The Colonel’s CornerSafe for Democracy Part 10 (11)

auto-scroll word highlight ▶ Rumble @ here

Transcript

0:00 Hello, Miss Bridget. Okay. I don't have any idea how many people will be able to join us tonight because this is obviously not a regularly scheduled time. So we're going to go ahead and do the show. People can watch it at their leisure. And we'll go from there. Thanks, everybody, for joining us. Megersard, I'm so glad to see you back in the audience.

0:34 I hope you're feeling better. You've been missed. Love seeing you there. Okay, this chapter is going to be some slow going because the one thing that I love about this book is this book names more names than any book that we've read as far as the CIA goes. And it's important to talk about these people as...

1:09 The author brings them up so you can put into context who these people are. So this chapter, while we know the overall theme, there are some new names in here for us. So again, it's going to be slow going. So just stick with me. This chapter, chapter seven, we're on page 124. It talks about adventures in Asia. And it goes back in time.

1:39 to like the end of World War II. We're very familiar with the story. So we're not gonna focus so much on the story. We're gonna focus on the people involved in it since we pretty much all know the story because we've been discussing it for the last three years plus. Okay, now the author makes a note. He uses, just for those of you who are following along in the book, and of course you guys know I struggle with these names.

2:10 He uses perpetually through this chapter, even though he notes in the footnote on the first page of this chapter, that Chiang Kai-shek's name is, in the old spelling, was called J-I-A-N-G, J-I-E-S-H-I, however you say that in Chinese. We're going to call him Chiang Kai-shek. And there's a few others that...

2:42 have like two spellings of their names. So just bear with me if you're actually following along in the book, because I'm going to call him Chiang Kai-shek because I know how to pronounce that name. And it's the name that he's most notoriously known as, which is, again, God's timing based on Secretary of State Rubio's recent comment about bringing

3:12 the Chiang out or unleashing it. And I'm kind of wondering if he actually understood the real meaning of that because he's actually not only a warlord, but goes on to be, thanks to the CIA support, the most notoriously large opium dealer.

3:41 post-World War II for a significant period of time. So in China, cooperation between the Nationalist, which is Chiang's forces, and the Communist Party broke down soon after the defeat of Japan. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao merely resumed their interrupted competition for power. And I would...

4:08 argue that it wasn't interrupted during World War II because they still fought each other. They just were more focused on the Japanese. Religious and nationalist movements recast China, India, and Southeast Asia as actors in a global ideological struggle. The United States participated in the struggle from the beginning. After abortive

4:38 efforts to mediate between Chinese factions, President Truman aligned the U.S. with Chiang Kai-shek against the communists. Mao's field army nevertheless swept through mainland China. The nationalist collapse climaxed in 1949 when the Chinese communists overran Beijing and South China despite

5:06 American military and economic aid to Chiang Kai-shek. And at precisely the time when the U.S. covert action capabilities was coalescing within the CIA and the Pentagon. Now, keep in mind, basically the fighting is over in 1945. This is four years after that. During that entire time, the OSS just basically transitioned into the precursor for the CIA and the CIA.

5:36 and continued to support Chiang Kai-shek while he's in China as part of that fight. And that's a logical perpetuation, but a fact that most people don't know. Washington soon considered exploiting the still tenuous communist control of the mainland using nationalist bases on islands off the coast.

6:08 Of course, the primary island was Formosa. But as we've learned through this study, it was not just Formosa. There's like seven or eight of them. The Korean War injected tremendous momentum into the program, almost like it was designed to do that. In turn, this expansion eventually created a headache for the secret war managers.

6:37 The clandestine campaigns enjoyed only indifferent success. The intelligence buildup that occurred greatly expanded the CIA's capability for and interest in covert operations. And you're going to understand that when we go through some of these names, because those names reappear often in our Gladio story. They cut their teeth on this.

7:05 Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces established themselves on the islands offshore, chiefly Taiwan. At the time, originally it was Formosa. Then they just renamed it to Taiwan. The Chinese communists had no navy to speak of and no experience with amphibious warfare. Mao's army made one great effort in early 1950 to fight their way

7:35 onto Hainan, H-A-I-N-A-N, the next largest island to Taiwan. They succeeded after 10 invasions and considerable casualties. When, as so happens on the mainland, the morale of the nationalist troops broke. Superior force was no guarantee against defeat. Chiang Kai-shek ordered

8:05 the nationalist survivors back to Taiwan. Although there were fears the communists would follow, an invasion of Taiwan was a much more difficult proposition and was not even attempted. Proposals for covert action predated nationalist defeat in the Civil War. Chiang had gone to Thailand in early 1949, resigning the presidency in favor of his vice president,

8:36 General Lee Sung-jen, who tried to negotiate with Mao. That spring, Claire Chenault, a retired Air Force officer who had commanded the Flying Tigers during the Sino-Japanese War, and afterward organized a private airline notoriously known as the Civil Air Transport, which we know evolves into Air America.

9:05 and is basically a CIA proprietary. It had initially operated inside of China. He went to Washington with a proposal for U.S. support to the nationalist Xi'an in southern China, plus covert aid to form guerrilla forces loyal to Ling Shenzhen and Chiang Kai-shek, because Li is basically his deputy.

9:39 Chenault's airline had fallen into hard times, so it was going to be a cash windfall for Chenault as well. The State Department was initially not interested in the Chenault plan, so the former general decided to go to Thomas the Cork Corcoran, who basically served as a CIA lobbyist and was a business partner with Claire Chenault.

10:08 and civil air transport because he loved working with the CIA. Corcoran put Chenault in contact with CIA, culminating in a series of meetings during the summer of 1949. Now, keep in mind, the Korean War starts in 1950. Timing is very important to this story. So they're getting all the ducks in the row as...

10:40 And understand what's going on in Korea. Korea was promised a unified election because they had basically been serving as a colony of Japan. So after the war's over, they were promised a unifying election. And if you guys remember way back when, years ago, when we covered Korea, the U.S. military

11:08 And the CIA had went into Southern Korea because that was their, you know, how we talked about them being divided up. The Soviet Union ally was supposed to be kicking out the Japanese in the northern sector. The southern sector was under U.S. control. They were supposed to be kicking out the Japanese down there, but instead had decided that in addition to kicking out the Japanese, they were going to kill all the loyalists, nationalists.

11:37 that wanted a unified country. So at the same time they're kicking the Japanese out, they're basically exterminating entire villages that were predominantly nationalist and wanted that promised election. So they're prepping the battlefield in 1949 for what is going to become the Korean War because we were not going to keep our promise of a unifying.

12:05 election because we already knew that the predominant figure at the time was Kim and we didn't like him. So we didn't control him. So he wasn't going to be allowed to be in control of the entire country of Korea. We are going to sabotage that. We are not going to keep our word and we're going to sabotage that. So by August, Claire Chenault,

12:39 was talking to Colonel Richard Stilwell, Chief of the Far East Division of Wisner's Operational Covert Branch of the CIA. He thought that an airline like Civil Air Transport could provide an important covert asset. And the CIA had an interest in ensuring military aid.

13:12 So President Truman simultaneously directed the State Department to re-examine the feasibility and basically told them to get on board with this plan. Stilwell was in China during World War II. He was working with the OSS there, as was Paul Helliwell. Before these deliberations could be completed, the Nationalist Resistance on the mainland

13:46 disintegrated. So now they've lost their foothold in mainland China, forcing a shift of operations mounted from outside of China. Civil Air Transport acquired greater prominence because now you're going to have to ferry the fighters in. They're not actually in mainland China. And keep in mind, the most productive opium fields at that time was in southern China.

