Task Force 157 organization
also: 157, Task Force 1572, Night Stalkers, Army Special Forces Aviation Battalion
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
CIAintelligence service · 14Edwin Wilsonperson · 7Richard M. Bissell Jr.person · 5South Africacountry · 4Delta Forceorganization · 4U.S. Navyorganization · 4Tom Clinesperson · 4Ted Shackleyperson · 3Fort Campbellplace · 2UNITAorganization · 2101st Airborne Divisionorganization · 2William Holcombperson · 2Operation Savannahoperation · 2South African Defense Forceorganization · 2Admiral Moorerperson · 2Henry Kissingerperson · 2Allen Dullesperson · 2Angolan Civil Warevent · 2Charles Radfordperson · 2Jonas Savimbiperson · 2Richard Secordperson · 1William Caseyperson · 1Oliver Northperson · 1Soviet Unioncountry · 1
Claims (22)
William Howard Taft blocked
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“A transfer of U.S. Air Force responsibility in the area was blocked in 85 by Defense Secretary Deputy William Howard Taft IV. Weren't we just talking about the Tafts and Skull and Bones? Yeah, yeah, we were. Despite a considerable increase …”
▶ The Colonel’s Corner-Presidents’ Secret Wars Chap 17 @ 48:12
Edwin Wilson member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“Now, we're very familiar with Task Force 157. For those of you who are new, that Task Force 157 was the Navy's version in-house of basically a CIA. This is the task force that Edwin Wilson was a part of that on behalf of the Department of N…”
▶ The Colonel’s Corner Twilight of the Shadow Government Part 2 @ 17:39
Task Force 157 member_of
Arrow Air Flight 950 documented
“were also on board the flight. Task Force 160 was based at Fort Campbell, is the Army Special Forces Aviation Battalion tasked with support, not only Special Forces, but Delta Force and the CIA. Dubbed Night Stalkers, Task Force 160 has a h…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner The Medusa File Part 14 @ 23:42
Task Force 157 carried_out_attack
Angola documented
“Task Force Zulu, its commander codename Rommel, and Afrikaner Colonel Koos van Heerden, was more powerful than Savembe's entire army at the time. Zulu became Savembe's spearhead. Typically, the South African Operation Savannah has passed of…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 38 (40) @ 1:03:41
Task Force 157 captured
Lobito documented
“Savannah became the most successful military action mounted against the MPLA. Rommel advanced rapidly, while another SADF, the military from South Africa, task force joined Savimbi at his headquarters. Within two weeks, Zulu captured a majo…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 38 (40) @ 1:04:08
Richard M. Bissell Jr. headed
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“The list of underachievers could have started with Tracy Barnes, except that given his post as associate director of the DO, Barnes was exempt from this reigning structure. Nevertheless, this criticism of the Cuba affair may be overblown. J…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 34:01
E. Howard Hunt member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“And a large segment of them had participated in PB's success. But we all know that PB's success wasn't all that big of a challenge because our bins basically got scared and left. It's not like that was a really big deal. Okay, if you look a…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 34:31
David Atlee Phillips member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“And a large segment of them had participated in PB's success. But we all know that PB's success wasn't all that big of a challenge because our bins basically got scared and left. It's not like that was a really big deal. Okay, if you look a…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 34:31
Jerry Droller member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“supposedly a good guy, though despised for his ambition, he had no Latin American experience either. So he's a guy nobody likes and he has no experience in the theater. So let's just use him. The task force also included Jim Noel, former Ha…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 35:05
Jim Noel member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“supposedly a good guy, though despised for his ambition, he had no Latin American experience either. So he's a guy nobody likes and he has no experience in the theater. So let's just use him. The task force also included Jim Noel, former Ha…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 35:05
Gar Tonsit member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“The air boss was Colonel Stanley Beerly, CIA's top airman and the mastermind behind the U-2 operation. His field assistant, Gar Tonsit, Thors Ruck, came from the Tibetan Project and Indonesian before that, where that was another failed coup…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 35:34
