While not referred to as Active Measures, per se, this is what the proper term for it is. Other terms used could be Influence Operations, Covert Influence, even "election meddling." It should come as no surprise that this has been going on if you've read any of my earlier posts from OVER a decade ago. So, YES the Russians, again, are trying to muddy the waters here in the US. I am actually surprised this even came up to such an extent in this day and age. Historically the Democratic party has been the apologists for all things Russian. I don't want to delve into the current political divide too much here, as this blog deals mainly with the Soviet Union. I may write about it in the future. I can say this though with quite a bit of confidence: The Russians were NOT trying to get Trump elected. I believe they honestly thought Hillary Clinton would be elected and they wanted to make it hard for her; to sew discord. They've, unfortunately, done a terrific job of that.
Showing posts with label Active Measures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Active Measures. Show all posts
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Operation POROK: Henry "Scoop" Jackson Gay?
The KGB loved to accuse American politicians of being Zionists, gay, or both. It did not matter if they were Republicans or Democrats. All that mattered was their anti-soviet stance. In the late 60s, after a failed attempt to subsidize Hubert Humphrey's presidential campaign to prevent Richard Nixon from being elected, the KGB moved on to Henry "Scoop" Jackson. Fearing Jackson's stance on the Soviet Union and believing he would be the Democratic nominee, the KGB launched active measures to discredit him as a Zionist and homosexual. First, Service A forged an FBI document claiming that Jackson was gay. Copies were sent to the Chicago Tribune, The L.A. Times, the Topeka Capital and Jimmy Carter's campaign HQs. Then, in April 1976, after Jackson stated on television that "homosexuality leads to the destruction of the family", The KGB sent said statement and forged documents alleging Jackson was a member of a gay sex club to various people and entities including: Senator Edward Kennedy, columnist Jack Anderson, and the Playboy and Penthouse magazines. The KGB continued POROK despite Jackson failed to obtain the Democratic nomination in 1977 one of POROK's goals was to have the gay press attack Jackson as a hypocritical, closet homosexual. A forged document was sent to a California magazine called "Gay Times." The entire operation, however, was largely a failure and had no clear effect on Jackson's career.
To read more, see The Sword and the shield by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, Political Warfare, pages: 239 -241.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Active Measures: The KGB Targets Dr. Martin Luther King
Would you believe that the soviets wanted to create turmoil in the USA so badly that they resorted to race baiting? Well, believe it. During the mid-1960s, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) failed yet again. The KGB's service A had come to realize the CPUSA could not direct King's policies as it had promised. Much to their chagrin, King, being the great American that he was, did not rail against America's alleged worldwide imperialism as they had hoped, instead he concentrated on encouraging African-Americans to fulfill their dreams. According to Mitrokhin, the KGB sought to discredit MLK so that he may be replaced with a more radical figure. Service A's Yuri Modin, who was the case manager for the Magnificent Five had approval to place articles in the African press saying that King was in fact merely an Uncle Tom, who was receiving funds from the Johnson administration to dilute the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, Modin was authorized to:
1. Distribute pamphlets and the like stating that the Johnson administration was using terrorist methods to suppress the Civil rights Movement.
2. Encourage leading figures in the world of law to discredit Johnson's administration in regards to their handling of the Civil Rights Movement.
3. Forge a document claiming that the John Birch Society and the Minutemen organizations were planning for the "physical elimination" of African-American civil rights leaders.
Service A soon began amplifying the violent images of the Watts race riots. The Center was hoping that such imagery of violence would encourage African-American radicals to replace King with Stokeley Carmichael, a self-proclaimed revolutionary who sought to change the American system through guerrilla warfare on American streets.
On April 4th, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. Now, instead of brushing off King as a mere Uncle Tom, their course of action led them to depict King as a martyr of the African-American liberation movement. What did they resort to? Once again, conspiracy theories. One of which was to claim that King was murdered by white racists under the tutelage of American authorities.
Why? One might ask. Again, anything that tore at the fabric of American Society was good for the Soviet Union.
Ever notice how there seems to be friction between certain groups of African Americans and Jewish people, to this day?
