Michael Ledeen Explained

Michael Ledeen
Birth Name:Michael Arthur Ledeen
Birth Date:1 August 1941
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:University of Wisconsin–Madison
Occupation:Historian and Foreign Policy Analyst

Michael Arthur Ledeen (;[1] born August 1, 1941) is an American historian[2] and neoconservative[3] foreign policy analyst. He is a former consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United States Department of Defense. He held the Freedom Scholar chair at the American Enterprise Institute where he was a scholar for twenty years and now holds the similarly named chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was very close to Antonio Martino.[4]

Academic career

Ledeen holds a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he studied under the historian George Mosse. His doctoral dissertation eventually became Universal Fascism: The Theory and Practice of the Fascist International, 1928–1936, first published in 1972. The book explored Italian leader Benito Mussolini's efforts to create a Fascist international in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Ledeen taught at Washington University in St. Louis but left after being denied tenure. Some faculty indicated that questions about the "quality of his scholarship" and about whether or not Ledeen had "used the work of somebody else without proper credit" were issues, although some also noted that "the 'quasi-irregularity' at issue didn't warrant the negative vote on tenure."[5]

Ledeen subsequently moved to Rome, where he was hired as the Rome correspondent for The New Republic and was named a visiting professor at the University of Rome for two years until 1977. In Rome, Ledeen worked with Italian historian Renzo De Felice, who greatly influenced Ledeen, drawing a distinction between "fascism-regime" and "fascism-movement."[6] Ledeen's political views developed to stress "the urgency of combating centralized state power and the centrality of human freedom"[7] Ledeen continued his studies in Italian Fascism with a study of the takeover of Fiume by Italian irredentist forces under Gabriele d'Annunzio, who Ledeen argued was the prototype for Mussolini.

Billygate

In the 1980 lead up to the US presidential election, Ledeen, along with Arnaud de Borchgrave, wrote a series of articles published in The New Republic[8] and elsewhere about Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy Carter's contacts with the Muammar al-Gaddafi regime in Libya. Ledeen testified before a Senate subcommittee that he believed that Billy Carter had met with and been paid off by Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Five years later, in 1985, a Wall Street Journal investigation suggested that the series of Billygate articles written by Ledeen were part of a larger disinformation campaign intended to influence the outcome of that year's presidential election.[9] According to the reporting, Francesco Pazienza, an officer of the Italian intelligence agency SISMI, alleged that Ledeen was paid $120,000 for his work on Billygate and other projects.[10] Pazienza and Ledeen were very active in disinformation efforts.[11] At SISMI, Pazienza stated, Ledeen warranted a coded identification: Z-3. Pazienza was later tried and convicted in absentia for using "extortion and fraud to obtain embarrassing facts about Billy Carter".[12]

The Bulgarian connection

Ledeen worked for the Italian military intelligence agency SISMI in 1980, providing "risk assessment"[5] and consulting on extradition matters between Italy and the United States.[13] During his time in Italy, Ledeen endorsed the "Bulgarian connection" conspiracy theory concerning Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca's 1981 attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II. The theory has since been attacked by various authors and journalists, including Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who initially believed the story as well. The theory was adopted in 2005 by the Italian Mitrokhin Commission. According to Craig Unger, "With Ronald Reagan newly installed in the White House, the so-called Bulgarian Connection made perfect Cold War propaganda. Michael Ledeen was one of its most vocal proponents, promoting it on TV and in newspapers all over the world."[13]

Work in the United States

In the early 1980s, Ledeen appeared before the newly established Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism alongside former CIA director William Colby, author Claire Sterling, and former Newsweek editor Arnaud de Borchgrave. Both Ledeen and de Borchgrave worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University at the time.[14] All four testified that they believed the Soviet Union had provided material support, training and inspiration for various terrorist groupings.[15]

