22-03-2009, 05:00 AM
(This post was last modified: 22-03-2009, 05:44 AM by Tosh Plumlee.)
DoD Cover Up GAO Records missing:
This case went to behind close doors with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as was later classified Top Secret; Committee Sensitive. It was kept out of the main stream press at the time.
UNITED STATES COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel.
GARY R. EITEL,
Plaintiff,
vs.
ROY D. REAGAN, et al.,
Defendants
CIVIL NO. 94-425-JO
FOURTH DECLARATION OF GARY R. EITEL
I Gary R. Eitel, State as follows:
. I am the relator in this qui tam action on behalf of the plaintiff, United States of America, pursuant to the False Claims Act, 31 U. S.C. ~3730. I am a U.S. citizen over the age of 21 and am competent to make this declaration.
2. I am a former military combat pilot. I flew over 300 combat missions in Vietnam, totaling over 500 hours of flight time. For my service, I received a Presidential citation, the Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters, and four Bronze Battle Stars.
3. I am currently a professional pilot with approximately 11,000 hours pilot time. I have the senior ratings of my profession, including airline transport pilot with jet ratings. I am also an FAA certified flight instructor, airframe and powerplant mechanic, and aircraft maintenance inspector.
1732Q134.MTN
In April-May 1989, while employed at Evergreen International Airlines, I was told that at some future time I could be asked to fly United States government C-130 aircraft for Evergreen. The aircraft were based at Evergreens Marana, Arizona base and operated under the guise of the Forest Service However, the planes were used by Evergreen for non-firefighting purposes, such as carrying cargo. I later learned that these aircraft (of which I gained knowledge in April-May 1989) were the same planes that were transferred to defendants, which were first delivered to Evergreen's Marana Airbase. See Paragraphs 31, 35
My knowledge that government C-130 aircraft were coming into Evergreen's Marana airbase under the guise of the Forest Service concerned me, because I might be required to fly the aircraft on questionable or illegal flights for non-firefighting purposes. I reported this to a Department Of Defense agent I had known for a number of years, Tom Miller. I have attached the declaration of Tom Miller hereto, which confirms my report to him. Exh. 1. I have known Mr. Miller for over 20 years. He has been an agent of the Department of Defense, and then the Federal Aviation Administration, for as long as I have known him.
6. From 1970 until his death in late 1992, I maintained contact with an individual named Jack Chisum, I first met Jack Chisum in 1970 while flying for the U.S. Forest Service. Jack was my immediate aviation supervisor. Through the years, Jack and I kept in contact concerning our friendship and business acquaintance. In 1990, I provided information to Mr. Chisum that Evergreen had access to surplus military C-130 aircraft, which I later learned were the aircraft at issue in this suit. Mr. Chisum needed access to C-130 aircraft and had inquired of my knowledge.
7. In the fall of 1991, I was pursuing government aviation opportunities for myself and certain consulting clients. I came across an industry magazine, Conservation Aeronautics, that reported a just started Forest Service C-130 and P-3 air tanker program.
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In Summer 1991, I read an article in the magazine that stated that C-130 and P-3 aircraft, former military planes, were being used by private contractors for firefighting for the US Forest Service. Through the fall of 1991, Mr. Wood and I maintained contact, and he gave me extensive information in our discussions which he asked I keep confidential. One piece of confidential information that he eventually gave me was that an individual by the name of Roy Reagan was involved in getting A-10s connected with the Forest Service.
8. Later in the fall of 1991, I communicated with Jack Chisum and learned he was having difficulties because he and others were operating C-130 aircraft in Kuwait and other surrounding countries,. Jack Chisum explained to me the following:
He and another man by the name of Woody Grantham had interests in a company called T&G Aviation a/k/a Douglas County Aviation. Jack indicated that he was a vice president in the company and that he had a financial interest in it as well. Jack went on to say that T&G's C130, aircraft were doing work for Southern Air and Evergreen in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. He said the paperwork was in place to show that the Bechtol Corp. and a company out of Alaska called Martech were using the C-130s for routine oil field work, when in fact, it was other kinds of work, including moving weapons. Jack said he had the proper paperwork in hand allowing T&G's operation of the C-130s in Kuwait and surrounding companies under the cover story, but that turf fighting between Evergreen and Southern Air had put a spotlight on T&G's operations. Jack went on to say that Southern Air and Evergreen were trying to eliminate T&G from doing the type of work that Southern Air and Evergreen had traditionally done, such as hauling guns and other contraband. In later conversations, Chisum told me the details of a related Forest Service exchange program cover story.
9. In October 1991, I contacted the US Forest Service concerning the aviation magazine article depicting a C-130 air tanker. The Forest Service officials responsible for the aircraft exchange were extremely uncooperative. I was told many things by the Forest Service which turned out to be untrue. For example, the Forest Service told me the new program merely involved 3 C130 aircraft (when it involved more than 22 C-130s and more than 6 P-3sand as many as 100 A-10 fighter jets and that, for all practical purposes, it was closed to all newcomers. I was told by the Forest Service the program could
3
reopen if certain details could be worked out by the General Accounting Office concerning transfer of surplus military aircraft. Exhs. 2-6
10. I had been referred to the Forest Service Aviation office in Washington, D.C. by Tom Wood. I called this office and was told that Fred Fuchs was the Forest Service in charge of the air tanker program. I spoke with Mr. Fuchs briefly and followed up that same day with a letter by facsimile requesting information about the military aircraft exchange program. Exhs. 2-4 . In the ensuing month to two months, I repeatedly contacted Fuchs' office to gain information about the exchange program. Fuch's and his subordinates stonewalled, promising to but then not sending information about it. Exh 6
After originally communicating with the forest service in Oct. 1991, I contacted the General Services Administration about the new C-130 air tanker program and received an entirely different picture than what was told to me by the Forest Service. I was told by the General Counsels office of GSA that there were 22 C-130and 6 P-3A aircraft involved.
12. I was surprised at the coincidence between Chisum's disclosure about tags C-130s and Fuch's refusal to be more forthcoming about the Forest Service exchange program which involved C-130s. This reminded me of the use of C-130s by Evergreen for non-firefighting purposes under the guise of the Forest Service in 1989, and it turned out that I now was dealing with the same aircraft.
13. In Nov. 1991, in a phone conversation with Jack Chisum, we again discussed the subject of T&G's C-130 predicament. Chisum admitted at the time his own difficulties with flying C-130 aircraft in Kuwait was connected with the Forest Service program about which I had inquired to the government. Chisum expressed grave concerns for himself and his company and he stated he felt he was being set up by his competitors, with the help of certain people at the Forest Service.
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n November 1991, Chisum informed me there were other people and companies that were doing illegal things in the Forest Service air tanker program. He disclosed to me that the contractors who had received military aircraft from the Forest Service knew in advance that they would use the planes for profit on non-firefighting uses. He said that other people other than T&G were also doing things with the forest Service military aircraft other than firefighting, and that it was unfair that those entities, other than just T&G --were not the subjects of investigations. He specifically identified two of the defendant contractors—Hawkins and Powers Aviation and Aero Union Corporation. (See Exh. 7, 10). Furthermore, he identified specific illegal uses by Hawkins and Powers of the military aircraft, including leasing them for film production, using them in video commercials, and hauling fish in Alaska. He stated that the scheme to use the Forest Service aircraft for profit in non-firefighting purposes was organized out of Aero Unions’ offices in Chico, Calif. He also stated that the contractors had to use Reagan to get type certificate for the planes, and that Reagan was located at Aero Unions offices. I told Chisum that it did not make since that the contractors had to use Reagan for a type certificate, since if they were firefighting there was a “public use” exception to the FAA’s certificate requirements. Chisum acknowledged that the type certificate was needed to use the aircraft for purposes other than firefighting.
I related to Chisum that I believed that the Forest Service program was part of a scheme to direct surplus military aircraft to private companies for non-firefighting purposes. Chisum confirmed my conclusion. I told Chisum that I intended to file a formal complaint with the government against the Forest Service officials with whom I had recently communicated. I also told Chisum I was going after government records to expose the scandal, and, if I found documentation to vindicate him, I would pass it along.
Around this time, Tom Wood, the Conservation Aeronautics editor, referred me to Roy Reagan. He told me that Reagan was an Air Force engineer, and he gave me
5 Reagan’s phone number in Chico, California. Exh. 8,10 He stated to me that Reagan was working on a non-public project involving A-10 fighter jets to be used for the Forest Service. I found the idea that sophisticated, modern fighter jets were being considered by the Forest Service to be incredible, and this heightened my suspicion that a Forest Service military aircraft exchange program was going badly astray.
In late 1991, I contacted the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Office of Inspector General in Washington D.C., an agency “hotline”, which has jurisdiction over the Forest Service. I revealed my knowledge of the abuses of the Forest Service’s military aircraft exchange program (as described in paragraph 14 above) and the refusal of Fuchs to deal honestly and openly with the details of the program. I specifically reported my knowledge of the improper uses of C-130’s by T&G and others in the Persian Gulf and Hawkins And Powers in Alaska, the other improper uses for movie productions and video commercials, Aero Unions Central role in the illegal scheme, and Reagan’s affiliation with Aero Union and efforts to use A-10 fighter jets in some way under a questionable Forest Service program.
