“It will be necessary to find some way of pulling Hammarskjold up short.”

UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (September 13 1961)

“Hammarskjöld was at the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said ‘when they killed him’.”

US President Harry Truman (September 19 1961)

March 31 2021 — On 31 March 1953, the Security Council voted 10-0-1 to recommend Hammarskjöld to the General Assembly, with an abstention from Nationalist China. Shortly after midnight on 1 April 1953, Hammarskjöld was awakened by a telephone call from a Stockholm journalist with the news, which he dismissed as an April Fool’s Day joke. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

RELATED POST: One Year Ago — Dag Hammarskjold Investigation Reauthorized by U. N. Secretary General

RELATED POST: Dag Hammarskjold — Belgian Intel Agency Fabricated Mercenary Alibi

RELATED POST: Biography — Jan Van Risseghem [Prime Suspect in Hammarskjold Cold case]

“Information of the type requested is the missing link that makes the present picture incomplete, and its conspicuous absence from the record means that conclusions about the cause of the crash cannot yet be reached. South Africa, the UK and the US must be almost certain to hold important undisclosed information.”

Tanzanian lawyer Mohamed Chande Othman — UN Report

UPDATE (March 31 2021) — Life, Soren Kierkegaard wrote, must be lived forwards even if it can only be understood backwards. So true, on both counts…

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the ceremony to commemorate the fifty-ninth anniversary of the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, in New York on September 15 2020.

“Today, we gather to remember Dag Hammarskjöld and pay tribute to his accomplishments. 

On this fifty-ninth anniversary of his death, we celebrate his life.  Although he had a diverse diplomatic career and was a man of many interests, Dag Hammarskjöld’s name is forever linked to the United Nations. Until his tragic passing, he led our Organization with courage and purpose, and we owe him a lot.

I welcome the General Assembly’s resolution in December 2019 to continue the inquiry into the causes of the plane crash.  We have a responsibility to all the victims and their loved ones to learn the truth of what happened, and I would like to reiterate my personal commitment to that quest.”

This sounds pretty nice but just ask yourself one question. What has been achieved by the UN inquiry so far? What has been done in the last 12 months? Short answer: nothing. Nothing at all! And this time there is really no excuse…

After the recent revelations regarding Crypto AG and CIA/NSA Operation Rubicon, there is no excuse for not solving this crime. Everyone one should feel angry. Flashback.

Fact #1 — A decade ago, I argued that Crypto AG had rigged the equipment used by diplomats around the world allowing US Intelligence Agencies to decode their messages in real-time.

The piece (The NSA-Crypto AG Sting — For years US eavesdroppers could read encrypted messages without the least difficulty) is still available online and its relevance to the Lockerbie case could play a major role in the upcoming appeal.

On February 11 2020, I was finally vindicated when Swiss broadcasting company SRF, German public broadcaster ZDF and the Washington Post confirmed most details of the story after gaining access to a classified, comprehensive CIA history document summarizing Operations “Thesaurus” and  “Rubicon”.

RELATED POST: Crypto AG — Belgium Intelligence Committee Launches Investigation

Fact #2 — On November 2 2017, I suggested that Belgian mercenary Jan Van Risseghem may be responsible for the death of Dag Hammarskjold. The story was based on the testimony of a very credible source who had accepted to talk to Intel Today.

On January 12 2019, The Guardian confirmed that Belgian mercenary Jan van Risseghem was indeed the person responsible for the death of Dag Hammarskjold and his crew.

RELATED POST: EXCLUSIVE — Belgian Mercenary Killed Dag Hammarskjold // UPDATE — Story Confirmed!

Amazingly, The Guardian forgot to tell its readers that the story had been published on this blog more than a year before. Even the pictures of Jan van Risseghem published by The Guardian were initially published on this blog.

Intel Today readers were not amused, and a few did not hesitate to tell The Guardian how they felt about this affair.

But not only had the “Guardian story” been stolen from this blog, the authors — Emma Graham-Harrison, Andreas Rocksen and Mads Brügger —  failed to understand a key point.

As I wrote on the day the story was posted by The Guardian,

“Journalists are still missing the importance of one critical aspect of this story: the role of CRYPTO AG.” [Intel Today – Jan 12 2019]

And this brings us to the next issue…

Fact #3 — On January 17 2019, I posted a story titled: Boris Hagelin — The Swiss Businessman Who Sold The World Out.

In that story, I explained that all the Crypto AG machines delivered to the UN — including the one used by Hammarskjöld during his visit to Congo — had been rigged at the request of the NSA.

I concluded the piece with the following statement:

“After his initial visit to Boris Hagelin in Zug, NSA William Friedman wrote in his report:

‘The NSA has now complete control over Crypto AG. Spying can start on an industrial scale.‘

So much for Swiss neutrality…”

And yet, despite all this information, the UN investigators did not interview the current managers of CRYPTO AG and they did not request any help from Switzerland.

