FAPA Chairman Mike Kuo and FAPA Executive Director Coen Blaauw are divided over rule of Taiwan by the Republic of China in-exile. (credit: Michael Richardson)
Inside Taiwan’s purgatory
The growing split within the Formosa Association for Public Affairs over recognition of the Republic of China in-exile as the sovereign government of Taiwan jumped into the open at the World Taiwanese Congress in Taipei recently. While most of the rank-and-file members of FAPA are Taiwan independence advocates, the leadership has long had a cozy relationship with the ROC. Regular FAPA field trips to Twin Oaks, the ROC compound in Washington, are an example of the close bond between the advocacy group and the Chinese government it seeks to eliminate.
FAPA Chairman Mike Kuo has gone on record supporting the recognition of the ROC by the United States. While Kuo has battled against Chinese Taipei he seems to have a love affair with Republic of China and its President Tsai Ing-wen. Kuo has campaigned for Tsai.
“President Tsai has our complete confidence. She has earned and deserves our full support. She is the only person today who can lead Taiwan across the murky waters that it has found itself in over the past decades.”
Kuo wrote that Tsai “brilliantly” advocated “the Chinese government must recognize the existence of the Republic of China.” Such partisan talk about an exiled government that most FAPA members view as illegitimate puts Kuo at odds with FAPA’s motto to “build worldwide support for Taiwan independence.”
FAPA Executive Director Coen Blaauw was a keynote speaker at the Taipei conference and made his views on the dispute quite well known. Blaauw’s comment “We don’t like the name Republic of China” gained him a hearty round of applause.
“The name “ROC” for Taiwan is wrong. We have a strange relationship with the ROC flag.”
“Ultimately referring to Taiwan as simply “Taiwan” is consistent with the U.S. policy.
Yet Blaauw, who claimed to be the author of the Taiwan Travel Act, and is an adept dancer in the fog surrounding Taiwan status, still has not stepped out of the ambiguity into clarity. Blaauw offered a policy statement he wants adopted: “The United States recognizes the objective reality that the Taiwan government legitimately represents a democracy of 23.5 million people.”
Blaauw did strike one note that resonated with many in the audience with his call for American protection. “The United States will ensure any resolution of the future of Taiwan must be done peacefully and with the active assent of the people of Taiwan.”
Blaauw called for Senate confirmation of the American Institute on Taiwan director as with ambassadors. “Taiwanese Americans would like to see the AIT Director confirmed by the Senate, which has the right to oversee US-Taiwan relations through such a confirmation process.”
Blaauw sang praises for the Sunflower Movement. “It was the high water mark of Taiwan’s democracy movement. If we never hear from the Sunflowers again, their legacy will be that they showed the people of Taiwan that is is possible to stand up against the government.”
Kuo, seated in the audience, jumped on stage after Blaauw was finished for some unscripted and unplanned remarks about which Shakespeare would have remarked, “Much ado about nothing.”
Longtime FAPA loyalists would be wise to pause and examine the moral compass to see if the organization is heading in the right direction or needs a change of leadership.
European Parliament member Hans van Baalen urges rule by Republic of China in-exile (credit: Michael Richardson)
Inside Taiwan’s Purgatory
Taiwan independence advocates attending the World Taiwanese Congress in Taipei were stunned into silence by the remarks of Hans van Baalen, a member of the European Parliament. Baalen’s only self-stated credential to speak at the event was his attendance at Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration. Baalen’s prepared comments supported his admitted lack of qualification, and apparent lack of familiarity with Taiwan’s tortured history.
Hans van Baalen’s comments struck a sour note with attendees and he received only a smattering of polite applause. Ironically, Ballen’s speech was entitled “Outsmarting China” but revealed Baalen was not so smart himself. Several direct quotations from the printed program paint a sorry picture.
“The reason why mainland China is so obsessed with Taiwan is because you developed your country into something Xi Jinping is afraid of. The ROC is a flourishing multi-party democracy….The ROC respects human rights and civil liberties.”
“I can fully understand that a new generation in Taiwan would opt for full independence as Republic of Taiwan. However, by declaring formal independence, Taiwan falls to the political trap that has been constructed by Xi Jinping.”
“China might try to test the solidarity between Taiwan and its main military allies Japan and the US, by further military threats and provocations forcing Taiwan to give in.”
