The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 4

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0:00 um yeah oh my gosh um x is worthless as far as i'm concerned i don't know why our stuff is um so gets so messed up or attacked or whatever but whatever okay so we're gonna finish up um the end of chapter two and get into chapter three today so

0:28 George Kennan continued to press for the special studies group under the State Department control for things like the Italian operation, which was election interference. Admiral Hillenkotter now advised the White House that the CIA could carry out covert operations with no change to the NSC 4-A directive, even though his lawyers said they couldn't. They were just going to ignore that legal opinion.

0:57 When State refused to go along with this political warfare thing in any sane or sound matter, the CIA director threw up his hands. Early in June of 1948, Hill and Cotter told a Truman aide that Kennan could have it all. Let State run the apparatus and let it have no connection whatsoever with the CIA. Instead, President Truman, impressed by CIA's accomplishment in sabotaging the

1:26 Italian election expanded not only the functions of the agency, but those of the state and defense departments, plus the National Security Council. You know, the guy that said he regretted ever doing it. He just made it bigger after they interfered with the election in Italy that made it turn out the way they wanted. His policy directive, drafted primarily by Kennan,

1:55 included both psychological operations and paramilitary programs. You know, in addition to political warfare, we're just going to do the whole nine yards. Truman signed the new directive 10-2 on June 18th. Both kinds of missions would be carried out by a new organization taking operational orders from the CIA and its policy direction from secret committee chaired.

2:27 by the Director of Central Intelligence. Composed of representatives of the Secretary of State and Defense, along with the CIA Director, the Secret Committee became the unit of the National Security Council and worked directly for the President. It was called originally the 10-2 Panel, soon also called the Special Group. Funds for the new organization would be included in the CIA budget, while its Director would be named by the Secretary of State.

2:56 and approved by the nsc according to 10-2 directive quote the overt foreign activities of the u.s government must be supplemented by covert operations unquote even though they knew it was illegal three features of the nsc 10-2 direct are crucial to the evolution of covert operations for the first time

3:22 A presidential document specified a mechanism to approve and manage secret operations, making it responsible to the chief executive. That's critical because they try to rewrite history and tell us that Truman regretted creating the CIA. He had no regrets. He expanded unconstitutionally their authority by 10-2. Second, also for the first time, there appeared a definition.

3:53 of the Genesis. Finally, the CIA was given the primary role confirming the arrangement begun with NSC Memorandum-4A. The covert missions were to involve more than psychological warfare, more than just secret wars. The new definition specified that covert operations included all activities sponsored or conducted by the

4:22 U.S. either in support of friendly governments or against hostile ones with the stipulation that they were to be, quote, so planned and executed that any U.S. government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered by the U.S. government can be plausibly denied in any.

4:50 of any responsibility for them, unquote. That's devastating to that narrative. So we're going to do it. We're going to hide it from the American people. And if we get caught, it has to be done so we have plausible deniability so no one in the United States understands what was happening. The law of the 10-2 definition explained that, quote,

5:19 Such operations shall include any covert activities related to propaganda, economic warfare, preventative direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures, subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistant movements, i.e. stay-behinds, guerrillas and refugee liberation groups.

5:48 and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world, unquote. And of course, anything that they wanted to attack, whether it was communist or not, was going to be labeled communist. Virtually, the only thing left out is espionage. As far as this intelligence is concerned, the scale ran just short of armed conflict by recognized military forces.

6:19 So anything short of actual declaration of war was covered and the CIA was allowed to do it. The definition of covert operations contained in 10-2 endured for more than three decades. The Office of Special Projects, the new organization created to carry them out, later merged into the CIA, but the mechanism for presidential control prescribed in 10-2 endures till today.

6:50 George Kennan, the secretary who later soured on this whole enterprise, so we're told, remained an enthusiastic supporter of covert operations at their inception. It was Kennan who the secretary of state placed on the 10-2 panel as the first representative for the State Department, and Kennan again who assembled the short list of nominees from whom the director was selected.

7:19 At the head of the list can input Frank Wisner, whom he did not know but came highly recommended by Chip Bolin, the State Department's chief authority against the Soviet Union. And reportedly, George Marshall, Frank Wisner, OSS veteran, was a man who favored aiding quote-unquote captive nations, and that included partisans in the Ukraine.

7:49 area, which were Nazis. By some accounts, Wisner had been a prominent advocate of creating this covert action team. On August 6, 1948, they joined others to talk about making 10-2 mandate a reality. America's secret wars had begun. Chapter 3 is titled Secret Warriors. For the CIA in its formative years,

8:18 The existence of certain law firms held a key importance for the future of the agency. Obviously, the most prominent one was Sullivan and Cromwell. Established in 1879, its founders were no longer around during this time frame. But of course, the law firm continued on. The law firm retained William Nelson Cromwell's instinct for the jugular, attracting new powerful clients.

8:52 who in turn gave the firm's lawyers seats at some of the key passages of history. Cromwell, for example, represented the corporation that successfully arranged for the U.S. to take over the Panama Canal, which we've talked about. And the book doesn't mention, weirdly enough, that the arrangement was with a French company that had went bankrupt trying to do it with slave labor. That was Sullivan and Cromwell's.

9:23 customer, and basically sold it to the United States as a good thing to do, even though Congress had already passed legislation to create a Nicaraguan canal. John Foster Dulles, another of the firm's lawyers, played a role in Versailles Peace Conference at the end of World War I. His brother, Alan Dulles,

9:48 who had a bit part in Versailles, joined Sullivan and Cromwell in 1926 with Nazi Germany companies among his clients. During World War II, Allen went to Switzerland for the CIA director and the Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. By no means was Sullivan and Cromwell the only one. Donovan, Leisure, Newton, and Lombard

10:33 formed by William Donovan, OSS, was formed in 1929, while Bill himself, executor of private missions on behalf of FDR and founder of the OSS, returned to his firm but continued to agitate for the creation of the CIA and remained a strong supporter of the CIA throughout the rest of his life.

11:04 Donovan's firm employed a number of former OSS people, OSS veteran William Colby being one of them. Frank Wisner had his own law firm connection. That came easily to Wisner, who had an alliance between the two families, the two prominent families in Laurel, Mississippi, which had lumber interest there. His family was very wealthy.

11:36 and it was originally from the Midwest, and when they had cut down all the trees with no care to replant, they just picked up, left the town a mess, and moved to Laurel, Mississippi. He put down roots in Virginia at a private school and attended the University of Virginia. He graduated third in his class, bringing an immediate offer from a Wall Street firm. Wisner joined Carter,

12:11 Ledyard Milburn in 1934, located three floors above Donovan's law firm in the same building at 2 Wall Street in New York. Carter Ledyard did essentially the same work as Donovan's law firm. Even older than Sullivan and Cromwell, the firm had been founded in 1854 by lawyers from New York City and Buffalo, New York. James Carter,

12:41 the Buffalo Council, left after a few years and was replaced by Milburn. The firm steadily expanded. Perhaps its most notable account was American Express, and its greatest claim to fame in 1905 was when it hired FDR. At Carter Ledyard, Frank Wisner labored for seven years, eventually becoming a partner. There he met other associates like William Jackson,

13:13 Gordon Gray, and Tracy Barnes. Jackson, having just attained the exalted status of partner himself, had actually hired Wisner. The war clearly approached in mid-1941 before Pearl Harbor, Wisner volunteered for the Navy Reserve. Gray took up psychological warfare. Jackson became a senior officer in the Army G2.

13:47 So we've got a trifecta there. Tracy Barnes went into the Army Air Force. Ooh, a four hitter. We've got all the services covered from one law firm. Bill Jackson would conduct an outside review of their work and become a CIA boss when appointed deputy director of the CIA. Gordon Gray would have his own role as well.

