Brad 8-2-97
~Copyright 1997~
Bradley E. Ayers
(a draft preliminary review of the manuscript)
With the Cold War ended and democracy breaking out all over the globe, only Cuba, 90 miles from our shores, remains as the single bastion of Communist dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere. More than 35 years have passed since Fidel Castro came to power, and all the condemnation, quarantine, intimidation, intimidation and subterfuge focused upon him by the United States-exile invasion, covert military actions, economic boycott and diplomatic sanction,, even repeated assassination attempts have failed to bring him down. These are the facts.
But lurking behind that irony, and the apparent indestructibility of Castro, is a reality even far more sinister and threatening to our national interests. It is the by-product of the CIA's secret war against Cuba in the 1960s.
Following the CIA's disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban missile confrontation of October 1962, the Kennedy Administration contrived to circumvent the non-intervention accord that had resulted in Russia's promise to remove their nuclear rockets from the island. While President Kennedy assured Nikita Kruschev there would be no US military intervention, Kennedy's guarantee did not preclude an attack on Cuba by covert means. The CIA, smarting from the failure of the Bay of Pigs, was given another chance to topple Castro. The President, despite his deep-seated mistrust of the Agency resulting from the 1961 debacle, directed the Agency to embark on a no-holds barred covert effort to destabilize Cuba, foment internal unrest and disaffection and conduct other covert actions that would result in the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a democratic form of government on the island. The prime target was Fidel, dead or alive-and the effort took on the qualities of a personal vendetta between the Kennedy's and the Communist dictator.
For the first time in its history, the Agency was authorized to establish a field station on US soil. Code-named JMWAVE, by early 1963 the Miami, Florida station had become the largest in the world, employing scores of CIA career officers and staffers, hundreds of specially recruited staff Cuban exiles, with massive stocks of "sanitized" non-attributable military supplies, weapons, ammunition, explosives, sleek power boats and yachts, large mother ships, assorted aircraft and dozens of safehouses and remote training sites in Florida, Louisiana, the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. Costs were of little concern to the or the Kennedy's or the Agency, and JMWAVE was given all the tools of clandestine paramilitary warfare , intelligence gathering and espionage that it asked for.
The Miami Station was headquartered on the sprawling wooded campus of the University of Miami, near Perrine. Until dedicated to the University as an academic research facility after WWII by the US Government, it had been the site of a Navy lighter-than-air landing and hangaring base, known as Richmond Naval Air Station. In 1962, the agency spent millions of dollars refurbishing the decaying old wood barracks, buildings and converting the facility to serve its needs as a secure base of operations and communications.
The CIA went to great expense and effort to camouflage the true nature of the JMWAVE facility.. Zenith Technical Enterprises, by all outward appearances and representations, was a benign non-descript government electronics research and development contractor ostensibly doing classified work for the Defense Department and other federal agencies in cooperation with the University of Miami. Logically, the front gate to the facility would have a civilian security guard post and anyone entering the grounds would have to display an ID card.
But behind the elaborate facade of corporate trappings, and under the strictest security, an extraordinary agenda of black operations were planned and carried out against Castro's Cuba by the CIA: infiltration of intelligence gathering teams, caching of supplies and equipment to support the Cuban underground, commando and underwater demolition team raids, ambushes sabotage, crop, food and water contamination-employing the full range of espionage methodology and technology of the day. Most secret of all were the plots to assassinate Fidel Castro and the enlistment of organized crime, Mafia bosses and hitmen to organize and carry them out ..Every thing was done with plausible deniability of US Government involvement as a primary consideration.
For the first time in American history, an agency of the government was, in effect, given carte blanche sanction to break the laws of this country, as well as foreign, international and Maritime law. The prevailing attitude "evolving" from this development, within the CIA's "old boys" covert ops cult, became one of the ends justifying the means for hatching plots and staging operations in the Agency's efforts to free Cuba of it's communist dictatorship.
