OPERATION GLADIO
OPERATION GLADIO
ITALY
1947 Origins of Gladio
"As early as 1947, the United States was constructing a clandestine network
in Northern Italy to act in the event of a communist insurrection or
electoral victory." (Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
"Though the Stay Behind operation was officially started only in 1952, "the
whole exercise had been in existence for a long time, in fact ever since
it was born in the head of Allen Dulles," said the ex-Nato source who has
access to files in several West European nations. According to him,
Dulles, the first chief of the CIA, worked out the original plan to build
secret anti-communist guerilla forces across Europe when he was based in
Switzerland at the end of the second world war. Dulles, Sir Stewart Menzies
(SIS) and the Belgian Premier Paul Henri Spaak codified the plan in a
secret pact sometime between 1949 and 1952 under the umbrella of the
Clandestine Co-ordinating Committee at the Supreme Headquarters Allied
Powers Europe, (SHAPE), which became Nato. "There was a division of labour
between the British and the US," he continued, "with Britain taking
responsibility for the operation in France, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and
Norway and the Americans looking after Sweden, Finland and the rest of
Europe" (Searchlight, January 1991)
1951 Formation of Clandestine Planning Committee
"In 1951, said the newspaper [Die Welt], Allied intelligence agencies and
each participating nation - Germany, Italy and France being among the first
- agreed to set up a Committee for planning to oversee the network"
(Associated Press, 13/11/90)
1955-58 CIA control of Italian secret services
"Former defence minister Paulo Taviani [told Magistrate Casson during his
1990 investigation] that during his time in office (1955-1958), the Italian
secret services were bossed and financed by the boys in Via Veneto' - ie
the CIA agents in the US Embassy in the heart of Rome. (William Scobie,
Observer, 18/11/90)
1956 General Giovanni de Lorenzo appointed head of Sifar
"De Lorenzo was...appointed head of the secret services (Sifar) in 1956 by
President Granchi, he stayed on as head of Sifar after he was made
commander of the carabinieri in 1962." (Stuart Christie, "Stefano de
Chiaie", Anarchy/Refract, 1984)
1956 Formation of Gladio
"US documents declassified in the 1970's show that General Giovanni de
Lorenzo, the chief of Sifar (Italian Military Intelligence), joined the US
in the 1950's in preparing a plan against a Communist takeover, but did not
inform his own government. According to a document released by Mr
Andreotti last month the CIA and Sifar sketched a plan in November 1956,
codenamed Gladio, to form a force of 1000 men capable of guerilla warfare
and espionage. A training base was set-up in Sardinia and 139 weapons and
ammunition dumps were hidden in Northern Italy." (Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday
Independent, 11/11/90)
"Andreotti ... has admitted to parliament that a covert intelligence
service was set-up forty years ago, with the help of the CIA and British
agents to combat Soviet subversion or aggression. Although no elected
representatives save Prime Ministers were told of its existence, it still
exists." (Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
"The network, run by secret-services of Nato members, was apparently set-up
in the 1950's at US instigation to create a guerrilla resistance
organisation in the event of a Soviet invasion or communist takeover in
Nato countries." (John Palmer, Guardian, 10/11/90)
"General sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, a former commander-in-chief of Nato
forces in northern Europe said...that a covert intelligence service was set
up in Italy with the help of British agents and the CIA - which also partly
funded it. The Italian branch of the network was known as Operation
Gladio" (Richard Norton Taylor, Guardian, 15/11/90)
"Gladio was the name given to the Italian branch of a network with the
harmless official name, Allied Co-Ordination Committee, set up with British
help in the 1950's, operated by the secret services and partly financed by
the United States CIA."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 16/11/90)
Post-1956 Structure of Gladio
Gladio was "Set up to engage in clandestine, non-conventional resistance
in the event of invasion. 622 people were recruited and trained by American
and British intelligence at the Capo Marrargui base on the northern tip of
Sardinia. They were organised in 40 independent cells. Six were
responsible for intelligence-gathering, 10 for sabotage, 6 for codes and
radio communications, 6 for running escape routes and 12 for guerilla
warfare. Five of the guerrilla units were named after flowers such as
azalea, rhododendron and broom. Gladio established 139 arms caches, mostly
in north-east Italy near the Gorizia gap, through which any Soviet invasion
was expected to come. Since then 127 have been recovered, 10 more have
been built over, but the last two were probably found by private citizens,
but the suspicion remains that they were used by right-wing terrorists."
(Charles Richards & Simon Jones, Independent, 16/11/90)
"Two Communist MP's [who] got into the [Gladio] secret training base near
Alghero, Sardinia, discovered that when the Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
had spoken of 'only 622 units' he had failed to mention that each was a
guerrilla chief who would raise 12 to 15 followers to et total of 15,000
men. After training sessions these Gladio chieftains took their 'personal
weapons' home to be ready for the Soviet invasion." (William Scobie,
Observer, 18/11/90)
1/6/59 Gladio Briefing Minute
"A briefing minute of June 1, 1959, reveals Gladio was built around
"internal subversion". It was to play "a determining role ...not only on
the general policy level of warfare, but also on the politics of emergency.
(Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 5/12/90)
"The Venetian judges [Casson & Mastelloni] came across Gladio when working
on a document of 1959 that referred to the militia's "internal
subversion"... The document, dated June 1, 1959, detailed the
"non-orthodox" warfare that Gladio would wage against a Warsaw Pact
invader, saying the strategy comes from the Nato clandestine planning
committee in Paris. But the paper then moves from what it calls "the Nato
level" to the national level" - the first dealing with "invading military
forces" and the second with "internal subversion," both arranged in "close
cooperation between the Italian and American secret services." The duty of
Gladio is a double one, says the document. The first is objective" and
concerns the "defence of the Italian territory and population". The second
is defined cryptically as "subjective" and is "concerned with the
legitimate authority of the state, and with the eventuality of any serious
offences against its integrity." Gladio should be ready "to adopt, with
timely readiness, preemptive action to assure the state's prestige,
capacity for action and for government". (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 10/12/90)
1959 Gladio joins the Clandestine Planning Committee
"In 1959, Italy was invited to join the Clandestine Planning Committee, the
multi-national organ overseen from Belgium by Shape (Supreme Headquarters
Allied Powers Europe). Sifar began to recruit Italian military personnel
and civilians and place them in secret cells. British agents were involved
in the training. (Wolgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
1960 Founding of Ordine Nuovo
Ordine Nuovo was founded by industrialist Pino Rauti. "It had been
strengthened by numerous training courses run by officers of the Italian
and Greek armies. It also received financial assistance from the CIA and
Belgian neo-nazis." (Time Out, 7/4/70)
1964 Operation Solo
"Frightened by the "opening to the left" under the Christian Democrat
premiership of Aldo Moro and the success at the polls of the Communists who
gained 25 per cent of the vote in the 1963 elections, the Italian right
began to make plans to pave the way for the installation of a government
of "public safety" consisting of right-wing Christian Democrats, top
managers and military men. General Giovanni de Lorenzo, commander of the
paramilitary carabinieri and head of the Italian secret services, together
with twenty other senior army officers and allegedly with the knowledge and
agreement of president Antonio Segni, drew up a plan for a presidential
type coup d'tat. "Plan Solo" was to have concluded with the assassination
of the premier, Aldo Moro. Executive authority was to have passed to the
right wing Christian Democrat Cesare Merzagora. The coup was called off
at the final moment by a compromise between the socialists and right wing
Christian Democrats. General de Lorenzo and his colleagues were not ones
to give in so easily, however, and although their plans were thwarted on
this occasion the plotters did not abandon them."
