BRUSSELS — NATO allies are in a state of anger, denial and despair after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth effectively declared an end to America’s role as the primary guarantor of European security, particularly over Ukraine.
Ian Easton turns over in his grave.Does Hesgeth know about the British Defense Staff Washington?
JRP
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
by Ellen Mitchell – 02/13/25 1:42 PM ET
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday responded to global blowback to his comments this week that Ukraine should not expect to join NATO or return to it’s pre-2014 borders as President Trump seeks to kickstart negotiations with Russia over the war.
Hegseth, who spoke to reporters following a NATO defense ministerial in Brussels, appeared to walk back his comments from Wednesday, when he said it’s not “realistic” for Ukraine to join NATO, saying Thursday “everything is on the table” in negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow.
“I want to be clear about something as it pertains to NATO membership not being realistic outcome for negotiations. That’s something that was stated as part of my remarks here, as part of the coordination with how we’re executing these ongoing negotiations,” Hegseth said.
“These negotiations are led by President Trump. Everything is on the table. In his conversations with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky. What he decides to allow or not allow is at the purview of the leader of the free world — President Trump.”
Hegseth in opening remarks before the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on Wednesday said he does “not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” and that Ukraine will not get all its territory back from Russia. It’s unclear where the Trump administration stands on territory that has been occupied by Russia since it’s full invasion three years ago.
Trump later that day declared he had called both Putin and Zelensky to push to begin negotiations to end the war, but that he also does not “think it’s practical” to have Kyiv join NATO — a security guarantee that would help ensure that the Kremlin doesn’t move to attack Ukraine in the future.
Up Next – Trump blasts McConnell for voting against RFK Jr., disregarding his childhood polio-00:01
Critics quickly lept on the comments, suggesting that the Trump administration took away some of Ukraine’s leverage even before negotiations begin.
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But Hegseth on Thursday rejected the criticism, saying that pointing out realities is not making concessions.
“I think realism is an important part of the conversation that hasn’t existed enough inside conversations amongst friends,” he said. “But simply pointing out realism — like the borders won’t be rolled back to what everybody would like them to be in 2014 — is not a concession to Vladimir Putin. It’s a recognition of the hard power realities on the ground after a lot of investment and sacrifice … and then a realization that a negotiated peace is going to be some sort of demarcation that neither side wants.”
Multiple European leaders have also raised concerns about the way negotiations will be organized, insisting that both Ukraine and Europe must be represented.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said any agreement brokered by the United States alone “will fail because you need Europe and Ukraine to also implement the agreement.”
“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” she added.
And Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine would not accept any agreement reached without its involvement, also calling for Europe to have a seat at the table.
Questions also were raised as to whether the U.S. will continue to supply Ukraine with both lethal and humanitarian aid, with Hegseth appearing to link future funding for Kyiv to their willingness to negotiate with Moscow.
“We have continued to provide what has been allocated,” Hegseth said, referring to security assistance promised during the Biden administration. “I think it would be fair to say that things like future funding — either less or more — could be on the table in negotiations as well.”
He added that the outcome will be “whatever the president determines is the most robust carrot or stick on either side to induce a durable peace.”
As far as any long-term relationship between Washington and Kyiv, Hegseth said Trump believes that an “investment relationship” with Ukraine is “a lot more tangible than any promises or shared values we might have — even though we have them,” likely referring to the administration’s interest in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals resources.
Hegseth also reiterated Trump administration calls for NATO allies to drastically increase their defense spending, saying the alliance “can’t endure on the status quo.”
“We understand the importance of that partnership, but it can’t endure on the status quo forever. In light of the threats we face and fiscal realities, Europe has to spend more. NATO has to spend more, has to invest more,” he said.
NATO countries in 2014 agreed to work toward committing 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense spending for the alliance’s military readiness.
But Trump in his first term frequently lamented that allies were not pulling their full weight, insisting that 2 percent should only be the start of their commitment.
“Leaders of our European allies should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent,” Hegseth said. “That begins with increasing defense spending. 2 percent is a start, as President Trump has said, but it’s not enough. Nor is 3 percent, nor is 4 percent, more like 5 percent. Real investment, real urgency.”
