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- Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder,D.
- lst Dist. Colorado,
- 2208 RHOB
- Faxed to: Veronica Levino
- 303-123-4567
- Washington DC 20515,
- and: 202-123-4567
-
- Dear Congresswoman Schroeder,
- I am writing to you, woman to woman, hoping you will hear my plea.
- For over four years now, my letters and telephone calls to the
- Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the CIA and various Congressman
- and Senators have all been answered with abusive vitriolic
- diatribes, or worse yet, my pleas have been completely ignored,
- like I didn't exist. The message that I have gotten is that "women",
- especially "wives" have no business interfering in the "Intelligence
- Community".
-
- In 1984, Barbara Honegger (author of October Suprise) and I began
- investigating the illegal activities of the CIA and other government
- scandals and coverups. We formed the Citizen Alert Committee and
- put out information worldwide on the extremely dangerous
- Armegeddonist beliefs held by our President Ronald Reagan. It was
- our belief at that time, that the president was manipulating
- Biblical prophecy to bring about a nuclear war in the Middle East.
- In 1986, when he was threatening to bomb Syria, we saw the
- fulfillment of our predictions. We felt if he was not stopped he
- would force a nuclear confrontation between the United States (with
- Israel as an ally) and the USSR, Libya and Syria... this is the
- scenario which had been taught to him by his religious rightwing
- advisors. We delivered our information to a childhood friend of
- Pope John Paul II and the Pope called President Reagan. I give you
- this background of my activities so that you will understand that I
- was not beloved by the Reagan/Bush administration or the CIA.
-
- [As a result], the last four years of my life have been a nightmare
- unlike any you have seen in any horror films. I am tired, I am sick
- and I have no one else to turn to. Please help me, I am tired of
- being abused and impugned by the United States Navy. I am just a
- woman, I should be used to being ignored by the Navy, but I can't
- sit back and take it any longer. My husband's Iife is at great risk,
- and the Navy MUST step in and do something or he will be dead very
- soon.
-
- Congresswoman Schroeder, I feel as if I know you. Over the years
- our paths have brushed each other several times. Your brother Mike
- Scott defended a friend of mine, Richard Brenneke.
-
- On May 12th, 1989, a series of seemingly separate events converged
- and changed my life forever. Barbara Honegger and I were celebrating
- my birthday and the debut of her book (October Suprise), when we
- found out that our friend Richard Brenneke -- THE major source of
- information for her book -- had been indicted for "knowingly making
- a false material declaration before the U.S. District Court for the
- District of Colorado in the case, U. S. v. Heinrich Rupp". We also
- learned that Donald Gregg, George Bush's nominee for Ambassador to
- Korea began to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
- which was and is Chaired by my friend, Senator Claiborne Pell. But
- Donald Gregg was the career CIA operative that Richard Brenneke had
- implicated in the "October Surprise" scandal claiming Gregg was
- aboard the BAC 1-11 that Richard flew to Paris so George Bush could
- seal the secret deal with Iran to delay the release of the American
- hostages.
-
- Barbara and Richard knew that I had planned a trip to Washington D.C.
- in July of 1989. They also knew that whenever I was in Washington,
- I had dinner with Claiborne Pell. They asked me to carry a packet
- of information to Senator Pell which proved that Donald Gregg had
- committed treason by helping the Reagan campaign sabotage Jimmy
- Carter's reelection campaign. I never opened the packet I was given.
- I delivered it to Senator Pell. What he did with it afterwards, you
- will have to find out from him. However, Donald Gregg was passed by
- the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senators Pell and Robb were
- the two Democrats who voted for him.
-
- On August 30 of 1989, barely six weeks after I had handcarried the
- Donald Gregg packet to Senator Pell, I married a man I had known
- since the late seventies, Navy Captain Gunther Russbacher. I had
- met him on numerous occasions at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)
- in Monterey. At that time I was married to Dr. John N. Dyer, physics
- professor, Chairman of the Physics Department, and later Dean of
- Science and Engineering at NPS. It was my late husband, John, who
- introduced me to the Naval officer that I married in 1989.
-
- His Navy superiors had denied him permission to marry me, but we
- had defied orders and fled to Reno to marry. His superior, an
- Office of Navy Intelligence (ONI) Admiral and Director of Covert
- Operations for the CIA, feared that he would disclose too much to
- me and I would in turn tell it to Barbara Honegger and the group of
- investigators and reporters with whom we worked.
