| Formation | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Larry McDonald John H. Rees John K. Singlaub |
| Dissolved | 1986 |
| 51-024-1925 | |
| Legal status | tax exempt |
| Purpose | private intelligence agency |
| Headquarters | 309A Cameron St. Alexandria, Virginia 22314 United States |
Western Goals Foundation was aprivate domestic intelligence agency active in the United States.[1] It was founded in 1979 byMajor GeneralJohn K. Singlaub, the publisher and spyJohn H. Rees, and CongressmanLarry McDonald.[2] It went defunct in 1986 when theTower Commission revealed it had been part ofOliver North'sIran–Contra funding network.[1]
After theWatergate andCOINTELPRO scandals of the early 1970s, several laws were passed to restrict police intelligence gathering within political organizations and tried to make it necessary to demonstrate that a criminal act was likely to be uncovered by any intelligence gathering proposed. Many files on radicals, collected for decades, were ordered destroyed. The unintended effect of the laws was to privatize the files in the hands of 'retired' intelligence officers and their operatives.[1]
As a private foundation, Western Goals collected information about alleged subversives and passed the information to law enforcement officials, akin to a "mini-deep state".[2] According to former employees, agencies receiving information from Western Goals included theDrug Enforcement Administration, theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,Federal Bureau of Investigation,Central Intelligence Agency, and police departments.[2]
John Rees and Larry McDonald joined with Major General Singlaub to form Western Goals in 1979. Each founder was also a member of theWorld Anti-Communist League, theJohn Birch Society, and similar organizations. One of its principal sponsors was the Texan billionaireNelson Bunker Hunt.[3]
In 1983, LAPD Detective Jay Paul was under investigation for allegedly leakingLAPD Public Disorder Intelligence Division intelligence to the right-wing group Western Goals Foundation.[4] An internal investigation confirmed that Paul kept PDID files at his home garage inLong Beach. Paul was suspended, but later reinstated with back pay, as his actions were sanctioned by his supervisors.[5]
The organization was based in a townhouse inAlexandria,Virginia. It also said it had offices inWest Germany andAustria.[2] A former employee toldPolitico in 2018 that more of its funding came from West Germany than the United States.[2]
Rees set up a computer database to track suspected radicals, and wrote many of Western Goals' published reports about domestic subversives, terrorism and communist threats.[2] People in law enforcement sometimes leaked derogatory intelligence to Western Goals, which Rees then published in newsletters, which in turn were entered into theCongressional Record by McDonald, which shielded him fromlibel. Western Goals would then cite McDonald's statements in its own public reports.[2] Unverified reports by Western Goals accusing Americanpacifist groups of ties tocommunism and theSoviet Union were also publicized inReader's Digest and by theReagan administration.[2][6]
Western Goals was sued by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after a police officer was caught adding information from the disbandedLos Angeles Police Department "Red Squad" to a related computerbulletin board system.[7][8]
Western Goals raised funds for the NicaraguanContras starting in 1983, after Congress banned the Reagan administration from providing U.S. support.[2] A Contra brigade of 2,000 was named the Larry McDonald Task Force to honor the Western Goals co-founder, who had been killed in the Soviet downing ofKorean Air Lines Flight 007.[2] Singlaub was an intermediary inOliver North’s illegal weapons network for the Contras.[2] Officials of the foundation were questioned in theIran-Contra hearings of 1986.[2]
The organization founded an offshoot,Western Goals (UK), later the Western Goals Institute, which was briefly influential in BritishConservative politics.[1]