On This Day — Did the CIA Kill Father Louis Thomas Merton? (December 10 1968) [2020]

Posted on December 10, 2020 by L

“The very thoughts of a person like me are crimes against the state. All I have to do is think, and immediately I become guilty.”

Father Louis Merton —  A Signed Confession of Crimes against the State

The Dalai Lama was 33 years old when he met father Merton. “I often describe him as a very, very strong bridge between Catholic tradition and Buddhist tradition,” says the Dalai Lama reflecting on his meeting with him.

December 10 2020 — Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. In the years since his death, Merton has been the subject of several biographies. Fifty years later, his death remains mysterious. In 1997, James W. Douglass claimed that Merton had been assassinated by agents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 2016, theologian Matthew Fox made a similar claim. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Remembering CIA Historian William Blum (March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) [2020]

Posted on December 9, 2020 by L

“William Blum was at the forefront of critical debate and analysis of US foreign policy. He combined honesty and Truth with carefully documented analysis. His important legacy will live.”

Michel Chossudovsky (December 10, 2018)

December 9 2020 — Independent journalist and author William Blum died on Sunday December 9 2018 at the age of 85 in Virginia. Blum’s books “Killing Hope” and “Rogue State” were widely praised for their detailed history of recent U.S. foreign policy. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — US Senate report calls CIA torture tactics “deeply flawed” (December 9 2014) [2020]

Posted on December 9, 2020 by L

“One of the most memorable details from The Report is Jones’ insistence on access to a printer, and how many safes were in his office. He later told a lawyer that this was because documents kept mysteriously disappearing from the CIA server. In March 2014, then-CIA Director John Brennan denied the claims, calling them ‘beyond the scope of reason.’ However, a few months later the CIA Inspector General’s report backed up claims that the CIA repeatedly hacked Senate computers in an effort to stop the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report.”

Isabel Crabtree — Esquire (December 7 2019)

December 9 2020 — On December 9 2014, a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report revealed that the CIA’s interrogation of terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was more brutal than it told the White House or public. The so-called “CIA torture report” called CIA tactics “deeply flawed.” Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Three Years Ago — The Havana Syndrome : Sonic Attacks or Microwave Weapons?

Posted on December 8, 2020 by L

“What we’ve said to the Cubans is: Small island. You’ve got a sophisticated intelligence apparatus. You probably know who’s doing it. You can stop it. It’s as simple as that.”

Rex Tillerson — US Secretary of State  (December 6 2017)

December 8 2017 — US officials briefed on the investigation no longer use the term “sonic attack”. The weird noises heard by the victims are believed to be a consequence and not the cause of this suspected attack on US diplomats — actually spies — by a foreign government. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Pan Am Flight 214 Crashes. Lesson Learned?(December 8 1963)

Posted on December 8, 2020 by L

“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 history of structural fatigue cracks and must undergo regular inspections, simply unzipped from the rest of the plane as weakened structural frames gave way.”

TWA 800 — Washington Post (August 1 1996)

December 8 2020 — Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1963, the Boeing 707 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland, while en route from Baltimore to Philadelphia, after being hit by lightning, killing all 81 on board. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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HAVANA SYNDROME — Where is the US National Academy of Sciences Report? [UPDATE : Press Review]

Posted on December 7, 2020 by L

“The committee felt that many of the distinctive and acute signs, symptoms and observations reported by government employees are consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radio frequency (Microwave) energy.” 

An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies

National Academies of Sciences

October 27 2020 — Last spring, the US State Department requested the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a full review of the Havana Syndrome. The committee submitted its report to the State Department in early August. So far, the report has not been released to lawmakers. Why on Earth not? I can tell you this much. The National Academy of Sciences Committee has taken very seriously the hypothesis suggested by this blogger. UPDATE — The NAS report was finally released on December 5 2020. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Lockerbie Judges Under the Weather (Malta – December 7 1988) [2020]

Posted on December 7, 2020 by L

Q: Do you remember what the weather was like when the man came to the shop?