To assure complete freedom of action, the station was "backstopped" (in the jargon of the trade) at the highest levels of all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to avoid any interference by those agencies with station operations. JMWAVE operatives in the field who, in the course of performing their tasks, were stopped questioned or arrested by unwitting law enforcement officials because of suspicious behavior or violations of the law were quickly released via a prearranged coded communications procedure with the apprehending authority.
Amazing as it may seem, the CIA's secret war was, for the most part, monitored and micromanaged by a select group of high level Kennedy Administration officials from a war room in the basement in the White House. The President, ever wary of being led down the Primrose Path by the CIA, designated his brother, Robert Kennedy, to scrutinize all and any anti-Castro operation planned by the Agency. Robert Kennedy, chairing the Special Group, as it was known officially, guided the planning and passed on each covert action, including many far-fetched undertakings and dirty tricks. While on one hand. The CIA Cuban desk had nary a qualm about the unlimited logistical and financial support received from the Administration, field resentment ran deep among the covert ops "cowboys" on the other, who found themselves constantly bridled and often thwarted by the perpetual constraints and changes in mission details imposed by operationally untutored Administration civilian political appointees from the White House basement.
In his exceedingly close relationship with his brother, President Kennedy was kept fully informed of the secret war, and undoubtedly was aware of the Castro assassination plots-and those involved in the efforts to carry them out. Those not privy to this monumentally sinister activity include virtually all other elements of the Federal Government and the American people..
It was into this top-secret cauldron of deception, conspiracy and wholesale subterfuge that a young,(28 year-old), but senior US Army-Ranger paratrooper Captain, Bradley Ayers was plunged in early 1963. The special group, dissatisfied with the failure of many of the CIA's paramilitary missions and the loss or capture of many valuable Agency assets by Castro Forces or at sea, selected Ayers - then one of the top covert paramilitary-unconventional warfare specialists, to help the CIA upgrade the training of JMWAVE's exile volunteers who were being sent into Cuba on the high-risk missions planned and supported by the CIA.
Today, nearly four decades later, few of those Americans who participated in the Secret War are still around to write or talk about it . Bradley Ayers is one of the remaining eyewitnesses, and possesses intimate knowledge of this almost of this almost unknown but axiomatically significant chapter of recent American history. Important to the study of this period, he has first-hand knowledge of the CIA's secret war during the critical intervals immediately preceding and following the assassination of JFK. In many quarters, there has long been thought to be a connection between the murders of the Kennedy brothers and their close monitoring, propagation and management of the post-Bay of Pigs effort to unseat Castro.
Ayers, who has spent much of his life in secret or confidential high-risk military and government assignments, was deeply affected by his CIA-JMWAVE service. The unprofessional quality of the secret war, its immorality on a range of levels, the unbridled lawlessness and deception that came to characterize the activity, the cliquish "above the law" arrogance of their commander and chief and those appointed by him to oversee the Agency's Cuban covert operations, the evolution of the philosophy that 'anything goes' as long as you could get away with it, and it was non attributable to the Agency the concept that the ends justify the means, and finally, the gut level feeling that some of those with whom he served at JMWAVE were, in some way, involved in the death of the president. All of these factors were very disturbing to the young professional soldier. Nevertheless, he went ahead, did his job, accomplished his mission and was commended for his CIA service-but his life was never the same thereafter. Now, in 1997, at age 62 still vital and engaged, driven by a sense of historic responsibility and dedication to the truth, unfettered by the censorship, loyalties and pressures that existed within the military and clandestine services during the Cold War, Ayers has come forth to provide an insider's account of his experience with the CIA and JMWAVE in the secret war against Cuba. He offers his perceptions of the crucial 1963-1964 period when the secret war reached its peak, culminating with the death of President Kennedy, and the aftermath of the assassination at the Miami Station. Ayers book, The Zenith Secret, seeks to relate the dynamic events and personalities of that period to major developments at the national-social-political level, particularly as they reflect the influence of the CIA covert operations and former JMWAVE figures in the ensuing thirty years. Ayers' first attempt to make revelations concerning the Kennedy Administration-CIA-JMWAVE secret war against Cuba was his book titled The War That Never Was published in 1976. The book was drastically sterilized and revelations tempered by the publisher's managing editor who, on his deathbed in 1985, conceded that he had been on the CIA payroll as a literary damage control, "limited hangout" contract operative with the task of defusing books being written about the Agency. THE ZENITH SECRET, comes to the reader uncontaminated by such editings and manipulations. (Of even further relevance to the censorship and eventual distribution interference with The War That Never Was. , Former CIA officer William Harvey (known widley for his involvement in early Agency plots to kill Castro as a pistol toting original Cold War "cowboy")became an editor at Bobbs-Merrill, Ayer's original publisher, following his retirement from the CIA. Ayer's was not aware of this when the publisher contacted him for this book.)