Hegseth on Wednesday sparked fears as to whether the U.S. would largely abandon investment in NATO moving forward after he expressed “that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”
“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must, and we are, focusing on security of our own borders,” he said.
British Defence Staff in the USA
Location:USAPart of:Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) protects the security, independence and interests of our country at home and abroad.
We work with our allies and partners whenever possible. Our aim is to ensure that the armed forces have the training, equipment and support necessary for their work.
The MOD works with the United States on joint overseas operations and contingency planning, bilateral defence co-operation, interoperability and engages on defence trade.
Our team in the United States assists this work and communicates the broader transatlantic defence relationship, elevates the UK’s interests and reputation and provides high-quality advice and reporting to the UK on all aspects of defence business.
Responsibilities
The MOD is responsible for: defending the UK and its overseas territories, providing strategic intelligence, providing nuclear deterrence, supporting civil emergency organisations in times of crisis, defending our interests by projecting power strategically and through expeditionary interventions, providing a defence contribution to UK influence and providing security for stabilisation.
The British Defence Staff in the United States comprises some 750 military and civilian MOD personnel based in over 30 states across the US. Their mission is to protect and advance the UK and its interests by reinforcing the transatlantic defence and security relationship.
Priorities
Preserving global peace & security — The UK and the US co-operate to address the world’s most pressing security challenges.
Supporting trade and investment — Driving forward industry, the UK works with the US on facilitating defence trade and investment.
Co-operating in science, innovation, energy and higher education — The UK and the US collaborate in science and innovation; including advanced defence technologies.
Departments at post
- Ministry of Defence civil servants
- Royal Navy personnel
- British Army personnel
- Royal Air Force personnel
- Joint Forces Command
Liz Cheney – Civilian Head of British Defense Staff
Posted on April 15, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
Prince Charles of Britain visited the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas with Anne Armstrong in October 1977. (David Adame/The Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
Liz Cheney, left, said Thursday that Marjorie Taylor Greene should lose her clearance for her tweets about the alleged leaker. Getty Images
America’s Allies are very nervous about the leak of Top Secret Documents. NATO is going to spend a trillion dollars on the threat Putin poses. The value of these Defense Dollars is being undermined. Our Allies our concerned by how divided the United States has become. Unity is the goal. President Biden is in Ireland this day shoring up the peace treaty between religious factions. I’m going to write him a letter suggesting he create the U.S. Civilian Oversight of British Defense Staff that is a Hands Across The Water, and Hands Across Party Lines.
Dick Cheney was friends with the Armstrong family who own a large Texas ranch. Prince Charles came for a visit, and a Polo game was played. Soon, this Prince will be King of the United Kingdom. Jane Dorothy is the ambassador of Britain. We have entered another Cold War. May I suggest the new head of the BDSUS reach out to Hollywood in regards to making propaganda movies, and anointing Hollywood Stars and Goodwill Ambassadors.
John Presco
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said he thought Cheney’s embrace of Costner’s support would backfire.
“Liz is already going to lose, but while many fans love Costner and enjoy Yellowstone, who in Wyoming thinks he’s one of them?” Fleischer tweeted.
“It never ceases to amaze me how important Hollywood thinks it is,” he said.
Jane Dorothy Hartley (born April 18, 1950) is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom in the Joe Biden administration since 2022. She served as the United States ambassador to France and Monaco from 2014 until 2017 during the Barack Obama administration.[1] She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney said Thursday that GOP firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should not have a security clearance after Greene defended the Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking a trove of classified documents.
Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who has come out against the Trump-aligned wing of the party, said Greene’s comments made clear that she “cannot be trusted” with national security information.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, defended the alleged leaker, Jack Teixeira, 21, in two tweets Thursday night, claiming that the Biden administration was “the real enemy” and had “lied to us from the very beginning.“
Cheney responded in a post on Twitter, saying, “Marjorie Taylor Greene makes clear yet again that she cannot be trusted with America’s national security information and should not have a security clearance of any kind.”
