OPERATION GLADIO Exposed with COLONEL TOWNER in The Skorzeny Papers Chapter 13

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0:22 Hello. Hello. Okay. Who do we have with us tonight? Can I get a sound check from somebody, please? Let's see. I can get somebody to give me a sound check. All right. All right. Looks like it's working. All right. Can you hear me? Clap them hands, girlfriend. All right. So today's been a crazy day.

2:52 I don't, I'm not a, an attorney, but I'm going to say that Fannie Willis, that's her name, made an ass out of herself today. And that's gotta be the craziest, uh, hearing, whatever it is that you call it. Um, I've ever seen so many sound bites, so many sound bites. Holy crap.

3:29 And it really is not looking good for DEI hires, is it? Or is it just me? I'm thinking it's looking really bad right now. But anyway, all right, we're on chapter 13. We're talking about Skorzeny and all of his moving around. And we talked about him being best friends with Hitler's banker.

3:57 that he had Army and Air Force handlers in Madrid that was basically running him for the CIA. So that's kind of where we've left off. So now we're up to Bob Visit Skorzeny. That's the name of Chapter 13. So we start off with a guy by the name of William King Harvey, who is from Danville, Indiana.

4:28 Not very far from where I used to live in Indiana. He was the son of an attorney. He decided to graduate from Indiana University, which is where I graduated from. He graduated a lot sooner than I did. And he practiced law for a time. And then in 1940, he joined the FBI after.

5:00 Disagreement that he had with J. Edgar Hoover over a potential reassignment, he left the Bureau and went over to the CIA. Tom Polgar, P-O-L-G-A-R, a retired CIA officer who worked with Harvey in Germany and who was interviewed extensively by the author, recalled Harvey.

5:24 And with a slight smile, remembered he was quite a character, a controversial man he was, but very intelligent. He was called the Pear because he had an odd shaped body and he had bulging eyes and a frog-like voice. That sounds totally attractive. Harvey was an extremely competent intelligence officer.

5:55 He had street smarts and an unconventional approach to clandestine operations, which coming from the CIA, that's probably not a good thing. Harvey's investigative background led to an assignment in 1947 to what was referred to as Staff C, like the letter C, which handled counterintelligence and counterespionage. He worked directly for James.

6:25 Angleton. And we left James Angleton in the Italy setting up Operation Gladio timeframe. But at this point, he's left Italy and he takes over as assistant director to the special operations branch back at the CIA headquarters. In 1954, Angleton would be appointed counterintel chief. Harvey had been present at the CIA director's meeting in Washington that included

6:55 Roger Wybot, you remember him, W-Y-B-O-T, and Pierre Bertraud, the two French intelligence chiefs who was harboring Otto and Elsie when they were in Paris working on Operation Compass Rose setup. Skorzeny was integrated into the World Commerce Corporation network, which we talked about as the front company for the CIA that Frank Wisners had set up.

7:24 The bottom line is that these later legends of the CIA, Harvey, Angleton, and Wisner, were all aware of the CIA operational use of Skorzeny in the months after his escape. It can also be pointed out that Lucien Koning, C-O-N-E-I-N, the CIA ops officer who handled black channels for Germany, had been promoted to major.

7:54 and was working alongside Harvey and Wisner during this early period. In 1952, Harvey was transferred to Staff C to take charge of the OPC's Berlin Operations Base. That was called BOB, Berlin Operations Base. This effectively put Harvey under Wisner. BOB was headquartered in Tempeldorf, Tempelhof.

8:25 airport, under the cover of a civilian firm contracted to the United States Air Force. While stationed in Berlin, Harvey utilized a string of prostitutes as agents, indicating that he was not averse to using the criminal element or illegal activities for his operations. These creative methods had earlier been established by OSS operatives in World War II. It wasn't a new thing.

8:55 Harvey was the perfect fit for the Cold War spy world. His office, too, was ready for war. He had thermite destruction grenades on top of every safe. He was once introduced to JFK as America's James Bond. Harvey was given the lead for Operation Gold, the construction of nearly a 1,500-foot tunnel

9:27 running into East Germany, where subterranean telephone lines were tapped to record Soviet conversations. This project became known as the Berlin Tunnel, but was only operational for a short time. It was terminated in 1956 when it was compromised by a British MI6 double agent, so it was exposed by a British spy.

10:01 Despite the failure of the Berlin Tunnel, Harvey had numerous other OPC projects he was responsible for. And two in particular showed Otto Skorzeny's involvement. These projects began around 1950 under the code name Earthware, then Graveyard, and then finally transitioned into DT Linen.

10:30 Their purpose was covert propaganda, harassment, and sabotage activity involving both covert and overt operations. D.T. Lennon was a psychological warfare subproject of Q.K. Demon, which continued until 1960. To execute the missions, the CIA was using West German political action group called Fighting League Against Inhumanity.

11:01 The group was headed by Rainer Heidelbrandt, H-I-L-D-E-B-R-A-N-D-T, a surviving member of the network that carried out the attempted assassination of Hitler in July of 44. Heidelbrandt was imprisoned by the Nazis for his connections to German resistance, but managed to survive the war. He was a staunch anti-communist.

11:32 And with help from the U.S. Army's counterintel, he founded this Fighting League Against Inhumanity, which they nicknamed KGU, in October 1948. It seems likely that Otto Skorzeny was contacted through secret channels to assist in the effort just after its formation.

