Douglas Caddy

This thread started off with a posting by John Newman on Facebook that read: This post is only ostensibly directed at Lisa Pease The details illustrate a perfect example of what I said yesterday: “So many have for so long been invested in an orthodoxy that it is only natural that it will take time for the change to take place. That is normal. That is the nature of orthodoxies when the time comes to overturn them. I am not interested in heated arguments and will not participate in them.” Clearly Newman is declaring that those with a vested interest in promoting an old orthodoxy that is being replaced by a new belief in who was primarily responsible for the assassination of JFK are in a form of denial and that "it is only natural that it will take time for the change of take place." This is Newman's opinion as articulated by him, not by me, although I agree with him

David Talbot wrote on Facebook today and yes it includes information about the assassination of JFK: This is a must-read article about how deep power secretly operates in America. Based on documents recently donated to Yale University, the papers reveal how David Rockefeller -- the chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and the personification of deep state intrigue -- used his Washington-Wall Street network to pressure President Jimmy Carter into letting the Shah of Iran into the United States. Two weeks after Carter did so against his better judgment, a mob stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran -- and relations between the two nations became so poisonous that they've never recovered. The influential network that David Rockefeller -- scion of the oil dynasty -- used to browbeat President Carter into submission reads like a who's who of the U.S. Deep State. It included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a lifelong beneficiary of Rockefeller family sponsorship; former CIA director and U.S. ambassador to Iran, Richard Helms; banker-diplomat John McCloy, another Rockefeller retainer who could be found at the center of many deep state operations throughout the Cold War, including his tenure on the Warren Commission; and Archibald Roosevelt Jr., another Chase Manhattan-CIA hybrid whose cousin Kermit Roosevelt Jr. had orchestrated the infamous CIA-backed coup in Iran that had replaced a democratic government with the shah's autocratic rule. David Rockefeller, whose bank had reaped billions from financial transactions with the shah's regime, was eager to keep him happy after he was deposed by a popular revolt in 1979. Rockefeller and his clubby CIA-Wall Street circle even hoped to repeat its 1953 dark victory and reinstall the shah on his Peacock Throne. Rockefeller Inc. failed to reverse Iran's history but these deep state forces did succeed in toppling President Carter and replacing him with Ronald Reagan, with its own profound tragedies for America and the world. Rockefeller's elite circle ensured Carter's defeat in 1980 by making sure the president couldn't pull off an October Surprise and win the release of U.S. embassy hostages on the eve of the election. Although this NYT article doesn't tell this part of the story, the powerful espionage forces behind the Reagan campaign pulled off its own October Surprise -- engineering a secret, treasonous deal with representatives of Iran's new theocratic government. In return for delaying release of the hostages until after the November presidential election, Iran's mullahs were promised U.S. military aid. The subsequent Iran-Contra arms deal would blow up the Reagan administration years later. One other important observation about this dark episode in U.S. history -- and unsurprisingly this part of the story is also left out by the NY Times. Several of the principal characters in the shady shah operation are also implicated in the assassination of President Kennedy and its cover-up, including Helms and McCloy and even David Rockefeller himself. As I report in my book "The Devil's Chessboard," David and brother Nelson Rockefeller were closely aligned with the deeply sinister Dulles brothers. Many of Allen Dulles's "black ops" during his rule at the CIA were secretly funded by off-the-books Rockefeller money. The Rockefeller brothers were mortal enemies of President Kennedy -- especially his liberal reform policies in Latin America which the Rockefellers feared were endangering autocratic regimes in the region along with their family's oil and financial interests. Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York at the time, was also hoping to replace Kennedy in the White House in 1964. There is evidence that Rockefeller money was secretly used to finance the assassination operation against JFK in Dallas. There's a crack in everything -- that's how the light gets in, as Leonard Cohen enlightened us. Today there's a crack of light in the Sunday Times. The fateful decision in 1979 to admit Mohammed Reza Pahlavi prompted the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran and helped doom the Carter presidency. About this website nytimes.com How a Chase Bank Chairman Helped the Deposed Shah of Iran Enter the U.S. The fateful decision in 1979 to admit Mohammed Reza Pahlavi prompted the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran and helped doom the Carter presidency. The fateful decision in 1979 to admit Mohammed

