espionage

William “Wild Bill” Donovan OSS, Awarded the Medal of Honor in WWI

When the name “Wild Bill” Donovan is mentioned, most think of the World War II OSS (Office of Strategic Services) which later became CIA and another part of it branched off to later become the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) of today. But what many people don’t realize is that long before he became the “father of US intelligence”, Donovan was a much-decorated war hero from World War I who was awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor for bravery.

At the end of World War I, Donovan was arguably the most decorated man in US military history at that time, having been awarded all of the top awards for bravery in combat. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Silver Star.

On this day October 14-15, 1918, the United States 69th Regiment (the famed Irish Brigade of Civil War fame), later renamed the 165th Regiment of the 42nd Division was locked in heavy combat against the Germans at Landres-et-Saint-Georges. Donovan’s actions during this action would ultimately result in him being awarded the Medal of Honor.

Duty in Mexico, Fame in France:

After attending Columbia University to study law and being a classmate of the future president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Donovan was a partner in a law firm in Buffalo, New York when he decided to help form and lead a troop of cavalry for the New York National Guard. His unit was mobilized and sent to Mexico during the punitive campaigns to catch Pancho Villa.

Upon returning from Mexico, Donovan was promoted to Major and joined the “Fighting 69th” which became the 165th Regiment of the famed “Rainbow Division.” Donovan was an officer who led from the front, even as a battalion commander.

He was wounded by shrapnel and nearly blinded by a German mustard gas attack. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for a daring rescue under fire of a wounded soldier. But Donovan refused to accept it since a Jewish soldier who also took part in the same action was snubbed. After that omission was changed, Donovan accepted the honor.

During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 165th was in heavy action at Landres-et-St. Georges. Donovan, now a Lt. Colonel, led one of three regiments with the objective of capturing an enemy position which was well entrenched on a steep ravine surrounded by machine guns and artillery.

Because of the heavy German fire and strong defensive positions, the other two supporting regiments refused to advance, but Donovan persisted and rallied his regiment and led the advance under absolutely murderous conditions.

Donovan refused to conform to the convention of the times, by not stripping off all of his rank and insignia which was common for officers, he told his men, “They can’t hit me and they won’t hit you!”

The brass were expecting up to 60% casualties from this assault, can you say proper planning?. Despite being hit in the knee and two other times during the battle by enemy fire, Donovan refused to leave the field until all of his men were administered to or removed from the battlefield. While he remained, American light tanks were turning back because of the accuracy and amount of fire they were taking.

Because of the efforts of Father Duffy, the erstwhile Chaplain of the regiment and a close friend of Donovan’s, he was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster (2nd award) to his DSC. The brass was correct in one thing. After the battle was over, 600 of the 1000 men in Donovan’s regiment were killed, wounded or missing in action. They were ripped up in the assault.

After the war, Duffy kept up the pressure on Washington to upgrade Donovan’s DSC to the Medal of Honor. In 1923, he succeeded. Donovan was awarded the Medal of Honor in New York City. In a move that speaks volumes about the men of the unit and how they felt about him, the ceremony was attended by over 4000 veterans.

In another move that speaks more about Donovan than the medal itself, he refused to keep it. He stated that the medal belonged not to him but “to the boys who are not here, the boys who are resting under the white crosses in France or in the cemeteries of New York, also to the boys who were lucky enough to come through.”

Hollywood later made a film about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and the heroism of Donovan in a classic, “The Fighting 69th” with James Cagney, Pat O’Brien as Father Duffy and George Brent as Major Donovan.

Medal of Honor citation:

Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 165th Infantry, 42d Division. Place and date: Near Landres-et-St. Georges, France, 14–15 October 1918. Entered service at: Buffalo, N.Y. Born: 1 January 1883, Buffalo, N.Y. G.O., No.: 56, W.D., 1922.

Lt. Col. Donovan personally led the assaulting wave in an attack upon a very strongly organized position, and when our troops were suffering heavy casualties he encouraged all near him by his example, moving among his men in exposed positions, reorganizing decimated platoons, and accompanying them forward in attacks. When he was wounded in the leg by machine-gun bullets, he refused to be evacuated and continued with his unit until it withdrew to a less exposed position.

World War II and the OSS:

Donovan was contacted by his old Colombia classmate now President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help him find out information about the war in Europe which FDR was certain that the U.S. was going to be dragged into.

Despite being complete opposites on the political spectrum, the two remained close friends and Roosevelt trusted Donovan to meet with King George VI and Winston Churchill. Today’s political leaders should take note.

US Ambassador to England, Joseph P. Kennedy’s assessment was that England was finished and would capitulate to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Donovan’s assessment was much more optimistic and he urged Roosevelt to provide resources to assist England. Roosevelt trusted Donovan’s opinion more than Kennedy’s and as a result, the U.S. began sending war equipment thru the Lend-Lease program.

Maj. Gen. William Joseph Donovan the namesake of the prestigious OSS Society award. OSS photo

With a non-existent national intelligence network, FDR knew the United States needed one, not only for the coming war but in the years to come. He selected Donovan first at the “Coordinator of Information” but then in 1942, as the commander of the OSS. And as Paul Harvey said, and now you know the rest of the story.

Photos: US Archives.

“The Catcher Was a Spy” Moe Berg, OSS, A Swing, and a Miss

Like most Special Forces guys, especially of my generation, I can’t get enough of OSS (Office of Strategic Services) from World War II. OSS was the “Greatest Generation” version of both CIA and the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) as both sprang forth from the extraordinary organization that General William “Wild Bill” Donovan built from scratch. With the help of the British, and learning on the fly, the United States had, for the first time, a professional intelligence organization and a military force that was expert in the art of Unconventional Warfare.

Donovan attracted all types of people, making OSS quite the eclectic organization. He was looking for “PhDs who can win a bar fight.” Moe Berg fit the bill to a tee. A professional athlete, Berg, although far from a star, played major league baseball for 15 seasons as a catcher, no mean feat, as well as being one of the few Jewish players in MLB. He was also a brilliant scholar and could speak 10 languages, seven fluently and graduated from both Princeton and the Sorbonne and studied law at Columbia at a time when Jews didn’t attend in large numbers.

