David Talbot : Gordon Campbell

[William Kelly]

Condensed from one of my posts on the "David Morales" thread:

____________________________________________

I'd like to explore the possibility of a Morales "double" -- in the broadest, doppelganger sense of the term. If I'm not mistaken, there was another operative of the period known as "The Indian," or "El Indio."

[After a JFK Lancer program] I was approached in Dealey Plaza by one of the conference attendees, who told me that there were two "big Indians" in the mix.

We all might benefit from a discussion of the "other" one.

_____________________________________________

Was there such a character? Was he named Sanchez, or Sanchez Morales? And/or was he known as "The Indian" or "El Indio"?

I recall having read about such a person many years ago.

Charles

Charles,

I did catch your reference to another "El Indio," and I'm now sure there was one.

Maybe we can get some more background on The Indian 2.

The whole idea of multible individuals with same identiy is intriguing, and could have been used by CIA as part of their operations.

BK

[Robert Charles-Dunne]

Cross posted from another thread:

I find a number of startling omissions in this article. Huge weight is given to the death of a 'Gordon Campbell' who is clearly not the man Bradley Ayers knew at JM/WAVE. Morley omits several new positive IDs of Joannides, then cites a negative ID by Timothy Kalaris without telling us that Timothy's father George was the successor to Angleton as the Head of Counterintelligence. It does make you wonder.

The alleged date of Gordon Campbell's death is what most intrigues me. As I've posted elsewhere previously, though it failed to generate any comments, professional assassination nay-sayer Mel Ayton was first out of the gate in trying to impugn Shane's story. In so doing, he sought out old CIA hands to refute the identifications presented in Shane's piece, including one from Grayston Lynch, who said of Gordon Campbell, in Ayton's words: "the man in the LAPD film footage is not Campbell and that he “…knew Gordon Campbell.”

Let's assume that Lynch did know Gordon Campbell, as he presumably must have done. How, then, do we reconcile Lynch's failure to tell Ayton that Campbell had died in '62, and thus couldn't possibly have been at the Ambassador Hotel in '68?

Did this key salient fact simply slip Lynch's mind?

Or did he not know Campbell had died in '62?

Or, did he know it and yet, for reasons about which we can only speculate, refuse to disclose this to Ayton?

Or did Campbell not die in '62, which would be suggested by Brad Ayers' contrary assertions, and Lynch's failure to mention this to Ayton?

The fact that there are/were two such men named Gordon Campbell only serves to muddy the issue even further.

As I've also pointed out elsewhere, one could more easily dismiss Shane's assertions as fantasy speculations were it not for the demonstrable presence of [ex-?] CIA personnel among the LAPD squad responsible for "solving" RFK's assassination, their heavy-handed intimidation of witnesses, and the subsequent disappearance of critical evidence illustrating the likelihood of a second shooter in the kitchen pantry area. Given how these two CIA men seem to have been deliberately inserted into the crime-solving process, and the fashion in which they steered the so-called investigation, it is almost as though they were parachuted into those positions for the express purpose of nullifying the chances for a genuine and comprehensive investigation. And yet, what aim would any of that have served, unless these CIA alumni were inserted for the express purpose of ensuring that CIA's own complicity in the crime remained undetected?

Initially, I was predisposed to dismiss Shane's piece, if only because I found it astonishingly counter-intuitive that three key CIA personnel would be at the crime scene. It would have been a highly risky gambit, should their presence have been detected. However, even if we allow that not all three men tentatively identified were CIA, the presence of any one of them at the crime scene is sufficient to raise fresh questions about what he was doing there, and how that led to the subsequent insertion of CIA/LAPD personnel to preclude investigation of that fact.

It seems to me that, thanks to Shane and his hard work, we have a clearer knowledge of the two bookends to the event - CIA at the crime scene before the crime occurred and then afterward in charge of the crime's so-called investigation - but what we currently lack is what happened between those bookends.

[Myra Bronstein]

Cross posted from another thread:

I find a number of startling omissions in this article. Huge weight is given to the death of a 'Gordon Campbell' who is clearly not the man Bradley Ayers knew at JM/WAVE. Morley omits several new positive IDs of Joannides, then cites a negative ID by Timothy Kalaris without telling us that Timothy's father George was the successor to Angleton as the Head of Counterintelligence. It does make you wonder.

The alleged date of Gordon Campbell's death is what most intrigues me. As I've posted elsewhere previously, though it failed to generate any comments, professional assassination nay-sayer Mel Ayton was first out of the gate in trying to impugn Shane's story. In so doing, he sought out old CIA hands to refute the identifications presented in Shane's piece, including one from Grayston Lynch, who said of Gordon Campbell, in Ayton's words: "the man in the LAPD film footage is not Campbell and that he “…knew Gordon Campbell.”

Let's assume that Lynch did know Gordon Campbell, as he presumably must have done. How, then, do we reconcile Lynch's failure to tell Ayton that Campbell had died in '62, and thus couldn't possibly have been at the Ambassador Hotel in '68?