Soon after filing a complaint in late 1991 against Forest Service officials and the air tanker program with t he Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General’s hotline, I began to pursue documents from the Forest Service under the Freedom of Information Act. I began this effort in early January 1992. Exh.13 The Forest Service’s response to my request was not candid or truthful. Initially, the agency falsely asserted that the aircraft belonged to the recipients and the Forest Service retained no control over them. Exh.14 I gave this letter to Jack Chisum, and he told me that he used it to show the FAA and State Dept. that T&G’s use of the aircraft in the Persian Gulf was authorized. See exh.11
6 On Feb. 6, I submitted a follow-up to my January FOIA request, demanding “black and white documents, not merely summations created as an FOIA response.” Exh. 15
In late Feb. 1992, Woody Grantham helped me as an expression of his appreciation for my providing Chisum with the Forest Service letter. He knew that I was investigating the aircraft exchange program, and he sent me by facsimile a letter on Hawkins and Powers letterhead that revealed that Hawkins and Powers was using its Forest Service C-130s for non-firefighting purposes. In the letter, Gene Powers, the president of Hawkins and Powers, thanks the representative of a company named Multitrade International, a firm not involved in firefighting, for the “care and attention” given to Hawkins & Powers’ c-130s during its lease of them. Exh.12
On Feb18, the Forest Service responded to my follow-up FOIA request. Exh.16 With this letter, the Forest Service provided me the actual Exchange Agreements between defendants T.B.M. Hemet Valley Flying Service, Hawkins & Powers, and T&G Aviation. These documents revealed an express false certification by the contractors who received the planes, made to obtain the military aircraft, that they would use the planes exclusively for firefighting purposes.
The Forest Service had still not provided me with the specific contracting data that I had requested. Frustrated with the Forest Service responses to my FOIA requests, I spelled out—in an FOIA appeal dated March 5, 1992—what I believed to be illegal.17 activities concerning the Forest Service aircraft. Exh.17 By letter dated March 24, 1992, forest service officials acknowledged my complaints.
Also in early 1992, I made contact with the Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General’s audit division, based in Atlanta. An OIG investigator informed me that my hotline complaint in late 1991 related to what was now a full-blown audit of the Forest Service air tanker program. I was asked to cooperate and I did so,
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providing all the information and documentation that I possessed concerning T&G and the Kuwait incident, Southern Air and Evergreen involvement, and Roy Reagan and the A-10 program. I relayed the information that Chisum had told me about the true nature of the program to get former military aircraft into the hands of private contractors for non-firefighting purposes, including that Aero Union was headquarters for that program, that the contractors had to use Reagan to obtain type certificates, and that Reagan was located at Aero Union’s offices. I also forwarded to the OIG’s office that all of my FOIA requests and the Forest Service responses, including the C-130 exchange agreements. I spoke frequently with John Davis or two other auditors, agents Feester and Tyler. The auditors told me that they had not seen the Exchange Agreements before I had given the documents to them, nor did they know of Reagans involvement with A-10s. See Exh.20
Prior to the issuance of the OIG audit, I was asked by the investigators to explain what I knew about Del Rio Flying Service and Roy Reagan. I explained that Roy Reagan was involved with a highly improbable program to use A-10 fighter jets for the Forest Service. I had well-founded reasons to believe that the A-10 fighter jets were to be used for other purposes. I also revealed that Roy Reagan was connected with aircraft manufacturing operations near Ft. Worth, Texas and in Chico, Ca. I was told by an OIG investigator that portions of the audit report had been intentionally leaked to a news paper. In addition, one of the auditors told me during the audit of CIA footprints everywhere. In or about Oct. 1992, OIG auditors issued a formal audit report on the Forest Services aircraft exchange program. I obtained 3 copies of the report, one from the auditors personally, one from a member of congress, and one through a freedom of Information request.
In Late 1992, I contacted, Congressman Rose’s Office because I believed that certain Forest Service Officials were involved in a cover-up of wrongdoing in the Forest
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Service airtanker program. In early 1993, Congressman Rose’s office informed me that a House Subcommittee investigation was underway concerning my 1992 complaints to congressman Rose’s office. I was asked to cooperate and testify, and I agreed. exhs. 21,22.
Also in late 1992, I learned that Mr. Chisum was killed in a hit and run car accident.
28. In early 1993, I made contact with Senior Special Agent in the criminal division of the Dept. Of Agriculture OIG office in Washington D.C. His name is Kim Widup. I then began a relationship with Agent Widup that has continued to this day. I provided Agent Widup with all the information I possessed, including the leaked Hawkins & Powers correspondence, the Exchange Agreements, and the information I had received from Chisum. Exh. 23 29. In early 1993, Congressman Rose’s office putoffice put me in contact with two media sources in the Portland, Oregon area, Jeff Manning and Eric Mason. Manning worked for the Portland Business Journal. With my assistance and documentation, Mr. Manning wrote an article on the Forest Service C-130 scandal. He provided me a courtesy copy of his story with a personal note attached thanking me for my assistance and pointing out the story could not have been written otherwise. Exh.27 I was contacted by numerous other journalists before they wrote stories on the aircraft exchange program. These included Jennifer Dixon in or around November 1992, Scott Sonner in or around July 1993, Dick Clever in or around Sept-Oct 1993, Doug Frantz in or around April-June 1993, the staff for Jack Anderson in or around July 1993, and several others.
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Starting in or around April 1993, I cooperated with James Long, who worked for the Oregonian newspaper in Portland. I was put in contact with Mr. Long through a mutual acquaintance – a professor Leary from the University of Alabama. With my help, Mr. Long prepared an extensive news article on the Forest service and C-130 air tanker program and his article is included with the August 5. 1993 congressional hearing chaired by Congressman Charlie Rose.
Just prior to my testimony before Congress that occurred on Aug. 5, 1993, I gained further information from industry contacts concerning the activity of all of the recipients of air tankers under the Forest Service Exchange Program that was the subject of my complaints to the OIG and to Congressman Rose. Later in 1993, from my confidential contacts, I learned that a company named Aerial Heavy Hauling headed up by an individual named Joe Kelso was going to create a fraudulent scheme to obtain owner ship of two C-130 aircraft previously in the Forest Service air tanke5r program. The Kelso operation would be a joint venture out of Bend, Oregon associated with a company named Butler Aviation. I learned from my confidential sources that Butler Aviation was an affiliate for T.B.M., a reci8pient of former military C-130 aircraft. Exh.32. I gave this information to Special Agent Widup, senator Sasser , Congressman Rose, and reporters with whom I worked previously.
One other source for information was a confidential contact I had initiated in Mena, Arkansas, Charles Hendricks. Exh.29, Mr. Hendricks’ son was involved with C-130 aircraft that originated from Roy Reagans efforts to skim surplus military aircraft for use in non-firefighting efforts. His son had died in a C-130 aircraft accident in Angola while operating to assist a military force in that country. Congressman Kurt Weldon stated on Aug. 5, 1993 in the record on the house floor after my testimony that the CIA was behind the flight and he wanted to have hearings to determine why, Mr. Hendricks referred me to a former T&G mechanic, who stated to me that Forest Service C-130’s had 10 been operating out of Mena, Ark. On non-firefighting activities. I also learned the names of individuals personally involved with Roy Reagan and Evergreen at a time in 1989 when I first learned that Evergreen was using the same surplus military C-130s belonging to the Forest Service for non-firefighting purposes. I provided all of this information to Agent Widup, Senator Sasser, Congressman Rose, and another representative Congressman Weldon.
From my Mena, Ark. Investigation and contacts, I made the acquaintance of Gene Wheaton who, like myself, had been asked by Congressman Rose to testify concerning his knowledge of non-firefighting uses of C-130 aircraft. My contact with Gene Wheaton occurred shortly after my Aug. 5, 1993 appearance before Congressman Rose’s committee.
I had a number of confidential phone conversations with Gene Wheaton and we exchanged documentation. We both discovered the early roots of the new 1991 Forest Service air tanker program. The program was not new whatsoever, but followed a lengthy history whereby questionable operators obtained surplus military C-130s that originated in the U.S. and later were used by the Royal Australian Air Force in the late 70s and early 80s. This predated the current Forest Service exchange program by a number of years. Many of these aircraft made their way back into the U.S. and into the hands of T&G and John Ford, and they were operated for profit doing the same type of work as T&G had done in Kuwait. See para. 38
In late summer or Fall 1993, I obtained a copy of a C-130 tracking catalog which records activity of all C-130 aircraft ever manufactured. I obtained this from Mr. Wheaton, who had given it to a reporter we both knew, Eric Mason, to share with me. It reflected that T.B.M. had transferred certain of its C-130s to an affiliate, Butler Aviation. 11. To my surprise, I also discovered multiple transfers of those aircraft involved in the Forest Service program individuals within and outside of the air tanker program. This revealed repeated switching of registration of the aircraft by defendants, a scheme known in the aviation industry to hide aircraft ownership while doing improper activities. See Exh. 31 All of this to include a copy of the catalog given to me by Special Agent Kim Widup of the criminal division, Dept. of Agriculture OIG in 1993.
