Edwin P. Wilson

Edwin Paul Wilson (May 3, 1928 – September 10, 2012)[1] was a former CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson's convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year.[2]

In 1971, with the CIA's knowledge and approval, Wilson moved to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) where he worked full-time for a secret intelligence unit called the Naval Field Operations Support Group (NFOSG) or Task Force 157. Between its inception in 1966 and termination in 1977, the focus was on acquiring intelligence on Soviet naval activity. However, the unit's remit was wider and later described as “the U.S. military's only network of undercover agents and spies operating abroad using commercial and business 'cover' for their espionage."[8][9] At this time, Wilson set up another front company—World Marine, Inc.—to assist with his logistics work. Wilson then retired from the ONI in 1976 after events that have been disputed. After a change in commanders, Wilson reportedly appealed to Admiral Bobby Inman, the Director of Naval Intelligence, offering his influence in Congress to the ONI's budget troubles if he, Wilson, could be made chief of Task Force 157. Allegedly outraged, Inman shut down Task Force 157 altogether and reported Wilson to the FBI.[5] However, other calculations may have been in play.[9]

Wilson continued to run the businesses he had built under the guidance of the CIA, the largest of which was Consultants International. He reportedly amassed a fortune of over $20 million through these businesses, and continued to offer covert shipping services at the request of the CIA after his official retirement.[10][7]

In the 1970s, he became involved in dealings with Libya. Wilson claims that a high-ranking CIA official Theodore "Blond Ghost" Shackley asked him to go to Libya to keep an eye on Carlos the Jackal, the infamous terrorist, who was living there.[3] At the time, a strict sanctions regime was in place against Libya and the country was willing to pay a great deal for weapons and material. Wilson began conducting elaborate dealings, and guns and military uniforms were smuggled into the country. Wilson also recruited a group of retired Green Berets—decorated Vietnam veteran Billy Waugh among them[11]—to go to Libya and train its military and intelligence officers. The Libyans used Wilson's provisions to advance their interests around the world, including training terrorist cells to build explosive devices inside radios. One cell trained by Wilson's operatives was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLF-GC) under the command of Ahmad Jibril. Jibril was suspected of being behind the bombing of Pan Am 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. In 1979, a gun that Wilson had arranged to be delivered to the Libyan embassy in Bonn was used to assassinate a prominent dissident. The next year, one of the Green Berets attempted to assassinate another dissident in Colorado. Wilson states that he regrets these incidents and had no prior knowledge of them. He states that he was still working for the CIA and his supplying of weapon to the Libyans was an attempt to get close to them and gain valuable intelligence.[12] This included attempts at gathering information on the Libyan nuclear program.[13]

The most dramatic deal, and the one that brought Wilson to the attention of the U.S. government, was for some twenty tons of military-grade C-4 plastic explosives.[14] This was a massive quantity that was equal to the entire U.S. domestic stockpile.[3][failed verification] Most of Wilson's connections were still under the impression that he was working for the CIA and a wide network in the United States supported his actions. The explosives were presumed assembled by a California company and hidden in barrels of oil drilling mud. They were presumed flown to Libya aboard a chartered jet.

Another scandal broke out around Wilson when a company he had formed to ship United States military aid to Egypt was convicted of overcharging the United States Department of Defense by $8 million.[15] A partner with Edwin P. Wilson in this company was another former CIA officer, Thomas G. Clines.[15] Wilson also maintained that Major General Richard V. Secord was also a "silent partner" in this company, though Secord denied this allegation. Nonetheless, Wilson, Clines and Theodore Shackley (another former CIA officer) were all working together with Secord in the summer of 1984 when Oliver North approached Secord to ask for help in buying arms for the Contras, a group of armed rebels then trying to overturn the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.[15]

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_P._Wilson

>>7508051

Richard Secord

Major General Richard Vernon Secord, Retired (born July 6, 1932), is a United States Air Force officer with a notable career in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. aviation detachment sent to the Vietnam War in August 1961, Operation Farm Gate. Secord left Vietnam in 1965 to attend Air Command and Staff College. Afterwards, he returned to Southeast Asia, being detailed to the Central Intelligence Agency for duty in the Secret War in Laos. While in Laos, he was responsible for several notable military actions. One was the Battle of Lima Site 85. Another was the only successful prisoner of war rescue of the Vietnam War. Both of these came about because of his responsibilities for overseeing the operations of the Royal Lao Air Force, Air America, and Raven FACs.

