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US Secret Service director steps down Fri Feb 1, 2013 16:38
US Secret Service director steps down Mark Sullivan to retire Sat Feb 2, 2013 1:38AM http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/286807.html
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan announced his retirement Friday after a nearly-three decade career and seven years as head of the agency responsible for protecting the president, vice president and visiting foreign dignitaries.
The decision comes nearly a year after a prostitution scandal during President Obama's trip to Colombia in April.
Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said the retirement becomes effective Feb. 23.
"I am extremely proud to have had the opportunity to work with the men and women of the Secret Service, and represent an agency so deserving of its reputation as one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the world," Sullivan wrote in an email to the agency.
Sullivan was elevated to director of the agency and its 3,200 agents in 2006 after serving as deputy director and earlier as assistant director for all agency protective operations.
Sullivan's term was also marked by scandal when a mix of Secret Service agents and military personnel were implicated for their involvement in procuring prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, last April in advance of President Obama's trip there.
In testimony before Congress last year, Sullivan apologized for the conduct of Secret Service personnel in Colombia. USA Today
HIGHLIGHTS
The Secret Service, part of the Homeland Security, has a dual role as the chief protective service for the president and as an authority to police the nation’s financial infrastructure. Business week
Spokesman Brian Leary said on Friday that Sullivan would retire on February 22. There was no statement on the reason for his decision to leave. CNN
Sullivan's tenure at the Secret Service might be most remembered for the Colombian prostitution scandal that enveloped the agency last year. The Hill
Six agents were fired or forced to resign after reports surfaced that they had partied with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of a presidential visit. The agency insisted that presidential security was never at risk, but the incident was a major black eye for the protective service. Another five agents lost their top-secret security clearances. The Hill
There have been more than five dozen allegations of sexual misconduct against employees of the Secret Service in the last five years, according to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Daily Mail
AGB/AGB ============================= http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20130201/amiri20130201213327963.jpg Iran hopes Kerry will change US policies The Iranian foreign minister has expressed hope that the new US secretary of state would change US polices towards Iran. CLICK FULL REPORT: ========================================= G.H.W. Bush and the October Surprise Posted by M. C. Bruecke CLICK FULL REPORT:
Attorney Paul Wilcher's decomposed body was found in his apartment, Washington, D.C. home on July 23, 1993. The coroner either could not find or did not report the cause of death. At the time of his death, Wilcher was investigating gun-running and the drug business in Mena, AR with Danny Casolaro.
Shortly before his death he wrote and gave a 105-page letter on May 21st 1993 to Attorney General Janet Reno describing evidence that he allegedly had concerning the October Surprise. The first page of his letter stated in part; "The lives of key participants, other witnesses, and even myself, are now in grave danger as a result of my passing this information on to you. If you let this information fall into the hands of the wrong persons, some or all of those who know the truth ...could well be silenced in the very near future." (Source: THE OCTOPUS by Karen Bixman (For The People *News Reporter*, 11/14/94)
---------- Investigator/attorney Paul Wilcher had given a copy of the 101-page investigative report to Sara McClendon, a senior White House correspondent, shortly before his death
The following was extracted from this report: October Surprise:
Background: In September 1979, Iraq launched an invasion of Iran and Iran needs spare parts for its military. In November 1979, Iranians seized US embassy staff. In April 1980, President Carter mission to rescue the hostages failed and Carter `s approval level dropped 20 to 30 percent during the summer of 1980. Americans now attached increasing importance to the US acting tough with regard to foreign policy. After the Republican National Convention in July 1980, polls showed Reagan and Bush ticket had a 10 to 20 point lead over Carter. By making Pres. Carter look weak on foreign policy, Reagan wins the election.
Paul Wilcher wrote: My client here is Gunther Karl Russbacher, a life-long covert operative for the CIA and the Office of Naval Intelligence ("ONI") who has operated at the highest levels of both of these super-secret organizations over the past 30 and 25 years, respectively.
