America’s Secrets Uncovered
DO YOU
KNOW
AMERICA?
DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
AMERICAN SECRETS,
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
The history of the United States is one of ingenuity,
innovation … and intrigue. Secrets were held by many
prominent Americans – from our founding fathers
centuries ago to the financiers of Wall Street today.
This eBook tells tales of surveillance long before the
CIA, espionage at a time when a real gentleman refused
to read another man’s mail, and follies that prove our
founding fathers were just like us.
Learn the truths long hidden in the shadows. Read
about top-secret government projects involving
disappearing ships … and bugs that bite. Learn about
the hiding places of the rich and famous … and the
things they do when they’re there. See how mac ‘n
cheese got its start as an American favorite … how
George Washington changed the face of farming … and
about the Benjamin Franklin invention that failed. It’s all
here in Do You Know America?
Sincerely,
Your Member Benefits Team
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
I. NO NEED TO KNOW –
SECRET CIA/MILITARY
OPERATIONS
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – SECRET CIA/MILITARY OPERATIONS
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NOW YOU SEE IT …
NOW YOU DON’T
Long before Harry Potter inherited his invisibility
cloak, the U.S. Navy was developing a disappearing
act of their own … or were they?
The Navy denies any account of it, but speculation
has long been that experiments in invisibility were
conducted on the destroyer USS Eldridge at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1943.
Field of Dreams?
The Philadelphia Experiment, or Project Rainbow,
was allegedly an application of Einstein’s unified field
theory, designed to render the ship invisible to enemy
radar. The goal was to wrap the USS Eldridge in an
electromagnetic field that would absorb or deflect
radar waves.
Some say this field was created by two massive Tesla
coils mounted forward and aft. Others say it was
created by a series of magnetic generators. The idea
being that, when the magnetic field was activated,
it would extend out from the ship and divert radar
waves around it … thus, making the Eldridge invisible
to radar receivers.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – SECRET CIA/MILITARY OPERATIONS
Going … Going … Gone!
The experiment was a success … and, for those along for the
ride, a nightmare as well. Once unleashed, the magnetic field
increased in strength. It extended as far as 100 yards from the
ship in all directions, surrounding the vessel in a green haze that
quickly obscured it from view until it vanished completely – not
just from sight, but from the City of Brotherly Love altogether!
The force of the magnetic field transported the Eldridge
hundreds of miles away to Norfolk, Virginia – instantly. And
what a ride it was! The crew reported being able to walk
through solid objects while the magnetic field was turned
on. But once it was turned off, many crewmembers were
found embedded in bulkheads, railings and decks … and some
disappeared completely. The scene was so gruesome many
who witnessed it went mad.
History or Hoax?
The Navy categorically denies the story, although it is a
documented fact that the military was experimenting with
invisibility at the time. But the goal was to make ships invisible
to magnetic torpedoes, not make them disappear altogether.
Many who served on the Eldridge say the ship was never even
docked in Philadelphia. But that hasn’t stopped tales of the
Philadelphia Experiment from being told in books and movies
for decades. It could be the true story of the USS Eldridge
disappeared with sailors who went missing that night in 1943 …
and have yet to return.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – SECRET CIA/MILITARY OPERATIONS
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GRAND CENTRAL SECRETS
Things are not always as they appear. To the unassuming, New
York’s Grand Central Station is a bustling hub of commuter
traffic. More than 750,000 men and women pass through this
magnificent station every day. And most are unaware of the
rooms hidden far below the platforms on which they stand …
or of the secrets they hold.
These covert rooms protected the country during times of war
… and helped a president hide his physical affliction from an
unsuspecting public. The hidden locations have yet to appear
on any map. And some speculate they continue to be used
for clandestine purposes to this day.
Room With No View
Nine stories below the station is a super secret subbasement,
known as M42. A cavernous room, nearly three stories
high, it houses the converter grid for one of the nation’s
busiest transportation network. But there was a time, it held
even more.