Through my confidential sources and investigation efforts, I learned that when Jack Chisum’s 2 C-130s returned from Kuwait, they were flown to and parked at Evergreen’s Marana Airbase. A phoney finance scheme had been put into place so that the aircraft would appear to have been repossessed by a lending institution which would appear to be an “innocent” third party. This transaction was an illegal scheme to steal U.S. property, and I reported this to the OIG investigators, Senator Sasser, and Congressman Rose. Evergreen appeared as a sales agent putting the two C-130s on the market for $5.6 million each and retained operational control over the aircraft.
Through my confidential sources and investigation efforts, I also learned of an attorney in California named John Ford, who was involved with the Australian C-130s one of which he owned(mena n*****80, for those keeping a list)In fact, one of Ford’s C-130s was seized by U.S. Customs for hauling drugs. Ford appears in documentation possessed at one point as an officer of T&G, at other places as an attorney for both T&G and Roy Reagan. I also learned that Ford put together the financing scheme for kickbacks paid Reagan by T&G.
Through my investigative efforts that began in late 1991, I learned that Roy Reagan and key principals in Aero Union had been longstanding friends going back to high school at Medford, Oregon. I also discovered that Roy Reagans A-10 fighter program was going to be masqueraded as a Forest Service air tanker program that would be based in Medford, Oregon and associated with a company I had flown a CIA mission for in 1989. 12 The C-130, P-3, and A-10 scheme was developed at Aero Union by Reagan and his friends with the help of Evergreen. In early 1993, Special Agent Kim Widup halted the A-10 fighter plane conversion program, in part with information provided by me. I testified as to the A-10 program at Congressman Rose’s hearing in 1993. Initially, Forest Service officials denied or avoided the subject; but under pointed questioning by Congressman Rose, they admitted to the A-10 fighter jet air tanker program. This revelation was solely brought about by my investigation, which I had reported to the OIG auditors in 1992, Congressman Rose in 1993 and Agent Widup in early 1993. One of my concerns was that an A-10 fighter jet had no useful purpose as a Forest Service air tanker, especially equipped so that it could be quickly converted again into a jet aircraft “tank killer”. I additionally discovered through my investigations, that A-10 aircraft contained harmful radiation because of spent uranium munitions. I also uncovered evidence to shoe that he A-10 program was secretly further along than previously admitted by government officials. I obtained documentation showing at least 100 A-10 aircraft were involved in the program and more than 40 C-130s under a phoney air tanker program mastered by Roy Reagan and others. I provided all of this information to the OIG, Senator Sasser, and Congressman Rose.
in late 1993, I used the same documentation to show that Forest Service Chief Dale Robertson testified falsely before Congress in connection with his testimony regarding the A-10 program before Congressman Rose on Aug. 5 1993. Forest Service Chief Robertson subsequently was fired for this and other reasons, Exh.33 13 Pursuant to 28 USC ~ 1746, I certify this 29th day of June, 1995, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States, that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. (signed) Gary R. Eitel Date and place of execution: 6\29\95, State of Washington
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
P.O. Box 58,
Tempe, Arizona 85280
(602) 966-3540
e-mail: quig@dcia.com © 1996 Intelligence Connection
PART TWO: (Reference to Tosh Plumlee and Marine Col Sabow)
CIA and Subsidiaries Exposed in Court Documents As Active Drug Smugglers Using Military Aircraft Washed Through Forest Service
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December, 1998 Investigations Latest in Legacy of CIA's Drug Operations and Corruption of Government
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Two Reagan Era Operators, Convicted in 1997, May Be Only The First To Hit The Graybar Hotel
![[Image: c130_167.jpg]](http://www.copvcia.com/images/c130_167.jpg)
Additional background on CIA and C-130 link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Forest...er_scandal
This case went to behind close doors with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as was later classified Top Secret; Committee Sensitive. It was kept out of the main stream press at the time.
UNITED STATES COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel.
GARY R. EITEL,
Plaintiff,
vs.
ROY D. REAGAN, et al.,
Defendants
CIVIL NO. 94-425-JO
FOURTH DECLARATION OF GARY R. EITEL
I Gary R. Eitel, State as follows:
. I am the relator in this qui tam action on behalf of the plaintiff, United States of America, pursuant to the False Claims Act, 31 U. S.C. ~3730. I am a U.S. citizen over the age of 21 and am competent to make this declaration.
2. I am a former military combat pilot. I flew over 300 combat missions in Vietnam, totaling over 500 hours of flight time. For my service, I received a Presidential citation, the Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters, and four Bronze Battle Stars.
3. I am currently a professional pilot with approximately 11,000 hours pilot time. I have the senior ratings of my profession, including airline transport pilot with jet ratings. I am also an FAA certified flight instructor, airframe and powerplant mechanic, and aircraft maintenance inspector.
1732Q134.MTN
In April-May 1989, while employed at Evergreen International Airlines, I was told that at some future time I could be asked to fly United States government C-130 aircraft for Evergreen. The aircraft were based at Evergreens Marana, Arizona base and operated under the guise of the Forest Service However, the planes were used by Evergreen for non-firefighting purposes, such as carrying cargo. I later learned that these aircraft (of which I gained knowledge in April-May 1989) were the same planes that were transferred to defendants, which were first delivered to Evergreen's Marana Airbase. See Paragraphs 31, 35
My knowledge that government C-130 aircraft were coming into Evergreen's Marana airbase under the guise of the Forest Service concerned me, because I might be required to fly the aircraft on questionable or illegal flights for non-firefighting purposes. I reported this to a Department Of Defense agent I had known for a number of years, Tom Miller. I have attached the declaration of Tom Miller hereto, which confirms my report to him. Exh. 1. I have known Mr. Miller for over 20 years. He has been an agent of the Department of Defense, and then the Federal Aviation Administration, for as long as I have known him.
6. From 1970 until his death in late 1992, I maintained contact with an individual named Jack Chisum, I first met Jack Chisum in 1970 while flying for the U.S. Forest Service. Jack was my immediate aviation supervisor. Through the years, Jack and I kept in contact concerning our friendship and business acquaintance. In 1990, I provided information to Mr. Chisum that Evergreen had access to surplus military C-130 aircraft, which I later learned were the aircraft at issue in this suit. Mr. Chisum needed access to C-130 aircraft and had inquired of my knowledge.
7. In the fall of 1991, I was pursuing government aviation opportunities for myself and certain consulting clients. I came across an industry magazine, Conservation Aeronautics, that reported a just started Forest Service C-130 and P-3 air tanker program.
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In Summer 1991, I read an article in the magazine that stated that C-130 and P-3 aircraft, former military planes, were being used by private contractors for firefighting for the US Forest Service. Through the fall of 1991, Mr. Wood and I maintained contact, and he gave me extensive information in our discussions which he asked I keep confidential. One piece of confidential information that he eventually gave me was that an individual by the name of Roy Reagan was involved in getting A-10s connected with the Forest Service.
8. Later in the fall of 1991, I communicated with Jack Chisum and learned he was having difficulties because he and others were operating C-130 aircraft in Kuwait and other surrounding countries,. Jack Chisum explained to me the following:
He and another man by the name of Woody Grantham had interests in a company called T&G Aviation a/k/a Douglas County Aviation. Jack indicated that he was a vice president in the company and that he had a financial interest in it as well. Jack went on to say that T&G's C130, aircraft were doing work for Southern Air and Evergreen in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. He said the paperwork was in place to show that the Bechtol Corp. and a company out of Alaska called Martech were using the C-130s for routine oil field work, when in fact, it was other kinds of work, including moving weapons. Jack said he had the proper paperwork in hand allowing T&G's operation of the C-130s in Kuwait and surrounding companies under the cover story, but that turf fighting between Evergreen and Southern Air had put a spotlight on T&G's operations. Jack went on to say that Southern Air and Evergreen were trying to eliminate T&G from doing the type of work that Southern Air and Evergreen had traditionally done, such as hauling guns and other contraband. In later conversations, Chisum told me the details of a related Forest Service exchange program cover story.
9. In October 1991, I contacted the US Forest Service concerning the aviation magazine article depicting a C-130 air tanker. The Forest Service officials responsible for the aircraft exchange were extremely uncooperative. I was told many things by the Forest Service which turned out to be untrue. For example, the Forest Service told me the new program merely involved 3 C130 aircraft (when it involved more than 22 C-130s and more than 6 P-3sand as many as 100 A-10 fighter jets and that, for all practical purposes, it was closed to all newcomers. I was told by the Forest Service the program could
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reopen if certain details could be worked out by the General Accounting Office concerning transfer of surplus military aircraft. Exhs. 2-6
10. I had been referred to the Forest Service Aviation office in Washington, D.C. by Tom Wood. I called this office and was told that Fred Fuchs was the Forest Service in charge of the air tanker program. I spoke with Mr. Fuchs briefly and followed up that same day with a letter by facsimile requesting information about the military aircraft exchange program. Exhs. 2-4 . In the ensuing month to two months, I repeatedly contacted Fuchs' office to gain information about the exchange program. Fuch's and his subordinates stonewalled, promising to but then not sending information about it. Exh 6
After originally communicating with the forest service in Oct. 1991, I contacted the General Services Administration about the new C-130 air tanker program and received an entirely different picture than what was told to me by the Forest Service. I was told by the General Counsels office of GSA that there were 22 C-130and 6 P-3A aircraft involved.