14:23 commissioned a Navy Reserve officer, Wisner's international legal experience quickly led to him being assigned to the OSS. The OSS sent him to Cairo, then to Turkey, where in 1944 he opened an OSS station. As Nazi Germany retreated, Wisner did too. He moved to Bucharest and from September 1944 ran a small CIA station there. The Soviets

14:55 Takeover of this country in January 45 greatly affected him. That spring, as the Nazis collapsed, the German intelligence unit led by Reinhard Galen volunteered to spy for the Americans. Interesting, huh? Reinhard Galen working for the future CIA during the war, and he ends up being Dulles' best friend after the war?

15:24 working all of the stay-behind programs set up in NATO out of the Galen organization. Very, very interesting. Wisner would chair the OSS committee that recommended the United States arrange to exploit Galen. In this assignment, Wisner came under the command of Allen Dulles in Bern. The Washington desk officer responsible for that area was none other than Richard Helms.

16:00 And this, of course, is prior to the Operation Sunrise, but was part of Operation Sunrise and the transferring of the stay-behind units over to the United States and the ratlining out of all of these guys out of Germany. After the war, Frank Wisner returned to the law firm. He would work.

16:36 there for a little bit, but he still wanted the CIA set up, and they were all advocating for it. Wisner occasionally lunched with Alan Dulles at Sullivan and Cromwell. Dulles, like Wild Bill Donovan, became a public figure agitating for the CIA, what would become the CIA. In 1946, Wisner took a huge pay cut and returned to

17:07 the state the government as the deputy assistant secretary of state for occupied territories meaning eastern um europe early on he made a tour of the displaced persons camp in germany the posted state was one in which wisner could exercise his expertise on eastern europe not coincidentally his immediate boss had been a carter ledger client weird

17:41 Such a close-knit group. At home and at the office, Wisner developed fresh connections with Washington movers. People like State Departments Chip Bolin and Paul Nitz just finished working on a massive study of aerial bombing who had fingers in policy pies. Wisner jumped at the opportunity to take charge of a new Cold War action group and soon found himself ensconced at CIA headquarters.

18:11 The National Security Council approved Wisner's appointment on August 19, 1948. A week later, issuing the directive formally creating Wisner's organization, Admiral Hillencotter adopted the new name of Office of Policy Coordination. Weird name for a covert operation. The Office of Policy Coordination went to war. Before years end, Frank Wisner had already obtained a budget.

18:41 of almost five million dollars and he controlled seven overseas stations there was a total of a little over 300 people working for him the opc had access to another fund that had been set up of unused currency stabilization accounts at the treasury from their headquarters wisner's web began to encircle the world hundreds of projects flowed from the opc shop

19:15 Wisner needed people to carry them out. Within a year, OPC had expanded to 500 people. By mid-50s, there was another 1,000 on top of that. George Kennan, who fancied himself as a political warfare expert, supposedly reacted negatively to the transformation of the OPC being foreign interventionist.

19:52 They all seem to have really good 2020 hindsight. You notice that? They're in the thick of actually creating the monster. And then they all want, again, plausible deniability for history. And all seem decades later, when the cat's already out of the bag, oh, I really didn't mean to do that. By October 1948, Wisner had developed a general scheme of action.

20:18 He envisioned more than a dozen different types of covert operations in four major categories, psychological warfare, political warfare, economic warfare, and what he affectionately termed preventative direct action or covert operations. They included everything from poison pen letters to support of refugees.

20:47 to preclusive commodity purchases and market manipulation, to support a resistance and guerrilla movement like stay-behinds. The net effect was to involve the OPC in every imaginable clandestine activity possible. Proud of their capabilities, particularly those spreading propaganda and misinformation, Wisner began calling it his Wurlitzer.

21:18 Wisner's Wurlitzer. The OPC expanded steadily and soon had outposts in several of other buildings around Washington, D.C. Also, there would be a psychological warfare staff under Joe Bryan. Stalin had mobilized the Soviet Union for World War II by fanning flames of nationalism in his country.

21:56 The motherland theme in propaganda cloaked a nationality problem that predated Soviet rule to the beginning of Russian's expansion under the Tsar. Resistant right along, notably the Kazakhs and the Ukrainians, Ukrainians then fought the Russians as German auxiliary troops in what was called the Great Patriotic War, if you were in Russia. The CIA...

22:27 wanted to take advantage of the Ukrainian guerrilla armies, which we all know to be constituted by Nazis after the war. After migration began with the Soviet victory in 1945, joining the waves of displaced persons, Russian deserters, defectors, former prisoners of war, evading repatriation, and forced laborers began to fill the ranks of the Russian immigrant groups.

22:56 Beyond Soviet borders, there were satellite states of Eastern Europe. These people, too, didn't want to live under the Soviet Union. They were referred to as captive nations. The CIA quickly called them denied areas, places where intelligence operations could only be conducted with great peril.

23:21 Organizing resistance in the denied areas initially seemed a simple matter of making contact with the right people. The captive nations had disaffected minorities and groups of disillusioned social Democrats. The CIA viewed them as targets. At an early meeting of the 10-2 panel on August 12, 1948, an NSC representative made it clear

23:48 that the Office of Public Coordination should be controlled by the State Department during peacetime in the Pentagon during war. That disturbed Wisner, the CIA member of the panel in whose office the group often met. The first representative for the State Department or for the Department of Defense, Army Colonel Ivan Yeaton, said little.

24:13 In his turn, George Kennan demanded the State Department be given a detailed information about objectives and methods to be employed. Instead, Wisner effectively manipulated the system. The Director of Central Intelligence had been vested with the formal authority for OPC under the 10-2 directive. When he needed to, Wisner went to Admiral Hillenkotter, the DCI, under pressure to produce action against Russians.

24:42 He would oppose little that Wisner wanted to do. Kennan soon left the panel, replaced by Robert Joyce, an advocate for increased covert operations. Wisner would resort to the Pentagon, starved for intelligence on Russia, to get them, he would basically bribe them to do whatever he wanted to do at the 10-2 meetings. The blockade of Berlin began only five days after approval of NSC 10-2.

25:13 The State Department, impressed with the results of the CIA's intervention in the Italian general election, and the CIA, then being criticized for failing to warn of a coup that had occurred in Colombia, were not inclined to challenge Wisner's maneuvers. The OPC was divided into regional divisions. The Eastern European Division handled operations in the denied area of the Soviet bloc.

25:48 He talks a lot about the different functional staffs and stuff like that. That stuff doesn't necessarily matter to us. Wisner had instructions on not to interfere with their counterpart, the OSO, because that's the way they were divided at the time. Like they couldn't poach each other's people from each other. But they basically didn't pay attention to that.

26:20 Wisner developed Stuart Ossoff as one of his media people. For his secret propaganda programs, Wisner included a shortwave radio transmitter that he had acquired from the army and a fleet of air balloons to carry leaflets over the controlled area to begin their psychological warfare against the Soviet Union.

26:53 The staff kept hatching plots to demoralize the Russians. Everything from dropping senior Western trade goods over Soviet Union to taunt the people in the Soviet Union that didn't have access to those products. Also, he bought oversized condoms, had them marked made in the USA as a way to sexually intimidate the Russians.

27:25 These proposals grew so outlandish that the CIA director threatened to close them down. The more serious schemes involved massive propaganda campaigns and radio broadcasting. To conceal CIA's hand in these efforts, the OPC created public groups to whom the activities could be attributed. This was contemplated from the program's inception, Alan Dulles, who continued his lunches with Wisner.

27:52 and was soon asked by President Truman to participate in an outside review. Among the people that were part of this was retired Ambassador Joseph Grew, who in turn contacted DeWitt Poole, P-O-O-L-E, an OSS veteran, and then senior diplomat in Moscow. He was the senior diplomat in Moscow.