Did this key salient fact simply slip Lynch's mind?

Or did he not know Campbell had died in '62?

Or, did he know it and yet, for reasons about which we can only speculate, refuse to disclose this to Ayton?

Or did Campbell not die in '62, which would be suggested by Brad Ayers' contrary assertions, and Lynch's failure to mention this to Ayton?

The fact that there are/were two such men named Gordon Campbell only serves to muddy the issue even further.

As I've also pointed out elsewhere, one could more easily dismiss Shane's assertions as fantasy speculations were it not for the demonstrable presence of [ex-?] CIA personnel among the LAPD squad responsible for "solving" RFK's assassination, their heavy-handed intimidation of witnesses, and the subsequent disappearance of critical evidence illustrating the likelihood of a second shooter in the kitchen pantry area. Given how these two CIA men seem to have been deliberately inserted into the crime-solving process, and the fashion in which they steered the so-called investigation, it is almost as though they were parachuted into those positions for the express purpose of nullifying the chances for a genuine and comprehensive investigation. And yet, what aim would any of that have served, unless these CIA alumni were inserted for the express purpose of ensuring that CIA's own complicity in the crime remained undetected?

Initially, I was predisposed to dismiss Shane's piece, if only because I found it astonishingly counter-intuitive that three key CIA personnel would be at the crime scene. It would have been a highly risky gambit, should their presence have been detected. However, even if we allow that not all three men tentatively identified were CIA, the presence of any one of them at the crime scene is sufficient to raise fresh questions about what he was doing there, and how that led to the subsequent insertion of CIA/LAPD personnel to preclude investigation of that fact.

It seems to me that, thanks to Shane and his hard work, we have a clearer knowledge of the two bookends to the event - CIA at the crime scene before the crime occurred and then afterward in charge of the crime's so-called investigation - but what we currently lack is what happened between those bookends.

Well there were certainly commonalities between the two brothers' assassinations that indicates the need for technical personnel on site. For example:

12:29 pm on Nov 22, 1963, Dallas -- "Geneva Hine, the only employee in the Depository's second-floor offices, observes the electrical power and telephone system go dead. The Dallas Police radio systems Channel One, reserved for officers participating in the security of the President, is suddenly immobilized." (From "Trauma Room One.")

June 5, 1968, immediately after the murder the police radios are immobilized for an extended period of time. (From

"The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy." I don't have the book in front of me so I can't quote.)

So if nothing else there were likely frequency jamming people, and likely the need to oversee those people.

I used to think it incredible that CIA big wigs would want to be seen at an assassination site. But I now believe that their arrogance, determination for success, assurance of cover-up & complicity, sense of historical magnitude, and hatred for the Kennedys compelled them to be there.

[William Kelly]

Cross posted from another thread:

I find a number of startling omissions in this article. Huge weight is given to the death of a 'Gordon Campbell' who is clearly not the man Bradley Ayers knew at JM/WAVE. Morley omits several new positive IDs of Joannides, then cites a negative ID by Timothy Kalaris without telling us that Timothy's father George was the successor to Angleton as the Head of Counterintelligence. It does make you wonder.

The alleged date of Gordon Campbell's death is what most intrigues me. As I've posted elsewhere previously, though it failed to generate any comments, professional assassination nay-sayer Mel Ayton was first out of the gate in trying to impugn Shane's story. In so doing, he sought out old CIA hands to refute the identifications presented in Shane's piece, including one from Grayston Lynch, who said of Gordon Campbell, in Ayton's words: "the man in the LAPD film footage is not Campbell and that he "…knew Gordon Campbell."

Let's assume that Lynch did know Gordon Campbell, as he presumably must have done. How, then, do we reconcile Lynch's failure to tell Ayton that Campbell had died in '62, and thus couldn't possibly have been at the Ambassador Hotel in '68?

Did this key salient fact simply slip Lynch's mind?

Or did he not know Campbell had died in '62?

Or, did he know it and yet, for reasons about which we can only speculate, refuse to disclose this to Ayton?

Or did Campbell not die in '62, which would be suggested by Brad Ayers' contrary assertions, and Lynch's failure to mention this to Ayton?

The fact that there are/were two such men named Gordon Campbell only serves to muddy the issue even further......

\...........

http://www.warofwits.net/author.html

Grayston L. Lynch's Bay of Pigs - "Movie rights optioned to Ron Howard and Universial Studios."

BK

Edited July 22, 2007 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

GORDON CAMPBELL – (Bradley Ayers, The Zenith Secret)

"I knew she was referring to Gordon Campbell, the deputy chief of station, who I had not met yet."

"Before leaving for the Keys, I stopped by the station to pick up a few supplies. There was a note on my desk. I was to see Gordon Campbell, the deputy chief of station before leaving. I'd never met him. What the hell? I thought. Campbell's office was in the building next to Ted Shackley's. But when I got there, Maggy told me to go to the second floor of the old barracks, a floor above my own office in the training branch. I'd never been in that area of the building."