14:17 Because Chiang Kai-shek was in charge of them and his KMT army. That's the reason why they wanted that property back. The fact that Mao was an avowed communist gave them top cover. In early October, the CIA received an analysis of the Chennault plan from George Kenan, which took no position on the project, but nonetheless allowed Wisner.

14:51 to contend that state had approved it. Civil Air Transport was enlisted in the Secret War, flying its first CIA missions on October 10, 1949. Tommy Corcoran, on behalf of the Civil Air Transport, and Emmett D. Eccles, E-C-H-O-L-S, of CIA's Office of Finances, signed a formal agreement.

15:21 on the 1st of November. And I bet they were singing, we're in the money. Meanwhile, on October 28th, a detailed proposal for covert operations in China from General John Magruder went to the Secretary of Defense. Magruder, citing his experience as chief of the Strategic Services Unit, which was one of the precursors to the CIA, advocated active operations. Secretary of Defense,

15:53 Louis Johnson forwarded the proposal and the accompanying memorandum from Wisner to Truman. But the collapse of the resistance, i.e. the Nationalists, on the mainland temporarily paused the process. This became a defining moment for civil air transport. Founded in 1946 by Chenault and Whiting Willauer.

16:26 And just real quick, I want to remind you guys, because we talked about him already, who this is. Whiting Willauer is none other than a Princeton University and Harvard Law School graduate. He will go on.

16:57 to be the American ambassador to Costa Rica and Honduras. And he is also considered one of the key players in the 1954 operation against Arbenz that we just covered because he was in Honduras, just as a refresher. His specialty was admiralty law in Boston. And why is that important?

17:24 because of the Boston Brahmins and the maritime monopoly. That's also where United Fruit was. And remember, he was involved in the United Fruit Guatemalan coup. So this is one of the main players in the beginning of the CIA. Also, so there was a reason why he was picked.

17:54 by Claire Chenault to be quote-unquote co-founder of the Civil Air Transport, which was going to be a proprietary entity of the CIA. Because again, these oligarchs, part of which is the Boston Brahmins, that were in, they know how they're going to be using the CIA. So having one of their lawyers

18:23 inside the CIA that will go on to be an ambassador and manipulate all of these world affairs on behalf of these oligarchs is critically important to this story. Okay, Claire Chenault and Willauer in 1950, in the lead up to all of this, basically sells

18:53 Civil Air Patrol lock, stock, and barrel to the CIA. So it comes, no kidding, a proprietary airline of... So I just wanted to give you guys that kind of bridge to the story we just told about the Guatemalan coup and the one we're talking. And obviously the Guatemalan coup happens in 1954. So this is...

19:18 preceding that he goes on after his success in setting up this entire opium network to his prize for doing what we're about to talk about was getting an ambassadorship to Guatemala well actually Honduras and then orchestrating the Guatemalan coup so it pays really well if you decide you want to be part of this

19:49 Okay, this became a defining moment for civil air transport. The airline's performance in 1948 was impressive. 34 million ton miles, almost a quarter of a million passengers, and about 90,000 tons of cargo was consigned. So they're going to have a lot of money. By mid-1949, however,

20:22 Runaway inflation in China had put the nationalist disintegration in jeopardy. Well, both of them, the inflation and the disintegration of the nationalist movement on mainland China. This brought the civil air transport to kind of like the brink of disaster financially.

20:53 That's when the CIA steps in and they basically buy the airline. The airline used the cash to relocate to Taiwan with a corporate headquarters in Hong Kong. And why is that important? Because Hong Kong is under the jurisdiction of the UK at this time. That ended the, well, it didn't end, it changed the arrangement, the leadership.

21:30 No longer were they located on mainland China. Claire Chenault's friendship with Chiang Kai-shek meant the end of Civil Air Transport's domestic air service since the communists had taken over. But CIA money did not solve all of their problems. Access to a fleet of transport aircraft became a great boon for the CIA after they purchased it.

22:02 In Europe, air missions had to be run ad hoc or through the U.S. and British Air Forces. Missions required interagency discussion, planning, horse trading. In Asia, it was just an open field because they had no competition. Frank Wisner could dispense of all of the politics and do whatever he wanted.

22:28 Occasionally, there came a question whether civil air transport crews would volunteer for flights. But since Willauer's pilots flouted their skills and can-do attitude, that was rarely a problem. And these are the same pilots that go and fly those missions in Guatemala later. The first arms request came from General Ma Poo Fang. He was a Muslim.

22:59 in northwest China. He was touted as having up to 50,000 troops. Aid to the Muslims is the only covert action known to have been specifically mentioned by President Truman at a November 1949 meeting on assisting the Chinese nationalist cause. But before shipments could be organized, General Ma,

23:32 was defeated by Mao as well. He gathered his $1.5 million in gold bars and escaped on a civil air transport plane to Saudi Arabia. Recruits for missions to the mainland had to be found. This was not difficult because the nationalists all wanted to return. Shane Kyshek sounded the keynote.

24:04 In a speech in which he promised back to the mainland. That was kind of like the rallying call. And that was later picked up by the China lobby, which Claire Chennault basically led. That was kind of their motto. Back to the mainland. Admitting that they're all Chinese on a Chinese island. Or they would be saying back to China. No, they're all Chinese. But there were difficulties in Asia.

24:37 not unlike those the CIA encountered in Europe. Among the nationalists, there were factions, all of them hoping to corner USAID. Alfred T. Cox, a Wisner officer, was sent to Hong Kong to represent CIA as Civil Air Transport Headquarters. He worked as a sort of a broker between the U.S. and the squabbling factions.

25:07 whose third force, Resistance, based itself in Hong Kong, and again, that's basically Chiang Kai-shek's deputy, hoped to become CIA's exclusive Chinese ally, but the agency dealt with anybody that would come around. Chinese politics embarrassed Washington from the beginning. Immediately upon leaving the mainland in December 1949,

25:36 60-year-old acting President Lee went to New York for medical treatment. Invited by President Truman for an official visit, Lee claimed to have almost 200,000 guerrillas loyal to him, not Chiang Kai-shek, him personally. In a memorandum dated February 22, 1950, he proposed a four-point plan, including guerrilla warfare,

26:07 underground activities penetrating overseas Chinese populations and mobilization of liberal elements dissatisfied with both the communists and nationalists. As acting president of China, i.e. Taiwan, Li stayed at the official Blair House residence.

26:35 President Truman planned a formal reception for Lee and a luncheon to be held on March 2nd. But the day before, in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly reclaimed the presidency, which left Washington holding the bag because now they've got basically a VP they're giving state functions for. Instantly,

27:06 That deprived Lee of any perceived power in Washington, D.C. Despite internal struggles, Wisner's group of officers continued to think Lee offered a viable alternative, his third force, untainted by either communism or the corruption of the nationalist government. So right here, they're acknowledging that Chiang Kai-shek is corrupt because he's a freaking drug lord.

27:38 Wisner's Far East Division Chief of Operations was James G.L. Kellis, K-E-L-L-I-S. He worried that backing both factions only robbed the U.S. of sincerity. Because Chiang Kai-shek controlled the offshore islands, the potential bases for secret wars, there was ultimately no choice but to support him in their secret war against China.

28:09 The China campaign was the mastermind of the Far East Division, a unit that was a microcosm of the early atmosphere in the CIA. It was full of cliques, too. One came from the Army's World War II 19th Infantry Division, another from the OSS in Burma, and Wisner's Far East Division chief was none other than Richard G. Stilwell.