During World War II, millions of U.S. servicemen passed
through Grand Central on their way to and from the front lines.
To protect them, M42 became a bunker with a platoon of
armed soldier who were ordered to shoot-to-kill any intruders.
The super-secret bunker was hidden from view … but not
from enemy intelligence. Rumor has it Hitler launched a plot to
cripple troop movement along Eastern Seaboard by sabotaging
the station’s converters. Fortunately, the CIA foiled the plot
before it came to fruition. And as they say, the rest is history.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – SECRET CIA/MILITARY OPERATIONS
Covering Our Track
Track 61 was originally built as a freight and loading platform.
But its location beneath the Waldorf-Astoria hotel made
it ideal for distinguished guests to enter and exit the city
surreptitiously. It was first used by General J. Pershing in 1938
and later by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The president used this
private, secret platform to keep the public from seeing him in
a wheelchair. The platform was so large, FDR’s armor-plated
Pierce Arrow car could be driven off the train, onto the platform
and directly into an elevator to the street.
You can find this secret track behind a locked door on 49th
Street, but you can’t get in to see it. You can, however, spot
it out of the window of certain Metro-North trains just as they
leave the station.
One More Thing
It’s no secret, but many don’t know that the station’s name
is not really Grand Central Station. Rather, it’s Grand Central
Terminal. If you’re looking for Grand Central Station, go next
door … to the post office!
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – SECRET CIA/MILITARY OPERATIONS
BIG INSECT OPERATIONS
Operation Big Buzz
The 1950s were busy times for the CIA and U.S. military.
Besides experimenting with LSD, which could give you a real
buzz, they were trying their hand at entomological warfare field
tests in May 1955. Their goal was to determine the possibility of
successfully producing, storing, and dispersing the yellow fever
mosquito from aircraft flying over Georgia.
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The tests were deemed successful as the fleas survived the
drop and quickly attached themselves to unsuspecting guinea
pigs deployed across a battalion-sized target area.
There was only one catch: the E23s carrying 200,000 fleas
failed in 50 percent of the tests. In one of those failed drops,
the contents of a malfunctioning E23 were released into the
cabin and found their unlucky targets: the pilot, bombardier,
and passenger.
It should be noted that the 330,000 mosquitoes were not
infected with the disease before their 300-foot drop in E14
bombs. The whole point of the exercise was to determine
whether the mosquitoes would survive their trip to the ground
and, once there, go looking for fresh blood.
The results? Humans and guinea pigs nearly a half-mile away
were soon feeling the sting of the government project.
Operation Big Itch
The previous September, the Dugway Proving Ground in
Utah became the place for the mighty tropical rat flea to prove
its mettle.
The purpose of the experiment was to see whether the flea
would serve as a disease vector, in other words, an agent
to carry and transmit an infection. Like the mosquitoes, the
fleas were not infected. And like the mosquitoes, they were
loaded into bombs—an E77 bomb and the E86 cluster bomb
comprised of the E14 and E23 bombs. At 1,000 or 2,000 feet,
the clusters would drop by parachute.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
II. NO NEED TO KNOW –
WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL
GO TO MISBEHAVE
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL GO TO MISBEHAVE
WHERE THE POWERFUL
COME TO PLAY IN THE WOODS
The Bohemian Grove
It’s a Saturday night in late July. Place: a dense redwood
forest 75 miles north of San Francisco on the Russian River.
Through the trees snake columns of men—1,500 garbed in
orange red robes and pointed hats, all carrying torches as
they march toward a burning tree. An open coffin carrying
the effigy of “Dull Care” is borne through the throng to the
pyre where it is to be burned. Suddenly a voice calls out:
“Fools, fools, when can you learn you cannot slay me?
Priestly fires are not going to do him in. I spit upon your
fires!”