TED SHACKLEY

MAGGY

ZENITH TECHNICAL ENTERPRISES

"I walked back to my building and went upstairs. Campbell's office was well-decorated, with all sorts of Zenith Technical Enterprises corporate plaques, alleged product displays, photos and mementoes. His secretary buzzed him on my arrival and I was escorted into his plush office."

"Campbell came around his desk, introduced himself, and shook my hand. I judged his age to be around 40 and he appeared in robust physical condition. Dressed as if he had just come off the golf course, tanned, clean shaven, with a trim build, balding blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes, he greeted me cordially. I liked him immediately."

" 'I've been wanting to meet you and welcome you to the station. I'm sorry it's taken so long. I want to tell you we appreciate what you're working on. I also read your after action report and I think you know what needs to be done.'"

"I told him I'd do my best and we exchanged a few thoughts about the exile training program. As I left his office, he told me to be careful and that he would be seeing me again."

p. 56:

"I attended both briefings. All the branch chiefs were there aw well as Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Harvey from Washington accompanied by Ted Shackley and Campbell. David Morales introduced Mr. David Phillips who was identified as a coordinator for the new initiatives with the exile organizations."

MR. HARVEY

DAVID MORALES

DAVID PHILLIPS

p. 86:

"…We were going to a meeting place in the Everglades….

A sign on the rotting timbers read 'Waloos Glades Hunting Camp – No Tresspassing.' It was nearly dark, but I could see two small Quonsets with lights burning in the windows. Some men were standing around a campfire in the middle of the clearing, and in its flickering light I could see two helicopter parked in the shadows. One was a military Bell H-13 with the identification numbers taped over, and the other was a civilian chopper with the name West Palm Beach air service on the tail rotor boom."

WALOOS GLADES HUNTING CAMP

MILITARY BELL 13

WEST PALM BEACH AIR SERVICE

"We walked to the fire and a young man handed us cups of coffee. I had never seen the men before. Soon the door to one of the Quonsets swung open and four men emerged. As they moved into the circle of firelight I recognized Gordon Campbell. I had seen him only a few times since my brief meeting with him, but had been impressed with his polished, slightly flamboyant executive manner. I caught my breath at the appearance of the second man. It was the attorney general, Robert Kennedy."

ROBERT KENNEDY

"The four men talked in low voices for a few minutes, and then the attorney general came over and shook hands with each of us, wishing us good luck and God's speed on our mission."

Now I understood the need for extra secrecy. If the president felt strongly enough to send his brother, something very big was being planned."

"When the helicopter was gone, the deputy chief of station came over….he said, 'The reason we've got you here and the reason for all the secrecy is that we just got the green light from upstairs to go ahead on some missions we've been planning for some time.'"

" 'We want you to take a commando force of 12 men and give them six weeks of the toughest, most realistic training you can. We want you to teach them survival and get them physically toughened up. Then we want you to run some exercises for them, and finally, wet up a rehearsal for the actual raid, and do it over and over until they have it down blindfolded. During this six weeks we want you to eat, sleep, and live this mission with the Cubans, 24 hours a day. We want them ready to go by mid-December."

"….We've got a house on the south end of Elliot Key that's never been used…you can run the training from there…..You'll have to keep up with your regular duties in addition to working with this commando group. Again, no one is to know that. David is sometimes a little bit difficult, so you'll deal directly with me on anything you need. Use the telephone, and we'll meet away from the station. After you get set, I'll give you a complete scenario for the mission and as much data as we have on the target itself."

ELLIOT KEY

"…. 'My outside man, Karl, will help you with logistics. Take the deliveries and carry the items to the island yourself. Order as little as you have to from logistics, and buy all your own food….Here's the safehouse key and $1,000 to get things moving….'"

KARL

TONY SFORZA

"Campbell introduced me to Tony Sforza, the commando team contact man, and Karl…."

p. 93 :

"I stole a few hours extra sleep the next morning, then went out to Coconut Grove, where I was to meet Gordon Campbell. He and his wife lived on a yacht moored at the Dinner Key marina. I walked down a long concrete pier, past sleek, expensive cruisers, and finally found Gordon's boat. Both he and his wife – an attractive bikini-clad silver-haired women – were well into their Sunday afternoon martinis."

COCONUT GROVE

DINNER KEY MARINA

MRS. CAMPBELL - Attracftive, tanned, silver-haird women, drank martinis.

The case officer for these boys will be down from Washington in a few weeks. He's been with the Cuban desk studying the situation and he's well-read. Porter is young but he knows his stuff. I've assured him you'd have the team ready to go.'"

CASE OFFICER PORTER (GOSS?) W/Cuban Desk

"Had I heard right? Somebody who worked behind a desk at Langley was suddenly going to appear on the scene and take over where I left off? Just like that? I'd train them and someone else would step in and simply 'assume' control?