Pease is the protégé of Jim DiEugenio and always echoes what he promulgates. Since he is writing the script for Oliver Stone's JFK 2.0 it will be interesting to see if the script takes the CIA-Did-It theory or the Military-Did-It theory. A lot rides on the decision because Stone likely does not want his upcoming TV series to embrace an old orthodox theory of the assassination that is being brushed aside by new evidence discovered and compiled by John Newman about the paramount role of the Military in the killing of JFK.

https://larryhancock.wordpress.com/2019/12/22/jfk-at-risk-3/?fbclid=IwAR1bSOMvH3S3O-dPGIejjlqZ23ga-jCETzSae1RYCNM3qNhpJnyD9whwB1s

If I were a young university graduate student today and chose to write my thesis on the subject of a conspiracy in the assassination of President John Kennedy, I would be puzzled at what I found. I would discover that dedicated researchers for decades had promulgated that the CIA and its leaders Allen Dulles and James Angleton were the conspiracy’s principal decision makers and planners. That is up until now. Then I would find that a new belief is taking hold among these dedicated researchers, led by renowned scholar John Newman, that the old conspiracy theory was not correct, that everyone had been looking in the wrong direction for all these years, and that this required reorienting research efforts by 180 degrees. The real principal conspirators were in the U. S. Military, not the CIA, and the Pentagon had labored successfully to keep itself clear of the entire tragic saga. Chief among those Pentagon conspirators was General Lyman Lemnitzer, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1960 to 1962 and then as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NAT0 from 1963 to 1969. As I continued to work on my thesis I would discover that President Kennedy was intrigued by a 1962 book titled, Seven Days in May, and had even made the White House available for filming to lend authenticity to the movie based on the book. The movie was released three months after JFK’s assassination. I would then read the book and view the movie that is about a military-political cabal’s planned takeover of the U.S. government in reaction to the president’s negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. After that I would wait for the dust to settle among the dedicated researchers into the JFK assassination about this new controversial theory before I finished writing my graduate degree thesis.

The Inside Story of Christopher Steele’s Trump Dossier In a new book, the founders of the firm that compiled it defend their work. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-inside-story-of-christopher-steeles-trump-dossier?fbclid=IwAR1VYdeDaNaPGS0OGq2HGgvdEwVN4VVdGshRQl7063TUP83lOP2DdyTX47I

John Newman posted the following on Facebook today: Well, the thread yesterday expanded into several that went on most of the day. Gene Koch, Lisa Peas and I actually ended up finishing on a thread Lisa had started at some point: John Newman Lisa Pease, Gene Koch It's far more complicated than you think. I can't go into all of the details in a FB post. I reported a lot of it in Dallas. Here is just a sliver of an overview about what was going on: Veciana didn't make up his the-CIA-was-behind-everything-in-62 caper until he ...got out of prison in 1976. (I'll have more of the details about this part of it in Vol IV). DURING 1962, Veciana was telling the truth; at that time, he was just like many of the exiles who hated working for the CIA because the Agency wanted total control and obedience. Lansdale actually was interested in keeping Veciana's covert Army channel secret and making it LOOK LIKE AV was working for the CIA and that is the reason the ISR switch to Army was not done until after the missile crisis was safely over. It was Lansdale (and Lemnitzer before him) who had labored to push JFK into a war in Cuba and wanted it to look like the orders for all of A-66 raids were coming from CIA [see the Lansdale-Veciana chart during the missile crisis that I posted], while sitting in the meetings with the president pretending not to know anything about it. It's even more complicated when you throw in what Harvey was up to at the same time--not just how to publicly play his cards on the A-66 raids but also what to do about Cubela--that TFW was recruiting at the same time. Hidden inside of all of this was yet another covert operation--a plan to murder the president and pin it on Castro, who would need to be alive, not dead, for the coverup to hold. I suspect that the idea of blaming JFK and especially RFK for the whole thing was also in train at this point (fall 1962). It's what took place in February 1976--the sudden early release of Veciana from the Atlanta Penitentiary--that allows us to unlock A) the misdirection to control the narrative of the unfolding congressional investigations gearing up then and to superimpose a similar misdirection on the last 14 months of Kennedy's life to help keep the Pentagon clear of the entire saga. Yes, and there were plenty of people at CIA [McCone was not one of them but Helms was] who were in favor of all of this--then and afterward. I'm still working on that.✍️🙏 Gene Koch John Newman Sam Halpern now even more interesting then. Thanks. Lisa Pease John Newman I really look forward to watching your presentation and catching up on your research - was so focused on RFK for a while I've fallen behind. Thanks, John! TODAY: That is where we will have to leave matters for now. A lot of new data has unfolded and is continuing to do so. I'll put up my Dallas presentation on my website when I get it.