The story of Berg who spied for America before Pearl Harbor on a “goodwill” tour of Japan with other major league ballplayers in the 1930s and joined OSS during the war is well known among the avid readers within the intelligence and SOF communities. But to many, he was an unknown. This film that came out this summer, changed that to a degree.

Director Ben Lewin, based his film off of the bio of Berg, Nicholas Dawidoff’s 1994, The Catcher Was a Spy. He assembled a great cast featuring two of my favorite actors, Paul Rudd, who is fantastic as always as Berg, Mark Strong, and a very good supporting cast with Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Connie Nielsen, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson, who I had the pleasure of working with on a Mossad film (The Debt) and Giancarlo Giannini.

I wanted to like this film, no…I wanted to love this film, as anyone who loves seeing anything about OSS in print or film does. But it doesn’t ever reach that level. In baseball parlance, unfortunately, the film is a “can of corn.”

The film goes out of its way to portray Berg as the enigma that he was. He was an introvert, a scholar and a Jew in the world of professional baseball where those traits were in short supply. But the film takes his solitary life a step farther. Lewin depicts Berg as a closet homosexual, although there has never been any evidence that Berg was.

However, the stretch isn’t too far between being a catcher in the MLB and a spy. After all, catchers are always trying to hide their signals to the pitcher from prying eyes by putting them down between their legs. And if anyone watches games closely, they’ll put down multiple signs to throw off anyone stealing them, in a simplistic but effective code.

Berg, excellently played by Rudd, is finishing up his career with the Red Sox and is ready to go into coaching when the winds of war start to blow before WWII. Touring Japan with other big leaguers, Berg snuck on top of a hospital and filmed the harbor and naval shipyards after reading about the Japanese Empire expanding. His prewar footage of Japan’s military facilities, put him on the radar of Donovan, played by Jeff Daniels. Berg is brought into OSS in early 1943.

After doing deskwork, Berg was assigned to the Special Operations Branch (SO). He was a paramilitary operations officer in OSS that would today be part of the CIA Special Activities Division.

Later he was placed in the OSS Secret Intelligence branch (SI) on the Balkans desk. Berg parachuted into occupied Yugoslavia to evaluate the various resistance groups operating against the Nazis. He met both Draža Mihailović and Josef Tito.

In the film, they touch on his next assignment. While the US is rushing forth with the Manhattan Project, the government is worried about the Nazis getting the bomb first. Werner Heisenberg (Strong), is one of the leading scientists in Germany’s quest for the bomb. While the threat is significant enough, there is some doubt about how close the Germans are. So, if they are close, Berg’s mission is to assassinate him.

He travels with another scientist (Giamatti) and a military escort (Pearce) to Zurich where Heisenberg is and he has to make a determination whether or not to kill him

Miller is cast as Berg’s long-time girlfriend, whom he keeps, like everyone else at arm’s distance. When asked point blank by Daniels if he is “queer”, Rudd/Berg answers, “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

When Berg finally meets Heisenberg, the two dance around in a nicely crafted scene where neither is willing to give much. Berg is looking for anything to confirm that the Nazis are ready to construct the atomic bomb and he’ll be tasked with killing him. While a great scene and expertly played, the film lacks the suspense we’d normally see in a spy film.

The aloofness and repressed part of his supposed homosexuality is the basis for Lewin’s assertion of proof of Berg’s bona fides as a spy. The scene where he sings the Battle Hymn of the Republic was a good one, Berg, despite his closeted personal life, is a patriot and that explains part of his motivation.

But overall, the film was too thin and it could have been much, much better. Especially with the outstanding cast that they surrounded the director with.

Berg was an intriguing character. He was intensely personal and tried to go to work for CIA after the war, but then only getting one contractor type of assignment. He never married and lived with his brother for several years before he was asked to leave, He then moved in with his sister, where he stayed until passing away at the age of 70 in 1972.

He was described as moody and snappish by his family. After WWII, he felt he lost the ability to follow his calling for his second career in the CIA. He was quoted however that, “I’d rather be a ballplayer than a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court” when someone accused him of wasting his talents on baseball.

He was awarded the Medal of Freedom for his service in OSS, but he turned it down. His sister eventually accepted it on his behalf.

He was cremated after his death and had his ashes scattered over a mountain in Israel. His baseball card is on display at CIA Headquarters.

Photos: Wikipedia/IFC Films

Israeli Duvdevan Unit, One of the Premier CT Units in the World

The Israelis are no strangers to the counter-terrorist world of Special Operations. They arguably have the most experience in that they have been dealing with counter-terror issues in and around their own country for decades. They have developed several Special Operations units that integrated with their conventional troops, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and each has a specific function.

These units can all operate independently or in conjunction with each other as well as with the IDF. Remember #5 of SOF Truths? Most Special Operations require non-SOF assistance. And one of the best units of its kind in the highly classified and secretive Duvdevan unit.

The Duvdevan (Hebrew meaning cherry) is a counter-terror unit as part of the Commando Brigade. The cherry moniker comes from the belief that the cream always rises to the top, as in Special Operations. And the only thing that goes on top of the cream is a cherry.

Duvdevan is tasked with conducting undercover operations in urban areas, during which they will often wear Arab civilian clothes as a disguise. They are also known to be trained in human and mechanical counter-surveillance. Unlike other special forces units, they can operate independently in more than one place at a time. The unit performs many high-risk and complicated operations, including targeted assassination, kidnappings, and a range of other classified undercover operations in Arab areas.

This unit was thrust into the limelight by the outstanding Israeli television series “Fauda” which translates to riot or chaos in English. Fauda can be seen on Netflix and deals with a Duvdevan unit commanded by Doron Kavillio. The intense political thriller/action series follows the unit on many Special Operations across the border into Palestinian territory as they target terrorist cells and leaders.

The air of authenticity lent to Fauda was apparent when it was learned that two of the principal writers as well as the main character Doron, played by Lior Raz, were members of a Duvdevan unit and the actions depicted in the series were based on true events that they experienced. One of the other principal actors, Tzachi Halevy, who plays Doron’s antagonist Naor in the unit and the series was also a member of Duvdevan and another Special Forces unit (Samson) that works undercover in Arab territories conducting special operations against Palestinian militants.