12. I was surprised at the coincidence between Chisum's disclosure about tags C-130s and Fuch's refusal to be more forthcoming about the Forest Service exchange program which involved C-130s. This reminded me of the use of C-130s by Evergreen for non-firefighting purposes under the guise of the Forest Service in 1989, and it turned out that I now was dealing with the same aircraft.
13. In Nov. 1991, in a phone conversation with Jack Chisum, we again discussed the subject of T&G's C-130 predicament. Chisum admitted at the time his own difficulties with flying C-130 aircraft in Kuwait was connected with the Forest Service program about which I had inquired to the government. Chisum expressed grave concerns for himself and his company and he stated he felt he was being set up by his competitors, with the help of certain people at the Forest Service.
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n November 1991, Chisum informed me there were other people and companies that were doing illegal things in the Forest Service air tanker program. He disclosed to me that the contractors who had received military aircraft from the Forest Service knew in advance that they would use the planes for profit on non-firefighting uses. He said that other people other than T&G were also doing things with the forest Service military aircraft other than firefighting, and that it was unfair that those entities, other than just T&G --were not the subjects of investigations. He specifically identified two of the defendant contractors—Hawkins and Powers Aviation and Aero Union Corporation. (See Exh. 7, 10). Furthermore, he identified specific illegal uses by Hawkins and Powers of the military aircraft, including leasing them for film production, using them in video commercials, and hauling fish in Alaska. He stated that the scheme to use the Forest Service aircraft for profit in non-firefighting purposes was organized out of Aero Unions’ offices in Chico, Calif. He also stated that the contractors had to use Reagan to get type certificate for the planes, and that Reagan was located at Aero Unions offices. I told Chisum that it did not make since that the contractors had to use Reagan for a type certificate, since if they were firefighting there was a “public use” exception to the FAA’s certificate requirements. Chisum acknowledged that the type certificate was needed to use the aircraft for purposes other than firefighting.
I related to Chisum that I believed that the Forest Service program was part of a scheme to direct surplus military aircraft to private companies for non-firefighting purposes. Chisum confirmed my conclusion. I told Chisum that I intended to file a formal complaint with the government against the Forest Service officials with whom I had recently communicated. I also told Chisum I was going after government records to expose the scandal, and, if I found documentation to vindicate him, I would pass it along.
Around this time, Tom Wood, the Conservation Aeronautics editor, referred me to Roy Reagan. He told me that Reagan was an Air Force engineer, and he gave me
5 Reagan’s phone number in Chico, California. Exh. 8,10 He stated to me that Reagan was working on a non-public project involving A-10 fighter jets to be used for the Forest Service. I found the idea that sophisticated, modern fighter jets were being considered by the Forest Service to be incredible, and this heightened my suspicion that a Forest Service military aircraft exchange program was going badly astray.
In late 1991, I contacted the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Office of Inspector General in Washington D.C., an agency “hotline”, which has jurisdiction over the Forest Service. I revealed my knowledge of the abuses of the Forest Service’s military aircraft exchange program (as described in paragraph 14 above) and the refusal of Fuchs to deal honestly and openly with the details of the program. I specifically reported my knowledge of the improper uses of C-130’s by T&G and others in the Persian Gulf and Hawkins And Powers in Alaska, the other improper uses for movie productions and video commercials, Aero Unions Central role in the illegal scheme, and Reagan’s affiliation with Aero Union and efforts to use A-10 fighter jets in some way under a questionable Forest Service program.
Soon after filing a complaint in late 1991 against Forest Service officials and the air tanker program with t he Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General’s hotline, I began to pursue documents from the Forest Service under the Freedom of Information Act. I began this effort in early January 1992. Exh.13 The Forest Service’s response to my request was not candid or truthful. Initially, the agency falsely asserted that the aircraft belonged to the recipients and the Forest Service retained no control over them. Exh.14 I gave this letter to Jack Chisum, and he told me that he used it to show the FAA and State Dept. that T&G’s use of the aircraft in the Persian Gulf was authorized. See exh.11
6 On Feb. 6, I submitted a follow-up to my January FOIA request, demanding “black and white documents, not merely summations created as an FOIA response.” Exh. 15
In late Feb. 1992, Woody Grantham helped me as an expression of his appreciation for my providing Chisum with the Forest Service letter. He knew that I was investigating the aircraft exchange program, and he sent me by facsimile a letter on Hawkins and Powers letterhead that revealed that Hawkins and Powers was using its Forest Service C-130s for non-firefighting purposes. In the letter, Gene Powers, the president of Hawkins and Powers, thanks the representative of a company named Multitrade International, a firm not involved in firefighting, for the “care and attention” given to Hawkins & Powers’ c-130s during its lease of them. Exh.12
On Feb18, the Forest Service responded to my follow-up FOIA request. Exh.16 With this letter, the Forest Service provided me the actual Exchange Agreements between defendants T.B.M. Hemet Valley Flying Service, Hawkins & Powers, and T&G Aviation. These documents revealed an express false certification by the contractors who received the planes, made to obtain the military aircraft, that they would use the planes exclusively for firefighting purposes.
The Forest Service had still not provided me with the specific contracting data that I had requested. Frustrated with the Forest Service responses to my FOIA requests, I spelled out—in an FOIA appeal dated March 5, 1992—what I believed to be illegal.17 activities concerning the Forest Service aircraft. Exh.17 By letter dated March 24, 1992, forest service officials acknowledged my complaints.
Also in early 1992, I made contact with the Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General’s audit division, based in Atlanta. An OIG investigator informed me that my hotline complaint in late 1991 related to what was now a full-blown audit of the Forest Service air tanker program. I was asked to cooperate and I did so,
7
providing all the information and documentation that I possessed concerning T&G and the Kuwait incident, Southern Air and Evergreen involvement, and Roy Reagan and the A-10 program. I relayed the information that Chisum had told me about the true nature of the program to get former military aircraft into the hands of private contractors for non-firefighting purposes, including that Aero Union was headquarters for that program, that the contractors had to use Reagan to obtain type certificates, and that Reagan was located at Aero Union’s offices. I also forwarded to the OIG’s office that all of my FOIA requests and the Forest Service responses, including the C-130 exchange agreements. I spoke frequently with John Davis or two other auditors, agents Feester and Tyler. The auditors told me that they had not seen the Exchange Agreements before I had given the documents to them, nor did they know of Reagans involvement with A-10s. See Exh.20
Prior to the issuance of the OIG audit, I was asked by the investigators to explain what I knew about Del Rio Flying Service and Roy Reagan. I explained that Roy Reagan was involved with a highly improbable program to use A-10 fighter jets for the Forest Service. I had well-founded reasons to believe that the A-10 fighter jets were to be used for other purposes. I also revealed that Roy Reagan was connected with aircraft manufacturing operations near Ft. Worth, Texas and in Chico, Ca. I was told by an OIG investigator that portions of the audit report had been intentionally leaked to a news paper. In addition, one of the auditors told me during the audit of CIA footprints everywhere. In or about Oct. 1992, OIG auditors issued a formal audit report on the Forest Services aircraft exchange program. I obtained 3 copies of the report, one from the auditors personally, one from a member of congress, and one through a freedom of Information request.
In Late 1992, I contacted, Congressman Rose’s Office because I believed that certain Forest Service Officials were involved in a cover-up of wrongdoing in the Forest
8
Service airtanker program. In early 1993, Congressman Rose’s office informed me that a House Subcommittee investigation was underway concerning my 1992 complaints to congressman Rose’s office. I was asked to cooperate and testify, and I agreed. exhs. 21,22.
Also in late 1992, I learned that Mr. Chisum was killed in a hit and run car accident.
28. In early 1993, I made contact with Senior Special Agent in the criminal division of the Dept. Of Agriculture OIG office in Washington D.C. His name is Kim Widup. I then began a relationship with Agent Widup that has continued to this day. I provided Agent Widup with all the information I possessed, including the leaked Hawkins & Powers correspondence, the Exchange Agreements, and the information I had received from Chisum. Exh. 23 29. In early 1993, Congressman Rose’s office putoffice put me in contact with two media sources in the Portland, Oregon area, Jeff Manning and Eric Mason. Manning worked for the Portland Business Journal. With my assistance and documentation, Mr. Manning wrote an article on the Forest Service C-130 scandal. He provided me a courtesy copy of his story with a personal note attached thanking me for my assistance and pointing out the story could not have been written otherwise. Exh.27 I was contacted by numerous other journalists before they wrote stories on the aircraft exchange program. These included Jennifer Dixon in or around November 1992, Scott Sonner in or around July 1993, Dick Clever in or around Sept-Oct 1993, Doug Frantz in or around April-June 1993, the staff for Jack Anderson in or around July 1993, and several others.
9
Starting in or around April 1993, I cooperated with James Long, who worked for the Oregonian newspaper in Portland. I was put in contact with Mr. Long through a mutual acquaintance – a professor Leary from the University of Alabama. With my help, Mr. Long prepared an extensive news article on the Forest service and C-130 air tanker program and his article is included with the August 5. 1993 congressional hearing chaired by Congressman Charlie Rose.
