The House on Harlandale

Copyright © 2020 by Gary Hill.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover art by Liane Ferrese.

Rev. date: 04/17/2020

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

About the Author

We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when

everything the American public believes is false.

—CIA Director William Casey to Ronald Reagan

CHAPTER 1

Florida

March–May 1957

Lee Harvey Oswald passed under the sign that read NAVAL AIR TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTER and boarded the bus, quickly moving to his usual spot in the rear, mumbling, Friday at last! He avoided eye contact as he dragged his duffel bag past a scattering of his military peers. He liked the marines and the aviation training he was receiving here in Jacksonville. Basic training had been difficult, but Lee had expected that. He didn’t have much stamina, and his coordination was so poor that he barely qualified on the rifle range, scoring only two points above the minimum rating. Still, the urge to be a marine had always been there. He smiled as he remembered his inept attempt to enlist at the age of sixteen. Just a dumb kid, he thought. His reflection in the bus window revealed a much more experienced individual. One who wore a uniform that had a stripe. Private First Class Oswald was an individual to be reckoned with. Soon he would be a radar air controller with a security clearance of Confidential.

The young soldier dozed as the bus made its way through a rainy mist. Life was good. He didn’t socialize much with the other marines and liked the solitude the weekly bus rides afforded him. They called him Ozzie the Rabbit, after a cartoon character. Like a rabbit, they considered him meek and mild mannered. Who cares! he mused.

There was a weekend pass in his pocket, and ahead lay the city of his birth, New Orleans. As he dozed off, he made a mental note of his appointment with his old friend and former Civil Air Patrol leader, Dave Ferrie. Dave was a little eccentric, but very smart—perhaps even brilliant. They would talk politics. Ferrie was one of the few people who appreciated his viewpoints. The windshield wipers pulsated rhythmically, and the young marine dozed off. Oswald’s adult life had begun.

Sidney Gottlieb leafed through the notes of his predecessor, Morse Allen. Under Allen’s project, code-named ARTICHOKE, early attempts at mind control laid the groundwork for further behavioral research. The CIA’s search for a Manchurian candidate would continue anew with Gottlieb’s guidance under the MKULTRA banner.

He gazed at a passage of note in Allen’s notes.

…. Not every double agent would do. The candidate had to be among the one person in five who made a good hypnotic subject. He also needed to have a dissociative tendency to separate part of his personality from the main body of his consciousness. The process would be to develop an existing ego state and build it into a separate personality, unknown to the first. The hypnotist could then communicate directly with this schizophrenic personality branch and instruct it to carry out specific deeds about which the main personality would know nothing. Of course, there would be leakage between the personalities in the dream state, but cover stories could be created to insure consistency in behavior.

Sid Gottlieb was intrigued with Allen’s proposal of terminal experiments.

The recruitment of an agent in a friendly foreign country where cooperation of the local police force could be assured would facilitate positive results. Case officers could then train the agent to pose as a leftist and infiltrate the local Communist party cell. During the training, hypnotism would be used under the semblance of medical treatment. The agent could then be provided with information and suggest amnesia at the end of the session. After sending the agent out as a spy, the local police would be informed that he was a dangerous Communist agent. Once arrested, the agent’s ability to withstand interrogation would be monitored through a cooperative arrangement with the local authorities.

Gottlieb decided it was worth a shot. He quickly shot off a memo to John Gittinger, MKULTRA case officer for hypnosis. He knew that Gittinger and his staff had been doing hypnosis research for several years, farming out most of the work to a PhD at the University of Minnesota named Alden Sears.

Kessler Air Force Base

July 1957

Dear Mom,

Today I completed my Aircraft Control and Warning Operators License. I did good, finished seventh in my class of fifty! I am now officially an Aviation Electronic Operator. Next stop is El Toro in California, and then, I hope, overseas. Will write when I can.

Lee

Atsugi, Japan

August–November 1957

Atsugi was the home of the Joint Technical Advisory Group, the CIA’s main operational base in the Far East. The first marine aircraft wing stationed there was one of only two top-secret bases from which a strange aircraft known as the U2 was flown.

You wanted to see me, Private Oswald?

Yes, sir. On leave this weekend, some of the boys from my unit were in Tokyo. You know, having a few beers and hanging around some of the clubs down there. Well, I met a girl. A Japanese girl—very high class, a real looker, if you know what I mean, sir?

