Indonesia 1958: Nixon, the CIA, and the Secret War
By L. Fletcher Prouty
The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company.
The B-26 Marauder was used mostly in Europe, but also saw action in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. In early combat, the aircraft took heavy losses, but was still one of the most successful medium-range bombers used by the US Army Air Forces.[16] The B-26 was initially deployed on combat missions in the South West Pacific in early 1942, but most of the B-26s subsequently assigned to operational theaters were sent to England and the Mediterranean area.
By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tonnes) of bombs and had been used in combat by British, Free French and South African forces in addition to US units. In 1945, when B-26 production was halted, 5,266 had been built. -Wikipedia
Prouty, Donegan, E. Howard Hunt, Lovett and the CIA were at Atsugi and here is what Prouty was working on in Indonesia 1958 and had in the works as Kennedy was about to talk in 1963.
This was important administratively because by that time Frank
Wisner, the CIA Deputy Director of Plans, had set up his forward
headquarters in Singapore and at the direction of the 5412
Committee of the National Security Council, headed by Nixon, Wisner
occupied that faraway headquarters himself. (It should be noted
that in 1958 Allen Dulles was the head of the CIA, his brother John
Foster Dulles was the Secretary of State, Eisenhower was President,
and Nixon, as Vice President, chaired the clandestine affairs
committee, then known as the “Special Group 5412/2.” In other
words nothing was done in Indonesia that was not directed by Nixon.
If an action had not been directed by the NSC, then it was done
unlawfully by the CIA.)
Both
in 1958 and in 1965, the CIA directly interfered in
the internal affairs of Indonesia. In 1958, this monstrous
action led to civil war. In 1965, it led to the ultimate
takeover by a pro-Amencan military regime, while hundreds of
thousands of innocent peasants and loyal citizens were
massacred in the name of this insane crusade against
international communism. Still today, ten years later, many
tens of thousands of true patriots and Sukarnoists are locked
up in jails and concentration camps being denied the simplest
and most elementary human rights. American companies and
aggressive foreign interests are indiscriminately plundering
the natural riches of Indonesia to the advantage of the few
and the disadvantage of the millions of unemployed and
impoverished masses.
In 1958 Allen Dulles would have brought such a major operation
to the attention of the Special Group and he would operate with its
approval. This was an essential step in national policy because it
then empowered the Department of Defense to provide the necessary
support requested by the CIA. Much of this fell within the area of
my responsibility at Air Force Headquarters, and I was kept
informed on a regular basis of approved action and of Nixon’s keen
interest in this project.
Concurrently, in Washington, operations were being organized.
Frank Wisner took over direct command of the everyday operations of
the Indonesian project. A large staff under Desmond Fitzgerald of
the Far East Division was set up. The most active element of this
special staff came from the CIA’s clandestine Air Division which at
that time was under the control of Dick Helms. As the plans
expanded for this major undertaking, requirements for military
equipment, people, aircraft, weapons, bases, submarines, and
communications skyrocketed.
In the Pentagon there are thousands of nondescript offices in
which all sorts of tasks are done. One of these unobtrusive
offices was an Air Force Plans Division office. One day in 1958
two men from the CIA entered that office. After being identified
they were permitted entrance to an interior office that was the
“Focal Point” office for all U.S. Air Force Support of the
clandestine operations of the CIA. I had established that office
in 1955 on orders from Gen. Thomas D. White, then Chief of Staff of
the Air Force. This came about after several meetings with Allen
W. Dulles, the Director of Central Intelligence, and others. When
the CIA men entered that office in 1958, I was still in charge.
The agents outlined the Indonesian Plan, the Philippine support
and training program, and told me about their own special
operations staff that had been put together specifically for this
vast project. Then they urgently requested light bombardment
aircraft and long-range transport aircraft. We decided to take a
number of twin engine B-26 aircraft out of mothball storage, put
them through a retrofit line, and modify them so that they could be
armed with a special 50-caliber machine gun package of eight guns,
in the nose of the plane. This would give the B-26 more firepower
than it ever had during the Korean War or World War II. The
project was given top priority and covered in deep secrecy.
Programs for pilot training and the recruitment of “mercenaries”
were established. [Just as Chauncey Marvin Holt describes refurning the b-26 and other aircraft usage for CIA operations in Guatamala]
Concurrent with our work the CIA was putting together a
“wartime” operational staff. Lt. Gen. Earl Barnes, who had been a
senior air commander during World War II under Gen. Douglas
MacArthur, was brought in to run all clandestine air activities.
At that time Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer was Commander in Chief of
the Ryukyu Command on Okinawa. One day he received a call from
General David M. Shoup, the U.S. Marine Commander on Okinawa,
asking if the Army could spare 14,000 rifles for a Marine
requirement. Surprised at the Marine request for such a large
order of guns, Lemnitzer acquiesced nonetheless and ordered the
transfer of these weapons on the condition that they would be
quickly replaced.[1]
ATSUGI Japan and the island of Okinawa
Ed DOnegan asserts the Gang is all there. WWII Pilot and B-26 Escort pilot and recon P-51 pilot James Donegan, Prouty and some WWII bombers going out the door to Indonesia.
High on the ridge line of central Okinawa overlooking the city
of Naha there was a modest size “Army” installation that hustled
with considerable activity. This was the main CIA operational base
in the Far East. It was under the direction of Ted Shannon, one of
the Agency’s most powerful agents. It was Shannon’s office that
had actually requested 42,000 rifles from General Shoup and since
the order was so large Shoup had been unable to supply them, and
had therefore borrowed 14,000 from the Army.
On nearby Taiwan, the CIA had another large facility — a “Navy”
base known as the Naval Auxiliary Communication Center (NACC).
This “Comm Center” controlled a large and very active air base a
few miles south of Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and the huge Air
America facilities near Taipei and the city of Tainan.
The B-26 bombers were ready to fly and a special ferrying
arrangement was made with the Air Force to fly them across the
Pacific to the Philippines and Menado.