"For the better part of the next two hours we pored over refinery blueprints and incredibly detailed U-2 photos and recently smuggled-out snapshots of the target. The time schedule was set in the familiar D-day, H-hour military terminology, and Campbell would not tell me when the raid would be conducted. We had to be ready to go anytime after the first of December. He wanted at least two rehearsals competed by then, and there was little time left."

"Our discussion terminated when Mrs. Campbell came down to the gallery carrying drinks for all of us. She chided us for spending the 'glorious Sunday afternoon' talking business, and threw her heavily oiled, deeply tanned body into her husband's lap. Her obvious attention seeking embarrassed me, so I drank quickly, thanked Gordon, and said I'd contact him."

p. 102:

Campbell's printing:

NOVEMBER 22 1963

PRESIDENT KENNEDY HAS BEEN SHOT BY AN ASSASSIN. SUSPEND ALL ACTIIVTY. KEEP MEN ON ISLAND. COME ASHORE WITHOUT DELAY.

GORDON

p. 104 :

"More than a month after the assassination that I spoke with Mr. Campbell about the Elliot Key commandos. He directed me to hold off any additional rehearsals but to go on training at a reduced pace."

p. 105:

"Gordon Campbell and Karl had all but disappeared during this period and the Elliot Key operation, for which I had been responsible, was placed under control of the training branch.

Cal had departed for a new assignment in Washington at the CIA 'farm' in Virginia.

CAL

THE FARM - TRAINING HQ -

RUDY -

Rudy temporarily assumed duties as chief of training….

ERNIE SPARKS - "Sitting Bull" - The Other Indian?

Eventually, and old CIA training officer, Ernie Sparks, arrived and took over as chief of branch….Ernie dressed in Western style, with cowboy boots, jeans and open collared riding shirt. Often he would have a big revolver holstered at his side.

He was about 50, with gray hair, a droopy mustache, ruddy complexion, and piercing blue eyes.

He was portly but muscular. He could have been a Wild West movie character.

He had been nicknamed 'Sitting Bull' while serving as a training officer in Guatemala, preparing Cuban exile Brigade 2506 for the Bay of Pigs invasion. As the time went by I learned he had a penchant for booze, women and sports cars….."

p. 181 :

"…The cover office, staffed with full-time secretaries and decorated to appear as a typical business headquarters. Shackley would never be there, but either Clines or Campbell would when it was useful to present Zenith Technical Enterprise's face to the world.

The Maritime Branch was located in the same building, and for that reason, it was most convenient for Campbell, who was running that branch, to man the cover office

…

MARITIME BRANCH -

[Wayne Smith]

My only comment is that I remain convinced that the man in the photos is Dave Morales. I knew him well and saw him often over a period of years. And given everything else I know and knew about Morales, I’d have had no reason to doubt that he’d have been there. The other two I didn’t know at all.

[Greg Parker]

"Campbell came around his desk, introduced himself, and shook my hand. I judged his age to be around 40 and he appeared in robust physical condition. Dressed as if he had just come off the golf course, tanned, clean shaven, with a trim build, balding blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes, he greeted me cordially. I liked him immediately."

Bill, if Ayers was any where near correct on his age estimate, then surely we're up to 3 Gordon Campbells?

The one with the 1962 death certificate born in 1905

The one born in 1905 and died Dec 2000

The one Ayers describes who would have been born many years after '05.

I can only assume his guestimate was way out.

Here's a little from Don Bohning's book, "The Castro Obsession"

Although Shackley did not identify the UDT [underwater demolition teams] specialist, it may have been Gordon Campbell, the deputy station chief. He was the head of maritime operations and worked under cover of Marine Engineering of Homestead, near the JMWAVE station. Campbell is identified as Keith Randall in the "tell all" book by Bradley Ayers. Many Cuban exiles insist that Grayston Lynch, the paramilitary CIA contract employee who went on the beach with Bay of Pigs invasion force, served as case officer for Comandos Mambises. Bust Shackley was adamant in two separate interviews that Lynch had "nothing to do" with the operation...

From the Morley - Talbot article:

Gordon Campbell, it turns out, was not the deputy station chief in the CIA's Miami operation, as O'Sullivan reported. He was a yachtsman and Army colonel who served as a contract agent helping the agency ferry anti-Castro guerrillas across the straits of Florida, according to Rudy Enders, a retired CIA officer, and two other people who knew him.

Did anyone in all of this ask Bohning about Campbell? Enders sounds like he may have just stuck to the cover story...

[John Simkin]

"Campbell came around his desk, introduced himself, and shook my hand. I judged his age to be around 40 and he appeared in robust physical condition. Dressed as if he had just come off the golf course, tanned, clean shaven, with a trim build, balding blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes, he greeted me cordially. I liked him immediately."

Bill, if Ayers was any where near correct on his age estimate, then surely we're up to 3 Gordon Campbells?

The one with the 1962 death certificate born in 1905

The one born in 1905 and died Dec 2000

The one Ayers describes who would have been born many years after '05.