11:58 It was also possible he was the original paramilitary advisor to the project because it was completely funded by the CIA. The formation of KGU was announced publicly by its German founders, who resolutely declared its objectives as to rally opinion against political oppression.

12:30 in the Soviet zone. A primary goal of its organizers was to discover the fate of those who had disappeared into the Soviet concentration camps. In reality, the KGU was in close communication with Western intel from its inception. The organization was assessed by individuals in the army counter intel who saw the organization as an excellent vehicle to do counter espionage, intelligence gathering, psychological warfare,

13:00 fair, and covert activities. The original group formation was coordinated by the counterintel agent Severin Wallach, W-A-L-L-A-C-H. He was described as brilliant and a solitary man who was convinced of the Soviet threat. It was also said that he kept his working projects closed and private.

13:25 didn't like working with other agents. The CIA's Office of Special Operations become interested in the project and coordinated with Wallach and the counter intel. In January 1951, Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott, T-R-U-S-C-O-T-T, was ordered to Germany as the senior CIA chief of mission and took over direct supervision.

13:54 of this operation. In a classified memo written March 30th, 1951, reports that Skorzeny was in Berlin, involved in preparations for the establishment of sabotage and resistance group. It's presumed that they're talking about the KGU unit and also working with an American Colonel Thompson or Stimson because of the writing.

14:26 The author is trying to decipher the notes, and he wasn't sure if it said Thompson or Stimson. The same memo says Skorzeny was settled down officially in Madrid and opened an engineering office, which was obviously a cover. The information in the memo came from a source being utilized by the Galen organization, and that's the BND. We know that. So Liza found the...

15:02 Q. K. Demon. Thanks for posting that. While it is true that Galen knew of Skorzeny's use of the CIA, use by the CIA, only a handful of others on his staff knew he was actually working for the CIA. The authenticity of the report has been confirmed, however, by two pieces of evidence. First, the name Colonel Thompson was an alias used by the counterintel agent Severin

15:35 Wallach. Later, Wallach would transfer to the CIA. Secondly, the author interviewed CIA officer Tom Polger, who was the project manager for D.T. Lennon. When shown the declassified documents revealing Skorzeny's connection to KGU, Polger stated, it cannot be ruled out that a lower-level U.S. official was in contact with Skorzeny. You have to read between the lines.

16:06 In December 1952, William Harvey arrived in Berlin and took over management of the OPC operations, including the direction of the KGU. Another group called the Investigative Committee for Free Jurist, or UFJ. Both of these organizations, the KGU and the UFJ, were Harvey's primary psychological warfare initiatives.

16:38 And what's interesting about this is this is not during the war. This is 1952. The war's been gone. It's over. As a matter of fact, they're starting crap in Korea right now. So it's interesting that they're running these ops, if you will. Who are they trying to psychologically manipulate? Because remember, they've already interfered in 1948 in the election in Italy.

17:10 And in Germany, they're in the process of re-acclimating all of the Nazis who's been denazified, not really, back into government. They're putting all of the teachers back into government, all of the government workers that were kicked out of government for being Nazis. They're hiring all of them back at this point. So by 1952, Colonel Story.

17:39 of Dallas, Texas, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who had served for General Charles Cabell during the war, arrived in Europe to assist the free jurist effort. It had previously been mentioned, but it needs to be highlighted. Story was a key attorney supporting the Warren Commission in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. General Cabell

18:10 would become the deputy CIA director under Alan Dulles in April 1953. Cabell was intimately familiar with the CIA's use of Skorzeny prior to Colonel Story's arrival in Berlin. General Cabell's brother, Earl, would become mayor of Dallas, and Earl was the mayor when JFK was murdered. He's the one that would have helped escort the OAS officer out of

18:40 Dallas. And we know that there was at least two OAS assassins that were tasked to travel to Dallas and be there for the assassination. And the OAS were notorious for assassinations. So just keep that in mind. In Dallas, Colonel Story was president of the Republic National Bank and head of the American Bar Association.

19:10 He had a number of other important positions, including director of the Texas State Bar and chairman of the board of the Southwestern Legal Foundation from 1949 to 1959. Story served as the dean for the Southern Methodist University Law School, SMU. His vast legal experience and knowledge of secret networks in Germany, he was assigned a leading role in directing the free jurist operation.

19:39 In September 52, Colonel Story attended a widely publicized meeting of the Congress of Free Jurists in Berlin. This was, of course, the cover for the Free Jurist. Newspapers reported Colonel Story attended in his official capacity as a senior military lawyer. So that's very interesting. The Congress of Free Jurists,

20:17 evolved into a very effective organization against communist tyranny or domestic terror. They go hand in hand. Of great interest to the Western intelligence community was the detailed information the free jurists had compiled on thousands of Soviet and East German officials. So basically, the free jurists are spies. That's what we're saying here. The valuable data.

20:48 was deemed critical for counterintel and espionage operations. So they're pretending to be lawyers, but they're spies. Equally important was the access that the Congress of Free Jurists gave Western intel to deny areas within private, commercial, and government areas to communist control. So, there under a tight veil of secrecy, Colonel Story

21:20 assisted senior-level psychological warfare planners in developing operations aimed directly at communism. These operations had many facets, including a defector program. Other parts included the Department of Resistance movements inside communist-controlled areas with the capability to conduct attacks behind the Red Line. That's Gladio units.

