Hamilton statements, the Stepashin identification and the January 11, 1993 transmittal as reported by Parry. +[^18]: Meldon, Jerry. "Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Hyde," *Consortium News*, March 27, 2008, with addendum from Robert Parry. https://consortiumnews.com/2008/032608c.html Sole source for the quoted phrase "should put the controversy to rest once and for all" attributed to the op-ed and for the addendum account of the extension and the declassification remark. Hamilton, Lee H., "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed," *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993, Section 4, p. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html +[^19]: Parry, Robert. "Second Thoughts on October Surprise," *Consortium News*, June 8, 2013. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/06/08/second-thoughts-on-october-surprise/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry. +[^20]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton and Barcella statements about the Russian report and the e-mail quoted. Request date and transmittal per the Parry translation page, https://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html +[^21]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files: The Ladies' Room Secrets," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile2.html Sole source for the memo quotation as reported by Parry. +[^22]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the Dymally dissent, the BCCI and Laxalt omissions, and the Hyde special order as reported by Parry. +[^23]: "Lawrence Barcella '67," cover story, *Dartmouth Alumni Magazine*, March 1993. https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1993/3/1/lawrence-barcella-67 +[^24]: Parry, Robert. "Clinton & a BCCI Lawyer," *Consortium News* (undated archive article, 1993). https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/story3.html Sole source for the Treasury consideration as reported by Parry. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jacob Coxon.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jacob Coxon.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8009488a --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jacob Coxon.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +category: "Technologists" +aliases: + - "Jacob Coxon" +tags: + - Researcher + - ArtificialIntelligence + - AISafety + - Resignation + - Anthropic + - OpenAI +summary: "AI pretraining researcher who left Anthropic on September 8, 2026 and wrote on X that Anthropic and OpenAI were gambling with lives, a post CNBC reported as viewed more than 70 million times." +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[OpenAI]]" + role: "pretraining researcher" + end: 2026-05 + fn: 2 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Anthropic]]" + role: "pretraining researcher" + start: 2026-05 + end: 2026-09-08 + fn: 2 +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +--- + +Jacob Coxon is a British AI researcher, aged 27 in September 2026, who worked on model pretraining at [[OpenAI]] and then at [[Anthropic]] and resigned from Anthropic on September 8, 2026 with a series of posts on X warning about the pace of frontier AI development.[^1][^2] + +### Background + +The [[Washington Post]] reported that Coxon was about three years into AI research, first at OpenAI and then at Anthropic, which he joined in May 2026 according to his colleague [[Ethan Perez]], who helped recruit him. The same report states that he is originally from Britain, has a mathematics background, competed in an international mathematics competition for secondary school students in 2016 and 2017, and attended [[University of Cambridge]]. Coxon told [[Axios]] that he gave up his Anthropic equity to leave and still held OpenAI equity.[^2] + +### Resignation posts + +[[CNBC]] reported on September 9, 2026 that Coxon quit Anthropic on Tuesday and wrote on X that Anthropic and OpenAI were "gambling with our lives." He wrote that the people building AI "earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," that "Neither company is acting responsibly," and that "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence." The post also said "These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources." CNBC reported that the post had been viewed more than 70 million times.[^1] The [[Pirate Wires]] report of September 24, 2026 gives the view count of the thread as 173.8 million.[^3] + +The CNBC headline reads "Researcher says AI has more than 10% chance of 'killing all humans.'" In the body of the article the ">10%" figure appears in a post by [[Evan Hubinger]], an alignment lead at Anthropic, who wrote that "we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans" and "I personally think it is >10% within the next decade." Hubinger added that he believed "Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to."[^1] A spokesperson for Anthropic told the Washington Post that "We have always been transparent that AI will bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks."[^2] + +### Reception + +The Washington Post reported that [[Elon Musk]] wrote "Seems like a setup" in response to the posts and that Coxon replied with a selfie and the words "I'm real and these are my real beliefs." Senator [[Bernie Sanders]] invited colleagues to a private briefing on the dangers of AI the following week, and Representative [[Lori Trahan]] wrote that "Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway."[^1][^2] + +### Timing and media coverage + +The Washington Post reported that Coxon's resignation was first reported by [[The Wall Street Journal]] and that his account on X had little prior public presence. Coxon told the Post that he did not work with any organizations to promote the announcement before posting it, that he spoke with a Journal reporter and then, after posting, "got a group chat of about 10 people to retweet and send to their friends." He said the group included the founder of [[Encode]] and that he had also spoken with [[Daniel Kokotajlo]].[^2] StartupHub reported that the Journal's exclusive went up 18 minutes before the thread.[^4] + +Coxon appeared on [[Fox News]] on "Special Report With [[Bret Baier]]" on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, where he said "What I see is two things: very intelligent AI systems, and hard proof that we don't know how to control them," and that together these "basically spells disaster, as far as I'm concerned."[^2] The Post Millennial reported that he later said he had "misspoke" when he told Baier he had not worked with third parties, and quoted his statement that the only coordination was to "reach a WSJ journalist via friends, and got a groupchat to retweet my post."[^5] + +Pirate Wires, in a piece by Hunter Ryerson dated September 24, 2026 and headed "EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Coxon Worked With Doomer PR Firm," stated that Coxon announced his resignation "in an exclusive WSJ interview" and alleged that the firm representing [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] was helping him book interviews.[^3] The Post Millennial's summary of the report states that the firm, [[DEY.Ideas+Influence]], pitched Coxon for interviews the day after he went public, that Pirate Wires saw an email between Coxon and the firm and cited two people familiar with the matter, and that the firm had also booked an interview for [[Nate Soares]] of the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] timed to Coxon's departure.[^5] Everything-PR, a public relations trade site, reported that Soares said on X that he had introduced Coxon to the firm after the original post passed 100,000 likes and that Pirate Wires appended a correction noting the ambiguity in the timeline.[^6] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Arjun Kharpal, "Researcher says AI has more than 10% chance of 'killing all humans,'" CNBC, September 9, 2026, updated the same day. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/anthropic-researcher-quits-ai-safety.html +[^2]: Miriam Waldvogel and Nitasha Tiku, "AI researcher who warned of disaster is now a target of the right," The Washington Post, September 10, 2026 (reprinted by the Anchorage Daily News, September 11, 2026). https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/09/10/ai-researcher-who-warned-disaster-is-now-target-right/ and https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2026/09/10/ai-researcher-who-warned-of-disaster-is-now-a-target-of-the-right/ +[^3]: Hunter Ryerson, "EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Coxon Worked With Doomer PR Firm," Pirate Wires, September 24, 2026. https://www.piratewires.com/p/jacob-coxon-worked-with-ai-doomer-firm +[^4]: "The 169-Million-View Resignation," StartupHub.ai, September 21, 2026. https://www.startuphub.ai/ai-news/artificial-intelligence/2026/the-169-million-view-resignation Sole source for the 18-minute interval. +[^5]: Thomas Stevenson, "REVEALED: Anthropic whistleblower said he wasn't coordinating with 3rd parties, he's working with an AI 'doomer' PR firm: report," The Post Millennial, September 25, 2026. https://thepostmillennial.com/revealed-anthropic-whistleblower-said-he-wasnt-coordinating-with-3rd-parties-hes-working-with-an-ai-doomer-pr-firm-report Summary of the Pirate Wires report. +[^6]: "DEY. Comms Firm Tied to Coxon's AI Whistleblower Story," Everything-PR. https://everything-pr.com/dey-jacob-coxon-whistleblower-pr Sole source for Soares's statement and the correction. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md index 96d1b103..94abf867 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nick Beckstead.md @@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ summary: "American philosopher, Open Philanthropy program officer and Effective born: 1985-03 location: "San Francisco, California" relations: + - type: participant_in + with: "[[Effective Altruism Foundation]]" + role: "grant investigator on the July 2019 Open Philanthropy grant of 1,000,000 dollars" + start: 2019-07 + fn: 3 - type: employed_by with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]" start: 2014 @@ -45,11 +50,11 @@ relations: - type: head_of with: "[[FTX Foundation]]" role: "chief executive, reporting directly to Bankman-Fried" - fn: 9 + fn: 14 - type: director_of with: "[[FTX Foundation]]" role: "director of the Delaware nonprofit" - fn: 9 + fn: 14 - type: head_of with: "[[FTX Future Fund]]" role: "chief executive" @@ -57,13 +62,13 @@ relations: - type: reported_to with: "[[Sam Bankman-Fried]]" role: "chief executive of the FTX Foundation" - fn: 9 + fn: 14 - type: subject_of with: "[[Alameda Research]]" start: 2023-07-19 end: 2024-03-14 role: "defendant in the debtors' Latona adversary proceeding, No. 23-50444; settled and dismissed" - fn: 14 + fn: 19 - type: employed_by with: "[[Center for AI Safety]]" role: "policy lead" @@ -73,7 +78,7 @@ relations: role: "co-founder and chief executive" fn: 2 created: 2026-10-01 -updated: 2026-10-01 +updated: 2026-10-08 --- Nicholas Michael Beckstead (born March 1985), an American philosopher, was a program officer at [[Open Philanthropy]] from 2014, a director of the English charitable company now named Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) in two periods between 2012 and 2023, and the chief executive of the [[FTX Foundation]] and its [[FTX Future Fund]] until the team's resignation in November 2022. The debtors in the [[FTX]] bankruptcy named him as a defendant in July 2023 and dismissed him in March 2024 after he agreed to cooperate. His website lists him as co-founder and chief executive of Secure AI Project.[^1][^2] @@ -82,55 +87,74 @@ Nicholas Michael Beckstead (born March 1985), an American philosopher, was a pro His website states that he completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics and philosophy at the [[University of Minnesota]] and a Ph.D. in philosophy at [[Rutgers University]], that he was a research fellow at the [[Future of Humanity Institute]] of the [[University of Oxford]], and that he was an early employee of Open Philanthropy, where he served as a program officer "in a variety of areas, including science philanthropy and machine learning, starting in 2014." The same page lists conversations he recorded in 2013 and 2014 on space colonization and on surviving a global food crisis.[^2] +### Effective Altruism Foundation guidelines and grant + +In July 2019 Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of 1,000,000 dollars over two years to the [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] for research and general operations, with Beckstead and [[Claire Zabel]] as grant investigators. The grant page states that "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems," and that Open Philanthropy had "felt ambivalent about EAF's work to date."[^3] + +Beckstead is the named author of "Guidelines for Discussing Longtermism and Existential Risks," which states "Written by Nick Beckstead with input and feedback from various community members and several EA organizations" and lists as endorsers "80,000 Hours, CEA, CFAR, MIRI, Open Phil, Nick Bostrom, Will MacAskill, Toby Ord, Carl Shulman." The copy preserved by [[Simon Knutsson]] is dated "Last updated: July 3, 2019," says the document "was not intended for publication," and directs requests to share it to Bastian Stern at Open Philanthropy. It says the guidelines "focus on making our discussion of existential risks and longtermism more attentive to the interests and concerns of the suffering-focused ethics community" and that "EAF has written its own set of guidelines."[^4] + +The recommendations ask writers to "Acknowledge the possibility that the long-term future might turn out to be highly suboptimal," to refer to "non-extinction-focused strategies," and, where appropriate, to highlight ideas for mitigating astronomical harms, a point Beckstead writes "I've put this in bold because it's of special importance to EAF." The closing paragraph states that "Where there are conflicts between cooperation and promoting the truth that you can't resolve, we would like you to side with promoting the truth," and lists as counterproductive: treating ideas as more plausible than one thinks they are, privileging implausible hypotheses, voicing support for unpromising proposals, and "Cite work you don't think deserves to be cited on its merits."[^4] + +The EAF and its sister organization the [[Foundational Research Institute]] published their own text, "EAF's Guidelines for Discussing Astronomical Stakes (shared)," first written in March 2019 and last updated September 10, 2019. It describes Beckstead's document as written "In response to us writing these guidelines" to encourage other effective altruism organizations to communicate about the long-term future "in a way that's more cooperative towards suffering-focused EAs." The EAF text recommends "writing about practical ways to reduce s-risk without mentioning how the future could be bad overall," and among works a writer "could consider referencing" lists Beckstead's "On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future."[^5] + +Knutsson wrote in 2019 that Beckstead "was one of the grant investigators for the $1,000,000 grant and the author of a non-public document with communication guidelines," that he gathered from a conversation that Beckstead was involved in the part of the EAF guidelines on the future being bad overall, and that an EAF manager told him "I could likely get funding in the future if I would follow the guidelines." Knutsson wrote to Open Philanthropy on October 31 and November 5, 2019 asking whether the grant was conditioned on the guidelines; he reports that its communications officer replied that the organization had nothing to add beyond the grant page. He wrote that he messaged Beckstead on January 2, 2020 and had seen no reply as of January 29, 2020.[^6] + +[[David Morris]] writes that Beckstead "wrote communications guidelines that encouraged grant recipients to cite his own research and that of other fund administrators."[^7] + ### Centre for Effective Altruism and Effective Ventures -[[Companies House]] records for company 07962181, incorporated on February 23, 2012 as the Centre for [[Effective Altruism]], renamed Effective Ventures Foundation on August 25, 2022 and Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) on February 27, 2023, list Dr Nicholas Michael Beckstead, an American national, as a director from February 23, 2012 to April 2, 2019 (with a correspondence address in [[San Francisco]]) and again from July 1, 2021 to August 23, 2023. The register lists [[William MacAskill]] as a director from February 23, 2012 to September 21, 2023, [[Toby Ord]] from February 23, 2012 to July 29, 2022, [[Hilary Greaves]] from April 2 to July 18, 2019, [[Claire Zabel]] from July 18, 2019 to March 28, 2024, [[Owen Cotton-Barratt]] from March 24, 2020 to February 11, 2023, and [[Tasha McCauley]] from July 1, 2021 to March 14, 2024, and records [[Tara Mac Aulay]] as company secretary from July 1, 2015 to August 17, 2018.[^1] A 2025 filing by the [[FTX Recovery Trust]] states that [[Sam Bankman-Fried|Bankman-Fried]], as chief executive of the FTX Foundation, "hired Nick Beckstead, an Effective Altruist who sat on the Board of Directors of Effective Ventures, a federation of Effective Altruist organizations and projects (including the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]])," and that the Foundation employed MacAskill as an adviser. The same filing records that Bankman-Fried had left the Centre's board in 2019 after it investigated its connections with [[Alameda Research]].[^3] +[[Companies House]] records for company 07962181, incorporated on February 23, 2012 as the Centre for [[Effective Altruism]], renamed Effective Ventures Foundation on August 25, 2022 and Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) on February 27, 2023, list Dr Nicholas Michael Beckstead, an American national, as a director from February 23, 2012 to April 2, 2019 (with a correspondence address in [[San Francisco]]) and again from July 1, 2021 to August 23, 2023. The register lists [[William MacAskill]] as a director from February 23, 2012 to September 21, 2023, [[Toby Ord]] from February 23, 2012 to July 29, 2022, [[Hilary Greaves]] from April 2 to July 18, 2019, Claire Zabel from July 18, 2019 to March 28, 2024, [[Owen Cotton-Barratt]] from March 24, 2020 to February 11, 2023, and [[Tasha McCauley]] from July 1, 2021 to March 14, 2024, and records [[Tara Mac Aulay]] as company secretary from July 1, 2015 to August 17, 2018.[^1] A 2025 filing by the [[FTX Recovery Trust]] states that [[Sam Bankman-Fried|Bankman-Fried]], as chief executive of the FTX Foundation, "hired Nick Beckstead, an Effective Altruist who sat on the Board of Directors of Effective Ventures, a federation of Effective Altruist organizations and projects (including the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]])," and that the Foundation employed MacAskill as an adviser. The same filing records that Bankman-Fried had left the Centre's board in 2019 after it investigated its connections with [[Alameda Research]].[^8] -On November 19, 2022 the charity reported to the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales|Charity Commission]] that FTX and affiliated entities, among its funders, had filed for bankruptcy, that it held 3.3 million pounds and 300,000 dollars in funding from them, and that two of its trustees were connected with FTX, one as chief executive of the FTX Foundation and the other as an unpaid adviser to the Future Fund. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry on December 19, 2022. Its report, published May 22, 2024, does not name the trustees. It records that the charity ringfenced the funds, obtained a defence against money laundering from the [[National Crime Agency]], and returned 4,246,503.16 dollars to FTX under a settlement; that the two FTX-connected trustees had been excluded from decisions on the bankruptcy and resigned during the inquiry; that their connections had produced "a lack of clarity as to whether they were acting for the charity or on behalf of FTX Foundation at any given time"; that trustees had not been required to disclose potential conflicts on joining the board until October 2022; and that there was nonetheless no evidence of unmanaged conflicts regarding funds received from the FTX Foundation.[^4] +On November 19, 2022 the charity reported to the [[Charity Commission for England and Wales|Charity Commission]] that FTX and affiliated entities, among its funders, had filed for bankruptcy, that it held 3.3 million pounds and 300,000 dollars in funding from them, and that two of its trustees were connected with FTX, one as chief executive of the FTX Foundation and the other as an unpaid adviser to the Future Fund. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry on December 19, 2022. Its report, published May 22, 2024, does not name the trustees. It records that the charity ringfenced the funds, obtained a defence against money laundering from the [[National Crime Agency]], and returned 4,246,503.16 dollars to FTX under a settlement; that the two FTX-connected trustees had been excluded from decisions on the bankruptcy and resigned during the inquiry; that their connections had produced "a lack of clarity as to whether they were acting for the charity or on behalf of FTX Foundation at any given time"; that trustees had not been required to disclose potential conflicts on joining the board until October 2022; and that there was nonetheless no evidence of unmanaged conflicts regarding funds received from the FTX Foundation.[^9] -*[[Civil Society]]* reported in April 2024, citing the charity's accounts, that Effective Ventures Foundation bought [[Wytham Abbey]], near [[Oxford]], in April 2022 after receiving 17 million pounds from Open Philanthropy to support the purchase.[^5] *[[Third Sector]]* reported on February 18, 2026 that the charity had paid almost 15 million pounds for the abbey, recorded an impairment loss of 8.6 million pounds as of June 30, 2025, and sold it to an unnamed buyer for 6 million pounds in November 2025.[^6] The charity's announcement of March 25, 2024 stated that the Wytham Abbey Project had not met "the funding bar of our major funders" and that the board had decided to sell the property; an update of November 11, 2025 recorded completion of the sale.[^7] Beckstead was recorded as a director of the charity from July 2021 through the purchase and until August 2023.[^1] +*[[Civil Society]]* reported in April 2024, citing the charity's accounts, that Effective Ventures Foundation bought [[Wytham Abbey]], near [[Oxford]], in April 2022 after receiving 17 million pounds from Open Philanthropy to support the purchase.[^10] *[[Third Sector]]* reported on February 18, 2026 that the charity had paid almost 15 million pounds for the abbey, recorded an impairment loss of 8.6 million pounds as of June 30, 2025, and sold it to an unnamed buyer for 6 million pounds in November 2025.[^11] The charity's announcement of March 25, 2024 stated that the Wytham Abbey Project had not met "the funding bar of our major funders" and that the board had decided to sell the property; an update of November 11, 2025 recorded completion of the sale.[^12] Beckstead was recorded as a director of the charity from July 2021 through the purchase and until August 2023.[^1] ### The FTX Foundation -A document that Bankman-Fried created on December 30, 2021 at 1:55 a.m. Eastern time, setting out proposed terms for hiring [[Ross Rheingans-Yoo]], tells the recipient to "chat with Nick [Beckstead ('Beckstead'), the CEO of the FTX Foundation,] about foundation stuff before this is finalized," and lists the manager as "likely Caroline [Ellison] + SBF [Bankman-Fried] + Nick [Beckstead] depending on the task." A revised version Rheingans-Yoo created later that day describes a position as "Director of Special Projects, reporting to NB," and states that "FDUs," foundation direction units, "can be directed to plausibly-EA things at Ross's discretion with NB[ Beckstead]/SBF oversight for not damaging the FTXF/etc brand"; the final terms of March 24, 2022 repeat that clause. The debtors and Rheingans-Yoo stipulated in January 2025 that he began work on or about January 4, 2022 and, with the knowledge and consent of Bankman-Fried and Beckstead, held himself out as a "program officer," "project officer" and "special projects lead" of the FTX Foundation, although he was not employed by it and was paid by FTX Digital Markets Ltd.[^8] +A document that Bankman-Fried created on December 30, 2021 at 1:55 a.m. Eastern time, setting out proposed terms for hiring [[Ross Rheingans-Yoo]], tells the recipient to "chat with Nick [Beckstead ('Beckstead'), the CEO of the FTX Foundation,] about foundation stuff before this is finalized," and lists the manager as "likely Caroline [Ellison] + SBF [Bankman-Fried] + Nick [Beckstead] depending on the task." A revised version Rheingans-Yoo created later that day describes a position as "Director of Special Projects, reporting to NB," and states that "FDUs," foundation direction units, "can be directed to plausibly-EA things at Ross's discretion with NB[ Beckstead]/SBF oversight for not damaging the FTXF/etc brand"; the final terms of March 24, 2022 repeat that clause. The debtors and Rheingans-Yoo stipulated in January 2025 that he began work on or about January 4, 2022 and, with the knowledge and consent of Bankman-Fried and Beckstead, held himself out as a "program officer," "project officer" and "special projects lead" of the FTX Foundation, although he was not employed by it and was paid by FTX Digital Markets Ltd.[^13] -The debtors' complaint of July 19, 2023 states that the FTX Foundation was a Delaware nonprofit, non-stock corporation whose sole member was Bankman-Fried and whose directors included Bankman-Fried, [[Nishad Singh]], [[Gary Wang]], [[Caroline Ellison]] and Beckstead, and that Beckstead, as its chief executive, reported directly to Bankman-Fried.