I can only assume his guestimate was way out.

Here's a little from Don Bohning's book, "The Castro Obsession"

Although Shackley did not identify the UDT [underwater demolition teams] specialist, it may have been Gordon Campbell, the deputy station chief. He was the head of maritime operations and worked under cover of Marine Engineering of Homestead, near the JMWAVE station. Campbell is identified as Keith Randall in the "tell all" book by Bradley Ayers. Many Cuban exiles insist that Grayston Lynch, the paramilitary CIA contract employee who went on the beach with Bay of Pigs invasion force, served as case officer for Comandos Mambises. Bust Shackley was adamant in two separate interviews that Lynch had "nothing to do" with the operation...

From the Morley - Talbot article:

Gordon Campbell, it turns out, was not the deputy station chief in the CIA's Miami operation, as O'Sullivan reported. He was a yachtsman and Army colonel who served as a contract agent helping the agency ferry anti-Castro guerrillas across the straits of Florida, according to Rudy Enders, a retired CIA officer, and two other people who knew him.

Did anyone in all of this ask Bohning about Campbell? Enders sounds like he may have just stuck to the cover story...

I will ask Don about this.

[John Simkin]

Here's a little from Don Bohning's book, "The Castro Obsession"

Although Shackley did not identify the UDT [underwater demolition teams] specialist, it may have been Gordon Campbell, the deputy station chief. He was the head of maritime operations and worked under cover of Marine Engineering of Homestead, near the JMWAVE station. Campbell is identified as Keith Randall in the "tell all" book by Bradley Ayers. Many Cuban exiles insist that Grayston Lynch, the paramilitary CIA contract employee who went on the beach with Bay of Pigs invasion force, served as case officer for Comandos Mambises. Bust Shackley was adamant in two separate interviews that Lynch had "nothing to do" with the operation...

This is what Don Bohning just said to me in a series of emails:

(1) Actually, your friends Hinckle and Turner identify Campbell as assistant station chief in their book Deadly Secrets. I should have known better than to rely on them.

(2) I might note also that Talbot identified Richard Bissell as head of the CIA operation that overthrew Arbenz when Bissell himself says in his memoirs that wasn't so. And your website also says Morales was in Bolivia when Guevara was killed in 1965 when it was really 1967 and when Larry Sternfield, the CIA station chief there at the time, says he wasn't even in Bolivia when Guevara was killed. Given the other errors in Talbot's book, I am not sure that he and Morley are correct about Campbell either.

(3) Just went back and looked at the Fish is Red, the earlier version of Deadly Secrets, by Hinckle and Turner, and Campbell is identified in there as the deputy station chief. And given the number of errors of fact in Talbot's book, I am not convinced that he and Morley are right about Campbell either.

Besides, Mel Ayton knocked down the JFK assassination story long before Talbot and Morley did. In fact, Morley called me before he and Talbot came to Miami and asked how to get in touch with Manny Chavez, well after Ayton's article on him already had appeared.. I put he and Tlbot in contact with Cavez.

I had given Chavez and Gayston Lynch's phone number to Ayton weeks before Talbot and Morley. Ayton had sent enhanced pictures of Morales to Chavez and to Lynch. Chavez didn't know Campbell but Lynch did and he said the pictures of neither Morales nor Campbell.

It is true that the Talbot and Morley piece took the thing a bit further but the story had been descredited well before the one they wrote, which was somewhat anti-climatic coming weeks later when the story already had been discredited by Ayton.

[John Simkin]

A couple more emails from Don Bohning:

(1) Having just looked through the two books by Bradley Ayers, the Zenith Secret and the War that Never Was, it would seem that Talbot and Morley have gotten mixed up on Gordon Campbell. Ayers, according to his books, did not join JMWAVE until 1963 and on page 39 of the Zenith Secret he identifies Campbell as the deputy chief of station. Morley and Talbot say Campbell died in 1962.

Who do you believe? Looks to me like another Talbot error. I would believe Ayers before I would believe Talbot. I think they identified the wrong Gordon Campbell.

(2) Talbot and Morley also say in a footnote that David Rabern was indentified as a CIA operations officer. No one around here ever heard of David Rabern and, according to Ayers, he was a private investigator in Arizona.

[Greg Parker]

This is what Don Bohning just said to me in a series of emails:

(1) Actually, your friends Hinckle and Turner identify Campbell as assistant station chief in their book Deadly Secrets. I should have known better than to rely on them.

John, he regrets relying on Hinckle & Turner re their id of him as asst station chief yet shows faith in the word of Ayers who likewise id'd Campbell as asst station chief.

Bohning is touted as one of the experts on the Miami exiles. I am therefore surprised he had to rely on a book as his source on Campbell. I had also hoped his animus toward Talbot would not get in the way of helping sort out the historical truth about GC.

I'll go on the record as saying I have never been convinced the identifications of Campbell, Morales and Joannides at the Ambassador are correct, but am trying to keep an open mind. That said, I do agree that the photos obtained of Joannides by Talbot and Morley do not show the same person as seen at the Ambassador.