21:51 So here we're establishing this Colonel Story, whose brother is the mayor of Dallas in 1963 when JFK is assassinated, is setting up in Germany stay-behind units. And they're also doing it inside what is now communist-controlled countries, which many already had them set up. But he's involved in all of this.

22:21 this free jurist organization are front companies for the administration of stay-behind units. So the CIA's use of KGU and UFJ involving Skorzeny and Colonel Story may point to where two of these men established a working relationship.

22:46 for CIA covert activities. Colonel Story, as head of the Nuremberg trial documents division, worked closely with the war department to prepare the files for Skorzeny's trial that basically got him freed. So these guys are intimately working together in Germany. They will also be working together in the future, right around the time of 1963.

23:16 Another hint appears in an earlier declassified document from June 1951 that has information, quote, a non-U.S. government intelligence network, which has been operating for years, unquote, reported Skorzeny was in contact with U.S. citizens interested in the formation of resistance groups in Germany, which are the stay-behind units.

23:44 The general statement does match Skorzeny's documented support to Harvey's Berlin base operations and participation by Colonel Story. Harvey, or a senior officer from Bob, had in fact been meeting personally with Skorzeny in Madrid, as evidenced by a dramatic piece of correspondence to Elsie. On March 4, 1953, Skorzeny wrote to her in a poorly veiled manner of writing,

24:16 which is an exception. Normally, what he's saying here is the papers were more cleverly disguising communications, but in this particular case, he states that he had a visit from Bob, which all letters were capitalized like it's an acronym. He then went on to explain a number of intelligence-related activities, which we now know from declassified documents were connected to the CIA operations.

24:45 Skorzeny mentioned that he showed Bob a letter he had received from Gamal Nasser, the president of Egypt, and also discussed with Bob various other news from the Middle East. This is a critical admission for at least at that very moment in 1953, Skorzeny was working a CIA-related mission directly involving Egypt.

25:16 I just flipped my wine glass. Sorry about that, Tara. In 1951, CIA Director Alan Dulles dispatched CIA Officer Kermit Kim Roosevelt Jr. Yeah, it's the grandson of Teddy Roosevelt. So Kermit Roosevelt Jr. is a CIA asset.

25:48 And he's a leading Middle East expert. He had previously carried out successful clandestine missions. Y'all are spilling wine. I sound like I've had a glass of wine and I haven't yet. Clandestine missions in Syria and Iran. So Teddy Roosevelt's grandson is a CIA asset.

26:19 He's messing around in Syria. He's messing around in Iran. And we know in the 1950s is when they cooed. Oh, oh, that's right. So Kermit Roosevelt was involved in the coup in Iran where they assassinated the Iranian, the duly elected, democratically elected president of Iran that was advocating women going to school and women working, you know, all of those democratic.

26:49 However, he made the mistake of kicking out BP, the British oil company, and they assassinated them for it with Kermit's assistance. We learned that in one of our other Gladio books. So after arriving, let's see, Kermit was working with Miles Copeland Jr., who also worked with Skorzeny as early as 1948.

27:21 which is when they were fixing the Italian election. They love messing with elections, but ours is perfectly safe. Don't worry about it. After arriving in Egypt and assessing the situation, Roosevelt undertook secret negotiations with a receptive young Egyptian colonel named Gamal Abdel Nasser. Within a year, Nasser had assumed

27:47 and the CIA considered him an ally in preventing Russia from gaining a foothold in the region. There was much more to the Egypt thing, and it had nothing to do with Russia. Egypt had been a stronghold for the British, and there was a little power struggle going on there. So, in addition to massive financial aid, the CIA developed a plan to assist Nasser in...

28:23 modernizing his military and organizing the security forces. In other words, they're going to set up units there too. And that's where they set up the Muslim Brotherhood, which is what they're, yeah, it's Nasser, N-A-S-S-E-R, correct. So they set up the Muslim Brotherhood as their terror network there. That is part of Operation Gladio. That's just going to be the beginning of the Islamic-based terror network.

28:52 That's what we have going on right now. So none of these people actually necessarily liked us. We just bought them all with our foreign aid. To facilitate the building of military and security structure for Egypt, Alan Dulles turned to the chief of the West German intelligence, Reinhard Galen, the Nazi.

29:23 whose highly classified intelligence organization was still under CIA control. Galen, because at this point, this is actually referred to as the BND. That's the name of the German intel that Galen heads in the deal worked out by Alan Dulles. And basically, at this point, they're taking directions from the CIA. They probably still are.

29:56 Galen may have known that Colonel Nasser had actually worked as a young officer with German intelligence networks ran by Skorzeny. Galen himself had worked with Skorzeny during the war, and he basically knew what he was doing because Skorzeny was working on the stay-behind project for General Galen, who basically is the one that oversaw the entire setup of it in 1942.

30:26 This led Galen's apparent recommendation in 1952 to locate military experts for President Nassar in Egypt. This mission was confirmed by Miles Copeland Jr., who wrote about Skorzeny's involvement in the project for his book, Games of Nation. It was published in 1969. Copeland made it a point to inform the reader, quote, Skorzeny

30:53 has long ago been cleared of any war crimes, unquote, which is a hogwash piece of crap. He was cleared of war crimes by a fixed trial, so they could then use him in the stay-behind units. Also of note is the fact that Copeland had received his initial appointment to intelligence through an intro to Wild Bill Donovan of the OSS.