(S Christie, "Stefano de Chiaie", (Anarchy/Refract, 1984))
"It is not known precisely when Stefano de Chiaie was first recruited as
an agent of the Italian secret service, but he was certainly working on
behalf of the Interior Ministry as far back as 1960 and he himself has
implied knowledge of and involvement with de Lorenzo's "Plan Solo."" (S
Christie, "Stefano de *Chiaie", (Anarchy/Refract, 1984))
"Italians have ]earned that General Giovanni de Lorenzo, as secret services
chief, compiled dossiers, including tapes and photographs, on some 150,000
people...De Lorenzo received parliamentary immunity as an MSI (neo-fascist)
MP." (William Scobie, Observer, 18/11/90)
"By 1964, the plot had thickened. Mr de Lorenzo compiled files on more
than 150,000 people, including politicians, priests and unionists. He drew
up a plan for the carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police, to arrest many
politicians, take over radio and television networks, and seize the offices
and newspapers ()f left-wing parties. After "Operation Solo" was leaked,
a parliamentary inquiry ruled in 1970 that Mr de Lorenzo had violated the
constitution. But he was not preparing his own coup d'tat. He was
organising a duplicate of operation Gladio to be activated if the left
gained too much power." (Wofgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
1966-1968 President Cossigas role
"President Francesco Cossiga...had some responsibility for administering
Gladio as a junior defence minister from 1966-68."
(John Wyles, Financial Times, 14/12/90)
Late 1960s CIA concern over Gladio
"By the late 1960's the CIA felt Gladio was expensive and out of control,
but decided not to close it down because it fostered useful contacts with
the Italian security establishment." (Edward Lucas, Independent, 16/11/90)
1969-1984 Fascist bomb attacks
"The Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti, sharply denied that there was any
link between the group, codenamed Gladio...and a wave of unsolved bombings
between 1969 and 1984 in which 143 people were killed...The Communist Party
alleged that members of Gladio may have taken part in acts of terrorism
nero, or neo-fascist bombings such as that in the waiting room at Bologna
Station in August 1980, which killed 85 people in Italy's communist
heartland. Four neo-fascists were jailed for life for the crime, and the
grand master of the illegal P2 Masonic Lodge, Licio Gelli, was sentenced
to 7 years for his involvement in the case. But last July the appeals
court overturned the ruling for reasons never clearly explained, causing
a national outcry." (Fiona Leney & Wolfgang Achtner, Independent, 10/11/90)
At the trial of Vincent Vinciguerra (a neo-fascist who took part in a 1972
bomb attack that killed three carabinieri) he told the magistrate; "that
every bombing in Italy after 1969 was linked to one group. "The orders are
given by an apparatus belonging to the state, specifically by a secret
parallel structure of the Interior Ministry" he said." (Wolfgang Achtner,
Sunday Independent, 11/11/90
"The most disturbing questions raised by the discovery of "Gladio" remain
unanswered. How come "Gladio" guns and explosives were used in the 1972
Peteano attack in which three policemen were killed..." (Paddy Agnew, Irish
Times, 15/11/90)
Early 1970s Meeting between Alexander Haig and Licio Gelli
"In an interview the ex-Nato operative said that Ted Shackley, the CIA's
deputy station chief in Rome, "fixed a meeting between Alexander Haig and
Gelli at the US embassy in Rome in the early 1970s, when Haig was President
Nixon's Chief of Staff. "Money" he said was then filtered to Stay Behind
or Gladio with the blessing and knowledge of both Haig and the then head
of the US National Security Council, Henry Kissinger. Their aim was to
prevent a communist takeover at all costs.
7-8/12/70 Abortive coup attempt by Prince Valesio Borghese
"For four and a half months the whereabouts of Delle Chiaie were to remain
a mystery, until the night of 7-8 December 1970, the anniversary of the
Japanese surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbour in
1941. Then the 'Black prince' Julio Valerio Borghese, ex-commander of
Mussolini's Decima MAS (Tenth Light Flotilla) and responsible for a
murderous anti-partisan campaign under Mussolini's Salo Republic, gave the
order to proceed with the final stages of an attempted coup codenamed
"Tora, Tora". At 11.15 that evening, Stefano delle Chiaie, commanding 50
neo-nazis, occupied the buildings of the Interior Ministry in Rome. They
had gained entrance that morning disguised as workmen and had lain low
until Borghese gave the final go ahead for the coup. However at the very
last moment the coup was called off. A few minutes before lam on the 8th
Borghese received a mysterious telephone call. The identity of the caller
is not known, but the name of General Micelli, successor to Admiral Hencke
as head of the secret service and commander of the "Rose of the Winds"
organisation, has been mentioned repeatedly in this connection. What was
said during the short conversation was also unknown but speculation has it
that Micelli, who was allegedly involved in the shady background of the
plot, realised at the last moment that Borghese and his men were being set
up by other more powerful factions among the plotters, and decided to warn
his friend and advise him to pull out. (S Christie, "Stefano de Chiaie",
(Anarchy/Refract, 1984))
"There was [an] abortive coup in December 1970 by Prince Valerio Borghese,
a fascist Navy commander. The head of the secret service, General Vito
Miceli, was linked to the plotters. At their trial in 1977 he said: "There
has always been a certain top secret organisation, known to the top
authorities of the state and operating in the domain of the secret
services, that is involved in activities that have nothing to do with
intelligence gathering. Likewise, a colonel called Amos Spiazzi, who was
investigated for his links with the Borghese coup and the Bologna bombing,
talked of an "organisation operating within the armed forces, that did not
have any subversive intention, but was set up to protect the state from the
possibility of a Marxist advance." A few days ago, Mr Spiazzi, who was
acquitted in the trials, said proudly he had been a member of "Operation
Gladio" since 1960. (Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
"Italians have learned that...General Vito Miceli received an $800,000
handout from the Americans; that Miceli was linked to an abortive coup in
1970 led by Prince Valerio Borghese, a wartime mini-sub commander...Miceli
received parliamentary immunity as an MSI (neo-fascist) MP, while Borghese
was spirited out of Spain by ex-Nazis." (William Scobie, Observer,
18/11/90)
"There are also overlaps between senior Gladio personnel and the committee
of military men, Rosi dei Vent; which tried to stage a coup in 1970."
(Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 5/12/90)
1971-1974 Head of Gladio
"General Gerardo Serraville [was] head of Gladio from 1971 to 1974."
(Charles Richards, Independent, 1/12/90)
1972 Gladio meeting
"General Geraldo Serraville, a former head of "Office R", told the
terrorism commission that at a crucial Gladio meeting in 1972, at least
half of the upper echelons "had the idea of attacking the communists before
an invasion. They were preparing for civil war." Later, he put it more
bluntly: "They were saying this: "Why wait for the invaders when we can
make a preemptive attack now on the communists who would support the
invader?"
(Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 5/12/90)
January-February 1972 Missing Gladio arms cache
"General Gerardo Serraville, head of the fifth division of the Italian
secret service, told the Commission on Terrorism that although seven
containers of explosives had been logged at the Gladio arms dump at
Aurisina, near Trieste, the police had found only four containers - with
three unaccountably missing. Carabiniere officers discovered the arsenal
during January and February, 1972, the general said. This was only two
months before the murder of three carabiniere at Peteano by a fascist car
bomb." (Ed Vullamy, Guardian, 21/11/90)
1972 Disarming of Gladio
"Gladio has still not been officially disbanded... It was equipped with
arms caches which, according to Mr Andreotti, were recalled in 1972,
although two went missing." (John Wyles. Financial Times, 9/11/90)
1972 Peteano bomb attack
Fascist bomb attack killed three carabinieri (see above)
cl973 Gladio unit visit Britain
"Britain hosted a unit responsible for organising Operation
Gladio...General Gerardo Serraville, who said the Italians trained at a
military base in Britain, was giving evidence in Rome to a parliamentary
inquiry." (see 1990).
23/11/73 Bombing of the plane Argo 16
"General Geraldo Serraville, head of Gladio from 1971 to 1974, told a
television programme that he now thought the explosion aboard the plane
Argo 16 on 23 November 1973 was probably the work of gladiatori who were
refusing to hand over their clandestine arms. Until then it was widely
believed the sabotage was carried out by Mossad, the Israeli foreign
service, in retaliation for the pro-Libyan Italian government's decision
to expel, rather than try, five arabs who had tried to blow up an Israeli
airliner. The Arabs had been spirited out of the country on board the Argo
16." (Charles Richards, independent, 1/12/90)
1974 Denial of Gladio's existence
"...Andreotti denied the existence of a secret agency linked to the spy
services"
(Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
""I can say that the head of the secret services has repeatedly and
unequivocally excluded the existence of a hidden organisation of any type
or size," the Italian Minister of Defence, Giulio Andreotti, told a
judicial enquiry in 1974 into the alleged existence of a secret state
army." (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 5/12/90)
1974 British "Gladio" visit to Italy
Gladio "counterparts in Britain, where the plan was given the name
Operation Stay Behind, visited Italy in 1974, according to a senior Italian
intelligence official." (Richard norton-Taylor & David Gow, Guardian,
17/11/90)
1974-79 P2 and US involvement with Gladio?
"Declassified secret service papers reveal that Ted Shackleton, deputy
chief of the CIA station in Rome in the 1970's introduced the notorious
Licio Gelli - head of the neo-fascist P2 masonic lodge and for years a
fugitive in Argentina - to General Alexander Haig, then Nixon's chief of
staff, and later, from 1974 to 79, Nato Supreme Commander. P2 was a
right-wing shadow government, ready to take over Italy, that included four
Cabinet Ministers, all three intelligence chiefs, 48 MPs, 160 military
officers, bankers, industrialists, top diplomats and the Army Chief of
Staff. After meetings between Gelli, Italian military brass and CIA men
in the embassy, Gladio was given renewed blessing - and more money - by
Haig and the then head of the National Security Council, Henry Kissinger.
Just how those and later funds were spent is a key point in the [Casson]
investigation." (William Scobie, Observer, 18/11/90)
1978 Red Brigade killing of Aldo Moro
"As the conspiracy theorists would have it, Mr Moro was allowed to be
killed either with the acquiescence of people high in Italy's political
establishment, or at their instigation, because of the historic compromise
he had made with the Communist Party, western Europe's largest, which
brought them closer to power than ever before." (Charles Richards & Simon
Jones, Independent, 16/11/90)
"A cache of previously unknown letters written by the former Prime
Minister, Aldo Moro, just prior to his execution by Red Brigade terrorists
in 1978, was last month discovered in a Milan apartment which had once been
used as a Red Brigade hideout. One of those letters made reference to the
involvement of both Nato and the CIA in an Italian based secret service,
"parallel" army."
(Paddy Agnew, Irish Times, 15/11/90)
"This safe house had been thoroughly searched at the time by Carlo Albert
Dalla Chiesa, the head of counter-terrorism. How is it that the papers had
not been revealed before?" (Charles Richards & Simon Jones, Independent,
16/11/90)
1978 Denial of Gladio's existence
"...Andreotti denied the existence of a secret agency linked to the spy
services" (Wolfgang Achtner, Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
1980 Sismi takes control of Gladio
"Operational management of Gladio was passed from Nato to Sismi in 1980."
(John Wyles, Financial Times, 9/11/90)
2/8/80 Bologna Station bomb
"The makings of the bomb which killed 85 people at Bologna railway station
in 1980 came from an arsenal used by Gladio, the Italian wing of Nato's
communist-resistance network, according to a parliamentary commission on
terrorism...The suggested Link with the Bologna massacre is potentially the
most serious of all the accusations levelled against Gladio, and comes just
two days after the Italian Prime Minister, Guilio Andreotti, cleared
Gladio's name in a speech to parliament, saying that the secret army did
not drift from its formal Nato military brief." (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian,
16/1/91)
1981 Discovery of P2
"P2 was not uncovered until 1981. Later it was found that every member of
the crisis committee set up by Francesco Cossiga, then interior minister,
now President of the Republic, was a member of P2." (Charles Richards &
Simon Jones, Independent, 16/11/90)
"Links have...been proven between P2 and right-wing terrorism. What has
not been conclusively shown is what direct links there might have been
between the CIA and right-wing terrorism."
(Charles Richards & Simon Jones, Independent, 16/11/90)
"Licio Gelli, grandmaster of the P2 masonic lodge - which a parliamentary
commission found had links with rightwing terrorists - recently had his
jail sentence overturned on appeal. Mr Gelli, as it happens, was a contact
for CIA agents responsible for controlling communist influence in Italy."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 16/11/90)
"Links between Gladio, Italian secret service bosses and the notorious P2
masonic lodge are manifold. The chiefs of all three secret services -.
General Santovito (Sismi), Grassini (Sisde) and Cellari (Cessis) - were
members of the lodge. In the year that Andreotti denied Gladio's existence
[1974], the P2 treasurer, General Siro Dosetti, gave a generous account of
"a secret security structure made up of civilians, parallel to the armed
forces."" (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 5/12/90)
January 1990 Magistrate Casson applies to examine Sismi files
"In January [Magistrate Casson] applied for permission to examine the files
of the Sismi. In July, Mr Andreotti granted him permission.