Just prior to my testimony before Congress that occurred on Aug. 5, 1993, I gained further information from industry contacts concerning the activity of all of the recipients of air tankers under the Forest Service Exchange Program that was the subject of my complaints to the OIG and to Congressman Rose. Later in 1993, from my confidential contacts, I learned that a company named Aerial Heavy Hauling headed up by an individual named Joe Kelso was going to create a fraudulent scheme to obtain owner ship of two C-130 aircraft previously in the Forest Service air tanke5r program. The Kelso operation would be a joint venture out of Bend, Oregon associated with a company named Butler Aviation. I learned from my confidential sources that Butler Aviation was an affiliate for T.B.M., a reci8pient of former military C-130 aircraft. Exh.32. I gave this information to Special Agent Widup, senator Sasser , Congressman Rose, and reporters with whom I worked previously.
One other source for information was a confidential contact I had initiated in Mena, Arkansas, Charles Hendricks. Exh.29, Mr. Hendricks’ son was involved with C-130 aircraft that originated from Roy Reagans efforts to skim surplus military aircraft for use in non-firefighting efforts. His son had died in a C-130 aircraft accident in Angola while operating to assist a military force in that country. Congressman Kurt Weldon stated on Aug. 5, 1993 in the record on the house floor after my testimony that the CIA was behind the flight and he wanted to have hearings to determine why, Mr. Hendricks referred me to a former T&G mechanic, who stated to me that Forest Service C-130’s had 10 been operating out of Mena, Ark. On non-firefighting activities. I also learned the names of individuals personally involved with Roy Reagan and Evergreen at a time in 1989 when I first learned that Evergreen was using the same surplus military C-130s belonging to the Forest Service for non-firefighting purposes. I provided all of this information to Agent Widup, Senator Sasser, Congressman Rose, and another representative Congressman Weldon.
From my Mena, Ark. Investigation and contacts, I made the acquaintance of Gene Wheaton who, like myself, had been asked by Congressman Rose to testify concerning his knowledge of non-firefighting uses of C-130 aircraft. My contact with Gene Wheaton occurred shortly after my Aug. 5, 1993 appearance before Congressman Rose’s committee.
I had a number of confidential phone conversations with Gene Wheaton and we exchanged documentation. We both discovered the early roots of the new 1991 Forest Service air tanker program. The program was not new whatsoever, but followed a lengthy history whereby questionable operators obtained surplus military C-130s that originated in the U.S. and later were used by the Royal Australian Air Force in the late 70s and early 80s. This predated the current Forest Service exchange program by a number of years. Many of these aircraft made their way back into the U.S. and into the hands of T&G and John Ford, and they were operated for profit doing the same type of work as T&G had done in Kuwait. See para. 38
In late summer or Fall 1993, I obtained a copy of a C-130 tracking catalog which records activity of all C-130 aircraft ever manufactured. I obtained this from Mr. Wheaton, who had given it to a reporter we both knew, Eric Mason, to share with me. It reflected that T.B.M. had transferred certain of its C-130s to an affiliate, Butler Aviation. 11. To my surprise, I also discovered multiple transfers of those aircraft involved in the Forest Service program individuals within and outside of the air tanker program. This revealed repeated switching of registration of the aircraft by defendants, a scheme known in the aviation industry to hide aircraft ownership while doing improper activities. See Exh. 31 All of this to include a copy of the catalog given to me by Special Agent Kim Widup of the criminal division, Dept. of Agriculture OIG in 1993.
Through my confidential sources and investigation efforts, I learned that when Jack Chisum’s 2 C-130s returned from Kuwait, they were flown to and parked at Evergreen’s Marana Airbase. A phoney finance scheme had been put into place so that the aircraft would appear to have been repossessed by a lending institution which would appear to be an “innocent” third party. This transaction was an illegal scheme to steal U.S. property, and I reported this to the OIG investigators, Senator Sasser, and Congressman Rose. Evergreen appeared as a sales agent putting the two C-130s on the market for $5.6 million each and retained operational control over the aircraft.
Through my confidential sources and investigation efforts, I also learned of an attorney in California named John Ford, who was involved with the Australian C-130s one of which he owned(mena n*****80, for those keeping a list)In fact, one of Ford’s C-130s was seized by U.S. Customs for hauling drugs. Ford appears in documentation possessed at one point as an officer of T&G, at other places as an attorney for both T&G and Roy Reagan. I also learned that Ford put together the financing scheme for kickbacks paid Reagan by T&G.
Through my investigative efforts that began in late 1991, I learned that Roy Reagan and key principals in Aero Union had been longstanding friends going back to high school at Medford, Oregon. I also discovered that Roy Reagans A-10 fighter program was going to be masqueraded as a Forest Service air tanker program that would be based in Medford, Oregon and associated with a company I had flown a CIA mission for in 1989. 12 The C-130, P-3, and A-10 scheme was developed at Aero Union by Reagan and his friends with the help of Evergreen. In early 1993, Special Agent Kim Widup halted the A-10 fighter plane conversion program, in part with information provided by me. I testified as to the A-10 program at Congressman Rose’s hearing in 1993. Initially, Forest Service officials denied or avoided the subject; but under pointed questioning by Congressman Rose, they admitted to the A-10 fighter jet air tanker program. This revelation was solely brought about by my investigation, which I had reported to the OIG auditors in 1992, Congressman Rose in 1993 and Agent Widup in early 1993. One of my concerns was that an A-10 fighter jet had no useful purpose as a Forest Service air tanker, especially equipped so that it could be quickly converted again into a jet aircraft “tank killer”. I additionally discovered through my investigations, that A-10 aircraft contained harmful radiation because of spent uranium munitions. I also uncovered evidence to shoe that he A-10 program was secretly further along than previously admitted by government officials. I obtained documentation showing at least 100 A-10 aircraft were involved in the program and more than 40 C-130s under a phoney air tanker program mastered by Roy Reagan and others. I provided all of this information to the OIG, Senator Sasser, and Congressman Rose.
in late 1993, I used the same documentation to show that Forest Service Chief Dale Robertson testified falsely before Congress in connection with his testimony regarding the A-10 program before Congressman Rose on Aug. 5 1993. Forest Service Chief Robertson subsequently was fired for this and other reasons, Exh.33 13 Pursuant to 28 USC ~ 1746, I certify this 29th day of June, 1995, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States, that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. (signed) Gary R. Eitel Date and place of execution: 6\29\95, State of Washington
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
P.O. Box 58,
Tempe, Arizona 85280
(602) 966-3540
e-mail: quig@dcia.com © 1996 Intelligence Connection
PART TWO: (Reference to Tosh Plumlee and Marine Col Sabow)
CIA and Subsidiaries Exposed in Court Documents As Active Drug Smugglers Using Military Aircraft Washed Through Forest Service
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December, 1998 Investigations Latest in Legacy of CIA's Drug Operations and Corruption of Government
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Two Reagan Era Operators, Convicted in 1997, May Be Only The First To Hit The Graybar Hotel
The Dark History - In 1976 Senator Frank Church submitted CIA General Counsel Lawrence Houston to intense grilling over the Agency's questionable and illegal operation of proprietary air transport services. At that time, Houston admitted that the CIA had routinely used the United States Postal Service and the U.S. Forrest Service as covers for covert activities. Houston admitted that The Forest Service had been infiltrated by CIA and that CIA shared an address with the Forrest Service's Air Research and Development unit on Kent Street in Alexandria, VA.
Houston also admitted that the primary company, responsible for all of CIA covert air operations, was a holding company named Pacific Corp. There is an Oregon based corporation known as Pacificorp which has a multitude of sub entities with varying versions of the name including Pacific Power & Light, Pacificorp and Pacific Harbor Capital. In 1993 a Seattle paper ran a story connecting Pacificorp to CIA's Pacific Corp. Under oath, before the Senate in 1976, Houston admitted that Pacific Corp, owned and controlled such CIA notables as Air America, Southern Air Transport and Intermountain Air. In 1976 the CIA was ordered to sell Air America and divest itself of all its holdings.
Since 1973 the CIA had been anticipating this and had moved quickly to give all of its clandestinely owned aircraft to its alleged proprietary, Evergreen International based out of Marana Air Park near Tucson Arizona and McMinville Oregon, near Portland. Coincidentally, Medford Oregon is the home base of aircraft broker Roy Reagan. Reagan was convicted in 1997, along with another man on criminal charges stemming from a scheme to fraudulently take $80 million worth of airplanes from the U.S. government and place them in private hands. Reagan was also the broker for Evergreen according to a lawsuit filed by former CIA pilot Gary Eitel.
In the late 1970s and early 80s former military and CIA pilot Eitel, also an attorney, became aware that the CIA was planning to move a number of Australian C-130s under CIA control into the private sector and transfer them to Bogota Colombia. "They were to be used for drug smuggling," said Eitel. The attorney for the transfer was a man named John Ford who in later years represented Pacificorp, Pacific Harbor Capitol and who is currently said to be senior in-house attorney for Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco (no connection). Several of the Australian C-130's turned up in the drug trade and were moved through facilities in Arizona and Mena, Arkansas, among others, on their way into the cocaine trade.
