CIA recruited five of Eichmann's associates

[Rudey]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/536364.html

Documents reveal CIA recruited five of Eichmann's associates


By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent






Five of Adolph Eichmann's Nazi assistants were recruited and employed by the Central Intelligence Agency after World War II, according to recently declassified intelligence documents.






The information came to light after a lengthy battle waged by the non-profit group, The National Security Archive, whose goal is to expose government documents under the framework of the Freedom of Information Act.

The newly-revealed documents are based on internal investigations in the CIA's history department. The agency has steadfastly refused to make the documents public for fear they would cause embarassment.

The revelations cast a negative light not only on American intelligence activity but also the U.S. Army's conduct in Germany at the conclusion of the war. The military made efforts to recruit members of the SS and the Gestapo into its ranks despite simultaenously waging a campaign of de-Nazification over vanquished Germany, a process which included arresting and trying Nazi war criminals.

The documents also reveal in great detail CIA efforts to recruit Reinhard Gehlen, who was the Wermacht's chief intelligence officer for the eastern front during the war.

The recruitment evolved into a new intelligence sub-organization known as "Gehlen's Organization," which served as the basis for what would later become West Germany's foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).

According to the new findings, Gehlen's Organization employed a number of Gestapo and SS officials. Gehlen and his senior associates secretly operated out of a building with the knowledge of the American occupation forces.

-Rudey

[RUgreek]

well, that adds a little attention to why they didn't want to bomb the camps. They were more worried about killing important officers than saving lives.

[RACooper]

Originally posted by RUgreek
well, that adds a little attention to why they didn't want to bomb the camps. They were more worried about killing important officers than saving lives.

Yeah... because that's where these men were

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by RACooper
Yeah... because that's where these men were

That's an asshole response.

There are cynical theories, that are credible, as to why we didn't bomb those camps, but saving Nazi officers is just not one of these.

[RUgreek]

if you do recall, the research and experiments done in the camps was used by other countries after the war. Is it so hard to believe that they wanted to preserve more than just the info?

Yea, it's a crackpot theory... I won't be publishing a book about it. Just thought I'd show how this could open a new discussion on what the U.S. and other countries may have really known all along...

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by RUgreek
if you do recall, the research and experiments done in the camps was used by other countries after the war. Is it so hard to believe that they wanted to preserve more than just the info?

Yeah, but lets not forget the enormous amount of misinformation that was being poured out by the Nazi propaganda machine.

For example, even though it now seems trivial, Eisenhower was long criticized for not advancing Allied forces faster so that more of Germany would not fall into Soviet hands. There were rumors fabricated by the Nazis that as many as six divisions of the German Army were in the Swiss Alps ready to take the Allied forces from behind. This rumor was not true, but Eisenhower had no way of knowing that. He had to cautiously advance the forces because that rumor might be true.

That article, while credible, does leave out that the CIA was founded after World War II, as well as other dates. It would be nice to have those dates to put things into perspective.

The CIA's predecessor organization was the OSS, and I don't recall ever reading that they were interested in preserving the SS.

The only allegations that I've ever read about preserving German industry was that there were American corporations with a financial stake in them.

[RUgreek]

Originally posted by PhiPsiRuss
Yeah, but lets not forget the enormous amount of misinformation that was being poured out by the Nazi propaganda machine.

For example, even though it now seems trivial, Eisenhower was long criticized for not advancing Allied forces faster so that more of Germany would not fall into Soviet hands. There were rumors fabricated by the Nazis that as many as six divisions of the German Army were in the Swiss Alps ready to take the Allied forces from behind. This rumor was not true, but Eisenhower had no way of knowing that. He had to cautiously advance the forces because that rumor might be true.

That article, while credible, does leave out that the CIA was founded after World War II, as well as other dates. It would be nice to have those dates to put things into perspective.

The CIA's predecessor organization was the OSS, and I don't recall ever reading that they were interested in preserving the SS.

The only allegations that I've ever read about preserving German industry was that there were American corporations with a financial stake in them.

true, I wasn't looking for anyone really to believe me, but I guess as history shows, we'll never know about the whole truth.

Kind of interesting that the CIA was founded after the war and they did this. Kind of ironic to start an intelligence agency by recuiting people you consider an enemy. Would be nice to start one off with some trusting folks, oh well

[RACooper]

Originally posted by PhiPsiRuss
That's an asshole response.

