Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies
Published on
Monday, October 26, 2015
by
Common Dreams
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies
Experts warn that Department of Defense espionage program places
international NGOs at great risk
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
In 2007, Kay Hiramine, pictured here with President George W. Bush, was
awarded the president's Volunteer Service Awarddespite serving as a paid
operative of the U.S. Department of Defense. (Photo: White House archives)
It is the stuff of spy novels, but a new investigation published Monday
reveals that the U.S. Pentagon for years funneled millions to a charity
organization employing it to serve as the front group for global
espionagevery real revelations that experts warn could have dangerous
implications for aid workers worldwide.
After a months-long investigation, The Intercept's Matthew Cole, with help
from Margot Williams and Lee Fang, exposes the reach of a highly-classified
Department of Defense program, which ran from December 2004 to 2013.
The program was reportedly the "brainchild" of Lt. Gen. William "Jerry"
Boykin, an evangelical Christian who served under President George W. Bush.
After the 9/11 attacks, Boykin was charged with expanding the intelligence
gathering arm of the DoD and, "taking a page from the CIA's playbook," began
tapping NGOs to use as a cover for Pentagon espionage operations.
The exposé highlights one group, the Colorado Springs-based Christian
organization Humanitarian International Services Group, or HISG, whose
founder, Kay Hiramine, had for years been on the Pentagon payroll and whose
organization reportedly had millions funneled to it via a "complex web" of
private trusts and nonprofits.
The Pentagon reportedly employed HISG, which provided disaster relief and
supplies to poor and war-torn countries, to infiltrate North Korea to gain
access and information regarding its nuclear programrelying on the
organization's "unwitting" employees, volunteers, and contacts to do so.
The Intercept reports:
The Pentagon tasked Hiramine with gathering the intelligence it needed
inside North Korea, and Hiramine would in turn utilize HISGs access to the
country to complete the assignments, according to two former military
officials with knowledge of the effort. Hiramine, in his role as CEO of
HISG, tapped Christian missionaries, aid workers, and Chinese smugglers to
move equipment into and around North Korea none of whom had any idea that
they were part of a secret Pentagon operation.
...
Because American intelligence has so few assets inside North Korea, much of
Hiramines task was to find transportation routes to move military equipment
and potentially clandestine operatives in and around the country. The
Pentagon would eventually move sensors and small radio beacons through
Hiramines transportation network, according to another former military
official. Much of what Hiramine was doing was what the military refers to as
operational preparation of the environment, or OPE, a category that
encompasses clandestine intelligence gathering and prepositioning equipment
inside a country for future conflicts.
In one early "test run," an HISG shipment of charity clothing included a
secret cache of Bibles in order to see if supplies could get into the
country without being discovered.
As Cole notes, HISG "was one of several NGOs used by the Pentagon in this
way. Some, like HISG, already existed as fledgling organizations, while
others were created from scratch by the Pentagon."
The investigation's findings, "that the Pentagon used an NGO and unwitting
humanitarian volunteers for intelligence gathering," constitutes a major
transgression and threatens the safety and work of aid organizations
worldwide.
Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, an association of nearly 200
American NGOs, told the reporters that such activity "violates international
principles" and places legitimate aid and development workers at great risk.
"It is unacceptable that the Pentagon or any other U.S. agency use
nonprofits for intelligence gathering," Worthington said. "It is a violation
of the basic trust between the U.S. government and its civic sector."
Indeed, a CIA-directed mission in 2011 which employed a Pakistani doctor to
gather DNA samples of Osama bin Laden's presumed family members, under the
guise of a hepatitis vaccination program, has resulted in numerous attacks
on "legitimate" medical groups.
Further, as noted by Sarah Knuckey, Columbia Law professor and director of
the school's Human Rights Clinic, these findings also give "rhetorical ammo"
to repressive governments seeking to restrict NGO activities within their
borders.
HISG was reportedly shuttered in 2013 after Adm. William McRaven shut down
the North Korean spying operation the year before. It's "unclear" if
President Obama was ever briefed on the program, The Intercept notes, and
the White House declined to comment.