Ponder this: In 1971, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, chairman of the KGB, approved the dissemination of fabricated pamphlets, which were full of racial insults toward blacks. It was purported that the pamphlets came from Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League as a call to arms against the "black mongrels". Further forged media was sent to some 60 other black groups offering up fabricated details of "atrocities" committed by the Jewish Defense League. The problem being of course that none of it was true.
Furthermore, remember the story of Pandora's box? Enter (stage left) operation PANDORA. On July 25, 1971, Anatoli Tikhonovich Kireyev told the New York residency members to set up a delayed explosive device at one of the "Negro colleges", after which, members were admonished to clandestinely inform various black groups that the Jewish Defense League was responsible. Can you imagine going to such lengths to foment disorder?
Racial tensions and the fabricating thereof remained one of Service A's oft used themes. Right before the beginning of the LA Olympics in 1984, KGB officers sent fabricated letters to the African and Asian Olympic committees claiming to be from the KKK. Here is an example:
"THE OLYMPICS - FOR THE WHITES ONLY!
African monkeys!
A grand reception awaits you in Los Angeles!
We are preparing for the Olympic Games by shooting at black moving targets.
In Los Angeles our own Olympic flames are ready to incinerate you. The highest award for a true American patriot would be the lynching of an African monkey.
Blacks, welcome to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles!
We'll give you a reception you'll never forget!"
Incredibly, this and other like propaganda made it into print media around the world. When accused of perpetrating such active measures, the Soviets would feign indignation at the America's anti-Soviet stance.
This is a key tactic in propaganda: produce something so outrageous that mere notion of casting blame on somebody other than the perceived author would in turn cast dispersions upon the claimant. Perhaps McCarthy was not so crazy after all.
Service A soon began amplifying the violent images of the Watts race riots. The Center was hoping that such imagery of violence would encourage African-American radicals to replace King with Stokeley Carmichael, a self-proclaimed revolutionary who sought to change the American system through guerrilla warfare on American streets.
On April 4th, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. Now, instead of brushing off King as a mere Uncle Tom, their course of action led them to depict King as a martyr of the African-American liberation movement. What did they resort to? Once again, conspiracy theories. One of which was to claim that King was murdered by white racists under the tutelage of American authorities.
Why? One might ask. Again, anything that tore at the fabric of American Society was good for the Soviet Union.
Ever notice how there seems to be friction between certain groups of African Americans and Jewish people, to this day?
Ponder this: In 1971, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, chairman of the KGB, approved the dissemination of fabricated pamphlets, which were full of racial insults toward blacks. It was purported that the pamphlets came from Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League as a call to arms against the "black mongrels". Further forged media was sent to some 60 other black groups offering up fabricated details of "atrocities" committed by the Jewish Defense League. The problem being of course that none of it was true.
Furthermore, remember the story of Pandora's box? Enter (stage left) operation PANDORA. On July 25, 1971, Anatoli Tikhonovich Kireyev told the New York residency members to set up a delayed explosive device at one of the "Negro colleges", after which, members were admonished to clandestinely inform various black groups that the Jewish Defense League was responsible. Can you imagine going to such lengths to foment disorder?
Racial tensions and the fabricating thereof remained one of Service A's oft used themes. Right before the beginning of the LA Olympics in 1984, KGB officers sent fabricated letters to the African and Asian Olympic committees claiming to be from the KKK. Here is an example:
"THE OLYMPICS - FOR THE WHITES ONLY!
African monkeys!
A grand reception awaits you in Los Angeles!
We are preparing for the Olympic Games by shooting at black moving targets.
In Los Angeles our own Olympic flames are ready to incinerate you. The highest award for a true American patriot would be the lynching of an African monkey.
Blacks, welcome to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles!
We'll give you a reception you'll never forget!"
Incredibly, this and other like propaganda made it into print media around the world. When accused of perpetrating such active measures, the Soviets would feign indignation at the America's anti-Soviet stance.
