
OG012
=====

           Allegations Regarding Vince Foster, the NSA, and
                Banking Transactions Spying, Part XII

                          by J. Orlin Grabbe

        Did you every think of having your own country?  Consider the
advantages.  No export controls. You could manufacture your own armaments.  
Do biological warfare research.  Even build casinos.  Hey, do whatever you 
wanted!

        You could also avoid those pesky ITAR restrictions. Cryptology 
software is classified as a munition by the U.S. State Department.  This 
designation is found in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. So 
software products that use cryptography can't be exported without State 
Department permission.  (The State Department, however, turns all such 
decisions over to the National Security Agency [NSA].)
                  
        For convenience, locate your country in the middle of California.
And run an interstate freeway right through it!  Say Interstate 10, which
goes from Los Angeles to Phoenix.  

        A dream?  No, consider it done.  It's called the Cabazon Indian 
nation, located near Indio, California.  This little nation of two dozen 
individuals is very entrepreneurial.  They've set up the Cabazon Arms 
Corporation, the Cabazon Security Corporation, the Cabazon Trading Company, 
the Cabazon Gas & Oil Corporation--lots of interesting companies come and
go in this nation.  

        Maybe you could make a deal with them, and set up your own ventures!
But you'll find someone got there ahead of you.  Namely, a private security 
firm called Wackenhut. Wackenhut is a funny outfit.  Among other things, it 
provides security to nuclear installations and to U.S. military bases, jobs 
previously held by the U.S. Marine Corps..  And its officers have included 
an amazing number of ex-CIA or NSA people.  Bill Casey was an outside counsel 
to Cabazon.  Admiral Stansfield Turner, whose Saturday Night massacre in 1977 
provided Wackenhut with a number of ex-CIA employees, has served on the 
Board of Directors, as has ex-Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci. One Vice 
President of Wackenhut, Robert Chasen, had been CIA head of station and Vice 
President of ITT during the time of Allende.

        Have these people, too, considered the advantages of having their 
own country?  Yes, it seems they have.  They seem to have taken over the 
Cabazon Indian nation.  And they don't want any competition from you, thank 
you.
                                               
        But the corporate rulers are very good to this little tribe. They've 
put everyone in a medical and drug treatment program!  And they are very
strict about seeing that each person shows up regularly to take their 
medicine!
         
        It was at the Cabazon Indian nation that modifications were first 
made to the PROMIS software for installation of a surreptitious surveillance 
mechanism. (Another modification would take place in Little Rock, Arkansas, 
to tailor the PROMIS software for use by banks.)
                    
        The modifications were made by a guy called Michael Riconosciuto.  
Riconosciuto was a bright guy who, at age 16, showed up at Stanford's
Cooper Vapor Laser Laboratory, having built his own argon laser.  His family 
were friends of Richard Nixon. Riconosciuto became an expert on explosives 
and software. In an affidavit he states:

        "1. During the early 1980's, I served as the Director of 
        Research for a joint venture between the Wackenhut Corporation 
        of Coral Gables, Florida, and the Cabazon Band of Indians in 
        Indio, California. The joint venture was located on the 
        Cabazon reservation. . . .

        "3. The Cabazon Band of Indians are a sovereign nation. The 
        sovereign immunity that is accorded the Cabazons as a 
        consequence of this fact made it feasible to pursue on the 
        reservation the development and/or manufacture of materials 
        whose development or manufacture would be subject to stringent 
        controls off the reservation. As a minority group, the Cabazon 
        Indians also provided the Wackenhut Corporation with an 
        enhanced ability to obtain federal contracts through the 8A 
        Set Aside Program, and in connection with Government-owned 
        contractor-operated (GOCO) facilities. . . .

        "6. Among the frequent visitors to the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint 
        venture were Peter Videnieks of the U.S. Department of Justice 
        in Washington, D.C., and a close associate of Videnieks by the 
        name of Earl W. Brian. Brian is a private businessman who lives 
        in Maryland and who has maintained close business ties with the 
        U.S. intelligence community for many years. . . .