Edward Stanulis member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“had been a top planner for the western hemisphere division dick drain was the chief of operations fresh from the service in greece which we destabilized greece from post world war ii right up until the like 1960s coup um and the psychologic…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 36:05
Dick Drain member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“had been a top planner for the western hemisphere division dick drain was the chief of operations fresh from the service in greece which we destabilized greece from post world war ii right up until the like 1960s coup um and the psychologic…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 36:05
Frank Egan member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“So let's see, Dick Drain also had psychological operations experience, but he didn't know how to speak Spanish. The closest he'd ever been to Latin America was Arizona. The top trainer at Camp Trax was an Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colo…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 36:34
Jack Hawkins member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“But historians blame CIA procedures for task force and notes that the entire arrangement was scrapped after the failure of the Bay of Pigs. Even by August, Esterling still had a good dozen senior officer vacancies on his task force. Paramil…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 32:00
Edwin Wilson front_for
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“H-O-K-U-M, a CIA security official who had gone to work for Naval Intelligence. So the CIA has infiltrated the Navy to make Wilson the corporate front for 157. Wilson is another CIA agent infiltrating the Navy. Hocum, an old friend and U2 c…”
▶ Operation Gladio- Prelude to Terror Chap 6 @ 9:33
Edwin Wilson member_of
Task Force 157 host_asserted
“No connection now to the CIA at all. A former officer of the CIA. Now I don't have a job. I need a job. I'll come work and do the same thing that I did at the CIA for you at Task Force 157, going around, leading the effort to map all of the…”
▶ Operation Gladio- Prelude to Terror Chap 6 @ 59:41
CIA infiltrated
Task Force 157 host_asserted
“Not only did they tell Edwin Wilson his mission was going to be to set up a company, they actually infiltrated with Edwin Wilson Task Force 157. So they had him fill out an application or whatever over at the Department of Navy, knowing tha…”
▶ Operation Gladio- Prelude to Terror Chap 6 @ 59:15
Colonel Stanley Beerly member_of
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“The air boss was Colonel Stanley Beerly, CIA's top airman and the mastermind behind the U-2 operation. His field assistant, Gar Tonsit, Thors Ruck, came from the Tibetan Project and Indonesian before that, where that was another failed coup…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 19 (20) @ 35:34
Task Force 157 member_of
101st Airborne Division book_quoted
“to include ground troops and special operations. The ground component of Army Special Forces supported by the Aviation Detachment at the 101st Air Assault Division based at Fort Campbell, which is not nicknamed Night Stalkers, was basically…”
▶ The Colonel’s Corner-Presidents’ Secret Wars Chap 17 @ 46:45
Richard Nixon founded
Task Force 157 book_quoted
“tasked with overseeing Nixon's secret communication channels on behalf of a shadow government being frozen out of decision-making. So basically, Nixon took a playbook out of the CIA and created his own little off-the-books government, if yo…”
▶ The Colonel’s Corner Twilight of the Shadow Government Part 2 @ 15:49
CIA front_for
Task Force 157 host_asserted
“figured out like the Office of Naval Intelligence set up that Task Force 157. Those are all sanctioned government entities. And when they set up organizations as fronts, that is not privatizing. Privatizing is a completely separate company …”
▶ Operation Gladio - World Anti Communist League and Unification Church @ 5:53
Mentions (41)
▶ 5:15
The White House plumbers discovered that the Naval Operations Chief, Admiral Moorer, M-O-O-R-E-R, was worried about Kissinger, so worried about him that he had sent a Navy yeoman named Charles Radford over to Kissinger's office to spy on hi…
▶ 5:46
intelligence operation that was posing as civilian companies. Radford later admitted to stealing more than 5,000 documents from Kissinger's office and passing them back to the chief of naval operations. The main reason Moore was spying on K…
▶ 6:15