Trump Retweets Article Which Names Alleged Whistleblower https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-retweets-article-which-names-alleged-whistleblower/

Ukraine Whistleblower’s Attorney Calls for Sen. Blackburn’s Resignation from Protection Caucus http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ukraine-whistleblowers-attorney-calls-for-sen-blackburns-resignation-from-protection-caucus/ar-BBYmNWi?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UE07DHP From the article: Zaid, who has spent decades in Washington representing government employees against federal agencies, was specifically referencing comments Blackburn made last month regarding the whistleblower and Vindman. “Vindictive Vindman is the ‘whistleblower’s’ handler,” Blackburn tweeted just days after Vindman, the top Ukraine advisor on the National Security Council, publicly testified that he was so disturbed after hearing Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that he immediately reported the call to the council’s top lawyer, John Eisenberg. Vindictive Vindman is the “whistleblower’s” handler. — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) November 22, 2019 Blackburn was playing into the nonsensical conspiracy theory that Vindman — born in Ukraine before moving to the U.S. at age three and eventually receiving a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq — was not loyal to the United States. Republican House attorney Steve Castor was also criticized for spending a considerable amount of time questioning Vindman’s loyalty during his public testimony.

Robert Morrow today sent me the following invaluable information: Alfred Steinberg's 1968 book on Lyndon Johnson also has the best explanation of how we got into the Vietnam War that I have ever read too. After reading Steinberg on LBJ - published in 1968, I can say it is better than anything Robert Caro ever wrote on Lyndon Johnson. My Box account contains many extremely rare and valuable "out of print" books in PDF form on the JFK assassination. Some of them, such as the Billie Sol Estes book, you cannot find used for even $500. My Box account web link is below. Website to Download Rare and very Valuable JFK Assassination Books: https://app.box.com/s/8b408e6999f8799dfd0a Review by Willam B. Catton of Steinberg’s book: QUOTE If Lyndon Johnson’s enemies ever grow forgetful, Alfred Steinberg’s massive indictment – as large as the state of Texas, as wordy as its protagonist, and more self-assured then either – should prove helpful as a sort of Compleat Guide to the Sins of LBJ. The brisk narrative ranges exhaustively from Johnson’s Texas ancestors to his recent withdrawal from the 1968 campaign, with myriad glimpeses, filtered through dozens of far-from-disinterested memories of LBJ in action. Although the author’s tone is that of the honest reporter simply “telling it like it is,” the book is a sustained diatribe; the instrument employed for this “close up” was not the camera but the hatchet. Steinberg’s Johnson has been identified before: the brutal warmonger; the coarse, foul-tongued manipulator who lied, cozened, schemed, and pressured his way to the top with no commitments or beliefs beyond an insatiable lust for wealth and power; the opportunist who professed liberalism has always been fraudulent. His largely undeserved reputation as a political mastermind and legislative magician was built, like every other favorable image he has sought to create, upon the distortions of a fanatically cultivated press-agentry. “Sam Johnson’s boy,” Steinberg concludes, too inherently narrow and shallow to grow in office or succeed as a national leader, “could not become more than the President from Texas …. He failed to emerge as a President of the United States” (p. 839). The essential character traits accompanying all of this are those of a domineering bully, boor, and cynical hypocrite, with degrees of pettiness, vindictiveness, violent temper, and egomania that suggest derangement. Associates, inevitably, are either fellow corruptionists, lackeys or dupes. (The most pathetic figure in the book, consigned to both latter categories, is Hubert Humphrey.) UNQUOTE Robert Sherrill on Robert Caro’s attitude toward LBJ in his 1982 The Path to Power: hatred. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1982/11/21/brash-young-man-in-a-hurry/e9ec7537-246b-4ccb-868e-19423cb42cec/ QUOTE And the main passion is hatred. Or, if not hatred, then contempt. Caro loathes Johnson. He despises him. If The Path to Power is a success, it will be because Caro has conveyed that feeling so infectiously. And in that success there will be a historic irony. When Caro talks of Johnson's "hunger for power in its most naked form, for power not to improve the lives of others, but to manipulate and dominate them, to bend them to his will"; when he says that "it was a hunger so fierce and consuming that no consideration of morality or ethics, no cost to himself -- or to anyone else -- could stand before it"; when he sounds repelled by Johnson's "utter ruthlessness" in destroying enemies and his "seemingly bottomless capacity for deceit, deception and betrayal"; when he notes that a hallmark of Johnson's career was "a lack of any consistent ideology or principle, in fact of any moral foundation whatsover -- a willingness to march with any ally who would help his personal advancement," one gets an overwhelming feeling of d,ejMa vu. We are hearing exactly the same accusations that were made a generation ago by left-wing Democrats in Texas, bitter from being crushed throughout the 1950s and 1960s by Johnson's forces, the same accusations made by right-wing Texans such as J. Evetts Haly in 1964 (A Texan Looks at Lyndon), infuriated by Johnson's pious destruction of Barry Goldwater. UNQUOTE