Suddenly there is a great explosion. All lights are
extinguished—all but one, the light at the base of the tree
illuminating the statue of an owl, totem of the Grove. The
owl speaks of the Lamp of Fellowship. This is the Cremation
of Care.
Welcome to The Bohemian Grove. Here, every summer for
two weeks in July, the world’s rich, famous, and powerful
come to play and commune with nature. They live in 120
camps of cabins and tents: Imagine you took fraternity
row at a large university and moved it into the redwoods.
Each camp has its own culture, gags that it pulls, and, of
course, special drinks. There’s the Cliff Dwellers camp,
Green Lantern, Land of Happiness, Woof, Druids, and
Mandalay. All are equal, although some are more equal
Photo credit: By Gabriel Moulin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. The Bohemian
Jinks: A Treatise (1908)], page 94. http://books.google.com/books?id=KTBIAAAAIAAJ
Cremation of Care ceremony at the
Bohemian Grove in 1907
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL GO TO MISBEHAVE
than others. Mandalay, Hill Billies, and Owl’s
Nest for example, are the camps for the
really big wheels, like a former president or
prime minister or two. They spend their days
trapshooting, swimming and hanging out as if
they were back in college. Weekends are the
big gatherings where Lakeside Talks command
attention. This is where the politics goes on.
During the week, when only 350 or so are
encamped, the talks are by artists, professors,
and business leaders.
Professor G. William Domhoff at the University
of California at Santa Cruz. who has studied
The Grove, describes it as “an Elks Club for
the rich; a fraternity party in the woods; a boy
scout camp for old guys...“ It’s owned by the
Bohemian Club, which was founded in San
Francisco in 1872. The Bohemians started
going on their little retreat shortly after the club
was founded; it became big-time by the 1880s,
and it continues today.
“However, it is not a place of power. It’s a
place where the powerful relax, enjoy each
other’s company, and get to know some of the
artists, entertainers, and professors who are
included to give the occasion a thin veneer of
cultural and intellectual pretension. Despite
the suspicions of many on the Right, and a
few on the Left, it is not a secret meeting
place to plot, plan, or conspire. The most
important decisions typically happen just
where we might expect: in the boardrooms
of corporations and foundations, at the White
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House, and in the backrooms of Congress...
The Grove encampment is a bunch of guys
kidding around, drinking with their buddies,
and trying to relive their youth, and often
acting very silly.”
A few journalists have infiltrated The Grove in
recent years to report on the hijinks. Vanity
Fair’s Alex Shoumatoff was bounced out by
a plumber moonlighting as a security guard.
Spy magazine’s Philip Weiss got into the Grove
in 1989 and described the ceremony and
essence of Bohemian Grove this way:
“At this point some hamadryads (tree spirits)
and another priest or two appeared at the
base of the main owl shrine, a 40-foot-tall,
moss-covered statue of stone and steel at
the south end of the lake, and sang songs
about Care. They told of how a man’s heart is
divided between ‘reality’ and ‘fantasy,’ how
it is necessary to escape to another world of
fellowship among men. Vaguely homosexual
undertones suffused this spectacle, as they do
much of ritualized life in the Grove. The main
priest wore a pink-and-green satin costume,
while a hamadryad appeared before a redwood
in a gold spangled bodysuit dripping with
rhinestones. They spoke of ‘fairy unguents’
that would free men to pursue warm
fellowship, and I was reminded of something
Herman Wouk wrote about the Grove: ‘Men
can decently love each other; they always
have, but women never quite understand.’”
Bohemian Grove Camp
Photo credit: By Binksternet [Public domain], via
Wikimedia Commons. Published in The Pacific
Monthly by Porter Garnett in his story “Forest
Festivals of Bohemia” in September 1907.
http://www.archive.org/stream/
pacificmonthly00woodrich#page/n49/mode/1up
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL GO TO MISBEHAVE
Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall at
The College of William & Mary.