[^9] A later complaint by the FTX Recovery Trust states that FTX Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on February 1, 2022 and renamed FTX Philanthropy, Inc. on July 1, 2022, that its directors and officers included the same five, and cites the February 28, 2022 post of [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]] and Beckstead describing the Future Fund's regranting program, which offered "discretionary budgets to independent part-time grantmakers." According to that complaint, in March 2022 the Foundation approved a regrantor's request to send 1 million dollars to [[Manifold Markets]] through simple agreements for future equity; because the Foundation was not yet incorporated, Alameda Research Ventures LLC was made the counterparty, Bankman-Fried signed the agreements on March 20 and April 2, 2022, and the money was wired from Alameda Research Ventures' account at [[Signature Bank]]. Manifold Markets applied on March 21, 2022 for funds to create a charitable arm, and on or about August 8, 2022 FTX Philanthropy sent it 500,000 dollars, which the Trust alleges funded Manifold for Charity and seeks to recover.[^10] In a motion of July 23, 2025 the Trust stated that the Bankruptcy Court had overruled, on July 9, 2025, its objection to Rheingans-Yoo's claim to a 650,000 dollar donation to an effective altruism cause of his choosing, and that he had designated Manifold for Charity, where Singh then worked as an engineer, as the beneficiary.[^3] +The debtors' complaint of July 19, 2023 states that the FTX Foundation was a Delaware nonprofit, non-stock corporation whose sole member was Bankman-Fried and whose directors included Bankman-Fried, [[Nishad Singh]], [[Gary Wang]], [[Caroline Ellison]] and Beckstead, and that Beckstead, as its chief executive, reported directly to Bankman-Fried.[^14] A later complaint by the FTX Recovery Trust states that FTX Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on February 1, 2022 and renamed FTX Philanthropy, Inc. on July 1, 2022, that its directors and officers included the same five, and cites the February 28, 2022 post of [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]] and Beckstead describing the Future Fund's regranting program, which offered "discretionary budgets to independent part-time grantmakers." According to that complaint, in March 2022 the Foundation approved a regrantor's request to send 1 million dollars to [[Manifold Markets]] through simple agreements for future equity; because the Foundation was not yet incorporated, Alameda Research Ventures LLC was made the counterparty, Bankman-Fried signed the agreements on March 20 and April 2, 2022, and the money was wired from Alameda Research Ventures' account at [[Signature Bank]]. Manifold Markets applied on March 21, 2022 for funds to create a charitable arm, and on or about August 8, 2022 FTX Philanthropy sent it 500,000 dollars, which the Trust alleges funded Manifold for Charity and seeks to recover.[^15] In a motion of July 23, 2025 the Trust stated that the Bankruptcy Court had overruled, on July 9, 2025, its objection to Rheingans-Yoo's claim to a 650,000 dollar donation to an effective altruism cause of his choosing, and that he had designated Manifold for Charity, where Singh then worked as an engineer, as the beneficiary.[^8] -On cross-examination of Bankman-Fried at his trial on October 31, 2023, Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Danielle Sassoon]] asked whether he had discussed with the Bahamian prime minister [[Philip Davis]] paying off the national debt of about 11.6 billion dollars, which he said he did not remember, and whether he had joked that his employee [[Ryan Salame]] was effectively a member of the Bahamian government, which he denied. She then read from Government Exhibit 2504, a chat titled "Project Chinchilla Chatter" dated December 2, 2021, in which Bankman-Fried wrote that "the Bahamas has already asked if we want to do anything with their CBDC." The next message was from Beckstead at 12:01 a.m.: "Leopold is going to look online to try to figure out who in the Bahamas government we should be talking to." Bankman-Fried replied, "His name is Ryan Salame."[^11] +On cross-examination of Bankman-Fried at his trial on October 31, 2023, Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Danielle Sassoon]] asked whether he had discussed with the Bahamian prime minister [[Philip Davis]] paying off the national debt of about 11.6 billion dollars, which he said he did not remember, and whether he had joked that his employee [[Ryan Salame]] was effectively a member of the Bahamian government, which he denied. She then read from Government Exhibit 2504, a chat titled "Project Chinchilla Chatter" dated December 2, 2021, in which Bankman-Fried wrote that "the Bahamas has already asked if we want to do anything with their CBDC." The next message was from Beckstead at 12:01 a.m.: "Leopold is going to look online to try to figure out who in the Bahamas government we should be talking to." Bankman-Fried replied, "His name is Ryan Salame."[^16] -In a post on the [[Effective Altruism Forum]] timestamped 02:04 UTC on November 11, 2022, Beckstead, Aschenbrenner, [[Avital Balwit]], [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]] and MacAskill announced that they had resigned from the Future Fund "earlier today." They wrote that they were "shocked and immensely saddened," that they had "fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund," and that "it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor."[^12] +In a post on the [[Effective Altruism Forum]] timestamped 02:04 UTC on November 11, 2022, Beckstead, Aschenbrenner, [[Avital Balwit]], [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]] and MacAskill announced that they had resigned from the Future Fund "earlier today." They wrote that they were "shocked and immensely saddened," that they had "fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund," and that "it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor."[^17] ### Equity in FTX -The FTX debtors' lists of equity holders, filed March 13, 2023, record Nick Beckstead as the holder of 100,000 shares of Class A common stock of West Realm Shires Inc., the parent of FTX US, and 22,400 shares of common stock of FTX Trading Ltd.[^13] +The FTX debtors' lists of equity holders, filed March 13, 2023, record Nick Beckstead as the holder of 100,000 shares of Class A common stock of West Realm Shires Inc., the parent of FTX US, and 22,400 shares of common stock of FTX Trading Ltd.[^18] ### The Latona adversary proceeding -On July 19, 2023 Alameda Research Ltd. and FTX Trading Ltd. filed an adversary complaint (Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444, Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware) against [[Platform Life Sciences]] Inc., Lumen Bioscience, [[GreenLight Biosciences]] Holdings, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, [[Latona Biosciences Group]], the FTX Foundation, Bankman-Fried, Rheingans-Yoo and "Nicholas Beckstead." The debtors alleged that the FTX Foundation and Latona, which they called "a sham non-profit company organized in the Bahamas," channeled approximately 71.6 million dollars of commingled Alameda and FTX funds to the life sciences companies, and sought to recover no less than 71,550,000 dollars as fraudulent transfers. Against Beckstead and Rheingans-Yoo they pleaded aiding and abetting, or knowing assistance in, Bankman-Fried's breach of fiduciary duty.[^9] Latona was incorporated in [[Bahamas|the Bahamas]] on May 20, 2022 with Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and a third person as its initial directors.[^8] +On July 19, 2023 Alameda Research Ltd. and FTX Trading Ltd. filed an adversary complaint (Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444, Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware) against [[Platform Life Sciences]] Inc., Lumen Bioscience, [[GreenLight Biosciences]] Holdings, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, [[Latona Biosciences Group]], the FTX Foundation, Bankman-Fried, Rheingans-Yoo and "Nicholas Beckstead." The debtors alleged that the FTX Foundation and Latona, which they called "a sham non-profit company organized in the Bahamas," channeled approximately 71.6 million dollars of commingled Alameda and FTX funds to the life sciences companies, and sought to recover no less than 71,550,000 dollars as fraudulent transfers. Against Beckstead and Rheingans-Yoo they pleaded aiding and abetting, or knowing assistance in, Bankman-Fried's breach of fiduciary duty.[^14] Latona was incorporated in [[Bahamas|the Bahamas]] on May 20, 2022 with Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and a third person as its initial directors.[^13] -The complaint alleges that on or around January 25, 2022 Platform Life Sciences pitched Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and Beckstead on a 10 million dollar investment; that Rheingans-Yoo wrote that "Nick [Beckstead] had a different idea," an investment of 4 million dollars to "support short-run operations" followed by co-founding a company if it looked like "a multi-$bln opportunity"; that Beckstead approved, on a funding recommendation form dated January 27, 2022, a 3,250,000 dollar "philanthropic grant," increased from the 3 million dollar budget "to support the onboarding of 1-2 trial sites in the Bahamas"; and that because the Foundation had no bank account, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead, at Bankman-Fried's direction, caused FTX to wire the money on February 4, 2022. It quotes an internal document Beckstead wrote in May 2022 about the Platform Life Sciences investment: "Why did it need to be through Latona? In case it makes a lot of money. Prefer not to be disclosed on Bahamian entity balance sheet. Main thing: if it makes a ton of money, how open do we need to be about that?" It states that he conceded most of the life sciences investments were "ill-advised and not well-evaluated," that on August 9, 2022 he called a proposed GreenLight investment "unattractive" in part because it came from a "random CEO pitching this to Ross [Rheingans-Yoo] at a conference," that he forwarded Riboscience's deck to Bankman-Fried and Rheingans-Yoo in January 2022, and that on July 15, 2022 the office manager of FTX in [[Miami]] introduced [[Joseph Bankman|Joe Bankman]], Bankman-Fried's father, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead to the two founders of Genetic Networks, one of them [[Leland Hartwell]]. The pleading puts FTX's damages on the Platform Life Sciences transfer at 3.25 million dollars.[^9] +The complaint alleges that on or around January 25, 2022 Platform Life Sciences pitched Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and Beckstead on a 10 million dollar investment; that Rheingans-Yoo wrote that "Nick [Beckstead] had a different idea," an investment of 4 million dollars to "support short-run operations" followed by co-founding a company if it looked like "a multi-$bln opportunity"; that Beckstead approved, on a funding recommendation form dated January 27, 2022, a 3,250,000 dollar "philanthropic grant," increased from the 3 million dollar budget "to support the onboarding of 1-2 trial sites in the Bahamas"; and that because the Foundation had no bank account, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead, at Bankman-Fried's direction, caused FTX to wire the money on February 4, 2022. It quotes an internal document Beckstead wrote in May 2022 about the Platform Life Sciences investment: "Why did it need to be through Latona? In case it makes a lot of money. Prefer not to be disclosed on Bahamian entity balance sheet. Main thing: if it makes a ton of money, how open do we need to be about that?" It states that he conceded most of the life sciences investments were "ill-advised and not well-evaluated," that on August 9, 2022 he called a proposed GreenLight investment "unattractive" in part because it came from a "random CEO pitching this to Ross [Rheingans-Yoo] at a conference," that he forwarded Riboscience's deck to Bankman-Fried and Rheingans-Yoo in January 2022, and that on July 15, 2022 the office manager of FTX in [[Miami]] introduced [[Joseph Bankman|Joe Bankman]], Bankman-Fried's father, Rheingans-Yoo and Beckstead to the two founders of Genetic Networks, one of them [[Leland Hartwell]]. The pleading puts FTX's damages on the Platform Life Sciences transfer at 3.25 million dollars.[^14] -The debtors' disclosure statement records that a stipulation of November 1, 2023 stayed the proceeding as to the smaller life sciences defendants and Beckstead; that on January 25, 2024 the debtors reached a settlement with him "pursuant to which he provided documents and information to the Debtors, sat for an interview, and agreed to be deposed in the adversary proceeding if necessary"; that the court approved it on March 13, 2024; and that the debtors dismissed him from the case on March 14, 2024. Platform Life Sciences paid the debtors 16 million dollars, GreenLight 420,918 dollars and Genetic Networks 450,000 dollars.[^14] +The debtors' disclosure statement records that a stipulation of November 1, 2023 stayed the proceeding as to the smaller life sciences defendants and Beckstead; that on January 25, 2024 the debtors reached a settlement with him "pursuant to which he provided documents and information to the Debtors, sat for an interview, and agreed to be deposed in the adversary proceeding if necessary"; that the court approved it on March 13, 2024; and that the debtors dismissed him from the case on March 14, 2024. Platform Life Sciences paid the debtors 16 million dollars, GreenLight 420,918 dollars and Genetic Networks 450,000 dollars.[^19] ### Center for AI Safety and Secure AI Project -His website lists, after the Future Fund, a period as policy lead at the [[Center for AI Safety]] and his current role as co-founder and chief executive of Secure AI Project, which it describes as developing and advocating "pragmatic policies to reduce risks of severe harm from advanced AI."[^2] [[ProPublica]]'s Nonprofit Explorer, drawing on the [[Internal Revenue Service]] business master file, lists Secure AI Project (EIN 33-2394289) at 584 Castro Street in San Francisco as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization with a ruling date of January 1, 2026, revenue and assets of 195,025 dollars, and a return for the tax period ending December 2024.[^15] [[Dario Amodei]]'s essay "The Adolescence of Technology" of January 2026, filed by [[Anthropic]] as an exhibit in its suit against the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of War]], thanks "Nick Beckstead" and "Jim McClave," among others, "for their helpful comments on drafts of this essay."[^16] +His website lists, after the Future Fund, a period as policy lead at the [[Center for AI Safety]] and his current role as co-founder and chief executive of Secure AI Project, which it describes as developing and advocating "pragmatic policies to reduce risks of severe harm from advanced AI."[^2] [[ProPublica]]'s Nonprofit Explorer, drawing on the [[Internal Revenue Service]] business master file, lists Secure AI Project (EIN 33-2394289) at 584 Castro Street in San Francisco as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization with a ruling date of January 1, 2026, revenue and assets of 195,025 dollars, and a return for the tax period ending December 2024.[^20] [[Dario Amodei]]'s essay "The Adolescence of Technology" of January 2026, filed by [[Anthropic]] as an exhibit in its suit against the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of War]], thanks "Nick Beckstead" and "Jim McClave," among others, "for their helpful comments on drafts of this essay."[^21] ### Footnotes [^1]: Companies House, Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), company no. 07962181, company overview (incorporation and previous company names) and officers register, accessed Oct. 1, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/officers [^2]: Nick Beckstead, personal website, "About Me," accessed Oct. 1, 2026. https://www.nickbeckstead.com/ -[^3]: FTX Recovery Trust's Motion for Reconsideration or to Modify Order Allowing Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 31846, paras. 1-2, 7-10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.31846.0.pdf -[^4]: Charity Commission for England and Wales, "Charity Inquiry: Effective Ventures Foundation UK," published May 22, 2024 (since withdrawn under the Commission's retention policy), sections "Background," "Findings" and "Conclusions." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk -[^5]: "Crypto-backed charity plans closure and £17m Oxford property sale," *Civil Society*, April 3, 2024. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/crypto-backed-charity-plans-closure-and-17m-oxford-property-sale.html -[^6]: "Charity backed by crypto fraudster sells historic property at 'significantly' reduced price," *Third Sector*, February 18, 2026. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-backed-crypto-fraudster-sells-historic-property-significantly-reduced-price/finance/article/1948737 -[^7]: Rob Gledhill, "Announcement on the future of Wytham Abbey," Effective Altruism Forum, March 25, 2024, with update of November 11, 2025. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/announcement-on-the-future-of-wytham-abbey -[^8]: Stipulation of Undisputed Facts Relating to Ross Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. Jan. 15, 2025), D.I. 29218, paras. 3-6, 9-13, 18-21, 32-35, 42-46. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.29218.0.pdf -[^9]: Complaint, *Alameda Research Ltd. v. Platform Life Sciences Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. July 19, 2023), filed as D.I. 1881 in No. 22-11068, caption and paras. 1, 5, 9-10, 17-20, 48-51, 53-64, 82, 88, 98, 174-179. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.1881.0.pdf -[^10]: First Amended Complaint, *FTX Recovery Trust v. Manifold Markets, Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 24-50214 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 38, paras. 10, 38-40 and n.6. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.194811/gov.uscourts.deb.194811.38.0.pdf -[^11]: Trial transcript, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 31, 2023), filed as ECF No. 380, Bankman-Fried cross-examination, pp. 2751-2752. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.380.0.pdf -[^12]: Nick Beckstead, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Avital Balwit, Ketan Ramakrishnan and Will MacAskill, "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned," Effective Altruism Forum, published 2022-11-11T02:04 UTC. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1 -[^13]: Notice of Filing of Lists of Equity Holders, Exhibit A (WRS Equity Holders List) p. 14 and Exhibit B (FTX Trading Equity Holders List) p. 35 of 69, filed Mar. 13, 2023 in *In re Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd.*, No. 23-10149 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.), D.I. 76-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.189054/gov.uscourts.deb.189054.76.1.pdf -[^14]: Disclosure Statement for Debtors' Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization of FTX Trading Ltd. and Its Affiliated Debtors, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD), p. 59 (litigation, item 5), filed as Exhibit C to ECF No. 450, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. June 14, 2024), ECF No. 450-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.450.3.pdf -[^15]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization 332394289, Secure AI Project (IRS EO BMF data, updated Sept. 16, 2026). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/332394289.json -[^16]: Dario Amodei, "The Adolescence of Technology," January 2026, acknowledgments, filed as Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Michael J. Mongan, *Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War*, No. 3:26-cv-01996-RFL (N.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2026), ECF No. 6-7. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.6.7.pdf +[^3]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," grant page, award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel. Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/ +[^4]: Nick Beckstead, "Guidelines for Discussing Longtermism and Existential Risks," last updated July 3, 2019. Copy hosted on simonknutsson.com, Wayback capture of October 30, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221030163925id_/https://www.simonknutsson.com/files/Beckstead-Guidelines-for-Discussing-Longtermism-and-Existential-Risks-1.6.pdf +[^5]: Effective Altruism Foundation and Foundational Research Institute (Jonas Vollmer, Stefan Torges, Lukas Gloor, David Althaus), "EAF's Guidelines for Discussing Astronomical Stakes (shared)," first written March 2019, last updated September 10, 2019. Wayback capture of October 30, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221030171253id_/https://www.simonknutsson.com/files/EAFs-Guidelines-for-Discussing-Astronomical-Stakes-2019-10-12.pdf +[^6]: Simon Knutsson, "Problems in effective altruism and existential risk and what to do about them," simonknutsson.com, published October 16, 2019, last updated July 1, 2022; and "E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project," November 10, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ and https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project Sole source for Knutsson's account; he did not publish the replies he received. +[^7]: David Morris, "'AI Safety' Research Is a Hallucination," Zero Knowledge, October 8, 2026. https://www.zero-knowledge.com/blog/ai-safety-research-techno-utopian-propaganda +[^8]: FTX Recovery Trust's Motion for Reconsideration or to Modify Order Allowing Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 31846, paras. 1-2, 7-10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.31846.0.pdf +[^9]: Charity Commission for England and Wales, "Charity Inquiry: Effective Ventures Foundation UK," published May 22, 2024 (since withdrawn under the Commission's retention policy), sections "Background," "Findings" and "Conclusions." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk +[^10]: "Crypto-backed charity plans closure and £17m Oxford property sale," *Civil Society*, April 3, 2024. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/crypto-backed-charity-plans-closure-and-17m-oxford-property-sale.html +[^11]: "Charity backed by crypto fraudster sells historic property at 'significantly' reduced price," *Third Sector*, February 18, 2026. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-backed-crypto-fraudster-sells-historic-property-significantly-reduced-price/finance/article/1948737 +[^12]: Rob Gledhill, "Announcement on the future of Wytham Abbey," Effective Altruism Forum, March 25, 2024, with update of November 11, 2025. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/announcement-on-the-future-of-wytham-abbey +[^13]: Stipulation of Undisputed Facts Relating to Ross Rheingans-Yoo's FDU Claim, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. Jan. 15, 2025), D.I. 29218, paras. 3-6, 9-13, 18-21, 32-35, 42-46. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.29218.0.pdf +[^14]: Complaint, *Alameda Research Ltd. v. Platform Life Sciences Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 23-50444 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del. July 19, 2023), filed as D.I. 1881 in No. 22-11068, caption and paras. 1, 5, 9-10, 17-20, 48-51, 53-64, 82, 88, 98, 174-179. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.188450/gov.uscourts.deb.188450.1881.0.pdf +[^15]: First Amended Complaint, *FTX Recovery Trust v. Manifold Markets, Inc.*, Adv. Pro. No. 24-50214 (KBO) (Bankr. D. Del. July 23, 2025), D.I. 38, paras. 10, 38-40 and n.6. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.194811/gov.uscourts.deb.194811.38.0.pdf +[^16]: Trial transcript, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 31, 2023), filed as ECF No. 380, Bankman-Fried cross-examination, pp. 2751-2752. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.380.0.pdf +[^17]: Nick Beckstead, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Avital Balwit, Ketan Ramakrishnan and Will MacAskill, "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned," Effective Altruism Forum, published 2022-11-11T02:04 UTC. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1 +[^18]: Notice of Filing of Lists of Equity Holders, Exhibit A (WRS Equity Holders List) p. 14 and Exhibit B (FTX Trading Equity Holders List) p. 35 of 69, filed Mar. 13, 2023 in *In re Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd.*, No. 23-10149 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.), D.I. 76-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.deb.189054/gov.uscourts.deb.189054.76.1.pdf +[^19]: Disclosure Statement for Debtors' Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization of FTX Trading Ltd. and Its Affiliated Debtors, *In re FTX Trading Ltd.*, No. 22-11068 (JTD), p. 59 (litigation, item 5), filed as Exhibit C to ECF No. 450, *United States v. Bankman-Fried*, No. 22 Cr. 673 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. June 14, 2024), ECF No. 450-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.450.3.pdf +[^20]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization 332394289, Secure AI Project (IRS EO BMF data, updated Sept. 16, 2026). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/332394289.json +[^21]: Dario Amodei, "The Adolescence of Technology," January 2026, acknowledgments, filed as Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Michael J. Mongan, *Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War*, No. 3:26-cv-01996-RFL (N.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2026), ECF No. 6-7. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.6.7.pdf diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Francis J. McNeil.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Francis J. McNeil.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..560f66cd --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Francis J. McNeil.