John Newman posted this on Facebook today: This post is only ostensibly directed at Lisa Pease The details illustrate a perfect example of what I said yesterday: “So many have for so long been invested in an orthodoxy that it is only natural that it will take time for the change to take place. That is normal. That is the nature of orthodoxies when the time comes to overturn them. I am not interested in heated arguments and will not participate in them.” On three separate occasions recently, Lisa has challenged my contention that Alpha 66 did not work for the CIA. Her posts were neither heated nor personal attacks. And so, I will do Lisa the honor of answering her objections—this time. Before I begin, I must point out that Lisa was not present for my 11/23/19 presentation in Dallas, and her various protests do not show evidence of having read the Veciana chapters in Volume III (“Into the Storm”). For example, Lisa said: “I’m curious why people are so convinced Alpha 66 had nothing to do with the CIA when it was the CIA telling the Army, State and FBI what Alpha 66 was up to. I brushed off Peter Dale Scott when he came to me with that.” The facts, however, do not show that the Alpha 66 group told the CIA what it was up to. OF COURSE, there were some members—most likely who had been previous and/or concurrent members of the MRP—who were CIA informants. The fact is that the head of Alpha 66, Antonio Veciana, told the Army that he lied to the CIA on the numerous occasions when they tried to learn about the plans of Alpha 66 (see document #6). I learned long ago not to brush off Peter Dale Scott without checking my facts VERY CAREFULLY. In Cuba, Veciana had been chief of sabotage for the CIA-backed People’s Revolutionary Party (MRP). But after he came to Miami, Veciana broke away from the CIA and founded Alpha 66 in Puerto Rico in May 1962. Shortly after that, in early July, the CIA station in San Juan “emphasized” that the Alpha 66 “project” was “not an MRP activity” but that its leader, Manuel Ray, had given Alpha 66 his “blessing.” (See document #0). A few days later, Task Force W, PA-PROP officer Martha Tharp informed the chief, William Harvey that there was “no record” in Veciana’s CIA file “whether he was ever used or established contact.” (See document #1) Lisa referenced a highly redacted document from the CIA’s reading room (https://www.cia.gov/.../readingroom/docs/DOC_0000386756.pdf) and argued that it does not support my “thesis.” You can see the document in full from the MFF site. (See document #2) In this case, a CIA source in San Juan received information from some senior Alpha 66 members—Geronimo Estevez and Alejandro Ojeda—about Alpha 66 activities. This does NOT undermine my contention that Alpha 66 did not work for the CIA. What this document and others like it (see documents #3, #4 and #5) clearly demonstrate is that Bill Harvey, who was the CIA’s chief for Operation Mongoose, was worried about what Alpha 66 was up to and, as a result, was broadcasting all of the details about the group in his possession to every agency in Washington. In fact, Harvey instructed the CIA stations in Puerto Rico and Panama City to contact their local OBIDEX (U.S. Army) contacts report on Alpha 66 activities (document #4). On 22 October 1962, a three-page overview of Alpha 66 and its activities from CIA Deputy Director of Plans, Dick Helms, was sent all over Washington. The message, which asked for information on Alpha 66, did not state or even hint that Alpha 66 worked for the CIA. (See document #7.) On 30 October 1962, in the intense heat of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy ordered DCI McCone to “stop Alpha 66 actions during the next several days.” (See document #8). As McCone told his deputy (General Carter) later that same day, “The president was informed by the DCI we have no contact with or control over Alpha 66.” Nonplused, Kennedy told McCone try and stop them anyway! I am not going to continue to debate this subject. I have only scratched the tip of a much larger iceberg. I dropped a hint to Lisa earlier related to this subject (Alpha 66 working with the Army and Lansdale instead of the CIA) and how Bill Harvey might fit—disturbingly—into the picture behind the scene. It didn’t work and, at this point, it will have to await the publication of Volume IV (“Armageddon”). The four attached photos pertain to doc #1; docs #2, 3 and #4; #6; #8’ respectively. All these documents can be found on the MFF site: Document #0: 104-10181-10205 Document #1: 104-10181-10203 Document #2: 104-10181-10202 Document #3: 104-10181-10201 Document #4: 104-10181-10200 Document #5: 104-10181-10199 Document #6: 194-10003-10417 Document #7: 104-10181-10197 Document #8: 104-10306-10020