28:38 was on loan to the CIA from the Army. He had headed the 19th Division Operations Staff. His China branch chief, William Dupuy, his primary logistics officer, Gilbert Strickler, and commanders of the CIA detachments on two different offshore islands.

29:09 They were critical to the campaign, as was Edward Hamilton, Lon, L-O-N, Redmond. They were all former 19th Division veterans. Jim Kellis had been with the OSS in both Turkey and Greece, meaning he's their expertise in the stay-behind units because they set them up during World War II towards the end.

29:38 in both Turkey and Greece. Ray Pearce, the chief of Wisner Station in Taiwan, had fought with the OSS Detachment 101 in Burma during the war. So you see what's playing out here. You basically have an army faction in the CIA and a former OSS faction. And there's kind of a rivalry between the two. Stilwell's deputy was Desmond Fitzgerald.

30:10 And just for you guys that may be new, we're going to talk about him for just a second because he's a very interesting guy as well. Desmond Fitzgerald was, he eventually becomes the deputy director of plans, which is Wisner's outfit. And he also grew up in New York City.

30:37 and was educated at a grooming school called St. Mark's. He also went to Harvard and then graduated from Harvard Law. This is why War Hamster and I go through all of these people's background because they all look so similar. He spent time during World War II in Burma, which is where they relocate Chiang Kai-shek for a period of time.

31:08 And he was personally recruited to Wisner's outfit by Wisner. He becomes good friends with William Colby, who, again, was involved in all of this as well. And he is part, Fitzgerald takes part in the Tibetan operation, where you remember we were ferrying the Tibetans not just to Saipan, but also to...

31:37 Colorado Springs, sending them through basically a guerrilla warfare camp. And they got caught in Colorado Springs doing that. And he also was involved in the initial failure of the first coup in Indonesia in 1958 against Sukarno.

32:07 Fitzgerald also served time in the Philippines during that fiasco where we were talking on Alpha Warrior Show about them doing psychological operations to quell the resistance forces to the CIA US friendly president in the Philippines. So he was involved in that as well. He also was very involved.

32:38 in working with the Mongrelas in Laos in 1961. And then Fitzgerald moves on to Central America. And let's see, I think that's kind of the highlights of his career. But just so that you understand his total kind of

33:14 northeast um uh pedigree he marries margarita peabody of the very rich peabody family and let's see i think that pretty much um kind of covers his um career so i just want to give you a flavor of

33:46 how these guys kind of skip echelon around the globe because they're there for covert activity, not regional specialties. Okay, back to the story. The president of the CIA proprietary company set up to furnish cover for the Chinese project, Charles E. Johnston, had spent World War II in China. Robert...

34:19 Delaney, deputy and eventually successor to Piers. Rodney Gilbert was also there as part of the psychological operations. He was the PSYOP's chief in Taiwan, as well as Frank Holaber and Philip Montgomery. All had backgrounds in China or Burma, which of course is where Chiang Kai-shek troops all fought.

34:49 during the war. Korean hostilities reinvigorated the China programs, especially after November 1950. The People's Republic of China and their intervention in the war in Korea. So it puts, for me, in completely different context, what went on in Korea, understanding that mainland China is under attack by the United States.

35:21 No one in our history books talk about this ongoing covert war at the time, but it was exposed like 40 years ago. But our current history books focuses only on Korea and not, and China's coming into that after we start flying missions over the Chinese border, aggravating the crap out of them while we're in Korea.

35:51 like basically antagonizing them into Korea. No one ever looks across the water over there and go, oh, well, that's probably as a result of this onslaught of covert attacks every single day for like the next 40 years. But it already started in 1949 of Chiang Kai-shek's attacks into mainland China.

36:21 So if China is already under attack by the U.S., not officially, but definitely under attack by the U.S., all along its southern eastern border, then you've got overflights of U.S. aircraft in Korea. Do you think the Chinese is going to get involved in Korea? Oh, hell yeah, they are, because they're already pissed off because they're being attacked along their border on the southeast side.

36:51 So that's kind of the real story that we're never told. And I find that fascinating. Again, only because I have went through so much education on military operations and affairs over post-World War II, basically. No one ever tells that story. Okay, back to the book. Decisions in Washington.

37:26 sharpened the Far East command problem by expanding the scope of covert activities. In early 1951, a National Security Council policy paper endorsed a vigorous program of covert operations to aid anti-communist guerrilla forces. Late that year, Truman asked, what more could we be doing to hurt Beijing?

37:49 Disruption of Chinese supply lines became an explicit goal in the National Security Council directive that the president approved. Having kept its options open, the CIA began to put in place the elements for a secret war against China, which they were already fighting, by the way. The cover would be a private company. Again, in reality, it was owned by the CIA.

38:20 was Western Enterprises Incorporated, W-E-I. That was its legal name. It was set up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's going to be ran by Frank Brick, B-R-I-C-K, a lawyer who happened to be another coincidentally 19th Division veteran.

38:50 We're still all in the family here. I would definitely say that guy is CIA and he's just pretending to be in charge of this company as a civilian. An office for WEI is opened in Taiwan in early 1951. Not Pittsburgh. They have a little front there.

39:20 But the company actually was going to be ran out of Taiwan in support of Chiang Kai-shek. The first CIA officers for this company, because that's all that works there, arrived in March. Claire Chennault met with them at the airport. And the senior people were put up in the Grand Hotel. Some were headquartered in what was referred to as the guest house.

39:51 Others referred to WEI as Western Auto. New agency people passed through Pittsburgh to in process do their employment paperwork and then headed off to Southeast Asia. Charles Johnston was the stay behind guy in Pittsburgh and he became known as Pittsburgh Charlie.

40:22 Training and operational bases followed in southern Taiwan and many of the other offshore islands that was under CIA control. Western Enterprises became the stomping grounds of Ray Peers, P-E-E-R-S. He was a organizer. Peers missed few details.

40:51 including bringing along his former OSS mess sergeant, a chef at New York's Waldorf Historia Hotel, whose geniusness with food made the guest house a destination for not only American diplomats, military officers, but every kind of spook in theater. The good relations this created served

41:21 The purpose when peers needed meeting places. Western enterprises soon acquired a fleet of ships. Some were categorized as fast patrol boats. Civil air transport furnished flight services both to forward bases and for parachute training of Chinese guerrillas. The unit soon began putting out tentacles.

41:52 to all of the small islands off the coast of mainland China, Tonkin, T-A-C-H-E-N Islands, and Xiamen, Z-I-A-M-E-N. Detachments of Western Enterprises were placed at all of these locations. The CIA also created a network of coast watchers to detect and follow ships that were transiting the Taiwan Straits.

42:22 Shipping activities most resembled the OSS. In December of 1950, Washington began a total embargo of trade to China, mainland China, kind of that economic warfare that we always talk about. Several hundred items were prohibited. They were more restricted on what the US decided.

42:52 China was allowed to buy from foreigners than even the Soviet Union. There was more restrictions placed on mainland China than the Soviet Union. Although the State Department opposed the move, in theory, because there was a faction in the State Department, it's probably a better way to say it, because there were a few sane people that said, if you do that, China's just going to depend on the Soviet Union.

43:25 More, which in fact did happen. But the CIA and Pentagon loved it. The big part of the enforcement would be nationalist Navy patrols from Taiwan. But the CIA carried out its own using the Western Enterprise's fleet.