This is a key tactic in propaganda: produce something so outrageous that mere notion of casting blame on somebody other than the perceived author would in turn cast dispersions upon the claimant. Perhaps McCarthy was not so crazy after all.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
So, Did the GRU and KGB Fund Anti-War Movements During the Vietnam War? Da!!
On page 78 of Stanislav Lunev's and Ira Winkler's book titled "Through the Eyes of the Enemy", is one of the most revealing bits of information concerning the duping of American peace activists. Should note that Stanislav Lunev was Russia's highest ranking Soviet Military defector. Since this book is rarely found in brick and mortar bookstores, and as far as I can see, its passages are nowhere on the Internet, I present page 78 in hopes it will reach a new, fresh set of eyes:
"Only in our second year did we learn about our operational target's military. In my case, it was the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Special Services. This was while the United States was pulling out of Vietnam. We spent a great deal of time studying the Vietnam War, which was considered a Vietnamese victory over American imperialism. While the GRU instructors would not state it directly, they strongly implied that the GRU was responsible for the Vietnamese success. The GRU had a massive presence in both North and South Vietnam; their operatives worked under cover of the North Vietnamese Special Services.
Our instructors also told us about how the GRU influenced the American public. The GRU and the KGB helped to fund just about every antiwar movement and organization in America and abroad. Funding was provided via undercover operatives or front organizations. These would fund another group that in turn would fund student organizations. The GRU also helped Vietnam fund its propaganda campaign as a whole.
What will be a great surprise to the American people is that the GRU and KGB had a larger budget for antiwar propaganda in the United States that it did for economic and military support of the Vietnamese. The antiwar propaganda cost the GRU more than $1 billion, but as history shows, it was a hugely successful campaign and well worth the cost. The antiwar sentiment created an incredible momentum that greatly weakened the U.S. military."
Now, call me crazy but in essence, the peace movement was in large part nothing but a ruse and indeed sounds conspiratorial. Be that as it may, this reminds me a great axiomatic statement: the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. There is no doubt in my mind that new anti-war sentiments were in part funded by those, who do not have America's interests at heart. World Worker's Party, A.N.S.W.E.R, Scott Ritter? Sound familiar guys?
"Only in our second year did we learn about our operational target's military. In my case, it was the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Special Services. This was while the United States was pulling out of Vietnam. We spent a great deal of time studying the Vietnam War, which was considered a Vietnamese victory over American imperialism. While the GRU instructors would not state it directly, they strongly implied that the GRU was responsible for the Vietnamese success. The GRU had a massive presence in both North and South Vietnam; their operatives worked under cover of the North Vietnamese Special Services.
Our instructors also told us about how the GRU influenced the American public. The GRU and the KGB helped to fund just about every antiwar movement and organization in America and abroad. Funding was provided via undercover operatives or front organizations. These would fund another group that in turn would fund student organizations. The GRU also helped Vietnam fund its propaganda campaign as a whole.
What will be a great surprise to the American people is that the GRU and KGB had a larger budget for antiwar propaganda in the United States that it did for economic and military support of the Vietnamese. The antiwar propaganda cost the GRU more than $1 billion, but as history shows, it was a hugely successful campaign and well worth the cost. The antiwar sentiment created an incredible momentum that greatly weakened the U.S. military."
Now, call me crazy but in essence, the peace movement was in large part nothing but a ruse and indeed sounds conspiratorial. Be that as it may, this reminds me a great axiomatic statement: the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. There is no doubt in my mind that new anti-war sentiments were in part funded by those, who do not have America's interests at heart. World Worker's Party, A.N.S.W.E.R, Scott Ritter? Sound familiar guys?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Active Measures and Ideological Subversion: In the Words of Yuri Bezmenov
Condensed Interview:
Transcript Highlights:
ED GRIFFIN: Well, you spoke before about "ideological subversion" and that's a phrase that I'm afraid some Americans don't understand. When the Soviets use the phrase "ideological subversion" what do they mean by it?
1. YURI BEZMENOV: Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate and open. You can see it with your own eyes.... It has nothing to do with espionage.
I know that intelligence gathering looks more romantic.... That's probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.
It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being "demoralization". It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism....
The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 60's, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can't get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.