The new book, The Zenith Secret , derives its title from the name of the JMWAVE cover corporation, for behind the doors of the Zenith Technical Enterprises, secret actions of the highest order were concocted, the most diabolical and cynical plots conceived, incredibly elaborate cover-ups and deceptions were devised-most with the knowledge and the approval of the Special Group and, it is expected, a few of the most maniacal deliberately without the knowledge of the White House. Brashly holding themselves above law and moral judgement, asserting that they, better than anyone else knew what was most in the national interest, the Langley Cold War "old boy" clique, the CIA-JMWAVE covert ops hierarchy, took matters into their own hands, and in doing so spawned a mind-set, an attitude of almost omnipotent untouchability wielding secret power and influence that profoundly affected the course of American and world history for the past 35 years.
The notorious Phoenix Program of the Vietnam conflict, Watergate, narco-terrorism, alliances with mobsters, thugs and dictators, assassinations of foreign leaders, the Iran-Contra Affair-possibly even domestic assassinations-can be traced to the secret fraternity and its charter that had its origin under the cover of Zenith Technical Enterprises in the early 60s.
Ayer's had access at JMWave beyond his rank and staff level, and he discreetly took advantage of this fact. Inherently curious, vaguely aware that what was going on behind the Zenith charade was of potential historical significance, he observed carefully, listened and gained insight into the politics, bureaucracy and inner workings of the Station and the Agency staff with whom he associated. This helped him perform his assignment more effectively, but also provided him with a guarded insiders background on many aspects of station operation that were not even apparent to Agency employees.
As head of the paramilitary, survival and Maritime training at the station, most of his time was spent in the field under condition of physical hardship and high anxiety over the maintenance of security. But his role was key to the preparation of the Cuban exile volunteers for there operational missions, he had frequent contact with Chief of Station, Theodore Shackley, Operations Chief David Morales(the Big Indian, one of the CIA's legendary notorious, covert paramilitary and assassination specialists), Robert Wall, Tom Clines, Gordon Campbell, Ernie Sparks(Sitting Bull of Guatamala-Bay of Pigs Fame), Rip Robertson and Grayson Lynch, both Bay of Pigs survivors- contract operatives who headed up commando teams Felix Rodriguez and a host of other Cuban freedom fighters who later emerged at Watergate and the Iran-Contra Affair; when Ayers passed through Langley and during their visits to JMWAVE , the author had contact with William Harvey, Big Jim O'Connor, Des Fitzgerald and other high ranking Washington-based CIA bigwigs from the Plans and Operations Directorate's Cuban desk.
Behind the scenes was the smug, self-righteous, arrogant Richard Helms, his presence a brooding shadow that towered over all around him. At the time, it was no big deal, but Ayer came in contact with the unholy rogues gallery of the CIA's Cold War black operations most notorious, or the Agency's covert op's hall of fame, depending on how one looked at it. Many of these men continue to play key roles in U.S. CIA paramilitary operations, including "off the shelf" private covert undertakings until quite recently.