-
- At the time we married, Donald Gregg--the very man whose nomination
- as Ambassador to South Korea I had tried to derail--was the Chairman
- of the CIA discipline committee. I found out very quickly that you
- do not disobey CIA orders and go unpunished. I am certain that our
- punishment has been so harsh not just because of who my husband is,
- but because of WHO he married. Not only was I hated by the CIA and
- George Bush, but I had interfered in the career of the CIA discipline
- officer, Donald Gregg.
-
- Two days after our wedding, my new husband was arrested by the FBI
- at a family dinner where we were celebrating our wedding. The
- arresting FBI agent told me that my husband was a conman who was on
- a crime spree from Missouri to California, marrying and defrauding
- wealthy widows. I told him that I had known my husband for years
- and that he was a Naval officer. I was told by the FBI that he is a
- pathological liar with a photographic memory who can con anyone.
-
- By the time my husband was arrested, I had already learned that he
- was more than a Naval officer. The small Learjet in which we flew
- to Reno to marry was equipped with more than just a full bar.
- Fifteen minutes out of Reno, on our way back to Seattle, the pilot
- turned around to my husband and said, "Chief, our airspace has been
- violated, we've been ordered to arm." My husband started forward to
- the cabin. I held on to him and went fovard also.
-
- I could not believe my ears when I heard the co-pilot say, "Nose
- cannon fully armed. Missiles locked in." I saw my husband look out
- a window. I looked also and saw that the fuel pods on the ends of
- the wings had opened up and black missiles were extended out of
- them. The question that kept going through my head was ... "Who
- have I married? What Naval officer flies around in a Learjet with
- missiles on the wings?"
-
- "What kind of a plane is this?" I struggled to ask. I saw the
- pained look on my husband's face. He was faced with a choice. He
- could lie to me about what kind of a plane we were in and begin our
- marriage on a lie, or he could tell me the truth about who he was.
- He chose the latter.
-
- He explained that the plane in which we were flying was the
- "Blackbird". It had been [CIA Director] William Casey's private jet.
- He continued by saying that up until 1986 he had been the number
- three man in the CIA. I objected and told him that I had never
- heard of a Gunther Russbacher. I told him that I was familiar with
- the hierarchy of the CIA and that I'd never seen his name. He went
- on to explain that 80% of the CIA is covert and that the real power
- lies within the covert arm of the CIA.. He said that these men are
- never named publicly, but that I had met many of them at the Naval
- Postgraduate School and I thought they were Naval officers.
-
- He told me that in 1986 one of his planes had crashed in Nicaragua
- and he was blamed for it. I was very familiar with the crash of the
- C-130 SAT cargo plane in which Eugene Hasenfaus was the only
- survivor. It was the beginning of the Iran/Contra scandal. My
- husband told me that after the crash he had been thrown out of
- Langley [CIA headquarters] and attached to a Restricted Interagency
- Group (RIG) ... [because] ... Langley wanted nothing to do with him
- and was trying to distance themselves from him. He made it very
- clear that he was on the "outs" BIGTIME with the CIA. (Please see
- the enclosed Government Memo on the failed May 25th, 1986 trip to
- Teheran to rescue the hostages in Beirut. In it you will see the
- connection between the breaking open of the Iran/Contra scandal and
- the 1986 indictment of Gunther Russbacher.) He was indicted in 1986
- to distance him from the CIA and destroy his credibility just in
- case he decided tell the truth at the hearings. The charges were
- never pressed. He was freed on a personal recognizance bond but the
- charges were left hanging over his head, just in case he got out of
- line.
-
- I knew all of this at the time the FBI told me that that I had
- married a conman. I had seen the missiles on the Learjet. I had
- listened to my husband's explanation of the crash in Nicaragua.
- Only a CIA operative or a reporter with high level access could
- have known the details of the Contra supply network that he ticked
- off without a pause or a hesitation. But even knowing these things,
- the FBI was so convincing in their lie that I believed them at first.
- I felt that I had been the victim of a conman, and I almost agreed
- to sign the annulment form that the kindly agent brought out to my
- home. He told me that he would take it up to the jail and make my
- husband sign it. When it was complete, he would go with me to court
- and testify that I had been the innocent victim of a conman.