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +--- +aliases: + - Francis J. McNeil + - Frank McNeil + - Ambassador McNeil +category: "Intelligence & Government" +tags: + - Person + - FrancisJMcNeil + - Diplomat + - CostaRica + - StateDepartment + - CounterTerrorismConsultants +summary: "Career diplomat, ambassador to Costa Rica from 1980 to 1983 and later State Department intelligence official, who resigned in 1987 and in 1990 was listed as an associate of CounterTerrorism Consultants." +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[United States Department of State]]" + end: 1987-02 + role: "Foreign Service officer; ambassador to Costa Rica 1980-1983" + fn: 1 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]" + start: 1990-06 + role: "associate" + fn: 2 +--- + +Francis J. McNeil is an American diplomat who was ambassador to [[Costa Rica]] from 1980 to 1983 and later a senior State Department intelligence official. + +### Diplomatic career + +The State Department's Office of the Historian lists McNeil as a career Foreign Service officer appointed ambassador to Costa Rica on June 30, 1980, with credentials presented July 8, 1980, who left post on June 27, 1983.[^1] A resume circulated by [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] in June 1990 states that he served three times as deputy assistant secretary of state, for Inter-American affairs and for East Asian affairs, and from 1984 as senior deputy for intelligence and research; that he was acting deputy United States representative to the [[Organization of American States]] and political counselor at the United States embassy in Madrid; that he is a veteran of lengthy assignments in Japan and fluent in Spanish and Japanese; and that the State Department's personnel files described him in 1983 as the nation's best ambassador in Latin America. It lists the Distinguished Honor Award, the Christian Herter Award of the American Foreign Service Association and presidential awards for executive distinction, and states that he has written for *The New York Times*, *The Washington Post* and *The San Francisco Examiner* and is the author of *War and Peace in Central America*. A handwritten note in the margin of the page reads "State Dept."[^2] + +A review of *War and Peace in Central America* in *Foreign Affairs* (March 1989) states that the author resigned from the State Department in February 1987 after a series of clashes with Assistant Secretary of State [[Elliott Abrams]].[^3] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Office of the Historian, Department of State, "Francis J. McNeil," https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/mcneil-francis-j. +[^2]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy dated June 20, 1990, page 141 P08, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^3]: Review of Francis J. McNeil, *War and Peace in Central America*, *Foreign Affairs*, March 1, 1989, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/node/1076960. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Greg Kehoe.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Greg Kehoe.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d56908c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Greg Kehoe.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +aliases: + - Greg Kehoe + - Gregory W. Kehoe + - Gregory Kehoe +category: "Law Enforcement & Legal" +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +tags: + - Person + - BCCI + - OctoberSurprise + - Prosecutor +summary: "Florida federal prosecutor who was first assistant in the Tampa United States Attorney's office during the BCCI plea and became deputy chief minority counsel of the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992." +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Department of Justice]]" + role: "assistant United States attorney, Southern District of Florida, chief of the Northern Division from 1986" + start: 1983 + end: 1989 + fn: 1 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Department of Justice]]" + role: "first assistant United States attorney, Middle District of Florida" + start: 1989 + end: 1992 + fn: 1 + - type: appointed + with: "[[House October Surprise Task Force]]" + role: "deputy chief minority counsel" + start: 1992 + end: 1993 + fn: 1 + - type: investigated + with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]" + role: "Justice Department negotiator of the 1990 Tampa plea agreement" + start: 1989 + end: 1990 + fn: 2 +--- +Gregory W. Kehoe was a federal prosecutor in Florida who negotiated the 1990 Tampa plea agreement with the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) as first assistant to the United States Attorney, [[Robert Genzman]]. He became deputy chief minority counsel of the [[House October Surprise Task Force]] in June 1992.[^1] + +### Federal prosecutor (1983 to 1992) + +Kehoe was an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida from March 1983 to February 1989. He served as chief of that office's Northern Division from 1986 until he left in 1989. From February 1989 he was first assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, in Tampa.[^1] + +### BCCI plea (1989 to 1990) + +The Senate report on BCCI describes Kehoe as the Justice Department official with whom BCCI's lawyers, including [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]], negotiated the bank's plea agreement in Tampa.[^2] In testimony to the Senate subcommittee, Kehoe said that whether the plea would bar other prosecutions "had been discussed at length within the Department," and that the Department had concluded it would not be an impediment.[^3] + +When Kehoe learned of the letter that [[Charles Saphos]] of the Criminal Division wrote to the Florida regulators in February 1990, he said he was upset. He testified that "[they] tried to go behind my back," and that "Saphos' efforts were with the best intentions of law enforcement involved." He added that "nothing surprises me in the murky world of criminal law enforcement."[^3] + +The subcommittee also recorded Kehoe's account of why a First American Bank allegation could not be corroborated from documents after the Tampa indictment of Awan, a source of the allegations, and noted that his testimony on that point differed from that of his colleague, Assistant United States Attorney Jackowski.[^3] + +### House task force (1992 to 1993) + +The printed report of the task force states that Kehoe was first assistant in Tampa until June 18, 1992, when he joined the task force as deputy chief minority counsel. The report lists him as "Gregory W. Kehoe" in that post, beneath [[Richard J. Leon]] and [[John P. Mackey]].[^1] The Senate report, published in December 1992, described him as "on leave from the Justice Department to assist" Barcella.[^2] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993 (staff biographies, Minority Staff). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force +[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm +[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James B. Motley.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James B. Motley.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad7e5781 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James B. Motley.md @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +--- +aliases: + - James B. Motley + - James Berry Motley + - Dr. James Motley + - Jim Motley + - J. B. Motley +category: "Military" +tags: + - Person + - JamesBMotley + - Counterterrorism + - LowIntensityConflict + - USArmy + - Wackenhut + - CounterTerrorismConsultants +summary: "Retired Army colonel who wrote his doctorate on United States counterterrorist policy, directed terrorism studies at the National Institute for Public Policy, and from 1987 was a Wackenhut Advanced Technologies vice president." +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[United States Army]]" + end: 1983 + role: "colonel" + fn: 1 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[National Institute for Public Policy]]" + start: 1984 + end: 1985 + role: "Director, Terrorist Research and Low-Intensity Conflict Studies" + fn: 1 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]" + start: 1987-09 + role: "vice president for national security studies and programs" + fn: 1 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]" + start: 1990-06 + role: "associate, advising on low-intensity conflict and political-military analysis" + fn: 1 + - type: participant_in + with: "[[Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism]]" + start: 1985 + role: "appeared before the task force" + fn: 1 +--- + +James Berry Motley is a retired United States Army colonel who wrote on terrorism and low-intensity conflict from the early 1980s and, from September 1987, was a vice president of [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]], the Reston, Virginia subsidiary of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]]. In June 1990 he was listed as an associate of [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] + +### Army and academic career + +A resume circulated by CounterTerrorism Consultants in June 1990 states that Motley retired from the [[United States Army]] in 1983 in the grade of colonel; that he commanded airborne, Ranger and infantry units with assignments in Okinawa, Vietnam, Germany and the United States; and that he is a graduate of the [[National War College]], the Army Command and General Staff College and the Special Warfare School. It states that he was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart as well as twenty other United States and foreign decorations, and lists a B.A. in political science from [[The Citadel]], an M.A. in international relations from [[Florida State University]] and a Ph.D. in world politics from the [[Catholic University of America]].[^1] His dissertation, "U.S. Counterterrorist Policy: An Analysis of Its Strategy and Organization," was submitted to the Catholic University of America in 1983 (188 pages).[^2] + +The resume lists his former positions as senior fellow of the [[Atlantic Council of the United States]], country director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, senior fellow at the [[National Defense University]], and political-military analyst in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and on the Department of the Army General Staff. It credits him with the book *U.S. Strategy to Counter Domestic Political Terrorism* and with expertise in NATO affairs, Soviet studies, security policy and planning and arms control.[^1] + +### Terrorism and special operations studies, 1981 to 1987 + +He published "International Terrorism: A New Mode of Warfare" in *International Security Review* (volume 6, Spring 1981, pages 93 to 123), "If Terrorism Hits Home, Will the Army Be Ready?" in *Army* (as Colonel James B. Motley, Ret.) (volume 34, April 1984, pages 18 to 21) and "Terrorism" in *National Defense* (volume 69, January 1985, pages 39 to 42).[^2] + +Motley was Director of Terrorist Research and Low-Intensity Conflict Studies at the [[National Institute for Public Policy]] during 1984 and 1985, according to the resume, which states that he prepared studies on terrorism and special operations forces.[^1] The proceedings of the tenth Annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security, held at Springfield, Virginia, on April 23 and 24, 1985, list him in that post among the attendees, together with the FBI supervisory special agent [[Carter Cornick]], and record him asking the panel whether a multinational military, paramilitary or law enforcement force would improve international cooperation against state-sponsored terrorism. The program lists [[E. Lawrence Barcella]], then senior litigation counsel in the United States Attorney's Office, as a presenter on terrorism and the law.[^3] + +The resume states that in 1985 Motley appeared before the [[Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism]] and that his contributions were included in its report to the President, and that for two years before September 1987 he was director of national security studies at a Washington-based contractor, where he led a team on operational analysis of defense policy and programs for federal agencies.[^1] + +### Wackenhut Advanced Technologies, 1987 to 1990 + +The resume states that from September 1987 Motley was vice president for national security studies and programs at Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation (WATCO), directing operational analyses and assessments of national security issues with a primary interest in terrorism, special operations and low-intensity conflict, and that he was also involved in counternarcotics research, Third World developments and anti- and counterterrorism technologies and programs.[^1] A Wackenhut newsletter in the papers of [[Danny Casolaro]] describes WATCO as based at Reston, Virginia and specializing in applied research and development in nuclear safeguards and security policy, programs and systems.[^4] The corporation's 1985 and 1986 annual reports describe a wholly owned subsidiary at Reston with a Security Programs division designing security for the Department of Energy's nuclear device assembly facility at the Nevada Test Site and a Systems division engaged in security systems for high-level installations.[^5] + +### CounterTerrorism Consultants + +The June 1990 packet lists Motley as an associate who advises clients in cases involving low-intensity conflict and contributes expertise in political-military analysis and regional assessment. The other associates listed were Cornick, [[Eugene Propper]], Barcella, [[Francis J. McNeil]], [[Mayer Nudell]] and a former CIA operations officer whose entry carries no name.[^1] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy with header "JUN 20 '90," pages 141 P10 and 141 P11 (Motley entry), Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^2]: *Terrorism: A Selective Bibliography*, entries for Motley (dissertation, *International Security Review*, *Army*, *National Defense*), Defense Technical Information Center ADA308348, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA308348. +[^3]: *Supplemental Proceedings of the 10th Annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security: Outthinking the Terrorist, an International Challenge*, Springfield, Virginia, April 23 to 24, 1985, program, participant list and discussion, Defense Technical Information Center ADA161669, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA161669. +[^4]: Wackenhut newsletter, undated issue, passage on The Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Newsletters," https://archive.org/details/ddosecrets_casolaro_files. +[^5]: The Wackenhut Corporation, annual reports for 1985 and 1986, sections on Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-CompanyReportsannualQuarterly," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lee Hamilton.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lee Hamilton.md index f3e19e20..eb295045 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lee Hamilton.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lee Hamilton.md @@ -1,12 +1,12 @@ --- category: "Political Figure" created: 2026-05-01 -updated: 2026-05-01 +updated: 2026-10-08 tags: - Person - October Surprise - Politician -summary: "Lee Hamilton served as a Democratic congressman from Indiana from 1965 to 1999 and co-chaired both the House October Surprise Task Force (1992-1993) and the 9/11 Commission (2002-2004); his decision to decline a three-month extension of the October Surprise investigation, despite new evidence arriving in the final weeks, has been cited as a significant limitation on that inquiry." +summary: "Indiana Democratic congressman from 1965 to 1999 who chaired the House October Surprise Task Force in 1992 and 1993, chose Lawrence Barcella as its chief counsel, and later co-chaired the 9/11 Commission." born: 1931-04-20 died: 2026-02-03 location: "Daytona Beach, Florida" @@ -17,9 +17,17 @@ Lee Herbert Hamilton was born April 20, 1931, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He serv In 1992, Hamilton co-chaired the House October Surprise Task Force alongside Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), with [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] serving as chief counsel. The Task Force was established to investigate allegations by [[Gary Sick]], [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], and others that [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan's]] 1980 presidential campaign had secretly negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the release of American hostages past Election Day.[^2] -The Task Force's January 1993 final report found "no credible evidence" of such a deal. However, the investigation has been criticized on several grounds. Chief counsel Barcella reportedly requested a three-month extension as substantial new evidence arrived in the investigation's final weeks; Hamilton declined this request. A U.S. Embassy Madrid cable indicating [[William J. Casey]] was in Madrid in summer 1980 "for purposes unknown" was withheld by Bush administration officials and never provided to the Task Force. The Russian intelligence report confirming Casey's Madrid and Paris meetings with Iranians arrived in January 1993 after the Task Force had closed, and was buried in raw files until journalist [[Robert Parry]] discovered it later.[^2] +The Task Force's January 1993 final report found "no credible evidence" of such a deal. However, the investigation has been criticized on several grounds. A U.S. Embassy Madrid cable indicating [[William J. Casey]] was in Madrid in summer 1980 "for purposes unknown" was withheld by Bush administration officials and never provided to the Task Force. The Russian intelligence report confirming Casey's Madrid and Paris meetings with Iranians arrived in January 1993 after the Task Force had closed, and was buried in raw files until journalist [[Robert Parry]] discovered it later.[^2] -Hamilton's decision not to extend the investigation was cited by Parry and others as reflecting concern about Republican backlash during a presidential election year.[^2] +In 1992 Hamilton selected E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. as chief counsel. Hamilton selected him in March 1992, saying then that he sought "someone that had a large amount of international experience." Asked about the lawyer's 1985 legal opinion on a contra arms shipment in a May 29, 1992 newspaper account, Hamilton said he would "investigate all aspects of criticisms of staff, including Larry or anybody else."[^3] + +Barcella told Parry that substantial new evidence arrived in the final month of the inquiry and that he asked Hamilton to extend it three months. Barcella said Hamilton, recognizing how nasty the Republican reaction would be, turned down the request.[^4] In Meldon's 2008 article, Barcella is quoted as saying that Hamilton cited the complexity of getting the task force reauthorized in a new Congress.[^5] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he might have explained the problem of the authorization running out at the end of the session: "All I could have done is go before the next Congress and request reauthorization."[^6] Hamilton told Parry in 2010 that he had no recollection of such a proposal, and in 2011 that he had no recollection of the request.[^7][^8] Parry also wrote that Barcella recommended the extension to Hamilton, and that Hamilton did not extend the task force.[^5] + +House Resolution 585 of October 2, 1992 authorized the task force to file its final report after adjournment and before noon on January 3, 1993; Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing it, said the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year."[^9] A Russian report addressed to Hamilton, requested by him on October 21, 1992, reached the task force on January 11, 1993. Parry reported that Hamilton told him, "I don't recall seeing it."[^10] Hamilton held a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^5] + +Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed, "Case Closed," stated that the staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions" and that the task force found "virtually no credible evidence" of the accusations.[^11] + +Parry wrote that Barcella attributed the refusal to Hamilton's recognition of the Republican reaction, and Hamilton has denied recalling the request.[^4][^8] ### 9/11 Commission @@ -29,3 +37,12 @@ Hamilton co-chaired the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United [^1]: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. "Hamilton, Lee Herbert." bioguide.congress.gov. [^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force. *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*. 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 1993. +[^3]: "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal," *Hartford Courant*, May 29, 1992 (reprinted in *The Seattle Times*, May 29, 1992). https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/ +[^4]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the Barcella account. +[^5]: Meldon, Jerry. "Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Hyde." *Consortium News*, March 27, 2008, with addendum from Robert Parry. https://consortiumnews.com/2008/032608c.html Sole source for the addendum account. +[^6]: Parry, Robert. "Second Thoughts on October Surprise," *Consortium News*, June 8, 2013. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/06/08/second-thoughts-on-october-surprise/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry. +[^7]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report." *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton statement about the report as reported by Parry. +[^8]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries." *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement of 2010 as reported by Parry. +[^9]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (text of H. Res. 585 and floor statement of Rep. Beilenson). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm +[^10]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry. +[^11]: Hamilton, Lee H. "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed." *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993 (Section 4, p. 17). https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html The text states that the staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions" and finds "virtually no credible evidence." diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Eugene Propper.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Eugene Propper.md index 00d4929f..cba73c08 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Eugene Propper.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Eugene Propper.md @@ -13,7 +13,24 @@ tags: summary: "Federal prosecutor of the Letelier murder, from whom the CIA withheld its 1976 knowledge of the Chilean agents' passports, and who in 1988 formed a counterterrorism consultancy with the FBI men from the case." location: "Washington, D.C." created: 2026-09-21 -updated: 2026-09-21 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: represented + with: "[[Peru|Republic of Peru]]" + start: 1981-10 + end: 1988-10 + role: "short-form registrant for Lane & Edson, P.C., FARA registration 3286" + fn: 5 + - type: represented + with: "[[Government of Jamaica]]" + start: 1989-09 + end: 1990-04 + role: "short-form registrant for CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., FARA registration 4294" + fn: 7 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Lane and Edson]]" + role: "head of trial division (as stated in the 1990 resume packet)" + fn: 9 --- Eugene M. Propper was the assistant [[United States Attorney]] in Washington assigned in September 1976 to the murder of [[Orlando Letelier]] and [[Ronni Moffitt]]. His deputy was [[E. Lawrence Barcella]], and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents were [[Carter Cornick|C. Carter Cornick]] in Washington and [[Robert Scherrer]], the bureau's representative in [[Buenos Aires]].[^1] @@ -28,7 +45,11 @@ The letter rogatory that carried the investigation to Chile, signed by Chief Jud ### Afterward -With the journalist [[Taylor Branch]] he wrote *Labyrinth* (1982), an account of the case. By 1988 he was with the Washington law firm of Lane and Edson and a partner, without title, in [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], formed with Cornick, Scherrer, who had "recently retired from the FBI as its records chief," and Barcella. The firm offered governments, airlines, shipping companies, and the sponsors of events such as the Olympic Games "pro-active" plans against attack, the management of kidnappings and hijackings, "in-depth intelligence files," and "liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies."[^1] +With the journalist [[Taylor Branch]] he wrote *Labyrinth* (1982), an account of the case. By 1988 he was with the Washington law firm of [[Lane and Edson]] and a partner, without title, in [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], formed with Cornick, Scherrer, who had "recently retired from the FBI as its records chief," and Barcella. The firm offered governments, airlines, shipping companies, and the sponsors of events such as the Olympic Games "pro-active" plans against attack, the management of kidnappings and hijackings, "in-depth intelligence files," and "liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies."[^1] + +Justice Department registration files list Lane & Edson, P.C., of 2300 M Street NW, Washington, as a registrant under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] from October 8, 1981 to November 8, 1988, with the Republic of Peru as its foreign principal until October 8, 1988; the Attorney General's report lists its services as legal work on the recovery of illegally exported pre-Columbian artifacts and on favorable import legislation or regulations, with finances "None Reported." Propper is a short-form registrant under that registration, with the November 8, 1988 termination date.