“We need to prevent that such an escalation will ever arise. Taiwan, being a full-fledged democracy, which elects its own leaders and lawmakers, is de facto independent as ROC. Any change of the status quo could result in a destabilized situation where the people of Taiwan find themselves eventually worse off: less democratic, less freedom, less prosperity.”
“It is therefore important to outsmart the PRC: this means to maintain the current status quo.”
During the question and answer period the speaker was directly asked if he thought the ROC equaled Taiwan. Dodging the answer, Hans van Baalen rambled on losing track of the question. Ted Lau, chair of the Taiwanese National Congress advocacy group, cornered Hans in the hallway and restated the question. While again evading the question, the European politician admitted his ignorance about the ROC constitution and was unaware of the ROC claim to be the legitimate government of China. Stunned at the sudden realization, that by his own ignorance, he had just urged acceptance of an unstable foreign policy, normally verbose Hans van Baalen was rendered speechless in a Taipei Trade Center hallway.
Next up, FAPA split exposed at World Taiwanese Congress
Republic of China in-exile Vice President Chen Chien-jen welcomes Taiwan independence advocates. (credit: Michael Richardson)
Inside Taiwan’s Purgatory
It was an Alice in Wonderland event where things were inside-out and upside-down. On the surface the so-called World Taiwanese Congress was orderly, business-like, and seemed to belong in the Taipei Trade Center where it was held. The ninth annual Global Taiwan National Affairs Symposium, entitled “Countering and Constraining China for a New World Order” began with a welcome from Republic of China in-exile Vice President Chen Chien-jen. Chen, whose official flag is the ROC emblem, spoke from a stage festooned with the green and white flag of the Taiwan independence movement.
Flags may not have been so important to Vice President Chen but you couldn’t tell from his innocuous welcome. One disappointed observer remarked that Chen might as well have been welcoming a garden club to a flower show. While Chen avoided politics in his brief remarks at the conference, his soon-to-follow announcement that he would not be Tsai Ing-wen’s running mate may have been on his mind.
Chen was mindful that the room was full of Taiwanese independents advocates and took no chances for an incident. A phalanx of a dozen security agents stood between Chen and the seated conference delegates. Perhaps the presence of Aquia Tsai and others made Chen fear a repeat of a 2012 event where Aquia and a hundred supporters shouted ROC President Ma Ying-jeou off-stage at a Human Rights Day ceremony. A video clip of the action also shows the first shoe toss at Ma by Peter Wang as he is being dragged from the frenzy. Throwing footwear at Ma became so popular that he had to travel with netting to catch the flying shoes at outdoor events.
Chen was followed by Cho Jung-tai, Chair of the Democratic Progressive Party. Although the DPP was born into protest against rule by the ROC, now that the party is in power it supports the status quo, both straining and constraining the party. Out of such a conflicted position little was to be expected from Cho and he left the conference attendees with puzzled looks.
President Tsai Ing-wen, locked in a difficult reelection campaign, may not survive the DPP primary, which has been put on hold. Unpopular with the party faithful, who support Taiwan independence, Tsai has traded her popularity for good relations with the United States, where support of the “strategic ambiguity” remains the preferred foreign policy choice in Washington. Tsai’s support of the status quo may doom her to being a one-term president.
When the DPP was the opposition it was more clear to members where the party stood on Taiwan’s future. While Tsai has stubbornly stuck to the status quo she has allowed the People’s Republic of China to make gains in pushing the name Chinese Taipei on the island.
A guard tries to stop youth group paint party at Chiang Kai-shek memorial (credit: Free Taiwan Party)
Inside Taiwan’s Purgatory
Chinese dictator Chiang Kai-shek brought much bloodshed and suffering to Formosa after the end of World War II. Despite Chiang’s murderous history, Taiwan, as Formosa is now known, is littered with Chiang idolatry. Last year an enterprising group of eleven youths had a paint splash party at Chiang’s memorial crypt. On April 9 the youths were sentenced to jail terms.
A Taoyuan District Court judge sentenced ten of the young activists to 55 days in jail for property destruction. One student was sentenced to 59 days in jail for obstructing police. The jail terms have brought sharp criticism.
Aquia Tsai, chairman of the Free Taiwan Party and a longtime street activist, denounced the sentences. “The verdicts on the young generation show that political persecution still keeps going on from the illegal ROC exiled regime against Taiwanese people.”
Disgust for public display of Chiang idolatry runs concurrent with the desire for Taiwan independence and the idols are a wound that will not heal for victims and their families of atrocities committed by the Republic of China in-exile.