Airman suspected of leaking secret US documents hit with federal charges
Story by By Tim McLaughlin and Sarah N. Lynch • Yesterday 6:04 PM
By Tim McLaughlin and Sarah N. Lynch
FBI arrests U.S. Air Force National Guard employee over the leaks online of classified U.S. documents© Thomson Reuters
BOSTON (Reuters) -A 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military intelligence records online was charged on Friday with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.
Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, who was arrested by heavily armed FBI agents at his home on Thursday, made his initial appearance in a crowded federal court wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit.
Jack Douglas Teixeira appears in federal court in Boston© Thomson Reuters
At the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial, and a detention hearing was set for Wednesday.
During the brief proceeding, Teixeira said little, answering “yes” when asked whether he understood his right to remain silent.
The judge said Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he appointed one.
An undated picture shows Jack Douglas Teixeira who was arrested by the FBI, over the leaks online of classified documents© Thomson Reuters
After the hearing, three of Teixeira’s family members left the courthouse, with a group of reporters trailing them for several blocks. They entered a car without making any comments.
The leaked documents were believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”
This leak did not come to light until it was reported by the New York Times last week even though the documents were posted on a social media website weeks earlier.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered investigators to determine why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information, which included records showing purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing its spying on allies.
Relatives of Jack Teixeira, a member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified U.S. documents, leave the federal courthouse in Boston© Thomson Reuters
Fallout from the case has roiled Washington. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has requested a briefing for all 100 senators next week while Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to investigate.
Relatives of Jack Teixeira, a member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified U.S. documents, leave the federal courthouse in Boston© Thomson Reuters
“The Biden administration has failed to secure classified information,” McCarthy said on Twitter. “Through our committees, Congress will get answers as to why they were asleep at the switch.”
Biden said he was taking steps to tighten security. “While we are still determining the validity of those documents, I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information,” he said in a statement.
MORE CHARGES EXPECTED
A criminal complaint made public on Friday charges Teixeira with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defense material, and a second charge related to the unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorized location.
Relatives of Jack Teixeira, a member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified U.S. documents, leave the federal courthouse in Boston© Thomson Reuters
A conviction on the Espionage Act charge carries up to 10 years in prison.
The charges are connected to just one leaked document so far, a classified record that described the status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and included details about troop movements on a particular date.
Experts expect more charges as investigators examine each leaked document. Teixeira could also face more counts depending on the number of times he separately uploaded and transmitted each document.
“They are going to pick the ones (documents), I would imagine, that foreign governments have already seen,” said Stephanie Siegmann, the former national security chief for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston and now a partner with the Hinckley Allen law firm.
A general view of federal courthouse where Jack Teixeira, a member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified U.S. documents, makes his initial appearance in Boston© Thomson Reuters
In a sworn statement, an FBI agent said Teixeira had held a top secret security clearance since 2021 and also had sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.
Since May 2022, the FBI said, Teixeira has been serving as an E-3/airman first class in the Air National Guard and has been stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts.
Siegmann said one lingering question is why a 21-year-old National Guardsman held such a top-level security clearance.
“That’s an issue that Department of Defense needs to now deal with,” she said. “Why would he be entitled to these documents about the Russia-Ukrainian conflict?”
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Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret,” but has not independently verified their authenticity. The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Tim McLaughlin in Boston; Writing by Sarah N. Lynch and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee, Alistair Bell, Jonathan Oatis, Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Osterman)
Kevin Costner has got legs.
Literally, that’s true. But figuratively as well.
The seemingly innocuous photo of the “Yellowstone” actor wearing a tee-shirt calling out his support for Liz Cheney continues to get attention.
Cheney first surfaced the photo of Costner’s shirt-wearing support in a tweet that said “Real men put country over party.”
Congressional challenger Harriet Hageman, who grew up on a Wyoming ranch, has taken a dim view of Costner’s credentials as a rancher and his support for Cheney. But she does like the TV series.
“Yellowstone is a good show, but Kevin Costner is a pretend rancher in a Hollywood production shot mostly in Montana, not Wyoming,” Hageman told Cowboy State Daily.
“And I’d bet that if he had to work a real ranch for a day, he’d call his agent to get him out of there. I’ll take the support of the people of Wyoming any day of the week over a liberal actor who voted for Joe Biden.”