KAPPA BETA PHI, WALL STREET’S
SECRET SOCIETY
too, you are to indulge in matters of speculation that freedom
of enquiry which ever dispels the clouds of falsehood by the
radiant sunshine of truth...”
“Love of wisdom is the guide of life.”
This distinguished society is not to be confused with Kappa
Beta Phi, which according to its 2012 “Grand Swipe”—
investment banker Wilbur Ross—“was started in 1929 by “four
C+ William and Mary students.”
That’s the translation of “Phi Beta Kappa,” the name for the
oldest existing American academic honor society. It was
founded at The College of William and Mary on December 5,
1776, by a group of students who met at the famous Raleigh
Tavern in Williamsburg to talk about non-academic interests
(whether Revolutionary or not). By 1779, the group had created
an initiation rite for new members, who were told, “Here then
you may for a while disengage yourself from scholastic cares
and communicate without reserve whatever reflections you
have made upon various objects; remembering that every thing
transacted within this room is transacted sub rosa, ...here,
If you don’t work on Wall Street, chances are you’ve never
heard of Kappa Beta Phi. Even if you do work on Wall Street,
chances are you’ve never heard of it, either. That’s because the
members don’t want you to. But thanks to former New York
Times reporter and New York Magazine writer Kevin Roose, we
now have the inside scoop. Researching his bestseller, Young
Money about “22-year-olds toiling at the bottom of the financial
sector’s food chain,” he stumbled upon Kappa Beta Phi.
Photo credit: By Jrcla2 at en.wikipedia (Original text : Jrcla2 (talk)) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APBKclose.jpg
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL GO TO MISBEHAVE
“I’d heard whisperings about the existence of Kappa Beta
Phi, whose members included both incredibly successful
financiers (New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former
Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead, hedge-fund
billionaire Paul Tudor Jones) and incredibly unsuccessful ones
(Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld, Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy
Cayne, former New Jersey governor and MF Global flameout
Jon Corzine),” wrote Roose in an excerpt for New York. “It
was a secret fraternity, founded at the beginning of the Great
Depression, that functioned as a sort of one-percenter’s
Friars Club. Each year, the group’s dinner features comedy
skits, musical acts in drag, and off-color jokes, and its group’s
privacy mantra is “What happens at the St. Regis stays at the
St. Regis.” For eight decades, it worked. No outsider in living
memory had witnessed the entire proceedings firsthand.”
The proceedings of the 2012 dinner did not stay at the St.
Regis after Roose slipped past the sign-in desk in time for the
welcome remarks of the 2012 “Grand Swipe”—investment
banker Wilbur Ross, clad in tuxedo and purple velvet
moccasins embroidered with the fraternity’s Greek letters.
“Good evening, Exalted High Council, former Grand Swipes,
Grand Swipes-in-waiting, fellow Wall Street Kappas, Kappas
from the Spring Street and Montgomery Street chapters, and
worthless neophytes!”
Looking up at him from an elegant dinner of rack of lamb
and foie gras were many of the most famous investors in
the world, including executives from nearly every too-bigto-fail bank, private equity megafirm, and major hedge fund.
All told, enough wealth and power was concentrated in the
St. Regis that night that if you had dropped a bomb on the
roof, global finance as we know it might have ceased to
exist. After cocktail hour, the new inductees – all of whom
Photo credit: AgnosticPreachersKid at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons
The Phi Beta Kappa Society National
Headquarters located in the historic Dupont
Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – WHERE THE RICH & POWERFUL GO TO MISBEHAVE
were required to dress in leotards and goldsequined skirts, with costume wigs – began
their variety-show acts. Among the night’s
[reprintable] lowlights:
was escorted to the lobby by Grand Swipe
Ross and bond investor and former Grand
Swipe Alexandra Lebenthal.
Once we made it to the lobby, Ross and
Lebenthal reassured me that what I’d just
seen wasn’t really a group of wealthy and
powerful financiers making homophobic
jokes, making light of the financial crisis, and
bragging about their business conquests at
Main Street’s expense,” wrote Roose. “No,
it was just a group of friends who came
together to roast each other in a benign and
self-deprecating manner. Nothing to see here
. . .”