to handle communications between Kissinger and the Communist China. Moore had not been made privy to any of these Task Force 157 communications. Shackley and Clines also wanted to know more about 157. Normally, the CIA and the National Secu…
▶ 9:04
He became very valuable to the CIA because he was available for operations and because he was not financially dependent on the agency. That's the whole purpose. For Shackley and Clines, he would become the key element in creating a private …
▶ 9:33
H-O-K-U-M, a CIA security official who had gone to work for Naval Intelligence. So the CIA has infiltrated the Navy to make Wilson the corporate front for 157. Wilson is another CIA agent infiltrating the Navy. Hocum, an old friend and U2 c…
▶ 10:04
Task Force 157's secrets. And keep in mind, Task Force 157 wanted to create a front company so they could use that company to go around the world and basically draw up schematics of all of the ports all over the world so that they would hav…
▶ 10:32
The whole purpose of Task Force 157 was to set up a civilian shipping company that was basically operating as a shipping company for cover. And those people inside of Task Force 157 on the payroll of this company was traveling all over the …
▶ 11:27
Wilson was appalled at the thin cover the Navy used for Task Force 157 and the fact that it was running scores of spying operations out of three related checking accounts. You make one of these accounts and all of the operations are comprom…
▶ 12:00
was the company that he used as his Task Force 157 front. As he had done with the CIA, Wilson turned over the blank stock certificates to the Navy and began doing business on its behalf. While he was also reporting to the CIA, Tom Clines di…
▶ 22:59
that is ran by the Defense Security Assistance Agency for foreign military aid. So, Wilson did not provide assistance to these men out of the goodness of his heart. These high-level contacts impressed the management of Task Force 157, which…
▶ 32:13
in the West End section of Washington, D.C., and to accommodate his growing business. Wilson began offering scores of retired generals, admirals, and other military officers support and backing in exchange for half of the profits that they …
▶ 40:14
Yeah, I wanted to bring it back to that Task Force 157, if that was right. And and it's like it's a cover name wasn't wasn't that responsible for like or leading up to the church. What's it called? The church church committee. Yeah. And all…
▶ 40:40
I don't know. Like, I've been researching that because I think that's kind of what's needed right now. Again, you know what I mean? Well, technically, what's needed is for us to get rid of the CIA and the Task Force 157. If the only thing t…
▶ 43:08
And so again, Task Force 157 was actually brilliant. The problem is the CIA sabotaged it by putting one of their agents in charge of it. And the best of the research that I have found is no one in the Navy knew at the time that Edwin Wilson…
▶ 59:15
Not only did they tell Edwin Wilson his mission was going to be to set up a company, they actually infiltrated with Edwin Wilson Task Force 157. So they had him fill out an application or whatever over at the Department of Navy, knowing tha…
▶ 59:41
No connection now to the CIA at all. A former officer of the CIA. Now I don't have a job. I need a job. I'll come work and do the same thing that I did at the CIA for you at Task Force 157, going around, leading the effort to map all of the…
▶ 1:00:57
Whether or not he's making millions, he's going to live like he's a millionaire because that's how you gain entry into millionaire clubs like around the world that they want the spies to infiltrate. And so he's now on the payroll of Task Fo…
▶ 5:53
figured out like the Office of Naval Intelligence set up that Task Force 157. Those are all sanctioned government entities. And when they set up organizations as fronts, that is not privatizing. Privatizing is a completely separate company …
▶ 46:45
to include ground troops and special operations. The ground component of Army Special Forces supported by the Aviation Detachment at the 101st Air Assault Division based at Fort Campbell, which is not nicknamed Night Stalkers, was basically…
▶ 47:16
They fly an assortment of helicopters to include Blackhawks and Chinooks. Task Force 160 does a lot of night flying and conducts highly classified operations on behalf of the U.S. In 1983, the unit suffered almost half, 17 of 35, of all of …
▶ 47:44
If the Air Force had had its way, Task Force 160 would have become even more important. Special air warfare components of the Air Force operate certain helicopters used in these types of support. As part of the Armed Forces Joint Cooperatio…
▶ 49:11
MC-130s that could do in-flight refueling of all of the helicopters. So during all of this, we have the invasion of Grenada, and you have military analyst Richard Gabriel, in fact, saying Operation Urgent Fury, which is what it was called.…