Eitel has testified in Federal Court and confirmed to From The Wilderness that CIA was flying drugs into Mena Arkansas as far back as 1971-5. Eitel began his relations with CIA in 1968 as a helicopter pilot who was willing to fly risky combat missions in Vietnam. He has since broken with the Agency and has proven that by giving sworn testimony both in court and in Congress exposing illegal CIA operations.
Eitel, who has testified as an expert witness in several civil and criminal cases, is now representing the U.S. Government as a private citizen in a civil action charging the Forest Service and CIA with defrauding the American people of close to $80 million dollars in the illegal transfer of 35 C-130 aircraft to a number of private firms. These firms serve as contractors to the Forest Service. The aircraft transfer program, begun in 1987, was intended to give private contractors serviceable aircraft in exchange for worn out ones to help the Forest Service fight fires as converted air tankers. Instead they have turned up all over the world on covert operations. A few have been caught full of drugs as recently as 1996.
THE AIRPLANE
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules first entered the inventory of the U.S. Air Force in 1955. To this day it remains one of the most versatile cargo aircraft ever built. The Air Force includes various versions of the C-130 in its operational plans through the year 2015. It can fly at cruise speeds of up to 350 mph, is capable of taking off from short, unimproved runways and can haul loads of up to 50,000 pounds. It is capable of dropping those loads from a rear ramp while literally "on the fly". While new C-130s cost the government around $20-25 million, used aircraft are generally valued by the GAO at up to 3.5 million each. A GAO report lists the value of one propeller at $100,000 and one engine at $250,000. It is the perfect drug smuggling aircraft for long hauls.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules first entered the inventory of the U.S. Air Force in 1955. To this day it remains one of the most versatile cargo aircraft ever built. The Air Force includes various versions of the C-130 in its operational plans through the year 2015. It can fly at cruise speeds of up to 350 mph, is capable of taking off from short, unimproved runways and can haul loads of up to 50,000 pounds. It is capable of dropping those loads from a rear ramp while literally "on the fly". While new C-130s cost the government around $20-25 million, used aircraft are generally valued by the GAO at up to 3.5 million each. A GAO report lists the value of one propeller at $100,000 and one engine at $250,000. It is the perfect drug smuggling aircraft for long hauls.
Under United States law the C-130 is a military munitions aircraft which is tightly controlled. It is forbidden to export one to a foreign country without the prior approval of the State Department, the Department of Defense, the FAA and the CIA. The CIA is the only governmental agency with enough clout to secure permissions from all of the preceding entities.
When used in a fire fighting application as an aerial tanker it costs $3,300 per flight hour to operate a C-130 delivering 2,000 gallons of retardant as opposed to $1,600 per hour for the same amount of retardant delivered from a readily available DC 7.
The Scheme
Roy Reagan, no relation to Ronald, has a long and detailed history of connections to CIA and covert activities. In the 1980s he was linked both to Evergreen Air and a number of operations securing surplus helicopters and weapons for Contra support operations. Evergreen Air itself, during the contra era, has been documented as handling Contra military supplies, including weapons, which were loaded onto C-130s in Corpus Christi, Texas. One of Reagan's business partners, James Patrick Ross, who worked with Reagan in Reagan Enterprises out of their offices in Chico, California, was the same mechanic who signed off on a mechanical inspection of a C-123 named The Fat Lady which was later shot down over Nicaragua in 1986 while on a CIA mission. Only an ill-starred cargo handler named Eugene Hasenfus survived the shoot down. The Fat Lady's death and Hasenfus' survival triggered the Iran-Contra scandal. The Fat Lady had previously been the favorite personal airplane of Barry Seal.
Roy Reagan, no relation to Ronald, has a long and detailed history of connections to CIA and covert activities. In the 1980s he was linked both to Evergreen Air and a number of operations securing surplus helicopters and weapons for Contra support operations. Evergreen Air itself, during the contra era, has been documented as handling Contra military supplies, including weapons, which were loaded onto C-130s in Corpus Christi, Texas. One of Reagan's business partners, James Patrick Ross, who worked with Reagan in Reagan Enterprises out of their offices in Chico, California, was the same mechanic who signed off on a mechanical inspection of a C-123 named The Fat Lady which was later shot down over Nicaragua in 1986 while on a CIA mission. Only an ill-starred cargo handler named Eugene Hasenfus survived the shoot down. The Fat Lady's death and Hasenfus' survival triggered the Iran-Contra scandal. The Fat Lady had previously been the favorite personal airplane of Barry Seal.
Fred A. Fuchs (pronounced Fox) is a former career Forest Service employee who rose to the rank of Assistant Director. The Forest Service fired him in 1993 for his role in this scheme. He was subsequently re-hired and then allowed to retire in 1996. Fuchs lists his home as Las Lunas, NM which is, coincidentally, the site of the Mid Valley airport used by Albert Vincent Carone and his partner James Robert Strauss for CIA drug missions throughout the eighties and early nineties. Carone and Strauss have been previously documented in From The Wilderness as being the primary bag men for Oliver North and George Bush as well as providing liaison between the CIA and the Mafia for transfers of drugs and drug profits.
In 1987 Reagan and Fuchs came up with a plan to literally steal airplanes from the federal government which had a noble sounding stated purpose. According to documents filed in an Arizona federal criminal prosecution, which led to the conviction of the two for fraud and theft in Oct. 1997, they said they were going to save the nation's forests.
The scheme was simple. All around the country the U.S. Forest Service had relied for years on the services of private contractors who owned, operated and maintained air tankers used to drop water and retardant on forest fires. The problem was that by 1987 most of the Korean War and WW II vintage aircraft then in use were wearing out. They were not capable of carrying the loads necessary and spare parts were hard to find. If Reagan and Fuchs got their way, which they did, the Forest Service would obtain surplus C-130s, Navy P-3 Orion anti-sub planes and even jet powered A-10 Warthogs, used as tank killers during desert Storm, and "trade" them to private contractors on a one-for-one basis and place the aging aircraft in museums. The government would then hire the planes as needed to fight fires and the title to the aircraft would pass into private hands.
In reality, according to a lawsuit filed by whistleblower Gary Eitel under the False Claims Act, (a little known civil war era statute that allows citizens to file suit on behalf of the government), Evergreen Air, as a behind the scenes player, was using Reagan in a scheme to move as many as 50 C-130s into "private" hands for use in a variety of covert operations. These included drug smuggling and the direct enrichment of a number of private contractors including Reagan and at least five private companies in California, Arizona and Wyoming. Eitel has been quoted in news sources as saying that one purpose of the conspiracy was to defraud even the CIA, which would help obtain the aircraft. However, in an interview with From The Wilderness he acknowledged that Evergreen Air had card carrying CIA officers on the property and had admitted being a CIA contractor. "What happened also was that Reagan was going to put about one out of every three C-130s back in his own pocket for his own use."
The Law
From The Wilderness has obtained a copy of a Dec. 1989 memorandum to Forest Service Associate Chief George Leonard from Assistant General Counsel Kenneth Cohen, which seems to show that the Forest Service knew it was having problems with the scheme all along. Listing requirements from the Federal Property Management Regulations Cohen laid out three specific requirements which had to be met before the transfer could be deemed legal. First the transfer had to result in a greater return for the government. That could hardly be the case if a C-130 valued at $3.5 million were traded for a junk aircraft valued as low as $19,000 which was inoperable. Second, aircraft and airframe structural components were specifically prohibited from transfer. Third, the items to be exchanged could not have been acquired for the purpose of transfer and they had to have been used by the Forest Service for a period of one year before being transferred out of Forest Service inventory.
From The Wilderness has obtained a copy of a Dec. 1989 memorandum to Forest Service Associate Chief George Leonard from Assistant General Counsel Kenneth Cohen, which seems to show that the Forest Service knew it was having problems with the scheme all along. Listing requirements from the Federal Property Management Regulations Cohen laid out three specific requirements which had to be met before the transfer could be deemed legal. First the transfer had to result in a greater return for the government. That could hardly be the case if a C-130 valued at $3.5 million were traded for a junk aircraft valued as low as $19,000 which was inoperable. Second, aircraft and airframe structural components were specifically prohibited from transfer. Third, the items to be exchanged could not have been acquired for the purpose of transfer and they had to have been used by the Forest Service for a period of one year before being transferred out of Forest Service inventory.
In spite of the fact that none of the above conditions were met the transfers continued under the control of Fuchs and Reagan through approximately 1989 when the last of the C-130's were placed in the hands of five private air contractors. Out of 35 aircraft transferred into private hands twenty-eight were actually re-titled. Some changed hands several times before turning up in the control of drug dealers in Panama and Mexico. Reagan and Fuchs tried to justify their actions by stating that the C-130s, obtained from Air Force storage facilities and active Air Reserve and National Guard units were historic planes themselves and obsolete. That is hard to justify since the Air Force currently has the C-130 slated for active duty until the year 2015.
Last year, in the Tucson criminal trial of Reagan and Fuchs, which was prompted by Eitel's 1994 lawsuit, three Air Force generals testified that when they approved of the transfer to the Forest Service they believed the titles would remain with the Forest Service as they approved the transfer out of military inventory."
Did the Forest Service know or suspect that the planes, under CIA control, might be used for drug dealing? In the same memorandum Kenneth Cohen states, "Apparently, DoD [Department of Defense] thinks that by having the Forest Service as the intermediary, if any future aircraft are used in drug smuggling, the Forest Service and not DoD will suffer the adverse publicity."