Because of his extremely high intelligence, his exceptional physical skills, his extensive training, his fluency in 8 languages, his proficiency as one of the CIA's top pilots and marksmen, and the fact that his father was one of the original founders (along with William Casey, "Wild Bill" Donavan, and others) of the Central Intelligence Agency, back in 1947, Russbacher has always operated at the highest levels of these "intelligence" organizations, and has been entrusted with carrying out some of their most difficult, sensitive, and top secret covert operations.
For the moment, however, I want to focus on one pivotal event in Russbacher s career -- the fact that he was the CIA pilot who flew George Bush and others (listed below) to and from Paris on this "October Surprise" weekend, and then flew George Bush back to America on the CIA's hypersonic spy plane, the SR-71 -- to get him back before anyone would notice that he was gone.
The following is a brief synopsis of the key happenings and the principle players in that historic top-secret trip to Paris:
a) On the flight over to Paris, Russbacher was the lead pilot of the Saudi royal family BAC-111 plane carrying a total of approximately 25 to 30 persons -- including:
#1) George Bush, …who was now Ronald Reagan's Vice Presidential Candidate;
#2) William Casey, one of the original founders, along with "Wild Bill" Donavan, Russbacher's father, and others, of the CIA, who later became Reagan's (actually Bush's) Director of Central Intelligence and who later died of a mysterious brain hemorrhage;
#3) Donald Gregg, then the chairman of the CIA's Disciplinary Commission, and later President Bush's Ambassador to South Korea;
#4) Robert Gates, one of the overseers of the CIA's secret War in Laos (during the Vietnam era) when Russbacher, while seeking to rescue other POW's in Laos, was captured and taken prisoner himself, and held for 17 months, suffering some of the most unspeakable torture. Gates later became Bush's Director of Central Intelligence;
#5) Robert McFarlane, then a chief aid to Senator John Towers, on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and later Reagan's National Security Advisor;
#6) Robert Allen, Reagan's first National Security Advisor;
#7) Earl Brian, a long-time CIA covert operative who, along with Michael Riconosciuto (who worked under Russbacher) helped arrange the $40 million bribe paid by Bush to the Iranians in Paris, and who, as a reward for his efforts, was allowed to steal Inslaw's "PROMIS" software, to alter it (with the help of Riconosciuto), to peddle it, as if it were his own, to governments, police forces, and intelligence agencies around the world, and to pocket most, if not all, of these illegal profits which rightfully belonged to William & Nancy Hamilton, the owners of Inslaw Corporation;
#8) Jennifer Fitzgerald, one of Bush's reported long-time paramours;
#9) Alan Michael May, an attorney reportedly involved in secret CIA money transfers (along with Riconosciuto) as well as stealing large assets out of the Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco -- (he has since been murdered);
#10) Congressman Daniel Rostenkowski (D-Ill), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee;
#11) Congressmen Dan Burton (R-Ind), who was only a congressional aide at the time, but has since been elected to Congress in his own right;
#12) Congressman Robert Byrd (D-W Va), the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, who tried, not long ago, to move many of the CIA's offices and functions out of suburban Virginia to his own home state of West Virginia.
Senator Byrd has gone on record on the Senate floor denouncing the "October Surprise" treason in the most scathing language heard thus far, and calling for a "full investigation" in the most vociferous language. Yet, hypocritically, he was both one of the key players in the original treason himself, and has been one of the principle movers behind the Congress's iron-fisted cover up, which continues up to the present moment.
