THE CIA'S BLOND GHOST: TED SHACKLEY - FULL DOC
Added 2025-02-16 23:19:43 +0000 UTCToday I cover one of the most elusive major CIA agents in the agency's history, Ted Shackley, known by his nickname, the Blond Ghost. I also dive deep into the Gehlen Org origins of the US Green Berets, as I speculate whether Shackley, posted in Germany at the time, had a role in the creation of America's first Special Forces.
Bibliography:
[1] Warren Hinckle and William Turner - The Fish is Red (p. 113)
[1] David Corn - The Blond Ghost
[1] Ted Shackley Deposition at the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition https://ia803108.us.archive.org/6/items/reportofcongress25unit/reportofcongress25unit.pdf starts at p. 33
[1] Ted Shackley - The Third Option (p.5-7)
[1] Ted Shackley - You’re Still The Target!
[1] Ted Shackley Spymaster
[2] Alec Dubro and David Kaplan - Yakuza (p. 48)
[2] David Corn - The Blond Ghost (p.22-32, 41)
[2] Ted Shackley Spymaster ( p. XVI-XVII, 94)
[2] E.H. Cookridge - Reinhard Gehlen Spy of the Century (p.237-252)
https://archive.org/details/gehlenspyofcentu0000cook/page/74/mode/2up
[2] John Loftus - The Belarus Secret (p.26, 68-80)
https://archive.org/details/belarussecret0000loft/page/70/mode/2up
[2] Christopher Simpson - Blowback (p. 46-51 139-150) https://archive.org/details/blowbackamericas00simp/page/n5/mode/2up
[2] Archive page of disclosure of US intelligence ties to former Nazis: https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-263-cia-records/rg-263-report.html#augsburg
[2] Lucien Conein Fort Bragg 1956 https://www.beforethequagmire.com/Before_the_Quagmire_by_William_JRust/Aboutthe_Author_files/Conein-Contrasts-and-Controversy.pdf (p.47)
[3] Charles Simpson - Inside the Green Berets (p. 19-50) 19-https://archive.org/details/insidegreenberet0000simp_m8h6/page/18/mode/2up?q=foreign+legion
[3] H.A. Gill III - A Soldier Under Three Flags (p. 95-103, 167-170)https://books.google.ca/books/about/A_Soldier_Under_Three_Flags.html?id=QxSQPeP9Z1gC&redir_esc=y
[3] Private Law from 1953 allowing Torni to immigrate legally https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-67/pdf/STATUTE-67-PgA60.pdf
[3] David Corn - The Blond Ghost (p.46-55, 141)
Comments
Saying that Thorne was scouted for SF for his SS experience isn’t really accurate. The more likely reason is his unique experience in conducting reconnaissance and sabotage patrols during the continuation war in Finland, and his extensive experience in arctic and mountain warfae. There is even video of him training US forces on skiing.
snarf
2025-06-16 19:23:18 +0000 UTCNot necessarily no, this is just the issue with access journalism in general. Much of his material was gathered from current or former CIA assets and officers that he was given access to by the agency to interview for the book. The unique insights he was getting into Shackley’s life were therefore delivered through the CIA filter in some form or another. I’d venture to say that it’s likely all true, just likely not the whole truth.
EWO
2025-05-20 17:20:24 +0000 UTCEdit: He had turned 18 in 52. He retired as an SFC or E7 NCO. Assuming he joined the military, went through with his 20 years. It’s very possible he was one of the first Green Berets. He didn’t talk about his service at all.
Tyler
2025-05-20 16:44:06 +0000 UTCGetting to the green beret part was very cool. My grand grandfather was in the Army, served green beret during Vietnam. His military record is unclear to me. The man kept to himself, but from what I understand. My mother told me that he was already retired from the army when she was a kid in the 80s. The man served a full 20 years. So bare minimum he joined in the 60s. His records were destroyed in the fire, and were unrecoverable. I do not have access to any of his medals, patches, or anything of that sort. But my grand grandmother outlived him, and I got to talk to her after high school. He was MACVSOG, and continued to be a part of the special forces community until he died. They’re both long gone now. Side note: my grand grandmother used to bake the green berets cookies. They loved them.