The paint splash team was able to get two charges dismissed for cemetery humiliation and shaming a memorial site. It was successfully argued that the Kuomintang established the memorial crypt. Further, the KMT did not comply with cemetery laws thereby voiding any cemetery offense.
The students vow to appeal the sentences. A statement released after the jail terms were announced shows the direction an appeal will take.
“A site with the unburied coffin of a mass murderer is not a national memorial site. It was set up when the KMT was in power by abusing public resources for their party leader.”
“The verdict is illegal because the government should not promote the worshipping of a mass murderer. Pouring paint over this mass murderer’s unburied coffin is a political protest, important to establish a truly free and democratic society.”
“The court, under the ROC exile government, has no jurisdiction to try this case. The demonstrations taken by Taiwanese against authoritarian symbols and for carrying out transitional justice should be not guilty of any charge.”
“We will appeal this illegal verdict and continue our work to fight injustice, following the footsteps of many Taiwanese prisoners of conscience, until a new, democratic, and independent country of Taiwan is established. The 400 years of colonial control over Taiwan must end.”
Statues of dictator Chiang Kai-shek await beheading or other decorative modification (credit: Fred Hsu)
Inside Taiwan’s Purgatory
Dictator Chiang Kai-shek lost a civil war in China in 1949 and escaped to Formosa where the United States had installed his regime as an occupation government following the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II. The Chiang dynasty ruled the island with a harsh martial law until the mid 1980s. During Chiang’s reign, and that of his son Chiang Ching-kuo, thousands were murdered, tortured, and imprisoned during the White Terror era. To reinforce his control over the Formosan population, Chiang had statues of himself erected all over the island. Chiang also plastered himself on the postage stamps in a form of Chinese hero-worship.
Today, many island residents are offended at the statues that continue to disgrace public space. One man, Richard Kuo, decided to show his displeasure by decapitating a Chiang statue located at Jiang Shilin High School. To Kuo’s way of thinking the students should not have to be exposed to Chiang’s likeness as they pursue their studies. Although beheading a statue is not normally viewed as an act of courage, for Kuo the action put him in trouble with prosecutors employed by the exiled Republic of China and determined to protect Chiang idolatry.
On April 8, Richard Kuo was sentenced to 70 days in jail for the statue beheading. Kuo was sentenced to 50 days for trespassing on school property and 40 days for the damage to the statue. Because both offenses arose from the same action the judge reduced the 90-day sentence.
Kuo posted the next step to an internet discussion group. Kuo will have attorneys review the court decision for consideration of an appeal although he feels an appeal would be a waste of time and money. With limited funds, Kuo is concerned about paying a fine.
Richard Kuo is one man who acted alone. Yet there are many who share Kuo’s views and so Chiang Kai-shek statues remain an endangered species of monumental art. Beheading a statue, as Kuo did, is a bit more work than splashing red paint, a common form of protest against the Chiang statues.
Taiwan’s mayors are being put to a litmus test by Chiang foes who demand the removal of statues from municipal areas. The excuse most often used by the politicians is that they do not want to distort history by removing statues. Such doubletalk will keep people like Richard Kuo busy in the evening hours.
Chiang Kai-shek statues are not the only target of Taiwanese activists these days. Eleven youth were sentenced the day after Kuo’s verdict for a paint splash at Chiang’s memorial crypt in Taiwan’s purgatory.
Next up, paint party at Chiang crypt draws jail sentences
Taiwan human rights activist Tsai Tsai-yuan stands outside his old cell at the notorious Green Island prison where he was imprisoned for twelve years during the White Terror era. (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Inside Taiwan’s Purgatory
Richardson Reports is back from a two week fact-finding trip to Taiwan, the island trapped in “political purgatory” to quote a District of Columbia Appellate Court ruling in Roger Lin vs. United States of America. The purpose of the trip into the fog of the longstanding “strategic ambiguity” over Taiwan’s sovereignty was to investigate the prosecution of leaders of Taiwan Civil Government, an advocacy group. The TCG leaders are accused of fraud by cheating their own members with false claims about the group’s identification cards. What seems like a minor political squabble at best has been billed by Republic of China in-exile prosecutors as a sophisticated fraud ring cheating people out of millions of dollars. In an attempt to prove their point, prosecutors detained three of the six people charged for five months, without bail or visitors. However, closer examination reveals the prosecution case is built upon lies—by the prosecutors themselves—over the identities of purported victims.