31:23 by Alabama Representative John Sparkman. Interestingly enough, the efforts of Senator Sparkman that the secret missile development program under Werther Van Braun was moved from Fort Bliss, Texas to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

31:47 You've got the guy. People are so crazy. So they're going to start helping Egypt get all kinds of weapons. And the guy that's helping them is the guy that was working with Warther Von Braun in Texas and arranges the fact that that project is going to be moved to Alabama because he's an Alabama senator now. Copeland may have also...

32:18 had a hidden hand in Skorzeny's assistant with Operation Paperclip. Because at the end of the day, Skorzeny does help find a lot of the scientists and get them where the U.S. and others want them to be. The CIA likely knew from classified sources that President Nasser had worked with Skorzeny during World War II and that the two were acquainted from that time. Nasser had a great respect for Skorzeny.

32:48 This made him a logical choice to send to Egypt. Not by coincidence, in 1953, Miles Copeland Jr. was on non-official cover for the CIA, working for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in Cairo, Egypt. Because everybody knows Booz Allen is a front for the CIA.

33:16 Copeland is going to basically cloak himself in a civilian contractor job and work for the CIA in Egypt. And the Booz Allen Company was one of Nasser's closest Western advisor. Nasser had been looking for military advisors to bring discipline to his military and also provide technical expertise to modernize his force. Copeland wrote, quote, he, meaning Skorzeny,

33:48 was approached in a routine manner, then at a higher level, then through a personal visit from a certain well-known major general of the United States Army, and finally through his father-in-law, Dr. Homlar Schlott, the banker, Hitler's banker. And they say it's his father-in-law, but...

34:17 We've already established that that's not actually true. So he thinks, the author thinks, the certain well-known major general from the American army was Charles Willoughby. Charles Willoughby was General MacArthur's former intelligence chief who had just retired from the service.

34:47 He retires from the Asian theater, and then he's right over here in the Egyptian area, ready to work. Newspapers in the U.S. actually recorded General Willoughby's mysterious arrival in Spain. The Oregonian, a Portland, Oregon newspaper, ran a headline, Max Aid in Spain, but the paper gave no clue as to why the general was there.

35:15 The exact purpose of the retired general's visit was not learned, but he will confer with the Spanish military men, unquote. The use of such high-ranking military intelligence officer is indicative of the senior level interface that would be carried out between the CIA and Skorzeny from 1952 onward. As related also in other chapters, Skorzeny's CIA intermediaries were, for the most part, senior U.S. executive level contacts.

35:46 So while in Egypt, Skorzeny conducted training of Nasser's forces, and he may have, but it appears that that was not his primary purpose. Skorzeny stayed in Cairo for several months, eventually leads to his network contacts. He managed to recruit about 100 German scientists and engineers for a project. Copland later wrote that Skorzeny had

36:15 done the best he could under the circumstances and remained on good terms with the american friends who were instrumental in getting him to egypt so basically um he's setting up what in effect is going to be stay behind units um and keep in mind there were a ton of german scientists because egypt was one of the rat lines along with spain of the conduit that they used to get

36:45 high-level German scientists out of Germany after the war. Because, of course, security was such a big deal in setting all of this up. Monitoring Skorzeny's activities while he was on these missions was an important part of what the CIA was doing. Because, again,

37:14 When you're dealing with somebody like this, you're going to want to monitor all of his activities, which, if you remember, is why we had the major and that captain assigned to him, kind of as an extra level to make sure you're not dealing with a double agent. The oversight of the CIA operations outside the agency was handled by the counterintelligence staff.

37:40 was aware of the agency's use of Skorzeny since 1948, and it was under William Harvey's control. The ultimate purpose of the counterintelligence staff reports on Skorzeny was to give the agency a heads up to see if any of the covert missions were compromised. So Skorzeny then declassified records appear to indicate that Angleton staff

38:15 worked closely with the covert action staff and special operations staff to mitigate potential security problems like penetration of their network. In 1954, General James Doolittle

38:30 was asked by President Eisenhower to form a commission to review CIA covert operations and intelligence capabilities. The Doolittle Commission determined that the Russian KGB was besting the CIA and recommended ideas to increase the efficiency and to produce more ruthless approach. Doolittle advises the intensification of the CIA's counterintelligence efforts to prevent or detect the elimination.

38:56 or elimination of the penetrations that were occurring in the CIA network. Soon after, CIA Director Allen Dulles expanded the counterintelligence staff and selected James Angleton to head it. Now, let me tell you how these things work. So, General Doolittle would have been one of the people that they knew was basically compromised. So, they hire him to come do an assessment.

39:28 And their assessment just mysteriously says the CIA needs to get bigger. And the CIA needs to have this cool new mission that they've been wanting all along. And now they just have to get it because the commission actually told them to, right? That's how all of this works. It happens a lot in all facets of the government. So we know Angleton had direct knowledge.

40:00 concerning Skorzeny's use by the CIA. In the early years before becoming counterintelligence, Angleton was the chief of staff in the Foreign Intelligence Operation Office. In 51, Angleton assumed exclusive control of the Israel desk and kept it under his personal authority for the next 20 years.

