During the June 8, 2023 ‘JFK Facts’ podcast [linked above], I mentioned a couple of CIA-related whistleblowers, who eventually pushed-back against the Agency’s covert operations, as envisioned by former Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles.
One was Air Force Col. Fletcher Prouty, author of ‘The Secret Team,’ as well as ‘JFK: The CIA, Vietnam And The Plot To Assassinate John F. Kennedy.’ Col. Prouty was the liaison [during the Kennedy Administration] between the Office of the Joint Chiefs — & the CIA, in providing centralized logistical support [from all of the Service Branches], for the Agency’s covert operations.
The following YouTube video was recorded by John Judge in 1992, at Col. Prouty’s home in Alexandria, VA. Timestamp 11:20 begins the discussion of the lead-up to the assassination in Dallas.
Another was John Stockwell, a Major in the U.S. Marines & author of ‘In Search of Enemies.’ As part of his Marine Corps assignment, Major Stockwell led CIA intelligence gathering operations in the Congo & Vietnam [including during the fall of Saigon] & was later Chief of the Angola Task Force.
The following C-SPAN video was recorded in November 1989 at American University in Washington, DC — which was co-incidentally the site of President Kennedy’s famous ‘Peace Speech,’ in June 1963. Timestamp 48:30 begins Major Stockwell’s discussion of what really happened on November 22, 1963.
Stockwell addresses a subject dealt with at length recently on JFK Facts the reporting of Barbara Honneger and the Iranian “October Surprise” (1:39:30 — 1:43:40).
He rejects Honneger’s suspicions that pro-Regan/Bush operatives sacrificed American lives in the failed raid to extract the hostages.
But Stockwell does admit the CIA worked to help get their man Bush into the White House as VP (see 1:40:35). This practice needs to be put a stop to at all costs.
This was an absolutely fascinating discussion. Like many of you said on the call, Jeff and David have written a number of my favorite assassination-related books as well and I could’ve listened for hours and hours. Please try to have David on again!
Excellent program to have a major author and founder of Salon on. I didn't realize that David Talbot had suffered so much in the last few years from a medical event. It looks like Wikipedia has a good article on him, and "The Devil's Chessboard".
The Devil's Chessboard
Talbot's book The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government is a biography examining the career of Allen Dulles.[16] According to Talbot, Dulles orchestrated the assassination of Kennedy at the behest of corporate leaders who perceived the President to be a threat to national security, lobbied Lyndon B. Johnson to have himself appointed to the Warren Commission, then arranged to have Lee Harvey Oswald take sole responsibility for the act.[17] The book charges that the conspirators in JFK's death also murdered Bobby Kennedy as they perceived him to be "a wild card, an uncontrollable threat" that would reveal the plot.[16]
The book has stirred debate about the history of the CIA. In a review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Glenn C. Altschuler stated, "Talbot’s indictment is long, varied and sensational."[17] Altschuler wrote: "Animated by conspiracy theories, the speculations and accusations in his book often run far ahead of the evidence, even for those of us inclined to believe the worst about Allen Dulles."[16]
But the book was praised elsewhere, including Kirkus Reviews, whose starred review, called it "a frightening biography of power, manipulation and outright treason. [...] all engaged American citizens should read this book and have their eyes opened."[18]
I mentioned the death of Thomas Merton on this program and both referenced the book by Hugh Turley and David Martin on it. Also that former priest Matthew Fox agreed with the likelihood of another CIA hit in the case of leading peace activist Thomas Merton: https://www.matthewfox.org/blog/a-review-of-the-martyrdom-of-thomas-merton-an-investigation Merton had written to LBJ a rebuke over the Vietnam war. I don't doubt that LBJ was capable of his intelligence people retaliating against those he saw as a threat.
I don't doubt that LBJ was somehow complicit in the JFK hit, he had so much to gain in an essential coup d'état. Many of the books on the assassination posit as much.
Miles Copeland, Jr., one of the founders of the CIA, told me that Helms told him that the agency was not involved in the assassination. I believe Copeland, but not the response he got. I have a different take on the assassination after researching it for decades. Given the intricate plotting involved, I lean more to the assassination being planned by Military Intelligence than the CIA and I think it would be interesting to explore that angle. There must be a reason that they destroyed all their documents.