Taiwan Civil Government is controversial, misunderstood, and successful. The decade-old group does not hide from its dislike of the exiled Republic of China. TCG takes its campaign to rid Taiwan of the ROC to the streets, the courthouse, and an advertising campaign in Washington. The pro-American stance of the group, their ubiquitous black suit uniforms, and progress in courting Donald Trump has unnerved ROC politicians, uncertain of the true power of the group. Worried by the Taiwan independence movement and threatened by the People’s Republic of China, the ROC hierarchy has targeted its latest opponent for elimination with accusations of fraud by TCG leaders.
We begin our exclusive twenty-five part series with breaking news, the sentencing of Taiwanese activists for assaults on Chiang Kai-shek idolatry. Dictator Chiang was responsible for thousands of deaths during the 228 Massacre in 1947 and during the White Terror era in the years that followed. Richard Kuo has received a seventy day sentence for beheading a Chiang statue. Elsewhere, an eleven-member youth group was sentenced for a red paint splash at Chiang’s memorial crypt.
The fact-finding tour included attendance at the so-called World Taiwanese Congress, a symposium held at the Taipei Trade Center. Curiously, the pro-independence views of the majority of attendees were ignored by the first three speakers. ROC Vice-President Chen Chien-jen gave a short welcome without mentioning his government was at odds with the Taiwan independence movement, preferring instead the confusing status quo. Jaws dropped when European Parliament member Hans van Baalen urged attendees to accept the ROC as their government to “outsmart” China. Lastly, the rift at Formosa Association for Public Affairs over recognition of the ROC was laid wide open.
We will meet two longtime political prisoners, Tsai Tsai-yuan and Formosa Haung, and learn of their plans to rid Taiwan of the exiled Chinese government. We will learn more about Taiwan Civil Government as we journey inside TCG headquarters. Then we will visit alleged victim after victim after victim, people who say ROC prosecutors are lying about them. Purported victims, named in the indictment against TCG leaders, lined up to tell their stories and deny victim status.
Julian Lin gave a moving personal account of her five month ordeal in a ROC jail. Roger Lin, in an exclusive three-hour interview, gave a view from inside Taiwan’s ambiguity into a shadowy world where nothing is as it seems. Lin also talks about the TCG identification cards that have gotten him in so much trouble.
Police surveillance of peaceful Taiwan Civil Government parades was conspicuous and a thinly-veiled attempt to intimidate members of the group from marching. Hundreds of TCG members have been hauled in for unfriendly interrogations in an effort to make them depart or betray the organization. However, instead of the heavy-hand scaring people away, the oppressive harassment has seemingly unified TCG into a focused group prepared to do battle with the ROC for the future of Taiwan.
Central to the mystery is America’s defacto embassy, the American Institute on Taiwan. Roger Lin held regular, noisy, annual demonstrations outside the AIT office in Taipei. In 2011, Lin hit paydirt and the TCG group was warmly welcomed by AIT staffers in a street meet-and-greet. All AIT will say these days is no comment.
How far into the Trump White House did TCG get? Photos suggest pretty far with the likes of presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway and Vice-President Mike Pence showing up in TCG photo albums. The group also had a scheduled session with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross at the Heritage Foundation, which was abruptly canceled after the fraud arrests in Taiwan.
What is the lawsuit Roger & Julian Lin vs. United States vs. Republic of China all about and what does the case have to do with a political fraud prosecution? The answers raise more questions as we dig below the surface and explore a Japanese connection in an increasingly-complex tale of prosecutorial abuse and international intrigue.
Near the end of the trip, American-built F-16 warplanes thundered skyward, scrambled after a twelve-minute incursion of Taiwan airspace by People’s Republic of China military pilots. The shriek of the jet engines screamed louder than words about the dangers of an ambiguous foreign policy. Finally, the series ends with Taiwanese activist Nieco Tsai, who urges a referendum as the way out of Taiwan’s purgatory.
Michele Ndoki is being held in solitary confinement facing a Cameroon military tribunal (credit: Wikidata)
Prominent attorney Michele Ndoki, a vice-president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, was shot three times by police on January 26 at a march for honest elections. Ndoki represented opposition presidential candidate Maurice Kamto who challenged the controversial October 2018 election in Cameroon charging widespread election fraud.