28/6/90-2/7/90 Brenneke disclosures
Four programmes on state television (RAI) allege that the CIA paid Lucio
Gelli to "foment terrorist activities. "In the first programme someone
described simply as "Agent Zero" described how [ex-Swedish Prime Minister
Olaf] Palme had been caught in a deal between the CIA and Iran to release
American hostages in Tehran. "Palme was a fly in the ointment so we got
P2 to rub him out," the agent said. The second programme, which showed the
gaunt silhouette of "Agent Zero One", alleged that P2 was not wound up in
the mid-1980s, after the arrest of its leader Licio Gelli. "It still
exists. It calls itself P7," he said. According to the agent, the lodge
is till functioning with branches in Austria, Switzerland and East Germany.
"Zero One" has now been revealed by the Italian press to be Dick Brenneke,
allegedly a career CIA officer." (Richard Bassett, Times, 24/7/90)
"In the programme, Mr Brenneke alleged that, throughout the 1970's the CIA
had made large sums of money available to the subversive Masonic Lodge, P2,
widely believed to have been involved in the August, 1980 Bologna train
station bombing in which 85 people were killed. Furthermore Mr Brenneke
claimed that, not only does the CIA continue to secretly finance a revived
P2, but that it was involved in the 1986 killing of the Swedish Prime
Minister, Mr Olaf Palme. According to Mr Brenneke, P2, under the guidance
of its Grand master, Mr Licio Gelli, used some of the finance made
available by the CIA to set up agencies in West Germany, Austria and
Switzerland. These agencies in turn were used by P2 to set up the
assassination of Mr Palme, on the orders of the CIA. Finally, and perhaps
most sensationally, Mr Brenneke alleged that President Bush, then director
of the CIA, not only knew about these CIA activities in Italy (during the
late 1970s and early 1980s) but was in fact one of the masterminds behind
them. In the 1976 general election, the huge success of the Communist
Party...encouraged some to believe that Italy might be close to voting in
its first ever Communist government. In order to forestall this
possibility, the CIA allegedly sponsored a series of right wing terrorist
attacks, via Mr Gelli's P2...The CIA denied the charges and said Mr
Branneke had never worked for the agency." (Paddy Agnew, Irish Times,
24/7/90)
"In a four part special on RAI, the main Italian state-run television
network, Brenneke claimed he had been making payments to members of P2, a
right-wing Masonic lodge, on behalf of the CIA from l969 to 1980. He said
he had made payments which ranged from $lm to $10m a month and were part
of the struggle against communism. He said P2 was also involved in arms
and drugs trafficking for the CIA...The programme sparked a political storm
in Italy...However a note of caution began to appear after Italian
journalists were sent to pour over court records in Oregon. These showed
Brenneke had been sued over his business dealings, once by his own brother.
An Oregon newspaper turned up evidence that he had been involved in at
least three government fraud investigations. Earlier this year he was put
on trial in Oregon for allegedly lying under oath about his claims that
Bush travelled to Paris in 1980 to make a deal with the Iranians over the
American hostages. Brenneke was acquitted on all charges."
(Mark Hosenball, Sunday Times, 29/7/90)
"A US businessman and former CIA agent, Dick Brenneke, told Italian
television the CIA sent him to Czechoslovakia to buy arms and explosives
for terrorists. "Weapons, revolvers, bombs, explosives like Semtex were
bought in Czechoslovakia. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I was dealing
with Czechoslovakia," he said. The CIA has denied his claim that it had
backed terrorism in Italy through the illegal P2 Masonic lodge."
(Independent, 2/8/90)
18/7/90 Bologna Bombers Appeal
"An Italian appeal court yesterday...overturned the convictions of all 13
people held responsible for...the bomb blast that devastated Bologna
Railway station... The court acquitted four neo-fascists sentenced to life
imprisonment for the attack; Valerio Fioravanti, his wife, Francesca
Mambro, Massimiliano Fachini and Sergio Pieciafuoco, and nine other people
accused of complicity in the crime. Licio Gelli, the ex-grandmaster of the
illegal P-2 Masonic Lodge, and Francesco Pazienza, a former secret agent,
were also acquitted. They had been given a seven year sentence for
allegedly staging an elaborate hoax to protect the bombers. (Fiona Leney,
Independent, 19/7/90)
2/8/90 Anniversary of Bologna Bombing
"On the eve of the anniversary, Liberato Mancuso, the Bologna judge who had
led the investigation and secured the initial convictions [of the Bologna
bombers] broke six months of silence: "It is now understood among those
engaged in the matter of democratic rights that we are isolated, and the
objects of a campaign of aggression. This is what has happened to the
commission into the P2, and to the magistrates. The personal risks to us
are small in comparison to this offensive of denigration, which attempts
to discredit the quest for truth. In Italy there has functioned for some
years now a sort of conditioning, a control of our national sovereignty by
the P2 - which was literally the master of the secret services the army and
our most delicate organs of state."" (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 3/8/90)
September 1990 Gladio Coordination Committee Meeting
The network, Belgian authorities say, held its latest coordination
committee meeting in Brussels during September." (John Palmer, Guardian,
10/11/90)
October 1990 Discovery of Moro letters
"A cache of previously unknown letters written by former Prime Minister,
Aldo Moro, just prior to his execution by Red Brigade terrorists in 1978,
was...discovered in a Milan apartment which had once been used as a Red
Brigade hideout. One of these letters made reference to the involvement of
both Nato and the CIA in an Italian-based secret service, "parallel" army."
(Paddy Agnew, Irish Times, 15/11/90)
"Most [of the Moro letters] were written answers to questions put by his
captors about his political philosophy, Nato, the Christian Democrat party
and so on. One line which may come back to haunt today's political leaders
was: Beware of Andreotti. He's too close to Nato." (Charles Richards &
Simon Jones, Independent, 16/11/90)
"A group of judges examin[ed] letters uncovered in Milan during October in
which the murdered Christian Democrat leader, Aldo Moro, said he feared a
shadow organisation, alongside other secret services of the West [which]
... might be implicated in the destruction of our country."" (Ed Vulliamy,
Guardian, 5/12/90)
cOctober 1990 Inquiry into Peteano killings
"Details of Gladio emerged after a Venetian magistrate, Felice Casson,
stumbled across records of the group during an inquiry into a terrorist
murder which took him into the archives of the Italian secret service. Mr
Andreotti, who has already been interviewed by judge Casson, was forced to
report to parliament detailing the creation of the group..." (Fiona Leney
& Wolfgang Achtner, Independent, 10/11/90)
"Venetian magistrate, Mr Felice Casson, was searching through classified
documents in Italian secret service archives. Mr Casson's investigations
into a 1972 terrorist attack had led him to conclude that some form of
Nato-sponsored secret army had operated, and was still operating, in
Italy." (Paddy Agnew, Irish Times, 15/11/90)
"Guilio Andreotti, the Christian Democrat Prime Minister... admitted that
"certain activities had been carried out under a Nato umbrella in
consideration of a possible invasion, but said the organisation had ceased
to exist in 1972." (Fiona Leney & Wolfgang Achtner, Independent,
10/11/90)
October 1990 President Cossiga admits involvement
"President Francesco Cossiga...said last month that he was proud that as
a junior defence minister he had drawn up Gladio's formal defence
structure." (Fiona Leney & Wolfgang Achtner, Independent, 10/11/90)
November 1990 Disbandment of Gladio?
"Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti...told parliament that Gladio had been
necessary during the days of the Cold War but, that in view of the collapse
of the East Block, Italy would suggest to Nato that the organisation was
no longer necessary." (Fiona Leney & Wolfgang Achtner, Independent,
10/11/90)
November 1990 Casson dossier goes to Rome
"Last week he [magistrate Felice Casson] despatched to Rome, under police
guard, photostats of all the evidence he has gathered. The 10,000 word
dossier, Casson aides say, relates the Gladio set-up to politico-military
subversion and contains some explosive material 'that could topple the
government at any moment.' A copy goes to the Attorney General, who can
decide on prosecutions., (William Scobie, Observer, 18/11/90)
November 1990 PM Giulio Andreotti and Gladio
"Two Communist MPs got into the secret training base near Alghero,
Sardinia" They found "a well-worn billiard table which, until last week,
bore a shining brass plate: 'To the men of Gladio - from Giulio Andreotti'.
The plate is no more, removed at short notice on orders from its donor,
Italy's Prime Minister."
(William Scobie, Observer, 18/11/90)
14/11/90 Publication of Gladio members
"On Wednesday, the Italian magazine, Europeo, gave details of 622
"gladiators", two of them women." (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian,
16/11/90)
15/11/90 Official Commission on Terrorism
"Italian authorities launched an official inquiry yesterday into a
clandestine Nato terror group code-named Gladio...A commission will
question senior officers about Gladio. Admiral Fulvio Marini was quizzed
by the commission..."Gladio is virtually frozen. I can guarantee that," the
admiral told [them]. (Morning Star, 16/11/90)
22/11/90 European Parliament call for enquiry into Gladio
"The European Parliament yesterday called for an investigation into secret
anti-communist organisations set up in the 1950s." (Guardian. 23/11/90) See
Appendix 2 for full text.
28/11/90 Gladio Disbanded
"Operation Gladio has been dismantled. General Paolo Inzerilli, chief of
staff of the Italian security service Sismi told the parliamentary
commission on terrorism that the Prime Minister issued the order on
Wednesday." (Charles Richards, Independent, 1/12/90)
4/12/90 President Cossiga's speech on Gladio
"In perhaps his most ill-advised intervention so far, Cossiga delivered a
eulogy on the paramilitary organisation in a speech to carabinieri cadets
at a training college in Rome. Calling members of Gladio patriots, the
President suggested the magistrate investigating the organisation was
inspired by the same subversive ideals that fuelled Italy is left-wing
movements"
(Bruce Johnston, Sunday Times, 9/12/90)
10/12/90 Judicial inquiry into Gladio
The prosecutor of Rome...begins his examination into the possible criminal
illegality of the Gladio brief. The inquiry splits into two: the Venetian
judges, Felice Casson and Marco Mastelloni, will continue to work on the
terrorist attack of 1972, in which three policemen were killed...The Rome
prosecutor, Uga Giudiceandrea, will rule on what is called "criminal
evidence", and decide whether to take legal proceedings against those
involved in setting up Gladio. Among his first witnesses will be General
Giovanni de Lorenzo, head of Sifar in 1959, who is embroiled in inquiries
into another paramilitary network called Piano Solo, declared illegal in
1970 (Ed Vulliamy, Guardian, 10/12/90)
OPERATION STAY BEHIND(THE BRITISH CONNECTION)
1940 Origins of the network?
"In Britain, a guerrilla network with arms caches was already in place
following the fall of France in 1940, according to senior military sources
who say it was disbanded after the war. Its members, including the
legendary Brigadier "Mad Mike" Calvert, were drawn from a special forces
ski battalion of the Scots Guards which was originally intended to fight
in nazi-occupied Finland." (David Pallister, Guardian 5/12/90)
1948 Operation Stay Behind is put into operation
"The stay behind groups in Europe had their origins in the fear of
communism that concentrated the minds of British and US politicians and
planners after the second world war. The plan, spearheaded by the infant
CIA as part of a huge covert action programme to assist anti-communist
organisations, had been conceived by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
according to the 1976 Senate report on the CIA by Frank Church which first
revealed its existence. It was put into operation in 1948 by the National
Security Council, which set up the Office of Policy Coordination, a covert
operations unit created on the recommendation of a senior state department
Soviet expert, George Keenan, the man who formulated the Marshall Plan of
economic aid to western Europe. Staffed and funded by the CIA, OPCs
central mission, according to Church, was to set up "stay behind nets in
the event of a future war" and support Nato forces against Soviet attacks."
(David Pallister, Guardian, 5/12/90)
Late 1940s-1950s M16/SAS involvement
"The British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and the SAS played their
part. In the British sector of Germany, the SAS dug deep secret hides with
stores of weapons. MI6 helped the CIA to recruit agents who invaded Albania
in 1949 in an operation betrayed by the double agent, Kim Philby."
1950s
"A secret arms network was set up in Britain during the Cold War as part
of a west European anti-communist organisation, a former senior British
army officer revealed to the Guardian yesterday. Plans were drawn up later
to give the organisation a "secondary use" - combating the takeover of
civil government by militant leftwing groups, other British sources
revealed. It is the first time British participation in the
Nato-orchestrated plan - which involved the arming of civilians - has been
acknowledged. The network, known as the Allied Coordination committee and
partly financed by British intelligence, ranged from Turkey to Portugal,
and has provoked a political storm in Italy...General sir Anthony
Farrar-Hockley, a former commander-in-chief of Nato forces in northern
Europe, said the organisation was based on the idea that there should be
a secret network to engage in guerrilla warfare if Britain was overrun by
communist forces. "The original plan was to establish a network to arm
guerrillas from the civil populace while conventional forces were occupied
elsewhere," he said. Sir Anthony did not say whether the network, run by
officers from the security services and armed forces still existed."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 15/11/90)
"General Sir John Hackett, a former commander-in-chief of the British army
on the Rhine, said yesterday that a contingency plan involving "stay behind
and resistance in depth" was drawn up after the second world war." (Richard
Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 17/11/90)
1956 British involvement in formation of Italian Gladio
"Andreotti ... has admitted to parliament that a covert intelligence
service was set-up forty years ago, with the help of the CIA and British
agents to combat Soviet subversion or aggression." (Wolfgang Achtner,
Sunday Independent, 11/11/90)
"General sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, a former commander-in-chief of Nato
forces in northern Europe said...that a covert intelligence service was set
up in Italy with the help of British agents and the CIA - which also partly
funded it. The Italian branch of the network was known as Operation
Gladio" (Richard Norton Taylor, Guardian, 15/11/90)
1970s British visit to German Training Camp
"Documents shown to the [Italian Committee on Terrorism revealed that in
the 1970s British and French officials involved in the network visited a
training base in Germany built with US money."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 17/11/90)
cl973 Gladio unit visit Britain
"Britain hosted a unit responsible for organising Operation
Gladio...General Gerardo Serraville, who said the Italians trained at a
military base in Britain, was giving evidence in Rome to a parliamentary
inquiry." (see 1990). (Richard Norton-Taylor & David Gow, Guardian,
17/11/90)
1974 British "Gladio" visit to Italy
Gladio "counterparts in Britain, where the plan was given the name
Operation Stay Behind, visited Italy in 1974, according to a senior Italian
intelligence official." (Richard norton-Taylor & David Gow, Guardian,
17/11/90)
16/11/90 Tom King denial
"The Defence secretary, Tom King, said yesterday that he had never heard
of Gladio. "I'm not sure what particular hot potato you're chasing after.