So who are the Duvdevan and when did they first organize?

Duvdevan Is First Organized in the First Intifada:

During the first intifada in 1987, Israel was using typical Special Operations tactics in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem. The IDF soon learned, however, that the tactics were ineffective to the threat that they were facing. The leaders of the IDF decided that they needed a new undercover (Mistaravim) unit was needed. One that could go undercover in Palestinian held territory and deploy as a true CT (counter-terrorism) unit.

The initial group of Duvdevan commandos came from S-13, the Israeli equivalent to U.S.Navy SEAL teams, why they use an anchor as part of the design of their unit patch. They operated for 15 years until 2002 when they made wholesale changes in the unit, and their tactics because of the changing nature of the threat they face.

One member of the unit, Garrett Machine, is an American by birth, and a graduate of the University of Florida. He moved to Israel, joined the IDF and became a member of the Duvdevan. In an interview he conducted with Realfighting.com, he outlined the changes that took place in 2002.

The unit basic training was relocated to the paratroopers base – it used to be held independently at the Adam base along with rescue Unit 669 and Oketz (dog handling unit). After 2 soldiers died in training, basic training was delegated to the infantry. Basic training is 7 months long and is done with the Tzanchanim (paratroopers).
Special units within Duvdevan were formed but remain classified.

3. The unit’s base was relocated and newly built. It now stands alone and independently in a secret location. Unlike Duvdevan – most IDF units have their base within a larger base.

4. Finally, the selection process to enter the unit and start the year and a half training process was changed from an independent secret selection process to a two-phase motivation test.

Selection Process and Unit Mission:

Machine also in the interview spelled out how the Selection process works for the unit.

The first test when candidates are still civilians lasts 24 hours, the second test lasts 5 days after the men are drafted into the army, followed by interviews.

The IDF holds what it calls “Special Forces Day” where potential candidates for the Special Forces units are screened prior to drafting for potential suitability for the units. Twice a year, the IDF will select potential recruits based on their medical, fitness, and intelligence scores receive an invitation for the first round of testing.

From the IDF website: “They’re examined on their strength, their physical and mental endurance, and their skills in teamwork and cooperation. Their tasks include everything from sprints to mental exercises. Commanders monitor the selected soldiers to assure they can handle both the physical and emotional strain of these units’ demanding activities.”

“ Candidates who pass are invited to further rounds of specialized testing for one or more of the IDF special forces units: Sayeret Matkal, Shaldag (IAF commando unit), Naval Officers, 669 (IAF’s combat emergency rescue unit), Shayetet 13 (sea-to-land operations), and the submariners. The number of draftees that make it past this phase is slim; for example, only one-third of the candidates successfully pass the first stage of tryouts for Sayeret Matkal. Those who make it to the unit are tasked with intelligence-gathering, counter-terrorism, and hostage rescue, just as they did in the famed Operation Thunderbolt.”

Machine said that “Duvdevan is a special forces unit within the Israeli Defense Forces, directly subordinate to the West Bank Division. Duvdevan is particularly noted for conducting undercover operations against Palestinian militants in urban areas within the PA-controlled West Bank. During these operations, Duvdevan soldiers typically drive modified civilian vehicles and wear Arab civilian clothes as a disguise. The unit can perform high-risk arrests, raids, targeted assassination, kidnappings and a range of other urban warfare operations.”

“The unit is unique in several ways: it is the only IDF unit (not including police units) that has no wartime mission, just day-to-day hit and run operations. In addition, the unit, unlike other SF units, can operate in more than one place at once and can operate independently. This means providing its own intelligence, backup, rescue, medical teams, extraction, snipers, demolitions, etc.”

He added that the training process includes two months of basic training, which focuses on advanced urban navigation exercises, geographical locations and getting from point to point where navigation without the use of a GPS is vital. For the unit, being able to navigate among the maze of urban streets is vital for their mission.

During CT training, a premium is placed on hand-to-hand fighting using the Krav Maga fighting system. The six-week CT course is conducted at the IDF Counter Terror Warfare School in Mitkan Adam base.

After that, candidates receive another one month advanced inner-unit CT training with the unit’s own instructors. There, the training is geared toward guerrilla warfare. Only then, when the unit is confident in the trainee’s prowess as a CT operator will he begin a 4-month Mistaravim (undercover training) course, where the candidates learn about their cover while in enemy territory. As Machine points out that will entail everything from learning the Arabic traditions, Arabic language and their way of thinking, to civilian camouflage (hair dying, contact lenses, Arab clothing etc).

Operators can also attend other specialized courses, most of them a month in duration for specific advanced skills – sniper, medic, demolitions, driving, and different instructors courses.

The IDF has some of the best Special Operations units in the world, and their Duvdevan, the cherry on top, is arguably the best of their best.

Photos: IDF

T.E. Lawrence, Born on this Day 1888, Author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom

If you aspire to become a member of the Special Operations Forces community, then the name T.E. Lawrence should be one you become intimately familiar with. Commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia, he was one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th century.

Lawrence was an accomplished archaeologist, British military officer, a foreign diplomat as well as a writer. During World War I, he was a British officer who helped raise a guerrilla army known as the Arab uprising against the Ottoman Turkish Empire during the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns.

He later chronicled his story of the revolt in his book, “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” and wrote for Encyclopedia Britannica an article on Guerrilla Warfare for the 14th Edition in 1929. He used his time fighting the Turks during the war as the basis for it.

Lawrence died in 1935 as a result of a motorcycle accident in England.

Beginnings in the Middle East: Lawrence was working as an archaeologist after studying Arabic in the Middle East in 1910. The British sensed a war coming in the summer of 1914 and co-opted Lawrence and Leonard Woolley into the British Army for the purpose of mapping the Negev Desert, an area the Ottoman Turks would have to cross if they were to attack Egypt.

Under the guise of an archaeological dig, the two men meticulously mapped the area and made note of all of the military significant features including the valuable water sources in the region.

When the British became involved in the war Lawrence enlisted with a commission and was assigned to the Arab Bureau of Intelligence in Cairo. There he became involved with a growing Arab nationalist movement. The Arabs were willing to revolt against the Ottoman Turks but insisted on a British guarantee of an independent Arab state including the Hejaz, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Such an independent Arab state would be beneficial to the British and would ensure the Suez Canal would remain open.