Talbot and Morley also say in a footnote that David Rabern was identified as a CIA operations officer. No one around here ever heard of David Rabern and, according to Ayers, he was a private investigator in Arizona.

Whether or not he was ever a CIA operations officer for the BoP, the fact that "no one around here" ever heard of him may say more about those asked "around here" than it does about Raybern. One would expect that if they were involved in deep operations and mixed with counterintelligence types, the name Raybern would have at least come up at some stage.

Ayers was right. He was indeed a private investigator in Arizona. But he was also much more than that:

"Mr Rabern founded International Counterintelligence Services (ICS). He stayed president until 2005 until his son, Michael Rabern, took over the company as President. David Rabern's counter-espionage and counter-terrorism skills have become known as an industry standard through books he has written such as "The complete guide for CPP", which prepares investigators for the Certified Protection Professional® program."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rabern

http://www.icsworld.com/Private_Investigat...vid_Rabern.aspx

http://www.rabern.org/

His PI firm does "public interest" investigations and provides a free first consultation for this type of service. Maybe someone should take up the free consultation with a view to hiring him to get to the bottom of all this (and I'm only half joking... )

http://www.icsworld.com/Private_Investigat...stigations.aspx

[William Kelly]

A couple more emails from Don Bohning:

(1) Having just looked through the two books by Bradley Ayers, the Zenith Secret and the War that Never Was, it would seem that Talbot and Morley have gotten mixed up on Gordon Campbell. Ayers, according to his books, did not join JMWAVE until 1963 and on page 39 of the Zenith Secret he identifies Campbell as the deputy chief of station. Morley and Talbot say Campbell died in 1962.

Who do you believe? Looks to me like another Talbot error. I would believe Ayers before I would believe Talbot. I think they identified the wrong Gordon Campbell.

(2) Talbot and Morley also say in a footnote that David Rabern was indentified as a CIA operations officer. No one around here ever heard of David Rabern and, according to Ayers, he was a private investigator in Arizona.

David Rabern must be real good if he was part of the Bay of Pigs and "no one around here ever heard of him."

I agree with Greg that Don Bohning, former Miami Herald reporter, associate of Jake Easterline ("Hypheniated Jake" in DAP "Carlos Contract"), and friend of Hal "the Spook" Hendrix and the Buchanan Brothers, shouldn't have to rely on books. He was there and he wrote a book about it.

While not apparently not a good source on JM/WAVE operations, as a CIA asset he could probably explain how Mockingbird worked.

BK

[William Kelly]

Don Bohning : "I think they identified the wrong Gordon Campbell."

Gordon Campbell

Captain, United States Navy

From a contemporary press report:

Captain Gordon Campbell, United States Navy (Ret.) died December 5, 2000. His ashes will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery.

Born on October 1, 1905 in Washington, D.C. he grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, Fort Stevens, Georgia., and other Army Posts.

After prepping at Merion Institute in Alabama, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1926. He served on surface ships and submarines, his last command being the heavy cruiser USS Columbus.

After retirement from the Navy in 1956 he was employed at Wright Machinery Co. until 1963.

He is survived by his wife Addo S. Campbell, daughter, Jayne C. Byal of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Posted: 14 October 2001 Updated: 20 November 2005

Edited July 27, 2007 by William Kelly

[David Talbot]

This is what Don Bohning just said to me in a series of emails:

(1) Actually, your friends Hinckle and Turner identify Campbell as assistant station chief in their book Deadly Secrets. I should have known better than to rely on them.

(2) I might note also that Talbot identified Richard Bissell as head of the CIA operation that overthrew Arbenz when Bissell himself says in his memoirs that wasn't so. And your website also says Morales was in Bolivia when Guevara was killed in 1965 when it was really 1967 and when Larry Sternfield, the CIA station chief there at the time, says he wasn't even in Bolivia when Guevara was killed. Given the other errors in Talbot's book, I am not sure that he and Morley are correct about Campbell either.

(3) Just went back and looked at the Fish is Red, the earlier version of Deadly Secrets, by Hinckle and Turner, and Campbell is identified in there as the deputy station chief. And given the number of errors of fact in Talbot's book, I am not convinced that he and Morley are right about Campbell either.

Besides, Mel Ayton knocked down the JFK assassination story long before Talbot and Morley did. In fact, Morley called me before he and Talbot came to Miami and asked how to get in touch with Manny Chavez, well after Ayton's article on him already had appeared.. I put he and Tlbot in contact with Cavez.

I had given Chavez and Gayston Lynch's phone number to Ayton weeks before Talbot and Morley. Ayton had sent enhanced pictures of Morales to Chavez and to Lynch. Chavez didn't know Campbell but Lynch did and he said the pictures of neither Morales nor Campbell.

It is true that the Talbot and Morley piece took the thing a bit further but the story had been descredited well before the one they wrote, which was somewhat anti-climatic coming weeks later when the story already had been discredited by Ayton.