Two Prominent Scientists Describe Their Close Encounters https://www.unknowncountry.com/dreamland/dreamland-year-end-special-two-prominent-scientists-describe-their-close-encounters/

From the summary of last night's interview of UFO scholar Richard Dolan on coasttocoastam: Dolan also discussed a document purporting to be notes of a conversation with retired Navy Admiral Thomas Wilson in which he expressed frustration with being denied access to information about supposed UFO technology. Dolan said he has confirmed that the meeting took place and that Wilson was told by a private contractor that he did not have permission to access the information but that he was informed that "we will tell you this is E.T. related and that we have made painfully slow progress in understanding it." Dolan has concluded that, with regards to UFO information, that "the special access programs are all privatized." https://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2019/12/21

I am among those pleased that President Donald Trump has been impeached. When I heard his acceptance speech as the presidential nominee at the 2016 Republican National Convention I realized then that he posed a danger to our democracy and to the Constitution. That said, I think he is the right president to be presiding as we approach possible disclosure of the Alien Presence on planet Earth in 2020 as was implicit in the prediction by President Nixon to Robert Merritt in July 1972. Why? Because Trump in the three years that he has been in power has brought immense change and great discord in a most dangerous way not only to America but to the world at large. Thus when the cataclysmic event occurs next year the people of the world will be better prepared psychologically to adjust to it having been exposed to Trump's assaults on civilization. A cataclysmic event by definition is one of sudden change and upheaval. This week I was interviewed by Daniel Liszt on Dark Journalist. The interview will be placed on YouTube soon and when it is I shall post it here. In it I express the above views.

JFK Jr. Rare TV Interview in 1998 (a year before his death) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_zQO9l4n-E&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1w5AO7AIyu7oJTlidzTQdo8pVgIdidHaCg8eqxnMkFdSSLXBMhnMmfoMw

Will Ruha wrote on Facebook today about Tulsi's impeachment vote of "present" and I concur: The craven refusal of “Jagas Guru” cultist (and likely CIA plant) Tulsi Gabard to vote to impeach Trump should immediately disqualify her for ANY consideration as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Our nation needs strong, decisive, moral and ethical political leadership. Gabbard is an unethical coward and shameless opportunist. Shame on her. She was almost successfully recruited by Bannon (who said of Gabbard's anti-Muslim xenophobia, "Tulsi gets it!") into the Trump administration, and now she condones his blatant unconstitutional abuse of presidential power. She is the WORST. She should be booed at every rally, censured, and vilified for her craven political ploy. What a LOSER!

Speaking of Epstein here is a no-surprise: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-epstein-tartaglione-video-footage-20191218-riodo5rhvfhuznn45knlyfrj2m-story.html

JFK Conference in April 2020 Project JFK/CSI Dallas, with the support of the JFK Historical Group, is sponsoring Political Assassinations of the 1960s — The Westport Connection, a national symposium on the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The event will be held Thursday, April 16 through Sunday, April 19, 2020 at the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton in Kansas City, Mo. Featured Speakers Include: • Expert Researchers and Authors: Casey Quinlan, Brian Edwards, David Knight, Barbara Honegger, Gary Shaw, Victoria Sulzer, Ed Tatro, Larry Rivera, Jeff Worcester, Rick Russo, Phil Nelson, Richard Bartholomew, Randy Benson, Dr. Gary Aguilar, Joe Green • History Professors: Mal Hyman and David Denton • Ryan Jones, Museum Historian for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. Announcements of additional speakers will follow. For updated information about the conference, please visit Project JFK/CSI Dallas or the JFK Historical Group. Early bird registration continues through January 31, 2020. The cost is $100 per guest. A Dinner Banquet with a guest speaker will be held on Saturday, April 18. There is a separate cost of $40 to attend this event. The conference pass, banquet tickets and memberships to the JFK Historical Group may be purchased here. A Speakers Farewell Luncheon, featuring a talk by Ed Tatro, will be held on Sunday, April 19. Information regarding tickets will be forthcoming. Authors who purchase a membership to the JFK Historical Group, will receive a full-page ad in the conference program and a complimentary ticket to the Speakers Farewell Luncheon. We are inviting and expecting high school and college groups to attend as well and are offering a discounted rate to them. More details will follow soon. Hotel reservations can be made by contacting Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, Kansas City International Airport, 816-521-9672. Please mention you are with the JFK Historical Group to receive the special conference rate of $94. For conference updates and additional information, please visit the Project JFK/CSI Dallas or JFK Historical Group. We look forward to seeing you, David Denton, History Professor, Olney Central College, Olney, Ill.