The Arab Revolt: After initial successes, the revolt bogged down and there was the danger that the Turks would recapture Mecca. In October of 1916, Lawrence was sent to survey the situation and evaluate the three sons of Sharif Hussein’s sons: Ali, Abdullah, and Faisal to see which one would be best suited to lead the revolt.

Lawrence deemed Faisal as the one. He became a permanent part of Faisal’s staff at Faisal’s request to the British. He would remain there until the fall of Damascus in October of 1918.

From Wikipedia: Lawrence took part in several operations participated personally in several military engagements:

3 January 1917: Attack on an Ottoman outpost in the Hejaz.
26 March 1917: Attack on the railway at Aba el Naam.
11 June 1917: Attack on a bridge at Ras Baalbek.
2 July 1917: Defeat of the Ottoman forces at Aba el Lissan, an outpost of Aqaba.
18 September 1917: Attack on the railway near Mudawara.
27 September 1917: Attack on the railway, destroyed an engine.
7 November 1917: Following a failed attack on the Yarmuk bridges, blew up a train on the railway between Deraa and Amman, suffering several wounds in the explosion and ensuing combat.
23 January 1918: The battle of Tafileh, a region southeast of the Dead Sea, with Arab regulars under the command of Jafar Pasha al-Askari. The battle was a defensive engagement that turned into an offensive rout and was described in the official history of the war as a “brilliant feat of arms”. Lawrence was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership at Tafileh and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. The Arabs took the lives of 400 Turks and captured more than 200 prisoners.
March 1918: Attack on the railway near Aqaba.
19 April 1918: Attack using British armored cars on Tell Shahm.
16 September 1918: Destruction of railway bridge between Amman and Deraa.
26 September 1918: Attack on retreating Ottomans and Germans near the village of Tafas; the Ottoman forces massacred the villagers and then Arab forces in return massacred their prisoners with Lawrence’s encouragement

Lawrence continued serving on Faisal’s staff but his liaison activities for the British curtailed while he took a more active role in intelligence gathering and conducting raids of the Turks. While Faisal wanted to begin attacks as a conventional force, Lawrence talked him out of this strategy and convinced the Emir that their role was best served as a guerrilla force. He later wrote about the Bedouins as soldiers:

“The value of the tribes is defensive only and their real sphere is guerilla warfare. They are intelligent and very lively, almost reckless, but too individualistic to endure commands, or fight in line, or to help each other. It would, I think, be possible to make an organized force out of them…The Hejaz war is one of the dervishes against regular forces-and we are on the side of the dervishes. Our textbooks do not apply to its conditions at all”.

“The value of the Arab army depended entirely on quality, not on quantity. The members had to keep always cool, for the excitement of a blood-lust would impair their science, and their victory depended on a just use of speed, concealment, accuracy of fire. Guerrilla war is far more intellectual than a bayonet charge.”

In July of 1917, Lawrence led an attack of the Arab guerrillas against the town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. They deftly attacked the Turks from behind and captured the town on July 6th. His British commander General Sir Edmund Allenby, commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force wrote a glowing recommendation of Lawrence’s strategy with Faisal after the war.

“I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners, and their mentality.”

Lawrence was heavily involved in the planning of the attack on Damascus at the end of the war. He tried to lobby the British government on the merits of having an independent Arab state. After the fall of Damascus, he assisted Faisal in the establishment of a provisional Arab government in Damascus.

However, the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain, which would give the French a colony of Syria went completely against the promises of independence that he had made to the Arabs and left him frustrated. He returned to Britain as a full colonel.

After the war, he worked for the British Foreign Office and was an adviser to Winston Churchill in the Colonial Office. But he found the work tedious and boring after being a guerrilla freedom fighter in the war. He joined the RAF as a lowly enlisted man in an attempt to live quietly and privately. He developed a taste for motorcycles and owned several of them.

It was riding one of these, a Brough Superior SS100 in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham where he was fatally injured. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he saw them too late and swerved to avoid them. He then lost control of the motorcycle and was thrown over the handlebars, suffering severe injuries. He died six days later on May 19, 1935. Lawrence was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas’ Church, Moreton.

Seven Pillars: In 1926 he first published his memoirs of the war and the Arab revolt with the title Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The title comes from the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 9:1): “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars”

In it, he described not only his part in the Arab Revolt with Faisal but essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. It was a high-priced popular book but he refused to take any royalties from it. Instead, offering his proceeds go to the RAF educational trust fund for the children of pilots who lost their lives in the line of duty.

He later wrote an article for Encyclopedia Britannica on Guerrilla Warfare in conjunction with Sir Basil Liddell Hart in reflections of irregular warfare in a piece that was originally published in the Army Quarterly. It can be found here:

Photos: British War Office Archives

How OSS Operatives Were Assessed and Selected

Back in World War II, the United States was woefully prepared to enter the war, especially in the field of intelligence operations where they didn’t have a national, professional intelligence service. But that would change very quickly.

After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed General William “Wild Bill” Donovan to head up the fledgling Office of Strategic Services (OSS), he quickly used his British contacts with getting the Americans the training and experience they would need in the coming months.

After OSS grew from their original COI (Coordinator of Information) roots, the U.S. copied the British program of psychological/psychiatric assessment similar to that in the English War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs).

OSS was searching for what personal makeup would be for assessing the perfect applicant for paramilitary operations (Guerrilla warfare, sabotage, assassination), intelligence operations (espionage), propaganda operations and select skills such as radio operators. They were starting from scratch. No one really knew what would make a perfect candidate for any of those.

So Donovan and his staff assembled a team of psychologists headed up by Dr. Henry Murray, a Harvard-trained psychologist who was a pioneer in personality assessment. He would head up the Assessment and Selection committee. They would screen nearly 5400 candidates to weed out the unfit for the dangerous job of being involved in the U.S.’ first foray into the intelligence and Special Operations business.