Yes, I understand, Private. Go on.

Well, anyway, I was sitting alone when she approached me and asked me some questions about my work at Atsugi. I got the feeling she was trying to get information or something.

What gave you that impression, Private?

Just personal questions, sir. About the base, my duties, things like that.

I see. And how did you handle this, son?

Well, at first I wasn’t sure what was happening. Then later, I tried to change the subject. She talked about American imperialism, so I mentioned Karl Marx. I’ve read a lot about Marxism. I like to read. The private fidgeted in his chair.

What happened then, Private? The officer’s voice was calm, soothing.

She told me about a group of Chinese Communists in Tokyo. Asked me if I was interested in going to one of their meetings.

And how did you respond to that?

I said that it might be interesting to talk Marxist philosophy with real Communists. You know, sort of get their viewpoint. Not textbook stuff but real-life experience.

Go on.

Actually, that’s about it. I’m supposed to meet her again this weekend at a club called the Queen Bee. But the more I thought about it, it occurred to me that maybe I should report this before I do anything else.

You did the right thing, Private Oswald.

As he waited in the small room in the rear of the MACS-1 headquarters, Lee Oswald had a premonition that his life was about to change course. Why else would someone from the Office of Naval Intelligence want to talk to a marine private?

After several minutes, two men, an officer and a civilian, entered the room. The officer did most of the talking, identifying himself as Captain Nagell of military intelligence and the civilian as a Mr. Joe Bentley of the CIA. He queried Lee for several minutes about his family background and, finally, about the episode in Tokyo.

You understand, Private, that anything discussed in this room is classified and not to be discussed with anyone.

Yes, sir, Oswald answered nervously.

Let’s see, aviation electronics operator, MOS of 6741 assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron 1.

Right, sir. ‘Coffee Mill’ is our code name, Oswald added.

Seventh in your class. Very good.

The marine smiled. Thank you, sir.

Private Oswald, you can be of great service to your country. It is our belief that the woman who approached you in Tokyo is a known agent of the KGB. Our concern is that hostesses from the Queen Bee are being used to gather intelligence from the servicemen who frequent the place. Most of these men are U-2 pilots or officers who know something of the project. We fear that there may already be security leaks that need to be identified immediately. That’s where you come in, Private. You see, the Soviets are very interested in the U-2. The Black Lady is the target of their highest priority. Since the U-2 belongs to the CIA, we will be coordinating with them in this matter. What do you know of the U-2?

Just that it must be something special, Lee responded. I’ve seen it being taxied out for takeoff. My squadron keeps its gear in that hangar, and I know those guards around it mean business because they’re carrying machine guns instead of M1’s.

"It is very special, as you will soon learn. You’ll have a new clearance that will give you access to the inside of the radar bubble, and you’ll be monitoring its flights. Furthermore, I want you to show an interest in it by asking questions around the base. Take pictures, pretend to be quietly gathering information. Your job, off the base, Private Oswald, will be to play along with the Communists and relay information to us concerning their activities. Quite simply, you will be used as bait. Is that clear?"

Yes, sir. But how—

The officer cut him off.

That is all I can tell you at this point, Private. You will be given crypto clearance in certain areas from this point on and receive special training involving your duties. We will feed you specific information to leak to your contacts … I understand that you are known for your interest in Marxism by the men in your unit?

Well … ah, I guess so … I …

From now on, we want you to play up your leftist sympathies. Make it well known that you are interested in the Soviet Union, Communism, Marxism anything pink. In fact, we want you to become conspicuous—a real Russophile. You got that, marine? interjected the officer.

Yes, sir! But what about the men?

The men are to believe that your heart is red. To be a successful dangle, your cover has to be authentic as hell. Do you think you can handle this assignment, Private? the officer asked forcefully.

I’ll do my best, sir! replied the marine.

"Good. You are now working for the Office of Naval Intelligence. You will make your contact at the Queen Bee as if nothing has happened. It is a very exclusive club, so you’ll need money. We’ll take care of that. The girl is a hostess there, and you will be required to pay for the time you are with her. You are to be cooperative but hesitant at first. Take mental notes of all you see and hear. Mr. Bentley will be your contact from now on. Do nothing until you hear from him.

