In 1961 the FBI conducted a brief investigation into Lieutenant Frank Drebin, better known as actor Leslie Nielsen. A request arrived from the Canadian authorities so the Bureau found the women they mentioned and asked her about Nielsen, who she said she hadn't seen in over a decade. Another day wasted in the life of the Cold War FBI, but one that would become deeply ironic years later. (Read more...)
The Bureau recently released some documents on Prince in response to FOIA requests from numerous media outlets, including Spy Culture. In the last few days Jezebel, Vanity Fair and other major outlets have reported on this, but at the time of writing it appears MuckRock have yet to receive their copy. This is ridiculous given that I received my copy today, via normal post, and I'm in the UK.
The Bojinka plot was one of the most imaginative and potentially devastating terrorist plans ever. Conceived by Ramzi Yousef it centred around a scheme to blow up 10-12 airliners simultaneously, killing thousands of people, but it also included an assassination attempt on the Pope and crashing a plane into CIA headquarters. This week we take a closer look at Bojinka, its origins and genesis, and the theory that it was a prototype for the 9/11 attacks.
Aaron and Uncle invited me back onto their show to provide expert analysis on the mysterious and worrying situation concerning rogue logos infiltrating Uncle the Podcast. In this special Broadcast Against Tyranny we discuss why itunes displays the wrong logo for UTP and my discovery that a different but equally wrong logo appears when you […](Read more...)
In this special bonus episode of ClandesTime we look at the theory that World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef was an agent of Iraqi intelligence. This theory, put forward by neoconservative analyst Laurie Mylroie, contributed to the false idea that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s government were working together. But is there any truth to it?(Read more...)
Ramzi Yousef is an international man of mystery who is currently serving a 240-year sentence in a Supermax prison for bombing the World Trade Center. He is the first of two major figures we have not looked at yet in our exploration of the WTC93 bombing, the other is Ali Mohamed who we will get to in a few episodes time.
Arnon Milchan is the Hollywood mogul behind films as diverse as JFK, Pretty Woman, Brazil, Fight Club, LA Confidential and Alvin and the Chipmunks. He was also an Israeli spy involved in smuggling equipment for the development of nuclear weapons. Milchan has spoken publicly about his role in this scandal, defying a request from Benjamin Netanyahu, though somewhat predictably this has involved telling a few porkies.
The FBI's involvement in Hollywood began in the early 1930s - before it was even called the FBI. In 1933 MGM approached the Bureau about producing a series of short films based on real-life criminal cases. They were provided access to Bureau files and in exchange agreed to let J Edgar Hoover review and vet the scripts to ensure he was happy with how his men were being portrayed. Internal Bureau memos and copies of scripts show that in particular, Hoover was not happy with the phrase 'Federal Dick'.
I joined Pearse and Chuck Ochelli to talk about the upsurge of violent protests, fisticuffs and other quasi-revolutionary activity that has dominated headlines recently.