David Moore, Marc Lasry, and Keith
Meister— respectively, a holding company
CEO, a billionaire hedge-fund manager, and
an activist investor — sang a few seconds of
a finance-themed parody of “YMCA” before
getting the hook.
Warren Stephens, an investment banking
CEO, took the stage in a Confederate flag
hat and sang a song about the financial crisis,
set to the tune of “Dixie.” (“In Wall Street
land we’ll take our stand, said Morgan and
Goldman. But first we better get some loans,
so quick, get to the Fed, man.”)
A few more acts followed, during which
the veteran Kappas continued to gorge
themselves on racks of lamb, throw petits
fours at the stage, and laugh uproariously...
The neophytes—who had changed from
their drag outfits into Mormon missionary
costumes—broke into their musical finale: a
parody version of “I Believe,” the hit ballad
from The Book of Mormon, with customized
lyrics like “I believe that God has a plan for
all of us. I believe my plan involves a sevenfigure bonus.”
And then Kevin Roose was outed as he began
filming with his iphone. After a skirmish, he
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I understood their panic. Here, after all, was
a group that included many of the executives
whose firms had collectively wrecked the
global economy in 2008 and 2009. And
they were laughing off the entire disaster in
private, as if it were a long-forgotten lark. (Or
worse, sing about it—one of the last skits of
the night was a self-congratulatory parody
of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” called “Bailout
King.”)
Phi Beta Kappa Key
Photo credit: By Phi_Beta_Kappa_Key.JPG: Avraham
derivative work: Sreejith K (Phi_Beta_Kappa_Key.JPG)
[CC BY-SA 3.0 us (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en)
As one financial analyst (who was not at the
dinner) later told the International Business
Times, “It sounds like something Occupy
Wall Street would invent if they wanted
people to hate bankers even more.”
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
III. NO NEED TO KNOW –
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING …
AND LISTENING
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...AND LISTENING
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
AND LISTENING
Inside The Black Chamber
Before there was the National Security Agency, there was
the Cipher Bureau, America’s first peacetime cryptanalytic
organization. Disguised as a New York commercial code
company, it came to be known as The Black Chamber. The
name that dates back at least to 1590 and King Henry IV
of France, who established the cabinet noir as part of his
postal system. The purpose: to open, read, and skillfully
reseal letters. As letter writers got wise to the practice,
correspondents created ways to encrypt and decrypt their
letters.
In more recent history, America’s Black Chamber harks
back nearly 100 years, to the United States’ entry into
the Great War. At the time, the government had limited
experience in making and breaking codes, so the U.S.
Army developed a state-of-the-art cryptologic section of
Military Intelligence (MI-8) headed by a former code clerk
named Herbert Yardley.
When the war was over, the American Army and the
State Department decided to jointly fund MI-8, and
Yardley continued as head of the “Cipher Bureau.” His
unit successfully cracked the Japanese codes, which gave
the American delegation invaluable information for the
Washington Naval conference of 1921.
Photo credit: By Daderot (Own work) [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File%3ABlack_Chamber_cryptanalytic_work_sheet_for_solving_Japanese_diplomatic_
cipher%2C_1919_-_National_Cryptologic_Museum_-_DSC07698.JPG
Black Chamber cryptanalytic work sheet for
solving Japanese diplomatic cipher, 1919
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...AND LISTENING
The American Black Chamber by Herbert O. Yardley
Some historians say the Cipher Bureau soon became irrelevant;
others claim Yardley slacked off on the job—and began boasting
of expertise in reading all traffic out of the Vatican.
which was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post and then
published as a book entitled The American Black Chamber. It
became a global bestseller in 1932.
It was that remark that may have done him in with Secretary
of State Henry L. Stimson. Stimson axed the funding and thus
the bureau with the famous remark: “Gentlemen do not read
each other’s mail.”