The candidates, military and civilian, men and women would be brought to Station S. (Schools and Training) at the prior Willard Estate in Fairfax, Virginia. The initial problem that arose was that there were no job descriptions for the candidates and therefore the psychologists had a difficult time in assessing candidates because they didn’t know what they were actually assessing for.

But what the Training School cadre of doctors came up with is a basic tool that is still used today, not only in Selection and Assessment for Special Operations Forces but in the civilian world in assessing managers.

Candidates would be required to build and maintain as completely as possible a cover
story for himself, claiming to have been born somewhere he wasn’t, to have gone to to school and educated in an institution other than those he had attended, to have been engaged in work or profession different to his own, and to live now in a place that was not his true residence. The cover story was to be maintained with staff and students alike at all times except under when speaking to cadre members for the purposes of assessment. The candidates could reveal anything about themselves except their names and true identities.

During the assessment cycle, this was the first test of what would become the real world test of living undercover abroad in a foreign country that may be under enemy control. The candidates were rated on several key factors which included:
Motivation, Practical Intelligence, Emotional, Stability, Social Relations, Leadership, Physical Ability, Observation and Reporting, Propaganda Skills, and Maintaining Cover.

Each factor was rated on a six-point scale: Very Inferior, Inferior, Low Average, High Average, Superior, Very Superior.

In addition, candidat were assessed in other factors as well:

Motivation: energy, effort, initiative, morale,
Practical Intelligence: speed and accuracy of judgment, resourcefulness in solving problems
Emotional Stability: emotional control and maturity, the absence of neurotic symptoms
Social Relations: social awareness, goodwill, teamwork, tact, the absence of annoying traits
Leadership: social initiative, organizing ability, ability to evoke cooperation
Physical Ability: agility, daring, ruggedness, stamina
Observation and Reporting: ability to search, question, observe and recall,
Infer, report
Propaganda Skills: the ability to affect others through acts, words, or displays
Maintaining Cover: caution, ability to remain inconspicuous, bluff, mislead, keep a secret

One of the more intriguing tasks given to the candidates was the Map Memory Test. in this test, the candidate had to assume that he is an operative in the field and that he has just made a secret face-to-face meeting with a courier who has a map of the territory that the agent will be operating in.

After a few minutes the courier must leave with the map and since it would be dangerous for the agent to have it, he must memorize it. After eight minutes to examine the map, it is taken away and the candidate answers a set of multiple-choice statements about the terrain shown on the map.

Back when I was a cadre in Selection, we came across this and several of the cadre members as well as candidates took the test in one of our first Selection courses in SFAS.

Other tests given to OSS candidates included:

The Brook Situation: This is similar to many of the tasks that SFAS candidates face in today’s course during what is now termed “Team Week”. This leaderless situation is now more apt to current Selection tasks than when the courses first began in the 1980s.

There a group of candidates were asked to cross a 15 foot wide stream, that the candidates were told to be a canyon. The are given a log which is said to be a delicate piece of equipment that they must carry over the canyon and return with a rock. The rock was to be considered to be explosives. The must carry log across, return with rock and all members of the group.

They were not permitted to jump but were asked to solve the problem as a group. They were given 10 minutes to generate a plan. No one was named the leader so there was the opportunity to take leadership and interact as a member of a team.

The candidates were assessed on the following criteria:

number of different suggestions offered
working as a member of a team
volunteering for unpleasant tasks
insight into the problems
evaluation of proposed suggestions
tact in responding to suggestions by other team members
sense of humor
guiding of others to a solution
organizing the workers into a team
combining ideas from others

The Wall Situation:

This was another leaderless evaluation candidates were led to a wall 10′ high,15′ long. Behind the wall which the candidates could see was another wall of the same height
and length, parallel to it, the two walls being 8′ apart. On the candidates’ side of the wall
there were a heavy log, an old board a few inches longer than the log, and a couple of
two-by-fours, two feet and three feet in length.

The candidates were told this wall was a barrier they could not go around or see around. Furthermore, behind this wall was a canyon and on the other side was another wall. The situation is that they were trying to escape from Japanese soldiers and must figure out how to get the entire team to the other side, carrying their bazooka which was an oversized log.. Any item or person that fell between the walls was lost. Solving the problem required getting quickly to the top of the wall to assess the situation and determining a way to measure the gap with the tools that were available in order to decide what could be used to cross it.

Smart leaders quickly realized the best wall climbers had to go first and last to assist the other team members up and across the wall and any apparatus built. The Wall was assessed the same as the Brook.

The Construction Situation: This was a test of emotional stability as well as a test of working with others, outside of the team. In this scenario, a candidate was given the task of constructing a basic wooden structure within ten minutes. The candidate was to serve as the leader and given two “helpers” who were anything but. This was also known as the “Behind the Barn” test.

One was lazy and wanted to do as little as possible the other was more aggressive and criticized everything the leader did. The task was to measure how a candidate handled stress and working with less than ideal “others” who were assigned. The candidate had to explain the task and give specific instructions to each of the “helpers” while maintaining a cool composure and keeping the helpers on task, without resorting to doing it himself.

The Stress Interview: This assessment was one of the most important of all of their tests. OSS operatives faced the danger of being arrested and interrogated by members of the Gestapo in occupied Europe. This small, short test was designed to see who could possibly withstand the emotional and intellectual strain of being interrogated.

Candidates were given 12 minutes to develop a cover story for why the candidate was found going through secret papers in a government office building. They would have no identification papers and could not pretend to be an employee. They were not permitted to answer either”I don’t know” or “I am not permitted to disclose” and had to answer every question. They had to avoid revealing prior personal occupations, residence, etc.

The stress interview lasted only 10 minutes and had the candidate sitting in a hard, uncomfortable chair in a dark room with a light shining in his eyes. The candidate would be subjected to multiple interrogators shouting rapid fire questions at him

At the end of this specific assessment, the cadre would whisper among themselves that the candidate failed the test to watch for any telltale signs. He or she would then be led out of the room and a cadre member would in a relaxed tone try to pry any more information out of him.

The cadre performed other assessments as well and then asked candidates to run an obstacle course at the end of the 2nd day to test their physical attributes. The cadre were looking for an ideal candidate who was a “PHd. who can win a bar fight.” Before they could sharpen the assessment program, the war ended and OSS was disbanded.