Ledeen was involved in the Iran–Contra affair as a consultant to National Security Advisor Robert C. McFarlane. Ledeen met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, officials of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and the CIA to arrange meetings with high-ranking Iranian officials, whereby Iranians supported by the US would be given weapons by Israel, and would proceed to negotiate with Hizbollah for the release of hostages in Lebanon.[16] Ledeen's own version of the events is published in his book, Perilous Statecraft.[17]

Ledeen vouched for Iranian intermediary Manucher Ghorbanifar. According to Adnan Khashoggi in 1985, Ghorbanifar was the head of Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi's European intelligence and Ledeen was aware of this.[18] In one interview after the scandal broke, Ledeen stated that he initially had "profound reservations" about Ghorbanifar, but that he proved himself to be reliable by opening a channel to Iranian leaders.[19] In another report in which he was described as "perhaps the only person on the US side of the affair to defend Ghorbanifar", he said that he considered Ghorbanifar to be a friend.[20]

Yellowcake forgery allegations

See main article: Niger uranium forgeries. During the summer of 2001, Alain Chouet and others with France's DGSE investigate an alleged deal known later as Nigergate in which Iraq was trying to obtain yellowcake from a country in Africa and, by May and June 2002, they investigate any connection with Niger but find that the rumors are entirely false.[21] Furthermore, in July 2002, the Italian SISMI and the United States CIA are informed by the French DGSE that Rocco Martino, a former Italian intelligence agent, is trying to pass fake documents about Iraq obtaining yellowcake from Niger.[21] However, the SISMI report that a lady, who is controlled by SISMI's Antonio Nucera, in the Niger embassy at Rome presents the fake documents in July 2002.[21] Later, in March 2003, George Tenet incorrectly stated that Iraq, which had large quantities of yellowcake, was obtaining yellowcake from Niger.[21]

According to a September 2004 article by Joshua Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen, and Paul Glastris in Washington Monthly: "The first meeting occurred in Rome in December, 2001. It included Franklin, Rhode, and another American, the neoconservative writer and operative Michael Ledeen, who organized the meeting. (According to UPI, Ledeen was then working for Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith as a consultant.) Also in attendance was Ghorbanifar and a number of other Iranians."[22]

Colleagues Andrew McCarthy and Mark R. Levin have defended Ledeen, writing: "Up until now, the fiction recklessly spewed by disgruntled intelligence-community retirees and their media enablers—some of whom have conceded that the claim is based on zero evidence—has been that Michael had something to do with the forged Italian documents that, according to the Left's narrative, were the basis for President Bush's "lie" in the 2003 State of the Union Address that Saddam Hussein had obtained yellowcake uranium (for nuclear-weapons construction) in Africa."[23]

Iraq War advocacy

During the 1990s, Ledeen was active in supporting the ousting of Saddam Hussein from Iraq. He was known as one of The Vulcans who also included John Bolton, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and David Wurmser who signed an "An Open Letter to the President" to lobby Bill Clinton to remove Hussein from office.[24]

Regarding the "pre-emptive" invasion of Iraq, in 2002 Ledeen criticized the views of former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, writing:[25]

Ledeen's statements prior to the start of the Iraq war such as "desperately needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein" and "dire need to invade Iraq" caused Glenn Greenwald to label his later statement that he "opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place" to be an "outright lie".[26] However, Ledeen maintains these statements are consistent since: "I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place and I advocated—as I still do—support for political revolution in Iran as the logical and necessary first step in the war against the terror masters."[27]