Under heavy criticism, Yardley professed that his only motive
had been to alert the United States to the weakness of its own
systems. (Sound familiar?) Meanwhile, Stimson, uncomfortable
with decrypt intelligence in peacetime, felt otherwise in
wartime. When he took up the post of Secretary of War for
the second time, he and the entire U.S. command turned to
decrypted enemy communications to help the Allies prevail in
World War II.
The upshot: In late 1929, employees of the Cipher Bureau were
given three months’ severance pay and let go. The excuse:
They had been employed using “confidential funds,” therefore
had no civil service status or rehire rights.
Henry Yardley wasn’t happy about that. It was 1931, and with
no work and a family to support, he decided to write his story,
Photo credit: Portion of the scarf used by Mme. Victorica, which contained German secret ink. ca. 1917. from Wikimedia Commons https://archive.org/details/AmericanBlackChamber
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...AND LISTENING
THE UNLUCKY — OR ILLEGAL—
OPERATION SHAMROCK
Operation—or Project—SHAMROCK was an espionage
exercise that began at the end of the war in the Pacific—in
August 1945. Its purpose: to gather all telegraphic information
entering or exiting the United States.
The key players in the operation were the Armed Forces
Security Agency (AFSA) and its successor, the NSA. The two
organizations enjoyed direct access to daily microfilm copies
of all incoming, outgoing, and transiting telegrams via Western
Union and its associates, RCA, and International Telephone and
Telegraph (ITT).
The operations required no court authorizations or warrants.
NSA handled interception, and, if it determined that the
information would be useful to other intelligence agencies, the
organization passed it on. Recipients included the FBI, CIA,
Secret Service, Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
(BNDD), and the Department of Defense.
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Each night, in what was to become a 30-year, illegal,
coordinated program to spy on the electronic communications
of American citizens, the telegraph companies packaged up the
day’s transmissions and handed them to operatives who sent
them to NSA headquarters for analysis. At its height, Project
SHAMROCK printed 150,000 messages a month for NSA staff
to analyze.
By May 1975, however, the operations of Operation
SHAMROCK came to light in familiar fashion—through a
Congressional investigation. Ultimately, the NSA director,
Lew Allen, closed it, but not before Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairman Sen. Frank Church concluded that
Project SHAMROCK was “probably the largest government
interception program affecting Americans ever undertaken.”
But the retired deputy director of the NSA may have had the
last word. Asked whether it was legal for the NSA to read the
private telegrams of American citizens, he replied, “You’ll have
to ask the lawyers.”
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...AND LISTENING
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TOP ECHELON SECRETS
Shortly before Operation SHAMROCK’s luck began to run out,
ECHELON rose to the top of NSA’s radar screen.
Launched in the early 1960s, ECHELON was established to
monitor diplomatic and military communications of the Soviet
Union and its Eastern Bloc allies. Some three decades later, it
had morphed into a partnership of allies—the U.S., Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—that operates
a global system for the interception of private and commercial
communications.
Today you’ll find ECHELON installations around the world—
at New Zealand’s Waihopai Valley, Britain’s Menwith Hill,
Yakima in the State of Washington, and at Sugar Grove Station
in Pendleton County, West Virginia, just 32 miles over the
mountains from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Google the address,
and you’ll find a map and aerial photos of the installation. Dig
a little deeper and you’ll find a staggering number of onceclassified communications from Sugar Grove Station in the
documents released by Edward Snowden.
The West Virginia Encyclopedia of the West Virginia Humanities
Council provides the background and details on ECHELON’s
East Coast operation:
The U.S. Navy base at Sugar Grove, Pendleton County, is
part of the Navy Information Operations Command. The base
mission is officially described as “communications research
and development for the U.S. Navy, the Department of
Defense and various elements of the U.S. government.”
