Tag: CIA

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Howard Hughes: Was His Paranoia About Russia Justified?

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Howard Hughes was a multi-millionaire back in the day. He was a Hollywood playboy, an investor in industries, an inventor, an aerospace leader, and a Hollywood movie director/producer; but, above all this, a patriot. Hughes built the famous “Spruce Goose,” (the largest airplane ever built up to that time) he bought several Las Vegas casinos and lived as a recluse in various resort penthouses. He claimed that the USSR wanted to kill him. Every aspect of his life was greatly controlled by him. Howard only met face to face with a few persons. He conducted business over the phone. It’s claimed that when he died he was unkempt and had fingernails two inches long. His body had to be fingerprinted by the FBI for identification because he was so unrecognizable. However, much of his lifestyle was blamed on his, unwarranted fear, of being assassinated by the USSR.

In 1968, the USSR had a nuclear missile-armed submarine disappear in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii. The CIA waited and waited for them to retrieve their very valuable and top-secret asset. They watched until they realized that the USSR was searching in the wrong locations. They were off by many hundreds of miles. That is when they realized that the USSR had no idea of where it was. However, the CIA did. The CIA didn’t want to let the USSR know that they knew where the sub was for two reasons; not the least of which, was that the CIA didn’t want to reveal to the USSR the fact that the CIA had the ability to track the USSR’s submarines better than they themselves could.

The CIA went to Hughes asking him to participate in a cover story in hopes that the CIA would be able to raise the submarine along with its nuclear-armed missiles without the USSR getting wise. Hughes agreed. A large ship was reconfigured in a way that would disguise its true intent. It was able to have salvage equipment that would be lowered from the center of the ship and out of the line of sight of surface ships, Russian trawlers. The cover story was that Hughes was interested in dredging the deep ocean floor to explore, and possibly find valuable minerals. This ship was supposedly for this purpose. It was a top-top secret mission.

The ship was able to lower equipment that attached its self around the girth of the sub. The sub was in waters thousands of feet deep. The CIA hoped that the absurdity of being able to do this would help keep the suspicious Russians from guessing the true mission. However, the night before the ship was to leave to go to the salvage spot the ship builder’s officer was mysteriously burglarized. Their safe had been opened. No doubt the KGB.

The USSR dispatched a spy trawler to follow the CIA’s ship. The CIA’s ship anchored over the wreck and began its operations. They were able to get a large grappling claw around the sub and began raising it. Part of the sub broke away and fell to the ocean floor. The remaining part of the sub did reach the mother ship and that section did contain at least two or three missiles. The CIA was now sure that their cover was blown. The section of sub salvaged contained bodies of at least six USSR sailors. The CIA performed a very publicized burial of them at sea. Why? They were trying to convinced the USSR that nothing valuable was retrieved. These bodies, no doubt, would have been given names (by the CIA, regardless of their real names) of sailors whos work stations were in a part of the sub that would not be valuable to the USA. This was to convince the USSR that a worthless section of the sub was salvaged. The CIA officially took the stance that the mission was a failure, but, both they and the watching USSR knew better.

It was because of Hughes’ involvement with this mission that convinced him that the KGB wanted him killed. If you look back at persons who were enemies of the USSR State you will see a high mortality rate. The commy hunter Senator George McGovern mysteriously died young, the official cause of death was cancer: he died in a hospital while getting treatment for it. His early death was shrugged off by the Commies in the media by saying he was a heavy smoker and drinker. Killing enemies in a hospital was/is the perfect weapon. Most Americans would not suspect a hospital. The Commie hating George Patton was killed as a result of a very minor car accident. The accident report and the investigation report were lost. The driver in the other vehicle was a drunk soldier who had stolen the military truck he used in the accident, yet, the driver and none of his fellow AWOL friends were not punished. As Patton’s health took a turn for the better, his wife began to make plains to return him from Europe to the USA. Then inexplicably, he died; in the hospital. Leon Trotsky was a competing communist leader to Joseph Stalin. Fearing assassination he fled Russia and lived under tight security in exile in Mexico, yet somehow, an assassin was able to get in and kill him. The USSR has a near-perfect record of killing anyone they wish. This is true even today. Recently, a USSR dissident named Sergei Skripal was assassinated by the KGB using a highly radioactive bb. This is not an exhaustive list, there are many more.

Suffice it to say, Hughes may have had many idiosyncrasies and had good reason to be paranoid; he doesn’t deserve to be called a loony solely for this.