Views on Iran

Ledeen is a long-time foe of the Islamic regime of Iran. He believed that invading the country and regime change in Iran should have been the first priority in the "war on terror" in 2003 rather than Iraq. He believes that "everything traces back to Tehran" and that Iran manipulates both sides of the Shi'ite-Sunni conflict, leading reviewer Peter Beinart to note that his "effort to lay virtually every attack by Muslims against Americans at Tehran's feet takes him into rather bizarre territory."[28] The New York Times describes Ledeen's views as "everything traces back to Tehran".[28] Ledeen's phrase, "faster, please" has become a signature meme in Ledeen's writings (it is currently the title of his blog on the Pajamas Media website) and is often referenced by neoconservative writers advocating a more forceful and broader "war on terror." In 1979, Ledeen was one of the first Western writers to argue that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a "clerical fascist", and that while it was legitimate to criticize the Shah's regime, if Khomeini seized power in Iran the Iranian people would suffer an even greater loss of freedom and women would be deprived of political and social rights. He presently believes that "No one in the West has yet supported Iranian democratic organizations" and that "aggressive support for those Iranians who wish to be free" would most likely work in ending the clerical government.[29]

According to Justin Raimondo, Ledeen "holds up Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright as patsies for Khomeini—who supposedly believed that the Ayatollah overthrew Shah Reza Pahlavi because the Iranian government was 'excessively repressive and intolerant.' While it would not do to come right out and deny the savagery of the Shah's legendary SAVAK secret police, Ledeen informs us that, under the monarch's beneficent rule, 'Iran had become too modern, too tolerant—especially of women and of other religious faiths—and too self-indulgent. The shah had Westernized Iran'—except, perhaps, in his prisons, where the ancient methods of torture were routinely employed on dissidents of all sorts."[30]

Ledeen is currently against both an invasion of Iran or air-strikes within the country.[29] He has argued that the latter may eventually become necessary if negotiations with the Iranian government fail, but it would only be the least bad option of many options and it would lead to many negative unforeseen consequences.[31] The New York Times has called Ledeen's skepticism towards military action against Iran surprising given his opposition to the regime.[28]

In July 2016 Ledeen co-authored with Lt. General Michael T. Flynn, at the time Donald Trump's national-security adviser, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies. Flynn and Ledeen constructed a narrative in which the world is at war with a "great evil" and Iran is the central player on the enemy side.[32]

Controversial theories

Ledeen also believed that Iran is the main backer of the insurgency in Iraq and even supported the al-Qaida network formerly led by al-Zarqawi despite its declaration of jihad against Shi'ite Muslims.[33] He claimed that German and Italian court documents showed Zarqawi created a European terrorist network while based in Tehran.[33]

Ledeen was a board member of the "Coalition for Democracy in Iran" (CDI), founded by Morris Amitay, a former executive director of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Ledeen had also been part of the board of the U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon. According to The Washington Post, quoted by Asia Times, he was the only full-time international affairs analyst regularly consulted by Karl Rove, George W. Bush's closest advisor.[34]

Following the February 2003 speech by French Minister for Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin at the United Nations General Assembly against the intervention in Iraq, Ledeen outlined, in a column entitled "A Theory," a possibility that France and Germany, both NATO allies of the United States, "struck a deal with radical Islam and with radical Arabs" to use "extremism and terrorism as the weapon of choice" to weaken the United States. He stated, "It sounds fanciful, to be sure," but that, "If this is correct, we will have to pursue the war against terror far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East, into the heart of Western Europe. And there, as in the Middle East, our greatest weapons are political: the demonstrated desire for freedom of the peoples of the countries that oppose us."[35] [36]

Jonah Goldberg, Ledeen's colleague at National Review, coined the term "Ledeen Doctrine" in a 2002 column. This tongue-in-cheek "doctrine" is usually summarized as "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business," which Goldberg remembered Ledeen saying in an early 1990s speech.[37]

Ledeen has also advocated that U.S. leaders take a stronger rhetorical stance in wars on Islamic regimes and militant groups. For instance he has recommended in public talks that U.S. leaders question or challenge defeated Islamic militaries or forces regarding the apparent failure of Allah to assure their victory.[38]

Personal life

Ledeen was born in Los Angeles, California.