However, the same people who founded CIA and the US Army Special Forces dusted off their assessment programs for OSS and used many of the same assessment programs that continue to this day in different forms but essentially still looking for the ideal candidates to continue the mission of the unit and weed out the unsuitable.

So, how would you fare in the Selection and Assessment of OSS back in World War II?

Photos: US Archives

Before She Was a Famous Chef, Julia Child Cooked Up Shark Repellent for OSS

When one mentions Julia Child, the first thing that comes to mind is the marvel and ease of French cooking that she brought to the United States. But long before she was a culinary artist, she served as an intelligence officer during World War II in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner to today’s CIA and the U.S. Army Special Forces.

Child was born in Pasadena, California in 1912 and attended a private boarding school before attending Smith College, graduating with a degree in history in 1934. The 6’2” Child also played basketball, golf, and tennis in school. She moved to New York and worked as a copywriter for the advertising firm of W. & J. Sloane. One curious bit of her history. While growing up in California, her family had a hired cook and Child had no interest in cooking until she met her husband Paul many years later.

World War II Service: When the war started, Child attempted to join both the WACs (Women’s Army Corps) and the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the Navy. But was rejected because of her height.

Undeterred, she volunteered to serve in the OSS and was initially given a typist’s job at the headquarters in Washington D.C. It wasn’t long before she was given a much more challenging position as a researcher working directly under General William Donovan with a Top Secret clearance.

The elite Washington snobs looked down their blue noses at the upstart Intelligence group created by Donovan. They had well-connected enemies from the moment of their inception with J.Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Donovan’s men were a freewheeling, eclectic band of “glorious amateurs” as Donovan called them. He also said he was looking for “PHDs who can win a bar fight”, and he recruited some very well known personas including several who would become the head of CIA including Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey.

Child quickly rose thru the ranks in Washington and lived out of the Brighton Hotel. But growing bored with the administrative work, she heard OSS was searching for volunteers for work in India. And she thought being, “free, white, and thirty-one,” she was ready for an adventure.

But just prior to her transfer to the Orient, the U.S. Navy was having a hard time with sharks. There were reportedly 20 such attacks during the first 18 months of the war and the Navy was looking for a shark repellent that would boost morale.

So Donovan suggested to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that all rescue efforts be coordinated. Thus the OSS Emergency Rescue Equipment (ERE) committee was created to keep other government agencies from duplicating efforts. From the CIA archives, The ERE was headed up by Captain Harold J. Coolidge, a scientist from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Dr. Henry Field, Curator of the Field Museum of Natural History. Both men were avid explorers, having led expeditions into the arctic, desert, and tropical regions.

Julia Child, then McWilliams worked for Coolidge as his executive assistant for a year in 1943. Child in an interview about OSS had this to say about the work at ERE:

“I must say we had lots of fun,” Child said. “We designed rescue kits and other agent paraphernalia. I understand the shark repellent we developed is being used today for downed space equipment—strapped around it so the sharks won’t attack when it lands in the ocean.”

The group experimented with a variety of different compounds to keep the sharks away but the most effective chemical they found was copper acetate. It was found to be about 60 percent effective in keeping sharks from biting test subjects. CIA reports that the repellent was constructed as follows:

Copper acetate was mixed with black dye, which was then formed into a little disk-shaped “cake” that smelled like a dead shark when released into the water. These cakes could be stored in small 3-inch boxes with metal screens that allowed the repellent to be spread either manually or automatically when submerged in water. The box could be attached to a life jacket or belt, or strapped to a person’s leg or arm, and was said to keep sharks away for 6 to 7 hours.

Despite that, the Navy was unconvinced about the overall effectiveness of the ERE’s shark repellent. In their own tests the Navy felt that the “slight repellent factor” shown in bait tests in small sharks, they didn’t believe that once used in larger sharks known to attack man it wouldn’t be very effective. Even Coolidge didn’t believe that the repellent would work if a group of sharks experienced what we’d call a feeding frenzy.

However, the word leaked out of ERE’s shark repellent and the media picked it up. Requests for the OSS shark repellent began to pour in from the Army Air Corps and the Coast Guard and while the actual value of the repellent may have been dubious, the effect on morale was huge. The repellent remained in use with the Navy until the 1970s and may have even been used by NASA.

But the Navy wanted to let the sailors know about the low probability of being bitten by sharks and once the repellent went into widespread use, they also published a pamphlet called, “Shark Sense” which spelled it all out, and in the military’s never-ending pursuit of the lowest common denominator, published it with a cartoon, something that would continue well into the 1980s.

Once assigned to China and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Julia Child’s life changed forever. She met Paul Child who was a decade older and an experienced player with women, wine, and food. And he opened all of those horizons up to the inexperienced newcomer. After nearly a year in Ceylon, she was transferred to China and the two were inseparable until the war ended.

She served as Chief of the OSS Registry. In typical self-effacing action, she claimed that she was nothing more than a clerk. Her future husband, however, in later years dispelled those rumors saying that she held a Top Secret Clearance and was handling all of the classified message traffic to include the invasion of the Malay peninsula. It was during this time her first interest in fine food and cooking was born due to her relationship with Child.

After the war, he continued on as a Foreign Service Officer and while stationed in France, is where Julia attended the best cooking schools in Paris and befriended French chefs and together they decided to put together a cookbook for Americans to develop an interest in French food. The rest they say is history.

But long before that, Julia Child was a young woman who couldn’t cook a lick and whose first recipe was for the United States Navy. She would recall much later in life in interviews with the media.

“I could boil water for tea but my first big recipe was shark repellent that I mixed in a bathtub for the Navy, for the men who might get caught in the water.”

Photos: Wikipedia

Why Mossad’s Retrieval of Eli Cohen’s Watch Matters

This one may not rate up there with some of the other coups that Mossad has pulled off, like the incredible stealing of Iran’s nuclear files, but the retrieval of a wristwatch that was owned by Eli Cohen is important because of the symbolism of what it means more than the watch itself.