40:25 At some point in 62, he was made aware of the Israeli intelligence plan to use Skorzeny in a clandestine operation designed to shut down Egypt's rocket program, which was threatening their nation. Intelligence reporting also indicated that Egyptians may have developed radiological warheads for their missiles. So now we got a kind of foot stomp here. James Angleton, who's working with Skorzeny, right?

40:58 So supposedly Skorzeny's in Egypt setting up a rocket program that Israel doesn't want them to have, but he's working with Angleton. So Angleton was more than just the Israel desk. There's actually a monument in Israel that was dedicated to Angleton after he died. He was like, if he was not a Mossad agent sitting in the CIA,

41:29 no one ever would be. That's how close he was to Israel. It's crazy. So at some point in 62, he was made aware of a plan to use Skorzeny to shut down Egypt's rocket program, which Skorzeny was responsible for helping set up.

41:57 Skorzeny was familiar with the Egyptian science program, which he helped set up in 53. He was seen as an ideal candidate and would not be suspected as helping the Israelis. This unconventional approach was the brainchild of Isser Harrell, a close confidant of Angleton's and the head of Mossad. This plan to get rid of Egypt's

42:28 program that they had just set up was called Operation D-A-M-A-C-L-E-S. Harold's plan specifically targeted German scientists and technicians at a site known as Factory 333. Yeah, that's not creepy at all. To recruit Skorzeny, Harold dispatched to Spain their best Mossad agent, who's a name we've seen often.

42:59 rafi eaten r-a-f-i-e-i-t-a-n who along with another secret agent arrived in madrid under the guise of nato representatives they met with scorzini and explained the situation scorzini immediately agreed to help and to the shock of the israelis he didn't want any payment

43:27 But what he made them do is to agree to publish his memoirs in Israel. The original draft copy of the Israeli-published Skorzeny memoirs is in the Skorzeny papers that this author bought. Skorzeny made all of the necessary arrangements, departing for only a few days to Egypt to activate his network, because he'd already done the legwork.

43:55 and did not go to Israel during any aspect of the operation. For the simple publishing bargain, Israel received the intelligence they needed to shut down the Egyptian program, yet despite the success of this operation, in March 1963, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion terminated the program, since it had included intimidation, abduction, and assassination.

44:22 Ben-Gurion also demanded the resignation of Isser Harold. There is more to this story that should and will be corroborated at a future time. The counterintel chief, James Angleton, was not only close to his boss, Alan Dulles, but he was also very close to Richard Helms, another legendary officer and future CIA director.

44:57 It was said that Angleton's hallmark was the formation of secret units within secret units, which, you know, it's Operation Gladio. Shortly after taking over the CIS, the counterintel, Angleton created a section to investigate Soviet penetrations into the CIA called Special Investigations Group, or SIG.

45:20 This unit was so secret that many members of the counter intel staff didn't even know it existed. So this begs the question, was it really the unit to investigate Soviet penetrations or was this the unit inside of the CIA that managed Operation Gladio? Just a question I don't know the answer to. The unit's deputy chief was Newton Scotty Milner, M-I-L-E-R.

45:52 Myler. Angleton's most trusted subordinate. Myler's name is on the distribution list of several declassified CIA documents pertaining to Otto Skorzeny, so he definitely knew he was used. Other members included Raymond and James Roman. They were aware of Skorzeny. Angleton's gatekeeper was his loyal secretary, Bertha Danzenberg.

46:25 She was of German descent and had served in the Red Cross in Italy during World War II. This is another example and foot stomper because this woman was basically using the Red Cross as a cover for her intel work. She joined Angleton CIA in 1952 and she basically was his gatekeeper. Nobody got to Angleton without going through her.

46:59 Excuse me. Investigating potential Soviet penetrations was known to be an obsession with Angleton or Gladio. One of the former attorney generals, Lawrence Houston, recalled, Jim's staff spent far too much time reviewing old historical cases. They would go over and over old cases. They spent weeks and months on it. Angleton actively encouraged this work.

47:36 So, Houston's observation about the counterintel focus brings up another highly significant finding in the Skorzeny papers that also matches declassified CIA reporting. On August 25, 1955, the FBI office in Madrid became aware of the fact that United States Air Force attache, Major Bob Beek,

48:08 which is the guy we were talking about was used to babysit Skorzeny in Madrid, said that he had provided previously unknown decodes of certain message traffic. This caught the attention of the FBI, who immediately wanted to know the validity of the information and requested any new data the CIA might have on the organizations involved.

48:37 The outcome of the FBI inquiry is not known, but the highly detailed decodes are in the Skorzeny paperwork. In the end, Skorzeny emerges as a clear asset of Angleton's counterintel staff, shared with equally secretive offices of Frank Wisner and William Harvey. These men had close personal relationships and contact with Skorzeny, and it seems...

49:07 to have been restricted to this very small staff. Yusuf Skorzeny appears to have been entirely unknown to the rank and file. Under normal lines of authority, Angleton would have reported to the deputy director of plans, then to the director, but that is not how it worked. He definitely had his own power base inside of the CIA, and it was one of the most powerful offices inside of the CIA.

49:44 So that's what we've got. We're going to stop there tonight. That was chapter 13. Chapter 14 deals with the Skorzeny School of Commando Tactics. And we're going to talk quite a bit about him actually setting up. Because what this is talking about is Skorzeny sets up.