Also, Senator Byrd's Executive Assistant, Barbara Videnieks, is the wife of Peter Videnieks, a CIA operative who (along with Earl Brian, Edwin Meese, and others) is one of the prime movers in the Justice Department's and the CIA's theft of Inslaw's "PROMIS" software and the criminal obstruction of justice to cover up that theft. Peter Videnieks, for example, threatened Michael Riconosciuto that if he gave his affidavit, laying out the facts of the Justice Department's wrongdoing in the "October Surprise" and Inslaw cases, to the House Judiciary Committee, that Riconosciuto would be arrested on trumped up charges and put away for life, and that he and his wife could lose her children (by a previous marriage) -- all of which, per Videnieks' instructions, has now been carried out in vindictive retribution to punish Riconosciuto for his whistle blowing activities.
#13) Senator John Tower (R-Tex), then on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who later became its chairman, and then chaired the "Tower Commission's" phoney "investigation" which covered up the Irangate and Contragate scandals. Senator Tower was later murdered, when his private plane was blown out of the sky, as he was going around the country to publicize his new book, reportedly because he had let friends know that he intended to revise the final chapter of his book to set forth the true facts concerning the involvement of President Bush and others in the "October Surprise" and Iran-Contra scandals.
#14) Senator John Heinz (R-Pa), was also later murdered in order to keep him quiet -- again because he was threatening to come forward and tell what he knew about President Bush's involvement in the "October Surprise" and other scandals. Like Senator Tower, Senator Heinz' death resulted from his plane being blown out of the sky. News reports at the time indicated that Senator Heinz' plane had collided with a helicopter. What actually happened, however, is that the helicopter fired a missile at Heinz's plane causing it to explode. But because the helicopter pilot was inexperienced and did not get out of the way in time, the exploding debris from the plane fell onto the helicopter, causing it to crash also.
#15) Other prominent Members of Congress whom Russbacher has not yet identified. He will, however, identify these other Members of Congress as soon as he has received full immunity and protection for himself and his family (and the remaining 15 covert operatives who also wish to come forward to testify have likewise received immunity and protection for themselves and their families.
#16) Five (5) or so Secret Service Agents. It is interesting that the Secret Service CANNOT (or, more correctly WILL NOT) account for where Mr. Bush and these agents were during this so-called "missing" 16 to 18-hour period. Indeed, George Bush and those speaking for him have offered no less than 6 or 7 different, and conflicting, explanations as to where he was, and what he was doing, during this period.
Apparently the Secret Service was keeping duplicate and triplicate books for this period, because several Secret Service documents have surfaced thus far which show Bush in two or three different locations at exactly the same date and time during this "missing" period.
#17) and other persons -- including Russbacher himself, his cousin and co-pilot Richard Brenneke, and 5 or so other members of Russbacher's secret Navy Seals Team (whom Russbacher will likewise NOT identify for the record until both he and they have been granted immunity from prosecution as well as protection for themselves and their families).
(b) There were a total of 25 to 30 persons on this flight -- all of whom (even the Senators and Congressmen, the pilots, the Secret Service Agents) were tied to the covert operations side of the CIA.
(c) The flight left from Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, D.C. (departing about 7:00 EST, on Saturday, October 18th, 1980) and landing at LeBourget Airport in Paris, France (about 9:40 AM European time, on Sunday, October 19th, 1980).
(d) Russbacher's close friend (and fellow CIA covert operative), Heinrich Rupp piloted a Russbacher Gulfstream aircraft which rendezvoused with Russbacher's BAC-111 over the American side of the Atlantic, and then flew in close formation across the Atlantic with Russbacher`s transponder turned off, so that ground radar below would pick up only Rupp's plane -- in order to protect the "plausible deniability" that the BAC-111 (and therefore George Bush and all of his entourage) had supposedly never made this top secret trip to Paris.
(e) As soon as the plane landed at LeBourget Airport, it was met at the far end of the runway (at some distance from the Tower, the concourse and anyone else who might be watching) by a fleet of limousines from the Iranian and American Embassies.
(f) Bush and his party divided up into small "subcommittees" and each was whisked away in a separate limousine to a different Hotel in the downtown area of Paris, where they met with their Iranian counterparts.
Con't... see part II
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=143898
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