His friends, former employees and even his own daughters were shocked to learn in his recently published biography that he had ample reason to do so: The former chief executive and chairman of Bank of Baltimore says he worked covertly for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.

During that time, he said, he spoke regularly with a CIA handler and allowed the agency to create a fake company under his corporate umbrella, which included shipping and trucking companies he ran at the same time he led the bank. Operatives in the field used the fictitious firm as cover when traveling the world, complete with business cards and hats. Mr. Hale said he worked under “nonofficial cover,” in which his identity was unassociated with the U.S. government.

– From the Wall Street Journal Article: Former Maryland Banker Reveals He Used to Work for CIA

The term “non-official” cover was covered previously at Liberty Blitzkrieg last year in the extremely popular post, “Non-Official Cover” – Respected German Journalist Blows Whistle on How the CIA Controls the Media. In it, I wrote:

Whether you want to admit it or not, CIA control of the media in the U.S. and abroad is not conspiracy theory, it is conspiracy fact. “Non-official cover” occurs when a journalist is essentially working for the CIA, but it’s not in an official capacity. This allows both parties to reap the rewards of the partnership, while at the same time giving both sides plausible deniability. The CIA will find young journalists and mentor them. Suddenly doors will open up, rewards will be given, and before you know it, you owe your entire career to them. That’s essentially how it works.

While Udo Ulfkotte’s revelation confirmed what most of us already suspected about the CIA’s control of mainstream media, the following revelation provides insight into the agency’s infiltration into financial services. If you ask me, the CIA is probably as embedded in banking as it is in media. If I am correct in this thesis, then it’s undeniable proof that the entire country is living under an intelligence complex soft-fascist dictatorship with absolutely no resemblance to a Republic or democracy. It also proves that there is absolutely no free market, as the CIA’s tentacles are embedded all over the economy, and success in large part simply depends on how close a crony capitalist is to the intelligence agencies.

It really makes you ask the question I posed a couple of weeks ago in the post, This is How the U.S. Government Convinces a Newspaper to Kill a Story. I asked:

Makes you wonder, who isn’t working for the C.I.A. at this point?

Indeed. From the Wall Street Journal, via Yahoo:

BALTIMORE—Edwin “Ed” Hale Sr., a retired bank executive known locally for his sharp-elbowed approach to business, installed video surveillance on his 186-acre farm and still sleeps with a sawed-off shotgun by his bed. His friends, former employees and even his own daughters were shocked to learn in his recently published biography that he had ample reason to do so: The former chief executive and chairman of Bank of Baltimore says he worked covertly for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s. During that time, he said, he spoke regularly with a CIA handler and allowed the agency to create a fake company under his corporate umbrella, which included shipping and trucking companies he ran at the same time he led the bank. Operatives in the field used the fictitious firm as cover when traveling the world, complete with business cards and hats. Mr. Hale said he worked under “nonofficial cover,” in which his identity was unassociated with the U.S. government. Not everyone was pleased that Mr. Hale decided to go public, including the man who Mr. Hale said recruited him to the agency in 1992. “I am disappointed and upset that Ed would violate his agreement and understanding with the agency,” said A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard in a phone interview.

Of course he is disappointed. He should be. This revelation will rightly make many people question just how many unknown CIA members are embedded throughout American society, something that has severe negative implications for democracy, liberty and free markets.

Mr. Krongard was the executive director of the CIA from 2001 to 2004 and was also once chairman of Alex. Brown & Sons, a Baltimore investment bank that later merged with Bankers Trust and was acquired by Deutsche Bank AG. Mr. Hale and Mr. Krongard were friends who worked in the same office building. Mr. Krongard declined to comment on whether he worked for the CIA in the early 1990s.

How about that. The ties between large investment banks and the CIA should be quite obvious to anyone paying attention.

It wouldn’t be unusual for the CIA to draft professionals to help gather intelligence, said Peter Earnest, who served in the CIA for 35 years and is currently executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington. The agency has sought the help of professionals in businesses that provide good cover, including those that require frequent travel. Mr. Hale said his fake company provided cover for agents who traveled throughout the Middle East and Africa. He said he was told the operatives’ names and destinations but not the details of their missions. He said he was also briefed regularly on intelligence issues through meetings with his handler, with whom he spoke between 30 and 50 times a year either over dinner discussions or on the phone. They often met for dinner at the Capital Grille in Washington, he said.

I wonder if Mr. Hale had ever stopped to question the nature of the “missions” he used his fake company to support. How many illegal dealings, bribes, and even murders? Did he ever even wonder how much misery his support may have caused. Probably not, as he was likely so smitten that he acquiesced like a little schoolgirl the moment they propositioned him.

On one occasion, he said, the agency planned a mission that involved Mr. Hale traveling to the country of Georgia to buy ships that would be retrofitted for intelligence gathering. The mission was canceled after an assassination attempt on the Georgian president, Eduard Shevardnadze, in 1998. Mr. Hale currently focuses on his real-estate investments and the indoor-soccer team he owns, the Baltimore Blast. His new passion: flower arranging, not unlike the fictional character played by Robert De Niro in the 2000 film “Meet the Parents.” That character, like Mr. Hale, was also a CIA operative.

It appears bailouts and a get out of jail free card is part of the bankster-CIA employment package. Who knew?

These guys are just laughing at us at this point.

For related articles, see:

How the IRS and Department of Homeland Security are Expanding Undercover Work (IRS Agents Can Even Pose as Clergy)

Revelations from the Torture Report – CIA Lies, Nazi Methods and the $81 Million No-Bid Torture Contract

In Liberty,

Michael Krieger

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