There are cynical theories, that are credible, as to why we didn't bomb those camps, but saving Nazi officers is just not one of these.

Sorry but I felt that an asshole statement deserves an asshole response...

But as for the topic at hand - yes the OSS was formed during the war, and a the main training facility is just a 45 minute drive from my house - Camp X - where Canadian, French, American, British, Polish, and other Allies where trained in covert operations and warfare... perhaps the most famous grad was Ian Fleming of James Bond fame.

While the CIA was formed after the war it is a direct decendant of the OSS, and the OSS was trained originally under a 'British' system of Military Intelligence... think MI5 or MI6 which got their respective origins in the British Foreign Office and the Fleet Admiralty back during the Great War... this is important because of doctrine involved - specifically in the form of a major player during the formation of the British services during the Great War: Winston Churchill.

Now Churchill was a strong advocate of the intelligence war, and was personally involved in the selection and appointment of not only trainers but command staff for Camp X... so needless to say some of his personal beliefs concerning intelligence and the prosecution of the war were felt. Now think about the fact that although Churchill hated the Nazis, he had come to realize the Soviet Union would be the primary threat after the war; a view that was not discouraged at Camp X (for example no Soviets were trained or allowed there)... so if the founders of the CIA are more in line with Churchill's thinking about the USSR it stands to reason that US and UK intelligence services would try to procure 'assests' with experience dealing with the USSR - hence the recruitment/turning of a number of SS and Gestapo men from the Eastern Front... besides there was more than a passing concern about the 'Werewolf' plan.

So with the scamble to aquire as much intelligence and information from the remains of the Nazi state, some living experts were required: so scientists, intelligence, medical, military, and others were 'recruited' (given sanctuary or conditional pardons). It should come as no surprise that the CIA aquired some intelligence assests, just as the Air Force grabbed any scientist that it could dealing with rocketry and jet power...

Morally was this right? Is it right to benifit from Nazi intelligence or knowledge? These questions have been and continue to be raised even today... for example there are medical departments that will not use Gray Anatomy because the anotomical diagrams were made in the concentration camps

[RUgreek]

Originally posted by RACooper
Sorry but I felt that an asshole statement deserves an asshole response...

Did he just call me an asshole?

[Rudey]

CIA to release more Nazi war criminal documents
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON

The CIA has agreed to release more information about Nazi war criminals it hired during the Cold War, ending a standoff between the intelligence agency and the group seeking the documents, Sen. Mike DeWine said Sunday.

DeWine, a Republican from Ohio, was lead Senator author of a 1998 law that required all US government documents related to Nazi war crimes to be declassified, but the Central Intelligence Agency had resisted giving up details about the work performed by agents with Nazi ties.

The law has led to the release of more than 8 million pages of documents, including 1.25 million from the CIA, which showed that the agency or its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, had a relationship with some individuals later found to be war criminals.

Some documents obtained by the working group, for example, show that the CIA recruited and hired five assistants to Adolph Eichmann, the man known as the architect of the plan for exterminating the Jews during World War II.

The CIA provided a general description of the operational tasks performed by war criminals that it hired, but a governmental working group created to declassify the documents wanted to know more about what these people did for the agency. The working group also sought documents on all former SS officers who worked for the CIA after WWII.

The agency resisted, saying it would only release information on people who were proven war criminals. It also claimed information on the intelligence operations these people performed was exempt from the disclosure law because on a rule that allows the CIA to protect its sources and methods. A letter sent Friday to the group, officially called the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group, reversed both stances.

"This is good, this is really what we anticipated when we wrote the law," DeWine said Sunday. "We have an obligation to bring this information out for the Holocaust survivors and their families and the public."

In the letter, Stanley M. Moskowitz, the agency's director of congressional affairs, said the CIA would make available previously unreleased documents, including operational files and East German intelligence, to group members on Monday.

"We agree that documents concerning acts performed by Nazi war criminals, to include members of the SS, on behalf of CIA are relevant and are subject to declassification review," the letter said.

Many of the former Nazi officials were sought by the CIA to provide expertise on the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. DeWine said it's important to "know what happens when our government deals with criminals and uses criminals for its own purpose."

The working group is to disband in March, creating urgency for getting the documents released from the CIA. DeWine said he would seek legislation to extend the group's mandate for two years. A hearing on the matter set for Feb. 15 would be canceled if the requested documents are provided, he said.

-Rudey