On the darker side, Ayers met and trained sniper teams for Johnny Rosellni, the mafia hit man hired by the CIA to orchestrate the assassination attempts on Castro. Not only did Ayers associate with these people professionally, he also socialized with them, listened to their complaints, was privy to their confidences, gained insights into their loyalties and prejudices, their morality, thought processes and favored personal tradecraft methods and techniques. It was truly a highly unique experience for a relatively innocent, na‹ve junior officer, and the impressions were indelibly imprinted in his mind.
And, because of this rare exposure to the Agency's sanctum sanctorum, when J.F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, Ayer's immediate visceral sensing was that, in some way, the forces that had manifested themselves in his presence at JMWAVE were involved in the death of the president. He says that everything that he has learned since only reinforces that original intuitive judgement.
THE ZENITH SECRET offers descriptions of circumstances, events and personalities in vivid, credible technical detail: the organization and internal workings of the Miami Station, the training of Cuban exiles and their fitness as paramilitary fighters, the adrenal pumping hit-and run raids on Cuban targets, infiltrations, death on the high seas, the scope and the scope and nature of a broad range of Station operations. He provides some insights to the effect of his CIA assignment on his personal life, his family, his military career aspirations, and ultimately his resignation from the army in disillusionment and disappointment in an institution an a purpose that had been a mainstay of his life.
The author writes in the first-person, his extraordinary dark adventure a thread that binds the past with his more recent investigation and research of key CIA-JMWAVE figures, and events and circumstances of historic and immediate interest, such as domestic assassination conspiracy lore. The books text is enhanced by rare photos of the Miami CIA Station, operational sites, CIA and Cuban exile ships, boats and personnel employed in the secret war, as well as charts, maps and overlays of areas of interest.
Despite the persistent, insidious efforts of certain government agencies to silence, smear and discredit him, the author offers new information and views on the mysterious, alleged CIA case officer, "Mr Bishop" who was reported to have been seen with Lee Harvey Oswald just prior to the Kennedy assassination: extensive new information on the personality and CIA career of David Morales and the Big Indians possible link to JFK's murder as well as that of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the Death of Che Guevera and the Letier car bombing on Washington's Embassy Row. Ayers tells of his association with John Rosselli, confirms Rosselli's presence at JMWAVE until shortly before the Kennedy association and the mobsters close association with David Morales. He offers speculation about Rosselli's untimely death in 1976 as the House Select Committee on Assassinations was being formed to investigate the deaths of JFK and Martin Luther King and possible CIA-Mafia links to the assassinations. These are among the many areas of continuing interest Ayer's explores as an extension of his experience with the CIA and JMWAVE in 1963-1964.
THE ZENITH SECRET is significant as a uniquely credible perspective of a well hidden, controversial, highly volatile, often obfuscated by complexities and deceptions, but an exceedingly important segment of our recent national history. The reverberations of the CIA's secret war against Cuba can clearly be discerned in current events, political alliances, power-plays in government, and behind the scenes manipulations of American foreign policy. In light of official findings- on the record inquiries over the years- the CIA's role , and that of current or former covert operations personnel, are transparently prominent and easily detectable if one knows where and what to look for. THE ZENITH SECRET will help those interested do that.
Ayers description and insights help fill the plausibility voids that serve to obscure, warp and distract one's acceptance of the linkage and continuity of events in which the secret power structure that was forged under the cover of Zenith Technical Enterprises in the early 60's has wielded enormous influence upon the course of national events for the past three decades.
THE ZENITH SECRET will enlighten, alert and maybe frighten the average American with only casual, traditional media sourced knowledge CIA covert operations and the secret war against Cuba in the Kennedy years. This book should help the serious scholar or researcher better understand and place into proper context the sinister, secret forces that have dominated the major events of our time-depriving the American people of Constitutionally established oversight and control of their national destiny.
Bradley E. Ayers
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