▶ 19:30
and of whom Roberto Alejos owned a mountain plantation he called Helvita, a large secluded ranch. Esterling had his successor, Robert Davis, approach him to basically offer to pay him to use his ranch as a training camp. The task force chie…
▶ 20:30
except through Davis. The WH4, which is the office, the task force identifier for this effort, chief negotiated an agreement with Guatemalan president Fuentes, allowing the CIA to train troops in his country. You know, because we overthrew …
▶ 21:01
We're gonna call our debt due and we're just gonna use your country to stage a coup in Cuba. Sure, come on in. The plantation became known as Camp Trax, T-R-A-X. At the offices of the task force headquarters, Jake Esterling listened while A…
▶ 32:00
But historians blame CIA procedures for task force and notes that the entire arrangement was scrapped after the failure of the Bay of Pigs. Even by August, Esterling still had a good dozen senior officer vacancies on his task force. Paramil…
▶ 34:01
The list of underachievers could have started with Tracy Barnes, except that given his post as associate director of the DO, Barnes was exempt from this reigning structure. Nevertheless, this criticism of the Cuba affair may be overblown. J…
▶ 34:31
And a large segment of them had participated in PB's success. But we all know that PB's success wasn't all that big of a challenge because our bins basically got scared and left. It's not like that was a really big deal. Okay, if you look a…
▶ 35:05
supposedly a good guy, though despised for his ambition, he had no Latin American experience either. So he's a guy nobody likes and he has no experience in the theater. So let's just use him. The task force also included Jim Noel, former Ha…
▶ 1:03:41
Task Force Zulu, its commander codename Rommel, and Afrikaner Colonel Koos van Heerden, was more powerful than Savembe's entire army at the time. Zulu became Savembe's spearhead. Typically, the South African Operation Savannah has passed of…
▶ 1:04:08
Savannah became the most successful military action mounted against the MPLA. Rommel advanced rapidly, while another SADF, the military from South Africa, task force joined Savimbi at his headquarters. Within two weeks, Zulu captured a majo…
▶ 1:05:32
praised the fighting forces of FNLA and UNITA when they weren't fighting either one of them. They were fighting Mubato and South African troops. The Zulu force represented one prong of a pincer attack on the capital. Roberto's FNLA was the …
▶ 14:17
He's the famous guy that the CIA had set up all their front companies because he was really good at it. He had a company that did geography of all of the harbors. That was part of that Task Force 157 that he was working with. They went all …
▶ 23:12
It has been speculated by various investigators that the boxes loaded into the hold contain items ranging from Hawk missile system parts rejected by the Iranians during Oliver North Bill Casey's Iran-Contra dealings to dead members of a fai…
▶ 23:42
were also on board the flight. Task Force 160 was based at Fort Campbell, is the Army Special Forces Aviation Battalion tasked with support, not only Special Forces, but Delta Force and the CIA. Dubbed Night Stalkers, Task Force 160 has a h…
▶ 24:13
Items ranging from night vision equipment to exotic weapons and just about every helicopter in the military inventory at their beck and call. Hauling paratroopers around the desert during U.N. operations are not what Task Force 160 would be…
▶ 24:35
Paired up with Delta Force, Task Force 160 would be the air support unit that would participate in any hostage rescue attempt. For this mission, they would not only ship their helicopters and support equipment normally on C-5 aircraft, but …
▶ 25:05
with priority bases, fitting the description of what the pilots saw happening there. They could also include weapons and explosives. Could it be that Task Force 160 and Delta Force were using the 101st base camp as a jumping off point for c…
▶ 17:12
It was a sensitive position that afforded Woodward access to more than hundreds of communication channels, among them, according to Admiral Fitzpatrick, the top secret SR1 channel through which the Navy sent and received its most important …
▶ 17:39
Now, we're very familiar with Task Force 157. For those of you who are new, that Task Force 157 was the Navy's version in-house of basically a CIA. This is the task force that Edwin Wilson was a part of that on behalf of the Department of N…
▶ 18:08
And they did it under the guise of, hey, we need to know this for where we can port maybe ships. So they were doing everything. They were taking pictures of all of the port facilities. They were measuring the depth of the port facilities, k…