The Pond

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

New Article on the Pond, shorn of CIA ties???????? HMMM
Note this new article on the Pond. This should perhaps be read in conjunction with Jim Roots excellent work on The Pond on Education Forum.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/us/article_...e4f90.html Roots work would seem to differ on the ? of whether the Pond was connected to OSS cia.


So much here to comment on but notice where the files were given: to The American Security Council, Thomas Dodd's crazy crew.

NOTICE HOW THE POOR POND KEEPERS SEEM TO HAVE LOST THEIR SAFE:goodnight:

Grombach wrote to the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University, dated June 10, 1977, indicating most of his classified papers would go to the American Security Council Foundation, an anti-communist group that works on national security policy. Grombach died in 1982.
Henry A. Fischer, the council's executive director, said safes at the 683-acre Longea Estate _ site of the council's former Freedom Studies Center _ were mistakenly removed by contractors hired to transfer the contents of its Boston, Va., library. He said he had been told by staff of the error when FBI agents were called to examine them. "I have no idea what they were going to do with them."

[Jan Klimkowski]

Hat tip to Linda Minor for the following context on John/Jean Grombach and "The Pond" from Glen Yeadon's "The Nazi Hydra":

John Grombach headed another Nazi infested organization with close ties to this group. Grombach a former G2 officer recruited former Nazi SS officers, Hungarian Axis Quislings, and Russian nationalists. His network of former Nazis produced intelligence offerings for the State Department, the CIA and corporations. Grombach’s operation originally began as a G2 operation to rival the CIA but soon evolved beyond that. Although much of Grombach’s funding did come from the United States government, he received a large amount of funding from N. V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken corporation of the Netherlands and its American affiliate, Philips North America. One of Grombach’s prized assets was Karl Wolff, a major war criminal.

Grombach had visions of grandeur with his eye on holding the position of Director of the CIA. High on his list of political targets were those that implemented President Truman’s containment policy. Grombach viewed people such as George Kennan and Charles Bohlen as too soft on communism. He found ready allies in McCarthy and Jenner. By the 1950s, Grombach and his network of Nazis specialized in gathering dirt. He would then leak the smears to his political allies. The chief beneficiary being Joe McCarthy.

http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/betrayalp10.htm

The Pond >>>>> Gladio :knuddel:

[Jan Klimkowski]

Let's see who published Mark Stout's "The Pond: Running Agents for State, War, and the CIA: The Hazards of Private Spy Operations"?

The url provides a clue:

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-t...cle07.html

So, we have an officially sanctioned, limited hangout, history of "The Pond".

Then, we have Grombach's own background and the Nazi war criminals he frequently recruited.

It's a :fight:

[Peter Presland]

From IntellNews.org:

A collection of tens of thousands of documents discovered in a barn in a small Virginia town, have brought to light the history and operations of a previously unknown US spy agency that competed for prominence with the CIA during the early stages of the Cold War. The secrecy-obsessed agency was known at various times as the Secret Intelligence Branch, the Special Service Branch, the Special Service Section, or the Coverage and Indoctrination Branch; but insiders referred to it simply as “the Lake” or “the Pond”. It was created in late 1942 by the then newly established US Department of Defense, whose officials did not approve of the civilian character of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA. In its 13-year existence, the Pond operated on a semi-autonomous base under the Departments of Defense and State, but maintained a poor relationship with the CIA, which it considered too “integrated with British and French Intelligence and infiltrated by Communists and Russians”. This information is contained in the files, which were stored in several safes and filing cabinets by the organization’s secretive leader, US Army Colonel John V. Grombach, who died in 1982. The files were unearthed in 2001 and given to the CIA, which released most of them to the public earlier this year. The released documents show that, at its peak, the Pond consisted of an international network of 40 officers, handling over 600 agents and informants in 32 countries around the world. Its officers operated under the cover of employment in major multinational corporations, including Philips, Chase National Bank, and American Express, as well as some newspapers. Among its exploits were atomic espionage operations inside the USSR, as well as an aborted attempt to recruit notorious American mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano to assassinate Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. However, over the years the Pond became increasingly disassociated from US government decision-making structures, ultimately “existing as a quasi-private company” whose operations were rarely vetted or supervised by government officials. Interestingly, the Pond’s demise came along with the downfall of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The reason is that Pond leader Col. Grombach had grown close to fringe anti-communist elements, including HUAC leader Senator Joseph McCarthy. The latter who was apparently receiving tips from Grombach on alleged communist sympathizers in the US intelligence community. The Associated Press, which has examined the Pond files in detail, is appealing a relevant Freedom of Information Act request, which was declined by the CIA earlier this year.

[Magda Hassan]

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...light=pond
Some more here.

[Peter Presland]

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...light=pond
Some more here.

Oops, sorry. Didn't spot that - probably better to merge my post with the earlier thread - Though not sure 'JFK Assassinations' is the right place for it.

[Jan Klimkowski]

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...light=pond
Some more here.

Oops, sorry. Didn't spot that - probably better to merge my post with the earlier thread - Though not sure 'JFK Assassinations' is the right place for it.

The JFK Assassinations link is, in part, because "The Pond" may have been directly involved in "false defector" programmes to the USSR.

However, to my knowledge, the JFK research community has not paid much attention to the Gladio, stay behind and Strategy of Tension aspects implicit even in the limited CIA hangout about "The Pond".

Ditto with Permindex and Gladio.

[John Kowalski]

http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...light=pond
Some more here.

Oops, sorry. Didn't spot that - probably better to merge my post with the earlier thread - Though not sure 'JFK Assassinations' is the right place for it.

The JFK Assassinations link is, in part, because "The Pond" may have been directly involved in "false defector" programmes to the USSR.

However, to my knowledge, the JFK research community has not paid much attention to the Gladio, stay behind and Strategy of Tension aspects implicit even in the limited CIA hangout about "The Pond".

Ditto with Permindex and Gladio.

Are there any articles or books that describe the Pond's connection to the false defector program?

John