A couple more emails from Don Bohning:

(4) Having just looked through the two books by Bradley Ayers, the Zenith Secret and the War that Never Was, it would seem that Talbot and Morley have gotten mixed up on Gordon Campbell. Ayers, according to his books, did not join JMWAVE until 1963 and on page 39 of the Zenith Secret he identifies Campbell as the deputy chief of station. Morley and Talbot say Campbell died in 1962.

Who do you believe? Looks to me like another Talbot error. I would believe Ayers before I would believe Talbot. I think they identified the wrong Gordon Campbell.

(5) Talbot and Morley also say in a footnote that David Rabern was indentified as a CIA operations officer. No one around here ever heard of David Rabern and, according to Ayers, he was a private investigator in Arizona.

In his review of my book, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, Don Bohning asserts that I take a “starry-eyed” view of the Kennedys. But Bohning comes to this conclusion because he has chosen to view this historical chapter through his own prism – that of his CIA sources. In the interests of full disclosure, Bohning – or Washington Decoded editor Max Holland – had a duty to reveal that Bohning was named in declassified CIA documents as one of the Miami journalists whom the CIA regarded as an agency asset in the 1960s. But neither Bohning, nor Holland in his editor’s note, disclosed this pertinent information.

A CIA memo dated June 5, 1968 states that Bohning was known within the agency as AMCARBON 3 -- AMCARBON was the cryptonym that the CIA used to identify friendly reporters and editors who covered Cuba. (AMCARBON 1 was Bohning’s colleague at the Miami Herald, Latin America editor Al Burt.) According to the agency memo, which dealt with New Orleans prosecutor Jim Garrison’s investigation of the Kennedy assassination, Bohning passed along information about the Garrison probe to the CIA.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=2)

A follow-up agency memo, dated June 14, revealed that “Bohning was granted a Provisional Security Approval on 21 August 1967 and a Covert Security Approval on 14 November 1967 for use as a confidential informant.”

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=1

A declassified CIA memo dated April 9, 1964 explained that the CIA’s covert media campaign in Miami aimed “to work out a relationship with [south Florida] news media which would insure that they did not turn the publicity spotlight on those [CIA] activities in South Florida which might come to their attention...and give [the CIA’s Miami station] an outlet into the press which could be used for surfacing certain select propaganda items.”

While researching my book, I contacted Bohning to ask him about his reported ties to the CIA. Was he indeed AMCARBON 3? “I still do not know but… it is possible,” Bohning replied in one of a series of amicable e-mails and phone calls we exchanged. “There were several people in the Herald newsroom during the 1960s who had contact with the CIA station chief in Miami.”

Bohning took pains to explain that he was not a paid functionary of the CIA, insisting he was simply a dutiful reporter working every source he could as he went about his job. And, as I wrote back to him, I’m fully aware that agency officials – looking to score bureaucratic points with their superiors – could sometimes make empty boasts that they had certain journalists in their pocket. I also told him that I understood that many journalists, particularly in those Cold War days, thought it was permissible to swap information with intelligence sources. But in evaluating a journalist’s credibility, it is important for readers to know of these cozy government relationships. The fact that Bohning was given a CIA code as an agency asset and was identified as an agency informant is a relevant piece of information that the readers of Washington Decoded have a right to know.

Even more relevant is that, over the years, Bohning’s journalism has consistently reflected his intelligence sources’ points of view, with little or no critical perspective. Bohning’s book, The Castro Obsession, is essentially the CIA’s one-dimensional view of that historical drama, pure and simple, down to the agency’s self-serving claim that it was the Kennedys’ fanaticism that drove the spy outfit to take extreme measures against the Castro regime. Bohning’s decision to invoke former CIA director and convicted xxxx Richard Helms’ conversation with Henry Kissinger, another master of deceit, as proof that Robert Kennedy was behind the Castro plots speaks for itself.

In Bohning’s eagerness to shine the best possible light on the CIA, he goes as far as to attempt to exonerate David Morales – a notorious CIA agent whose hard-drinking and violent ways alienated him not only from many of his colleagues but from his own family, as I discovered in my research. Among my “thin” sources on Morales were not only those who worked and lived with him, but his attorney, who told more than one reporter that Morales implicated himself in the assassinations of both Kennedy brothers.

In discussing my “tendentious” view of the CIA’s dissembling on the Bay of Pigs operation, Bohning seeks to exculpate disgraced covert operations chief Richard Bissell, the architect of the fiasco. Bohning writes that he doubts Bissell lied to JFK about the doomed plan’s chances for success. And yet this is precisely the way that the Miami Herald, Bohning’s own newspaper, covered the story when the CIA’s internal history of the Bay of Pigs was finally released in August 2005. “Bissell owed it to JFK to tell him” the truth about the Bay of Pigs plan, the newspaper quoted a historian who had studied the CIA documents. But “there is no evidence that he did.” Bohning too was quoted in the Herald article, and his view of Bissell was decidedly less trusting than it is in his review of my book. “Bissell seems to have had a habit of not telling people things they needed to know,” Bohning told the Herald.