It sounds wonderfully exciting, but I'm afraid I'm quite ignorant about it.
I'm better informed on the
Gulf," Mr King said."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 17/11/90
OTHER "STAY BEHIND" OPERATIONS
AUSTRIA (Schwert)
"The network... in Austria is called "Schwert" (sword)"
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 16/11/90)
BELGIUM (SDR-8)
"The Belgian government said it was investigating possible links between
its own clandestine network and a spate of particularly brutal raids on
supermarkets around Brussels in the mid 1980's, in which 28 people died.
Several policemen and well-known right-wingers were arrested after
ballistic tests, but no one was brought to trial. (Fiona Leney & Wolfgang
Achtner, Independent, 10/11/90)
"The Belgian arm now existed in "cadre form" but still operated a radio
communication system, he [Belgian defence Minister, Guy Coeme] said. "It
was a secret service in the 1950s intended for resistance, radio networks,
intelligence and - for some time a service for sabotage." The last of these
functions was closed in the 1970s and there was no evidence that it had
stored arms or ammunition. There have been allegations for more than a
year of links between elements in the Belgian secret police and an obscure
neo-nazi organisation, Westland New Post, some of whose alleged members
have been charged with stealing secret Nato documents. The leader of the
Post, Paul Latinus, was found dead - possibly from suicide - and a
subsequent reorganisation of the Belgian secret service led to the
resignation of its long term chief, Albert Rees." (John Palmer, Guardian,
10/11/90)
"The network, Belgian authorities say, held its latest coordination
committee meeting in Brussels during September." (John Palmer, Guardian,
10/11/90)
"General Major Raymond van Calster, chief of the Belgian Army's
Intelligence Service, whom some Belgian media had described as head of the
Gladio network for Belgium, in an interview to the Belgian news agency
Belga, denied on Saturday it existed in Belgium. He said he did not know
of the alleged anti-communist cells." (Associated Press, 11/11/90)
"Andre Moyen - a former member of the Belgian military security service and
of the network - said Gladio was not just anti-Communist but was fighting
subversion in general. "There were at least six hiding places for arms in
Belgium until two months ago, and it had prepared a sabatage network" he
said...[Former defence minister] de Donna said that the 17 Gladio members
in Belgium went on survival training courses. He added there was also a
network of "sleeping members"...He added that his predecessor had given
Gladio 142 million francs (4.6 million dollars) to buy new radio
equipment." (Reuter, 13/11/90)
"'Shortly after I became minister of justice on January 16, 1984 I was
informed about 'Stay Behind'', former Justice Minister Jean Gol said in an
interview with the Socialist daily 'Le Peuple'. He said Belgium's 1984
budget contained 10 million francs (328,000 dollars) to modernise the
network's sophisticated communications equipment, code-named 'Harpoon'. (P.
Neuray, Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"Gol said a total of 50 civilians were members of Stay Behind in 1984, most
of them former World War 11 resistance agents." (Associated Press,
14/11/90)
"Earlier this week, Belgium's Defence Minister, Guy Coeme, said the Belgian
arm of the network, SDRA-8, set up with British weapons in 1949, was still
active under the head of the Belgian military's intelligence service. Mr
Coeme said Nato was aware of its existence, although it was never part of
the alliance and in recent years was only a communications network..."
(Independent, 16/11/90)
DENMARK
In Oslo the Danish news agency NTB also reported that in 1978 the then
Defence Minister, Mr Rolf Hansen, had admitted in parliament to the
existence of such a network." (Paddy Agnew, Irish Times, 15/11/90)
FRANCE (Glaive)
"In Paris the defence Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Chevenement, confirmed
French involvement in the network but said that President Mitterand had
abolished it. The agency AFP claims that the disbandment is "recent". Mr
Chevenement said in a radio interview that "a structure did exist, set up
at the beginning of the 1950s, to enable communications with a government
that might have fled abroad in the event of the country being occupied."
The group only had a "dormant and liaison role," he said. (Paddy Agnew,
Irish Times, 15/11/90)
"The French Defence Minister, Jean Pierre Chevenement, said Glaive (Sword),
the French network, had been dissolved by President Mitterand, but did not
say when. It had only been "dormant", he said." (Independent, 16/11/90)
GERMANY
"A news programme, produced by Stern magazine and to be aired Wednesday
night on the private RTL television network said there was a secret anti-
communist organisation in Germany that included former Nazis. The group had
a "death list" that targeted several prominent leftist politicians in the
event of a war with the Soviet Union, according to a summary...in advance
of the broadcast." (MS Beelman, Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"On Tuesday AFP quoted informed sources in Bonn as confirming that the
organisation existed in Germany but the former chancellor, Mr Willy Brandt,
denied any knowledge of the existence of the group. The German government
yesterday confirmed plans for covert action in the event of an invasion but
denied there were military units involved. A government spokesman said the
government knew of plans by US intelligence agencies to recruit a network
of guerrillas throughout Europe and to prepare arms caches. The plans had
been developed with the knowledge of the West German secret service
director, he said." (Paddy Agnew, Irish Times, 15/11/90)
"Yesterday, the German government admitted the network operated there.
"Precautions have been taken in West Germany, as in other Nato states,
since the 1950s to secure the flow of intelligence information in the
probable area of conflict [after a Soviet attack]," a german spokesman,
Hans Klein, said." (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 15/11/90)
"The German government is to disband its part of Gladio, the secret
resistance network, Bonn officials said yesterday. According to a German
television report, the section consisted of former SS and Waffen-SS
officers as well as members of an extreme rightwing group, the Federation
of German Youth, and drew up plans to assassinate leading figures of the
opposition Social Democratic Party in the event of a Soviet-led invasion."