Ledeen is an accomplished contract bridge player. He has won one American Contract Bridge League national-level tournament, the 2009 Senior Swiss Teams, on a with Karen Allison, Lea Dupont and Benito Garozzo. He has also partnered Jimmy Cayne, who oversaw the collapse of Bear Stearns firm in 2007 and 2008. Consulted by a New York Times journalist early in the episode, Ledeen suggested that his book on the leadership lessons of Machiavelli had influenced Cayne, and observed that "Jimmy saw himself in Machiavelli ... you have to get rid of failure and you have to punish lack of virtue ruthlessly and all the time."[39]

His first wife was Jenny Ledeen of St. Louis, Mo. Ledeen has three children: Simone, Gabriel, and Daniel. Simone has worked both in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Department of Defense; Gabriel is currently a lieutenant in the United States Marines Corps serving his second tour in Iraq; Daniel too is currently a lieutenant in the USMC.[40]

He is married to his second wife, Barbara, who was a longtime staffer for Senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee until early 2021, when she retired from the Senate.[41]

Missing Clinton emails

Barbara Ledeen sparked controversy in 2015 when she tried to launch her own investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, while a staffer for Senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee which was looking into Trump's Russia issue.[42] According to FBI notes, she requested the assistance of both a defense contractor and Newt Gingrich who asked Judicial Watch for financial assistance for her efforts.[42] Judicial Watch requested another contractor to access the "deep web and dark web".[42] Matt Tate, a former British intelligence official, was approached by Peter W. Smith, an aid close to Gingrich and who was also working with Michael Flynn who is a confidant of Barbara Ledeen's husband, who Tate said Smith was obtaining Clinton's emails independently of Barbara Ledeen's efforts which Grassley had told her to stop.[42] [43] [44]

Project Veritas

To support Project Veritas in 2017 and 2018 and while she was a staff member on the Chuck Grassley led Senate Judiciary Committee, Barbara Ledeen was tasked to help discredit H.R. McMaster because he had stated that President Trump had the intelligence of a "kindergartner" and was an "idiot."[45] She posted numerous comments on Facebook supporting Project Veritas including "We owe a lot to Erik Prince" because of his efforts to support Project Veritas and many disparaging posts about McMaster.[41] Her involvement in the campaign to discredit McMaster led to Barbara Ledeen being named as a member of the Groundswell group; she admitted passing on information to Project Veritas but said "I am not part of a plot."[41] [46]