50:12 the tactical level training of stay behind units for the CIA throughout Europe. That becomes very important as we know, and we just discovered Liz and Bridget and I were looking today, Liza, we're looking ahead, doing a little bit more research for when we start our next book into Korea.

50:43 Just like with Italy and Portugal and Spain, Korea had training facilities on islands off the coast to basically do like terrorism, stay behind kind of secretive training bases. And that to me just opens up a whole new

51:16 aspect of all of this in what we're looking for. And these are the little things that when you're doing research, as we've all come to appreciate the patterns that evolve as you do this. So in the future, when we look at Operation Gladio and where they're located at.

51:37 One of the things you have to look at is nearby islands because it does seem to be a pattern that that's their favorite place to train, that and wooded areas. And it makes perfect sense because you are able to isolate the training and protect it because you're not going to let just anybody land on that island. So you set up the...

52:06 security. And then there's, you don't have to worry about passerbys just happen to see what you're doing. And it'd be interesting. I know we looked at Sardinia and found out that, you know, obviously kidnapping was kind of their specialty there. Because if you looked at the number of people that had gotten kidnapped, because they like to practice on the locals. We just can't forget that.

52:35 Because that's how mean and nasty these people are. When they set up those training sites in Africa on the WWF, the World Wildlife Fund's reservations. So in Africa, they went into countries, they destabilized, like assassinated the president, destabilized them. Then they would have to...

53:00 in order to rebuild from whatever internal strife they had, they would get World Bank loans at relatively high interest rates. So then a year later, when they can't make their payments, the World Bank would come to them, which was basically in bed with the WWF. And they would say, because it's the International Syndicate, hello. They would say, hey, you know that $10 million you owe me?

53:28 How about if you give me that nature preserve that's kind of located over there in the middle of nowhere and the WWF will take control of that nature preserve, will forgive your loan. And then they would use that nature preserve under the auspices. Oh, we're going to save the ivory while they're actually exploiting it to set up.

53:57 terror training camps and they use those terror training camps to practice particular expertise and they would send these gladio operators to this whole network of training sardinia canary islands um portugal um and some of the south african area countries so but what was happening in the one in africa is that all the look they were sending out

54:27 hunting parties to practice and they were assassinating the locals in the local villages. They didn't care. That's how evil these people are. And I did make the connection. We made the connection when we were reading the part about Robert Maxwell in Whitney Webb's book about him just disappearing off of his boat, supposedly drowned.

54:57 He was docked off the coast of Canary Islands and that's on the Canary Islands is where special forces taught this water survival skills. So I don't know, maybe they were practicing. So anyway, that's what we got for tonight. We will be back here. I think I normally, let me look real quick, do.

55:29 I've got a couple of things come up. Yeah, normally I do Friday morning. I'm not going to do Friday morning tomorrow because I have a hair appointment. And so we will be back Sunday night if I don't schedule something on Saturday. And depending on the weather, I may or may not. But Sunday at 7 p.m., definitely then maybe something on Saturday.

56:01 We've got a few things planned. So we're doing another radio show Saturday morning. And that one did get released. I will put the link on both true social and on Twitter. I saw that in my X direct messages. So I'll post that link for the radio show that I did last Saturday. And we will also,

56:31 record another Alpha Warrior podcast on Saturday at noon. So, and then Saturday evening, depending on what's going on, I may come back since we're going to miss tomorrow. But anyway, that's an update. Thanks for being here. See you guys soon.

Entities here

Claims made here

William Harvey member_of Federal Bureau of Investigation documented ▶ 4:28

“Not very far from where I used to live in Indiana. He was the son of an attorney. He decided to graduate from Indiana University, which is where I graduated from. He graduated a lot sooner than I did.…”

William Harvey member_of CIA documented ▶ 5:00

“Disagreement that he had with J. Edgar Hoover over a potential reassignment, he left the Bureau and went over to the CIA. Tom Polgar, P-O-L-G-A-R, a retired CIA officer who worked with Harvey in Germa…”

William Harvey worked_for James Jesus Angleton documented ▶ 5:55

“He had street smarts and an unconventional approach to clandestine operations, which coming from the CIA, that's probably not a good thing. Harvey's investigative background led to an assignment in 19…”

James Jesus Angleton appointed CIA documented ▶ 6:25

“Angleton. And we left James Angleton in the Italy setting up Operation Gladio timeframe. But at this point, he's left Italy and he takes over as assistant director to the special operations branch bac…”

James Jesus Angleton operated_in Italy host_asserted ▶ 6:25

Pierre Bertraud member_of France documented ▶ 6:55

“Roger Wybot, you remember him, W-Y-B-O-T, and Pierre Bertraud, the two French intelligence chiefs who was harboring Otto and Elsie when they were in Paris working on Operation Compass Rose setup. Skor…”

Otto Skorzeny member_of World Commerce Corporation documented ▶ 6:55

Frank Wisner founded World Commerce Corporation documented ▶ 6:55

Roger Wybot harbored Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 6:55

Pierre Bertraud harbored Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 6:55

World Commerce Corporation front_for CIA documented ▶ 6:55

Roger Wybot member_of France documented ▶ 6:55

Frank Wisner aware_of Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 7:24

“The bottom line is that these later legends of the CIA, Harvey, Angleton, and Wisner, were all aware of the CIA operational use of Skorzeny in the months after his escape. It can also be pointed out t…”