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U-2 Spy Over-Flights Of USSR

What you need to know: CIA pilot Frances Gary Powers was doing a top secret (spying) over-flight of the USSR in a top secret U-2 spy plane when he claimed to be shot down. He failed to follow any of the standing orders if shot down. He failed to push the destruct aircraft switch to keep the top-secret aircraft and just as valuable its top secret camera system from falling into USSR hands, and he failed to take the poison given him. Despite the claim that he was shot down, the top-secret aircraft was whole except for minor damage. He suffered even less damage. All this was after crashing from over 70,000 feet. The USSR did not have the ability to shoot down an aircraft at that altitude. He was a double agent for the USSR.

The Details: In the 1960s USA President Dwight D. Eisenhower needed to see what the Soviet Union’s military threat really was. He was frightened that they had the capability to do what they boasted of. Lockheed Aircraft was able to produce an aircraft that could overfly the USSR. It couldn’t fly high enough to evade radar but too high to be shot down, and that was good enough. The USSR would never publicly acknowledge that the USA could overfly their country and they could not stop it.

The U-2 can fly well over 70,000, feet AGL (above ground level) and the USSR had nothing that could fly that high, neither missiles nor planes, thus, they had to sit quietly and not say anything. They were unable to demand the USA to stop without having to admit to the rest of the world that they were not able to stop us.

Then came a mission flown by then CIA officer Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960. He was overdue. To the horror of the CIA and the president, the USSR announced that it had shot down a U-2, flight. There, on television, for the world to see was Powers, in remarkably good health for having been shot down and ejected from a disintegrated airplane. Well not quite. It seems that the aircraft didn’t disintegrate and was, in fact, in remarkably good condition. Nearly completely intact. Despite the plane freefalling for about 70,000, feet it crashed with no “crush” damage (caused by a falling plane hitting the ground at a high rate of speed) and nearly no other damage. And we had the images to prove this, on Soviet TV. The Soviets got a nearly intact airplane. The Soviets got a top-secret plane and top-secret photo and imaging equipment. Powers failed to initiate the self-destruct mechanism on the plane as he was ordered to do. Powers also failed to use the poison he was given to kill himself (yes, it’s true, these things do happen) before being captured. Powers stated that he didn’t use the poison because, “…had hopes of escaping from the USSR.” Yeah, an American deep inside the USSR would be able to make it a thousand miles without being captured.

I remember this incident very clearly. The fact is, our CIA was certain that Powers was a USSR spy even if they couldn’t admit it. One of Power’s stories was that he had some kind of engine troubles that caused him to lose enough altitude to allow the Soviet missiles to reach him. Then another one where he said the missile reached his altitude but just nicked the plane which then fell like a leaf over 70,000, feet to land with no “crush” damage, as would be expected. However, his injuries along with the damage done to the fallen U-2 plane did not ring true. The Soviets were broadcasting images of the pilot and plane that showed little damage. But, what could the CIA do? The USA would have to expose valuable intelligence assets to try to disprove the shoot down.

About five years later Powers was released back to the USA in a spy swap. He was not welcomed home as a hero. He was not treated the same as our shot down pilots of the Vietnam war. Nope, he returned and was not offered any position anywhere. Not with the CIA or any government vendor. His considerable abilities were not desired anywhere. Not by an airline or even by flying tours. He got the only job he could, and that was with the sympathetic news media. He became a helicopter pilot for a Southern CA news station.

Eventually, he met the same fate that all persons seem to meet when the Soviet Union is fearful that some embarrassing information might be made public. For instance, as in a bestselling book or autobiography. His chopper fell from the sky and he was killed. He ran out of fuel because “someone” had worked on the fuel gauge without telling him.

Of course, there are several cover stories manufactured by the media over time. Often they do more harm (for Powers) than good. For example, when Powers was debriefed by the CIA upon his return he proudly told them that he gave the USSR some misinformation. He told them that he U-2 could not fly over 68,000 feet while it can fly well above that. But, didn’t the Soviets see that he was flying at a higher altitude. This was a tacit admittance that he was not flying at the altitude he was supposed to. And then there is the one where the Soviets had an unarmed Su-9 fighter in the area and he was instructed to ram the U-2. (During WWII both British and Nazi pilots ramed planes when necessary) As the story goes, the Su-9 missed the U-2 because he was flying too fast to maneuver to the U-2. Really. Please note that the Su-9 can only fly to 55,000, feet altitude. Powers must have been well below where he was supposed to be.

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Why Guilty For Lying To FBI But Not For Crime Being Investigated?

When one is in the crosshairs of the FBI one doesn’t stand a chance.

All you need to know:
The FBI is not held accountable for their actions and has become a “loose cannon.” If they don’t like you, for any reason, they can terrorize you. The FBI in concert with the Democratic Party attempted a coup to overthrow President Trump’s election results.

