False Flag Penetrator
A special case of a mole is a false flag recruitment of a penetrator:
- Starts in C
- Believes being recruited by A
- Actually is recruited by B and sends false information to C
False flag recruitments, admittedly for covert action rather than pure HUMINT, were reported as a technique used by Edwin P. Wilson, who left CIA in 1971, and then went to work for a Navy HUMINT unit, Task Force 157 until 1976, when he went private. During his time working for CIA, he was both officially and unofficially involved in arms sales. "His assignments sometimes required him to establish and use “front” companies to gain access to information and to support CIA operations here and abroad commercially." Three men, found dead under mysterious circumstances, had believed they had been recruited by Wilson, "under the pretense that he was still a CIA executive." According to Epstein, "Wilson maintained a close association with two of the agency's top executives-Thomas G. Clines, the director of training for the clandestine services, and Theodore G. Shackley, who held the No. 2 position in the espionage branch. Both of these men sat in on meetings that Wilson held with his operatives and weapon suppliers and, by doing so, helped further the illusion that his activities had the sanction of the CIA— an illusion crucial to keeping his false flag attractive." Wilson was involved in then-banned arms sales to Libya, and it is unclear who actually sponsored these sales.
He was in Libya in 1982, but came to the Dominican Republic in 1982, where he was arrested for illegal arms sales, and sentenced, in 1984, to 52 years in prison. He was 55 years old at the time.
Continuing Freedom of Information Act and other research by his attorney caused a federal judge to throw out the conviction, on the basis that prosecutors "deliberately deceived the court", in the words of the judge, "America will not defeat Libyan terrorism by double-crossing a part-time, informal government agent."
Read more about this topic: Clandestine HUMINT, Recruit Types, Mole
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