Declassified FBI files about prominent personalities are generally full of crap. Rumor, hearsay, outright lies–no scrap of derogatory “intelligence” was deemed unworthy by J. Edgar Hoover, the bureau’s longtime, gossipy director. Especially when it came to politically active leftists, his files swelled with unfounded allegations. But those same files also have their deliciously honest and […]
Jon Elliston
Posted inNews
The Truth About Harvey Point
Facts about the CIA’s activities at Harvey Point, along with other details about the secretive facility, have seeped out slowly over the years. Pieces of the puzzle have surfaced in government documents, investigative news reports and accounts by former CIA officers. Below is a chronological summary of previous disclosures about the base. 1961: The U.S. […]
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Bomb School
n April 11, 2002, Jim Pavitts, the Central Intelligence Agency’s top covert operations official, stood up before a Duke University Law School conference on national security issues and did something he almost never does: He spoke publicly about his operations. In the little-noticed speech, Pavitts assured the audience that the CIA is actively engaged in […]
Posted inArt
Six-String Spook
CONFIDENTIAL MEMO FOR THE INDY FILES FILE UNDER NATIONAL INSECURITY Re: Latest Intelligence on George Shrub Subject, one George Shrub, bills himself as the “world’s only known singing CIA agent.” While his ties to the intelligence agency are difficult to confirm or deny, he does, in fact, know how to carry a tune. But where […]
Posted inArt
Nowhere to Hide
If Hollywood has made one concrete contribution to democracy, it’s the strong but little understood impact that movies have had on the U.S. intelligence community. A prime example is Oliver Stone’s JFK. Denounced as fast-and-loose fiction by many historians, the movie nonetheless indirectly forced the CIA and other secretive agencies to fork over documents that […]
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Feel the love
If Valentine’s Day finds you looking for love in all the wrong places–or at least, not finding it anywhere–here’s a thought: the Internet. Maybe you’ve already been there or ruled that avenue out. Maybe you’re “not the type” to turn to chat rooms, electronic dating services or other forms of virtual romance. But now it […]
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Gone to Pot
Six candidates, so far, have announced plans to run for Chatham County sheriff this year. Most are either current or former cops, and they are all vowing to restore the reputation of local law enforcement, which was sullied when 5,000 pounds of confiscated marijuana went missing. The stash’s last known custodian was the sheriff’s department, […]
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Party trick
Krissy Gray, an operating room nurse at UNC Hospitals, was born in the county of Gaston, raised in Jackson, moved to Orange 10 years ago and presently resides in Chatham. For reasons she can’t explain, every time she travels, she keeps a running tab in her head of all the counties she passes through. So […]
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No-Rent Party
It’s Thursday night, potluck time at 621 Hillsborough Road in Carrboro. A dozen or so friends in their early-20s pull up chairs in a dimly lit kitchen and divvy up the salad, jalapeno cornbread, lentils and rice. It’s tasty but the rations are meager, not quite enough to satisfy.Then a late arrival bursts through the […]
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Kangaroo court
In a world made ever smaller by globalization, the long arm of the law keeps getting longer. Take the case of Chapel Hill native Erin Griffin, a waitress at Flying Burrito. She was working a Friday night shift when her sister Lindsay brought her mail by–a couple of bills, some junk mail and an out-of-the-blue […]