44:00 a boat to intercept. The coast watchers worked in small teams which landed on uninhabited islands and stayed out of sight so they could spy on everybody. China had little merchant shipping of its own at the time, but there were extensive imports.

44:21 At least one Polish and two Russian tankers were stopped at various times. The CIA collected its first sample of Soviet jet fuel from one of these boardings. There could also be diplomatic headaches. Great Britain and France, though allied with the U.S., recognized communist China and traded with it, kind of like they were still doing with Iran. Weird. Agency marauders stopped British...

44:52 ships just like every other one, handing them over to the nationalist who seized their cargo. On at least one occasion, a British destroyer forced the CIA attack boat to abandon its attempt to board a British merchant ship. Project Stoll, S-T-O-L-E, was a covert attempt to block Indian medical supplies from reaching China. The aid, including

45:25 makings for three-field hospitals was packed onto a Norwegian freighter. Stoll, Operation Stoll, proposed to stop the shipment at all costs, and the CIA earmarked a million dollars to make sure this shipment didn't reach mainland China. Hans Tofte, T-O-F-T-E, met with

45:55 Wisner's Far East station chiefs in Tokyo to plan the heist. At one point in Hong Kong, Al Cox made sabotage preparations under the noses of the British authorities, for which the Norwegian vessel was docked. The freighter bypassed Hong Kong. Tochti went through WEI to approach Chiang Kai-shek, who happily lent his patrol boats.

46:25 which intercepted the freighter on the high seas. Cox and his CIA agents were hidden below the deck when the nationalist gunboats commandeered the cargo. After the Korean War began, President Truman declared the Straits, the Taiwanese Straits, neutralized. He started a U.S. naval patrol there with cruisers and a couple of destroyers. In principle,

46:50 The patrol aimed to close the straits, both to Chinese communist attacks on Taiwan and the nationalist forays onto the mainland. So it was there basically as a blockade under the guise of securing the straits. Knowing that all of the nationalists that were attacking China were...

47:22 on the China side of the blockade. They weren't in the Straits. They were on those islands that are just like, some of them are as close as two miles off the coast of mainland China. So they basically were using the U.S. Navy to create a barricade with the Nationalists on the inside next to China so that they can secure their flank. Nobody can come in and disrupt Chiang Kai-shek from attacking China under...

47:52 what was billed to the American people as a way to secure the eastern part of the Korean conflict. See how convenient this Korean conflict is? So we already have naval assets in the area. We're going to move some of them over there to, quote unquote, secure the Taiwanese Straits. But in fact, we were doing that so we could steal all of the shit going to China.

48:20 knowing that the nationalists were inside that buffer and can continue to fight against the mainland. I mean, it's brilliantly evil. Okay, useful to this purpose was the Western Enterprise boss, Ray Pierce, and he basically was kind of in charge of this entire thing. His successors,

48:57 excuse me, the, the Tay Lee was a Chinese spy chief and he basically was working with Ray Pierce on this entire project. There were two resistant units. One was called Continental Operations Department and he answered, they answered to Tay Lee's successor.

49:28 General Shin Kai-min. But from the CIA's point of view, this unit controlled few critical assets. So they didn't really care about that one. The second entity they worked with was called Secrets Preservation Bureau. That was under the control of General Mao Yan-fin. Not only did General Mao

50:02 who had close ties with Madam Chiang Kai-shek, she was serving as head of the intelligence unit. But her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, had appointed Mao as a member of the Political Action Committee, Chinese equivalent of the Washington Special Group, the one that basically approved all the covert operations.

50:34 They coordinated everything with Nationalist Intelligence Chief Chiang Kai-shek's son. His name is Chiang Ching-ku. So Pierce found himself dealing with all of these senior generals and Chiang Kai-shek's wife, who was functioning as basically his chief of intel. Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Madam Chiang, appeared among the...

51:05 spooks so often from hosting dinner parties to conducting inspections that she soon would be credited with her own role in the secret war. Beyond simple competition between spy services lay another layer of sensitivity. The son, Chang Ching-Ku, competed with Madam Chiang as

51:35 Who was going to be in charge of the intelligence? So you have faction among faction among factions. And the CIA's job was to navigate through all of the factions. Another challenge in the early days was the cleavage between CIA, OPC, and the OSO. We covered that a few times.

52:00 like a week ago, you remember originally they're two separate entities. One does covert operations, which is the OPC. And then the OSO was more kind of towards the analytical side of that. At this time that we're talking, they've not merged. They will eventually merge and do basically theater kind of cooperation, but they were not merged at the time.

52:29 They had one guy by the name of Robert Myers, who was in charge of the OSO station in Taiwan. But guess what he was dressed up like? A Navy officer, but he's CIA. And his organization considered Wisner's schemes to land troops on the mainland delusional. At the same time, the OPC officers felt that the OSO,

53:00 officers um were not supporting the covert operations to the best that they could yet even as oso um talked down about the mainland campaign myers who's in charge of it of the oso dabbled in various aspects of it he visited different offshore islands with chinese spy chiefs

53:29 making Western enterprise people suspicious of their OSO competitors. The American military became one more source of competition. A U.S. military advisory group was sent to Taiwan after Truman neutralized the Straits because, of course, we've got a Navy presence. We're going to have a military advisory group there to coordinate all the military people.

53:56 except for the ones posing as military officers that are actually CIA agents. By May of 1951, the group numbered 400 and the flow of US weapons and training had just begun. 400 military advisors on Taiwan, supposedly doing absolutely nothing because we're not technically at war with China. What are 400 military people doing?

54:27 on Taiwan during this time. They're actually there helping support the war that no one knew we were fighting. But soon, the Americans were supplying destroyers, amphibious ships, jet aircraft, and much more. And the number of advisors kept increasing, soon reaching several thousand. An additional reason why the CIA found it easy

54:59 to disguise its officers as Navy officers because they were running around everywhere. The Nationalist military soon found they could play one U.S. faction, the military or the CIA, off of each other. After CIA's secret warriors took up their places on the offshore islands, they began to recruit troops. The units were distinct from the Nationalist armies.

55:26 Although they were called guerrillas, these formations had standard infantry training equipment and organization because they were being trained and equipped by the army. Edward Hamilton was among the 19th Division veterans, and he headed up the covert detachment on Xiamen when the CIA formed two battalions of guerrillas.

55:58 Special scout troops received parachute training at other bases. The initial operation went off in September of 1951 when the Nationalist guerrilla unit went ashore to mainland China to try to establish a beachhead with supplies and more troops to follow. Instead, the Nationalists sought out a fight instead of just creating a base.

56:29 The People's Liberation Army concentrated forces and wiped them all out. Kind of harkens us back to Albania and every other place they tried this. Western Enterprises went on recruiting guerrillas and achieved a psychological warfare coup by inserting anti-communist leaflets and letters captured by patrols, after which the letters were put back in the mail system from Hong Kong.

56:56 China commanders carried out some operations on their own while Hamilton plotted a fresh mission. That came in October when raiders landed on a small island that had communist Chinese occupants. With that mission under their belt, because they managed to get rid of them, a more ambitious mission was going to take place on December 7th.

57:26 on the island of Nanri Dao, not far from the first operation. That operation proved completely successful, except for the Nationalist General leading it was shot in the head because he poked his head up over a rock. In early 1952, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered the Navy to provide the CIA with ships and facilities for coastal landings on to mainland China.

58:03 Joint planners at the Pentagon, in deference to the loyalties commanded by General Li Shengjian, argued that the U.S. should support all factions of the anti-communist Chinese. That February, the Joint Strategic Planning Committee recommended $300 million. We are in early 1950.