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUhLojfyZkU "Michael Ledeen: How We Can Win"
  2. Book: Baum. David. Zinguer. Llana. Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance: Sources and Encounters. 2011. BRILL. 978-9004212558. 236. Race, Antisemitism and the Renaissance in Racist Italy.
  3. A. Danchev 'Ed., The Iraq war and Democratic politics, Routledge, 2004, p.38.
  4. News: Unger . Craig . Craig Unger . The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed: The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. As much of Washington knew, and the world soon learned, the charge was false. Worse, it appears to have been the cornerstone of a highly successful "black propaganda" campaign with links to the White House. (page 7) . . July 2006 . September 2, 2021 . March 6, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080306075306/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607?currentPage=7.
  5. "Ledeen Seems To Relish Iran Insider's Role," Charles R. Babcock. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: February 2, 1987. p. A1.
  6. http://www.amconmag.com/06_30_03/feature.html "Flirting with Fascism"
  7. http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen031003.asp A Theory
  8. News: Qaddafi, Arafat, and Billy Carter . Michael Ledeen . Arnaud de Borchgrave . Arnaud de Borchgrave . . 19–21 . 1980-11-01.
  9. News: Kwitny . Jonathan . Jonathan Kwitny . . August 8, 1985 .
  10. News: Gabanelli . Milena . Milena Gabanelli . Il personaggio: Dopo 13 anni di carcere parla Francesco Pazienza. L'uomo dei misteri d'Italia rivela: lingotti per aiutare Walesa. "Io, Gelli e la strage di Bologna": Ecco le verità della super-spia . The character: After 13 years in prison Francesco Pazienza speaks. The man of the mysteries of Italy reveals: ingots to help Walesa. "Me, Gelli and the Bologna massacre": Here are the truths of the super spy . it . . January 30, 2009 . September 8, 2021 . March 9, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210309193811/http://www.repubblica.it/2009/01/sezioni/politica/pazienza-gelli/pazienza-gelli/pazienza-gelli.html.
  11. News: ALTO TRADIMENTO -- GLI INTRIGHI DEL SEGRETO SERVIZI . https://archive.today/20050429123040/http://digilander.libero.it/prigionieropolitico/e17_caso_pazienza.htm . dead . 2005-04-29 . HIGH TREASON -- THE INTRIGUES OF THE SECRET SERVICES . it . . November 5, 1984 . September 9, 2021.
  12. Unger. Craig. Craig Unger. The War They Wanted, the Lies They Needed. Vanity Fair. July 2006. 5 August 2013. A 1985 investigation by Jonathan Kwitny in The Wall Street Journal reported that the New Republic article was part of a larger disinformation scam run by Ledeen and SISMI to tilt the election, and that "Billy Carter wasn't the only one allegedly getting money from a foreign government." According to Pazienza, Kwitny reported, Michael Ledeen had received at least $120,000 from SISMI in 1980 or 1981 for his work on Billygate and other projects. Ledeen even had a coded identity, Z-3, and had money sent to him in a Bermuda bank account, Pazienza said. Ledeen told the Journal that a consulting firm he owned, I.S.I., worked for SISMI and may have received the money. He said he did not recall whether he had a coded identity. Pazienza was subsequently convicted in absentia on multiple charges, including having used extortion and fraud to obtain embarrassing facts about Billy Carter. Ledeen was never charged with any crime, but he was cited in Pazienza's indictment, which read, "With the illicit support of the SISMI and in collaboration with the well-known American 'Italianist' Michael Ledeen, Pazienza succeeded in extorting, also using fraudulent means, information ... on the Libyan business of Billy Carter, the brother of the then President of the United States.".
  13. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607 The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed
  14. U.S. Senate. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. Terrorism: Origins, Direction and Support. 97th Congress, 1st session. April 24, 1981.
  15. News: Hearing on terror opens with warning on Soviet . . 1981-04-25 . 2008-12-17 . Mohr . C .
  16. Web site: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters; volume I: "Investigations and Prosecution" . Walsh . LE . 1993-08-04 . Washington, D.C..
  17. Book: Ledeen, Michael Arthur . Perilous statecraft: an insider's account of the Iran-Contra affair . Scribner . New York . 1988 . 0-684-18994-1 .
  18. News: Brumley . Brian . Senate Report Calls Iranian Middleman in Arms Sales A 'Suspect Character' . . February 1, 1987 . September 2, 2021 . March 5, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305141233/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1987/Senate-Report-Calls-Iranian-Middleman-in-Arms-Sales-A-Suspect-Character-/id-237dd03fb87583b628e930d0efa80842.
  19. News: Brumley . Bryan . February 1, 1987 . Senate Report Calls Iranian Middleman in Arms Sales A 'Suspect Character' . AP News . April 4, 2023.
  20. News: Grier . Peter . August 26, 1987 . Iran-contra affair began with Iran, says former NSC official . The Christian Science Monitor . April 5, 2023.
  21. News: Bonini . Carlo . D'Avanzo . Giuseppe .

    it:Carlo Bonini

    .