Tyler
2025-05-16 03:29:23 +0000 UTCYou talked about the inability to verify a lot of David corns work. Is there anything that's untrustworthy about his work?
chris m
2025-04-23 05:38:33 +0000 UTCHell yeah brother
polishXcellence
2025-04-05 11:48:40 +0000 UTCEx ss= first generation of the US Army SF is insane but am not surprised
Bigtntguy
2025-03-27 19:40:42 +0000 UTCTHEE~TRUTH~NEVER~HURT~ANYONE-! = SOMETIMES~THEE~TRUTH~HURT-ZL-! . . . IT's: 'A~HURTZ~A-!' ~ 'A~MALCHUS~PA-!' ~ SEE: OUR~JOHN~DEAN-! ~ JUDAS-! ~ TAPES-! = IT's: ALL~DOCUMENT-E.D.-! ~ 66.7-YEARS-! = MARDUK-IS-NOAH-2.0-! ~ NIMROD-IS-NOAH-1.0-! ~ TRUMP-IS-NIMROD-! ~ NIMROD-IS-NIX-ON-! ~ TRUMP-IS-NIX-ON-! ~ MARDUK-IS-NIX-ON-! + THEE-9/11-FLORIDA-MAQUIS-! ~ THEE-MAR-A-LAGO-LAKE-O'-FIRE-! = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOOSWQYmoz4&t=962s = FULLCMMNDBRIEFEPST27FEB25 www.youtube.com BANNON-! + TRUMP-! + [AMALEK-O'-THEE-REBBE-MESSIAH-!] + JARED-! + [KING-SAUL-O'-CUSH-NER-! ~ SAMUEL-O'-DEBORAH-! IVANKA-YAEL-O'-DEBORAH-! ~ IV-COVEN-WITCH-O'-END-ALL-!] + IHS-OPUS-SYE-DEI-! + [ULTRA-HITLER-MONTINI-FATMA-!] + DARK-BREIT-! + [IHS-HOPELESS-TRAGEDY-!] + OUTTA: [IHS-DARK-ALL-BRIGHT-IS-REAL-IS-!] + THEE-MOURN-ING-STAR-! ~ O'-IS-REAL-IS-! + [IT's: 'A-HURTZ-A-!' ~ 'A-MALCHUS~PA-!' ~ DEATH-NELL-IE-! + OLE-[BUSH]-NELL-IE: 'WHEN-U-BEBE-CUM-! ~ 1958-JFK-9/11-PRES-!'] + + + ISAIAH-CIA-DNI-17: MISES~MOSES-! . . . https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/02/michael-snyder/is-the-stage-being-set-for-damascus-to-be-utterly-destroyed-and-turned-into-a-heap-of-ruins/ = Is The Stage Being Set for Damascus To Be Utterly Destroyed and Turned Into a Heap of Ruins? - LewRockwell The Sunni radicals that have taken over Syria are demanding that all Israeli forces must leave Syrian territory. On the other side, the IDF is hammering military targets in southern Syria with a blistering wave of airstrikes, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any military forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will not be allowed south of Damascus. Do you understand ... www.lewrockwell.com ISAIAH-CIA-DNI-17: IN: 3-PUBIC-ACTS-! = A) THREE-NIGHTS-DARKNESS-! & B) NOAH-2.0~BYE-FIRE-! & C) DAMASCUS: JERU-SALEM-! & ROME-! &) BEGIN-! . . . THEE-BEGUINE-! . . . .........
PAULUS MUGAR
2025-03-01 05:18:01 +0000 UTCYeah I’m definitely gonna take a look when (if) they ever release. I’m not getting bc my hopes up though, the chances that we get anything substantial is quite marginal imo, and these released could be manipulated for political reasons. But if they do release, for sure I’ll read them over and comment on them
EWO
2025-02-21 19:06:29 +0000 UTCAfter all the assassination files are released(MLK, JFK, RFK).. will you make another video breaking down the contents.. Ive seen all your videos and love them and its easy to put together that operation 40, cia and the mob, Allen Dullas, shackley, Harvey, E Hunt, Lansdale.. etc are all connected too the the killings.. would you make the video on that?…I find the lore of the early deep state very interesting..
Chris Donnelly
2025-02-21 07:02:05 +0000 UTCI’ve considered it and there’s definitely way more material out there to pull from on Angleton comparatively to Shackley. But the thing with him is that it’s much more complicated to cover, his job was to obfuscate, it was to be deceiving. Counterintelligence is a hall of mirrors, where trying to get to the truth can be an endless endeavour. People have theorized that Angleton was simultaneously a CIA, Mossad, and KGB asset, and we’ll likely never know who he was really working for. I’d be interested in trying to tack down his history, but he’s honestly such an enigma. I like to cover little pieces when he comes up
EWO
2025-02-17 01:30:58 +0000 UTCI hope that at some point, you do a series about James Angleton. As a high ranking CIA officer and someone who was deeply involved many of its operations, it would be really interesting to flesh out Angleton and how he influenced its operations.
Consuelo Concepcion
2025-02-17 00:50:13 +0000 UTC