The remote Sugar Grove site was selected in 1955 with
the initial intention of building a 600-foot radio telescope for
astronomical studies. A 60-foot dish antenna was completed
Photo Credit: By Matt Crypto (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMenwith-hill-radome.jpg
A radome at RAF Menwith Hill, a site with satellite
uplink capabilities believed to be used by ECHELON.
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in 1956. Work began on the foundation of the larger radio
telescope in 1958, but the project was judged to be
obsolete before its completion. Work was halted in 1962,
and the 600-foot telescope was never finished.
A new purpose was found for the Sugar Grove facility
when the Navy proposed that the site be used as a
radio receiving station. In 1963 a naval radio station was
established at Sugar Grove. The base lies within the
radio quiet zone encircling the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory at Green Bank in neighboring Pocahontas
County. Sugar Grove benefits from the improved listening
environment provided by the quiet zone and from the
isolation provided by the surrounding mountains. The
station initially relied on two 1,000-foot circular arrays of
antennas, later removed. In 1968 work was finished on a
150-foot parabolic antenna, which remains the largest dish
antenna at Sugar Grove, and in the same year the Naval
Security Group established a detachment at the site. NRS
Sugar Grove was commissioned on May 10, 1969. The
Navy received communications from around the world at
Sugar Grove.
Increased automation of naval communications brought
the closing of the naval radio station in 1992, and the Naval
Security Group Activity Command was established at
Sugar Grove. In December 2005, the Naval Security Group
Activity Command was replaced by the Navy Information
Operations Command, which remains Sugar Grove’s
official designation.
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
includes a variety of antennas and an underground
operations building.
Sugar Grove’s role in National Security Agency interception
of international communications was revealed in
newspaper reporting of the Edward Snowden controversy
of 2013-14.
In January 2014, the Charleston Gazette cited New York
Times and Washington Post reports that Sugar Grove
was part of a worldwide network of facilities engaged in
monitoring satellite communications, including cell phone
traffic. The Gazette also cited research by author Matthew
Aid indicating that Sugar Grove’s Timberline was paired
with a similar listening station in England to intercept
signals from satellites in stationary orbit over the Atlantic
Ocean.
With all that information now available, perhaps it should
not come as a surprise that in April 2013, the Chief of Naval
Operations ordered that the site be closed by September
30, 2015, as “a result of the determination by the resource
sponsor [National Security Agency] to relocate the
command’s mission.” The unclassified directive does not,
of course, say where NSA is moving Sugar Grove’s satellite
communications intercept mission.
The Sugar Grove naval base includes two major
installations. A lower base along the highway near the
community of Sugar Grove houses the administrative,
lodging, dining and recreation areas. A smaller operations
base at a higher elevation, code-named Timberline,
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
IV. FOUNDING
FATHER FOLLIES
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
PAGE 21
DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – FOUNDING FATHER FOLLIES
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
WHAT THEY DIDN’T TEACH
YOU IN HISTORY CLASS
When not creating the history that made America the
great land it is today, the Founding Fathers were just like
the rest of us. They sometimes spent a little too much
on liquor … didn’t return their library books on time …
and burnt their dinner.
Truth be told, they had a lot on their mind. Their time
was spent building a new government in a new land,
writing the rules that govern us today – and fighting a
war in between. It’s amazing they had time for anything
else. But they did.
Take Benjamin Franklin, for instance. He was able
to found the first library, hospital, fire department
and insurance company in Philadelphia – all while
establishing a reputation as one of most prolific writers,
inventors and womanizers of his day.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – FOUNDING FATHER FOLLIES
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
Thomas Jefferson, the First Foodie?
Thomas Jefferson’s many accomplishments are well
known. But his influence extends beyond the realm
of government and education. Our third president
is also credited with introducing the nation to the
ultimate comfort food … macaroni and cheese.
The story goes he loved the dish so much when he
had it in Italy, he brought the recipe home with him
… and actually served it at a state dinner in 1802.
