“Tangle within, plot and counter-plot, ruse and treachery, cross and double cross, true agent, false agent, double agent, gold and steel, the bomb, the dagger and the firing party, were interwoven in many a texture so intricate as to be incredible yet true.” —Winston Churchill This month marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the surprise landings […]
I spent a terrific few hours the morning of 10 May 2019 at the National Cryptologic Museum chatting with Tanya Cimonetti and her husband, Bill. The name is probably unrecognizable to you, but Tanya’s maiden name is Tanya Zubko. She is the daughter of the late Leonard Zubko. Still in the dark? Well, Lieutenant Leonard […]
This is a sad story but, in its own way, a truly American one. It focuses on what we refer to today as an “undocumented immigrant” victimized by a nation suddenly, and, unexpectedly, caught up in the grip of irrational fear. My role in the saga began last fall with an email message from a […]
This article regarding the Wayne Williams, the Atlanta child killer, was written by my dear friend, Susan Lloyd (FBI 1979-2004). I hope you enjoy it. It appeared in the January/February 2019 FBI Grapevine published by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. ATKID: The Atlanta Child Murders Case (pdf) When the first murder […]
This was my article for the December 2018 issue of The Grapevine: October 11, 2018 was a very special day for the American people. After more than a decade of waiting, a sea of local, state and federal law enforcement professionals along with friends, family members, and the loved ones of fallen officers gathered together […]
I was interviewed by Leandra Bernstein, the National Political report for Circa and the of the Sinclair Broadcast Group regarding the approach and credibility of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI agent Peter Strzok not advising then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn about the consequences of lying to the FBI: Ex-FBI agents: McCabe […]
What follows is taken from pages seven through nine of a 178-page document entitled United States V. Michael T. Flynn “Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing” dated December 11, 2018. It was submitted to Judge Emmett Sullivan by attorneys Stephen P. Anthony and Robert K. Kelner on behalf of retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. At 12:35 […]
The Gathering Storm was a wonderful British docudrama produced and directed in 2008 by Ridley Scott. The movie takes its name from the title of the first of the monumental six volume history of the Second World War Winston Churchill wrote between 1948 and 1953. The story focuses on Churchill’s so-called “wilderness” years during the […]
A few weeks ago Andy Weber, a journalism major in his senior year at The George Washington University, asked me to do an on camera interview for a campus TV news program that goes out to GWU students, Andy was a student in my History of American Counterintelligence course three years ago. As an aside, […]
I’m a big fan of the Antique Roadshow which appears regularly on my local PBS station in Washington. Its always enjoyable for me when someone brings in for an appraisal some old object that has been kicking around the house or has hidden in some attic for decades only to find that it is […]
Sky News in the UK reports that the mayor of the Russian capital has ordered that an intersection be named after the member of the Cambridge Five spy ring: Moscow has named a square after the notorious British double agent Kim Philby. The Russian capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, ordered the renaming of an intersection close […]
I always like to remind my students that what is old is new and what is new is old. This article offer a shocking example of what happens when an intelligence service, reputed to be the best in world, fails to heed the lessons of history. I’m referring to the lessons of the Second World […]
As you know November 11, 2018 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War. As a reminder, today we call it ‘Veterans Day’ but for years a previous generation of Americans solemnly referred to it as ‘Armistice Day’ and wore a poppy on their lapels to remember those American […]
The pelting rain over Long Island on the morning of last August 4th was no match for the excitement everyone felt at the ceremony marking the inclusion of the “Benson House” on the National Register of Historic Places. Officially referred to as the “Wading River Radio Station,” the Benson House now joins an elite group […]
I was interviewed for another article in Circa: The Justice Department, Department of State and Government Accountability Office are looking into three employees affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) after they were featured in a secretly recorded sting video. The video purports to show the employees may have committed ethics violations or used […]
One morning the lives of two men tragically intersected leaving one of them dead four days later and the other facing a lifetime in prison. The date was April 29, 1992. Sydney Reso was the victim. A fifty-seven-year-old father of five and a vice president for international affairs with the Exxon Oil Company, the Louisiana […]
I was interviewed for an article in Circa: Plagued by leaks, President Donald Trump will be asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions to launch an investigation into the author of the anonymous opinion piece published Wednesday by the New York Times. Citing national security concerns, Trump said Friday that Sessions “should be investigating who the author of […]
The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General today released their report on various actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice in advance of the 2016 election. A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election (pdf)
Given the controversy in our country today over Civil War related Confederate statues and monuments I thought you might find this article interesting. I was fortunate enough to help the author, Dan Jackson, by offering some background on the Nazi Bund movement in the United States before the Second World War. Monument Placed by Nazis […]
Two months ago New York governor Andrew Cuomo placed the FBI’s top secret World War II Wading River Radio Station on the New York State Register of Historic Places. I am thrilled to report that on May 4, 2018 the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service followed suit by listing it on National […]
Check out all the videos on FBI Studies related to FBI history and espionage. Video Page