The Intercept investigation relied on interviews with more than a dozen
current and former military and intelligence officials, humanitarian aid
workers, missionaries, U.S. officials, as well as former HISG staffers. The
Pentagon provided no comment on HISG or the espionage operations in North
Korea.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies
Published on
Monday, October 26, 2015
by
Common Dreams
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies
Experts warn that Department of Defense espionage program places
international NGOs at great risk
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
24 Comments
In 2007, Kay Hiramine, pictured here with President George W. Bush,
was awarded the president's Volunteer Service Awarddespite serving as a
paid operative of the U.S. Department of Defense. (Photo: White House
archives)
It is the stuff of spy novels, but a new investigation published
Monday reveals that the U.S. Pentagon for years funneled millions to a
charity organization employing it to serve as the front group for global
espionagevery real revelations that experts warn could have dangerous
implications for aid workers worldwide.
After a months-long investigation, The Intercept's Matthew Cole,
with help from Margot Williams and Lee Fang, exposes the reach of a
highly-classified Department of Defense program, which ran from December
2004 to 2013.
The program was reportedly the "brainchild" of Lt. Gen. William
"Jerry" Boykin, an evangelical Christian who served under President George
W. Bush. After the 9/11 attacks, Boykin was charged with expanding the
intelligence gathering arm of the DoD and, "taking a page from the CIA's
playbook," began tapping NGOs to use as a cover for Pentagon espionage
operations.
The exposé highlights one group, the Colorado Springs-based
Christian organization Humanitarian International Services Group, or HISG,
whose founder, Kay Hiramine, had for years been on the Pentagon payroll and
whose organization reportedly had millions funneled to it via a "complex
web" of private trusts and nonprofits.
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The Pentagon reportedly employed HISG, which provided disaster relief and
supplies to poor and war-torn countries, to infiltrate North Korea to gain
access and information regarding its nuclear programrelying on the
organization's "unwitting" employees, volunteers, and contacts to do so.
The Intercept reports:
The Pentagon tasked Hiramine with gathering the intelligence it needed
inside North Korea, and Hiramine would in turn utilize HISGs access to the
country to complete the assignments, according to two former military
officials with knowledge of the effort. Hiramine, in his role as CEO of
HISG, tapped Christian missionaries, aid workers, and Chinese smugglers to
move equipment into and around North Korea none of whom had any idea that
they were part of a secret Pentagon operation.
...
Because American intelligence has so few assets inside North Korea, much of
Hiramines task was to find transportation routes to move military equipment
and potentially clandestine operatives in and around the country. The
Pentagon would eventually move sensors and small radio beacons through
Hiramines transportation network, according to another former military
official. Much of what Hiramine was doing was what the military refers to as
operational preparation of the environment, or OPE, a category that
encompasses clandestine intelligence gathering and prepositioning equipment
inside a country for future conflicts.
In one early "test run," an HISG shipment of charity clothing included a
secret cache of Bibles in order to see if supplies could get into the
country without being discovered.
As Cole notes, HISG "was one of several NGOs used by the Pentagon in this
way. Some, like HISG, already existed as fledgling organizations, while
others were created from scratch by the Pentagon."
The investigation's findings, "that the Pentagon used an NGO and unwitting
humanitarian volunteers for intelligence gathering," constitutes a major
transgression and threatens the safety and work of aid organizations
worldwide.
Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, an association of nearly 200
American NGOs, told the reporters that such activity "violates international
principles" and places legitimate aid and development workers at great risk.
"It is unacceptable that the Pentagon or any other U.S. agency use
nonprofits for intelligence gathering," Worthington said. "It is a violation
of the basic trust between the U.S. government and its civic sector."
Indeed, a CIA-directed mission in 2011 which employed a Pakistani doctor to
gather DNA samples of Osama bin Laden's presumed family members, under the
guise of a hepatitis vaccination program, has resulted in numerous attacks
on "legitimate" medical groups.
Further, as noted by Sarah Knuckey, Columbia Law professor and director of
the school's Human Rights Clinic, these findings also give "rhetorical ammo"
to repressive governments seeking to restrict NGO activities within their
borders.
HISG was reportedly shuttered in 2013 after Adm. William McRaven shut down
the North Korean spying operation the year before. It's "unclear" if
President Obama was ever briefed on the program, The Intercept notes, and
the White House declined to comment.
The Intercept investigation relied on interviews with more than a dozen
current and former military and intelligence officials, humanitarian aid
workers, missionaries, U.S. officials, as well as former HISG staffers. The
Pentagon provided no comment on HISG or the espionage operations in North
Korea.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License