(Richard Norton Taylor & David Gow, Guardian, 17/11/90)
"Documents shown to the [Italian Committee on Terrorism] revealed that in
the 1970s British and French officials involved in the network visited a
training base in Germany built with US money."
(Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 17/11/90)
GREECE (Operation Sheepskin)
"In Greece, defence minister, Yannis Varvitsiotis, has said local commandos
and the CIA set up a branch of the network in 1955 to organise guerrilla
resistance to any communist invader. Known as Operation Sheepskin, it was
dismantled in 1988." (John Palmer, Guardian, 10/11/90)
"The Greek operation started in 1955 but the Socialist government that came
to power in 1981 began to dismantle it in 1985. All arms caches were dug
up and stored at a military base near Athens by 1988 when the network was
finally dismantled, officials and newspaper reports have said. (Associated
Press, 14/11/90)
"Andreas Papandreou, Greece's former Socialist prime minister, said his
government had disbanded the Greek network, which he described as a
"para-state" organisation. Known as "Red Sheepskin", it was formed in 1955
as a secret part of the agreement to set up US military bases in Greece."
(Independent, 16/11/90)
"The Athens government yesterday ordered an inquiry into a secret deal-
between the Greek military forces and the CIA, aimed at setting-up an
anti-communist guerrilla network as part of the covert operation disclosed
last month in Italy under the code name Gladio." (Richard Norton-Taylor,
Guardian, 20/11/90)
"In Greece, where it was given the code-name, Sheepskin, a cell was set up
by the CIA in the 1950s but was dismantled in 1988, according to the
government. Officers in the underground unit were involved in the
Colonel's coup in 1967. (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 5/12/90)
HOLLAND
"A Dutch Defence Ministry spokesman confirmed that an arms cache uncovered
in Holland in 1983 was part of an underground Nato resistance network."
(Daily Telegraph, 13/11/90)
"Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers confirmed in a Tuesday letter to
Parliament that his government is running its version of the Gladio group,
but maintained it had informal links with Nato or other members of the
Alliance." (P Verschuur, Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers said that 'I cannot exclude that [financial
contributions by] private persons were used in protecting and covering up
certain activities' of what he called the Stay Behind force. Dutch
newspapers reported last week that most of the organisation, also known as
Operations and Intelligence, was being paid for by wealthy industrialists
so that it could not be traced through government spending
records...Lubbers said earlier this month that the Dutch version of Gladio
was founded in the 1950s...He said the group did not engage in the more
military "guerilla-like activities" of its counterparts. (Associated Press,
21/11/90)
LUXEMBOURG
"In Luxembourg, Prime Minister Jaques Santer told Parliament...the
Luxembourg network was recently disbanded. (P Neuray, Associated Press,
14/11/90)
NORWAY
"Rolf Hansen, Norway's defence minister at the time, told Parliament that
the resistance groups were originally private, formed after the war. But
they had been placed under the supervision of the intelligence services,
he said. The Norwegian underground network was not answerable to Nato or
other countries, Hansen said, dismissing any connection with the CIA. But
he would not discuss details, saying the organisation's activities had to
be kept secret." (D Mellgren, Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"Christian Christenson, a former Norwegian intelligence officer, wrote
numerous books about the groups, as recently as this Autumn. He said
private groups were formed in 1947, sometimes kept Communists under
surveillance and became part of the intelligence service in 1948." (D
Mellgren, Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"The Norwegian branch of the network was exposed in 1978, when a policeman
stumbled upon one of its arms caches, containing at least 60 weapons and
12,000 rounds of ammunition. The owner of the property where the cache was
found, Hans Otto Meyer, an intelligence agent, was arrested but claimed
that Norwegian intelligence had provided some of the weapons for use by a
resistance cell. This was confirmed." (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian,
15/11/90)
PORTUGAL
"In Portugal, a Lisbon radio station has reported that cells of the network
associated with Operation Gladio were active there during the 1950s to
defend the rightist dictatorship of Dr Salazar." (John Palmer, Guardian,
10/11/90)
SPAIN
"Spain was invited to join a secret Nato group that coordinated a
clandestine resistance network, but declined and so knows nothing about the
workings of operation Gladio, the newspaper El Pais reported yesterday."
(Guardian, 26/11/90)
"France proposed Spain for membership of the network in 1973 but Britain,
Germany and the Netherlands blocked the move on the grounds that Spain was
not a democracy." (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 5/12/90)
SWEDEN (Sveaborg)
"The network, supported by the US CIA and Britain's MI6, existed from 1958
until at least 1978 and included 150 standby resistance leaders and special
arms depots across Sweden." (L Foyen, Reuters, 18/12/90)
"The Swedish government created in 1958 a full-fledged network known only
to the Prime Minister and a few selected cabinet ministers, military
leaders and industrialists. It was led by Swedish businessman, Alvar
Lindencrona, whose work for the International Chamber of Commerce made it
possible for him to travel inconspicuously to the US and Britain for
briefings with the CIA and MI6...It is unclear what happened to the
organisation after 1978 when Lindencrona retired. He died three years
later." (L Foyen, Reuters, 18/12/90)
"Sweden's Chief of Staff, General Bengt Gustafsson, confirmed reports that
a secret underground resistance group was formed in Sweden during the Cold
War, but said that the CIA were not involved." (Guardian 21/12/90)
""Right wing extremists in Sweden were part of the Stay Behind set-up and
I cannot understand why the Swedish authorities never took a closer look
at organisation," the former Nato man said. He went on to name the
organisation as Sveaborg, which was founded in 1941 by Otto Hallberg and
is a shadowy and highly secretive group, mainly composed of veteran Swedish
volunteer battalion members who fought in the Finnish-Soviet war, some of
whom went on to join the Waffen SS Nordland division." (Searchlight,
January 1991)
"Lennart Hansson, an ageing former close associate of Otto Hallberg, says
that even before the end of the war Hallberg had already begun to put
together the nuts and bolts of an anticommunist resistance movement.
Hansson admitted that this movement first made base with officials at the
US embassy in Stockholm in 1947-48 and that it was promised covert US
assistance in the event of a Soviet attacK. "The name of the secret
movement," he said, "was Sveaborg and the nucleus of the movement consisted
of military personnel." In the 1950's Sveaborg had over 1,000 "contact
persons" who were the core of the would-be guerilla force. Many of these
people were serving in the Swedish armed forces and the group held regular
military exercises. Both Hansson and the still living Sven-Olov Lindholm
claim that the resistance movement was very much under Hallberg's personal
direction and control and Hansson maintains that contacts with the US
continued until about 1955." (Searchlight, January 1991)
"The former head of the CIA, William Colby, who was stationed in Stockholm
from 1951-1953, told the Swedish News Agency, TT, that he had been engaged
in establishing an armed anti-communist movement in Scandinavia."