Cohen was an Israeli spy who was initially rejected by Mossad. Born in Alexandria, Egypt to devout Zionist Jews, he eventually was forced to leave Egypt and settled in Israel in 1957. He was recruited by Mossad in 1961 and using a cover identity of a Syrian businessman by the name of Kamal Amin Taabet, he furnished the Israelis with a wealth of incredible intelligence, befriending some of the top Syrian government and military leaders.

He would host parties and act intoxicated although he was always sober and he’d ply the Syrian military officers with liquor to loosen their tongues.

He spent time living in Argentina working on his cover story and there were even rumors that he, as a rich businessman with a wealth of contacts in the government was being considered as the Deputy Defense Minister for Syria. He was known only as 566 in the Intelligence HQs. He wrote in encrypted French and used a tiny radio transmitter.

He got a tour of the Syrian Golan Heights defenses and made notes of everything he saw. Included in this was that the Syrians had constructed three lines of defense where the Israelis believed there was only one. In a brilliant move, under the guise of feeling badly for the troops sitting in open bunkers in the heat, he arranged to have trees planted, giving the troops some shade and relief from the heat. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) made note of where the trees were and their artillery pinpointed them in the 1967 war.

After four years of working undercover, he was caught as he was transmitting a message to Israel and was arrested in January 1965. The Syrians were aware of a mole inside their government. Cohen had returned to Israel in late December 1964 to be there for the birth of his son and tried to convince his bosses to let him remain. But he returned for one final go at it, unaware that the Syrians had brought in Soviet radio direction finding equipment. They shut down all traffic and picked up his signal and they tracked it to his house.

He was arrested and tortured and put on trial where he was convicted. His wife and others pleaded for clemency but to no avail.

Four months later, he was executed in a public hanging. The Syrians moved his body’s location several times to prevent the Israelis from stealing it and bringing it home to his family. Now they claim that they don’t even know where it is buried.

The Mossad released a statement on the recovery of Cohen’s watch stating:

“After Eli Cohen’s execution on May 18, 1965, the wristwatch was held by an enemy state. Upon the watch’s return to Israel, special research and intelligence operations were carried out which culminated in the unequivocal determination that this was indeed Eli Cohen’s watch,” the Mossad said.

Even after more than 50 years, the Mossad didn’t forget their man and tracked down the watch and the location and learned that it was for sale. They infiltrated into Syria and were able to purchase the watch and bring it home.

Cohen’s widow Nadia spoke about the recovery of his watch, “a few months ago, the Mossad shared with us that they had tracked down the watch, which was on sale. We don’t know where, in what place, in what country. And of course, the Mossad bought it and carried out all of the tests to make sure it was the right watch.”

“I decided the watch would remain in the Mossad. I felt like it was part of his body, that some of his skin and some of his blood was in that watch,” she added.

Mossad Director Yossi Cohen said, “We remember Eli Cohen and do not forget. His heritage—of dedication, determination, courage, and love of the homeland—is our heritage. We remember and have maintained a close connection over the years with his family, Nadia and the children.”

“This year, at the conclusion of an operation, we succeeded in locating and bringing to Israel the wristwatch that Eli Cohen wore in Syria until the day he was captured. The watch was part of Eli Cohen’s operational image and part of his fabricated Arab identity,” he added.

Apparently, the woman that had the watch after Cohen’s arrest and execution wanted to sell it. But as she’s old now, her grandchildren knew that Israelis would pay more for it, so they approached them about buying it since they assumed, that they’d pay the most for it.

At a ceremony at Mossad headquarters, Director Yossi Cohen presented the watch to Cohen’s family. Eli Cohen’s daughter Sofia Ben-Dor was excited about it because that is all they have.

“There was great excitement because it is essentially the only item of dad that came back, we have nothing else besides that,” she said.

The watch, she said, “was not kept in pristine condition, but it’s moving to know dad touched it. We haven’t touched it yet, it’s in a frame at the lobby outside the Mossad director’s office.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mossad for an operation whose sole purpose, he said, “was to bring back to Israel a memory of a great fighter who contributed greatly to the State of Israel.”

So while this operation wasn’t anything as bold as some of their other operations, it shows that the Israelis have a very long memory and a token as this watch is as important to them as it was over 50 years ago. The Israeli government is still trying to get his body returned and even had the Russian government intercede on their behalf. But as of today, that still hasn’t happened. For now, the watch is all they have and will have to suffice.

Photos: Wikipedia

Hamas Using Fake Dating Apps, World Cup, Honeypots to Spy on Israeli Troops

Hamas hacked into hundreds of smartphones of Israeli soldiers using fake dating and World Cup apps in order to gain sensitive information about the Israeli military and bases around the Gaza strip.

The IDF’s Military Intelligence conducted an investigation which found that the 11 Hamas operatives (three approached soldiers on WhatsApp, eight approached soldiers on Facebook) were an intelligence network of the Hamas terrorist organization which asked the soldiers to download applications which compromised their cell phones with Trojan horse viruses.

The apps allowed malicious software controlled by Hamas to be planted into Android smartphones, enabling militants in the Strip to access pictures, phone numbers and email addresses of soldiers posted close to the border, and even allowed Hamas to control the phones’ cameras and microphones remotely.
In a number of cases, Hamas has been able to film what was happening on Israel Defense Forces bases without the soldiers being aware their phones had been hacked. Beginning in January 2018, the military’s information security department has received complaints from soldiers and commanders about attempts by suspicious people on social networks recommending soldiers to download apps from the official Google Play Store. Soldiers who downloaded the app immediately gave Hamas access to all the information on their phone.
The military began examining these apps and swiftly discovered that Hamas was behind them, and that it was operating fake Facebook profiles to build trust with soldiers since 2017 to get the soldiers to download the apps.
The operation by the unit responsible for information security was dubbed “operation broken heart.”
Hamas also used a fitness app to identify the phone numbers of soldiers who went jogging near the Gaza border. The minute Hamas had these numbers, it began sending the soldiers, and others, requests to download their “Trojan Horse” apps.

Both male and female soldiers were approached with these tactics, while most soldiers immediately informed their commanders, several did not. It was learned that the female soldiers were quicker to cut off communications with the Hamas operatives than the men.

Despite this, the apps in question remain online.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

China’s Military Suffering From “Peace Disease” With No War Experience

A Chinese military newspaper was subtly rattling a saber when it said that the PLA is suffering from “peace disease” after nearly four decades without war.