What on earth is going on? Those (UN investigators) who investigate the death of Dag Hammarskjöld do not want to know about Crypto AG and those who report on Crypto AG (The Washington Post) do not mention once the United Nations scandal.

We know that the US hold important undisclosed information regarding the Hammarskjöld case and we know that they refuse to share this information with the UN investigators.

Why do you think the US has been withholding this information?

END of UPDATE

“Journalists are still missing the importance of one critical aspect of this story: the role of CRYPTO AG.” [Intel Today – Jan 12 2019]

The exchange between the journalist and Hammarskjöld was rather comical…

Journalist: “We understand you’ve been designated Secretary-General of the United Nations.”

Hammarskjöld: “This April Fool’s Day joke is in extremely bad taste: it’s nonsense!”

Dag Hammarskjöld finally believed the news after the third phone call. The Swedish mission in New York confirmed the nomination at 03:00 and a communique from the Security Council was soon thereafter delivered to him.

After consulting with the Swedish cabinet and his father, Hammarskjöld decided to accept the nomination.

Hammarskjöld was sworn in as Secretary-General on 10 April 1953. He was unanimously reelected on 26 September 1957 for another term, taking effect on 10 April 1958.

Background

On 10 November 1952 Trygve Lie announced his resignation as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Several months of negotiations ensued between the Western powers and the Soviet Union, without reaching an agreement on his successor.

On 13 and 19 March 1953, the Security Council voted on four candidates. Lester B. Pearson of Canada was the only candidate to receive the required majority, but he was vetoed by the Soviet Union.

At a consultation of the permanent members on 30 March 1953, French ambassador Henri Hoppenot suggested four candidates, including Hammarskjöld, whom he had met at the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation.

The superpowers hoped to seat a Secretary-General who would focus on administrative issues and refrain from participating in political discussion.

Hammarskjöld’s reputation at the time was, in the words of biographer Emery Kelèn, “that of a brilliant economist, an unobtrusive technician, and an aristo-bureaucrat”.

As a result, there was little to no controversy in his selection. The Soviet permanent representative, Valerian Zorin, found Hammarskjöld “harmless”. Zorin declared that he would be voting for Hammarskjöld, surprising the Western powers.

The announcement set off a flurry of diplomatic activity. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was strongly in favor of Hammarskjöld and asked the United States to “take any appropriate action to induce the [Nationalist] Chinese to abstain.” (Sweden recognized the People’s Republic of China and faced a potential veto from the Republic of China.)

At the U.S. State Department, the nomination “came as a complete surprise to everyone here and we started scrambling around to find out who Mr. Hammarskjold was and what his qualifications were.”

The State Department authorized Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the US Ambassador, to vote in favor after he told them that Hammarskjöld “may be as good as we can get.

“With strong feeling personal insufficiency I hesitate to accept candidature but I do not feel I could refuse to assume the task imposed on me should the [UN General] Assembly follow the recommendation of the Security Council by which I feel deeply honoured.”

Dag Hammarskjöld  (April 1, 1953)

Mysterious Death 

On September 18 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane mysteriously crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and the 15 people on board.

It’s understood that because Hammarskjöld was, at the time, advocating for Congo’s independence (against the wishes of European mining companies and other powerful entities), the “crash” was an assassination.

RELATED POST: UN REPORT — External Attack Probably Caused Dag Hammarskjold’s Plane to Crash

RELATED POST: NEVER FORGET — Suspicious Aviation Tragedies: 1961 — Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash [UPDATE: UN REPORT Sept 26 2017]

In 2019 the documentary film Cold Case Hammarskjöld alleged that a Belgian pilot, Jan Van Risseghem, has been named as a possible attacker.

Van Risseghem had extensive ties to Britain, including a British mother and wife, trained with the RAF and was decorated by Britain for his service in the Second World War.

The Film-makers investigating the 1961 crash found a friend of Van Risseghem who claimed the pilot confessed to shooting down the UN plane.

Dag Hammarskjöld’s inaugural speech on 10 April 1953

United Nations, New York – A short video piece of inaugural speech of H.E. Mr. Dag Hammarskjöld took oath of office as Secretary-General on 10 April 1953.

REFERENCES

U.N. Renews Push to Solve Its Biggest Mystery: Hammarskjold’s Death — NYT

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On This Day — UN Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjöld for Secretary-General (March 31 1953)

On This Day — UN Security Council Nominates Dag Hammarskjöld for Secretary-General (March 31 1953) [2020]

On This Day — UN Security Council Nominates Dag Hammarskjöld for Secretary-General (March 31 1953) [2021]