In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
ED: And yet these people who have been programmed and as you say [are] in place and who are favorable to an opening with the Soviet concept - these are the very people who would be marked for extermination in this country?
YURI: Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in [the] future what the beautiful society of EQUALITY and social justice means in practice, obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy [and] frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the [ranks] of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. [Now] you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In [the] future these people will simply be [he makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful [and] noble ideas of EQUALITY. This they don't understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.
The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it's over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That's the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
The next stage is destabilization.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some... sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.
Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course - it's the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, [it is] the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don't give a hoot. If you're not scared by now, nothing can scare you.
ED: Okay, so what do we do? What is your recommendation to the American people?
YURI: Well, the immediate thing that comes to mind is, of course, there must be a very strong national effort to educate people in the spirit of REAL patriotism, number one. Number two, to explain [to] them the real danger of socialist, communist, welfare state, Big Brother government.... The moment at least part of [the] United States population is convinced that the danger is real, they have to FORCE their government... to stop aiding Communism.
Transcript Highlights:
ED GRIFFIN: Well, you spoke before about "ideological subversion" and that's a phrase that I'm afraid some Americans don't understand. When the Soviets use the phrase "ideological subversion" what do they mean by it?
1. YURI BEZMENOV: Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate and open. You can see it with your own eyes.... It has nothing to do with espionage.
I know that intelligence gathering looks more romantic.... That's probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.
It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being "demoralization". It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism....
The result? The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 60's, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can't get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.
In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.
ED: And yet these people who have been programmed and as you say [are] in place and who are favorable to an opening with the Soviet concept - these are the very people who would be marked for extermination in this country?
YURI: Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in [the] future what the beautiful society of EQUALITY and social justice means in practice, obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy [and] frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the [ranks] of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. [Now] you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In [the] future these people will simply be [he makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful [and] noble ideas of EQUALITY. This they don't understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.
The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it's over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That's the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.
The next stage is destabilization.... It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some... sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.
Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False. United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course - it's the system. However, ridiculous it may sound, [it is] the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don't give a hoot. If you're not scared by now, nothing can scare you.
ED: Okay, so what do we do? What is your recommendation to the American people?
YURI: Well, the immediate thing that comes to mind is, of course, there must be a very strong national effort to educate people in the spirit of REAL patriotism, number one. Number two, to explain [to] them the real danger of socialist, communist, welfare state, Big Brother government.... The moment at least part of [the] United States population is convinced that the danger is real, they have to FORCE their government... to stop aiding Communism.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Active Measure: Herbert Hoover A Homosexual?
Along with the CIA, the FBI was a target of Service A's active measures. Most of the propaganda was aimed at the Bureau's leader J. Edgar Hoover, who passed away in 1972.
The KGB's propagandists delivered their literary mud in three phases:
1. Service A portrayed Hoover as an extreme, ultra right-winger in cahoots with the very right-wing John Birch Society. The Service ended up obtaining some of their stationary; the full extent of how they used the stationary is unclear. They did however later forge a letter in November 1965, making it appear that Hoover was sending the society his warm regards, and that with FBI money the John Birch Society could open up more branches.
2. Operation SPIRIT: This operation's aim was to depict abuses of civil rights on behalf of the FBI. Service A forged yet another letter to make it appear that Frances Knight, head of the Passport Office in the State Department was really an FBI agent. The forged letter from Ms. Knight to Hoover asked for FBI assistance in digging up information on a Harvard Vietnam War critic Professor H. Stuart Hughes. The letter was sent to columnist Drew Pearson and published August 4th 1967. Both Knight and Hoover dismissed the letter as a forgery, but damage had already been done as the FBI did not readily deny contacts with the Passport Office. Lesson: always forcefully deny what are lies and follow it up again and again. Luckily, the damage wasn't too severe.