[^5][^6] Under CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. (registration 4294) he is a short-form registrant from September 18, 1989 to October 25, 1990; the registration's only foreign principal was the [[Government of Jamaica]], from September 18, 1989 to April 15, 1990, and it reported $25,000.00 received prior to registration.[^7][^8] + +A June 1990 resume packet of the firm describes Propper as co-founder, advising clients on criminal prosecutions, extradition, expulsion and the formulation of statutes and prosecutorial guidelines. It states that he was an assistant United States attorney in Washington from 1972 to 1979 and an attorney in the Criminal Division of the [[United States Department of Justice]] from 1971 to 1972; that he headed the investigation and prosecution of the terrorists who killed Orlando Letelier; that he was instrumental in the prosecution of [[Edwin Wilson]] and [[Frank Terpil]] for selling weapons to Libya; that he was chief prosecutor in the bombing of the United States Capitol and of the offices of a foreign airline in Washington; that he heads the trial division at Lane and Edson; that he is a member of the District of Columbia and Massachusetts bars; and that he holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the [[University of Massachusetts]] and a law degree from the [[University of Minnesota]] Law School.[^9] ### Footnotes @@ -36,3 +57,8 @@ With the journalist [[Taylor Branch]] he wrote *Labyrinth* (1982), an account of [^2]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 242-243, 252, 297, 309-311. [^3]: Motion for change of venue, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with newspaper clippings attached as exhibits, legible only in fragments, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-venue.pdf; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington field office, file 185-425, reports of interviews of Michael Vernon Townley by Special Agents Robert W. Scherrer and L. Carter Cornick, February 6, 8, and 16, 1979, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-townley-phone.pdf. [^4]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, letter rogatory, Exp. 20931, and oficio of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, February 27, 1978; Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, memoranda of Eugene M. Propper and E. Lawrence Barcella, June 5, 9, and 22, 1978. +[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act public bulk files, registration 3286 (Lane & Edson, P.C.; foreign principal "Republic of Peru," registered October 8, 1981, terminated October 8, 1988; short form "Propper, Eugene M.," terminated November 8, 1988), https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_Registrants.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ForeignPrincipals.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ShortForms.csv.zip. +[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Attorney General to the Congress on the Administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, calendar years 1988 to 1991, Peru section, entry "Lane & Edson, P.C., #3286 (T88)," https://www.justice.gov/media/910056/dl?inline. +[^7]: Same bulk files, registration 4294 (CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P.): short form "Propper, Eugene M.," September 18, 1989, terminated October 25, 1990; foreign principal "Government of Jamaica," September 18, 1989 to April 15, 1990. +[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Attorney General to the Congress on the Administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, for the Calendar Years 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, Volume 1, Jamaica section, p. 599, https://www.justice.gov/media/910066/dl?inline. +[^9]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy dated June 20, 1990, page 141 P07, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Parry.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Parry.md index 25d6aa86..353543a6 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Parry.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Parry.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- category: "Authors & Journalists" created: 2024-04-25 -updated: 2026-05-01 +updated: 2026-10-08 tags: - Person - Journalist @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags: - October Surprise - Iran-Contra - Dark_Alliance_Investigation -summary: "Robert Parry (1949-2018) was an investigative journalist who broke early Iran-Contra and Contra drug stories at the AP and Newsweek, founded Consortium News in 1995 after being sidelined by mainstream outlets, and produced the most sustained documentary case for the October Surprise allegation, obtaining the withheld Madrid embassy cable reference and discovering the buried Russian intelligence report." +summary: "Investigative journalist (1949 to 2018) who reported early Iran-Contra and Contra drug stories at the AP and Newsweek, founded Consortium News in 1995, and published the Russian report on the October Surprise." born: 1949-06-24 died: 2018-01-27 location: "Hartford, Connecticut" @@ -18,24 +18,28 @@ Robert Parry was born June 24, 1949. He worked as a reporter at the [[Associated ### Iran-Contra Reporting -As an AP reporter in the mid-1980s, Parry broke early stories on Contra drug trafficking, but his editors sat on his reporting for weeks, edited it heavily, and ultimately spiked it -- a suppression that foreshadowed the treatment of [[Gary Webb]]'s *Dark Alliance* series a decade later. When Webb was forced out of the San Jose Mercury News in 1996, Parry wrote to him: "Something very bad happened to the news media in the 1980s. By the 1990s, the media had become the monster."[^2] +As an AP reporter in the mid-1980s, Parry broke early stories on Contra drug trafficking, but his editors sat on his reporting for weeks, edited it heavily, and ultimately spiked it, a suppression that foreshadowed the treatment of [[Gary Webb]]'s *Dark Alliance* series a decade later. When Webb was forced out of the San Jose Mercury News in 1996, Parry wrote to him: "Something very bad happened to the news media in the 1980s. By the 1990s, the media had become the monster."[^2] At Newsweek, Parry continued Iran-Contra reporting but found similar institutional resistance. He produced two investigative documentaries for [[Frontline]] examining the arms-for-hostages deals of the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. In 1993, he co-authored a PBS Frontline documentary on the Bush administration's handling of the October Surprise record.[^1] ### Contra Drug Trafficking and the CIA-Justice Agreement -As editor of I.F. Magazine, Parry argued that the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding between CIA Director [[William J. Casey]] and Attorney General [[William French Smith]] -- which exempted CIA assets from drug crimes reporting -- "smacks of premeditation." He argued: "That could only have been done for one purpose. They were anticipating involvement with narcotics traffickers." His analysis was later vindicated when CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] confirmed the agreement's existence in 1998 congressional testimony.[^2] +As editor of I.F. Magazine, Parry argued that the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding between CIA Director [[William J. Casey]] and Attorney General [[William French Smith]], which exempted CIA assets from drug crimes reporting, "smacks of premeditation." He argued: "That could only have been done for one purpose. They were anticipating involvement with narcotics traffickers." His analysis was later vindicated when CIA Inspector General [[Fred Hitz]] confirmed the agreement's existence in 1998 congressional testimony.[^2] ### October Surprise Investigation Parry produced the most sustained documentary investigation of the October Surprise allegation of any journalist. His key discoveries included: -A U.S. Embassy cable from Madrid, withheld from the House October Surprise Task Force by Bush administration officials, indicating that [[William J. Casey]] was in Madrid in summer 1980 "for purposes unknown." A 1991 internal memo by Deputy White House counsel Chester Paul Beach Jr. documented that a State Department legal adviser had disclosed the cable's existence to White House officials, who did not pass it to the Task Force. This cable was not discovered until Parry obtained information from sources inside the Task Force's raw files.[^3] +A U.S. Embassy cable from Madrid, withheld from the House October Surprise Task Force by Bush administration officials, indicating that William J. Casey was in Madrid in summer 1980 "for purposes unknown." A 1991 internal memo by Deputy White House counsel Chester Paul Beach Jr. documented that a State Department legal adviser had disclosed the cable's existence to White House officials, who did not pass it to the Task Force. This cable was not discovered until Parry obtained information from sources inside the Task Force's raw files.[^3] -A Russian intelligence report submitted to the House Task Force in January 1993 -- after the Task Force had already closed its investigation -- stating that Casey met Iranian representatives in Madrid and Paris in 1980 and that [[George H.W. Bush]] participated in the Paris meeting. The report was buried in raw files and not reflected in the Task Force's public conclusions.[^3] +A Russian intelligence report submitted to the House Task Force in January 1993, after the Task Force had already closed its investigation, stating that Casey met Iranian representatives in Madrid and Paris in 1980 and that [[George H.W. Bush]] participated in the Paris meeting. The report was buried in raw files and not reflected in the Task Force's public conclusions.[^3] Parry also reported that Task Force chief counsel [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] had requested a three-month extension of the investigation as substantial new evidence arrived near its close, a request that co-chair [[Lee Hamilton]] declined. Parry characterized Henry Hyde's role as that of a cover-protection operative for Republicans.[^3] +Parry's later reporting on the task force drew on interviews and e-mail exchanges with E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr., who told him that he had asked Hamilton for the extension, and who, asked about the Russian report in 2010, first said he did not "recall whether I showed [Hamilton] the Russian report or not" and then wrote that "I do specifically recall discussing it with Lee."[^4][^5] In 1996 and again in 2005 Parry wrote that a December 8, 1992 memo instructed the task force's deputies "to put some language in, as a trap door,"[^6] and that Barcella's friend [[Michael Ledeen]] had been an informal member of the 1980 October Surprise Group.[^7] In 1996 Parry wrote that the BCCI and Laxalt links were left out of the printed report, and that the chief counsel's firm had earned more than $2 million from [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]].[^8] + +Parry wrote in 2010 that he examined the task force's unpublished files at the House Foreign Affairs Committee "in late 1994 and early 1995," with the committee's Democratic staff limiting him to copying about a dozen pages per visit.[^5][^9] + He founded Consortium News specifically to maintain this reporting after mainstream outlets showed no interest. His archives were used by Craig Unger in *Den of Spies* (2024) as a primary source. ### Ben-Menashe Letters @@ -47,3 +51,9 @@ Parry confirmed the authenticity of letters of recommendation for [[Ari Ben-Mena [^1]: Parry, Robert. Consortium News archive. consortiumnews.com. [^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. [^3]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise Evidence Surfaces." *Consortium News*, July 14, 2011; Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. +[^4]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries." *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ +[^5]: Parry, Robert. "The Russian Report." *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Barcella e-mail quoted. +[^6]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files: The Ladies' Room Secrets," *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile2.html +[^7]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups." *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html +[^8]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History." *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the fee figure and the omissions as reported by Parry. +[^9]: Parry, Robert. "Russian Report on 1980 'October Surprise' Case" (translation page). https://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Scherrer.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Scherrer.md index 6257bb80..b8893b22 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Scherrer.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Scherrer.md @@ -14,7 +14,13 @@ tags: summary: "FBI legal attaché in Buenos Aires who after the Letelier murder cabled Washington the first description of Operation Condor and its assassination phase, and later sold counterterrorism advice with the case's prosecutors." location: "Buenos Aires, Argentina" created: 2026-09-21 -updated: 2026-09-21 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: member_of + with: "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]" + start: 1988-08 + role: "consultant" + fn: 3 --- Robert Scherrer was the legal attaché of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] at the embassy in [[Buenos Aires]], responsible from 1972 for the southern cone of [[South America]]. The bureau "recruited him when he was eighteen, gave him a job as a filing clerk, and sent him to [[Fordham University]] to get a law degree." In the middle 1960s he served on the [[New York City|New York]] squad that watched Cuban exiles. "He had made it his business to get to know Chile's [[Manuel Contreras]]," on whom he called "on each trip to Chile."[^1] @@ -29,10 +35,13 @@ After [[Orlando Letelier]] was killed in Washington on September 21, 1976, a sou In 1976 Scherrer obtained the surrender of the Cuban exile fugitive [[Rolando Otero]] from [[Chile]]. "The Chilean government first denied having Otero, then offered to turn him over in a coffin." The embassy warned that Secretary of State [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] would cancel his visit of that June. At their first meeting after the Letelier murder, in late November 1976, Contreras offered him "confidential information" that [[Ronni Moffitt]] had been Letelier's lover and that her husband was the likeliest suspect. With [[Carter Cornick]] he questioned [[Michael Townley]] on April 17, 1978.[^1] -He retired as chief of the bureau's records. In 1988 he joined the prosecutors of the case, [[Eugene Propper]] and [[E. Lawrence Barcella]], and Cornick in [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]][^3] +He retired as chief of the bureau's records. In August 1988 [[United Press International]] reported that Scherrer was joining [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]] as an active consultant, alongside Cornick (president), [[Eugene Propper]] (a full partner without title) and [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], who was to be called on for legal consultation on extradition. The article describes Scherrer, as the bureau's representative in Argentina, as having come up with the key piece of evidence linking the Chilean secret police to the murder of Orlando Letelier.[^3] + +In September 1989 [[Mary McGrory]] reported that Cornick proposed to [[Saul Landau]] of the [[Institute for Policy Studies]] that Scherrer receive an award from the institute. The column described Scherrer, the former legal attaché in Buenos Aires, as retired from the bureau in 1988, with multiple sclerosis and in a wheelchair.[^4] ### Footnotes [^1]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 130, 237-239, 263-266, 276-277. [^2]: Dinges, John. *The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents*. New Press, 2004, pp. 90-94, 121-122; Branch, Taylor, and Eugene M. Propper. *Labyrinth*. Viking, 1982, p. 124. -[^3]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," United Press International, August 2, 1988. +[^3]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/. +[^4]: Mary McGrory, column on the Institute for Policy Studies and Robert Scherrer, The York Dispatch (York, Pennsylvania), September 25, 1989, p. 8, https://www.newspapers.com/image/613938311/. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Spencer Oliver.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Spencer Oliver.md index 66bca18b..d46da2d4 100644 --- a/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Spencer Oliver.md +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Spencer Oliver.md @@ -4,10 +4,17 @@ tags: - Person - IranContra - Israel -summary: "Chief counsel for the House Foreign Relations Committee involved in Iran-Contra hearings, later admitting the hearings were a cover-up." +summary: "Chief counsel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who in 1992 sought leniency for the arms dealer Dirk Stoffberg, and whom Ari Ben-Menashe described as calling the Iran-Contra hearings a cover-up." --- -[[Spencer Oliver]] was the chief counsel for the [[United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs|House Foreign Relations Committee]]. He was involved in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] hearings. In 1991, he discussed the events of 1987 with [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], admitting that the Democrats knew the witnesses were lying and that the hearings were a cover-up to avoid impeaching the president.[^1] +[[Spencer Oliver]] was the chief counsel for the [[United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs|House Foreign Affairs Committee]]. He was involved in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] hearings. In 1991, he discussed the events of 1987 with [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], admitting that the Democrats knew the witnesses were lying and that the hearings were a cover-up to avoid impeaching the president.[^1] + +### Stoffberg letter (1992) + +On January 10, 1992, Oliver, chief counsel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York requesting leniency for [[Dirk Stoffberg]], a convicted arms dealer, on the ground that Stoffberg had provided the committee with information about the 1980 hostage events. Judge [[Jack Weinstein]] cited the request in an amended sentencing memorandum and reduced the sentence.[^2] On February 4, 1992, Representative McEwen of Ohio announced that he would offer a privileged resolution on the letter before the House debated House Resolution 258, which created the October Surprise task force.[^2] A reprinted newspaper account quotes Representative Henry Hyde: "By what authority did Spencer Oliver intervene in this case, and why wasn't the minority notified?"[^3] ### Footnotes + [^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. +[^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, February 4, 1992, pp. H253 and following (announcement by Representative McEwen; reprinted letter of January 10, 1992; amended memorandum and order of the Eastern District of New York). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h920204-october.htm +[^3]: Reprinted article quoted in the same Congressional Record volume (Stoffberg defense account), above. Sole source for the Hyde quotation as reproduced in that article. diff --git a/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Gerald S. Walker.md b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Gerald S. Walker.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3d62acb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Gerald S. Walker.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +aliases: + - Gerald S. Walker + - Col. Gerald S. Walker + - Colonel Gerald S. Walker + - Gerald Walker + - Col. Gerald Walker +category: "Military" +tags: + - Person + - GeraldSWalker + - USArmy + - DefenseAttache + - DefenseIntelligenceCollege + - ElSalvador + - Panama + - CounterTerrorismConsultants +summary: "U.S. Army colonel who served as defense attaché in San Salvador and Panama City, testified in 1985 against Salvadoran Capt. Eduardo Avila, and directed the Defense Intelligence College's School of Attaché Training in 1987." +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: employed_by + with: "[[United States Army]]" + role: "colonel" + fn: 1 + - type: employed_by + with: "[[Defense Intelligence College]]" + start: 1987 + end: 1988 + role: "Director, School of Attaché Training" + fn: 5 +--- + +Gerald S. Walker was a colonel in the [[United States Army]] who served in the defense attaché offices of the American embassies in [[San Salvador]] and [[Panama City]] and later directed the School of Attaché Training of the [[Defense Intelligence College]]. + +### Defense attaché in San Salvador and Panama City + +Associated Press reports of June 27, 1985 describe a former U.S. defense attaché, Col. Gerald Walker, who served in the defense attaché office at the U.S. embassy in Panama City after serving in a similar capacity in San Salvador.[^1] The Department of State's Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts lists a "Ltc Gerald V. Walker" of the Army as defense attaché at the embassy in [[Panama]] in its 1983, 1984 and 1985 editions, and a Col. Allen C. Cornell in that office in the 1986 edition.[^2] The printed middle initial in the State Department listings is V. + +### The Avila depositions, 1985 + +On January 3, 1981, gunmen killed the American land-reform advisers [[Mark David Pearlman]] and [[Michael P. Hammer]] and the head of the Salvadoran land institute, [[Rodolfo Viera]], in the coffee shop of the Sheraton Hotel in San Salvador. In June 1985 an unnamed U.S. embassy official told the Associated Press that depositions had been taken before Judge Rolando Calderón Ramos, who was presiding over the trial of two former national guardsmen, and that the Walkers' deposition said they had known the Salvadoran Army captain [[Eduardo Alfonso Avila]] since 1978 and that after the killings he confessed his involvement to them during a conversation at their home in Panama City. The same account says Avila had served as military attaché at the Salvadoran embassies in San José and Panama City.[^1] + +A report in The Mercury of Manhattan, Kansas, the following day identifies the colonel as "Col. Gerald S. Walker" and states that his wife, Patsy S. Walker, testified that Avila made an emotional confession to her in 1982 and threatened to harm her children if she told others; the report adds that Colonel Walker also testified against the captain.[^3] The Miami Herald reported on June 27, 1985 that the evidence of "U.S. Army Col. Gerald Walker and his wife" had not been brought to court originally because U.S. officials thought it might be used against another Salvadoran army officer implicated in the murders, according to unnamed sources.[^4] + +### School of Attaché Training, 1987 to 1988 + +The United States Government Manual 1987/88 lists Col. Gerald S. Walker, USA, as director of the School of Attaché Training at the Defense Intelligence College, under the Commandant, Col. John D. Macartney, USAF, and the Dean of the School of Professional Studies, Col. Felix M. Fabian, USAF; the Official Congressional Directory for 1987 gives his telephone extension in the same listing.[^5] The 1988/89 edition of the Manual lists Laurence McK. Bearse as acting director of the School of Attaché Training.[^6] The College prepares military and civilian personnel for duty in the Defense Attaché System.[^6] + +### Gerald S. Walker of CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. + +A Gerald S. Walker is named, with [[Carter Cornick]] and [[Eugene Propper]], on the short forms filed under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] for CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. (registration 4294, September 18, 1989 to October 25, 1990), whose foreign principal was the [[Government of Jamaica]], and the 1990 edition of Washington Representatives lists Cornick and Gerald S. Walker as the firm's representatives for Jamaica at 1800 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, Virginia.[^7] Records found do not establish whether the registrant is the Army colonel. The firm's June 1990 resume packet in the papers of [[Danny Casolaro]] describes seven associates and does not list Walker.[^8] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: "Salvador officer implicated in deaths," Associated Press, in Sun Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi), June 27, 1985, p. 28, https://www.newspapers.com/image/743543906/. Sole source for the passages so cited (the account attributes them to an unnamed U.S. Embassy official). +[^2]: U.S. Department of State, *Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts*, Panama (E) entries, editions of 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986, https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffo1983wash_1, https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffo1984wash_1, https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffor1985wash and https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffo1986wash_1. +[^3]: Report on the Avila depositions, The Mercury (Manhattan, Kansas), June 28, 1985, p. 8, https://www.newspapers.com/image/424690396/. +[^4]: Miami Herald, June 27, 1985, p. 21, https://www.newspapers.com/image/631400709/. +[^5]: Office of the Federal Register, *The United States Government Manual 1987/88* (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987), p. 253, Defense Intelligence College, https://books.google.com/books?id=SD6ND5kU52QC&pg=PA253; *Official Congressional Directory*, 100th Congress (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987), p. 812, "Attache Training.