Bohning’s pro-CIA bias also compels him to brush aside former Congressional investigator Gaeton Fonzi’ strong suspicions of a CIA involvement in the assassination. It is true that the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which found evidence of a conspiracy in its 1979 report, did not include the CIA in its list of suspects. But Bohning stops conveniently short of what has happened in ensuing years. After Washington Post journalist Jefferson Morley revealed that the CIA’s liaison with the committee, a veteran agent named George Joannides, had withheld information about his own connection to Lee Harvey Oswald from the committee and undermined its investigation in other ways, a furious G. Robert Blakey, former chief counsel of the committee, retracted his earlier statement that the agency had fully cooperated with the Congressional investigation. Instead, said Blakey, the CIA was guilty of obstruction of justice. Blakey told me, as I reported in my book, that he now believes that Mafia-linked “rogue” intelligence agents might have been involved in the assassination. In short, these developments have bolstered Fonzi’s earlier suspicions.

Bohning criticizes me for accepting the credibility of a source named Angelo Murgado, a Bay of Pigs veteran aligned with the Cuban exile leader Manuel Artime – and as Bohing concedes, a minor figure in my book. But Bohning provides no evidence that Murgado’s story about investigating suspicious activity in the Cuban exile world for Bobby Kennedy is false. The exile community is known for its flamboyant internal disputes. Bohning solicits comments about Murgado from his own corners of this world and chooses to accept their validity. But many of the sources in the anti-Castro movement that Bohning has cultivated over the years have their own dubious pasts and shady agendas. I was forthright with my readers about Murgado’s drawbacks as a source, including his criminal record, which Bohning presents as if he’s revealing it for the first time. I tried to put Murgado’s statements in their proper context and allow readers to make their own conclusion. But Bohning is rarely as transparent about his sources and their motivations in his Cuba reporting.

Bohning is equally selective in rejecting Howard Hunt’s late-hour confessions about Dallas. Until the final years of his life, Hunt – a CIA veteran of the anti-Castro wars and the notorious ringleader of the Watergate burglary team – took a view of the Kennedy assassination that was espoused within agency circles in his day, i.e., that JFK was the victim of a Havana and Moscow-connected plot. This Communist plot theory of the assassination was rejected by the Warren Commission (whose work Bohning continues to find persuasive), as well as investigators for the Church Committee and the House Assassinations Committee, as well as most reputable researchers. But Hunt’s unfounded charges about a Communist conspiracy never landed him in hot water with critics like Bohning. It was only when Hunt broke ranks to implicate members of the CIA – and himself – in the crime that Bohning felt compelled to heatedly question his credibility.

Unlike his earlier charges, Hunt’s allegations of a CIA connection to Dallas were based on what he claimed was first-hand, eyewitness evidence. Hunt told his son, St. John, that he was invited to a meeting at a CIA safe house in Miami where the plot to kill Kennedy was discussed, and he implicated himself in the plot as a “benchwarmer.” It is true that during his career, Hunt did indeed act as a CIA disinformation specialist, and he might have had inexplicably devious reasons for fingering former colleagues like Morales, as well as himself, in the crime. And his son, St. John, did indeed once lead a roguish, drug-fueled life, as he has freely told the press and as I reported in my book. But I have seen the confessional notes written in the senior Hunt’s own hand, and have heard his guarded confessions on tape – as have other journalists. The authenticity of this material is undisputed. So, despite his colorful past, St. John’s character is not the central issue here. It’s the material that his father himself left behind as his last will and testament. Bohning has no reason to dismiss Howard Hunt’s sensational allegations out of hand – other than his blind faith in CIA sources who still stick to the party line on Dallas. While Hunt’s confessions are clearly not the definitive word on the subject, they are at least worthy of further investigation on the part of serious, independent journalists and researchers.

But when it comes to the subject of the CIA’s secret war on Cuba – an operation that Robert Kennedy, among other knowledgeable insiders, believed was the source of the assassination plot against his brother – Don Bohning is an obviously partisan chronicler. Again and again Bohning has chosen to present the CIA in the most flattering light and its critics in the most negative. I accept Bohning’s insistence that he was not a CIA stooge. But he should stop acting like one.

Edited August 6, 2007 by David Talbot

[Shane O'Sullivan]

Hello all,

Bradley Ayers has today written a sworn statement clarifying his position on recent developments regarding David Morales and Gordon Campbell as they relate to his book 'The Zenith Secret' and his interview with me.

As Brad does not use the internet, he asked me to forward this to interested parties, so his thoughts on these matters can be noted for the record. I attach a PDF of his statement below. Brad's address is on there, so he's happy to hear from you if you have any questions or want to communicate with him about his book.

Cheers,

Shane

Bradley Ayers sworn statement.pdf

Edited August 6, 2007 by Shane O'Sullivan