-
- Fortunately, I knew Richard Brenneke was a CIA contract agent. After
- I had recovered my wits enough to think clearly, I called Richard.
- At first he was very hesitant to give me any information. But when
- Gunther told me to tell him that I had married "Karlie", I heard
- Richard choke back tears. He struggled with his words..."Karlie, oh
- my GOD... you've married Karlie." Richard was silent for a while
- and then spoke. "Yes, I know him." Then Richard paused a little
- longer. When he spoke again he began retracting the statements he
- had made in an emotional outburst. "MAYBE I know him. I'll make
- some calls and get back to you."
-
- Richard got back to me and confirmed who I had married. (I have
- several taped conversations of Richard and my husband talking and
- laughing and passing coded messages back and forth. I will enclose
- a letter from Richard to my husband "RUSS", and me.)
-
- On the VERY day we married in 1989, St. Charles County, Missouri,
- refiled the old 1986 charges and issued a warrant for his arrest.
- Two days later he was arrested in my small home town in California
- and with the exceptions of seventeen days, he has been incarcerated
- the entire time of our marriage. I have asked the CIA to step in
- and tell the truth about who he is. They ignore me. I have asked
- the Navy to do something to free one of their men. The legal counsel
- simply listens politely, but so far has done nothing. With all the
- publicity that my husband has had in the last four years, NEITHER
- the CIA or the Navy has denied him ... this should tell you
- something. (The FBI has denied him publicly and voraciously, but
- this is another story of interagency rivalry and personal animosity
- on the part of the FBI agents with whom he was working in the RIG.)
-
- On July 16th of 1990, after almost eleven months of incarceration,
- my husband agreed, to plead the Alford plea in a plea agreement. He
- was given four seven year sentences and released on probation. We
- immediately drove from St. Louis to Omaha, Nebraska arriving there
- at Offutt Air Force Base on July 19th, 1990. If you will check the
- records for this day, you will find that Offutt was getting ready
- for a big meeting (July 20 and 21) at which it was decided to close
- the Looking Glass Command. My husband and I were present at the VIP
- quarters for that meeting. Our room was next door to that of William
- Webster, the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence]. My husband
- introduced me to William Webster at the Officer's Club on Offutt.
-
- My husband had to attend meetings at night. I later found out that
- he was training in a simulator to fly a mission that would take
- place July 26, 1990, one day after [Ambassador] April Glaspie had
- her meeting with Saddam Hussein. The mission my husband was to fly
- was in an SR-71. I saw the plane come in and pick him up. He landed
- at a Naval refueling station near my home to fuel one of the four
- SR-71 's that was going on the mission. My mother and my niece met
- him there. (We have all testified to this under oath, and we weren't
- charged with perjury!) The destination of the top secret flight
- was Moscow. A treaty that had already been signed by George Bush
- was being taken over for Mikael Gorbachev's signature. About a
- week later Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
-
- But at that time, I hardly noticed what Iraq had done because
- tragedy had struck me down one more time. My husband and I were
- told that the Navy had decided to "sanitize" him, promote him to
- Admiral and give him a command for two years, and then he could
- retire. We were ordered to Castle Air Force Base, another SAC
- command, for a debriefing and a promotion to Admiral ceremony. The
- debriefing took place. But instead of a promotion to Admiral, the
- same FBI agent who had arrested him a year before arrested him
- again -- this time for impersonating a Naval officer.
-
- The arresting agent assured my husband that they had no intention
- of pressing these charges. They were only doing it so that Missouri
- would have cause to revoke his probation and throw him in prison
- for 28 years.
-
- And this is exactly what has happened. In the last four years I
- have told my story thousands of times. But my husband is still
- incarcerated. On August 26th of this year the appeals Judge vacated
- the sentence and ordered him released. Instead, the warden wrote
- the prosecutor and admitted that he had no legal right to continue
- holding Russbacher, and if the Prosecutor didn't come get him, he
- would have to release Russbacher.
-
- The County Sheriff picked my husband up on September 15th, 1993. He
- is currently held in the St. Charles County Jail on $450,000 CASH
- ONLY bail. The three counts on which he is being held are all Class
- C and D felonies...just barely above the misdemeanor level. The
- combined total of the three checks is less than $6,000 ... six
- thousand dollars, and yet he is being held on this ridiculous bail.