Wounded in the leg with multiple shots, Ndoki reported that the policeman who shot her was not indiscriminately firing into a crowd, as some police did, but instead targeted her individually. Afraid for her life after Kamto was arrested and charged with treason for heading the honest election protest march, Ndoki went into hiding.
Ndoki was hunted by the Special Operations Group, a secretive security force, and arrested February 25 trying to seek asylum across the border in Nigeria. The activist lawyer was held in solitary confinement for a week while she was interrogated by the security squad. Despot Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, has since ordered her case transferred from a civilian court to a military tribunal where the outcome is more likely to be against Ndoki.
Amnesty International has called for Ndoki and Kamto’s release along with 130 other people arrested that also face execution for participating in the honest election march. The formal charges in the post-election crackdown against the peaceful demonstration are rebellion, hostility to the Fatherland, incitement to insurrection, and offense against the President of the Republic.
The human rights organization’s call for release echoes that of the United States. Tibor Naggy, Under-Secretary of State for Africa, urged Biya to release those arrested referring to them as political prisoners. Cameroon’s response is that the rule of law must prevail and the protesters must be held accountable for their actions. The United States has put a hold on military aid to Biya’a regime in light of recent events.
Biya’s long and harsh rule of Cameroon is unraveling as evidenced by the mass arrests and a deepening civil war with Ambazonia, a breakaway English-speaking region that formerly was British Southern Cameroons. In a campaign to crush the rebel Amba militia, Cameroon anti-terror squads have been unleashed to inflict terror on the populace, burning hospitals, churches, and shooting non-combatants.
Cameroon troops control the Ambazonia region by day, while rebel militias control the land at night. Biya has ordered the rebels to lay down their arms or suffer the consequences. The escalating crisis threatens the stability of Biya’s regime as the world learns of ongoing war crimes in Ambazonia and the repression of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement.
Michele Ndoki after she was shot by police in Cameroon in January (credit:Agbor Balla)
Respected attorney Michele Ndoki was shot multiple times by Cameroon police in January during a peaceful demonstration and since has been arrested and charged with treason. Ndoki was taken into custody Feb. 27 and faces possible execution along with dozens of other political activists. The charges against opponents of Cameroon despot Paul Biya have been denounced by the United States.
Cameroon, long restive under the harsh rule of Biya, is fighting a civil war with Ambazonia, the newly declared independent country formerly called British Southern Cameroons during its colonial era. The ongoing bloodshed in Ambazonia is a terror campaign waged by American trained anti-terrorist squads. The United States has suspended military aid to Cameroon because of human rights violations.
Ndoki, one of Cameroon’s leading attorneys, is the lawyer for imprisoned Maurice Kamto who opposed Biya in a controversial October 2018 election. The January march when Ndoki was targeted by police called for an honest election. Kamto has charged the election outcome was rigged and Ndoki has been litigating the issue. Kamto was arrested a month ago and also faces execution.
Tchakounte Patie, president of the Cameroon Bar Association, has demanded the release of Ndoki following a meeting of the Bar that condemned her arrest. The legal group appointed three barristers, Onana Désiré, Mang Mayi and Ashu Egbe to defend Ndoki who is being held without bail.
The United States Under-Secretary for African Affairs, Tibor Naggy, has called on Biya to release Kamto as well as his supporters. Naggy made his remarks on French radio RFI.
“The government of Cameroon affirms that Maurice Kamto was legally arrested and imprisoned. But I think it will be wise to release him. Whether the accusations are true or false, this is perceived as being arrested for his political activities and this unacceptable. Kamto and his supporters have to be released and we are clear about that.”
Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi refuted Naggy’s remarks. Sadi stressed that Kamto was not arrested for his political convictions but is charged with rebellion, hostility against the Fatherland, and insurrection.
Sadi also defended the military crackdown on Ambazonia saying it is the government’s responsibility to protect the territorial integrity of the nation as well as protect citizens in the face of attacks from “secessionist terrorists” whom he blamed.
To keep tighter control on the judiciary, military courts may be used to prosecute the treason charges. The threat of execution is no idle remark in troubled Cameroon as civil society is under assault by the government itself.