A: When he came by… It wasn’t raining. But then it started dripping, not very much. It was not raining heavily. It was simply — it was simply dripping, but as a matter of fact, he did take an umbrella…

Q: Did he?

A: He bought an umbrella.

The Lockerbie Trial Transcripts — Page 4741

“There is no reasonable basis in the trial court’s judgment for its conclusion that the purchase of the items [clothes that were found in the wreckage of the plane] from Mary’s House [in Malta] took place on 7 December 1988.”

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

Tony Gauci — Lord Fraser described the Maltese shopkeeper whose testimony was central in securing a conviction against Abdelbasset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, as “not quite the full shilling” and “an apple short of a picnic”. In 2008 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC Ref 23:19) found that US$2 million had been paid to Tony Gauci and US$1 million to Paul Gauci under the US Department of Justice “Rewards for Justice” programme.

December 7 2020 — The trial court’s judgment concluded that the purchase of the items [clothes that were found in the wreckage of the plane] from Mary’s House [in Malta] took place on December 7 1988. The date was crucial as Megrahi is known to have been on the island that day. There is one problem. That date is obviously wrong!  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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On This Day — Did Richard Nixon Frame Alger Hiss? (December 6 1948 – The Pumpkin Papers) [2020]

Posted on December 6, 2020 by L

“As to whether Nixon would actually have gone as far as to frame Hiss, the later record includes disquieting instances of forgery or planting false information.”

Anthony Summers — The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon 

Richard M. Nixon (L) speaking at the testimony in which Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of securing important U. S. documents which were turned over to a Russian agent. (Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

December 6 2020 — Ever since Alger Hiss’s perjury prosecution in 1949-1950, it has become a virtual consensus that “the Baltimore documents… were evidence of betrayal of U.S. diplomatic information to a foreign power, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” But were these papers really so damning? Were they actually genuine? And is the case really closed as the CIA claims?  One thing is certain. The case remains controversial, important and relevant to current issues. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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HAVANA SYNDROME — Where is the US National Academy of Sciences Report? [UPDATE : NAS Report confirms Intel Today Analysis — “Havana Syndrome likely caused by pulsed microwave energy”]

Posted on December 6, 2020 by L

“The committee felt that many of the distinctive and acute signs, symptoms and observations reported by (government) employees are consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy.” 

An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies

National Academies of Sciences

October 27 2020 — Last spring, the US State Department requested the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a full review of the Havana Syndrome. The committee submitted its report to the State Department in early August. So far, the report has not been released to lawmakers. Why on Earth not? I can tell you this much. The National Academy of Sciences Committee has taken very seriously the hypothesis suggested by this blogger. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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On This Day — Lockerbie : “The Helsinki Warning” (December 5 1988) [2020]

Posted on December 5, 2020 by L

“And he comes in early the next morning, 6 o’clock the next morning, and there is, obviously, confusion and concern. And he is asked to do a number of things. And he is asked to work on Weber’s desk with his computer. And he looks down and sees the Helsinki warning on Weber’s desk. And he goes crazy. And he says what is this?

And Weber says: Oh, my God, don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s nothing, forget it.

So Koch says, how can I forget it? This is a warning of a potential bomb. It is my job.

Just forget it. Be quiet or you will get in trouble.”

Washington Post — “Helsinki Warning: Timely or Buried?”

December 5 2020 — On December 5, 1988, a man speaking with an Arabic accent telephoned the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. The informant said that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie. Pan Am 103A — its feeder flight — originated from Frankfurt. The warning was dismissed as a hoax.

The FBI concluded that the ‘culprit’ had done it to impress his girlfriend. Actually, the suspect was never indicted because sufficient evidence could not be assembled. If there was not enough evidence to indict, let alone convict, Samra Mahayou for the hoax, where was the evidence to dismiss the warning as one? Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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