We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated The president and his enablers have replaced conservatism https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/opinion/lincoln-project.html

Fox News Shows MajoritySupport for Impeachment https://www.mediaite.com/news/foxs-brian-kilmeade-says-hes-stunned-by-fox-news-poll-showing-majority-support-for-impeachment/?fbclid=IwAR3WeR3MugKl1RjnFk14l2idJAMXDdgQzzOi5Q7zfCLNGphYyBw0nQF5FUs

Michelle Goldberg is right on. Democracy Grief Is Real Seeing what Trump is doing to America, many find it hard to fight off despair. By Michelle Goldberg Opinion Columnist https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/opinion/sunday/trump-democracy.html

From the article: “After the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald, Judyth Baker claimed she received a phone-call from David Ferrie warning her that she would be killed if she told anyone about her knowledge of these events.’ https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKbakerJ.htm Judyth was born in 1943. She was 20 years old when JFK was assassinated in1963. At that time she lived in New Orleans. In the wake of the Kennedy murder three of her close friends were killed: Lee Harvey Oswald, Dr. Mary Sherman and David Ferrie. To her, as it would be to anyone else, it would be wise to shift into obscurity to avoid being another victim. She emerged publicly in the mid-1990’s. Why at this time? The opening of the internet to public and commercial use made it possible for her to tell her story. Up until then there really was no truly viable means to do so. The passage of time made her feel safe.

This is an excerpt from the preface to my 2018 autobiography, Being there: Eyewitness to History. Robert Merritt about 18 months ago testified before the Mueller Grand Jury in Washington about the FBI's illegal pre-FISA activities that were part of the Huston Plan. One of the great mysteries of Watergate is the role played in it by the controversial Huston Plan. Robert Merritt was the sole employee of the secret Huston Plan. White House Counsel John Dean took over administration of the Huston Plan after Tom Huston was eased out. Merritt recently recounted to me a key aspect of the plan that has never before been revealed. This was the existence of a secret court that convened in a secret location in Washington before which Merritt appeared on at least twelve occasions in 1971 and 1972. Each time he submitted to a three judge panel there an affidavit sworn to by him but which was actually written by the FBI that was shown to him only fifteen minutes before the court convened. Invariably the court would issue a warrant for wiretapping or search or surveillance or a combination of these aimed at a specific target. In at least three cases the target was a law firm. The only law firm Merritt remembers today was Arnold & Porter for which a wiretap warrant was issued. Another target was the Institute for Policy Studies. The secret court always convened a 1 A.M. and was located beneath an apartment building on P Street, NW, three blocks west of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Entrance was gained through the garage beneath the apartment building. Inconspicuously located there was a small elevator that held only three persons that descended two stories further down beneath the apartment building. The elevator opened onto a small corridor that led to a door that had three separate locks on it, each of which required a separate key. Once that door was opened there were two other unlocked doors that ultimately led to a small courtroom. On each side of where the three judges sat were American flags. The judges wore black suits, not judicial gowns. “In God We Trust” appeared on the wall behind the judges. Merritt, following the orders of the FBI agents, recited to the judges the basic contents of the affidavit prepared by the FBI of which he had no personal knowledge. He then submitted the affidavit to the judges who read it and then handed it back to Merritt to sign. Lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice were always present. The proceeding usually lasted 45 minutes after which Merritt was escorted out by the FBI agents and subsequently driven back to his residence. When President Nixon fired John Dean as White House Counsel in April 1973, Dean took the only copy of the 31-page Huston Plan with him and submitted it to Chief Judge John Sirica. To this day this copy has remained among the federal court’s sealed records beyond the reach of a subpoena. Its contents are unknown to the public.