58:34 $300 million to conduct a covert war against mainland China. That's crazy. Regarding CIA's association with Chiang Kai-shek's faction, the military planners warned, quote, covert activities within China would be unlikely to overthrow a Chinese communist regime in the absence of an effective counter-revolutionary movement, a political program.

59:04 a clear-cut organization and competent leadership, none of which the nationalists appear capable of providing at the time. So let's unpack that for just a second. They just recommended $300 million to basically attack mainland China while acknowledging the only guy, Chiang Kai-shek, not in any way could successfully lead.

59:36 mainland China. And it appears no one else rose to that ability either as far as the Pentagon was concerned. But hey, let's just throw $300 million away anyway. In the summer, the raiders returned to previous targets for a new round of attacks. Against strict instructions, the CIA radio man, Roger McCarthy, went ashore on one of those raids.

1:00:07 Among several others, the most successful took place in October, the target again, Nanri Day. The Nationalists conducted their largest naval action since retreating to Taiwan, using warships given to them by the United States under the guise of the Korean War. We basically aided Chiang Kai-shek while at the same time supposedly fighting.

1:00:36 A war in Korea. They were just siphoning off all of the shit that was supposedly going to Korea to Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek and the CIA. Very convenient war. Okay. They also sent along 4,000 regular troops plus 1,000 guerrillas. Western enterprises supplied little but intelligence. And the CIA people stayed home.

1:01:09 When the raid took place, the nationalists not only reached their goals, they stood back and took on a wave of communist reinforcements, inflicting many casualties and capturing almost a thousand prisoners. Chiang Kai-shek propagandists announced that they had conducted 15 raids on the mainland that year. When the CIA created its Unified Directorate of Plans,

1:01:38 molding the OPC in with the OSO. China operations came under new pressure. Ray Pearce returned to the army, replaced by another detached military officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Delaney. Total CIA personnel on Taiwan at this time was up to 600. That's just from the CIA. That's not the military. 600 CIA people on the Taiwan island.

1:02:10 The longstanding animosity between the DO elements expressed itself with the intel boys fearing the paramilitary specialist was getting in the way of collecting real information. And that the OPC basically felt that the OSO guys was getting in their way. But in the merger, the Far East Division was going to be led by Lloyd George. Richard Stilwell.

1:02:42 Left and went back to the army. The CIA established a North Asia command to consolidate control over the various operations against the Chinese. And it was ran from Japan, which would still be MacArthur's staff at this point. Korea, the offshore islands, and Thailand. So we're going into Thailand. We're already in Korea. We're already in Japan.

1:03:11 And we're going to use all the islands next to Taiwan. But then by then, Frank Wisner had created an international network, including elements of Singapore and Burma as well. And had decided to use the island, the Pacific Island, Taipan, Taipei. I always say that. All serviced by civil air transport, hopping people around to all of those places.

1:03:42 George went off to be deputy chief of the command under Admiral Leslie Stevens. They issued a plan to stand down the paramilitary effort in favor of intensifying intelligence collections plus support to the non-CIA nationalist Chinese efforts. George Aurel, A-U-R-E-L-L, took over as the D.O. for the Far East Division.

1:04:12 Meanwhile, separate programs to aid the Manchurian guerrillas, not loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, continued under the CIA. This operation was known as Tropic. That's what the Civil Air Transport pilots called it. They used CAT, Civil Air Transport, crews flying out of Japan at night in unmarked C-47 aircraft. The Yale College of 1951.

1:04:43 was heavily recruited for this particular program. That was according to John Downey, who joined the CIA after his graduation. He was assigned to set up resistance in the Karen province. Downey visited Saipan in 1952 to select a four-man unit called Team Wen, W-E-N.

1:05:10 They parachuted into Manchuria in July. That November, Downey and Richard Fectow, with the CIA only five months at that time, plus a civil air transport flight crew, were forced down in China while attempting to recover an agent who went there to observe their team's work.

1:05:39 The failure of this flight and the capture of Downey and Fectow by the communists essentially brought a halt to the Manchurian program and many of the China operations in the north, not the south. The CIA was extremely concerned that others might be vulnerable to capture, and it renewed the restriction that no

1:06:09 CIA officers were supposed to be involved in any of these operations. The two CIA men were eventually brought before a Chinese show trial, along with a B-29 crew that had been captured months later. Downey was maintained in a prison until 1973. Bechtel was released in 71.

1:06:40 That's literally 20 years for Downing. Along the Chinese coast, arguments among CIA officers was very different. Rather than struggling over phasing of a paramilitary mission, the men at the front debated whether the raids ought to be small scale or large. A new CIA detachment leader in Tekken, Robert Barrow, this is...

1:07:11 This is unbelievable. Robert Barrow, B-A-R-R-O-W, he was a Marine. He had been loaned to the CIA. He wanted big missions. His subordinate, Robert Dillon, objected that Western Enterprise would be hard-pressed to supply the needed landing craft or artillery and that Chiang Kai-shek's government had not shown any.

1:07:42 ability to do anything worthwhile. Dillon asserted that as a civilian, he could understand both the military and political aspect. He intended to transfer to the Foreign Service and had aspirations of being an ambassador one day. Major Barrow laughed at him and said, yeah, and I'm going to be the commandant of the whole damn Marine Corps. Well, guess what?

1:08:12 Marine Corps Commandant Barrow did happen, and Dillon went on to be an ambassador. In fact, both men were right. By now, Dwight Eisenhower had come into office and unleashed the Chinese nationalists by ending the neutralization of the Taiwan Straits. Not that that kept them from doing anything. It was a shield.

1:08:41 The raid involved not only the guerrillas, but every nationalist armed service coordinated by other nationalist spy service. The Continental Operation Department included. Robert Barrow participated as Ed Hamilton supervised and Frank Hollaber watched the Western Enterprise group.

1:09:11 A paratroop drop of guerrillas landing in Dongshan were supposed to drive the Chinese communists into the arms of the nationalist regulars. Madam Chiang Kai-shek attended the dress briefing. In the actual operation, the airdrop miscarried as a number of the planes were forced to abort due to mechanical failures.

1:09:37 The amphibious landing by the regular military also turned out to be a nightmare because they misjudged the tide and had to wade through mud to even get to the land. So it was basically a total failure. Psychological warfare also remained active. Balloons carrying, using the prevailing winds was used to drop leaflets. The experience of Colonel Arnold.

1:10:07 And his Air Force B-29s was an example. Some flights were made by civil air transport, others by nationalists, who by this time had their own Air Force, thanks to William Polly. The book doesn't talk about that, though, but we know it. According to one account, in 1953, leaflet flights averaged 30 a month. They dropped over 300 million pieces of paper.

1:10:36 mainland China. In accordance with the CIA's reorganization plan, detachments on the three different islands pulled back and Western Enterprise disappeared in 1953. Charles Johnston, the original Pittsburgh Charlie himself, came to close down the mission. Americans shifted to using cover with a new naval technical training center.

1:11:04 a variant of the naval cover assignments that was already in use. Beijing, still concerned about bases on the offshore islands, launched a succession of international crisis beginning in 1954. A couple of months later, U.S. warships and nationalist craft evacuated more than 6,000 troops and civilians off of one of the islands. At Jingmen,

1:11:35 The People's Liberation Army began an artillery war that lasted for years. The first of almost half a million cannon shells falling on that one island alone to disrupt guerrilla bases. It became even more difficult to raid the China coast as a result because China had decided to fight back. All right, that's where we're going to stop.