He was right.
He was right.
The Good, The Bad and The Private Contractors
All of the C-130s were moved out into private hands passing through Evergreen facilities at Marana Airpark and through Davis-Montham Air Force base in Tucson right next door. The first of the C-130s reached private hands and titles were transferred in 1987. The five selected companies were Hemet Valley Flying Service in Riverside County, California (which received the first seven and showed Reagan as a signatory on one of its contracts); Hawkins and Powers of Greybull, Wyoming; TBM of Tulare, California; Aero-Union of Chico, California (which shared office space with one of Reagan's shell companies where Contra mechanic Ross worked) and T&G aviation of Chandler, Arizona. T&G got in on the act after hearing of the bonanza and complaining to Arizona Senators De Concini and McCain. T&G is owned by admitted former Air America and CIA pilot Woody Grantham.
All of the C-130s were moved out into private hands passing through Evergreen facilities at Marana Airpark and through Davis-Montham Air Force base in Tucson right next door. The first of the C-130s reached private hands and titles were transferred in 1987. The five selected companies were Hemet Valley Flying Service in Riverside County, California (which received the first seven and showed Reagan as a signatory on one of its contracts); Hawkins and Powers of Greybull, Wyoming; TBM of Tulare, California; Aero-Union of Chico, California (which shared office space with one of Reagan's shell companies where Contra mechanic Ross worked) and T&G aviation of Chandler, Arizona. T&G got in on the act after hearing of the bonanza and complaining to Arizona Senators De Concini and McCain. T&G is owned by admitted former Air America and CIA pilot Woody Grantham.
According to Eitel, Aero-Union has been documented as a CIA contractor as far back as the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 when it served as a cover for B-26 pilots who were prevented from flying air support missions for the invasion. Also according to Eitel, the very first C-130 delivered into private hands was flown into Hemet Valley by James Patrick Ross, the CIA pilot-mechanic who had originally come to the U.S. as a part of the Australian C-130 transfer in the mid 1980s and who had serviced Barry Seal's C-123.
According to documents filed in the civil lawsuit by Eitel, Roy Reagan wasn't particularly happy with Grantham's T&G muscling in on the deal but he later approached Grantham with a sweetened offer that if he obtained extra C-130s for T&G, he would receive a cash kickback and arrange the financing through a client's company, Pacific Harbor Capital. Grantham agreed. "Reagan also told Grantham he would arrange several covert missions to be flown by T&G for Iran, Iraq and Kuwait as a part of the deal," said Eitel.
The paper trail is black hole dense but it is certain that T&G received at least three C-130s from Hemet Valley. Others it obtained directly from Reagan and other sources. After a series of court battles in California between Hemet Valley and financier Larry Wurth, three C-130s were transferred to Wurth and then to T&G. Remember that Roy Reagan showed up as a signing officer on one of Hemet Valley's contracts acknowledging receipt of the planes. Approximately one fourth of the 35 planes given over into private hands were eventually stripped for (free) parts.
The record of the next ten years is as littered with lawsuits and airplane transfers, sometimes between the various contractors, as the killing fields of Cambodia were littered with Pol Pot's murder victims. An entire book would be needed to document the suits between firms like James Venable of Hemet Valley and Wurth which saw planes held hostage and traded like helpless children in a brutal custody battle which further clouded the issue of ownership. The suits and custody battles may have been the actual intention of CIA when it suspected that the illegal transfers might be discovered, challenged and ordered corrected. It made it all the harder for the Forest Service to recover the planes when it got caught with it pants down. But in almost every case when planes changed hands they went back through Evergreen first.
The record of the next ten years is as littered with lawsuits and airplane transfers, sometimes between the various contractors, as the killing fields of Cambodia were littered with Pol Pot's murder victims. An entire book would be needed to document the suits between firms like James Venable of Hemet Valley and Wurth which saw planes held hostage and traded like helpless children in a brutal custody battle which further clouded the issue of ownership. The suits and custody battles may have been the actual intention of CIA when it suspected that the illegal transfers might be discovered, challenged and ordered corrected. It made it all the harder for the Forest Service to recover the planes when it got caught with it pants down. But in almost every case when planes changed hands they went back through Evergreen first.
Of a certainty, the 35 C-130s, which actually changed hands in the program, wound up doing many other things than fighting fires on behalf of the Forest Service. They have been documented on covert missions in France, Spain, Angola, South Africa, Central America, and even Kuwait during Desert Storm. In June 1991 one of Roy Reagan's C-130s crashed on a CIA mission in Angola killing the nephew of Rep Curt Weldon, R-Pa who later participated in hearings looking into the program.
"All of the contractors had unregulated air fields in remote places that were not usually subject to any kind of Customs inspections. All of the contractors were able to come and go virtually undetected so they could have been doing anything. It was an ideal cover both for drug smuggling and a variety of covert operations," Eitel observed.
In 1994, as he was investigating his lawsuit, Eitel was researching various aspects of the Forest Service transfer at the Department of Justice. He was allowed to view classified materials relevant to the investigation. "I saw a three ring folder full of State Department Export certificates for C-130 and P 3 aircraft allowing them to leave the U.S. for foreign destinations. I logged 36 of the certificates and noted that at least one was going to Panama for a company called Trans Latin Air and at least one was going to a company named Aero Postale de Mexico. Both aircraft were being sent from T&G.
"They were Forest Service aircraft", he added. "And what caught my attention was the fact that the certificates were signed by an attorney named John Ford. Ford was known to me as a CIA Australian attorney involved in the C-130s transferred to Bogota in the 70s and 80s and he was also connected to C-130s moved through Central America which came to the attention of U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Louis Tambs during the Contra war. At the time State had protested the transfer because of possible drug connections."
[NOTE: Louis Tambs was the same U.S. Ambassador connected to the revelations arising from the La Penca bombing in Nicaragua and an alleged plot by the CIA to murder Tambs using the services of CIA/Oliver North asset John Hull and blame it on the Sandinistas.]
"I questioned DoJ about the drug links and was assured that the transfers were above board and not drug related," Eitel continued. "I accepted their explanation for a while but in 1996 I did a data base search on a major drug trafficker named Luis Carlos Herrera-Lizcano who was John Ford's partner way back to the original C-130 transfers out of Australia in 83-84. Herrera was the owner and CEO of Trans Latin Air and in 1994 he was indicted by the U.S. Attorney in Chicago for using C-130s to move billions of dollars of cocaine into the U.S."
Herrera entered into a plea agreement in 1996 and admitted to having trafficked in drugs since the early and mid eighties. According to both American and Mexican newspaper accounts, as well as records in federal court, Herrera's aircraft came from T&G and Woody Grantham.
The Trans Latin Air investigation led to an investigation of Aero Postale de Mexico. In April 1998 stories the Mexican paper La Reforma reported that the Mexican Attorney General had indicted three officials of the private freight hauling company Aero Postale de Mexico which routinely delivered mail and other goods throughout Latin and Central America on charges that they had provided aircraft to the drug cartel headed by the Arellano Felix brothers. That investigation had commenced in 1997 and Aero Postale planes were reportedly hauling multi-thousand kilo loads of cocaine during the period. One of the C-130s was impounded at the Mexico City airport. Purchase of the aircraft was financed by Mexican banker Carlos Cabal, who was assured repayment of the loans by the U.S. Import-Export Bank. It is impossible to believe CIA would not have noticed such a transaction. Woody Grantham and T&G sold the planes to Aero Postale in 1993 at the same time he sold planes to Trans Latin Air.
Riverside Press-Enterprise veteran reporter Dave Hendrix, who has written many stories on the Forest Service and the C-130s (and who contributed greatly to the research for this article) questioned Grantham about the relationship. Grantham denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and any knowledge of drugs. However, Gary Eitel in his role as a federal independent counsel for the civil suit against the contractors notes a discrepancy in Grantham's statements. "Grantham tried to hide the C-130s in 1993 when he learned that the Forest Service was going to be forced to take them back," Eitel said. "He filed bankruptcy, hid the planes and then tried to sell them to Herrera at Trans Latin Air. The planes had already been leased to Trans Latin since 1990. He states that he had no further contact or control over the planes after that. Yet Herrera admitted at his sentencing that he had been dealing drugs uninterrupted at Trans Latin from 1982 to 1994. Grantham's claims that he had checked this out with DEA don't bear close scrutiny at all.
"And Grantham used the same law firm, Lewis and Roca of Tucson and Phoenix, to file bankruptcy and transfer the planes to Herrera which had handled the entire transfer of Air America assets to Evergreen back in 1976." Asked how credible Grantham's denial of drug involvement was, Eitel replied, "It stinks."
Grantham's history is littered with CIA wreckage. According to Eitel, "When Grantham wanted to leave Arizona undetected he leased hangar space at an Indian reservation where Customs didn't operate. He frequently flew into Area 51 and on his trips back from Latin America he would land at El Toro Marine Air Station in California.
Grantham's history is littered with CIA wreckage. According to Eitel, "When Grantham wanted to leave Arizona undetected he leased hangar space at an Indian reservation where Customs didn't operate. He frequently flew into Area 51 and on his trips back from Latin America he would land at El Toro Marine Air Station in California.
