Author Archives: L

CIA Memorial Wall — Star 31 : John W. Kearns (Laos – December 15, 1972)

“As a paramilitary operations officer, John’s role was to work behind enemy lines, supporting local pro-government forces and engaging in special missions to disrupt the activities of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong.” CIA website December 15, 2024 … Continue reading

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On This Day — Pan Am Flight 214 Crashes (December 8 1963) Lesson Learned? [Update : Was the story of Air India Flight 301 used to write the Lockerbie script?]

“Aviation investigations are replete with accident scenarios that couldn’t happen. And given the lack of bomb evidence so far, neither scenario has been ruled out, officials said. First is the possibility that the doomed plane’s front section, which has a … Continue reading

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On This Day — Western Union Cable Announces Armistice to North Americans [UPDATE : The Sound of Silence : November 11, 1918 – 11 a.m.]

“There had never been a known leak from the Western Union telegraph office on Court Street before that day, but this news was simply too good to keep quiet. As you might guess, they were overjoyed, so that word very quickly … Continue reading

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Remembering Actress and Inventor Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1914 – January 19, 2000) [UPDATE : From Ecstasy to Havana Syndrome]

“We began talking about the war, which, in the late summer of 1940, was looking most extremely black. Hedy said that she did not feel very comfortable, sitting there in Hollywood and making lots of money when things were in … Continue reading

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Revisiting Havana Syndrome: Moscow Death Ray vs. CIA Hoax [UPDATE — Brennan and Ex-FBI Officials Subpoenaed]

“Agency heads at the time created a politically charged environment that triggered an atypical analytic process around an issue essential to our democracy.”CIA Director John Ratcliffe (July 2, 2025) July 6, 2025 — This week, the CIA concluded a critical … Continue reading

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On This Day — Able Archer 1983 : The Brink of Apocalypse (November 7-11, 1983) [UPDATE : “NATO is a leftover Cold War relic doing more harm than good.”]

“The US intelligence had failed to grasp the true extent of their anxiety.” Robert Gates CIA Deputy Director for Intelligence during Able Archer 83 November 7 2025 — Able Archer 83 is the codename for a command post exercise carried … Continue reading

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On This Day — Robert Gates Becomes 15th CIA Director (November 6 1991) [Test your “Spy Knowledge” with our CIA Directors Quiz!]

“If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of.” Robert GatesFormer CIA Director November 6 2025 — Robert … Continue reading

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On This Day — The Iran-Contra Scandal Revealed (November 3, 1986)

“My purpose was… to send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between [the U.S. and Iran] with a new relationship… At the same time we undertook this initiative, we made clear that Iran must … Continue reading

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On This Day — KRYPTOS Sculpture Dedication Ceremony at the CIA (November 3 1990) [UPDATE : And Then Came a ‘Gigantic Mistake’… As Always!]

“Maybe you’re mistaken–maybe this first part of the Kryptos code is really not a polyalphabetic Vigenere Tableau after all — maybe it’s a different type of code entirely. Or maybe it is a Vigenere code, but it’s been double or … Continue reading

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From Wikipedia to Grokipedia, From Chomsky to Sarkozy… [Is Wikipedia left-leaning?]

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on…” Noam Chomsky The … Continue reading

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