Upper-left to lower-right: Flags of the Republic of China in-exile, Taiwan independence movement, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan Civil Government, Japan, & United States
Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is the largest country in the world without its own sovereignty. Centuries of colonialism, followed by seven decades of “strategic ambiguity” have left the island of 24 million people in a state of confusion. A federal court in Roger Lin vs. United States declared in 2009 the unresolved status to be “political purgatory” and urged President Barack Obama to act to clarify Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Taiwanese independence advocates are pushing for a referendum in 2020 to determine the island status while two different Chinese governments claim ownership. The international conundrum is a diplomatic maze putting even the island name in dispute. Taiwanese athletes are forced to compete in the Olympics under a white flag and the name Chinese Taipei. A review of how this mess came about provides some understanding of possible referendum outcomes.
Formosa was under Japanese control by treaty from 1895 until World War II. American military action against the Japanese in Formosa, largely a bombing campaign, left the United States in charge under international laws of war. President Harry Truman imposed Republic of China troops on Formosa to process surrendering Japanese soldiers in 1945 after hostilities ended. Meanwhile the ROC was fighting and losing a communist revolution. After the Chinese civil war ended in 1949, the defeated Kuomintang regime fled to Formosa, with the blessing of the United States.
The Republic of China in-exile still administers Taiwan and ROC President Tsai Ing-wen claims that the ROC equals Taiwan. The postage stamps say “Republic of China (Taiwan)” and the ROC flag flies above government buildings. Well entrenched, the ROC will not be easy to dislodge from power.
The Taiwanese independence movement rejects the view that ROC equals Taiwan and urges independence under a green and white flag. However, the long years of confusion and oppression have left independence advocates divided with multiple political parties and groups often unwilling to work together.
Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China considers the civil war unfinished and insists that Taiwan is merely a renegade province of the PRC. Communist China threatens invasion and wants the island’s wealth. The latest PRC maneuver is to force the name Chinese Taipei on Taiwan and use of the new name is becoming more common under Chinese pressure. Major airlines are the most recent target of the name change game. American lip service to a “one China” policy has only served to confuse things further.
Taiwan Civil Government, an advocacy group formed in 2008, believes that the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty that formally ended World War II with Japan left the United States as the “principal occupying power” and seeks American help to expel the ROC from Taiwan. TCG has structured itself as a shadow government and has been busy lobbying the White House for recognition. In May 2018, the ROC arrested TCG founder Roger Lin and charged him and others with political fraud, two weeks before a high level TCG meeting with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. TCG members say the arrests were to stop group progress in Washington toward the ouster of the ROC.
Japan, which renounced its claim on Formosa at the San Francisco Peace Treaty, never terminated Japanese nationality for the residents. Some older Formosans still self-identify as Japanese. Although Japan is not actively seeking recovery of the island, it is the last nation that enjoyed undisputed sovereignty over Taiwan.
The United States is also a contender for control of Taiwan. America does not recognize ROC sovereignty and defines its relationship with the island by federal statute in the Taiwan Relations Act. The 1952 treaty that left the United States as the principal power remains valid international law. Several Taiwanese organizations seek statehood for Taiwan believing that becoming the 51st state is the best way to protect the island from PRC aggression.
The current status quo of confusion is wearing thin as a protective shield for Taiwan. Like a wound that will not heal, Taiwan’s unresolved status festers while a PRC military build-up threatens the island. At this time there is no scheduled referendum. The United States currently opposes both independence and a referendum with no clear path to the future. The work of the San Francisco Peace Conference remains unfinished leaving Taiwan without a flag of its own.
Watergate’s “Deep Throat” Mark Felt (credit: U.S. Congress)
In August 1970 at FBI headquarters, William Bradley, a supervisor in the Administrative Division, sent a secret memorandum to Ivan Willard Conrad at the FBI Laboratory. Bradley forwarded a request from the Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha field office, Paul Young, to analyze a 911 recording for identification—but issue no laboratory report. Omaha Patrolman Larry Minard was killed by a bomb when lured to a vacant house by an anonymous 911 caller.
“The SAC, Omaha strongly recommends that the examination requested by the Omaha Police Department be conducted.”
“If approved, the results of any examinations will be orally furnished the Police on an informal basis through the SAC, Omaha.”
Paul Young, under pressure from Director J. Edgar Hoover, chose two Black Panther leaders, Edward Poindexter and David Rice, to be blamed for Minard’s death. The unknown 911 caller was a messy detail that threatened to frustrate Young’s plan. Young thought it better to let one of Minard’s killers get away with murder than risk upsetting a prosecution of the two Panther leaders, hence no laboratory report on the identity of the 911 caller.