During the June 8, 2023 ‘JFK Facts’ podcast [linked above], I mentioned a couple of CIA-related whistleblowers, who eventually pushed-back against the Agency’s covert operations, as envisioned by former Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles.
One was Air Force Col. Fletcher Prouty, author of ‘The Secret Team,’ as well as ‘JFK: The CIA, Vietnam And The Plot To Assassinate John F. Kennedy.’ Col. Prouty was the liaison [during the Kennedy Administration] between the Office of the Joint Chiefs — & the CIA, in providing centralized logistical support [from all of the Service Branches], for the Agency’s covert operations.
The following YouTube video was recorded by John Judge in 1992, at Col. Prouty’s home in Alexandria, VA. Timestamp 11:20 begins the discussion of the lead-up to the assassination in Dallas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ0zLoy9FKM&t=926s
Another was John Stockwell, a Major in the U.S. Marines & author of ‘In Search of Enemies.’ As part of his Marine Corps assignment, Major Stockwell led CIA intelligence gathering operations in the Congo & Vietnam [including during the fall of Saigon] & was later Chief of the Angola Task Force.
The following C-SPAN video was recorded in November 1989 at American University in Washington, DC — which was co-incidentally the site of President Kennedy’s famous ‘Peace Speech,’ in June 1963. Timestamp 48:30 begins Major Stockwell’s discussion of what really happened on November 22, 1963.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?10353-1/secret-wars-cia
great videos!
Thanks, Larry! I find both Col. Prouty & Major Stockwell — very credible CIA sources.
Stockwell addresses a subject dealt with at length recently on JFK Facts the reporting of Barbara Honneger and the Iranian “October Surprise” (1:39:30 — 1:43:40).
He rejects Honneger’s suspicions that pro-Regan/Bush operatives sacrificed American lives in the failed raid to extract the hostages.
But Stockwell does admit the CIA worked to help get their man Bush into the White House as VP (see 1:40:35). This practice needs to be put a stop to at all costs.
This was an absolutely fascinating discussion. Like many of you said on the call, Jeff and David have written a number of my favorite assassination-related books as well and I could’ve listened for hours and hours. Please try to have David on again!
Excellent program to have a major author and founder of Salon on. I didn't realize that David Talbot had suffered so much in the last few years from a medical event. It looks like Wikipedia has a good article on him, and "The Devil's Chessboard".
The Devil's Chessboard
Talbot's book The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government is a biography examining the career of Allen Dulles.[16] According to Talbot, Dulles orchestrated the assassination of Kennedy at the behest of corporate leaders who perceived the President to be a threat to national security, lobbied Lyndon B. Johnson to have himself appointed to the Warren Commission, then arranged to have Lee Harvey Oswald take sole responsibility for the act.[17] The book charges that the conspirators in JFK's death also murdered Bobby Kennedy as they perceived him to be "a wild card, an uncontrollable threat" that would reveal the plot.[16]
The book has stirred debate about the history of the CIA. In a review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Glenn C. Altschuler stated, "Talbot’s indictment is long, varied and sensational."[17] Altschuler wrote: "Animated by conspiracy theories, the speculations and accusations in his book often run far ahead of the evidence, even for those of us inclined to believe the worst about Allen Dulles."[16]
But the book was praised elsewhere, including Kirkus Reviews, whose starred review, called it "a frightening biography of power, manipulation and outright treason. [...] all engaged American citizens should read this book and have their eyes opened."[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Talbot
I mentioned the death of Thomas Merton on this program and both referenced the book by Hugh Turley and David Martin on it. Also that former priest Matthew Fox agreed with the likelihood of another CIA hit in the case of leading peace activist Thomas Merton: https://www.matthewfox.org/blog/a-review-of-the-martyrdom-of-thomas-merton-an-investigation Merton had written to LBJ a rebuke over the Vietnam war. I don't doubt that LBJ was capable of his intelligence people retaliating against those he saw as a threat.
I don't doubt that LBJ was somehow complicit in the JFK hit, he had so much to gain in an essential coup d'état. Many of the books on the assassination posit as much.
Miles Copeland, Jr., one of the founders of the CIA, told me that Helms told him that the agency was not involved in the assassination. I believe Copeland, but not the response he got. I have a different take on the assassination after researching it for decades. Given the intricate plotting involved, I lean more to the assassination being planned by Military Intelligence than the CIA and I think it would be interesting to explore that angle. There must be a reason that they destroyed all their documents.