1:12:12 That's crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. What happened to SR? Let me get him back up here as co-host. Are you still with me, Bridget? I don't know if they can hear me or not. I can hear you, Colonel. Okay. Thank you for getting me back as co-host. I want to thank everyone for attending on special hour night. Yeah. Late night with Colonel Towner. Absolutely.

1:13:00 I'm listening to all of this, and we've got Shane Kyshek and everybody and his brother involved with Shane Kyshek, along with Madam Shane Kyshek. And the future commandant of the Marine Corps. And the future commandant of the Marine Corps. I can't believe that he was there, too. That's why I was shocked at all of the names that this guy brings to the table here.

1:13:31 We had a whole contingent of people here that show up in later operations to include the future Marine Corps commandant. And what's weird is, again, here's the future Marine Corps commandant conducting a covert war against China. And if you go back and you look at some of the things that General Barrow says as the commandant, you have to like laugh.

1:14:04 Because he's talking about all the menaces out there while he was actively involved in a covert war against mainland China on behalf of a drug lord, the nationalist, Chiang Kai-shek. It's just crazy. And you know they had to know this. Oh, he did know. They didn't know what was going on. Yeah. I mean.

1:14:37 Even Chanel had his pictures taken all over the place with Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they all. Well, number one, Burroughs would have known that there's no authorization to be attacking mainland China from Congress. He's a Marine Corps officer. He's a major. He is over there. Now, I'm not saying he was over there without the.

1:15:06 concurrence of the Marine Corps, of course he was, and the concurrence of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all had signed off on this. They are literally conducting a silent war unbeknownst to the entire American population. But the thing that gets me is they come back and, of course, Burroughs would have been giving lectures at National War College, at the Army War College, the Air Force.

1:15:35 about all of this, hey, we need to fight this war on drugs, blah, blah, blah. All while in his background, not known to anybody, he was actually enabling the largest opium operation in the world and trying to get that relocated back on mainland China.

1:16:07 And again, I don't expect everybody to understand that. But I had to sit in the audience and listen to these general officers as a lieutenant colonel when I was at Air War College lecture us on how important, like the South Com commander guy, how important fighting the war on drugs was. And of course, at the time, I'm going, yeah, yeah, who wants, drugs are bad. Now I know that every one of them were involved in enabling.

1:16:37 the drugs to come to the United States. We were not ever trying to stop it. That's the part that just literally gets underneath my skin. They lecture all of the rest of the officers coming up on how bad China is. China's like the worst thing that ever happened. They were involved in an illegal war conducted by the CIA using

1:17:07 The guy that's trafficking the most opium around the world at the time. Go ahead, SR. Thank you, Colonel. You also mentioned them bringing in a class of Yale. And the first thing I thought about was Skrull and Key.

1:17:28 Now, I didn't get all the names of the people that wound up there from Yale, but I got a sneaky suspicion they were probably scrolling deep. And Skull and Bones. Well, they probably stayed at the headquarters. They don't like to get their hands dirty. But yes. Yeah. Let me see if I can find that real quick. I don't see Warhamster in the audience. I'll see if I can find it real quick.

1:18:06 thought it was hilarious that he said that they were heavily recruited um yale which kind of falls right in with all of the stuff that we've been doing all right let's see what it says um class of 51 see where it says a whole lot of that and i don't have the file that um uh no there wasn't much that you read that gave us any other hint other than they brought in the class of 51 for

1:18:49 Whatever. Yeah. He didn't name names on that one other than Downing. But I don't know. Let me look up Robert Downing because his book, I have his book about their mission and his 20 years in captivity. Let me see.

1:19:25 Let's see if I can find it real quick. Where did it talk about that? Downey. There he is. Let's see. John, not Richard. Let's see. I don't know if we lost Bridget. All right. Early live. All right. So he is from Connecticut. His dad was a judge.

1:20:14 His grandfather was in the Kinetic General Assembly. He attended the Crote School, which is another grooming school. We ran across that a couple of times in Skull and Bones. It's the, you know, Groton for Connecticut.

1:20:47 Let's see. He was at Yale, graduated in 51, and he played football and rugby, but it does not say that he was either in Skrull and Key or Skull and Bones. So that doesn't mean he wasn't. It just means that it doesn't say that he was. So anyway, yeah.

1:21:23 Crazy. I don't know if this, if we can find the list of alums. I know it's out there somewhere as far as the scrolling key of the ones that, yeah, there it is. Let's go back and see. 50, 1950s. All right. So Raymond Price.

1:21:54 He was speechwriters for Nixon, Ford, and Bush, senior. But that's the only one in Scroll and Key that's listed on here, on Skull and Bones. Let me see if I can go to Scroll and Key and see what their alumni's are. Let's see. Membership. They don't have a overview of the list.

1:22:34 Oh, here are notable members. Yes, they do. Never mind. 19, yeah. It's very sporadic. It doesn't list any of the ones in 51. That's probably on purpose. But anyway, I just find it hilarious. It just goes along with the themes that we're talking about. So we definitely know we're on the right track. Renee, go ahead. Hey, good evening, everyone.

1:23:06 I put in the purple pill on Yandex. I did find an article, and I have heard before mentioned by Jay Dyer that indeed Matt went to Yale in China and was skull and bones. But I have not verified it. But it has been floating around through people for a while. Huh.

1:23:32 Yeah, interesting. But it kind of makes sense. I think Yale in China, I think it has connections because the medical school was kind of set up first. Naturally, I think the Rockefellers are part of that whole thing and bringing in Western medicine. You know, you can't have any of that alternative Eastern herbal medicine in the world. You got to have the Western medicine system.

1:24:06 Yale in China, which was a nonprofit educational and medical initiative established by Yale University in China in 1919 and 1920. That's interesting. Well, and it goes back to the premise that we talked about in the early 1900s that Antony Sutton brought to light, how

1:24:40 Basically, it was the Western, you know, city of London and Wall Street that gave birth to communism both in China and the Bolshevik Revolution. So, I mean, it only really makes sense if you think about it. That's crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy stuff. Okay, well, that wraps up this portion. We're going to go through a little bit more.

1:25:21 of the adventures in Asia. We're going to jump over to a little bit about Burma and Chiang Kai-shek's temporary stay there and the machinations that went on in getting the KMT and the opium out of there. Then we're going to jump over to

1:25:52 the Philippines for just a little bit. And then he spends some time in Vietnam and then we move on to a new chapter. So we probably will get through the rest of Asia in our next session. And then we move on to Indonesia and a whole bunch of other, I just, again,

1:26:21 I'll say this through this whole book. This author definitely did a lot of research for this book and ties a lot of people's names to things that I've not seen. I've obviously read a lot of books about all of these operations, but this guy did extensive research in following the careers of these CIA guys from conflict to conflict to conflict.

1:26:51 I think that's kind of what cements in my mind that the CIA and the State Department both operate in moving key foreign service, key ambassadors, and the CIA in lockstep with them move these operatives around basically at the behest of this international syndicate to

1:27:19 um conduct these operations um i think if that was not of course it is for us we have already established this trend but if you read no other book but this book it definitely makes that argument and i think you guys will see it as we continue through this book it's just it's incredible he did a good job i don't agree with all of his assessments um but

1:27:45 He definitely did an excellent book, an excellent job at researching the material for this book. Okay, with that, I'm going to say we're done. And I will see you guys tomorrow at our regularly scheduled time. Thank you for joining us. Take care, everybody.