28:21 in Moscow at the time of the Russian Civil War. In June of 49, Grew and Poole set up a National Committee for Free Europe. It's a CIA front. Allen Dulles became its chairman and executive committee. Chairman of the executive committee. Figures included General Lucius Clay. He joined the board of directors. It's just like an old World War II comrade.

28:53 group to attack Russia. The committee created a broadcasting subsidiary called Radio Free Europe with corporate offices in New York. Internal Radio Free Europe documents make out Kennan as the father of the enterprise. In its studio in Munich, Radio Free Europe employed Eastern European immigrants as broadcasters, obviously because they know the language.

29:22 Radio Free Europe was secretly given Wisner's radio transmitter. A search began for more powerful equipment. The OPC kept in close contact, assigning a couple of officers undercover to work inside Radio Free Europe staff. He also had them as board members. Former OSS radio experts Peter Mero, M-E-R-O, and Robert Lang helped select trans...

29:52 mission sites near Frankfurt. The first Radio Free Europe broadcast was a half-hour program beamed into Czechoslovakia July of 1950. From the December Radio Free Europe, from that December they existed as a legal corporation. This and other broadcast units followed and became referred to in the CIA as the radios.

30:21 Russian adversaries were instantly alert to the danger of the broadcast and began jamming them. As for two years, they had already jammed the overt propaganda broadcast that was Voice of America. Truman's National Security Council contemplated a ring of transmitters surrounding Russia to alleviate that problem. Radio Free Europe's solution became saturating broadcasts.

30:48 in which a series of increasingly powerful radio transmitters in different locations beamed the same program to Eastern Europe simultaneously on different frequencies. By 1952, the nine new transmitters were online, including one in Portugal. Radio Free Europe approached critical mass. Saturating broadcast began in earnest with Stalin's death in 1953.

31:16 when Radio Free Europe pulled out every stop to get news into Eastern Europe. By then, the Munich headquarters at the edge of English Garden contained almost two dozen committees for liberation from Bolshevikism, started up in 1950. It was incorporated the following year. Franklin Lindsay put together its board of directors.

32:00 It was another CIA front. Robert Dreher, D-R-E-H-E-R, joined the CIA in 1951 as a Navy Reserve lieutenant. He had been expelled from Russia on spy charges three years before. His first broadcast was March 1, 1953. This radio had the same problem with different Russian immigrant groups.

32:29 The effort to impose some discipline on the immigrant groups eventually led to ending the CIA subsidy programs to the groups, overtly, anyway. They had a lot of infighting. You know, you had in the Soviet Union, the white Russians, you had nationalists, you had all kinds of different factions, and they manifested themselves.

32:55 outside of Russia as immigrant populations. And they basically were infighting all the time. There was a lot of trying to set them up to not appear because they wanted the CIA money bad. And there was a lot of infighting and exposure operations among themselves to disenfranchise one particular group or the other in the eyes of the CIA. So they were backstabbing each other big time.

33:25 The radios became an important source in the secret war against Russia. They used the balloon program where they put the propaganda flyers on the balloons. They delivered up to 400 tons of leaflets over the Soviet Union. I guess we didn't care about littering back then. C.D. Jackson becomes Radio Free Europe's president.

34:02 Politician Harold Stassen, journalist Drew Pearson, all were part of this program. Creation of the capability for paramilitary operations became a key facet in Frank Wisner's toolbox. Paramilitary efforts offered the most direct avenue to challenge Soviet power in the occupied territories. The paramilitary option had a defensive function as well.

34:34 The United States wanted to have stay-behind networks similar to the Russian resistance in World War II that would fight the Russians. If there was no invasion, the United States still wanted to use them to conduct paramilitary operations on Russians' own ground. The fledgling CIA

35:03 could not carry out these missions by itself and went to the Pentagon for assistance. A relationship with the Defense Department evolved despite some opposition. The Secretary of the Army initially prohibited any assignment of Army officers to the CIA on grounds that he wanted his service to have nothing to do with it. But by August 1948, the Joint Chiefs of Staff went on record declaring not only the guerrilla warfare to be supported,

35:31 under the direction of the NSC, but that the armed services form, not to form their own units for it. They wanted that left strictly with the Office of Public Policy Coordination. Individual military men could be given special training, but OPC would be the only organization with a comprehensive capability to plan the missions.

36:01 The military's interest became Frank Wisner's entree into outflanking the 10-2 panel when he encountered obstacles from CIA and State Department. In August of 49, Wisner asked the Army for extensive assistance, including the designation of an Army officer to serve as chief of the Office of Public Policy Coordination, Guerrilla Warfare Group, and use Army facilities.

36:32 to train the CIA paramilitary forces. While the request for a detaillee was later withdrawn, in mid-November, the OPC and Army representatives agreed to use Fort Benning, Georgia, so now you know why they relocated the School of Americas there, for CIA training paramilitary people.

37:01 One of the OPC's men at the conference was in fact on detached service from the Army. It was Colonel Richard Stilwell, who had served in Europe as a military officer. Stilwell played a major role in the CIA-Army relationship. There are certain Army assets in the field, especially in Germany, that would be useful to the OPC, the main one being the G2 Counterintelligence Corps.

37:30 with its 66th CIC detachment at Stuttgart. The 66th CIC had the responsibility for screening all displaced persons who would be the main source of OPC's agents. Some 42,000 people were screened by the 66th in 1949 alone. As late as 1951, 500 defectors a month were still coming.

38:02 from the Soviet Union. The 66th CIC also carried out positive intelligence missions in the Soviet zones, 2,211 of them in 1949, providing information useful to OPC's secret missions. Among them were the highly classified Detachment A people, but weirdly enough, they don't mention that in here. And again,

38:32 i find that very interesting okay we're going to go just a little bit further probably the most important resource for frank wisner pride from the army was an entire intelligence agency a german one of course this story stretches back to 1945 actually 44 um germany had a military intelligence unit called foreign armies east

39:05 That handled Soviet intelligence. That, of course, was ran by Reinhard Galen. The director that he worked for had ordered him, as they were being pushed back west, to destroy his records. But he didn't. He took them all and buried them. Then he used that as another cachet, in addition to all of his caches of weapons, as a bargaining tool at Operation Sunrise.

39:34 The general then contrived to have himself taken by Americans. Galen offered to tell them everything he knew about Russia and bring together a cadre of his former top people to add to that intelligence capability. And he peddled the wartime allies or files. And isn't it interesting that, of course, he knew to do all of this because of his former working relationship with Frank Wisner. Galen handled it.

40:04 first by the Counterintelligence Corps in what was called Operation Rusty, became a case for the Army's European intelligence chief, Brigadier General Edwin Seibert. He didn't have a lot of experience with Russians, so Seibert's G2 interrogators found Galen's knowledge impressive. He was transported to Washington in August of 1945.

40:34 dressed up as an army general and that got left out too. They went to Fort Hunt near Mount Vernon, used throughout the war for high value prisoners. Extensive debriefings with G2 and OSS took place with Wisner being one of them. So Wisner was reacquainted with his source of information while Wisner was in East Germany.

41:02 It makes it so much more understandable when you understand all of these connections. Galen began an alliance with the U.S. that ultimately took him back to Germany to create the Galen Organization and eventually the BND, which was their counterpart to the CIA. Creating an American relationship with Reinhard Galen provided an early illustration of a reoccurring theme.

41:34 making deals with bad guys. The CIA is notorious for it. So despite the fact that we were supposed to be denazifying the process of destroying the Nazi ideology, not only by prosecuting top Nazis at war crimes trial, but prohibiting former Nazi officials from participating in any post-war political life.