The People’s Liberation Army Daily wrote, “Peace disease has been a common symptom in our military for decades.”

The Chinese PLA hasn’t had any combat experience since a brief foray into Vietnam in the late 1970s and it added, “If we do not make up our mind to eliminate those evils, we must pay a heavy cost in the event of a war.”

Although China boasts the world’s largest standing military, with more than 2.1 million active-duty servicepeople, the country’s last offensive took place in the late 1970s in Vietnam. As a result, military leaders and the Chinese president are afraid troops have grown complacent and less capable. Xi aims to transform his nation’s military into a world-class fighting force within the next 30 years.
“We can only stop a war when we are able to fight,” the PLA newspaper wrote. “Let the army get back on the right track, concentrating on combat-ready training.”
Retired PLA Colonel Yue Gang pointed to corruption, as well as avoiding responsibilities, as the major problems plaguing the Chinese armed forces.
“Apart from corruption, job omission is the next key symptom of ‘peace disease’ in the Chinese military that should be cured,” Yue said, pointing out that the government is working to address both issues.
The army publication also warned that China currently faces greater security threats and unprecedented global concerns. Currently, China continues to flex its muscles in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, raising tensions with multiple Asian neighbors. Beijing has also moved to open foreign military outposts, such as a military hub in the African country Djibouti.

In an effort to confront the U.S. at every turn, China has now befriended an old enemy Russia, to improve ties with the Russians and work together against U.S. interests. After a visiting Russian high ranking military officer to China, Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe vowed that the two nations will “jointly deal with threats and challenges.”

The Chinese potential adversary, the U.S. military has no such “peace disease” having been in constant combat since 2001 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and several other global hotspots. Despite this, the Chinese continue to push the envelope in the South China Sea, Djibouti, where Chinese military fired lasers at U.S. planes taking off from nearby airfields and potentially blinding pilots and other places

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Maryland Voters: “No, We Got This” Reject Chelsea Manning’s Bid

Chelse Manning’s longshot bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Maryland came to an ignominious end this week, as she and several other Democratic challengers were routed by incumbent Senator Ben Cardin. Cadrin is seeking his third term as a Senator after serving in the House for 20 years. Cadrin tallied 80.4 percent of the vote.

Tony Campbell of Baltimore County defeated an even bigger slate of 10 other candidates for the Republican nomination.

Manning was a former Army intelligence analyst, named Bradley Manning who was sentenced to jail for leaking around 700,000 classified documents. President Donald Trump called her an “ungrateful traitor.”

With a wave of “progressive” candidates seeking election during the 2018 midterm elections, none was as divisive as Chelsea Manning. Since being released from prison, she has been quite active on social media, especially Twitter espousing liberal issues and with a healthy dose of emojis and usually followed by the hashtag #wegotthis.

Seen on the left as the darling of Wikileaks and a whistleblower, the 30-year old championed the rights for transgender’s rights and went on a hunger strike until the Army acquiesced and allowed her to have the surgery to become a woman. However, her campaign barely got off the ground.

The right sees Manning as a traitor who caused irreparable damage to the military by leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, for which she was sentenced to 35-years in prison. Her sentence was commuted by President Obama after just seven years of confinement just before he left office. But many on the right found it ludicrous that someone convicted of a serious crime was even allowed to run.

She did very little campaigning in Maryland, running on a platform of abolishing prisons, freeing inmates and abolishing the Immigrations and Customs agency calling it, “literally the new gestapo,” while likewise eliminating our national borders. Her campaign generated no campaign war chest, no debates, and very few candidate forums. In a state with so many government and defense workers the fact that she even got the minuscule 5.7 percent of the vote (nearly 30,000 votes) was surprising.

Manning generated the wrong kind of publicity for her first campaign about a month ago when she went on social media claiming that “we can’t expect any change thru the upcoming elections – the primaries are rigged.” Worse, shortly after that, Manning posted a picture of herself standing at a window ledge with just the words, “I’m sorry.”

A follow-on post set off more alarm bells. She added, “I’m not really cut out for this world — i tried adapting to this world out here but i failed you — i couldn’t do this anymore,” which caused a minor uproar on social media among her followers. Her friends and supporters urged people to give her space… but in the middle of a Senate campaign?

Manning announced this week that she was forced to step back from active campaigning to prioritize her health. “I found the space and the treatment I need to heal, with close friends by my side to provide love and support,” she said.

After her suicidal call for help, some of her friends and supporters called the police to do a wellness check. That caused another minor social media uproar when the security camera of Manning’s apartment ended up on social media.

The footage shows that three officers have weapons drawn while a fourth has a Taser. A Police spokesman, Captain Paul Starks said that the decision to draw weapons “depends on the officer” who “makes the decision based on circumstances that are affecting that officer in that specific situation.” Manning, however, tweeted that “this is what a police state looks like, Guns drawn during a wellness check.”

But after the election, she was back on social media once again. Thanking her supporters, she reminded them about the “power we have as individuals.”

She added, “Last year, when I was released from prison, I emerged into a world of hate and injustice. I traveled across the country. I saw immigrants, people of color, queer and trans folk under attack. I saw our most vulnerable communities living under a de facto military occupation of violent, heavily-armed police forces. I’ve seen what a military occupation looks like first-hand: I participated in the U.S. occupation of Iraq from 2009-2010.

Witnessing how scary and unjust the world has become drove me to run for U.S. Senate in my home state of Maryland,” she wrote.

“We started this campaign knowing it was a long-shot,” Manning wrote in her concession after the primary. “But, after spending hours and hours knocking on doors and making phone calls, I’m convinced that the change people truly need goes beyond what our corrupt two-party system is willing to offer.”

Back in May when her campaign wasn’t gaining any momentum, she was coming to the realization that she was far from ready for a national seat of any kind, but she blasted the current system and called for major change and activism.

Manning may be out of the running but this doesn’t mean that we’ve heard the last of her. She has been stating that her activism will not end. It is worth wondering aloud if the left which made her a cause célèbre during her incarceration and subsequent release will continue to support her.

Or will they dump her as they look for the next big cause it seems daily?

Photo: Wikipedia