The humble dish went on to become one of the
most popular foods in the nation today, embraced by
finicky toddlers and cash-strapped college students
everywhere.
The Great Entertainer
Thomas Jefferson was known for entertaining
lavishly. He sometimes spent $50 a day for groceries,
the equivalent of $900 today. And the wine bill for
his eight years as president was $11,000 – about
$198,000 in today’s dollars.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Jefferson died broke.
He attempted to alleviate his financial problems by
selling his books to Congress for $25,000. The books
were the start of the Library of Congress.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – FOUNDING FATHER FOLLIES
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
George Washington, Founding Father and Kick Ass Farmer
Our first president, George Washington was a man of many
accomplishments … and more than a few legends. For the
record, his teeth weren’t wooden. But after having all his
teeth pulled at age 57, he did wear dentures — made of gold,
ivory, lead, human and animal teeth. His teeth weren’t real
… but that full head of hair he sports on the dollar bill? It’s all
his. Unlike some of his fellow patriots, George Washington
did not wear a wig.
Every American knows that Washington was a great leader.
But many are surprised to learn he was an agricultural
visionary, as well. He introduced the concept of crop rotation
to America. And he changed the face of farming in the nation
by introducing the mule, after breeding donkeys with his own
horses at Mount Vernon. In fact, Washington spent the last
15 years of his life breeding this beast of burden and owned
57 of them when he died.
Long Past Due
Washington’s recognition as an agricultural innovator may
be overdue … but not nearly as overdue as the two books
he took out of the Manhattan library two centuries ago. The
books were never returned. And now Mr. Washington’s late
fees total $300,000… and counting.
Our first president, the only president who never actually
ran for president, may not have had the time to read those
books. He was probably too busy writing letters. During his
presidency. Washington wrote over 20,000 of them, more
than any other president in history.
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DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? NO NEED TO KNOW – FOUNDING FATHER FOLLIES
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
Benjamin Franklin, the Shocking Truth
Ben Franklin was a man of many talents — printer, publisher,
scientist, statesman and inventor. He could speak five languages
and taught himself to play many musical instruments, including
the one he invented, the glass armonica.
Franklin’s inventions are legendary. Bifocals, the lighting rod, and
Franklin Stove are among the most well known. But he’s also
credited with creating the library stepstool and rocking chair. And
we all know how he discovered electricity … or do we?
Make it work … or die trying
Ben Franklin really didn’t fly that infamous kite and key during
a thunderstorm. Rather, he wrote about it as a theoretical
experiment in a local newspaper. But on many occasions he did
conduct experiments with electricity … and twice almost killed
himself in the process.
Once he was electrocuted as he tried to treat a paralyzed man
with an electric shock. On another occasion, he was showing
guests how he could use electricity to both kill and cook a turkey.
The charge missed the bird … and shocked Franklin. Perhaps
that’s why, if Franklin had his way, that bird would be the national
bird today. He considered the wild turkey a more noble choice
than the bald eagle.
Not all Benjamin Franklin’s experiments were a success … and
not all of his ideas were embraced. The new alphabet he created
was one of them. To rid what he found as redundancies in the
English alphabet, Franklin created his own and eliminated the
letters c, j, q, w and x … and replaced them with a few of his
own. To which his countrymen told him to, basically, mind his ps
and qs.
PAGE 25
DO YOU KNOW AMERICA? AMERICA’S SECRETS UNCOVERED
NRA ENDORSED MEMBER BENEFITS
PROTECT WHAT
MATTERS MOST TO YOU
The NRA works diligently to protect your second
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membership benefits that protect those who meant the
most to you.
The NRA Endorsed Life Insurance Program gives you access
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Financial Security You Can Rely On
The lump sum cash payment life insurance provides can
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Help Finding the Right Coverage at the Right Price
To learn more about your NRA Endorsed life insurance
options, visit NRA Endorsed Member Benefits.
PAGE 26