3. And finally, Hoover was a red dress and boa wearing homosexual. There is of course no proof for this. The KGB had taken testimony from a known perjurer, Susan Rosenstiel, and ran with it. Not helping the matter Hoover did, however, share a home with his deputy Clyde Tolson. Despite this there is no credible evidence that any unusual relationship was occurring. To the dismay of Hoover's number three Deke DeLoach, he was shocked how readily the smear was accepted as an "undeniable truth". This is similar to a "repeat it often enough and people will believe it" matter as is with a more modern urban legend involving Richard Gere and a Gerbal. The lesson is, the next time you hear: "But, I mean everybody knows it's a fact that...", take it with a big grain of salt.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Active Measures: Codename PONT, Phil Agee And His Punch Drunk Love For... The KGB and Cuba
Service A lesson one: Hell hath no fury like a scorned employee, who publishes a tell-all book about his former employer. Most people may have never heard of Philip Agee, and those who have probably couldn't care less. But he epitomizes the biggest fear an intelligence agency has when they hire new officers: a person who's ego and bitterness will give him/her all the rationalization he or she needs to betray their country. According to various accounts, including Mr. Mitrokhin and Oleg Kalugin, the former head of the KGB's counterintelligence directorate, Agee, a CIA field officer in Latin America, was summarily fired from the agency in 1968 for heavy drinking, hitting on embassy wives, and financial mismanagement. Agee was originally turned down by the KGB in Mexico City, as his information he wanted to unload seemed too good to be true. The Cubans, however, lapped him right up like a fly to a frog's tongue. The communist Cuban government, no friends of the US mind you, passed many if not all of Agee's revelations over to the KGB. With an unknown amount of assistance from service A and the Cubans, Agee went on to publish five damaging US and CIA books, first of which was titled Inside The Company: CIA Diary. Agee's blatant disregard for his oath led to unspeakable damage to operations including the likely cause of deaths of two agents. The book was first published in Great Britain and received much fanfare. After a lengthy appeal, Agee was deported from Britain to The Netherlands and other various countries. One not so surprising character witness during this debacle was former US-Attorney General Ramsey Clark (this man alone deserves an entire book written about his anti-American antics).
Service A later used Agee and other US citizens for active measures; namely publishing an anti-CIA information bulletin. Those people and the bulletin shall remain nameless as well as Agee's other books, because frankly they don't deserve mention. For a matter of record however, the KGB codenames for the latter were: RUPOR, RUBY, and ARSENIO.
In January 2008 while in Cuba, Philip Agee died at a local hospital during routine surgery. While one should rarely find such feelings within concerning a person's death, it is hard not to feel an ironic poetic justice involved. Bottom line is this: be careful employing those who have a long, malignant history of blaming others. Furthermore, a selfish and disgruntled mindset will always trump ideology (did he really care about the Communist Utopia?). Philip Agee, who never served time for his crime, shall go down in history as not a man destined to do right by a utopian ideology, but as a grumpy drunk who was successfully exploited by the KGB to act as their puppet. Sound familiar Scott Ritter?
Service A later used Agee and other US citizens for active measures; namely publishing an anti-CIA information bulletin. Those people and the bulletin shall remain nameless as well as Agee's other books, because frankly they don't deserve mention. For a matter of record however, the KGB codenames for the latter were: RUPOR, RUBY, and ARSENIO.
In January 2008 while in Cuba, Philip Agee died at a local hospital during routine surgery. While one should rarely find such feelings within concerning a person's death, it is hard not to feel an ironic poetic justice involved. Bottom line is this: be careful employing those who have a long, malignant history of blaming others. Furthermore, a selfish and disgruntled mindset will always trump ideology (did he really care about the Communist Utopia?). Philip Agee, who never served time for his crime, shall go down in history as not a man destined to do right by a utopian ideology, but as a grumpy drunk who was successfully exploited by the KGB to act as their puppet. Sound familiar Scott Ritter?
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Active Measure: JFK Assassination Conspiracy
This has long been a favorite among conspiracy theorists. I relied heavily on Mitrokhin's book (see previous post) to sum up the basics.JFK's assassin, as we are well aware, was Lee Harvey Oswald. What many people do not know or have forgotten was that Oswald defected to the USSR in 1959 over "disgust" with the American system and admiration for the Soviet system. After subsequently annoying the Russians, he returned to Texas in 1962 with a Russian wife in tow. Various accounts claim that Oswald was unstable and a nuisance. But the fact that he had indeed previously defected proved to be an embarrassment to the Soviets; an embarrassment that they wanted to go away.