James Jesus Angleton aware_of Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 7:24

William Harvey aware_of Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 7:24

William Harvey transferred_to Berlin Operations Base documented ▶ 7:54

“and was working alongside Harvey and Wisner during this early period. In 1952, Harvey was transferred to Staff C to take charge of the OPC's Berlin Operations Base. That was called BOB, Berlin Operati…”

Berlin Operations Base located_in West Berlin documented ▶ 7:54

William Harvey led Operation Golden Lily documented ▶ 8:55

“Harvey was the perfect fit for the Cold War spy world. His office, too, was ready for war. He had thermite destruction grenades on top of every safe. He was once introduced to JFK as America's James B…”

Operation Golden Lily exposed_by MI6 documented ▶ 9:27

“running into East Germany, where subterranean telephone lines were tapped to record Soviet conversations. This project became known as the Berlin Tunnel, but was only operational for a short time. It …”

Otto Skorzeny involved_in DT Linen documented ▶ 10:01

“Despite the failure of the Berlin Tunnel, Harvey had numerous other OPC projects he was responsible for. And two in particular showed Otto Skorzeny's involvement. These projects began around 1950 unde…”

CIA used Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 10:30

“Their purpose was covert propaganda, harassment, and sabotage activity involving both covert and overt operations. D.T. Lennon was a psychological warfare subproject of Q.K. Demon, which continued unt…”

DT Linen subproject_of QK Demon documented ▶ 10:30

Rainer Heidelbrandt headed Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 11:01

“The group was headed by Rainer Heidelbrandt, H-I-L-D-E-B-R-A-N-D-T, a surviving member of the network that carried out the attempted assassination of Hitler in July of 44. Heidelbrandt was imprisoned …”

Rainer Heidelbrandt member_of July 20 Plot documented ▶ 11:01

Otto Skorzeny assisted Fighting League Against Inhumanity speculative ▶ 11:32

“And with help from the U.S. Army's counterintel, he founded this Fighting League Against Inhumanity, which they nicknamed KGU, in October 1948. It seems likely that Otto Skorzeny was contacted through…”

Rainer Heidelbrandt founded Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 11:32

CIA funded Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 11:58

“It was also possible he was the original paramilitary advisor to the project because it was completely funded by the CIA. The formation of KGU was announced publicly by its German founders, who resolu…”

Severin Wallach coordinated Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 13:00

“fair, and covert activities. The original group formation was coordinated by the counterintel agent Severin Wallach, W-A-L-L-A-C-H. He was described as brilliant and a solitary man who was convinced o…”

Lucian K. Truscott supervised Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 13:25

“didn't like working with other agents. The CIA's Office of Special Operations become interested in the project and coordinated with Wallach and the counter intel. In January 1951, Lieutenant General L…”

Otto Skorzeny involved_in Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 13:54

“of this operation. In a classified memo written March 30th, 1951, reports that Skorzeny was in Berlin, involved in preparations for the establishment of sabotage and resistance group. It's presumed th…”

Otto Skorzeny worked_with Severin Wallach documented ▶ 13:54

Otto Skorzeny located_in Spain documented ▶ 14:26

“The author is trying to decipher the notes, and he wasn't sure if it said Thompson or Stimson. The same memo says Skorzeny was settled down officially in Madrid and opened an engineering office, which…”

Reinhard Gehlen aware_of Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 15:02

“Q. K. Demon. Thanks for posting that. While it is true that Galen knew of Skorzeny's use of the CIA, use by the CIA, only a handful of others on his staff knew he was actually working for the CIA. The…”

Tom Polger project_manager_for DT Linen documented ▶ 15:35

“Wallach. Later, Wallach would transfer to the CIA. Secondly, the author interviewed CIA officer Tom Polger, who was the project manager for D.T. Lennon. When shown the declassified documents revealing…”

William Harvey managed Fighting League Against Inhumanity documented ▶ 16:06

“In December 1952, William Harvey arrived in Berlin and took over management of the OPC operations, including the direction of the KGU. Another group called the Investigative Committee for Free Jurist,…”

William Harvey managed Investigative Committee for Free Jurists documented ▶ 16:06

Colonel Robert Story assisted Investigative Committee for Free Jurists documented ▶ 17:39

“of Dallas, Texas, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who had served for General Charles Cabell during the war, arrived in Europe to assist the free jurist effort. It had previously been ment…”

Colonel Robert Story worked_for Charles Cabell documented ▶ 17:39

Charles Cabell aware_of Otto Skorzeny documented ▶ 18:10

“would become the deputy CIA director under Alan Dulles in April 1953. Cabell was intimately familiar with the CIA's use of Skorzeny prior to Colonel Story's arrival in Berlin. General Cabell's brother…”

Allen Dulles appointed James Jesus Angleton documented ▶ 38:56

“or elimination of the penetrations that were occurring in the CIA network. Soon after, CIA Director Allen Dulles expanded the counterintelligence staff and selected James Angleton to head it. Now, let…”

James Jesus Angleton spied_on Otto Skorzeny book_quoted ▶ 39:28

“And their assessment just mysteriously says the CIA needs to get bigger. And the CIA needs to have this cool new mission that they've been wanting all along. And now they just have to get it because t…”