Details: We see a lot of people being found guilty of lying to the FBI but not guilty of the crime being prosecuted. This phenomenon of placing one under investigation and then taking a plea deal for lying is all too common with the FBI; it often occurs when the FBI can’t prove the original charge. 

The reason for the success of this tactic is that the FBI does not record any interviews. When they ask the victim a question the only account of both the question and the answer is the written account of the agent. And no, the victim can not record the session either. Often, later in the investigation, the same question is asked, but this time in a different way and the victim will often answer differently. Why? Because the victim may perceive the subject of the question differently than from the first, and thus, answers the new question differently. Then FLASH, the agent produces the first account, in a 302 (the agent’s written report) and shows it to the victim: If offered a plea deal the victim must take it, after all, it is his/her verbal account against the agent’s written one and a lesser sentence versus one for years in prison.

There have been several court cases where a defendant is guilty of the actual crime being investigated, and yet. the judge tosses out the case because there is no recording of statements when the opportunity, by the FBI, was abundantly clear. In this tech-filled world, why would the FBI not record them? Recordings are required in other courts whenever possible; why not hold the FBI to the same standard of excellence that local law enforcement is? 

Yes, of course, the vast rank and file of the FBI are perfectly honorable. Really? How do we know? If they don’t follow commonly accepted practices (of ethics), the same ones that all other law enforcement agencies do, there’s nothing to compare them to. They should at least match the quality being achieved by our smallest police departments.

One infamous event: At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta GA, Richard Jewel, who was working as a security officer, discovered a suspicious backpack. Thinking it might be a bomb he alerted authorities and he and fellow officers began trying to move the throngs of attendees out of the way. It was a bomb and it detonated before the clearing was finished. One person was killed and over a hundred were injured. Richard was heralded as a hero by all but the FBI. They thought it suspicious that an uneducated common man could be doing his job at that level of excellence. 

A very public investigation was started by the FBI. With the press present, Richard’s house was searched– twice. The FBI said that he matched a profile of a lone bomber who would plant a bomb just to find it and become a hero. Richard obtained a layer, who was an ex-FBI agent.

The FBI was so convinced of his guilt that they approached him, when his attorney was not present, and ask if he would be a part of a training exercise to be used to teach law enforcement personnel. He was flattered. They took Richard to a recording studio and gave him a script to read. In the script, Richard realized he was playing the part of the bomber, not the hero. He questioned this and hesitated. In his script, he was confessing to planting the Olympic bomb. Meanwhile, his attorney was trying to find him and he did find him just before Richard was about to be recorded. The recording was set up to sound as if it was obtained by a wiretap on Richard.  It had to be a wiretap because the FBI doesn’t record statementnts, unless it benefits them.

Eventually, the real bomber was caught and found guilty of this bombing plus three others at different locations. He was a civil terrorist.

Would the FBI send an innocent man to prison just so they could clear a very public crime? On a hunch? Yes, but only because they wrongly thought him guilty. Richard successfully sued three news outlets that went along with the FBI”s leaked lies. He was eventually acknowledged as a hero and was very popular. He went from certainly going to prison to a career in law enforcement.  It is very probable that the FBI agents were never punished, the FBI won’t tell.

The upper Escalon of this FBI, in concert with the Democratic Party, attempted nothing less than a silent coupe. Had Hillary won the presidency democracy, as a true democracy, would have died in the USA. We have had major security breaches and crimes committed by Democrats who are then given a pass while the tiniest tweet by President Trump is heavily investigated. There can be no argument to the fact that the FBI attempted to overthrow the Republican Party. When candidate Trump said to the press that his campaign was being wiretapped the main-stream media, and even myself, thought him over-dramatic. The media blasted him. Who would wiretap a US Presidential Candidate? After all, this isn’t Russia. 

What a shock to find out that our own FBI WAS wiretapping Trump. That they sent in a mole to try to entrap his campaign. The FBI and the media just couldn’t believe that they could fail in doing this, but they did. While Trump isn’t perfect he has proven himself to be much more honest than the deep-state Washington DC types. The FBI as it is today must be, in effect, overthrown. It requires someone in charge that will clean house. I personally I still have a wait and see position on that.

Liberals have openly claimed that they will overthrow the government. Huh? When did they say that? In the ’60s the communist supported radicals said they would slowly infiltrate the government, and our institutions of education, and overthrow it before the public caught on. The current FBI and Democratic Party are the proof it is working. Oh, and just one more tidbit; John Brennon, director of the CIA under Obama, was a card carrying communist. Before joining the CIA he wondered if his support and vote for the communist presidential candidate, in the election just before he applied to the CIA, would derail his security clearance by the CIA. It didn’t. It appears it enhanced his career, thus, we had a communist as the director of the CIA.