        "7. In connection with my work for Wackenhut, I engaged in some 
        software development and modification work in 1983 and 1984 on 
        the proprietary PROMIS computer software product. The copy of 
        PROMIS on which I worked came from the Department of Justice. 
        Earl W. Brian made it available to me through Wackenhut after 
        acquiring it from Peter Videnieks, who was then a Department 
        of Justice contracting official with responsibility for the 
        PROMIS software. I performed the modifications to PROMIS in 
        Indio, California; Silver Spring, Maryland; and Miami, Florida. 
        . . .

        "8. The purpose of the PROMIS software modifications that I made 
        in 1983 and 1984 was to support a plan for the implementation of 
        PROMIS in law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide. 
        Earl W. Brian was spearheading the plan for this worldwide use 
        of the PROMIS computer software. . . .

        "11. In February 1991, I had a telephone conversation with Peter 
        Videnieks, then still employed by the U.S. Department of Justice. 
        Videnieks attempted during this telephone conversation to persuade 
        me not to cooperate with an independent investigation of the 
        government's piracy of INSLAW's proprietary PROMIS software being 
        conducted by the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of 
        Representatives. . . .

        "13. Videnieks also outlined specific punishments that I could 
        expect to receive from the U.S. Department of Justice if I 
        cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee's investigation." 
        (Affidavit of Michael J. Riconosciuto, March 21, 1991.)

        Michael Riconosciuto's ties to the National Security Agency are 
illustrated in the testimony of Robert Nichols:

        "Robert Nichols told . . . about an incident in the early
        1980's when a colonel from the NSA Headquarters at Fort
        George G. Meade, Maryland, allegedly flew out to the
        Cabazon Reservation for the day for the single purpose
        of assuring that FBI agents, investigating a triple
        homicide of the Vice Chairman of the Cabazon Tribe and 
        two associates, did not attempt to probe the classified
        U.S. government work being performed under the auspices
        of the Wackenhut-Cabazon Joint Venture.

        "Robert Nichols also told . . . about having accompanied 
        Michael Riconosciuto on a visit to a classified NSA
        contractor facility in the Silicon Valley and to have
        observed Riconosciuto's apparently unrestricted and
        unescorted access to both the contractor's employees 
        and to offices within the contractor facility that 
        were prominently marked as off-limits to any unescorted
        visitors.

        "Robert Nichols also told . . . about frequent alleged
        telephone conversations at the Wackenhut-Cabazon Joint
        Venture between Michael Riconosciuto and Bobby Inman.
        Bobby Inman served in the early 1980's consecutively as
        Director of the National Security Agency and Deputy
        Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" ("Inslaw's 
        Analysis and Rebuttal of the Bua Report, Memorandum in 
        Response to the March 1993 Report of Special Counsel 
        Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United 
        States Responding to the Allegations of INSLAW, Inc."
        --hereafter *Bua Rebuttal*).

        The modified software was marketed around the world by Earl
Brian, one-time owner of Financial News Network (sold to NBC), UPI, and 
the Hadron Corporation.  Brian was a friend of Ronald Reagan's Attorney 
General Ed Meese:  

        According to Ari Ben-Menasche, Brian marketed the PROMIS software 
to Israel in conjunction with Robert McFarlane, Reagan's National Security
Advisor:
                               
        "3. In 1982, the Israeli Prime Minister's Anti-Terrorism Advisor 
        was Mr. Rafael Eitan.

        "4. In a meeting that took place in December 1982 in Mr. Eitan's 
        office in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, Israel, Mr. Eitan told me that he 
        had received earlier that year in the United States, from Mr. Earl 
        W. Brian and Mr. Robert McFarlane, PROMIS computer software for the 
        limited use of the IDF's Signals Intelligence Unit for intelligence 
        purposes only. Mr. Eitan stated on this occasion, and on earlier 
        occasions as well, that he had special relationships with both Mr. 
        Brian and Mr. McFarlane." (Affidavit of Ari Ben-Menashe, March 21, 
        1991).