James Jesus Angleton headed Israel documented ▶ 40:00

“concerning Skorzeny's use by the CIA. In the early years before becoming counterintelligence, Angleton was the chief of staff in the Foreign Intelligence Operation Office. In 51, Angleton assumed excl…”

James Jesus Angleton spied_on Egypt book_quoted ▶ 40:25

“At some point in 62, he was made aware of the Israeli intelligence plan to use Skorzeny in a clandestine operation designed to shut down Egypt's rocket program, which was threatening their nation. Int…”

Otto Skorzeny operated_in Egypt book_quoted ▶ 41:57

“Skorzeny was familiar with the Egyptian science program, which he helped set up in 53. He was seen as an ideal candidate and would not be suspected as helping the Israelis. This unconventional approac…”

Isser Harel headed Mossad book_quoted ▶ 41:57

Operation Damacles targeted_for_regime_change Factory 333 book_quoted ▶ 42:28

“program that they had just set up was called Operation D-A-M-A-C-L-E-S. Harold's plan specifically targeted German scientists and technicians at a site known as Factory 333. Yeah, that's not creepy at…”

Isser Harel recruited Rafi Eitan book_quoted ▶ 42:28

Isser Harel proposed Operation Damacles book_quoted ▶ 42:28

Rafi Eitan recruited Otto Skorzeny book_quoted ▶ 42:59

“rafi eaten r-a-f-i-e-i-t-a-n who along with another secret agent arrived in madrid under the guise of nato representatives they met with scorzini and explained the situation scorzini immediately agree…”

Otto Skorzeny did_business_with Israel book_quoted ▶ 43:27

“But what he made them do is to agree to publish his memoirs in Israel. The original draft copy of the Israeli-published Skorzeny memoirs is in the Skorzeny papers that this author bought. Skorzeny mad…”

David Ben-Gurion dissolved Operation Damacles book_quoted ▶ 43:55

“and did not go to Israel during any aspect of the operation. For the simple publishing bargain, Israel received the intelligence they needed to shut down the Egyptian program, yet despite the success …”

James Jesus Angleton relationship_with Richard Helms book_quoted ▶ 44:22

“Ben-Gurion also demanded the resignation of Isser Harold. There is more to this story that should and will be corroborated at a future time. The counterintel chief, James Angleton, was not only close …”

David Ben-Gurion removed_from_power Isser Harel book_quoted ▶ 44:22

James Jesus Angleton founded Office of Special Investigations book_quoted ▶ 44:57

“It was said that Angleton's hallmark was the formation of secret units within secret units, which, you know, it's Operation Gladio. Shortly after taking over the CIS, the counterintel, Angleton create…”

Newton Scotty Milner member_of Office of Special Investigations book_quoted ▶ 45:20

“This unit was so secret that many members of the counter intel staff didn't even know it existed. So this begs the question, was it really the unit to investigate Soviet penetrations or was this the u…”

Raymond and James Roman member_of Office of Special Investigations book_quoted ▶ 45:52

“Myler. Angleton's most trusted subordinate. Myler's name is on the distribution list of several declassified CIA documents pertaining to Otto Skorzeny, so he definitely knew he was used. Other members…”

Bertha Danzenberg member_of British Red Cross book_quoted ▶ 46:25

“She was of German descent and had served in the Red Cross in Italy during World War II. This is another example and foot stomper because this woman was basically using the Red Cross as a cover for her…”

Lawrence Houston spied_on James Jesus Angleton book_quoted ▶ 46:59

“Excuse me. Investigating potential Soviet penetrations was known to be an obsession with Angleton or Gladio. One of the former attorney generals, Lawrence Houston, recalled, Jim's staff spent far too …”

Bob Beek spied_on Otto Skorzeny book_quoted ▶ 47:36

“So, Houston's observation about the counterintel focus brings up another highly significant finding in the Skorzeny papers that also matches declassified CIA reporting. On August 25, 1955, the FBI off…”

Frank Wisner relationship_with Otto Skorzeny book_quoted ▶ 48:37

“The outcome of the FBI inquiry is not known, but the highly detailed decodes are in the Skorzeny paperwork. In the end, Skorzeny emerges as a clear asset of Angleton's counterintel staff, shared with …”

William Harvey relationship_with Otto Skorzeny book_quoted ▶ 48:37

World Wildlife Fund front_for Operation Gladio host_asserted ▶ 52:35

“Because that's how mean and nasty these people are. When they set up those training sites in Africa on the WWF, the World Wildlife Fund's reservations. So in Africa, they went into countries, they des…”

World Bank relationship_with World Wildlife Fund host_asserted ▶ 53:00

“in order to rebuild from whatever internal strife they had, they would get World Bank loans at relatively high interest rates. So then a year later, when they can't make their payments, the World Bank…”

Operation Gladio operated_in Sardinia host_asserted ▶ 53:57

“terror training camps and they use those terror training camps to practice particular expertise and they would send these gladio operators to this whole network of training sardinia canary islands um …”

Operation Gladio operated_in Canary Islands host_asserted ▶ 53:57

Operation Gladio operated_in South Africa host_asserted ▶ 53:57

Operation Gladio operated_in Portugal host_asserted ▶ 53:57

Robert Maxwell died_in Canary Islands speculative ▶ 54:57

“He was docked off the coast of Canary Islands and that's on the Canary Islands is where special forces taught this water survival skills. So I don't know, maybe they were practicing. So anyway, that's…”