After the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald had indeed acted alone and was not part of some Soviet conspiracy per se, the KGB sponsored the services of Carl Aldo Marzani, an American citizen, yet Italian born Communist codenamed NORD through his book publishing company Liberty Book Club (affiliated with book selling network Prometheus Book Club), codenamed SEVER, with a $15,000 grant to publish pro Soviet materials.
Upon this, Joachim Jösten (Joesten), a German author, later published a book called Oswald: Assassin or Fall Guy? Joesten supported Moscow's assertion that the blame be place upon a group of racist right-wingers, most notable among them was "oil magnate" H.L. Hunt. Joesten's quotation inducing story basically asserted that the "right-wingers" were wary of Kennedy's wish to squelch the "military-industrial complex", thus starting the basis for a theme that would reoccur for the next 30 years: Oswald had ties to the FBI and CIA and was killed by the US Government to prevent him from talking.
Around this time, the Warren Commission's findings were drowning out Joesten's assertions. In rebuttal, the KGB identified and financially supported New York lawyer Mark Lane as the most able conspiracy theorist to propagate said theme.
Mark Lane is well known as a person with close ties to Democratic Party
circles in the US. He hold liberal views on a number of current American
political problems and has undertaken to conduct his own private
investigation of the circumstances surrounding the murder of J.F. Kennedy.
(Mitrokhin Archive vol. 6 ch. 14, part 3.)
After the Watergate scandal, a new life was given to the CIA involved conspiracy theory where Service A was responsible for an active measure against E. Howard Hunt (not to be confused with H.L. Hunt, despite the fact the press did just that) a former CIA officer involved with the Watergate scandal. Thus, a letter, codenamed ARLINGTON, was forged to a Mr. Hunt "signed" by Oswald. This was actually fabricated by the Soviets based on phrases and expressions Oswald had used in the USSR. The forged letter is as follows:
There was much confusion and speculation as to who Mr. Hunt was. The KGB wanted to spin the story into a yarn of CIA involvement, hence focusing on E. Howard Hunt vice H.L. Hunt, the Texas oil man. It is unclear whether the KGB itself had confused the two names, but one thing is clear: the USSR's conspiracy theory, made possible through KGB active measures and the US government's own inadvertent confusion, could rightfully claim that even in the late 1970s more Americans believed the KGB orchestrated conspiracy theory than did believe the official findings of the Warren Commission. Now if somebody could just tell that to Oliver Stone.Dear Mr. Hunt,
I would like information concerning my
position. I am only
asking for information. I am suggesting that we discuss
the matter fully before
any steps are taken by me or anybody else.
Thank-you
Lee Harvey Oswald
(Ibid).
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Service A and Active Measures
Paraphrasing from Christopher Andrew's and Visili Mitrokhin's book The Sword And The Shield, Service A was the name given to the disinformation and covert action group, which fell under the jurisdiction of the FCD (First Chief Directorate; foreign intelligence) of the USSR state Security Committee aka the KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности СССР (КГБ). One of their main goals was to spread disinformation and propaganda around the world to exploit weak spots of the main adversary, a term of little endearment for the USA.
The book describes service A as basically half competent with the other half composed of rejects from other areas of the KGB. Being assigned to service A was not deemed highly by everyone due to the lack of foreign postings. Those who specialized in propaganda were responsible for quite a few successes, while the other half "relied on crude conspiracy theories about the capitalist and Zionist plotters who supposedly operated a secret 'command center' in the United States." Such conspiracy theories were the result of the KGB, writ large, not heeding the famous Chinese warrior Sun Tzu's advice: "Know your enemy"... for if "you know your enemy and know yourself you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." But, Sun Tzu also cautioned, "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."
Such propaganda, much of it made up by the service, were part of "active measure" campaigns. These measures are revealing, albeit not well-known as to the source, subjects of posts to come, which I hope shed light on some modern urban legends.
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