    it:Giuseppe D'Avanzo

    . Alain Chouet, ex numero 2 dei servizi segreti transalpini racconta il ruolo di Parigi nell'affare del falso traffico di uranio: Nigergate, lo 007 francese che smonta la tesi del Sismi . Alain Chouet, former number 2 of the transalpine secret services, talks about the role of Paris in the affair of the false uranium trafficking: Nigergate, the French 007 that dismantles the thesis of the SISMI . it . . December 1, 2005 . September 2, 2021 . December 3, 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051203061244/https://www.repubblica.it/2005/j/sezioni/esteri/nigergate/francia007/francia007.html.
  22. Web site: 'Iran-Contra II? . Joshua Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen & Paul Glastris . . September 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040830040143/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html . 2004-08-30.
  23. Web site: Rolling Smear . Andrew McCarthy and Mark R. Levin . . 28 July 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060819100459/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTY2OTBhOTYzY2NhZTE3ZWM1MDc0ODA3Y2EyNzA3NTE%3D . 19 August 2006 . dead .
  24. News: Unger . Craig . Craig Unger . The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed: The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. As much of Washington knew, and the world soon learned, the charge was false. Worse, it appears to have been the cornerstone of a highly successful "black propaganda" campaign with links to the White House. (page 5) . . July 2006 . September 2, 2021 . March 6, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080306074733/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607?currentPage=5.
  25. Web site: Snowcroft Strikes Out . . 2005-06-13 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20090915185150/http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen080602a.asp . September 15, 2009 ., Michael Ledeen, National Review Online, August 6, 2002.
  26. Glenn Greenwald: What do National Review, Rich Lowry, and the AEI have to say about Michael Ledeen's lie, Unclaimed Territory, November 5, 2006
  27. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjQ0OTQyNTdhNWE0NzAxNGMxYWQ2ODAxOTNjNWM4M2E= The Latest Disinformation from Vanity Fair
  28. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/books/review/Beinart-t.html Books on the Mideast
  29. http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2007/10/the-islamic-threat-and-the-need-for-regime-change-in-iran/ Iran with the Bomb, or Bomb Iran: The Need for Regime Change
  30. [Justin Raimondo|Raimondo, Justin]
  31. http://www.aei.org/article/24022 United States Policy toward Iran
  32. Philip Giraldi: Iran Hawks Take the White House | The American Conservative, 9 February 2017
  33. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDY2NWE0NWQzNDFhYWM3YjY5N2NjMmNmN2NhMTA1ODk= Iran Connects the Dots
  34. News: Veteran neo-con advisor moves on Iran . . June 26, 2003 . 2006-05-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20030628005548/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EF26Ak03.html. unfit. June 28, 2003.
  35. http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen031003.asp A Theory
  36. See also: Eurabia
  37. Web site: April 23, 2002 . 2024-05-30. . Baghdad Delenda Est, Part Two . Jonah . Goldberg.
  38. Web site: [The Field of Fight] C-SPAN.org]. 2021-10-24. www.c-span.org. en-us.
  39. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/business/29bear.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 "Salvaging a Prudent Name"
  40. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48543-2004May22.html In Iraq, the Job Opportunity of a Lifetime
  41. News: Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump 'Enemies' in Government. The New York Times. 13 May 2021. Goldman. Adam. Mazzetti. Mark.
  42. Web site: Flynn ally sought help from 'dark web' in covert Clinton email investigation . Stephanie Kirchgaessner . 13 October 2017 . . 19 December 2017.
  43. News: The_War_Economy. Spygate, Part #14: Peter W. Smith. Medium. 18 March 2019. 23 June 2021.
  44. News: Tait. Matt. The Time I Got Recruited to Collude with the Russians. lawfaremedia.org. 30 June 2017. 23 June 2021.
  45. News: Activists and ex-spy said to have plotted to discredit Trump 'enemies' in government . . . May 13, 2021 . September 21, 2021 . May 13, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210513230016/https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/05/13/breaking-news/activists-and-ex-spy-said-to-have-plotted-to-discredit-trump-enemies-in-government/.
  46. Web site: Harriet. Alexander. British spy recruited by Erik Prince ran 'honeypot ops' with female spies to discredit Trump enemies. https://archive.today/20210514031244/https://distincttoday.net/2021/05/13/british-spy-recruited-by-erik-prince-ran-honeypot-ops-with-female-spies-to-discredit-trump-enemies/. dead. 2021-05-14. 14 May 2021.