-Col. Gerald S. Walker, USA, 373-3394." +[^6]: Office of the Federal Register, *The United States Government Manual 1988/89* (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1988), Defense Intelligence College entry, https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-government-manual_1988-1989_annual. +[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act registrations 4294 (CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P.); *Washington Representatives* (Washington: Columbia Books, 1990), pp. 94 and 771. +[^8]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy dated June 20, 1990, Danny Casolaro papers, Internet Archive item casolaro-notebooks, file PromotionalMaterial.pdf, https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/House October Surprise Task Force.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/House October Surprise Task Force.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..acf3035f --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/House October Surprise Task Force.md @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +--- +aliases: + - House October Surprise Task Force + - October Surprise Task Force + - Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +category: "U.S. Government" +tags: + - Organization + - Government + - Congress + - OctoberSurprise +summary: "House task force of Foreign Affairs Committee members, created by House Resolution 258 in February 1992, that investigated the October Surprise allegations and reported in January 1993 that no credible evidence supported them." +--- +The House October Surprise Task Force was a panel of thirteen members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that investigated allegations that the 1980 Reagan campaign had dealt with Iranian representatives to delay the release of the American hostages. It was chaired by [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana), with [[Henry Hyde]] (R-Illinois) as ranking Republican member. Its chief counsel was [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]], and its report was dated January 3, 1993.[^1] + +### Creation (1992) + +The House adopted House Resolution 258 on February 5, 1992, by a recorded vote of 247 to 158. The resolution created the task force of thirteen members, appointed by the Speaker, with the chairman designated by the Speaker. Its mandate covered communications between the 1980 Reagan presidential campaign and representatives of the Iranian government or of the persons holding Americans as hostages, efforts to delay the release of the hostages, activity by the campaign to acquire or disseminate information about the hostage situation, arms sales or transfers to Iran, and efforts to keep any such communications from the government and the American people. The resolution authorized the task force to hire experts, consultants, attorneys and investigators, and to take depositions under oath.[^1][^2] + +The task force adopted its rules on March 11, 1992. Rule 9 required each staff member or consultant to surrender classified material on leaving the task force and allowed the chairman or the task force to refer an unauthorized release to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Rule 6 allowed the chairman to rule that a witness's counsel represented a conflict of interest.[^3] + +### Staff and counsel + +Barcella and [[Richard J. Leon]], the chief minority counsel, selected the legal staff. Majority staff included [[Michael F. Zeldin]], formerly special counsel for money laundering in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, as deputy chief counsel, and two associate counsel from the Washington office of [[Katten Muchin Zavis & Dombroff]]. Minority staff included [[Greg Kehoe]], deputy chief minority counsel, who had been first assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida and joined the task force on June 18, 1992. Associate staff were designated for individual members, among them Lester Munson for Hyde and Stanley Roth for Solarz.[^1] + +The Senate report on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, published in December 1992, stated that Barcella had been hired by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the October Surprise allegations, and that Kehoe was on leave from the Justice Department to assist him.[^4] + +### Extension (1992) + +On October 2, 1992, the House considered House Resolution 585, which authorized the task force to file its final report with the Clerk after adjournment sine die and before noon on January 3, 1993, and limited its expenses to the amounts in House Resolution 512. Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing the resolution, said its purpose was to make clear that the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year," with a budget no higher than $1.35 million. A member speaking for the resolution in the same debate said that Hamilton and Hyde had told the Rules Committee that the work would be finished "by probably the middle of November."[^5] + +### Report (January 1993) + +The task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. The transmittal letter to Speaker [[Thomas S. Foley]] is dated January 3, 1993, and states that the report was approved unanimously on December 10, 1992. The report concludes that the allegations were either "wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate" them, and states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people." Hamilton's January 24, 1993 New York Times op-ed states that the staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions."[^1] It presents findings on the Casey and Bush alibis, the Hashemi wiretaps, the Madrid and Paris allegations, and the Ben-Menashe testimony.[^1] + +The report states that Representative [[Mervyn Dymally]] had declined to sign it, and it includes additional minority views. Dymally later told [[Robert Parry]] that he knew of no unanimous vote on December 10, 1992, or on any other date. A House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman, [[David Barnes]], wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^6] + +A Russian report addressed to Hamilton had been requested by him on October 21, 1992, and was forwarded to the task force on January 11, 1993. Parry wrote that the report, provided by [[Sergey V. Stepashin]], chairman of the Supreme Soviet's committee on defense and security, described the 1980 hostage negotiations as a competition between the Carter administration and the Reagan campaign. Hamilton held a press conference on January 13, 1993, dismissing the allegations.[^7] + +### Disputed records + +Parry wrote that a December 8, 1992 memo from Barcella to his deputies proposed language that would serve as a "trap door" in case later disclosures contradicted parts of the report.[^8] + +Parry also reported that Barcella told him that the task force received substantial new evidence in its final month and that Barcella asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months, and that Hamilton declined. Hamilton told Parry that he had no recollection of such a request.[^9] + +In 2005 Parry wrote that the printed report's account of the October Surprise Group, the informal Reagan campaign advisory group of 1980, lists ten members, and that a draft named six informal members, among them [[Michael Ledeen]], whom the final report omitted.[^1][^8] + +A CIA memorandum in the CIA reading room, undated, refers to the House Banking Committee's investigation of BCCI and to the task force, which had requested information on arms sales to Iran from November 1977 through August 1985. The memorandum states that the agency was prepared to resist Banking Committee demands for access to sensitive operational information, and that "A similar concern could also arise with the October Surprise Task Force investigation."[^10] + +### Spencer Oliver and the Stoffberg letter (1992) + +On February 4, 1992, the day before the House debate on House Resolution 258, Representative McEwen of Ohio announced a privileged resolution about a letter written on January 10, 1992, by [[Spencer Oliver]], chief counsel of the Foreign Affairs Committee, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The letter requested leniency for [[Dirk Stoffberg]], an arms dealer, on the ground that he had provided the committee with information about the 1980 events. The sentencing judge, [[Jack Weinstein]], cited the letter in reducing Stoffberg's sentence. Hyde asked, in a published account reprinted in the Congressional Record, "By what authority did Spencer Oliver intervene in this case, and why wasn't the minority notified?"[^11] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 3, 1993. https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force. The interview figure is from Hamilton, Lee H., "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed," *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html +[^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Journal of the House*, February 5, 1992, pp. T 9.18 to T 9.19 (H. Res. 258). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HJOURNAL-1992/pdf/HJOURNAL-1992-02-05-para9-18.pdf +[^3]: Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, *Rules of the Task Force*, adopted March 11, 1992, Rules 6 and 9. https://archive.org/details/RulesOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce +[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm +[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992 (H. Res. 585; text of the resolution and floor statements). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm +[^6]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html Sole source for the Dymally and Barnes statements as reported by Parry. +[^7]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries," *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012; and "The Russian Report," *Consortium News*, August 5, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ and https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080510.html Sole source for the Russian report details as reported by Parry. +[^8]: Parry, Robert. "A Lawyer & National Security Cover-ups," *Consortium News*, May 4, 2005. https://consortiumnews.com/2005/050405.html Sole source for the trap door memo and the October Surprise Group claims as reported by Parry. +[^9]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up," *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the extension request as reported by Parry. +[^10]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum, CIA reading room document 0000984226 (undated), titled "BCCI and October Surprise Task Force", https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0000984226 +[^11]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, February 4, 1992, pp. H253 and following (announcement by Rep. McEwen of a privileged resolution; reprinted account of the Stoffberg letter). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h920204-october.htm Sole source for the Hyde quotation as reproduced in the reprinted article. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Anthropic.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Anthropic.md index cdb60723..9c8e2ca3 100644 --- a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Anthropic.md +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Anthropic.md @@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ relations: role: "CDAO prototype agreement up to 200 million dollars; designated a supply-chain risk" fn: 20 created: 2026-06-19 -updated: 2026-09-23 +updated: 2026-10-08 --- Anthropic is an artificial-intelligence company founded in May 2021 by seven former [[OpenAI]] researchers, led by the siblings [[Dario Amodei]] (chief executive) and [[Daniela Amodei]] (president), who left OpenAI over disagreements about its direction and its balance between commercialization and safety. The founders came out of the [[Effective Altruism]] movement and built the company explicitly around the thesis that advanced AI should be developed with extreme caution, the same existential-risk concern that runs through the [[Rationalist Community]] and the institutions [[Peter Thiel]] funded through the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]. Its 2022 funding round was led by a 500 million dollar investment from [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] months before his [[FTX]] exchange collapsed in fraud.[^1][^2] @@ -93,6 +93,16 @@ On February 12, 2026, Anthropic announced a 20-million-dollar contribution to [[ Anthropic's own lobbying disclosures reported expenses of 720,000 dollars in 2024, 4.04 million in 2025 and 3.53 million in the first half of 2026; the number of outside firms registered to lobby for it grew from two in 2023 to nine in 2026.[^28] +### Jacob Coxon Resignation + +[[Jacob Coxon]], a pretraining researcher who had moved from OpenAI to Anthropic in May 2026, resigned on September 8, 2026 and wrote on X that "Neither company is acting responsibly" and that they were "gambling with our lives." [[CNBC]] reported that the post had been viewed more than 70 million times.[^29] [[Evan Hubinger]], an Anthropic alignment lead, wrote that "we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans" and "I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," and that "we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence."[^29] An Anthropic spokesperson told the [[Washington Post]] that "We have always been transparent that AI will bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks."[^30] [[Pirate Wires]] reported on September 24, 2026 that a public relations firm representing [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] was helping Coxon book interviews; Coxon told the Post he did not work with any organizations to promote the announcement.[^30][^31] + +### Religious Consultations and the Papal Encyclical + +[[Elizabeth Dias]] of the [[New York Times]] reported on September 29, 2026 that Anthropic had held a series of private meetings in which it consulted religious scholars "to help instill morality into its A.I. models and make the case that Claude could be conscious."[^32] The Telegraph, in an account republished by Yahoo News on October 2, 2026, reported that Chris Olah, one of seven Anthropic co-founders, had been leading talks between the company and religious leaders, and quoted him telling the Times: "We don't know if AI models are conscious. I don't know. I'm genuinely uncertain."[^33] + +Pope Leo XIV's 40,000-word encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas" was published in May 2026. As quoted in that account, it states that "So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain." The same account reports, citing the Times, that Olah urged the Pope's advisers to take the idea of machine consciousness seriously after seeing the encyclical before its publication, that he was invited to the Vatican to speak alongside the Pope when it was presented, and that he reportedly considered pulling out over the Pope's position before telling the audience that Anthropic's research had found "structures that mirror results from human neuroscience" and "evidence of introspection."[^33] + ### Footnotes [^1]: "From 500 million to 30 billion: SBF, in prison, has invested in the most valuable company in the AI era," on the FTX/Alameda investment in Anthropic. https://www.panewslab.com/en/articles/019d08f7-792c-70db-a0d3-5654dd2b2eaf @@ -123,3 +133,8 @@ Anthropic's own lobbying disclosures reported expenses of 720,000 dollars in 202 [^26]: Bellan, Rebecca. "Anthropic-funded group backs candidate attacked by rival AI super PAC." *TechCrunch,* February 20, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/20/anthropic-funded-group-backs-candidate-attacked-by-rival-ai-super-pac/ [^27]: Anthropic, "Anthropic is donating another $20 million to Public First Action," July 21, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/donation-public-first-action [^28]: U.S. Senate, Lobbying Disclosure Act database, filings with client "Anthropic," 2023 to second quarter 2026, retrieved September 2026. https://lda.senate.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Anthropic +[^29]: Arjun Kharpal, "Researcher says AI has more than 10% chance of 'killing all humans,'" CNBC, September 9, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/anthropic-researcher-quits-ai-safety.html +[^30]: Miriam Waldvogel and Nitasha Tiku, "AI researcher who warned of disaster is now a target of the right," The Washington Post, September 10, 2026 (Anchorage Daily News reprint, September 11, 2026). https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2026/09/10/ai-researcher-who-warned-of-disaster-is-now-a-target-of-the-right/ +[^31]: Hunter Ryerson, "EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Coxon Worked With Doomer PR Firm," Pirate Wires, September 24, 2026. https://www.piratewires.com/p/jacob-coxon-worked-with-ai-doomer-firm +[^32]: Elizabeth Dias, "Is Claude Conscious? Inside Anthropic's Quest to Instill Morality Into Its A.I. Models," The New York Times, September 29, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/us/anthropic-claude-morals-ai.html +[^33]: "Anthropic tried to persuade Pope that AI could be conscious," The Telegraph, republished by Yahoo News, October 2, 2026, reporting the New York Times account. https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/anthropic-tried-persuade-pope-ai-131853948.html Sole source for the timing of Olah's approach to the Pope's advisers. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bank of Credit and Commerce International.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bank of Credit and Commerce International.md index 9174989e..9d19297f 100644 --- a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bank of Credit and Commerce International.md +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bank of Credit and Commerce International.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases: - BCCI - Sandstorm created: 2024-04-25 -updated: 2026-09-23 +updated: 2026-10-08 tags: - Organization - Private @@ -89,9 +89,21 @@ Through late 1990 and the spring of 1991, according to the Senate report, BCCI, On July 29, 1991, the day of Morgenthau's indictment, the Federal Reserve announced a 200 million dollar civil penalty against BCCI and related banks and sought to bar Abedi, Naqvi, Hasan Mahmood Kazmi, Adham, Faisal Saud Al-Fulaij, [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil|A. R. Khalil]], Sayed Jawhary, Pharaon and Khusro Elley from American banking. It found that BCCI had acquired CCAH shares in its customers' names through loans "with side agreements that the customer would not be required to repay," and that BCCI "resorted to these arrangements because BCCI was told it could not receive the necessary approvals from the Federal Reserve Board to acquire a bank in the United States."[^7] By December 1991 BCCI's liquidators had pleaded guilty to the first six counts of the New York indictment "as part of an agreement concerning BCCI's assets in the United States," and a superseding information was filed in the federal court in Washington on December 19, 1991.[^2][^8] British prosecutions followed: [[Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar]], head of the treasury division, was sentenced in 1993 and Abbas Gokal of the [[Gulf Group]] in 1997.[^14] +BCCI's Washington defense was coordinated in part by former federal prosecutors. [[Lawrence Wechsler]] recruited [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] "to coordinate the bank's defense" shortly after the October 1988 Tampa indictment, and the Senate report stated that "the full extent of Barcella's activities on behalf of BCCI remains unknown."[^15] The Senate subcommittee could not determine what, if any, services [[Paul Laxalt]] performed for the bank, although Barcella had tried in 1988 to persuade Laxalt, his firm's lead partner, to meet BCCI's chief executive in London.[^15] + +A 1992 press account gave a different date, stating that BCCI hired Barcella in 1990.[^16] Barcella and Wechsler represented the bank in the meetings at which Tampa prosecutors agreed to a plea in January 1990.[^17] [[Robert Parry]] wrote that Barcella and his firm earned more than $2 million from BCCI, and that the Laxalt and BCCI links were omitted from the public report on the October Surprise investigation.[^18] + +### Congressional Inquiries and CIA Accounts + +A CIA memorandum, undated and approved for release in August 2003, refers to a [[House October Surprise Task Force|House task force]] "formed to investigate allegations that officials from the Reagan campaign sought to delay release of the hostages in Iran until after the 1980 election," a body the House created on February 5, 1992.[^19][^20] The memorandum states that the [[House Banking Committee]] had subpoenaed First American for all of its records pertaining to CIA accounts in its investigation of BCCI, and that the agency did not then hold any accounts at First American.[^19] The agency had briefed two cleared committee staffers on the First American accounts and had provided the committee with intelligence reports on BCCI, and it had indicated a desire to cooperate "so long as it would not require access to operational information." The committee nonetheless sent a letter to the ADCI asserting its right to review all records and interview CIA officers "regardless of the sensitivity of the information."[^19] + +The agency had also tried to obtain the help of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] to act as a surrogate for the Banking Committee in reviewing sensitive operational information, but the Banking Committee had refused to accept any role for it.[^19] The memorandum proposed points to be made to the committee, including that the agency was "prepared to resist demands for access by the Banking Committee to sensitive operational information, and will, as a last resort, seek to protect this type of information from disclosure by requesting that the President invoke Executive Privilege." The agency was also prepared to ask the Department of Justice "to seek a Temporary Restraining Order that would relieve First American Bank from having to comply with the Banking Committee subpoena."[^19] + +The memorandum records a request from the October Surprise Task Force for information on official and unofficial arms sales to Iran of U.S. origin or U.S. content from November 1977 through August 1985, including field reporting and operational strategies. It states that a "similar concern could also arise with the October Surprise Task Force investigation," and that the agency would "attempt to work out a compromise that would satisfy the Task Force's desire for information while protecting intelligence sources and methods."[^19] + ### Liquidation -The liquidators, [[Touche Ross]], reported a year into the liquidation that the true picture of BCCI's activities had been distorted by practices such as "loan parking" and "artificial fund transfers."[^8] The Abu Dhabi shareholders, who held 77.4 percent of BCCI at its closure, agreed a 1.8 billion dollar compensation package for creditors in November 1994, which received its last legal clearance, from a court in Luxembourg, in December 1995. An agreement with the liquidators in May 1996 allowed an initial payment of 1.55 billion dollars, a first dividend of 20 percent to more than 250,000 creditors, with 10 to 20 percent more to follow; by October 1997, 80 percent of small depositors in the [[United Arab Emirates]] had been repaid in full.[^15] In 2005 the liquidators abandoned their suit against the Bank of England, [[Three Rivers District Council v Bank of England]].[^16] +The liquidators, [[Touche Ross]], reported a year into the liquidation that the true picture of BCCI's activities had been distorted by practices such as "loan parking" and "artificial fund transfers."[^8] The Abu Dhabi shareholders, who held 77.4 percent of BCCI at its closure, agreed a 1.8 billion dollar compensation package for creditors in November 1994, which received its last legal clearance, from a court in Luxembourg, in December 1995. An agreement with the liquidators in May 1996 allowed an initial payment of 1.55 billion dollars, a first dividend of 20 percent to more than 250,000 creditors, with 10 to 20 percent more to follow; by October 1997, 80 percent of small depositors in the [[United Arab Emirates]] had been repaid in full.[^21] In 2005 the liquidators abandoned their suit against the Bank of England, [[Three Rivers District Council v Bank of England]].[^22] ### Footnotes @@ -109,5 +121,11 @@ The liquidators, [[Touche Ross]], reported a year into the liquidation that the [^12]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 1, "Executive Summary." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/01exec.htm [^13]: House of Commons, "BCCI (Bingham Report)," *Hansard,* October 22, 1992. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1992/oct/22/bcci-bingham-report [^14]: "BCCI official gets six years for fraud charges," United Press International, September 28, 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/09/28/BCCI-official-gets-six-years-for-fraud-charges/3315749188800/; "Gokal sentenced to 14 years for BCCI fraud," *The Irish Times,* May 9, 1997. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/gokal-sentenced-to-14-years-for-bcci-fraud-1.70650 -[^15]: "BCCI small depositors paid in UAE," United Press International, October 11, 1997. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/10/11/BCCI-small-depositors-paid-in-UAE/2814876542400/ -[^16]: Three Rivers District Council and Others v. The Governor and Company of the Bank of England [2006] EWHC 816 (Comm). https://web.archive.org/web/20260203100053/https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2006/816.html +[^15]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm +[^16]: "Head of Iran Hostage Probe Linked to Arms Deal," *Hartford Courant*, May 29, 1992. https://www.courant.com/1992/05/29/head-of-iran-hostage-probe-linked-to-arms-deal/ +[^17]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm +[^18]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise X-Files (Part 8): Lies Spun into History." *Consortium News*, 1996. https://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile8.html Sole source for the fee figure and the omissions as reported by Parry. +[^19]: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum, undated, "BCCI and October Surprise Task Force," approved for release August 2003. CIA Reading Room document 0000984226. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0000984226 +[^20]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993, Legislative History (task force formed February 5, 1992 under H. Res. 258). https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force +[^21]: "BCCI small depositors paid in UAE," United Press International, October 11, 1997. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/10/11/BCCI-small-depositors-paid-in-UAE/2814876542400/ +[^22]: Three Rivers District Council and Others v. The Governor and Company of the Bank of England [2006] EWHC 816 (Comm). https://web.archive.org/web/20260203100053/https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2006/816.html diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc..md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc..md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fb3c0d82 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc..md @@ -0,0 +1,141 @@ +--- +aliases: + - Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc. + - Counter Terrorism Consultants + - CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. + - CounterTerrorism Consultants + - Counter-Terrorism Consultants + - CTC +category: "Private Organization" +tags: + - Organization + - CounterTerrorismConsultants + - PrivateSecurity + - Counterterrorism + - OrlandoLetelier + - FormerFBI + - ForeignAgents + - Washington + - CasolaroPapers +summary: "Washington counterterrorism consultancy formed in 1988 by FBI agent Carter Cornick and prosecutor Eugene Propper, registered in 1989 as agent of Jamaica's government, with associates including Lawrence Barcella and Francis McNeil." +location: "Washington, D.C." +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +relations: + - type: founded + with: "[[Carter Cornick]]" + reverse: true + start: 1988-08 + role: "co-founder, president (1988), chief executive officer (1990)" + fn: 1 + - type: founded + with: "[[Eugene Propper]]" + reverse: true + start: 1988-08 + role: "co-founder, then of the law firm Lane and Edson" + fn: 1 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Robert Scherrer]]" + reverse: true + start: 1988-08 + role: "consultant" + fn: 1 + - type: member_of + with: "[[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]]" + reverse: true + start: 1988-08 + role: "adviser on extradition (1988); associate (1990)" + fn: 1 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Francis J. McNeil]]" + reverse: true + start: 1990-06 + role: "associate" + fn: 15 + - type: member_of + with: "[[James B. Motley]]" + reverse: true + start: 1990-06 + role: "associate" + fn: 15 + - type: member_of + with: "[[Mayer Nudell]]" + reverse: true + start: 1990-06 + role: "associate" + fn: 15 + - type: represented + with: "[[Government of Jamaica]]" + start: 1989-09 + end: 1990-04 + role: "registrant under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, registration 4294" + fn: 3 +--- + +CounterTerrorism Consultants was a private consultancy in Washington, D.C., announced in August 1988 by the retired [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] counterterrorism supervisor [[Carter Cornick]] and the lawyer [[Eugene Propper]], who had prosecuted the 1976 murder of [[Orlando Letelier]]. It registered under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] in September 1989 for the [[Government of Jamaica]], and by June 1990 it was a limited partnership at 2300 M Street NW whose twelve-page resume packet is preserved in the papers of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]. + +### Formation, 1988 + +On August 2, 1988, [[United Press International]] reported that Cornick, a veteran FBI special agent, and Propper, a former assistant United States attorney, had formed Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc., to sell friendly foreign governments and multinational corporations "pro-active" strategies for preventing terrorist attacks and managing kidnapping and hijacking crises. Its stated clients were foreign "democratic" governments, airline and shipping companies and sponsors of large international gatherings such as the Olympic Games. Cornick was president; Propper, then an attorney with the Washington firm of [[Lane and Edson]], said he was a full partner who held no title.[^1] + +The company's "investigative strategies" were to include identifying potential terrorist threats to a client, "amassing in-depth intelligence files for a client" and establishing liaison programs with national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies, together with hostage negotiation and handling of the news media during a crisis, including media leak investigations. Cornick, who had developed "artificial intelligence" computer models of terrorist threats and behavior, said he would draw on a list of fifteen to twenty part-time consultants retired from the [[United States Secret Service]], the [[United States Department of State]], the [[United States Department of Justice]], the FBI and the [[Defense Investigative Service]]. "We're going to tell you what to do before the bomb goes off," Cornick said. The company was seeded with about $500,000 from "a lot" of investors whom the founders declined to name, and the founders said their success would not depend on classified information.[^1] + +[[Robert Scherrer]], recently retired as the FBI's records chief and formerly the bureau's representative in [[Argentina]], joined as an active consultant, as did the former assistant United States attorney [[E. Lawrence Barcella]], then with [[Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc]], whom the company would call on for legal consultation on matters such as extradition procedures. UPI reported that the four men had worked together on the Letelier case, in which Propper was chief prosecutor, Barcella his deputy, Cornick the FBI agent in charge and Scherrer the source of the key piece of evidence linking the Chilean secret police to the murder, and on the 1978 investigation of the former CIA officer [[Edwin Wilson]].[^1] + +A 1990 business book on corporate intelligence quoted Cornick as head of the Washington-based Counter-Terrorism Consultants and a former FBI counterterrorism official.[^2] + +### Foreign Agents Registration Act registration, 1989 to 1990 + +The United States Department of Justice FARA registry lists CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., as registration number 4294, registered September 18, 1989 and terminated October 25, 1990, at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 230, [[Alexandria, Virginia]]. Its one foreign principal is the Government of Jamaica, of Kingston, registered September 18, 1989 and terminated April 15, 1990. Short forms dated September 18, 1989 and terminated October 25, 1990 name three individuals: Cornick, Propper and Gerald S. Walker.[^3] A Col. [[Gerald S. Walker]] of the U.S. Army is listed as director of the School of Attaché Training at the [[Defense Intelligence College]] in the 1987/88 edition of the Government Manual, and the 1988/89 edition lists an acting director in that position.[^4][^5] A U.S. Army Col. Gerald S. Walker is also named in Associated Press and other reports of June 1985 on the Salvadoran investigation of the January 3, 1981 killings at the Sheraton Hotel in [[San Salvador]] of the American land-reform advisers [[Mark David Pearlman]] and [[Michael P. Hammer]] and the Salvadoran official [[Rodolfo Viera]]: a former U.S. defense attaché who served in the defense attaché office in San Salvador and then in [[Panama City]], he and his wife gave depositions that Army Capt. [[Eduardo Alfonso Avila]], whom they had known since 1978, had confessed his involvement to them at their Panama City home.[^6] The State Department's Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts lists a "Ltc Gerald V. Walker" of the Army as defense attaché at the embassy in Panama in its 1983, 1984 and 1985 editions.[^7] Records found do not establish whether this officer is the Gerald S. Walker registered for CounterTerrorism Consultants; the firm's June 1990 resume packet does not list him among its associates.[^8] + +The Attorney General's report to Congress for 1988 through 1991 lists the registration under Jamaica with activities "None Reported," finances of $25,000.00 received prior to registration on September 18, 1989 and no receipts for the six months ending April 15, 1990, and political propaganda "None Reported."[^9] Lane and Edson, P.C., of 2300 M Street NW, held its own FARA registration (number 3286) from October 8, 1981 to November 8, 1988 for the Republic of Peru, with Propper among its short-form registrants.[^3] + +### Corporate registrations + +CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. was filed as a [[Delaware]] limited partnership, file number 2168210, on August 1, 1988, the day before the UPI report of the firm's formation.[^10] It registered in the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] as a foreign limited partnership, file number 058088, on August 5, 1988. Its registered agent there was CounterTerrorism Consultants, Inc., at 2300 M Street NW, 8th floor. The District record shows a biennial report due April 1, 1989 as not filed, and the registration as revoked.[^11] [[Virginia]] holds foreign registrations for the partnership (M0059578) and for the corporation (F1012691).[^10] + +The International Association of Chiefs of Police directory for 1988 lists "Cornick, Jr., L. Carter" as president of Counterterrorism Consultants Inc., 2300 M Street NW, Suite 800, with the telephone number printed on the 1990 packet.[^12] The 1990 edition of Washington Representatives lists the partnership at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 230, Alexandria, telephone (703) 683-6988, as foreign agent number 4294, with Cornick and Gerald S. Walker as its representatives for the Government of Jamaica.[^13] In January 1990 the Newhouse News Service described Cornick as a former FBI agent who "now heads a counterterrorism consulting company in Alexandria, Va."[^14] + +### The resume packet, June 1990 + +The packet is a fax copy in the Casolaro files, folder "Promotional Material," bearing the archive's handwritten item reference "BD|AI|PM-05." The cover page reads "CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P." and "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," with the preprinted footer "Suite 800, 2300 M Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, (202)775-1364, Fax # (202) 293-3083." The fax header of the first page reads "JUN 20 '90 16:53" and "141 P01"; later pages carry the same counter with times of 16:54 (P03), 16:57 (P06), 17:00 (P11) and 17:01 (P12).[^15] + +The packet describes seven associates. Cornick is co-founder and chief executive officer, responsible for the oversight of all operations; the entry states that he retired from the FBI on June 1, 1988, that he had headed the bureau's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center, and that he was the FBI representative to the Hostage Locating Task Force at the [[White House]]. Propper is the firm's co-founder, advising clients on criminal prosecutions, extradition, expulsion and the formulation of statutes and prosecutorial guidelines, and is described as head of the trial division at Lane and Edson. Barcella is an associate advising on the same subjects, described as the government's lead prosecutor in the [[TWA Flight 847]], [[Achille Lauro]] and TWA flight 840 cases and the Wilson-Terpil terrorism investigation, as co-counsel in the Letelier prosecutions, and as a partner at Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Dubuc.[^15] + +A further associate entry, which carries no name, describes a former senior-level [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operations officer responsible for planning strategies for governments to deter and respond to terrorism and for intelligence data bases. It states that until his retirement and return from abroad in 1987 he represented the CIA overseas on international planning bodies connected with [[NATO]] organizations; that previously he was the agency's chief of counterterrorism, managed "the United States' first special intelligence team reactions to terrorist incidents overseas" and was its principal counterterrorism representative on White House, State Department and [[National Security Council]] committees; that for three years before that he was chief of a CIA facility in Europe and before that deputy in charge of the element responsible for paramilitary activities worldwide, overseeing air, maritime and ground paramilitary activities and an element monitoring worldwide crisis and instability situations; and that he was chief of the CIA air and maritime elements from 1974 through 1977. It adds that he was certified as a naval aviator and instructor pilot with the [[United States Navy]] before joining the agency and holds a B.A. in Business Administration from [[Adelphi University|Adelphi College]].[^15] + +[[Francis J. McNeil]] is described as ambassador to [[Costa Rica]] from 1980 to 1983, three times deputy assistant secretary of state, and from 1984 senior deputy for intelligence and research; a handwritten note in the margin of that page reads "State Dept."[^15] [[James B. Motley]] is described as vice president for national security studies and programs at [[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]] ("WATCO"), advising CTC clients in cases involving low-intensity conflict.[^15] [[Mayer Nudell]], with the handwritten margin note "FSO," is described as a veteran foreign service officer who held posts in El Salvador and Nicaragua, served in the State Department's Bureau of Inter-American Affairs and Office of Counterterrorism and Emergency Planning, and was formerly executive director of the Institute on Terrorism and Subnational Conflict; the packet states that he advises CTC clients on contingency planning and crisis management.[^15] The 1986 attendee list of a conference on car-bomb attacks gives Nudell as executive director of that institute, at 400 Timber Lane, Falls Church, Virginia.[^16] + +### The 1985 symposium + +The proceedings of the tenth annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security, held at Springfield, Virginia, on April 23 and 24, 1985, list Cornick as a supervisory special agent of the FBI, Barcella as senior litigation counsel in the United States Attorney's Office presenting "Terrorism: The Law as an Effective Deterrent," and Motley as director of terrorist research and low-intensity conflict studies at the [[National Institute for Public Policy]]. Motley asked the panel whether a multinational military, paramilitary or law enforcement force would enhance international cooperation against state-sponsored terrorism.[^17] + +### Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation + +WATCO was a wholly owned subsidiary of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] at Reston, Virginia. The corporation's annual reports for 1985 and 1986 describe it as a technical consulting firm offering advanced security and engineering services to government and industry, with a Security Programs division selected to design the security system for the Department of Energy's nuclear device assembly facility at the Nevada Test Site, and a Systems division engaged in security systems for high-level installations.[^18] A Wackenhut newsletter states that WATCO specialized in applied research and development in nuclear safeguards and security policy, programs and systems.[^19] The packet gives Motley's tenure there as beginning in September 1987.[^15] + +### Neighboring items in the Casolaro files + +The packet is item PM-05 of the folder. The adjacent hand-numbered items are a brochure for the Inter-Probe modular energy transfer catalyzer (PM-01), a printed page numbered 207 on fuel air munitions (PM-02), a [[Brunswick Corporation]] defense division data package for the Rifleman's Assault Weapon for urban warfare dated October 1976 (PM-03) and a sales sheet of the defense division of [[Industrias Cardoen]] of Chile (PM-04).[^15] The same Casolaro papers include a folder of newspaper material on [[Frank Terpil]] and Edwin Wilson and the Wackenhut newsletters and reports.[^19] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal...," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/. +[^2]: George S. Roukis, Hugh Conway and Bruce H. Charnov, eds., *Global Corporate Intelligence: Opportunities, Technologies, and Threats in the 1990s* (New York: Quorum Books, 1990), p. 198 and index, https://archive.org/details/globalcorporatei00rouk. +[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act public bulk files (registrants, foreign principals and short forms), registrations 4294 (CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P.) and 3286 (Lane & Edson, P.C.), https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_Registrants.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ForeignPrincipals.csv.zip, https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ShortForms.csv.zip. +[^4]: Office of the Federal Register, *The United States Government Manual 1987/88* (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987), p. 253, Defense Intelligence College staff listing, https://books.google.com/books?id=SD6ND5kU52QC&pg=PA253. +[^5]: Office of the Federal Register, *The United States Government Manual 1988/89* (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1988), Defense Intelligence College entry (Director, School of Attache Training: Laurence McK. Bearse, Acting), https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-government-manual_1988-1989_annual. The 1987/88 edition's entry (footnote 4) lists Col. Gerald S. Walker, USA, in that position; the Official Congressional Directory, 100th Congress (1987), p. 812, prints "Attache Training.-Col. Gerald S. Walker, USA." +[^6]: "Salvador officer implicated in deaths," Associated Press, in Sun Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi), June 27, 1985, p. 28, https://www.newspapers.com/image/743543906/ (the account attributes the information to an unnamed U.S. Embassy official); report on the Avila depositions, The Mercury (Manhattan, Kansas), June 28, 1985, p. 8, https://www.newspapers.com/image/424690396/ (identifies the colonel as "Col. Gerald S. Walker" and his wife as Patsy S. Walker); Miami Herald, June 27, 1985, p. 21, https://www.newspapers.com/image/631400709/ ("U.S. Army Col. Gerald Walker and his wife"). +[^7]: U.S. Department of State, *Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts*, Panama (E) entry, "ODA: Ltc Gerald V. Walker USA," editions of 1983, 1984 and 1985 (https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffo1984wash_1 and https://archive.org/details/keyofficersoffor1985wash); the 1986 edition lists Col. Allen C. Cornell, USA, as ODA. The printed middle initial in these editions is V. +[^8]: See the resume packet footnote and the resume packet passage above (Cornick, Propper, Barcella, an unnamed former CIA officer, McNeil, Motley and Nudell). +[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Attorney General to the Congress on the Administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, for the Calendar Years 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, Volume 1, Jamaica section, entry "CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., #4294 (T90)," p. 599, https://www.justice.gov/media/910066/dl?inline. +[^10]: OpenCorporates, company records us_de/2168210 (CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., Delaware), us_va/M0059578 and us_va/F1012691 (Virginia), mirroring the Delaware Division of Corporations and Virginia State Corporation Commission registries, https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/2168210 ; Bizapedia, "Counterterrorism Consultants, L.P.," https://www.bizapedia.com/us/counterterrorism-consultants-lp.html (Delaware filing date August 1, 1988). +[^11]: District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Business One Stop Shop entity record 058088, Counterterrorism Consultants L.P., viewed October 8, 2026, https://boss.dc.gov. +[^12]: The Police Chief, vol. 55 (1988), p. 93, membership directory of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. +[^13]: Washington Representatives (Washington: Columbia Books, 1990), pp. 94 and 771 (the directory prints Cornick's name as "McCormick, L. Carter, Jr."). +[^14]: Hugh Vickery, "Airport bomb detectors' efficiency queried," Newhouse News Service, in The Times (Trenton, New Jersey), January 4, 1990, p. 41, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1196585158/. +[^15]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy with header "JUN 20 '90," pages marked 141 P01 to P12, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material" (photographed by Christian Hansen), Internet Archive item casolaro-notebooks, file PromotionalMaterial.pdf, https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^16]: *Conference on Car-Bomb Attack*, May 15 to 17, 1986, attendee list, Defense Technical Information Center ADA290884, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA290884. +[^17]: *Supplemental Proceedings of the 10th Annual Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security: Outthinking the Terrorist, an International Challenge*, Springfield, Virginia, April 23 to 24, 1985, program, participant list and discussion, Defense Technical Information Center ADA161669, https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA161669. +[^18]: The Wackenhut Corporation, annual reports for 1985 and 1986, sections on Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-CompanyReportsannualQuarterly," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^19]: Wackenhut newsletter, undated issue, passage on The Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Newsletters," and folder "CIA Frank Terpil Renegades," https://archive.org/details/ddosecrets_casolaro_files. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Effective Altruism Foundation.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Effective Altruism Foundation.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cbda3278 --- /dev/null +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Effective Altruism Foundation.md @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +--- +category: "AI & Effective Altruism" +aliases: + - "Effective Altruism Foundation" + - "EAF" + - "EAF Foundation" +tags: + - Organization + - EffectiveAltruism + - OpenPhilanthropy + - Grantmaking + - Longtermism + - SufferingFocusedEthics +summary: "Effective altruism organization focused on reducing risks of future suffering, recipient of a 1,000,000-dollar Open Philanthropy grant in July 2019 and co-author of 2019 communication guidelines on discussing astronomical stakes." +relations: + - type: funded + with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]" + reverse: true + role: "1,000,000 dollars over two years, research and general operations" + start: 2019-07 + fn: 1 + - type: funded + with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]" + reverse: true + role: "15,358 dollars, April 2020; 375,000 dollars, October 2020; 697,268 dollars, January 2022; 200,000 dollars, April 2022" + start: 2020-04 + end: 2022-04 + fn: 2 +created: 2026-10-08 +updated: 2026-10-08 +--- + +The Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF) is an organization in the [[Effective Altruism]] movement "whose values put a particular emphasis on trying to reduce the risks of future suffering," in the words of [[Open Philanthropy]]'s grant page. It wrote communication guidelines with the [[Foundational Research Institute]] (FRI) in 2019 and received five Open Philanthropy grants between July 2019 and April 2022.[^1] + +### Open Philanthropy grants + +Open Philanthropy's page for the July 2019 grant records 1,000,000 dollars over two years "to support some aspects of its research and general operations," filed under Effective Altruism Community Growth. The grant investigators were [[Nick Beckstead]] and [[Claire Zabel]]. The page states that the speculative and suffering-focused nature of EAF's work "means that it needs to be communicated about carefully, and could be counterproductive otherwise," that "we have felt ambivalent about EAF's work to date (despite feeling unambiguously positively about some of their projects)," and that "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems."[^1] + +Four later grant pages record 15,358 dollars in April 2020 (investigators [[Zachary Robinson]] and [[Alexander Berger]]), 375,000 dollars in October 2020 (investigator Robinson), 697,268 dollars in January 2022, and 200,000 dollars in April 2022. The first three are filed under Global Health and Development and describe research and advocacy on potential policy interventions in Europe in the field of development aid; the April 2022 grant is filed under Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness and describes work in the field of biosecurity.[^2] + +### Guidelines for discussing astronomical stakes, 2019 + +"EAF's Guidelines for Discussing Astronomical Stakes (shared)" names as authors EAF and FRI ([[Jonas Vollmer]], [[Stefan Torges]], [[Lukas Gloor]] and [[David Althaus]]), gives "First written: March 2019; last updated: 10 September 2019," and asks readers to "ask Stefan" before sharing the document further. Its summary states that "we would like to avoid (inadvertently) contributing to strong forms of future pessimism because this could inspire unilateralist acts of aggression and violence." The document sets out four guidelines: minimize the risk of readers coming away contemplating causing extinction, be charitable and balanced, promote cooperation and compromise, and contextualize vivid descriptions of suffering. Under the first it states: "In general, we recommend writing about practical ways to reduce s-risk without mentioning how the future could be bad overall. We believe this will likely have similar positive results with fewer downsides because there are already many articles on theoretical questions." It states that EAF encourages readers to follow the guidelines "for all forms of public communication, including personal blogs, social media, essays, books, talks, meetups, and scholarly publications."