(Searchlight, January 1991)
"Today Sveaborg keeps an extremely low profile but does exist and is said
to have taken younger people into its ranks. Its only public activity
takes place on 14 April each year when it gathers at a Stockholm cemetery
to honour Swedish nazi "hero", Gosta Hallberg-Cuutla, who was killed in
action on the Finnish front." (Searchlight, January 1991)
SWITZERLAND (P26)
"Switzerland's secret resistance army had no links with Nato's Gladio
network, although it cooperated with British secret services, its leader
said yesterday. The force is to be dissolved by the end of the year. "We
first got to know of terms like Gladio from media reports. We had no link
to this organisation," said Efrem Cattelan, the head of P26, whose task
would have been to resist occupation forces after an invasion. Mr Cattelin
told reporters: "We did have connections with Britain for many years and
cooperated on training and supplies. The chief of staff, Heinz Haesler,
said that P26 would be dissolved on government orders by the new year.
Commandant Hans Senn, also involved with the unit, said it was not right
to judge the secret army by the standards of today, when the Cold War was
no longer a threat." (Guardian, 8/12/90)
TURKEY (Special War Department)
"The paper [Milliyet] also quoted former Premier Bulent Ecevit as saying
the unit had first been funded by the United States but that these funds
had been cut off by 1974. After that, he said, the unit asked for funds
from the defence budget. "Patriotic volunteers were members of the group.
They were trained specially to launch a counter guerilla operation in the
event that the country was occupied," Ecevit was quoted as saying...During
a wave of terrorism in the 1970s, leftist groups questioned the possible
role of the organisation, also known as 'kontrgerilla', in right-wing
terrorism." (Associated Press, 14/11/90)
"In Turkey, where the Communist Party is still illegal, the former prime
minister, Bulent Ecevit, said "patriotic volunteers" staffed a US funded
unit that was ready to go into action in the event of a communist takeover.
The government has refused to say whether it has been disbanded."
(Independent, 16/11/90)
"In Turkey, a unit known as the Special War Department was reported to run
that country's secret network." (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 16/11/90)
APPENDIX 1
State Research, no.2
November 1977
UNDERCOVER RESERVE FORCES
A paramilitary committee of former high-ranking service officers has, for
the past six years, been receiving official government support to set up
an undercover, anti-communist resistance movement in Britain (Daily Express
18/7/77). The Resistance and Psychological Operations Committee (RPOC) is
a covert group within the government-funded Reserve Forces Association
(RFA). The RFA is the representative body of British military reservists,
and the British component of the NATO-supported Confederation Inter-Allies
des Officers de Reserve (CIOR). The RFA-was formed in 1970 and is formally
an independent organisation, but its 214 individual and 90 corporate
members represent all the reserve units of the armed forces and the
government treats it as the spokesman of Britain's reserve forces.
Since 1971 the RPOC has been setting up the nucleus of an underground
resistance organisation which could rapidly be expanded in the event of a
Russian occupation of any part of NATO, including Britain. Close links
have been formed with similar units in several European countries, which
are actively recruiting 'anti-communist resistance fighters', according to
Chapman Pincher. They are also said to have established an intelligence
network which NATO chiefs regard as being of great value.
The RPOC was set up by a group of World War Two defence chiefs who
thought that the need has arisen again for an organisation like the
underground wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE), but this time
directed against communism. Amongst the group were: General Sir Richard
Gale, former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and founder of
the 1st Parachute Brigade; Sir Collin Gubbins, founder of the SOE and the
Commandos; Sir John Slessor; Marshal of the Royal Air Force, and former
Chief of the Air Staff; and Sir Algernon Willis, Admiral of the Fleet.
Under the then Tory government RPOC was given access to Ministry of
Defence Departments, including the Joint Warfare Establishment near
Salisbury commanded by Maj. Gen. Patrick Ovens,
a former Commando. The committee also formed close links with the Special
Air Services (SAS), and secured access to the Foreign Office's Information
and Research Department, which has historically been used as a cover
Department for M16 agents. The MOD gave the RFA a grant to pass on to
RPOC. Now, Pincher claims, the Labour government are worried that their
supporters will find out that the government has been encouraging a
rightwing paramilitary group, and they have therefore been quietly trying
to stifle the committee over the past months. RPOC has been deprived of
its grant (and thereby its official status), access to Whitehall
information has ended, and attendance at NATO meetings forbidden. The
committee still exists, however, with General Gale leading the right for
its survival.
APPENDIX 2
GLADIO
EP 22.11.90 joint resolution replacing B3-2021, 2058, 2068, 2078 and 2087/90
RESOLUTION
on the Gladio affair
A. having regard to the revelation by several European governments of the
existence for 40 years of a clandestine parallel intelligence and
armed operations organization in several Member States of the
Community,
B. whereas for over 40 years this organization has escaped all democratic
controls and has been run by the secret services of the states
concerned in collaboration with NATO,
C. fearing the danger that such clandestine network may have interfered
illegally in the internal political affairs of Member States or may
still do so,
D. whereas in certain Member States military secret services (or
uncontrolled branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of
terrorism and crime as evidenced by, various judicial inquiries,
E. whereas these organizations operated and continue to operate
completely outside the. law since they are not subject to any
parliamentary control and frequently those holding the highest
government and constitutional posts are kept in the dark as to these
matters,
F. whereas the various `GLADIO' organizations have at their disposal
independent arsenals and military resources which give them an unknown
strike potential, thereby jeopardizing the democratic structures of
the countries in which they are operating or have been operating,
G. greatly concerned at the existence of decision-making and operational
bodies which are not subject to any form of democratic control and are
of a completely clandestine nature at a time when greater Community
cooperation in the field of security is a constant subject of
discussion,
1. Condemns the clandestine creation of manipulative and operational
networks and Calls for a full investigation into the nature, structure,
aims and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations or any
splinter groups, their use for illegal interference in the internal
political affairs of the countries concerned, the problem of terrorism in
Europe and the possible collusion of the secret services of Member States
or third countries;
2. Protests vigorously at the assumption by certain US military personnel
at SHAPE and in NATO of the right to encourage the establishment in Europe
of a clandestine intelligence and operation network;
3. Calls on the governments of the Member States to dismantle all
clandestine military and paramilitary networks;
4. Calls on the judiciaries of the countries in which the presence of such
military organizations has been ascertained to elucidate fully their
composition and modus operandi and to clarify any action they may have
taken to destabilize the democratic structures of the Member States;
5. Requests all the Member States to take the necessary measures, if
necessary by establishing parliamentary committees of inquiry, to draw up
a complete list of organizations active in this field, and at the same time
to monitor their links with the respective state intelligence services and
their links, if any, with terrorist action groups and/or other illegal
practices;
6. Calls on the Council of Ministers to provide full information on the
activities of these secret intelligence and operational services;
7. Calls on its competent committee to consider holding a hearing in order
to clarify the role and impact of the `GLADIO' organization and any similar
bodies;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission,
the Council, the Secretary-General of NATO, the governments of the Member
States and the United States Government.
Source: Statewatch briefing
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