        According to Richard Babayan, Brian also made a sales presentation
(and later sale) to Iraq, in conjunction with Richard Secord, 

        "2. . . . I attended a meeting in Baghdad, Iraq, in October or 
        November, 1987, with Mr. Abu Mohammed of Entezamat, an intelligence 
        and security organ of the Government of Iraq. Mr. Abu Mohammed is a 
        senior ranking official of Entezamat and a person with whom I had 
        had extensive dealings over the previous three years

        "3. During the aforementioned meeting with Mr. Abu Mohammed, I was 
        informed that Dr. Earl W. Brian of the United States had recently 
        completed a sales presentation to the Government of Iraq regarding 
        the PROMIS computer software. Furthermore, it is my understanding 
        that others present at Dr. Brian's PROMIS sales presentation were 
        General Richard Secord, of the United States, and Mr. Abu Mohammed.

        "4. In early to mid-1988, in the course of subsequent visits to 
        Baghdad, Iraq, I was informed that Dr. Earl W. Brian had, in fact, 
        provided the PROMIS computer software to the Government of Iraq 
        through a transaction that took place under the umbrella of Mr. 
        Sarkis Saghanalian, an individual who has had extensive business 
        dealings with the Government of Iraq since the late 1970's in the 
        fields of military hardware and software. (Affidavit of Richard H. 
        Babayan, March 22, 1991.) 

        The sale of the PROMIS software was the one of the principal topics 
that Danny Casolaro was investigating at the time of his death either late 
Friday, August 9, or early Saturday, August 10, 1991.  On Saturday around 
noon he was found dead in his room, Room 517, at the Sheraton Martinsburg 
Inn in Virginia.
                                    
        According to an affidavit signed by a friend of Casalaro on 
March 15, 1994 (hereafter *F Affidavit*), Casolaro had documents received 
from an NSA employee named Alan Standorf that were classified "top secret" 
and "SCI".
                              
        SCI, or Sensitive Compartmented Information, is a more restrictive 
classification than Top Secret. "Sensitive Compartmented Information is data 
about sophisticated technical systems for collecting intelligence and 
information collected by those systems" (NFIB Security Committee, "Sensitive 
Compartmented Information: Characteristics and Security Requirements," June 
1984).  

        "The systems that generate SCI are imaging and signals 
        intelligence satellites; aircraft such as the U-2 and 
        RC-135; submarines involved in Special Navy reconnaissance
        missions; and ground stations involved in the interception
        of foreign signals.  Information about imaging and signals
        intelligence satellites also falls into the SCI category"
        (Jeffrey T. Richelson, *The U.S. Intelligence Community*,
        Westview Press, 1995).

        By its nature SCI-type information could reveal the characteristics 
of the systems that collect the information, which makes such these systems 
vulnerable to countermeasures.  Countermeasures could destroy the ability to 
collect this type of information in the first place.  Or the mechanism, once 
known to the other side, could be used by the other side to feed 
disinformation into the collected data.

        One variety of SCI information is produced by the Defense Mapping
Agency:
       
        ". . . 80 percent of DMA's [the Defense Mapping Agency's]
        9,500 employees hold Sensitive Compartmented Information
        (SCI) clearances.  SCI data is employed in producing the
        data that allow the targeting of cruise missiles by Terrain
        Contour Matching (TERCOM).  Such data are also required for
        precise specification of target location in the Single
        Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) and for accurate target-
        ing of U.S. warheads" (Richelson).  

        Another variety may be found at the NSA:

        "The NSA's COMSEC responsibilities also include ensuring
        communications security for strategic weapons systems such 
        as the Minuteman missile so as to prevent unauthorized 
        intrusion, interference, or jamming.  In addition, the NSA 
        is responsible for developing the codes by which the President 
        must identify himself in order to authorize a nuclear strike" 
        (Richelson).
                   
        Casolaro had other documents related to BCCI and the sale of
PROMIS, according to the *F Affidavit*:

         --Casolaro had documents proving that the PROMIS software
         was modified by Michael Riconosciuto.

         --Casolaro had copies of wire transfers of money from 
         accounts held at the World Bank and BCCI and paid to
         Earl Brian at shell companies in the Cayman Islands and
         Switzerland.