Mark Felt, chief of the Inspections Division, and Hoover’s personal troubleshooter, is on the distribution list of the Bradley memo. Given the nature of Felt’s job duties he was aware of the Omaha conspiracy. Felt was no newcomer to dirty deeds and monitored counterintelligence operations including the infamous COINTELPRO operation that targeted the Black Panthers.
A feature article in the Salt Lake City Tribune revealed that Felt had extensive counterintelligence experience in a four-year stint with an espionage unit during World War II. “At one time his title was superintendent of counter intelligence operations.”
Although Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein relied on Felt as Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal and considered Felt to be a trustworthy source, Felt’s bold lies are well documented. Felt’s denial of the Deep Throat allegation, contained in his memoir told the world the complete opposite of the truth, as he would later admit. Felt went so far as to suggest the identity of Deep Throat, knowing the innocent man was not the leak.
Felt’s untruths extended to his wife’s death. In 1984, Audrey Felt shot herself in the head with Mark’s revolver and Felt kept the cause of death a secret, even from the couple’s daughter. To complete the deception, Felt noted Audrey’s death in her sleep from cardiac arrest in the family’s “Calendar of Events” he prepared.
Since Felt was a liar, his statements need to be viewed with skepticism. Nonetheless, Felt wrote that around the time of the Omaha bombing Hoover was getting tremendous pressure from Richard Nixon to take firm action on domestic bombings.
After Hoover’s death in May 1972, there was a shuffle at FBI headquarters and Mark Felt briefly rose to Acting Director. In December of that year, Felt censured Charles Brennan for sharing a FBI investigative report with the Alexandria County Police Department about the murder of a police officer.
The censure followed an internal Bureau memorandum that discussed disclosure of FBI reports to local police and Brennan’s action.
“We should not permit the action by the SAC, Alexandria to go unchallenged, for to do so, would give tacit approval to field offices to disseminate FBI reports to their local departments. The potential scope of such dissemination is beyond estimation, since in nearly all of our criminal, local agencies have concurrent interests. If FBI reports were indiscriminately furnished to police departments, they could very possibly become parts of police records which are made available to members of the press, and there is no end to speculation as to what use could be made of information from such reports. It is also pointed out that FBI reports, if allowed to be given to police agencies, would be available to local prosecutors, many of who are politically oriented and would be very happy to quote FBI reports for whatever purpose best suited them. We should continue to adhere to the firm policy of requiring field offices to advise FBIHQ of all instances wherein dissemination of FBI information to local authorities is considered warranted.”
When Senator Frank Church lead a Senate investigation of COINTELPRO and other Federal Bureau of Investigation misdeeds, Felt’s division received close examination. The Church Committee final report on Felt’s unit was blunt about the degree of blame.
“The Inspection Division attempted to ensure that standard procedures were being followed. The inspectors focused on two things: field office participation, and the mechanics of headquarters approval. However, the Inspection Division did not exercise oversight, in the sense of looking for wrongdoing. Rather, it was an active participant in COINTELPRO by attempting to make sure that it was being efficiently and enthusiastically conducted.”
In 1978, Mark Felt, L. Patrick Gray and Edward Miller were indicted by a federal grand jury for counterintelligence break-ins. Attorney General Griffin Bell made an official announcement about the FBI crimes. “Criminal prosecution should be brought to bear at the highest levels of authority and responsibility at which the evidence will support prosecution.”
When the trio was arraigned at the District of Columbia Courthouse a crowd of 1,200 FBI agents gathered outside the building to protest the prosecution of the three former FBI officials.
Following their conviction, President Ronald Reagan pardoned Mark Felt and Edward Miller for authorizing illegal break-ins to plant wiretaps. “During their long careers, Mark Felt and Edward Miller served the Federal Bureau of Investigation and our nation with great distinction. To punish them further—after three years of criminal prosecution proceedings—would not serve the ends of justice.”
“The record demonstrates that they acted not with criminal intent, but in belief they had grants of authority reaching to the highest levels of government.”
In July 2016, David Hardy, Chief of the FBI Record/Information Dissemination Section, completed a search for Felt’s annual inspection reports on the Omaha field office during Paul Young’s supervision. Hardy reported that inspection reports for the years 1967 to 1973 were missing. Hardy stated simply, “We were unable to locate records.”
Given the magnitude of the FBI involvement in the prosecution of the Omaha Two, the case would have been examined in painstaking detail and Felt’s reports, kept from the defense, may have included exculpatory information. The full truth of what went on in Omaha remains unknown.
Richardson Reports 