[^3] + +Under the second guideline the document lists works a writer "could consider referencing," among them Beckstead's "On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future," [[Carl Shulman]]'s "Moments of Bliss," and writings by [[Nick Bostrom]], [[William MacAskill]] and [[Toby Ord]]. It states: "We do not ask you to lie or distort your views." and "Whenever there are conflicts between cooperation and honesty that you can't resolve, we would like you to side with honesty."[^3] + +The introduction states: "In response to us writing these guidelines, Nick Beckstead wrote guidelines for EAs focused on reducing existential risks to encourage other EA organizations (80k, CEA, CFAR, FHI, GPI, MIRI, and Open Phil) to communicate about the long-term future in a way that's more cooperative towards suffering-focused EAs." The organizations named are [[80,000 Hours]], the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], the [[Center for Applied Rationality]], the [[Future of Humanity Institute]], the [[Global Priorities Institute]], the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] and Open Philanthropy. Beckstead's document opens by saying "EAF has written its own set of guidelines intended for people writing about longtermism from a suffering-focused perspective."[^3][^4] + +### Account by Simon Knutsson + +[[Simon Knutsson]], then a doctoral student at [[Stockholm University]] and affiliated with FRI, wrote on his website in October 2019 that on July 18, 2019 Torges, one of EAF's co-executive directors, shared with him the two documents as Google documents, with a message beneath the links: "We're excited about this coordinated effort. Even though it means that we will promote future pessimism and s-risks to a lesser extent, we think the discourse about these topics will still be improved due to other more widely-read texts taking our perspective into account more." The message went on to say that EAF had given input on 80,000 Hours content and on Ord's forthcoming book on existential risk, and that "Nick also invited a number of people to the research retreat that we hosted in May."[^5] + +Knutsson wrote: "Based on my conversation with Stefan, I understand the guidelines by EAF/FRI to be binding for those employed or funded by EAF/FRI, but they are also meant for independent researchers and university employees." He wrote: "I was told essentially that I could likely get funding in the future if I would follow the guidelines," and "Based on a conversation with a manager at EAF, I gather the grant might not have been made if EAF did not write their guidelines." He wrote that he did not endorse the guidelines, partly because he held a university position, and that on July 29, 2019 he proposed that his name be removed from the FRI website. He wrote that on July 26, 2019 Torges asked whether he had considered changing the title or abstract of a paper already accepted by a journal, an offer he declined.[^5] + +Knutsson put questions to EAF and Open Philanthropy in October and November 2019, including whether the grant was conditioned on EAF writing or distributing guidelines. He reports that Torges replied on November 4 and 7, 2019 without answering them and that Open Philanthropy's communications officer, Michael Levine, replied on November 5 and 8 that the organization had nothing to add beyond the grant page.[^6][^7] + +[[David Morris]] reports that Knutsson was shown the documents in June 2019, and that a second source, [[Magnus Vinding]], also saw them.[^8] + +### Footnotes + +[^1]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," grant page, award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel, archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/ +[^2]: Open Philanthropy grant pages, Effective Altruism Foundation: "European Policy Research" (April 2020, 15,358 dollars; investigators Zachary Robinson and Alexander Berger), "European Policy Research and Advocacy" (October 2020, 375,000 dollars; investigator Zachary Robinson), "European Policy Research and Advocacy" (January 2022, 697,268 dollars) and "European Policy Research and Advocacy" (April 2022, 200,000 dollars, Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness), each archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022/ and https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022-2/ +[^3]: Effective Altruism Foundation and Foundational Research Institute, "EAF's Guidelines for Discussing Astronomical Stakes (shared)," first written March 2019, last updated September 10, 2019; copy hosted on simonknutsson.com, Wayback capture of October 30, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221030171253id_/https://www.simonknutsson.com/files/EAFs-Guidelines-for-Discussing-Astronomical-Stakes-2019-10-12.pdf +[^4]: Nick Beckstead, "Guidelines for Discussing Longtermism and Existential Risks," last updated July 3, 2019; Wayback capture of October 30, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221030163925id_/https://www.simonknutsson.com/files/Beckstead-Guidelines-for-Discussing-Longtermism-and-Existential-Risks-1.6.pdf +[^5]: Simon Knutsson, "Problems in effective altruism and existential risk and what to do about them," simonknutsson.com, published October 16, 2019, last updated July 1, 2022. https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ Sole source for the July 2019 messages and the statements about funding and the grant; Knutsson describes himself as employed by Stockholm University. +[^6]: Simon Knutsson, "Message exchange with EAF," simonknutsson.com, November 12, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/message-exchange-with-eaf/ Knutsson did not publish Torges's replies and summarizes them. +[^7]: Simon Knutsson, "E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project," simonknutsson.com, November 10, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project Knutsson did not publish Levine's replies and summarizes them. +[^8]: David Morris, "'AI Safety' Research Is a Hallucination," Zero Knowledge, October 8, 2026. https://www.zero-knowledge.com/blog/ai-safety-research-techno-utopian-propaganda Sole source for the June 2019 date and for Vinding. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Open Philanthropy.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Open Philanthropy.md index 20f17b3d..f4c9031a 100644 --- a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Open Philanthropy.md +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Open Philanthropy.md @@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ summary: "Grantmaker of Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, renamed Coefficient Givi location: "San Francisco, California" start: 2011 relations: + - type: funded + with: "[[Effective Altruism Foundation]]" + role: "1,000,000 dollars over two years, research and general operations, July 2019" + start: 2019-07 + fn: 22 - type: founded with: "[[Dustin Moskovitz]]" reverse: true @@ -84,7 +89,7 @@ relations: role: "1,515,000 dollars in 2022" fn: 18 created: 2026-06-19 -updated: 2026-09-23 +updated: 2026-10-08 --- Open Philanthropy is a grantmaking organization funded chiefly by [[Facebook]] and [[Asana]] cofounder [[Dustin Moskovitz]] and his wife [[Cari Tuna]], whose founders and many early employees, according to *[[Semafor]]*, "were sympathetic to the utilitarian philosophical movement known as [[Effective Altruism|effective altruism]]." Known earlier as GiveWell Labs, it was launched in 2011, and the couple's fortune has contributed most of the roughly 7 billion dollars it had given away by September 2026. It renamed itself Coefficient Giving in November 2025. Its chief executive since 2023, [[Alexander Berger]], said in 2026 that it had spent about a tenth of the [[Gates Foundation]]'s budget in 2025 and more than twice that so far in 2026; *Semafor* reported it was on track to give away 2 billion dollars in the year and called it "a favorite of Anthropic executives."[^1][^2] @@ -115,6 +120,16 @@ Redwood Research, a [[Berkeley]] AI-alignment nonprofit, announced in October 20 Open Philanthropy gave the [[Alignment Research Center]], founded by Paul Christiano, 265,000 dollars for general support in March 2022 and 1,250,000 dollars over two years in November 2022. The center incubated ARC Evals, which spun off in December 2023 as [[METR]].[^18][^19][^20] In September 2025 Open Philanthropy gave the RAND Corporation 10 million dollars over three years for Canary, "a collaboration between RAND and METR to develop advanced methods for evaluating AI systems," on the recommendation of [[Trevor Levin]] of its AI governance and policy team.[^21] +### Effective Altruism Foundation + +Open Philanthropy's grant pages record five grants to the [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] (EAF). In July 2019 it recommended 1,000,000 dollars over two years "to support some aspects of its research and general operations," with Nick Beckstead and [[Claire Zabel]] as grant investigators. The page states that "we have felt ambivalent about EAF's work to date (despite feeling unambiguously positively about some of their projects)" and that "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems."[^22] + +Four later grants were recorded: 15,358 dollars in April 2020 (investigators [[Zachary Robinson]] and Alexander Berger), 375,000 dollars in October 2020 (investigator Robinson), 697,268 dollars in January 2022, all for research and advocacy on policy interventions in Europe in the field of development aid, and 200,000 dollars in April 2022 for work in biosecurity.[^23] + +[[Simon Knutsson]] wrote in 2019 that he sent Open Philanthropy questions on October 31 and November 5 about whether the 2019 grant was conditioned on guidelines written by EAF, and that its communications officer replied on November 5 and 8 that the organization had nothing to add beyond the grant page.[^24] + +On Open Philanthropy's share of effective altruism funding, two compilations give different figures for 2019. [[Benjamin Todd]] of [[80,000 Hours]] estimated in 2021 that effective altruism funding in 2019 was about 416 million dollars per year, of which about 260 million dollars came from Open Philanthropy (an average of its 2017 to 2019 grants taken from its grants database), 80 million dollars for GiveWell-recommended charities excluding Open Philanthropy was added to global health, and 30 million dollars per year was a guess for other longtermist and meta donations; he described all the figures as extremely rough. The ratio of 260 to 416 is 62.5 percent. A spreadsheet of grants compiled by a forum user and last updated November 7, 2023 lists Open Philanthropy at 196.6 million dollars of 306.1 million dollars in 2019, a share of 64.2 percent, and 236.9 million dollars of 407.5 million dollars in 2020, with the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]] at 1.8 million dollars in 2019 and 5.4 million dollars in 2020. Its Open Philanthropy column sums to about 1.99 billion dollars for 2012 through 2022.[^25][^26] + ### Footnotes [^1]: Smith, Ben. "Coefficient Giving's CEO on Silicon Valley's $40 billion philanthropy boom." *Semafor,* September 3, 2026. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/03/2026/coefficient-givings-ceo-on-silicon-valley-40-billion-philanthropy-boom @@ -138,3 +153,8 @@ Open Philanthropy gave the [[Alignment Research Center]], founded by Paul Christ [^19]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support (November 2022)," archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20230512114157id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support-november-2022/ [^20]: METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/ [^21]: Open Philanthropy, "RAND Corporation, AI Evaluation and Testing," September 2025, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20251025225511id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/rand-corporation-ai-evaluation-and-testing/ +[^22]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," grant page, award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel. Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/ +[^23]: Open Philanthropy grant pages for the Effective Altruism Foundation: April 2020, 15,358 dollars; October 2020, 375,000 dollars; January 2022, 697,268 dollars; April 2022, 200,000 dollars (Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness). Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022-2/ +[^24]: Simon Knutsson, "E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project," simonknutsson.com, November 10, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project Sole source; Knutsson did not publish the replies. +[^25]: Benjamin Todd, "How are resources in effective altruism allocated across issues?," 80,000 Hours, August 9, 2021, section on 2019 funding by cause area. https://80000hours.org/2021/08/effective-altruism-allocation-resources-cause-areas/ +[^26]: "Historical EA funding data," spreadsheet linked from the Effective Altruism Forum post of that title, last updated November 7, 2023; columns OPP, GW, EAF (which in this sheet denotes the EA Funds, not the Effective Altruism Foundation), ACE, SFF, FTX, annual totals 2012 to 2023 (estimate). https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZbaDmowkXbTBsxvHn/historical-ea-funding-data Percentages and the 2012 to 2022 sum computed from the sheet's dollar figures. diff --git a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Wackenhut Corporation.md b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Wackenhut Corporation.md index c81d14cc..105c1662 100644 --- a/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Wackenhut Corporation.md +++ b/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Wackenhut Corporation.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases: - Wackenhut - G4S Secure Solutions created: 2026-05-17 -updated: 2026-09-23 +updated: 2026-10-08 category: "Private Organization" tags: - Organization @@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ tags: summary: "Florida security company founded in 1954 by former FBI agents, which gave the CIA cover in Miami from 1961 to 1967, kept files on millions of Americans, and allegedly modified PROMIS at Cabazon." start: 1954-01-01 location: "Coral Gables, Florida" +relations: + - type: owned + with: "[[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]]" + role: "wholly owned subsidiary at Reston, Virginia" + fn: 36 --- Wackenhut Corporation is a security and investigative firm founded in 1954 by [[George R. Wackenhut]] and three other former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Special Agents. Initially named [[Special Agent Investigators]], it expanded to physical security and was renamed Wackenhut Corporation in 1958. Headquartered in [[Coral Gables, Florida|Coral Gables]], [[Florida]], Wackenhut grew to become one of the world's largest security and investigative firms, with operations across the United States and internationally. The [[San Francisco]] Chronicle described it as being "led by former officials of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Defense Department and federal law enforcement."[^1][^2] @@ -135,6 +140,14 @@ Beyond the Cabazon venture, Wackenhut was also implicated in other international On July 13, 2009, [[Story Cowles]] wrote to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]: "Would you like to meet the wackenhut security candidates at your house, FSF or Jacks office. Friday is best for them." Epstein replied: "jacks off."[^34] A 24-page set of security officer reports on forms headed "G4S Wackenhut" covers the post at "358 El Brillo," Epstein's house in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]; one report, for the night shift of November 16, 2009, marks the officer as armed and records hourly perimeter checks, an office door found ajar and a gym door open, and the officer monitoring the main entrance.[^35] +### Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation + +[[Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation]] (WATCO) was a wholly owned subsidiary at Reston, Virginia, which the corporation's annual reports for 1985 and 1986 describe as a unique technical consulting firm offering advanced security and engineering services to government and industry, including sensor design, signal processing, systems integration, robotics and mobile intrusion detection systems, special weapons systems security and technology transfer. It contained the NUSAC division (nuclear material control and accounting, quality assurance), a Security Programs division and a Systems division.[^36] The 1985 report states that the Security Programs division was selected to formulate the conceptual design of the security system for the nuclear device assembly facility to be built at the Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site; the 1986 report adds selection for the security system conceptual analysis and design engineering of the new National Training Center of the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute, and completion of a turnkey integrated perimeter and access control system for the federal government at an overseas location.[^36] + +A Wackenhut newsletter describes WATCO as specializing in applied research and development in nuclear safeguards and security policy, programs and systems, places it beside Stellar Systems, Inc., of Santa Clara, California, and states that its Security Programs Division worked with the Wackenhut Training Institute. WATCO developed a Touchscreen Station, a security station replacing multiple keystroke entries with single touch commands for alarms, access control, closed-circuit television and other sensors, and the newsletter notes that three WATCO officers, each a former Army officer with law enforcement or security experience, earned Certified Protection Professional status in the same year.[^37] A Wackenhut nuclear services brochure in the same papers also lists a Wackenhut Anti-Terrorism and Crisis Management Division.[^38] + +From September 1987 WATCO's vice president for national security studies and programs was [[James B. Motley]], a retired Army colonel who in 1984 and 1985 had been director of terrorist research and low-intensity conflict studies at the [[National Institute for Public Policy]]. A June 20, 1990 resume packet of [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], the Washington firm of the former FBI counterterrorism supervisor [[Carter Cornick]] and the Letelier prosecutor [[Eugene Propper]], lists him as an associate of that firm and states that at WATCO he directs operational analyses and assessments of national security issues.[^39] + ### End of Wackenhut The Wackenhut/Cabazon Joint Venture was terminated on October 1, 1984, following Robert Frye's heart attack. Its activities subsequently became the subject of numerous investigations by entities such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the [[United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee on Inslaw]], [[U.S. Customs]], and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as various police agencies and media outlets worldwide.[^1] @@ -176,3 +189,7 @@ The Wackenhut/Cabazon Joint Venture was terminated on October 1, 1984, following [^33]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. [^34]: Epstein, Jeffrey, reply to Story Cowles, "Re: Wackenhut," email, July 13, 2009, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01829732. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01829732.pdf [^35]: G4S Wackenhut, Security Officer Reports, client facility "358 El Brillo," November 2009, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01157725. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01157725.pdf +[^36]: The Wackenhut Corporation, annual reports for 1985 and 1986, sections on Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-CompanyReportsannualQuarterly," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^37]: Wackenhut newsletter (titled *Pipeline* in the scan), undated issue, passages on The Wackenhut Advanced Technologies Corporation, WATCO's Touchscreen Station and "New CPP's at WATCO," Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut-Newsletters," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^38]: Wackenhut Corporation, nuclear services brochure, undated, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Wackenhut - Newsletters," https://archive.org/details/ddosecrets_casolaro_files. +[^39]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy dated June 20, 1990, pages 141 P10 and 141 P11, Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. diff --git a/40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/October Surprise.md b/40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/October Surprise.md index c9e89d21..e9cfa8df 100644 --- a/40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/October Surprise.md +++ b/40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/October Surprise.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ aliases: - October Surprise Scandal - 1980 Hostage Deal created: 2024-04-26 -updated: 2026-05-17 +updated: 2026-10-08 category: "Intelligence Scandal" tags: - Event @@ -16,12 +16,12 @@ tags: - Reagan - PROMIS - INSLAW -summary: "The October Surprise allegation holds that William J. Casey and other figures in Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign secretly negotiated with Iranian representatives to delay the release of 52 American hostages past Election Day in exchange for promises of arms and release of frozen Iranian assets, with the hostages released minutes after Reagan was sworn in on January 20, 1981." +summary: "Allegation that William Casey and others in Reagan's 1980 campaign negotiated with Iranian representatives to delay the release of the 52 American hostages until after the election, examined by House and Senate inquiries in 1992." start: 1980-07-01 end: 1981-01-20 location: ["Madrid, Spain", "Paris, France"] --- -The October Surprise refers to the allegation that senior figures in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s 1980 presidential campaign secretly negotiated with representatives of the Iranian government to delay the release of 52 American hostages held since November 4, 1979, until after Election Day, November 4, 1980. The goal was to deny President [[Jimmy Carter]] a diplomatic triumph -- the freeing of the hostages -- that could have swung the election in Carter's favor. In exchange, the Reagan camp allegedly promised [[Iran]] the release of its frozen assets (approximately $8 billion frozen by Carter) and arms sales via [[Israel]] once Reagan took office. The hostages were released January 20, 1981, minutes after Reagan was sworn in.[^1] +The October Surprise refers to the allegation that senior figures in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s 1980 presidential campaign secretly negotiated with representatives of the Iranian government to delay the release of 52 American hostages held since November 4, 1979, until after Election Day, November 4, 1980. The goal was to deny President [[Jimmy Carter]] a diplomatic triumph, the freeing of the hostages, that could have swung the election in Carter's favor. In exchange, the Reagan camp allegedly promised [[Iran]] the release of its frozen assets (approximately $8 billion frozen by Carter) and arms sales via [[Israel]] once Reagan took office. The hostages were released January 20, 1981, minutes after Reagan was sworn in.[^1] The allegation was brought to public prominence in 1991 by [[Gary Sick]], a former Carter administration National Security Council adviser on Iran, who published *October Surprise* (1991) following three years of interviews conducted in the United States, Europe, and the [[Middle East]]. Congressional investigations in 1992-1993 found no credible evidence to sustain the allegation, but those investigations have been contested as incomplete.[^2] @@ -31,17 +31,17 @@ The allegation was brought to public prominence in 1991 by [[Gary Sick]], a form Mehdi Karrubi, an Iranian cleric close to Khomeini who later served as Speaker of the Iranian Majlis, is identified in Gary Sick's account and by the Hashemi brothers as Iran's principal representative at the Madrid meeting or meetings. Karrubi has denied any such contact. -Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr, the first President of the Islamic Republic (February 1980 -- June 1981), who fled Iran in 1981 after falling out with Khomeini, told the New York Times that Iranian officials [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani|Rafsanjani]] and Beheshti deliberately delayed the hostage release and met with a Reagan campaign representative in Paris. He later clarified he was not personally present and retracted the specific claim that [[George H.W. Bush]] attended.[^1] +Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr, the first President of the Islamic Republic (February 1980 to June 1981), who fled Iran in 1981 after falling out with Khomeini, told the New York Times that Iranian officials [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani|Rafsanjani]] and Beheshti deliberately delayed the hostage release and met with a Reagan campaign representative in Paris. He later clarified he was not personally present and retracted the specific claim that [[George H.W. Bush]] attended.[^1] -Cyrus Hashemi and his brother Jamshid Hashemi, Iranian-American bankers with CIA connections, claimed they helped arrange two consecutive days of meetings at a Madrid hotel in late July 1980 between Casey and Karrubi. Cyrus Hashemi died in July 1986, three months after cooperating in a U.S. Customs arms sting -- a timing that has fueled speculation about his death.[^1] +Cyrus Hashemi and his brother Jamshid Hashemi, Iranian-American bankers with CIA connections, claimed they helped arrange two consecutive days of meetings at a Madrid hotel in late July 1980 between Casey and Karrubi. Cyrus Hashemi died in July 1986, three months after cooperating in a U.S. Customs arms sting, a timing that has fueled speculation about his death.