After his Southeast Asian service, Secord commanded the 603rd Special Operations Squadron and underwent further advanced military education at the Naval War College. He then served on staff duty in the Department of Defense from June 1972 through September 1975. His next posting returned him to Iran, this time managing all U. S. military assistance to the Iranians.

He was involved in the Iran–Contra affair, making $2 million on the arms transactions and lying to Congress about it, of which he was found guilty. Secord went into business in the private sector after his retirement from the USAF,

Involvement in Iran–Contra affair

Operation Tipped Kettle was a precursor to the Iran-Contra logistics operation. Sources are not explicit about the dates of Secord's involvement, but it seems he may have carried over this project from his military service into his retirement. Operation Tipped Kettle, transferred Palestinian Liberation Organization weapons seized by Israel in Lebanon to the Contras.[26]

To stay active during retirement, Secord went into business with Albert Hakim, becoming President of Stanford Technology Trading Group Intl., also known as "The Enterprise", a company involved with arms sales to Iran during the Reagan presidency. The final report of Iran/Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh concluded that Secord had received at least $2m from his involvement in these activities, and had lied to Congress about it.[13] On November 8, 1989, Secord pleaded guilty to one count of lying to Congress as part of a plea agreement. [27]

He was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to one count in a plea agreement. [28]

In the aftermath Secord filed a libel case against Leslie Cockburn, Andrew Cockburn, Morgan Entrekin, Atlantic Monthly Press, and Little, Brown and Company, Inc. for publishing a book in 1987 entitled Out of Control: The Story of the Reagan Administration's Secret War in Nicaragua, the Illegal Pipeline, and the Contra Drug Connection. Entrekin, Atlantic Monthly Press, and publishers Little, Brown and Company were dropped from the suit. The court then ordered summary judgment on behalf of the defendants Leslie Cockburn and Andrew Cockburn, indicating that Secord was unable to show the defendants had malicious intent.[29]

In early 1992, Secord and another retired officer Brig. Gen. Harry Aderholt visited the newly-independent former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan on behalf of MEGA Oil, a company established by retired U.S. military officers.[30] Secord reportedly offered to Azerbaijani leaders to train its special operations forces for $10 million.

In 2002, retired General Secord was named CEO and Chairman of the Board at Computerized Thermal Imaging, Inc..[31]

In 1989, Secord was charged and convicted of drunk driving in Fairfax County, VA. [32]

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Secord

>>7508071

Albert Hakim

Albert A. Hakim (1936–April 25, 2003)[1][2] was an Iranian-American businessman and a figure in the Iran-Contra affair.[1][3]

Born in Iran,[1] Hakim attended California Polytechnic Institute for 3 years, beginning in 1955.[1] Back in Iran, he established an export business specializing in advanced technologies, and in avoiding export restrictions related to them.[1] He also participated in Project Ibex for the CIA.[4]

Hakim was persona non grata in Iran.[5]

Hakim was credited with negotiating a 9-point plan known as the 'Hakim Accords',[6] in which he negotiated the release of David P. Jacobsen, an American hostage held by the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Iran Hostage Crisis. Later, during Hakim's trial for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, Jacobsen wrote a letter in Hakim's defense in which he stated: "I would be in my fifth year of captivity had it not been for his [Hakim's] extraordinary efforts in negotiating with the Iranian representatives. Other American negotiators had given up, but Mr. Hakim continued."[7]

Hakim moved to California in the early 1980s, and in 1983 established Stanford Technology Trading Group International (STTGI) with Major General Richard V. Secord, Retired. STTGI subsequently became involved in illegal covert operations to supply the Nicaraguan contras, as part of the Iran-Contra affair.[1][8] For his part in the matter, Hakim was charged with five felonies which were dismissed and subsequently pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to probation and a fine of $5000.[1][9]

Hakim died of a brain aneurysm in Inchon, South Korea, where he had moved to be near his wife's parents.[1][3]

>>7508091

Defense Intelligence Agency

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an external intelligence service of the United States federal government, specializing in defense and military intelligence.