        --Casolaro had copies of checks drawn on BCCI accounts and         
        paid to shell accounts held by Richard Secord and Earl Brian.

        --Casolaro had copies of documents of arms, gold, and software
        shipments cleared for export by Peter Videnieks at U.S. Customs.

        --Casolaro had a document that Casolaro alleged showed the
        involvement of Bobby Inman and Robert McFarlane in the sale
        of PROMIS to Israel.

        --Casolaro had meetings in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania
        with a number of individuals of Arabic origin, including
        Iman Mashhad.

        --Casolaro had documents showing shipments to and from Pakistan
        by air that were approved by William Casey, and related documents
        with notes from Peter Videnieks.

        --Casolaro had documents related to "First American Bankshares"
        [Financial General Bankshares = First American ?] showing
        monies paid to officials in Justice and Treasury.

        On August 9, the last day of his life, Danny Casolaro said he had 
arranged a meeting with Peter Videnieks and Robert Altman to trade them 
documents for further documents regarding the sale of the modified PROMIS 
software. (Robert Altman--see Part X in this series--has served as an 
attorney to Bert Lance, as the president of BCCI-controlled First American, 
and as head of the Resolution Trust Corporation.)

        Casolaro picked up two packages of documents he had given to a 
friend for safe-keeping.  The exchange was to take place at a meeting said 
to have been arranged by a covert intelligence operative of the U.S. Army 
Special Forces named Joseph Cuellar.  
        
        "Danny had told me that meeting had been arranged
        by Joseph Cuellar.  That he was to meet with someone
        from Sen. Byrds office and from the I.R.S., plus
        Peter Videnieks and Robert Altman.  He was to exchange
        some documents that was to their interest in order to
        get more info on Promis.  He had told me that Altman
        only agreed after he was told papers would be sent to
        Robert Morgenthau" (*F Affidavit*)
             
        Some background on Casolaro's relationship with Joseph Cuellar
is detailed in the *Bua Rebuttal*:

        "Casolaro also told the Hamiltons [Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hamilton of
        INSLAW] about a series of meetings he had had during the final 
        months of his life with a covert intelligence operative of the 
        U.S. Army Special Forces whose name is Joseph Cuellar.  According 
        to Casolar, Cuellar, during a purportedly chance encounter at 
        Casolaro's neighborhood pub in mid-July 1991, asked Casolaro what 
        line of work he was in and, upon hearing Casolaro describe his 
        journalistic investigation of the INSLAW case, asserted that he 
        knew all about INSLAW because Peter Videnieks was one of his 
        closest friends. According to Casolaro, Cuellar also stated that 
        his ex-wife worked for Ms. Barbara Videnieks in Senator Byrd's 
        office. Casolaro told the Hamiltons that Cuellar had later 
        persuaded Peter Videnieks to meet Casolaro and discuss the INSLAW 
        case with him." (*Bua Rebuttal*)

        The next day after picking up two packages of documents for the
meeting with Videniecks and Altman, Danny Casolaro was found dead in his
hotel room at the Sheraton.  Several days later a friend of Casolaro's who
had attended two meetings between Casolaro and Cuellar received a phone 
call from Cuellar:
                        
        "Lynn Knowles, a friend of Casolaro's, attended at least two
        of the meetings between Casolaro and Cuellar . . . [Lynn
        Knowles said] that she and Cuellar had spoken by telephone
        several days after Casolaro's death and that Cuellar said
        the following to Knowles, in words or substance:

                'What Danny Casolaro was investigating is a
                business.  If you don't want to end up like
                Danny or like the journalist [Anson Ng] who 
                died a horiffic death in Guatemala, you'll 
                stay out of this.  Anyone who asks too many 
                questions will end up dead.'" (*Bua Rebuttal*)

        Well, I don't want too ask too many questions myself,  Mr. Cuellar, 
so I'll ask just this one:  Did you, in conspiracy with Peter Videnieks 
and Robert Altman, murder Danny Casolaro?

                          [To be continued]