[^1] George H.W. Bush, Reagan's running mate, was alleged by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] and the Russian intelligence report submitted to Congress to have personally attended the Paris meeting. The House October Surprise Task Force found Secret Service records placing Bush in the United States on the alleged Paris date.[^2] ### Alleged Meetings -Madrid, July 1980: The Hashemi brothers placed a meeting at a Madrid hotel in late July 1980 at which Karrubi allegedly met Casey. The House Task Force cited Casey's verified conference attendance records for July 27-29 to challenge the specific Hashemi timeline. However, journalist [[Robert Parry]] obtained a reference to a U.S. Embassy Madrid cable -- withheld from the Task Force by Bush administration officials -- indicating Casey was in Madrid during this period "for purposes unknown." A 1991 internal memo by Deputy White House counsel Chester Paul Beach Jr. recorded that a State Department legal adviser had informed him of this cable; the cable was never provided to the Hamilton investigation.[^6] +Madrid, July 1980: The Hashemi brothers placed a meeting at a Madrid hotel in late July 1980 at which Karrubi allegedly met Casey. The House Task Force cited Casey's verified conference attendance records for July 27-29 to challenge the specific Hashemi timeline. However, journalist [[Robert Parry]] obtained a reference to a U.S. Embassy Madrid cable, withheld from the Task Force by Bush administration officials, indicating Casey was in Madrid during this period "for purposes unknown." A 1991 internal memo by Deputy White House counsel Chester Paul Beach Jr. recorded that a State Department legal adviser had informed him of this cable; the cable was never provided to the Hamilton investigation.[^3][^4] -Paris, October 1980: Multiple sources, including arms dealer Richard Brenneke and the Russian intelligence report submitted to Congress in January 1993, placed a multi-party meeting at the Hotel Raphael in Paris on or around October 19-20, 1980. Casey's personal calendar and telephone logs showed an 8 a.m. appointment at the Metropolitan Club in Washington on October 20, which the Task Force cited as an alibi. The Russian intelligence report arrived after the Task Force had already closed its investigation and was buried in raw files until Parry's subsequent discovery; it stated that "William Casey, in 1980, met three times with representatives of the Iranian leadership. The meetings took place in Madrid and Paris," and that Bush participated in the Paris meeting.[^2][^6] +Paris, October 1980: Multiple sources, including arms dealer Richard Brenneke and the Russian intelligence report submitted to Congress in January 1993, placed a multi-party meeting at the Hotel Raphael in Paris on or around October 19-20, 1980. Casey's personal calendar and telephone logs showed an 8 a.m. appointment at the Metropolitan Club in Washington on October 20, which the Task Force cited as an alibi. The Russian intelligence report arrived after the Task Force had already closed its investigation and was buried in raw files until Parry's subsequent discovery; it stated that "William Casey, in 1980, met three times with representatives of the Iranian leadership," and "The meetings took place in Madrid and Paris," and that Bush participated in the Paris meeting.[^5] Former French intelligence chief Alexandre de Marenches, through sworn testimony provided by his biographer, indicated that he had arranged meetings between Casey and Iranians in Paris in October 1980.[^1] @@ -49,49 +49,60 @@ Former French intelligence chief Alexandre de Marenches, through sworn testimony Under the alleged arrangement, Iran agreed to hold the hostages past Election Day, ensuring Carter received no pre-election diplomatic benefit. The Reagan campaign allegedly promised that once in office the administration would release the frozen Iranian assets, permit arms sales to Iran via Israel, and provide generally more favorable terms than Carter had offered.[^1] -Following Reagan's inauguration, covert arms flows to Iran from Israel began in 1981. Israeli arms dealer Ya'acov Nimrodi sold the Iranian Defense Ministry $135,842,000 worth of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles that year. Israel acknowledged arms transfers to Iran beginning in 1980-1981, including tires for Phantom jets and ammunition. These 1981 flows -- occurring well before the Iran-Contra deals documented by the Tower Commission in 1985-1986 -- have been cited by Sick and others as circumstantial evidence that commitments had been made in 1980.[^1] +Following Reagan's inauguration, covert arms flows to Iran from Israel began in 1981. Israeli arms dealer Ya'acov Nimrodi sold the Iranian Defense Ministry $135,842,000 worth of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles that year. Israel acknowledged arms transfers to Iran beginning in 1980-1981, including tires for Phantom jets and ammunition. These 1981 flows, occurring well before the Iran-Contra deals documented by the Tower Commission in 1985-1986, have been cited by Sick and others as circumstantial evidence that commitments had been made in 1980.[^1] ### Congressional Investigations -House October Surprise Task Force: In 1992, the House established an October Surprise Task Force co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), with [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] as chief counsel. The probe involved over 250 interviews and produced a report in January 1993 concluding there was "no credible evidence" of a secret deal. The Task Force found nearly all key sources "turned out to be wholesale fabricators or were impeached by documentary evidence."[^2] +House October Surprise Task Force: In 1992, the House established an October Surprise Task Force co-chaired by Rep. [[Lee Hamilton]] (D-Indiana) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), with [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]] as chief counsel. Its report states that the task force "interviewed and/or deposed more than 230 people," and Hamilton wrote that the staff "conducted over 230 formal interviews and depositions."[^6][^7] The report, issued in January 1993, concluded that there was "no credible evidence" of a secret deal. The Task Force found nearly all key sources "turned out to be wholesale fabricators or were impeached by documentary evidence."[^2] -The investigation has been contested on several grounds. Chief counsel Barcella reportedly asked Hamilton to extend the investigation by three months after substantial new evidence arrived in the final weeks; Hamilton declined, reportedly citing anticipated Republican backlash in an election year. The Madrid cable was withheld by Bush administration officials and never provided to the Task Force. The Russian intelligence report arrived after the Task Force had already closed and was only discovered in the raw files years later by Parry. The Task Force's June 30, 1992 interim report cleared Bush of the Paris allegation after the panel had interviewed approximately 50 of some 150 potential witnesses.[^2][^6] +The investigation has been contested on several grounds. Parry reported that E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr. told him years later that substantial new evidence had arrived in the final month and that he asked Hamilton to extend the investigation three months. Barcella said Hamilton, recognizing how nasty the Republican reaction would be, turned down the request.[^8] Hamilton told Parry that he had no recollection of the request.[^9] The Madrid cable was withheld by Bush administration officials and never provided to the Task Force. The Russian intelligence report arrived after the Task Force had already closed and was only discovered in the raw files years later by Parry. The Task Force's June 30, 1992 interim report cleared Bush of the Paris allegation after the panel had interviewed approximately 50 of some 150 potential witnesses.[^2][^3] -[[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]: A parallel Senate subcommittee investigation reached a narrower but significant conclusion: that Casey had engaged in "potentially dangerous" unauthorized efforts to collect intelligence on the Carter administration's hostage-release negotiations. The Senate investigation stopped short of finding a formal deal but confirmed that the Reagan campaign had directed intelligence operations against Carter's Iran policy.[^2] +The House task force approved its report on December 10, 1992. Its transmittal letter, dated January 3, 1993, states that the approval was unanimous. Dymally told Parry that he knew of no such vote, and a House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesman wrote to Parry that "From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote."[^10] House Resolution 585 of October 2, 1992 authorized the task force to file its final report after adjournment and before noon on January 3, 1993; Representative [[Anthony C. Beilenson]] (D-California), introducing it, said the investigation "may continue after we adjourn, but no later than the end of this year."[^11] + +[[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]: A parallel Senate subcommittee investigation reached a narrower but significant conclusion: that Casey had engaged in "potentially dangerous" unauthorized efforts to collect intelligence on the Carter administration's hostage-release negotiations. The Senate investigation stopped short of finding a formal deal but confirmed that the Reagan campaign had directed intelligence operations against Carter's Iran policy.[^12] ### Ben Barnes and John Connally (2023) -In March 2023, Ben Barnes -- former Texas Speaker of the House -- publicly stated that in summer 1980 he had accompanied former Texas Governor [[John Connally]] on a Middle East tour during which Connally carried a message to regional Arab leaders: Iran would receive a better deal from Reagan than from Carter, so they should counsel the Iranians to wait. Barnes and Connally departed Houston on July 18, 1980, and returned August 11, visiting Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. Travel records at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library confirm the trip and list Barnes as a participating member.[^5] +In March 2023, Ben Barnes, former Texas Speaker of the House, publicly stated that in summer 1980 he had accompanied former Texas Governor [[John Connally]] on a Middle East tour during which Connally carried a message to regional Arab leaders: Iran would receive a better deal from Reagan than from Carter, so they should counsel the Iranians to wait. Barnes and Connally departed Houston on July 18, 1980, and returned August 11, visiting Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. Travel records at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library confirm the trip and list Barnes as a participating member.[^13] -This account is considered independent of and parallel to the alleged Casey-Iran direct meetings: Connally acted as a message-carrier to Arab intermediaries while Casey allegedly negotiated directly with Iranian officials. Barnes stated he had carried the secret for more than forty years. Craig Unger's *Den of Spies* (2024) synthesized the Barnes testimony, the Madrid cable, and the Russian intelligence report into the most comprehensive recent case for the allegation's credibility.[^5] +This account is considered independent of and parallel to the alleged Casey-Iran direct meetings: Connally acted as a message-carrier to Arab intermediaries while Casey allegedly negotiated directly with Iranian officials. Barnes stated he had carried the secret for more than forty years. Craig Unger's *Den of Spies* (2024) synthesized the Barnes testimony, the Madrid cable, and the Russian intelligence report into the most comprehensive recent case for the allegation's credibility.[^13] ### Ari Ben-Menashe's Account -Ari Ben-Menashe, a self-proclaimed Israeli military intelligence officer, claimed in *Profits of War* (1992) and in testimony to investigators that he personally witnessed meetings including the October 1980 Paris conference, at which Bush was present. He alleged that $56 million was paid in [[Guatemala]] from a Saudi ambassador, with $4 million designated for [[Earl Brian]] and $52 million for a Kashani intermediary.[^3] +Ari Ben-Menashe, a self-proclaimed Israeli military intelligence officer, claimed in *Profits of War* (1992) and in testimony to investigators that he personally witnessed meetings including the October 1980 Paris conference, at which Bush was present. He alleged that $56 million was paid in [[Guatemala]] from a Saudi ambassador, with $4 million designated for [[Earl Brian]] and $52 million for a Kashani intermediary.[^14] -The House Task Force found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility" and "fabricated." The Task Force determined that his principal Iranian intermediary "Mehdi Kashani," described at length in *Profits of War*, did not exist as a single individual but appeared to be a composite of two real persons blended into a fictional character. Ben-Menashe's travel records showed civilian passport entries inconsistent with his claimed senior intelligence officer status, and Bani-Sadr later retracted the corroboration of Bush's presence he had initially provided.[^2][^3] +The House Task Force found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility" and "fabricated." The Task Force determined that his principal Iranian intermediary "Mehdi Kashani," described at length in *Profits of War*, did not exist as a single individual but appeared to be a composite of two real persons blended into a fictional character. Ben-Menashe's travel records showed civilian passport entries inconsistent with his claimed senior intelligence officer status, and Bani-Sadr later retracted the corroboration of Bush's presence he had initially provided.[^2][^14] ### Barbara Honegger's Account -[[Barbara Honegger]], a former Reagan White House policy analyst, authored *October Surprise* (1989), alleging that [[Monzer Al-Kassar|Monzer al-Kassar's]] heroin-smuggling network in [[Italy]] was used to launder [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] arms stocks for diversion to Iran, with the involvement of corrupt Italian intelligence officers connected to the [[P2|Propaganda Due (P2)]] Masonic lodge.[^4] +[[Barbara Honegger]], a former Reagan White House policy analyst, authored *October Surprise* (1989), alleging that [[Monzer Al-Kassar|Monzer al-Kassar's]] heroin-smuggling network in [[Italy]] was used to launder [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] arms stocks for diversion to Iran, with the involvement of corrupt Italian intelligence officers connected to the [[P2|Propaganda Due (P2)]] Masonic lodge.[^15] ### Connection to PROMIS Software -[[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating the October Surprise as a central strand of his "[[The Octopus]]" thesis, which held that the same covert network ran through the 1980 deal, the theft of [[INSLAW]]'s [[PROMIS]] software, and the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. In his framework, figures rewarded for their role in the hostage delay -- particularly Earl Brian -- later received access to PROMIS as part of a compensation arrangement flowing from the same covert channels.[^4] +[[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating the October Surprise as a central strand of his "[[The Octopus]]" thesis, which held that the same covert network ran through the 1980 deal, the theft of [[INSLAW]]'s [[PROMIS]] software, and the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. In his framework, figures rewarded for their role in the hostage delay, particularly Earl Brian, later received access to PROMIS as part of a compensation arrangement flowing from the same covert channels.[^15] -[[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed that he and Earl Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to delay the hostage release past Reagan's inauguration, directly linking the PROMIS theft to the 1980 deal.[^4] +[[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed that he and Earl Brian traveled to Iran in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to delay the hostage release past Reagan's inauguration, directly linking the PROMIS theft to the 1980 deal.[^15] -Ari Ben-Menashe stated after Danny Casolaro's death in August 1991 that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky -- including one named E.B. Cartinhour -- were en route to Martinsburg, [[West Virginia]], to deliver evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS, and that one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^3] +Ari Ben-Menashe stated after Danny Casolaro's death in August 1991 that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky, including one named E.B. Cartinhour, were en route to Martinsburg, [[West Virginia]], to deliver evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS, and that one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^14] ### Connection to Iran-Contra -The October Surprise allegation, if substantiated, represents the founding transaction of the network that became the Iran-Contra Affair: the same Israeli arms dealers (Ya'acov Nimrodi, Al Schwimmer), Iranian intermediaries ([[Manucher Ghorbanifar]]), and CIA-connected arms brokers that characterized the 1985-1986 Iran-Contra deals documented by the Tower Commission and the Walsh Independent Counsel investigation. The basic mechanism -- Israel ships U.S.-approved arms to Iran -- appears in both episodes. Robert Parry, Gary Sick, and Craig Unger have each argued that Iran-Contra was not a discrete 1985 initiative but the continuation of a covert U.S.-Israel-Iran relationship established in 1980.[^1][^6] +The October Surprise allegation, if substantiated, represents the founding transaction of the network that became the Iran-Contra Affair: the same Israeli arms dealers (Ya'acov Nimrodi, Al Schwimmer), Iranian intermediaries ([[Manucher Ghorbanifar]]), and CIA-connected arms brokers that characterized the 1985-1986 Iran-Contra deals documented by the Tower Commission and the Walsh Independent Counsel investigation. The basic mechanism, Israel ships U.S.-approved arms to Iran, appears in both episodes. Robert Parry, Gary Sick, and Craig Unger have each argued that Iran-Contra was not a discrete 1985 initiative but the continuation of a covert U.S.-Israel-Iran relationship established in 1980.[^1][^3] ### Footnotes [^1]: Sick, Gary. *October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan*. Times Books, 1991. [^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force. *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*. 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 1993. -[^3]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. -[^4]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. TrineDay, 2010. -[^5]: Unger, Craig. *Den of Spies*. 2024; Barnes, Ben, interview. *The New York Times*, March 2023. -[^6]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise Evidence Surfaces." *Consortium News*, July 14, 2011. +[^3]: Parry, Robert. "October Surprise Evidence Surfaces." *Consortium News*, July 14, 2011. +[^4]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries." *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012, quoting a memorandum for the record by Chester Paul Beach Jr. dated November 4, 1991. https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ +[^5]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011, quoting the Russian report as translated by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ +[^6]: U.S. House of Representatives, October Surprise Task Force, *Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980*, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993, https://archive.org/details/6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force +[^7]: Hamilton, Lee H. "DIALOGUE: Last Word on the October Surprise?; Case Closed." *The New York Times*, January 24, 1993, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/opinion/dialogue-last-word-on-the-october-surprise-case-closed.html +[^8]: Parry, Robert. "Inside the October Surprise Cover-up." *Consortium News*, July 12, 2011. https://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/12/inside-the-october-surprise-cover-up/ Sole source for the Barcella account of the extension request. +[^9]: Parry, Robert. "The October Surprise Mysteries." *Consortium News*, October 22, 2012 (Hamilton's 2010 response to Parry). https://consortiumnews.com/2012/10/22/the-october-surprise-mysteries/ Sole source for the Hamilton statement as reported by Parry. +[^10]: Parry, Robert. "Dymally and the Unanimous Vote," *Consortium News*, June 17, 2010. https://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html +[^11]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Congressional Record*, October 2, 1992, (H. Res. 585; text and floor statement of Rep. Beilenson). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h921002-october.htm +[^12]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, *The October Surprise Allegations and the Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the American Hostages Held in Iran*, Report of the Special Counsel to Senator Terry Sanford and Senator James M. Jeffords, S. Prt. 102-125, November 19, 1992. https://archive.org/details/ReportOfTheSpecialCounselOnTheOctoberSurpriseAllegationsAndTheCircumstancesSurro +[^13]: Unger, Craig. *Den of Spies*. 2024; Barnes, Ben, interview. *The New York Times*, March 2023. +[^14]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. +[^15]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. TrineDay, 2010. diff --git a/70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-08 The Roster.md b/70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-08 The Roster.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bf42f9db --- /dev/null +++ b/70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-08 The Roster.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +--- +title: "The Roster" +date: 2026-10-08 +status: published +summary: "A 1990 counterterrorism firm's roster, preserved in Danny Casolaro's papers, lists BCCI's defense coordinator, a Wackenhut vice president and a former CIA counterterrorism chief, two years before that coordinator ran the House October Surprise inquiry." +entities: + - "[[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]]" + - "[[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]]" + - "[[Carter Cornick]]" + - "[[Eugene Propper]]" + - "[[James B. Motley]]" + - "[[Wackenhut Corporation]]" + - "[[Danny Casolaro]]" + - "[[House October Surprise Task Force]]" + - "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]" +tags: + - TheOctopus + - OctoberSurprise + - BCCI + - Wackenhut +--- +# The Roster + +On August 1, 1988, CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P. was filed as a limited partnership in Delaware. The next day [[Carter Cornick]], recently retired from the FBI's terrorism section, and the former federal prosecutor [[Eugene Propper]] announced [[Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.]], seeded with about $500,000 from investors they declined to name. [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|E. Lawrence Barcella]], who had worked with both men on the Letelier and [[Edwin Wilson]] cases, was to advise on extradition.[^1][^2] + +Shortly after the October 1988 indictment of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] in Tampa, Barcella was brought in to coordinate the bank's defense.[^3] + +On September 18, 1989, the partnership registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Its one foreign principal was the Government of Jamaica, from which it reported $25,000 received before registration. Its short-form registrants were Cornick, Propper and Gerald S. Walker.[^4] + +On June 20, 1990, a twelve-page resume packet on the partnership's letterhead went out by fax. Besides Cornick, Propper and Barcella, it lists [[James B. Motley]], vice president for national security studies at [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] Advanced Technologies Corporation since September 1987; [[Francis J. McNeil]], ambassador to Costa Rica from 1980 to 1983; and an unnamed former CIA chief of counterterrorism, a Navy aviator who had run the agency's air and maritime elements from 1974 to 1977 and retired in 1987. A copy of the packet is among the papers of [[Danny Casolaro]], filed between a Brunswick assault-weapon data package and a sales sheet of the Chilean arms maker Industrias Cardoen. Casolaro was found dead in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on August 10, 1991.[^5] + +In March 1992 the [[House October Surprise Task Force]] hired Barcella as its chief counsel. The biography printed in its January 1993 report describes him as "presently a partner in the Washington office of Katten, Muchin, Zavis and Dombroff." The report found "no credible evidence" of a deal.[^6] + +[^1]: Delaware Division of Corporations file 2168210, as mirrored by OpenCorporates; District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, entity record 058088 (foreign limited partnership formed in Delaware, filed August 5, 1988). +[^2]: "A group of top former FBI agents and federal...," United Press International, August 2, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/. +[^3]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, The BCCI Affair, S. Prt. 102-140, December 1992. +[^4]: Report of the Attorney General to the Congress on the Administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 1988 to 1991, vol. 1, p. 599, registration 4294, https://www.justice.gov/media/910066/dl?inline. +[^5]: CounterTerrorism Consultants, L.P., "Proudly Presents The Resumes of its Associates," fax copy headed "JUN 20 '90," Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Promotional Material," item PM-05, https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks. +[^6]: Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, H. Rept. 102-1102, January 3, 1993.