As Lee Oswald made his way back to the barracks, he was overcome with conflicting emotions. Uncertainty, fear, and excitement were flooding over him all at once. As he lay awake in his bunk that night, it finally dawned on him that suddenly he was important—a role player, a spy. When he thought about it, that was what he always wanted to be. When he was a kid, his favorite television show was I Led 3 Lives. It was the story of Herb Philbrick, who infiltrated a Communist cell for the Bureau. Even now, Lee’s idol was Ian Fleming’s James Bond. He anxiously awaited each new novel and read them voraciously. That night, Private Oswald found it very difficult to sleep.

FROM: Sheffield Edwards, Security Chief

TO: Sidney Gottlieb

RE: Interrogation Units

In line with policy adopted 4/20/50 under project BLUEBIRD, you are hereby instructed to proceed to Atsugi, Japan, with interrogation unit as designated under Security Command document #357. The usual team of four specialists is to be used. Ultimate goal is to gather all possible data on foreign (particularly Russian) efforts in behavioral field.

Sheffield Edwards

Intelligence in the Far East

After World War II, there became a political void in Europe. With the fall of the Axis powers, Fascism, the Far Right of the political system, had ceased to exist. In contrast, Communism, the extreme left-wing ideology embodied in the powerful Soviet Union, was a menacing demon threatening the status quo with worldwide revolution.

The United States was the only other country to rise from the ashes of this global conflict as a superpower. It was inevitable that the former allies would shift in polarity to balance the political spectrum. America would fill the void of the Far Right in ideology. The Christian West had never really felt comfortable in bed with the atheistic materialism of the Bolsheviks. In reality, we felt closer in thought and kinship to our former enemy, Germany. If it were it not for the specter of Hitler, there may well have been a united front late in the war against the Russians. It seems there is an eternal battle of opposites in the destiny of man. The Crusades and the Civil War are part of history, though they are not yet decided. They continue eternally under new guises and with new players as a part of the karma of man.

Technology, drastically accelerated by an all-out race to win the world war, had now, unexpectedly, introduced a new element in this game of world domination. This was an element that made a continuation of this ageless war impossible under the old rules. Both sides saw themselves as prisoners of the fruits of their own ingenuity. The atomic bomb would make war unwinnable. However, cunning provided them an alternative—the Cold War. To perpetuate this new ideology on the world, God released from Pandora’s box a new incubus known as covert intelligence.

Balancing the West’s advantage in nuclear armaments was the extensive intelligence network of the Soviets. How could we compete in this new type of warfare? America had nothing like it. It might take years to develop a network behind the iron curtain. The solution was obvious. The Germans already had an effective counterintelligence arm in the Soviet Union. This network, known as the Gehlen Org, was assimilated nearly whole into the U.S. Army’s intelligence arm, the OSS, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Gehlen Org, called so for its creator, General Reinhard Gehlen, became the American intelligence apparatus; and in so doing, the ideologies and philosophies of the Nazis became those of America. When it came to dealing with the Soviets, the life-and-death struggle that Hitler called Barbarossa began anew, a phoenix born on the wings of a new antagonist. America had replaced the defeated Germans. The mutual goal now, as before, was total annihilation of the Bolshevik adversary. It was a given that ideologically, like matter and antimatter, they could not coexist.

If German intelligence was good at one thing, it was propaganda. Joseph Goebels had proved a genius at using it effectively. In the new war, it would be used equally effectively. Communism would become a word that by its very utterance would invoke terror and fear, conjuring up a vision of the ultimate boogeyman. In addition, an effective new element was added to the propaganda arsenal, disinformation, which was used effectively by both sides. The tool of the West was Radio Free Europe.

In reality, however, the CIA and the KGB were more like a brotherhood with an ideology of intelligence. Their common goal was stoking the fires of the Cold War. Money was to be made by perpetuating this new beast. Thus they shared economic objectives. In addition, they shared the same manpower, common agents, who very often were totally unaware of by whom they were actually being controlled.

The top-secret espionage unit in the Far East was known as the FOI, or Field Operations Intelligence, which was set up by Major General Charles Willoughby. FOI utilized the radical fascists in Japan in the same way Dulles did the Nazis. In fact, it was the military arm of the CIA and worked closely with the Company on many operations. Collecting intelligence in denied areas, was how its commander, Colonel John Stanley, summarized its purpose. Its illegal activities included assassination.