Entities here

China46 United States26 CIA25 Chiang Kai-shek25 Air America21 Nationalist Party (Kuomintang)21 Western Enterprises Inc.15 Communist Party of China15 Frank Wisner14 Claire Chennault11 Korea11 World War II11 Lebanese Civil War10 Harry S. Truman10 Korean War9 Robert Barron9 Desmond Fitzgerald8 Skull and Bones7 Yale University6 Lee Teng-hui6 Soong Mei-ling6 Richard Stilwell5 Ray Peers5 Whiting Willauer5 Burma5 United Wa State Army4 John Downey4 Edward Hamilton Lon Redmond4 U.S. State Department4 Yale in China3 Robert Dillon3 Vietnam3 Soviet Union3 Charles Johnson3 Japan3 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état3 Guatemala3 Joint Chiefs of Staff2 Thomas Corcoran2 Hans Tofte2

Claims made here

Chiang Kai-shek supported_by CIA host_asserted ▶ 3:12

“the Chiang out or unleashing it. And I'm kind of wondering if he actually understood the real meaning of that because he's actually not only a warlord, but goes on to be, thanks to the CIA support, th…”

Communist Party of China overthrew Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) book_quoted ▶ 4:38

“efforts to mediate between Chinese factions, President Truman aligned the U.S. with Chiang Kai-shek against the communists. Mao's field army nevertheless swept through mainland China. The nationalist …”

United States supported Chiang Kai-shek book_quoted ▶ 4:38

CIA supported Chiang Kai-shek book_quoted ▶ 5:36

“and continued to support Chiang Kai-shek while he's in China as part of that fight. And that's a logical perpetuation, but a fact that most people don't know. Washington soon considered exploiting the…”

Chiang Kai-shek established_bases_in China book_quoted ▶ 7:05

“Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces established themselves on the islands offshore, chiefly Taiwan. At the time, originally it was Formosa. Then they just renamed it to Taiwan. The Chinese communists…”

Chiang Kai-shek resigned_presidency_to Lee Teng-hui book_quoted ▶ 8:05

“the nationalist survivors back to Taiwan. Although there were fears the communists would follow, an invasion of Taiwan was a much more difficult proposition and was not even attempted. Proposals for c…”

Claire Chennault commanded Flying Tigers book_quoted ▶ 8:36

“General Lee Sung-jen, who tried to negotiate with Mao. That spring, Claire Chenault, a retired Air Force officer who had commanded the Flying Tigers during the Sino-Japanese War, and afterward organiz…”

Air America front_for CIA host_asserted ▶ 9:05

“and is basically a CIA proprietary. It had initially operated inside of China. He went to Washington with a proposal for U.S. support to the nationalist Xi'an in southern China, plus covert aid to for…”

Thomas Corcoran business_partner_with Claire Chennault host_asserted ▶ 9:39

“Chenault's airline had fallen into hard times, so it was going to be a cash windfall for Chenault as well. The State Department was initially not interested in the Chenault plan, so the former general…”

Thomas Corcoran connected Claire Chennault book_quoted ▶ 10:08

“and civil air transport because he loved working with the CIA. Corcoran put Chenault in contact with CIA, culminating in a series of meetings during the summer of 1949. Now, keep in mind, the Korean W…”

Thomas Corcoran signed_agreement_for Air America book_quoted ▶ 14:51

“to contend that state had approved it. Civil Air Transport was enlisted in the Secret War, flying its first CIA missions on October 10, 1949. Tommy Corcoran, on behalf of the Civil Air Transport, and …”

Air America flew_missions_for CIA book_quoted ▶ 14:51

John Magruder chief_of Office of Strategic Services book_quoted ▶ 15:21

“on the 1st of November. And I bet they were singing, we're in the money. Meanwhile, on October 28th, a detailed proposal for covert operations in China from General John Magruder went to the Secretary…”

Louis Johnson forwarded_proposal_to Harry S. Truman book_quoted ▶ 15:53

“Louis Johnson forwarded the proposal and the accompanying memorandum from Wisner to Truman. But the collapse of the resistance, i.e. the Nationalists, on the mainland temporarily paused the process. T…”

Air America founded_by Whiting Willauer book_quoted ▶ 15:53

Air America founded_by Claire Chennault book_quoted ▶ 15:53

Whiting Willauer involved_in 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état host_asserted ▶ 16:57

“to be the American ambassador to Costa Rica and Honduras. And he is also considered one of the key players in the 1954 operation against Arbenz that we just covered because he was in Honduras, just as…”

Whiting Willauer ambassador_to Honduras host_asserted ▶ 16:57

Whiting Willauer ambassador_to Costa Rica host_asserted ▶ 16:57

Whiting Willauer involved_in United Fruit Company host_asserted ▶ 17:24

“because of the Boston Brahmins and the maritime monopoly. That's also where United Fruit was. And remember, he was involved in the United Fruit Guatemalan coup. So this is one of the main players in t…”

Air America sold_to CIA host_asserted ▶ 18:23

“inside the CIA that will go on to be an ambassador and manipulate all of these world affairs on behalf of these oligarchs is critically important to this story. Okay, Claire Chenault and Willauer in 1…”

Air America relocated_to China book_quoted ▶ 20:53

“That's when the CIA steps in and they basically buy the airline. The airline used the cash to relocate to Taiwan with a corporate headquarters in Hong Kong. And why is that important? Because Hong Kon…”

Air America headquartered_in Hong Kong book_quoted ▶ 20:53

Chiang Kai-shek led China Lobby host_asserted ▶ 24:04

“In a speech in which he promised back to the mainland. That was kind of like the rallying call. And that was later picked up by the China lobby, which Claire Chennault basically led. That was kind of …”

Alfred T. Cox member_of CIA book_quoted ▶ 24:37

“not unlike those the CIA encountered in Europe. Among the nationalists, there were factions, all of them hoping to corner USAID. Alfred T. Cox, a Wisner officer, was sent to Hong Kong to represent CIA…”

Alfred T. Cox sent_to Hong Kong book_quoted ▶ 24:37

Lee Teng-hui went_to United States book_quoted ▶ 25:36

“60-year-old acting President Lee went to New York for medical treatment. Invited by President Truman for an official visit, Lee claimed to have almost 200,000 guerrillas loyal to him, not Chiang Kai-s…”

Lee Teng-hui invited_by Harry S. Truman book_quoted ▶ 25:36

Lee Teng-hui stayed_at Blair House book_quoted ▶ 26:07

“underground activities penetrating overseas Chinese populations and mobilization of liberal elements dissatisfied with both the communists and nationalists. As acting president of China, i.e. Taiwan, …”

Chiang Kai-shek reclaimed_presidency_from Lee Teng-hui book_quoted ▶ 26:35

“President Truman planned a formal reception for Lee and a luncheon to be held on March 2nd. But the day before, in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly reclaimed the presidency, which left Washington hold…”

Frank Brick headed Western Enterprises Inc. documented ▶ 38:20

“was Western Enterprises Incorporated, W-E-I. That was its legal name. It was set up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's going to be ran by Frank Brick, B-R-I-C-K, a lawyer who happened to be another coi…”

Western Enterprises Inc. front_for CIA host_asserted ▶ 38:50

“We're still all in the family here. I would definitely say that guy is CIA and he's just pretending to be in charge of this company as a civilian. An office for WEI is opened in Taiwan in early 1951. …”

Western Enterprises Inc. supported Chiang Kai-shek documented ▶ 39:20

“But the company actually was going to be ran out of Taiwan in support of Chiang Kai-shek. The first CIA officers for this company, because that's all that works there, arrived in March. Claire Chennau…”