42:05 That was thrown right out the window. Galen is merely an example of many. A long list of former NATO Sporzini. Why would they leave him out? Were sometimes helped to escape through rat lines opened and formed by U.S. intelligence. And even ended up, many of them, working for Americans. The CIA developed an entire operation called Project Bloodstone.

42:51 to use these Germans. The executive agent for Bloodstone was Wisner's man, Carmel Offie, O-F-F-I-E. We've talked about him before. Odd duck. In each case, authorities rationalized decisions with variations on the argument that a pact with the devil is good if it may help save heaven. Irony.

43:19 The U.S. decisions were consistently in favor of pacts with assorted devils. There were at least three major instances. Bloodstone, in which more than $5 million was directly spent to employ known Nazis on U.S. security projects. Operation Paperclip, which brought former Nazi scientists into the United States. And Operation Rusty, the Galen organization.

43:47 In each case, Nazi connections of individuals were minimized or lied about completely. The CIA sought to suspend immigration law in bringing people into the United States. In 1949, Congress modified the CIA portion of the National Security Act to permit the agency to bring in up to 120 foreigners a year into the country outside normal immigration channels, which is how they get their terrorists into the United States.

44:16 Funds assigned to the CIA for contingencies were also made available to pay these people. So we're not only just going to bring them in, we're going to put them on our payroll. The action taken with Reinhard Galen was an early example of this. The Galen organization was installed at Pollock near Munich in December of 1947.

44:43 At the time, still working for the U.S. Army, Galen hired his specialist on the Soviet Union without any regard to their Nazi past. Others were from Nazi security services. No one kept an eye on any of it. The Army's Counterintelligence Corps initially assigned Colonel Russell Phillip to supervise Operation Rusty. The Central Intelligence Group had its own liaison.

45:16 Samuel Buzard. Buzard surveyed Galen's group, interviewing its deputy director, Eric Waldman, to make recommendations as to whether the Army or the CIA should take over the Karen feeding. Central Intelligence initially rejected the course of

45:47 the army doing it and admiral hill and cotter even recommended that the galen unit be abolished we know that didn't happen yet in 1948 the galen organization was fully functional and the soviet threat was everything by then the army had begun winding down its activities in germany and basically began pulling its support from the galen organization colonel

46:17 Charles Bromley would be the chief army representative. The man from the CIA, also from the army actually, but in the reserve, having just joined the agency, was James Critchfield. In the last days of the war, Critchfield had actually led his troops right past the mountain where Galen hid. Critchfield continued into Austria, where he returned later as a young colonel with the counterintelligence group.

46:48 He joined the CIA in the summer of 1948. Richard Helms approved personnel assignments for Germany at the time, and Critchfield's file went to him. Helms felt he had made an excellent choice. Critchfield's original assignment to create an intelligence activity aimed at the Russians morphed into the Galen organization. Critchfield began that September with no CIA or Army input, no files, no nothing.

47:16 His army colleagues soon dropped out. Galen and his assistant, Eric Waldman, and Heinz Herr were Critchfield's main points of contact. In the end, Critchfield justified all of this as there was no option. There was no option other than the Galen organization. Codenamed Marshal from his Vienna days, Jim Critchfield became the chief.

47:51 of the Galen organization on the American side. His deputy, Pierre De Silva, had helped manage security for the atomic bomb project during World War II. Another, Henry Pleasance, had been a part of this as well. The two once suggested to Critchfield that Galen be dumped, the base chief.

48:21 refused to do that. Through Critchfield, the CIA provided money, equipment, and advice for the Germans and passed on orders from Washington. We now know that Washington also gave Galen a house. The organization in return provided intelligence, both analysis and raw reports from a few networks it imagined had been salvaged from the debris of war. The organization, as it began,

48:52 being called the Galen organization, actually. And this would be crucial for the CIA secret war, provided training bases, which would accommodate a variety of Eastern European and Soviet immigrants and defectors being groomed to be agents and infiltrators to return. CIA secret armies began here. And I would say that was NATO secret armies. And it did begin there. So we're going to stop there for.

49:22 the day. I know some of this is a review for those of you who've been here for a long time, but it's important in the context of what's in the rest of this book to understand this as kind of a review. And there are a few new pieces as every book provides us as we go through them. There's a lot more names in this book than normal.

49:52 of the participants which is what i find very interesting um i've done a little outside research on some of them and very interesting cast of characters um but that's for another day did you have something illini illini i don't see their mics bridget are you still there i don't see anybody's mics oh they just come up can you not talk bridget

50:42 Oh my gosh. This is so frustrating. Let me take, um, okay. You can hear me. Can Bridget, um, can you hear them guys talk? Is it just me that can't hear them? Okay. I'll go out and come back in. Okay. I'm back. Yeah. I am so sick of them attacking our space. All right. Alina, go ahead.

51:43 Colonel, it's pretty interesting to sort of see Prados' version of Operation Gladio, or at least the events sort of surrounding it, and the standing up of the post-war European intelligence apparatus. And it basically backs up and aligns with everything we've heard from Paul Williams and a lot of the other folks out there, including the stay-behind units.

52:12 uh including you know reinhardt galen and the nazi you know uh collaboration with u.s intelligence and of course the u.s partnership with the sicilian mafia which when i first heard you speak um two years ago i was i was gobsmacked by i'm like this couldn't be true can you hear me yeah now i can hear you then promise write this book safer democracy um

52:54 I just looked that up. It's 2000, like five or six, um, 2006. Okay. I mean, I, I think the, the first, um, okay. You had Alfred McCoy's book, you know, in 72 detailing the relationship with Lucky Luciano. And then you had Chris Simpson go into more detail on the 48 Italian elections and exactly everything that was involved with that in like 80.

53:24 eight but then you know prognosis is kind of giving us some new material here too yes uh in 2005. yes um which is why i found it fascinating um you know probably 90 of it is stuff we've heard but there's a lot more names in this as far as the people that were participating um

53:48 Some of the agents names I've never I don't have in my records yet. That's what I found fascinating. He does have more details. And, you know, so I'm fascinated that when you first started listening to my podcast, that your reaction was there's no way any of this is true. And then I bought the book and I read the citations.

54:18 And I got, you know, Alfred McCoy's book and I ran it all the way to the ground. I realized he had a 1972 hearing. So this was relatively, this guy had a decent amount of credibility. You check the footnotes on it. You see that in 71, he interviews Lucien Conine and Conine gets a gold medallion out of his pocket. And he shows it to this, you know, 26 year old.

54:46 yale phd student who's doing his paper on all these different people he says hey this is what the corsican mafia gave me they made me an honorary mafia don for all of my relationships with them and the cia and and you know the cia's got a really good relationship with the corsican mafia and he just gets it out of his pocket 71 shows it to this yale phd suit i just found that fascinating

55:14 Yeah. And obviously you had the same reaction that I did when I first came across Paul Williams book. I was like, there's no way this is true. You know, because I've shared with you guys, I lived in Italy when he talks about it being revealed in the 1990s. And I'm like, there's just no way this is true. And the more I dug and the more.

55:42 Bridget and Cousin Ed, all of us, the more we dug into it, we're like, not only is it true, it's 10 times bigger than even Paul Williams knew. And I think we've made that case. Go ahead all along. Did you want to say something? I can't hear you. Oh my gosh. Bridget, can you hear him? Bridget, this is so bad. Oh my gosh. So bad.

57:01 Can you hear me now, Bridget? Oh, yes. Yes, I am. Oh, my gosh. I can hear you. It reminds me of the very beginning of when we started doing these shows. I just want to throw this piece of crap away. Holy crap. Yes. It's exactly like when we first started. In fact, all along is now just in my vision, because we took him down and brought him back up. He's just spinning and spinning and spinning.