-
- I contacted the CIA legal counsel, Elizabeth Rindkopf ... because I
- fear my husband's life is in danger, and since I know that what is
- happening to him was started as a CIA disciplinary action, I asked
- her to intercede and stop it before he died.
-
- I faxed a copy of the letter to Rindkopf to the legal Counsel of
- ONI, LTC Chema. My concern is for my husband's heart condition.
- Shortly before his sentence was vacated, the Missouri Prison System,
- under protest, sent him to a cardiologist who told him that he needs
- quadruple by-pass surgery. The St. Charles County jail had refused
- to give him his heart medicine until members of our network began
- bombarding them with phone calls. Then they took him to a hospital
- for a thallium stress test. The Osteopath who conducted the test
- scheduled Gunther for an angioplasty October 22nd. This concerned
- me greatly because the Osteopath did not have Gunther's complete
- medical file, and I felt the man would be flying by the seat of his
- pants as he performed a life threatening procedure on my husband's
- heart.
-
- I also knew that if Gunther refused the procedure, the jail could
- refuse his medicine until he died and then say that it was his own
- fault because he had declined THEIR prescribed treatment. So I went
- begging for help from the very monsters who have kept us apart for
- four years.....
-
- Ms. Schroeder, in 1984 I was Gary Hart's central California
- coordinator. I have been active in the same causes that you have
- been. I am asking you as a woman and as a friend and supporter, to
- please ... please look into this and help me free my husband from a
- cruel and probably fatal CIA disciplinary action.
-
- Gunther's real crime is called "intel activation". and I have been
- told that the punishment is usually death. Haven't we paid a high
- enough price already? You are my last hope. I am destitute and in
- failing health. Please examine the extensive records I am sending
- you and step in before it is too late and my husband is dead. The
- Navy is destroying another woman and the career of another officer.
- Please stop this torture while Gunther and I are still alive to
- enjoy the comfort of each other's arms once again. Thank you for
- your time and your deep concern.
-
- Sincerely,
- Rayelan Russbacher
-
- E. Rindkopf, Legal counsel CIA
- LTC Chema, Legal Counsel, ONI
- Missouri Governor Carnahan
- Rep. Richard Gephardt, D MO
- Eugene Schwendemann, Presiding
- Commissioner, St. Charles County
- Austrian President Thomas Kleistl
-
- To support her efforts to free her husband, Mrs. Russbacher sells
- books and audio tapes on government and CLI practices. She is also
- available for live seminars around the country. For further
- information, please contact:
- Mrs. Rayelan Russbacher
- POB 3078, Carmel CaL 93921
- (408) 123-4567
-
- EDITOR'S FOOTNOTES:
-
- I. The rivalry between these two CIA factions may be more than
- "friendly". Unconfirmed rumors suggest that during the Bush
- administration over 50 CIA agents were murdered in a secret war
- between the two CIA factions.
-
- 2. Captain Russbacher's fingernails were pulled out while he
- was a P.O.W. in S.E. Asia. As a result chemicals, detergents
- extended exposure to water, will cause all of his fingertips to
- fester with pus and infection.
-
- 3. If this chilling assertion is correct, we have a secret "CIA"
- that FOUR times bigger than the "known" CIA, funded by sources
- outside conventional government (drugs?), representing unknown
- special interests, and pursuing goals which may be unconstitutional.
- We're talking about a secret government that, except for size and
- sophistication, is indistinguishable from organized crime.
-
- 4. In other documents, Mrs. Russbacher claims President Harry Truman
- located the headquarters of the secret, covert arm of the CIA in
- his home state of Missouri. If so, portions of Missouri's state
- government may be secretly "influenced" or controlled by the CIA.
- If so, since St. Charles county filed the charges on Captain
- Russbacher, St. Charles County, Missouri, may play a very special
- role in the operations of the CIA.
-
- "Intel activation" refers to releasing information on a secret CIA
- operation that is in progress.
-
- This letter was uploaded with the express permission of the editor
- of the "AntiShyster", a legal reform newsletter POB 540786, Dallas,
- Texas, 75354-0786, in which it orginally appeared. Permission was
- given to A. Lerma in a phone conversation at 4:40 PM 12 Feb 1994
-