The Japanese Diet had grown increasingly concerned about U.S. Military Intelligence activities in their country. The FOI sponsored, financed and supported assassinations, kidnapping, and blackmailing in violation of all international law.

In Korea, the Headquarters Intelligence Division (HID), later to become the South Korean CIA, was established with the help and assistance of the American CIA in violation of the armistice ending the Korean War. The FOI financed and controlled most HID operations, including assassination attempts against North Korean leaders, at least one of which was successful. The HID, on its own, carried out espionage operations against Japan.

The KGB was also infiltrating Nippon, it was learned, when a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer, Yuri Rastvorov, defected in Tokyo in 1954 as a result of US intelligence blackmail. Japan, and the entire Far East, for that matter, had become a hotbed of espionage.

Thus, the global anti-Communist alliance facilitated by US intelligence agencies that enlisted Nazis and Japanese warlords, was originated under Charles Willoughby in communication with Allen Dulles. Against this backdrop, Lee Harvey Oswald began his odyssey.

Richard Case Nagell, recipient of three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during the Korean War, was the youngest American to receive a battlefield commission. Captain Nagell went from the army to military intelligence school and served in the Counterintelligence Corps or CIC. He was then loaned to the Central Intelligence Agency and assigned to the Orient as a part of Charles Willoughby’s Field Operations Intelligence.

Later, as a senior intelligence advisor to the South Korean HID, Nagell participated in political assassinations, kidnapping, blackmail, and counterfeiting operations.

In 1957, after telling superiors he had had enough of being a criminal in the name of national security, Nagell was assigned to counterintelligence duties at Atsugi in Japan. One of his assignments was Lee Harvey Oswald.

The team traveled to Japan to try out behavioral techniques on human subjects who were suspected double agents. The Security Office ordered them to conceal their true purpose from even the US military authorities with whom they worked in Japan. Their cover was that they would be performing intensive polygraph work. Their efforts included combinations of the depressant sodium amytal with the stimulant Benzedrine on several subjects. Two of these also received a second stimulant, picrotoxin. The ultimate goal was to induce amnesia.

The room was white and antiseptic looking. The four men wore white as well. The couch was comfortable. One of the men rolled up the subject’s shirtsleeve and inserted a long needle, but there was little pain. A strange machine rested on the table in front of him, and wires snaked their way to various points on his body.

My name is Sears. Do you know what this is?

No, sir.

It is called a polygraph.

Is that like a lie detector, sir?

Yes, it is. I want you to just relax, Private. The medication that Dr. Gaines has given you will calm your nerves and help you to concentrate. Roberts over there in the corner will merely be observing as a technician. Dr. Gottlieb here is going to be asking you some questions. Before he begins, I would like you to concentrate on this and let your mind go blank.

He held up an object that looked somewhat like a surgical instrument of some type. Lee telescoped his attention on the fixated point of the object for some time and soon began to experience a floating sensation.

Just relax. Let every muscle in your body become completely at ease …

October 1957

World Events

A global anti-Communist alliance is formed in Taiwan. Charles Willoughby, Allen Dulles, and the Munich-based Gehlen Org link up with the Asian Peoples’ Anti-Communist League. Present are Ngo Dinh Diem, Chaing Kai-shek, and Syngman Rhee, and assortments of ex-Nazi’s with ties to the American Security Council. This group, made up of ex-FBI agents, identified subversives for American corporations. Sitting on its board were Charles Willoughby and Charles Edison of the John Birch Society.

Portrait of a Spook

One former Communist spy who had later become a paid agent of the Japanese was Professor Harold Isaacs. Although he now worked in the United States at MIT, he maintained a network in Japan, and possibly throughout the world, specializing in youth movements. Since 1950, he had also been involved in classified projects for the CIA. Originally a Trotskyite, he wrote articles for The Militant, the organ of the Socialist Workers Party, which certainly made him know a subscriber named Lee H. Oswald. Effectively triple agents, men like Isaacs were never what they appeared to be. It was never quite clear whom an agent was working for.

I tell you, the word is we’re pulling out next month for the Philippines!

But I can’t leave now, Zack! I’ve got a girl in Tokyo, shouted Lee. "I’ve got troubles. She’s been going out with a buck sergeant, as