57:30 may not be able to breathe bring him back up oh my gosh that's just crazy all right well um colonel while we're waiting for all along do you want to talk about the les wexner um deposition sure i just found that fascinating um yeah i i think i think you're we're gonna need like a pete bruton style character to basically go through that

58:00 um deposition i i'm gonna sort of be cautious in my comments about you know what i think was really being communicated there um but i'm gonna point out a few things that stuck out um number one it seems like um i think the majority committee was or maybe it was the minority um but one of the questions was asking questions about how uh number one um les wexner's security team

58:28 was providing security for uh jeffrey epstein too and that in fact some of them actually had to call les wexner's house in order to get it out uh in order to leave um and then what i just found fascinating was les wexner gets asked you know another question and he goes off on a tangent but i see all along his back i see he has a muted mic yeah just go ahead

58:59 No, just finish your thought and then we'll go back to him. All right. I'll finish my thought on this one. So everybody was commenting about his lawyer, Michael Levy. Michael Levy was, you know, Webster's lawyer there. Previously, he had worked for the Clinton administration. He had also worked for ExxonMobil.

59:24 But, you know, he leans over and there's a hot mic minute where Levy says that, you know, if you answer another question with more than five words next time, I'm going to blankety blanking kill you. Now, five words is a common comment from anybody who's ever been a who's ever hired a lawyer.

59:49 to help them with the deposition. You'll hear comments from lawyers all the time saying, you know, any words you need to use to answer the question, and then they'll say something like, and they'll hold their fingers up and count each extra word cost million dollars as they count out seven to say that, you know,

1:00:17 Try to use as few words as you can to answer the question. Well, Les Wexner goes off on this tangent. Yes, he did. That makes his lawyer clearly uncomfortable as he talks about how Jeffrey Epstein was talking about how he needed to start doing better inventories of all the household assets and keeping track of them. And how he ultimately wound up hiring a household manager.

1:00:44 who had, I think his words were previously run, the U.S. Embassy in Rome. He just sort of offers this gratuitously, and you could see, like, you know, at the very end of it, you know, Mike Levy leaned over and gave him that comment. And I think, you know, that U.S. Embassy to Rome, that's the same building.

1:01:12 That the CIA's Rome Station is in, that's the same building that James Angleton was running the Rome Station from, that Vernon Walters was running the Rome Station from, that Tom Karamasins, who was responsible for Operation Condor, or at least the beginning of it with the Pinochet coup in 1970, was running the Rome Station from. And then, of course, now we find that all these other connections to...

1:01:41 that are slowly coming out about FC's connections to Iran-Contra. And you see how there's an extra link now. Not just this tangential thing from the Cuban anti-communists being involved with Lucky Luciano and the Sicilian mafia, but also some of these direct links to Wexler and Wexner.

1:02:08 And the Italian embassy at the very least. I just find that fascinating. And nobody's really – somebody right now should be trying to track down who that household manager was and what her resume looks like and her previous work before being at the Italian embassy – sorry, the U.S. embassy in Rome. It does make you – and so just –

1:02:37 to follow up on that real quick. Doesn't knowing all about Operation Gladio change your perspective of everything? It does. I mean, you know what to look for in these things. And that exchange, that 90 seconds, checks off a lot of boxes. It does. It just checks off so many different boxes in all the link analysis. And I mean, Diligent Denison, I mean,

1:03:08 I mean, he's on to this one too, but, like, I'm not sure he's got the right person yet. And I think, I mean, if somebody needs to talk to some of the victims or, you know, some of the people in his household, be careful which witnesses you talk to and what their interests are. But somebody's got to run that person's name to ground.

1:03:35 And I think we can still do that right now. And hopefully, I mean, I don't want to start suggesting things because I think it's a delicate situation right now in terms of getting that information out. But I hope it gets out. Yeah, I agree. All along, go ahead. Yeah, so much in that chapter. But the part that stuck, kind of stood out for me was,

1:04:05 You know, when he's just very clear about how integrated CIA was with the Pentagon already by, you know, it was almost like it's continuity from wartime operations from World War II. It never really stopped. So the Cold War is an institutional reality in the relationship between CIA and the Pentagon.

1:04:32 You know, which probably killed the first Secretary of Defense, right? Whether you think it was enthusiastic gravity or just grave gravity. And it's like, if we don't see that, my point here is, like all of the institutional continuities between academia and the Pentagon, right? During World War, during wartime, right?

1:05:00 um between communications and the media and um a line i mentioned that this guy simpson which i really urge all citizens to read this it's essential cold war media history and it's it's absolutely necessary um well you know he in his book science of coercion he's basically saying like look the whole um army air what they call the um

1:05:29 army air corps the social scientists doing in in charge of like gathering data and analyzing the um the island hopping campaign against japan in world war ii you know i had people like walter conkite and like half friggin frankfurt schools and they're like playing badminton and shit and so um but also like key leaders at nbc abc etc and see of course cbs and um but these institutions

1:05:59 you know the that were from world war ii never stopped and they became the cold war and if we don't see that then we don't see the jfk assassination yeah and which is why i wanted to you know if possible just take one second and read that your words which i've you know i've read a lot about the jfk assassination and i found these exceptionally and it kind of is the result of

1:06:27 aren't not seeing the continuity between world war ii and the cold war in in our institutions right whereas like you know they're if the defense has already outgrown or the war department has already outgrown foggy bottom before they can move into the new offices and then they make the pentagon no president is going to be able to control that it's just a fact and so

1:06:54 If we can't see that, then we can't really understand the JFK assassination because, you know, JFK was like when CIA was 13 and understanding the links at that early in the Pentagon are absolutely crucial. And so, but this is what you wrote. The Chicago plot against JFK foiled days before involved Cuban exiles with OAS training, same networks. What does this, why does this matter?

1:07:24 Continuing Colonel Towner, JFK's moves threatened the whole Gladio ecosystem. He sought a taunt with the USSR, parentheses, Gladio's raison d'etre, parentheses, cracked down on CIA's rogue ops in Cuba, Vietnam, and alienated French nationalists by backing Algerian independence and raging OAS. Israel wasn't acting alone. This was a CIA orchestrated hit with Mossad as junior partner using Gladio's...

1:07:53 They also stayed behind for muscle. De Gaulle himself suspected a NATO CIA plot after JFK telling associates in 1967, quote, they killed him because he wanted peace. The same forces that tried to kill me. I think you nailed that one, Colonel. We're not surprised here. Amazing work. Thank you.

1:08:23 The people over on Rumble saw me, like, turn my head. I started to have to yell at my dog because one of my dogs was trying to chase one of my chickens. So just in case you saw that, like, flash there. Anyway, yes. I'm so sick of these people that only want to shove off JFK's assassination onto Masada Israel.

1:08:52 Anybody that says that is ignorant or they have an agenda. It is simply not true. Anybody that has read any history about any of this knows that's ignorant or they have an agenda and it needs to stop. So I will continue to beat that dead horse. Go ahead. Go ahead all along. Yeah, Colonel.

1:09:27 i agree with what you're saying about the um israel and jfk aspects it's absolutely clear that israel was not at all you know probably would did want jfk dead absolutely absolutely and it's absolutely clear right now that israel a country doesn't

1:09:54 take on the role of Israel as international pariah, and in my opinion, absolutely correctly, without playing some kind of a cat's paw game, right? Because Israel, they're becoming almost like a cartoon Satan, or, you know, probably cousin of the real one, first or second cousin, you choose. And it's like, you don't do that unless someone has your back.

1:10:27 And you're not playing a cat's paw game for the region. So I think it's very easy to look at how Israel's genocidal behavior is being used and manipulated by the CIA and the Zionists themselves in a symbiosis to fragment U.S. dissent.