A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the United States Intelligence Community (IC), DIA informs national civilian and defense policymakers about the military intentions and capabilities of foreign governments and non-state actors. It also provides intelligence assistance, integration and coordination across uniformed military service intelligence components, which remain structurally separate from DIA.[3] The agency's role encompasses the collection and analysis of military-related foreign political, economic, industrial, geographic, and medical and health intelligence.[4] DIA produces approximately one-fourth of all intelligence content that goes into the President's Daily Brief.[5]

DIA's intelligence operations extend beyond the zones of combat, and approximately half of its employees serve overseas at hundreds of locations and in U.S. Embassies in 140 countries.[6] The agency specializes in the collection and analysis of human-source intelligence (HUMINT), both overt and clandestine, while also handling U.S. military-diplomatic relations abroad.[7] DIA concurrently serves as the national manager for the highly technical measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) and as the Defense Department manager for counterintelligence programs. The agency has no law-enforcement authority, contrary to occasional portrayals in American popular culture.

DIA is a national-level intelligence organization that does not belong to a single military element or within the traditional chain of command, instead answering to the Secretary of Defense directly through the USDI. Three-quarters of the agency's 17,000 employees are career civilians who are experts in various fields of defense and military interest or application;[8][9] although no formal military background is required, 48% of agency employees have some past military service.[10] DIA has a tradition of marking unclassified deaths of its employees on the organization's Memorial Wall.

Established in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, DIA was involved in U.S. intelligence efforts throughout the Cold War and rapidly expanded, both in size and scope, after the September 11 attacks. Because of the sensitive nature of its work, the spy organization has been embroiled in numerous controversies, including those related to its intelligence-gathering activities, to its role in torture, as well as to attempts to expand its activities on U.S. soil.[citation needed]

The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency is an intelligence officer who, upon nomination by the President and confirmation by the Senate, serves as the nation's highest-ranking military intelligence officer. He or she is the primary intelligence adviser to the Secretary of Defense and also answers to the Director of National Intelligence. The Director is also the Commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, a subordinate command of United States Strategic Command, which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Additionally, he or she chairs the Military Intelligence Board, which coordinates activities of the entire defense intelligence community.[11]

DIA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. on Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling with major operational activities at the Pentagon at each Unified Combatant Command as well as in more than a hundred U.S. Embassies around the world where it deploys alongside other government partners (e.g. CIA) and also operates the U.S. Defense Attache Offices.[12] Additionally, the agency has staff deployed at the Col. James N. Rowe Building at Rivanna Station in Charlottesville, Virginia, National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) in Fort Detrick, Maryland, Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) in Huntsville, Alabama, Russell-Knox Building on Marine Corps Base Quantico, National Center for Credibility Assessment at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Defense Intelligence Support Center (DISC) in Reston, Virginia. DIA also recently completed the renovation of Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda in Maryland, which serves as the new location of the National Intelligence University as well as a facility for DIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.[13][14]

>>7508116

Spying against DIA

Ana Belen Montes – a senior DIA analyst arrested in 2001 for spying for the G2 of Cuba and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors alleged that she started spying in the mid-1980s, around the same time when CIA's Aldrich Ames started his interaction with the KGB.

Ronald Montaperto – a senior DIA intelligence analyst who in 2006 pleaded guilty for giving classified information to MSS intelligence officers classified information. Montaperto claimed that he was tricked and served only 3-months in jail due to letters of support from other pro-China intelligence analysts, pejoratively known as the "Red Team", who "harshly [criticize] anyone who raises questions about the threat posed by Beijing's communist regime".[39] One of such supporters, Lonnie Henley, was initially reprimanded by the ODNI for his support of Montaperto but was later promoted to acting national intelligence officer for East Asia.[40]

Waldo H. Dubberstein – a senior DIA intelligence officer for the Middle East and an associate of CIA arms smuggler Edwin P. Wilson who was indicted in 1983 for selling DIA secrets to Libya. The day after being charged, he was found dead in what was ruled a suicide.[41]

>>7508127

INDICTED EXPERT ON MIDEAST IS FOUND DEAD IN VIRGINIA

Waldo H. Dubberstein, a former Defense Department intelligence analyst who was indicted Thursday on charges of selling secret military data to Libya, was found dead today in a storage room of an apartment building in nearby Arlington, Va. The police said he apparently killed himself with a shotgun.

• https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/30/us/indicted-expert-on-mideast-is-found-dead-in-virginia.html

>>7508136

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00552R000605840022-6.pdf

>>7508147

https://books.google.com/books?id=oPO8mP_Scu0C&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=douglas+schlachter&source=bl&ots=NSl7ur4ZLM&sig=ACfU3U2TkXRvVy8RwTlvy5ysC2QimyXDXA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib25DDp7bmAhWBr54KHX5bDUkQ6AEwBXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=douglas%20schlachter&f=false