Death of a Hero - The Murder of Jim Sabow
Marine Col. Jim Sabow was murdered at his home on the El Toro Marine Air Station in January 1991. His death, ruled a suicide by the Navy and the Marine Corps, has left a brave family virtually destroyed. As opposed to the official military account that Sabow, despondent over pending disciplinary actions for minor offenses committed suicide, a lingering and persistent body of evidence persists which indicates that Jim Sabow was murdered because he caught the CIA flying drugs onto a base where he was Chief of Air Operations. Much of the
evidence indicates that the cocaine arrived on the same C-130s which had been given to the Forest Service.
Marine Col. Jim Sabow was murdered at his home on the El Toro Marine Air Station in January 1991. His death, ruled a suicide by the Navy and the Marine Corps, has left a brave family virtually destroyed. As opposed to the official military account that Sabow, despondent over pending disciplinary actions for minor offenses committed suicide, a lingering and persistent body of evidence persists which indicates that Jim Sabow was murdered because he caught the CIA flying drugs onto a base where he was Chief of Air Operations. Much of the
evidence indicates that the cocaine arrived on the same C-130s which had been given to the Forest Service.
In a 1993 segment of her news program Eye to Eye, Connie Chung covered the Sabow death in detail and showed evidence of the murder by introducing statements from Sabow's brother, a medical doctor, that Sabow had been unconscious and aspirating blood for minutes before a shotgun was rammed so far down his throat that it sheared off the uvula. In that same segment, [size=12]veteran Air America and CIA pilot Tosh Plumlee stated that he flew loads of cocaine as large as 2,000 kilos onto El Toro in the years and months prior to Sabow's death - for the CIA. Plumley stated clearly that he was flying C-130s operated by the Forest Service and their contractors. In later conversations with this writer Plumlee admitted that he routinely flew loads as large as 2,500 kilos onto military installations in California and Arizona for the CIA.[/SIZE]
Both Eitel and veteran investigator Gene Wheaton, who still works for the Sabow family which has a pending and oft delayed lawsuit pending in San Diego for next year, believe that the C-130s described in this story are the same ones which led to Jim Sabow's murder. Wheaton, a retired Warrant Officer from Army CID, has participated in and led investigations ranging from the Cristic Institute lawsuit of 1987 to the very suspicious crash in Gander, Newfoundland of an Arrow Air flight in 1985 which took the lives of more than 250 members of the 101st Airborne Division. Arrow Air was, according to Wheaton, "One of Ollie North's favorite airlines." He was also one of the first investigators to uncover CIA drug smuggling in Mena, AK and is today working with Sabow attorney Daniel Sheehan, formerly of the Cristic Institute, on the Sabow case. He has also conducted extensive investigations of the Forest Service C-130s and worked with Eitel on the case.
"The Marines were supposed to keep flight refueling records of all non-military flights in transit on through the base at El Toro," said Wheaton. "Those are government records and would have shown that the same Forest Service aircraft passed through the base at the same time that Jim started complaining to his superiors about the drugs. The base is closed now but the records should have been kept. They are government documents."
Wheaton added, "They have all been destroyed."
Frogmen, Russoniello and… Gary Webb?!
In his series of articles for The San Jose Mercury News entitled The Dark Alliance and in his brilliant book of the same name, author Gary Webb described the interference of the CIA in the infamous "Frogman" cocaine case of 1983. The U.S. attorney, a Reagan appointee, who handled the case and ultimately returned more than $36,000 in seized drug money to the CIA connected traffickers arrested in San Francisco, was Joseph Russoniello. As disclosed in Webb's book and documented in Volume I of the CIA Inspector General's report, the CIA had contacted Russoniello in an effort to contain any adverse publicity linking the arrested traffickers to the Agency. In the Agency's own cable traffic CIA stated that Russoniello was, "most deferential to our interests."
In his series of articles for The San Jose Mercury News entitled The Dark Alliance and in his brilliant book of the same name, author Gary Webb described the interference of the CIA in the infamous "Frogman" cocaine case of 1983. The U.S. attorney, a Reagan appointee, who handled the case and ultimately returned more than $36,000 in seized drug money to the CIA connected traffickers arrested in San Francisco, was Joseph Russoniello. As disclosed in Webb's book and documented in Volume I of the CIA Inspector General's report, the CIA had contacted Russoniello in an effort to contain any adverse publicity linking the arrested traffickers to the Agency. In the Agency's own cable traffic CIA stated that Russoniello was, "most deferential to our interests."
Russoniello left the Department of Justice in the late 1980s and entered private practice. In 1994 he became the attorney of record for several of the fourteen defendants in the civil suit filed by Gary Eitel - including Aero-Union of Chico California, Reagan's home base and T&G. For the record Stuart Gerson, former Acting Attorney General of Waco fame, represented Roy Reagan in the civil fraud case. According to Eitel, "After a series of articles in Oregon newspapers in 1997, Russoniello withdrew from the case because of the adverse publicity linking him to Webb's stories."
Joseph Russoniello is now a senior corporate attorney for Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco. He is at the same address and shares the same complex of offices as attorney John Ford.
Clanging Jail Bars and Dangling Press Releases
The Forest Service had been backed into a position by the Eitel lawsuit and the Arizona fraud trial of Reagan and Fuchs where it had to take action. In April 1998 U.S. District Court Judge William Browning sentenced Roy Reagan to 30 months and Fred Fuchs to 24 months in a federal penitentiary for their roles in defrauding the government. Eitel's civil suit, which has been joined by the Department of Justice, is still alive but in early 1997 Judge Browning issued a court order postponing the suit stating that the interests of National Security outweighed the defendants' right to a speedy trial.
Clanging Jail Bars and Dangling Press Releases
The Forest Service had been backed into a position by the Eitel lawsuit and the Arizona fraud trial of Reagan and Fuchs where it had to take action. In April 1998 U.S. District Court Judge William Browning sentenced Roy Reagan to 30 months and Fred Fuchs to 24 months in a federal penitentiary for their roles in defrauding the government. Eitel's civil suit, which has been joined by the Department of Justice, is still alive but in early 1997 Judge Browning issued a court order postponing the suit stating that the interests of National Security outweighed the defendants' right to a speedy trial.
As a result of public pressure the Forest Service had begun to retrieve some of the aircraft in 1995-6. Four of those had been totally stripped, their remaining airframes and components being auctioned out at a total of $725,000 by the Forest Service under the direction of Assistant Director Ron Hooper who had been involved with the program since its inception. Hooper has made no official objection of the fact that airplanes, worth $12 to 15 million, illegally taken from the government, had been stripped of $11 million in parts. The low bidder was co-conspirator Hawkins and Powers and the high bidders, which received the aircraft hulks, were the alleged co-conspirators TBM and Aero-Union.
On December 2, 1998 Hooper gave an interview to the Associated Press. Whereas Hooper had, in previous audits, declared the C-130s to be worth as little as $10,000 to $20,000 dollars apiece, he now acknowledged their value at $2-3 million each. The AP story indicated that Hooper and the Forest Service were moving swiftly to secure the immediate return of all 11 outstanding operable aircraft and that this "confiscation" would not impair the nation's fire fighting capabilities. This was true even though the Forest Service, according to Hooper, didn't need and couldn't operate the planes.
Apparently, Hooper hoped that no one would notice the fact that just a day earlier, on December 1, 1998, he had posted a press release on the Forest Service web site which stated, "To ensure that we have the air support necessary to aggressively manage wildfires, we have successfully completed negotiations on a new three-year National Airtanker Contract covering 1999 through 2001.
"The contract provides for continued operations as ownership is being resolved and we are confident that the issues surrounding the assertion of aircraft [ownership] can be worked out with the contractors successfully."
"What Hooper was saying", says Eitel, "is that he had just awarded paying contracts to the same contractors who had defrauded the government in the first place. His statements to AP make it look as though he was getting tough while he admits, the day before, that he is still intending to leave the planes in private hands and reward the wrongdoers."
Eitel filed complaints with the Justice Department on December 4 and he has told From The Wilderness that, as of December 14, both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense now have active investigations of Ron Hooper.
A spokesman for the Department of Defense would neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation of Hooper. As of press time the Department Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility has not returned a call asking for verification. Forest Service spokesman Alan Polk told From The Wilderness, "AP screwed their story up. The contractors were always going to keep the planes while title remained in Forest Service hands. We are now making sure that we know where the planes are, what they are being used for and that they are not leaving the country while ownership questions are resolved." Polk added that he was unaware of any criminal investigations of Hooper.
A Tragic Footnote
In August 1994 14 firefighters burned to death in an out of control forest fire in Colorado. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration subsequently cited the Forest Service for "inadequate use of aviation resources." Where were all the tankers? According to Eitel they were all out of the country doing anything but fighting fires.
In August 1994 14 firefighters burned to death in an out of control forest fire in Colorado. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration subsequently cited the Forest Service for "inadequate use of aviation resources." Where were all the tankers? According to Eitel they were all out of the country doing anything but fighting fires.
click image to enlarge
![[Image: forest_service_c130s.gif]](http://www.copvcia.com/free/pandora/forest_service_c130s.gif)
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Additional background on CIA and C-130 link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Forest...er_scandal