1:10:53 And not even just the Zionist. I mean, the Zionists are part of the entire thing. Absolutely. That's why I think it's so important in your comment, which I just quoted, that you integrated the Gladio aspect that JFK was himself facing as the absolute threat and indeed executioner.

1:11:26 You can't know anything about history and see the two guys that were speaking out about Algerian independence. One had over 30 attempts on his life and JFK had at least two or three at the same time and not go, huh, maybe they're related. You just can't. I'm sorry.

1:11:58 But anyway, yeah, that's I mean, that's the amazing part of Talbot's book where he's saying, you know, that JFK tries to call him and say, I cannot control that CIA who is helping the OAS try to assassinate you. The media not reporting on that is a death blow to the New York Times and NBC, et cetera. Right. Yeah. And the whole.

1:12:27 JFK assassination cannot be mediated because of TV news and the media in general shotgun marriage to the narrative from Dallas. So it's a shotgun marriage unto death for the people unless we reclaim our public airwaves. Yep. Agreed. All right. Alicia, go ahead.

1:12:54 I just wanted to kind of speak a little bit to what Alana was talking about. So I'm actually in mutuals with Noxy, and I sent her the Bruton book and told her to look into it, and she seemed really interested in that. Just trying to get them on a similar page to where y'all are at. Yeah. Yeah, but if y'all have anything else that you'd like to send her. Oh, sure. Thanks. I think Noxy's kind of aware of Operation Gladio.

1:13:23 They seem to be making some of the connections to the Rome Station there. Diligent spaces are sometimes very interesting. Obviously, he's got kind of a good nose sometimes for certainly understanding the overall intelligence network. There's also a lot of talk sometimes with Grock. But I think it's worth him chasing this one down.

1:13:53 And I think it would be really neat to get, you know, a Colonel Towner or a war hamster up there to kind of discuss, you know, what's going on with Les Wexner and the whole situation with Barry Seal and, you know, Terry Reed. You got multiple with you have the DOJ and their own sworn affidavits.

1:14:18 You know, it's not conspiracy theorists saying it. It's the Department of Justice who said that the CIA was involved in drug trafficking and that these people were CIA contractors and these people were using CIA equipment to transport drugs. The only question is who put them up to it. The witness, you know, the defendants and the witnesses all kind of seem to say that it was being orchestrated by the CIA.

1:14:45 And then when you got that and, you know, the other connections to organized crime in Iran-Contra playing out, there's clearly a connection going on. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, obviously they missed the part who put the CIA up to it. Nobody has to put the CIA up to it. They've been involved in the drug trafficking for decades by that time. Was Terry Reid doing it by himself?

1:15:16 Or was this under an agency remit is the question. Yeah. I agree with you. Bridget, go ahead. Yeah, I can believe this. We're getting raided on the chat by biohackingville. No, that's, no, that's not what that is. In order to, that's that thing I was telling you I have to do in order to get the five raids. So on Rumble.

1:15:46 In order to keep your premium status as a podcaster, you have to raid. That's a term they use. You have to suggest your audience, when you're done, go to another live show. It's called raiding the show. And it's a dumb name, but that's what they call it, raiding the show. And so I have to do five of them.

1:16:15 in a rolling 30 day period of time. So you're going to see that at least five times in 30 days, because I'm not going to do it otherwise, unless I knew, you know, friends of mine were doing a podcast, which nobody does during this time. Otherwise, I wouldn't do that at all. They just make you do these dumb things. And that's what I was talking about yesterday. I have to do five hours of premier.

1:16:45 or premium rumble content in order to keep that status. And that status allows your videos to be seen by more people. So you want to keep it, but I put all of my stuff out there. I don't have a secret five hours worth of stuff to say, because I don't want to say anything that everybody doesn't have access to. So I don't, I.

1:17:12 I kind of jokingly said, I guess I can just turn on premium and plant my garden. I don't know, but I don't, I don't want, yeah, I don't want anybody to buy a premium rumble thinking that they're going to get some top secret information that no one else is going to get. Cause I don't do that kind of crap. So I have no idea how I'm going to do that or what content I will do, but somehow I'm going to have to do it.

1:17:40 Maybe I'll just turn my video on and put it in front of Bridget's beautiful bookcase with all my books on it and leave it on for five hours. I don't know. That's great. Yeah. I just, you know, when you change things on me, I freak out. Trust me, I'm not changing anything. Yeah, this is just stuff we have to put up with in order to maximize the exposure.

1:18:09 i think it's and since we were having so many glitches over here oh i know right yeah all right alicia go ahead um again say back to y'all i i agree with island again i i think it would be great if we're able to see a um one of y'all to get to catch up the diligent people on where y'all are at um with the project gladio i did also kind of shove um

1:18:39 your name in Noxie's face and said hey catch up so it's been fun for me this week I'll just say that because it's been interesting because I caught up with y'all a bit and then with the Texans in here we've been kind of waking up to a lot of things been going up here that's aligned with what y'all found aligned with and seeing that the Noxie crew or the Diligent is and all those people kind of come now finding the realization about the mafia

1:19:09 and kind of seeing it for what it is in that direction, it's almost like we the people are kind of coming to a more clear understanding together. Yes, I agree with that. Alicia, for the record, I'm not 100% sure they've got their woman. Diligent is going around saying it's Lindy Boggs. I think...

1:19:35 On the one hand, I think this information is probably knowable. We can probably get it through the various victims and witnesses in the case or the Wexner family or others as to who this woman from the embassy to Rome was. On the other hand, just because she appears once in an Epstein email,

1:20:02 And because she was in charge of the embassy at one point, I'm not sure that we've got this one confirmed yet. But I'm fascinated to get the right answer on it. That crew is like a dog with a bone. They'll go down, and even if the bone does end up being the right one, they'll find some sniffs along the way that'll get them in a different direction. I check in and out with them.

1:20:31 I like they're just I don't have the kind of time that that following diligent like fully takes um but but yeah they it's they go down a lot of different roads but they it seems like you know I check in every so often and they get closer each time um because they're going about it from like an evidence-based approach of like they're not going through like like what y'all are doing like systemically like here let's look at this and then let's add it it's like

1:21:01 They're going down different tangents as something pops up and they explore that one deeply and then come back up. So it's more of like a meandering journey, if you will. Well, you know, the one thing I'll say about Diligent Spaces is, I mean, he's on the right track and he asks good questions. But, you know, three times out of four, when I tune into one of his spaces,

1:21:29 It's basically this Grok account, this lady, this AI lady is basically reading off a whole bunch of research to him. And I do think that it would be more fun for him to rotate speakers through there. I don't think he's ever going to do that. He won't. He won't. Yeah, I know. I think it would be a lot more fascinating to have the Colonel up there, to have Warhamster. And yeah, have Grok to resolve disputes.

1:22:00 I'm not going on anybody's show that uses Grok to fact check me. Sorry. And that's the problem that I had with him up front. When I first started doing this, I had to actually tell Grok where to go look for this information. And I argued with them repeatedly. Oh, there's no such thing as that. And okay, well, it's right here. It's right here. And here's the declassified CI. Oh, look at that. There it is.

1:22:26 Anybody that relies on AI to fact check people is lazy. And I'm not going to have an intelligent conversation with somebody like that. Because it's funny, because just yesterday, I asked, I just do this periodically to see how more it's evolved. I asked, I don't even remember what I was researching, something yesterday.

1:22:53 um in another book and i asked without telling it the name of the book i asked grok what this particular thing was and then i asked um gab ai the same question grok came back and told me i was a conspiracy theorist and gab ai

1:23:13 gave me because it's been tracking my history and knows that i'm interested in operation gladio it pulled in the entire other aspects of it that i didn't even ask it about um that's why you can't um rely on um ai at least at this point to fact check anything because grock's still calling me a conspiracy theorist and i've never

1:23:41 put anything out there that has not been documented several times. These AI services sometimes have a bigger normie bias than CNN does. The secret sometimes is to feed in the sources that you want it to reference and have available to it into the context window. You have to do that because otherwise it's going to tell you the shit doesn't exist.