Claire Chennault met_with CIA documented ▶ 39:20

Charles Johnson headed Western Enterprises Inc. documented ▶ 39:51

“Others referred to WEI as Western Auto. New agency people passed through Pittsburgh to in process do their employment paperwork and then headed off to Southeast Asia. Charles Johnston was the stay beh…”

CIA controlled China documented ▶ 40:22

“Training and operational bases followed in southern Taiwan and many of the other offshore islands that was under CIA control. Western Enterprises became the stomping grounds of Ray Peers, P-E-E-R-S. H…”

Ray Peers headed Western Enterprises Inc. documented ▶ 40:22

Western Enterprises Inc. supplied_arms_to Chiang Kai-shek documented ▶ 43:25

“More, which in fact did happen. But the CIA and Pentagon loved it. The big part of the enforcement would be nationalist Navy patrols from Taiwan. But the CIA carried out its own using the Western Ente…”

CIA carried_out_attack Project Stoll documented ▶ 44:52

“ships just like every other one, handing them over to the nationalist who seized their cargo. On at least one occasion, a British destroyer forced the CIA attack boat to abandon its attempt to board a…”

Chiang Kai-shek supplied_arms_to CIA documented ▶ 45:55

“Wisner's Far East station chiefs in Tokyo to plan the heist. At one point in Hong Kong, Al Cox made sabotage preparations under the noses of the British authorities, for which the Norwegian vessel was…”

Hans Tofte met_with Frank Wisner documented ▶ 45:55

Al Cox carried_out_attack Project Stoll documented ▶ 45:55

Harry S. Truman ordered_assassination_of China documented ▶ 46:25

“which intercepted the freighter on the high seas. Cox and his CIA agents were hidden below the deck when the nationalist gunboats commandeered the cargo. After the Korean War began, President Truman d…”

Shen Kai-min succeeded Tai Li documented ▶ 48:57

“excuse me, the, the Tay Lee was a Chinese spy chief and he basically was working with Ray Pierce on this entire project. There were two resistant units. One was called Continental Operations Departmen…”

Mao Yan-fin headed Secrets Preservation Bureau documented ▶ 49:28

“General Shin Kai-min. But from the CIA's point of view, this unit controlled few critical assets. So they didn't really care about that one. The second entity they worked with was called Secrets Prese…”

Chiang Kai-shek appointed Mao Yan-fin documented ▶ 50:02

“who had close ties with Madam Chiang Kai-shek, she was serving as head of the intelligence unit. But her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, had appointed Mao as a member of the Political Action Committee, Chin…”

Soong Mei-ling headed Secrets Preservation Bureau documented ▶ 50:02

Chiang Ching-kuo member_of CIA documented ▶ 50:34

“They coordinated everything with Nationalist Intelligence Chief Chiang Kai-shek's son. His name is Chiang Ching-ku. So Pierce found himself dealing with all of these senior generals and Chiang Kai-she…”

Edward Hamilton Lon Redmond headed Western Enterprises Inc. documented ▶ 55:26

“Although they were called guerrillas, these formations had standard infantry training equipment and organization because they were being trained and equipped by the army. Edward Hamilton was among the…”

People's Liberation Army carried_out_attack China documented ▶ 56:29

“The People's Liberation Army concentrated forces and wiped them all out. Kind of harkens us back to Albania and every other place they tried this. Western Enterprises went on recruiting guerrillas and…”

Joint Chiefs of Staff funded CIA documented ▶ 57:26

“on the island of Nanri Dao, not far from the first operation. That operation proved completely successful, except for the Nationalist General leading it was shot in the head because he poked his head …”

Roger McCarthy carried_out_attack China documented ▶ 59:36

“mainland China. And it appears no one else rose to that ability either as far as the Pentagon was concerned. But hey, let's just throw $300 million away anyway. In the summer, the raiders returned to …”

Robert Delaney succeeded Ray Peers documented ▶ 1:01:38

“molding the OPC in with the OSO. China operations came under new pressure. Ray Pearce returned to the army, replaced by another detached military officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Delaney. Total CIA …”

Richard Stilwell succeeded Lloyd George documented ▶ 1:02:42

“Left and went back to the army. The CIA established a North Asia command to consolidate control over the various operations against the Chinese. And it was ran from Japan, which would still be MacArth…”

John Downey member_of CIA documented ▶ 1:04:43

“was heavily recruited for this particular program. That was according to John Downey, who joined the CIA after his graduation. He was assigned to set up resistance in the Karen province. Downey visite…”

John Downey carried_out_attack China documented ▶ 1:05:10

“They parachuted into Manchuria in July. That November, Downey and Richard Fectow, with the CIA only five months at that time, plus a civil air transport flight crew, were forced down in China while at…”

Richard Fectow member_of CIA documented ▶ 1:05:10

Robert Barron member_of CIA documented ▶ 1:07:11

“This is unbelievable. Robert Barrow, B-A-R-R-O-W, he was a Marine. He had been loaned to the CIA. He wanted big missions. His subordinate, Robert Dillon, objected that Western Enterprise would be hard…”

Dwight D. Eisenhower removed_from_power China documented ▶ 1:08:12

“Marine Corps Commandant Barrow did happen, and Dillon went on to be an ambassador. In fact, both men were right. By now, Dwight Eisenhower had come into office and unleashed the Chinese nationalists b…”

Robert Barron carried_out_attack China documented ▶ 1:08:41

“The raid involved not only the guerrillas, but every nationalist armed service coordinated by other nationalist spy service. The Continental Operation Department included. Robert Barrow participated a…”

People's Liberation Army carried_out_attack Jinmen documented ▶ 1:11:35

“The People's Liberation Army began an artillery war that lasted for years. The first of almost half a million cannon shells falling on that one island alone to disrupt guerrilla bases. It became even …”

Robert Downing member_of Groton School book_quoted ▶ 1:20:14

“His grandfather was in the Kinetic General Assembly. He attended the Crote School, which is another grooming school. We ran across that a couple of times in Skull and Bones. It's the, you know, Groton…”

Robert Downing member_of Yale University book_quoted ▶ 1:20:47

“Let's see. He was at Yale, graduated in 51, and he played football and rugby, but it does not say that he was either in Skrull and Key or Skull and Bones. So that doesn't mean he wasn't. It just means…”

Ray Price member_of Skull and Bones book_quoted ▶ 1:21:54

“He was speechwriters for Nixon, Ford, and Bush, senior. But that's the only one in Scroll and Key that's listed on here, on Skull and Bones. Let me see if I can go to Scroll and Key and see what their…”

Ray Price appointed Richard Nixon book_quoted ▶ 1:21:54

Ray Price appointed George H.W. Bush book_quoted ▶ 1:21:54

Ray Price appointed Gerald Ford book_quoted ▶ 1:21:54

Yale in China founded Yale University documented ▶ 1:24:06

“Yale in China, which was a nonprofit educational and medical initiative established by Yale University in China in 1919 and 1920. That's interesting. Well, and it goes back to the premise that we talk…”

Wall Street funded China host_asserted ▶ 1:24:40

“Basically, it was the Western, you know, city of London and Wall Street that gave birth to communism both in China and the Bolshevik Revolution. So, I mean, it only really makes sense if you think abo…”

City of London funded China host_asserted ▶ 1:24:40

City of London funded Bolshevik Revolution host_asserted ▶ 1:24:40

Wall Street funded Bolshevik Revolution host_asserted ▶ 1:24:40