1:24:11 And if I already have it, why would I be asking it anything? It's already in my head. I also get a kick out of it. The other day I just said, quit throwing your opinion in. Quit throwing your opinion in. You know, and adding, like you're saying, that it's a conspiracy theory that's already been proven. I said, no, just digest it. Just digest it. Just digest this and spit it out.

1:24:42 And when you get to a point where you're trying to pull its opinion out, it will shut down completely. Oh, yes. Look, I mean, it's a conspiracy theory that's already been proven. But that makes it a conspiracy, not a theory. Yeah, yeah. It's a conspiracy theory that runs all the way to the ground, so therefore it's a conspiracy reality. Yeah. But, I mean, my favorite way to do it...

1:25:10 And I guess it's just because I enjoy debate and I enjoy I enjoy if I'm on the receiving end of psychological warfare, but I can confront it on a level playing field or even one that silts a little bit against me. But I can show up with all my sources and basically just keep dropping citation after citation after citation that the skeptics have to acknowledge are highly credible and authoritative.

1:25:44 I think that that is what... I can hear him. Can you hear me? Oh, my gosh. Hang on. Let me check. Oh, well, I mentioned psychological warfare. There you go. You're back. Holy crap. I love debating people. I'm not going to bait anybody that's going to fact check me on Grok. It just isn't going to happen.

1:26:24 I'm willing to do it as long as I can cite my own sources and basically say, hey, the Washington Post is more authoritative than Grok. Here, take a look at this front page article from 72. Or, hey, I'm just citing the New York Times, guys. This isn't a conspiracy theory. Seymour Hersh wrote about it. Or, hey, you know, this is extensively covered in the Washington Times. Here's your newspaper article. You know, go argue with them. Don't argue with me.

1:26:53 Don't call me a conspiracy theorist. Call, you know, call these authoritative sources, you know, who you, you're just some rando on the internet too. You go argue, you know, with mainstream media sources. And when you do that, it kind of, you know, it changes the nature of the conversation. Yep. Agree. All right. I think we got that. Yes.

1:27:23 Yeah, on that note, I just wanted to add, especially with the U.S. media citations, it can actually be extremely useful to illustrate the extent to which the CIA is running the government right now. Because, I mean, if you see something that was permitted in the Washington Post in 1977 or 78, it's just like another galaxy from...

1:27:52 Right now, where the Senate is scared to, you know, ask a single question about the CIA. And it's the most unchecked, you know, part of government. So where would absolute power go? You know, which we're experiencing right now. So, yeah, excellent show today. Thank you. Just because of all of you guys. I love the actor part.

1:28:22 And the engagement that all of you guys do. I love being on this journey with you guys. It's been fantastic and enlightening beyond measure. Okay. So it's kind of like our psychological warfare support group. Anyway. All right. So take care.

1:28:51 Any news on when the video is going to come out? Asking for a friend? No. Did we get a... We'll talk about it offline. I don't want to talk about that in front of everybody. We just need to secure the rights for it. But the video is going to blow your mind, guys. Absolutely. I was just excited. Yeah. Because it really is perfect. Yeah, we have some paperwork to do before we can release it.

1:29:20 Um, yes. Um, it's going to like it. I need everybody in this audience and everybody in your audiences to repost it, repost it, repost it, like repost it every day for like the next seven days after we release it. Um, cause it's crazy. And plus it's that good. Um, all right. So you guys, um, hold on just a second. I wanted to, yeah.

1:29:50 So, we have, I'm trying to find out, all the, or next week looks pretty much just normal as far as shows goes at this point. So, if anything pops up, I will post it on the calendar. But otherwise, I'll see you back here on Monday at 4. You guys have a wonderful weekend. See you then. Okay.

1:30:22 You guys take care. Have a nice weekend.

Entities here

Claims made here

George F. Kennan proposed NSC 10/2 book_quoted ▶ 0:28

“George Kennan continued to press for the special studies group under the State Department control for things like the Italian operation, which was election interference. Admiral Hillenkotter now advis…”

Walter Bedell Smith proposed CIA book_quoted ▶ 0:28

CIA carried_out_attack 1948 Italian election book_quoted ▶ 0:57

“When State refused to go along with this political warfare thing in any sane or sound matter, the CIA director threw up his hands. Early in June of 1948, Hill and Cotter told a Truman aide that Kennan…”

NSC 10/2 founded Office of Policy Coordination book_quoted ▶ 1:55

“included both psychological operations and paramilitary programs. You know, in addition to political warfare, we're just going to do the whole nine yards. Truman signed the new directive 10-2 on June …”

Harry S. Truman signed NSC 10/2 book_quoted ▶ 1:55

Office of Policy Coordination subsidiary_of CIA book_quoted ▶ 6:19

“So anything short of actual declaration of war was covered and the CIA was allowed to do it. The definition of covert operations contained in 10-2 endured for more than three decades. The Office of Sp…”

George F. Kennan member_of National Security Council book_quoted ▶ 6:50

“George Kennan, the secretary who later soured on this whole enterprise, so we're told, remained an enthusiastic supporter of covert operations at their inception. It was Kennan who the secretary of st…”

George F. Kennan appointed Frank Wisner book_quoted ▶ 6:50

Allen Dulles member_of Sullivan & Cromwell book_quoted ▶ 9:48

“who had a bit part in Versailles, joined Sullivan and Cromwell in 1926 with Nazi Germany companies among his clients. During World War II, Allen went to Switzerland for the CIA director and the Secret…”

William J. Donovan founded Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Lombard book_quoted ▶ 9:48

Frank Wisner studied_at University of Virginia book_quoted ▶ 11:36

“and it was originally from the Midwest, and when they had cut down all the trees with no care to replant, they just picked up, left the town a mess, and moved to Laurel, Mississippi. He put down roots…”

Frank Wisner member_of Carter, Lanyard, and Milburn book_quoted ▶ 12:11

“Ledyard Milburn in 1934, located three floors above Donovan's law firm in the same building at 2 Wall Street in New York. Carter Ledyard did essentially the same work as Donovan's law firm. Even older…”

Gordon Gray member_of Carter, Lanyard, and Milburn book_quoted ▶ 12:41

“the Buffalo Council, left after a few years and was replaced by Milburn. The firm steadily expanded. Perhaps its most notable account was American Express, and its greatest claim to fame in 1905 was w…”

Tracy Barnes member_of Carter, Lanyard, and Milburn book_quoted ▶ 12:41

William Harding Jackson member_of Carter, Lanyard, and Milburn book_quoted ▶ 13:13

“Gordon Gray, and Tracy Barnes. Jackson, having just attained the exalted status of partner himself, had actually hired Wisner. The war clearly approached in mid-1941 before Pearl Harbor, Wisner volunt…”

Frank Wisner member_of Navy Reserve book_quoted ▶ 13:13

William Harding Jackson member_of CIA book_quoted ▶ 13:47

“So we've got a trifecta there. Tracy Barnes went into the Army Air Force. Ooh, a four hitter. We've got all the services covered from one law firm. Bill Jackson would conduct an outside review of thei…”

Frank Wisner operated_in Romania book_quoted ▶ 14:23

“commissioned a Navy Reserve officer, Wisner's international legal experience quickly led to him being assigned to the OSS. The OSS sent him to Cairo, then to Turkey, where in 1944 he opened an OSS sta…”

Frank Wisner operated_in Turkey book_quoted ▶ 14:23

Frank Wisner operated_in Cairo book_quoted ▶ 14:23

Reinhard Gehlen spied_on Soviet Union book_quoted ▶ 14:55

“Takeover of this country in January 45 greatly affected him. That spring, as the Nazis collapsed, the German intelligence unit led by Reinhard Galen volunteered to spy for the Americans. Interesting, …”

Frank Wisner recruited Reinhard Gehlen book_quoted ▶ 15:24

“working all of the stay-behind programs set up in NATO out of the Galen organization. Very, very interesting. Wisner would chair the OSS committee that recommended the United States arrange to exploit…”

Frank Wisner headed Office of Policy Coordination book_quoted ▶ 18:11

“The National Security Council approved Wisner's appointment on August 19, 1948. A week later, issuing the directive formally creating Wisner's organization, Admiral Hillencotter adopted the new name o…”

Office of Policy Coordination carried_out_attack Soviet Union book_quoted ▶ 18:11

Frank Wisner recruited Stuart Ossoff book_quoted ▶ 26:20

“Wisner developed Stuart Ossoff as one of his media people. For his secret propaganda programs, Wisner included a shortwave radio transmitter that he had acquired from the army and a fleet of air ballo…”

Joseph Grew founded National Committee for a Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 28:21

“in Moscow at the time of the Russian Civil War. In June of 49, Grew and Poole set up a National Committee for Free Europe. It's a CIA front. Allen Dulles became its chairman and executive committee. C…”

DeWitt Poole founded National Committee for a Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 28:21

Allen Dulles headed National Committee for a Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 28:21

Lucius Clay member_of National Committee for a Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 28:21

National Committee for a Free Europe front_for CIA book_quoted ▶ 28:21

Radio Free Europe subsidiary_of National Committee for a Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 28:53

“group to attack Russia. The committee created a broadcasting subsidiary called Radio Free Europe with corporate offices in New York. Internal Radio Free Europe documents make out Kennan as the father …”

Radio Free Europe funded CIA book_quoted ▶ 29:22

“Radio Free Europe was secretly given Wisner's radio transmitter. A search began for more powerful equipment. The OPC kept in close contact, assigning a couple of officers undercover to work inside Rad…”

Office of Policy Coordination funded Radio Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 29:22

Franklin A. Lindsay headed League for the Liberation of Peoples book_quoted ▶ 31:16

“when Radio Free Europe pulled out every stop to get news into Eastern Europe. By then, the Munich headquarters at the edge of English Garden contained almost two dozen committees for liberation from B…”

Robert Dreher member_of Navy Reserve book_quoted ▶ 32:00

“It was another CIA front. Robert Dreher, D-R-E-H-E-R, joined the CIA in 1951 as a Navy Reserve lieutenant. He had been expelled from Russia on spy charges three years before. His first broadcast was M…”

League for the Liberation of Peoples front_for CIA book_quoted ▶ 32:00

Robert Dreher member_of CIA book_quoted ▶ 32:00

C.D. Jackson headed Radio Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 33:25

“The radios became an important source in the secret war against Russia. They used the balloon program where they put the propaganda flyers on the balloons. They delivered up to 400 tons of leaflets ov…”

Drew Pearson member_of Radio Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 34:02

“Politician Harold Stassen, journalist Drew Pearson, all were part of this program. Creation of the capability for paramilitary operations became a key facet in Frank Wisner's toolbox. Paramilitary eff…”

Harold Stassen member_of Radio Free Europe book_quoted ▶ 34:02

Office of Policy Coordination operated_in Fort Benning book_quoted ▶ 36:32

“to train the CIA paramilitary forces. While the request for a detaillee was later withdrawn, in mid-November, the OPC and Army representatives agreed to use Fort Benning, Georgia, so now you know why …”

Frank Wisner recruited Reinhard Gehlen book_quoted ▶ 39:34

“The general then contrived to have himself taken by Americans. Galen offered to tell them everything he knew about Russia and bring together a cadre of his former top people to add to that intelligenc…”

Reinhard Gehlen founded Gehlen Organization book_quoted ▶ 41:02

“It makes it so much more understandable when you understand all of these connections. Galen began an alliance with the U.S. that ultimately took him back to Germany to create the Galen Organization an…”

Frank Wisner headed Project Bloodstone book_quoted ▶ 42:51

“to use these Germans. The executive agent for Bloodstone was Wisner's man, Carmel Offie, O-F-F-I-E. We've talked about him before. Odd duck. In each case, authorities rationalized decisions with varia…”

CIA funded Project Bloodstone book_quoted ▶ 43:19

“The U.S. decisions were consistently in favor of pacts with assorted devils. There were at least three major instances. Bloodstone, in which more than $5 million was directly spent to employ known Naz…”

CIA funded Operation Paperclip book_quoted ▶ 43:19

CIA funded Operation Rusty book_quoted ▶ 43:19

Gehlen Organization located_in Munich book_quoted ▶ 44:16

“Funds assigned to the CIA for contingencies were also made available to pay these people. So we're not only just going to bring them in, we're going to put them on our payroll. The action taken with R…”

Reinhard Gehlen recruited Eric Waldman book_quoted ▶ 44:43

“At the time, still working for the U.S. Army, Galen hired his specialist on the Soviet Union without any regard to their Nazi past. Others were from Nazi security services. No one kept an eye on any o…”

James Critchfield headed Gehlen Organization book_quoted ▶ 47:51

“of the Galen organization on the American side. His deputy, Pierre De Silva, had helped manage security for the atomic bomb project during World War II. Another, Henry Pleasance, had been a part of th…”

CIA funded Gehlen Organization book_quoted ▶ 48:21

“refused to do that. Through Critchfield, the CIA provided money, equipment, and advice for the Germans and passed on orders from Washington. We now know that Washington also gave Galen a house. The or…”

Alfred McCoy exposed Lucky Luciano book_quoted ▶ 52:54

“I just looked that up. It's 2000, like five or six, um, 2006. Okay. I mean, I, I think the, the first, um, okay. You had Alfred McCoy's book, you know, in 72 detailing the relationship with Lucky Luci…”

Christopher Simpson exposed Sicilian Mafia book_quoted ▶ 52:54

Lucien Conein relationship_with Corsican Mafia book_quoted ▶ 54:46

“yale phd student who's doing his paper on all these different people he says hey this is what the corsican mafia gave me they made me an honorary mafia don for all of my relationships with them and th…”

Les Wexner did_business_with Jeffrey Epstein host_asserted ▶ 58:28

“was providing security for uh jeffrey epstein too and that in fact some of them actually had to call les wexner's house in order to get it out uh in order to leave um and then what i just found fascin…”

Michael I. Levy worked_for ExxonMobil host_asserted ▶ 58:59

“No, just finish your thought and then we'll go back to him. All right. I'll finish my thought on this one. So everybody was commenting about his lawyer, Michael Levy. Michael Levy was, you know, Webst…”

Michael I. Levy worked_for Carter Administration host_asserted ▶ 58:59

Vernon Walters headed CIA Rome Station host_asserted ▶ 1:01:12

“That the CIA's Rome Station is in, that's the same building that James Angleton was running the Rome Station from, that Vernon Walters was running the Rome Station from, that Tom Karamasins, who was r…”

James Jesus Angleton headed CIA Rome Station host_asserted ▶ 1:01:12

Tom Karamessines carried_out_attack Augusto Pinochet host_asserted ▶ 1:01:12

Tom Karamessines headed CIA Rome Station host_asserted ▶ 1:01:12

Lindy Boggs operated_in Rome Station speculative ▶ 1:19:09

“and kind of seeing it for what it is in that direction, it's almost like we the people are kind of coming to a more clear understanding together. Yes, I agree with that. Alicia, for the record, I'm no…”