Former Trump spokesman and current Hageman advisor Tim Murtaugh took it a step further.
Murtaugh tweeted a photoshopped version of Costner with a different message on the tee-shirt.
“I’m for Liz Cheney leaving office,” the shirt read.
Whether any of this makes any difference to voters can be debated.
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said he thought Cheney’s embrace of Costner’s support would backfire.
“Liz is already going to lose, but while many fans love Costner and enjoy Yellowstone, who in Wyoming thinks he’s one of them?” Fleischer tweeted.
“It never ceases to amaze me how important Hollywood thinks it is,” he said.
McALLEN, Texas – Anne Armstrong, a longtime powerful Republican who served as US ambassador to Great Britain in the Ford administration, died yesterday, her office said. She was 80.
Ms. Armstrong had battled cancer and had been in a Houston-area hospice for about a week, her assistant Kay Hicks said.
Ms. Armstrong and her husband, Tobin, were Republican stalwarts. She was a national leader of the Republican Party and a Cabinet-level adviser to Presidents Nixon and Ford.
Ms. Armstrong’s name was again in the news in 2006 when Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter during an outing at the Armstrong family’s ranch in South Texas.
She was the first woman to serve as US ambassador to Great Britain, taking the post in 1976.
At her swearing-in, Ford quipped that his wife was “always needling me” to appoint women to such posts. Ms. Armstrong replied, “I have the feeling Abigail Adams would have been just as excited as Betty Ford and I” about her selection.
A couple of months into her tenure, The New York Times reported that the British had “taken an instant liking to her . . . because she is visible and direct and informal without turning informality into a cloying, down-home soupiness.”
More recently, Ms. Armstrong was an adviser on foreign intelligence to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
“Her public service was exemplary and set a high standard for all who recognized that government service is vitally important to our way of life,” George H.W. Bush said in a statement. “Anne was a great sportsman, fantastic shot, and a wonderful friend to the Bush family. We send condolences to her family and mourn her death.”
Tobin Armstrong died in 2005. They had been married for 55 years.
The man wounded by Cheney on Armstrong’s ranch in February 2006 was Harry Whittington, a millionaire lawyer and longtime Republican activist. He was hit in the face, neck, and chest with birdshot and was hospitalized for several days.
The Kenedy County ranch had been in the Armstrong family since the 19th century. Tobin Armstrong’s grandfather, John Armstrong III, who settled it, had earned his fame as the Texas Ranger who captured notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin.
How much is King Ranch worth?
Thanks to the sale of the W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch in Texas earlier this year, we can get a sense of King Ranch’s value. Waggoner Ranch isn’t as large as King Ranch, but it calls itself the “largest ranch under one fence.” King Ranch, meanwhile, is split across multiple parcels.
Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke bought Waggoner Ranch this summer, according to Forbes, and though the terms of the sale weren’t disclosed, the nearly-800-square-mile property was listed at $725 million. Robert Grunnah, a principal at the Texas land specialty firm Novus Realty Advisors, told Bloomberg in July 2021 that if Waggoner Ranch is worth $725 million, King Ranch is worth $1.1 billion.
British Defence Staff USA
Posted on August 2, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
Treacherous Republican-Christians, and their disgraced ex-president, tried to end our alliance with Britain, formed by the artist , Winston Churchill.
John Presco
British Defence Staff in the USA
Location:USAPart of:Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) protects the security, independence and interests of our country at home and abroad.
We work with our allies and partners whenever possible. Our aim is to ensure that the armed forces have the training, equipment and support necessary for their work.
The MOD works with the United States on joint overseas operations and contingency planning, bilateral defence co-operation, interoperability and engages on defence trade.
Our team in the United States assists this work and communicates the broader transatlantic defence relationship, elevates the UK’s interests and reputation and provides high-quality advice and reporting to the UK on all aspects of defence business.
Responsibilities
The MOD is responsible for: defending the UK and its overseas territories, providing strategic intelligence, providing nuclear deterrence, supporting civil emergency organisations in times of crisis, defending our interests by projecting power strategically and through expeditionary interventions, providing a defence contribution to UK influence and providing security for stabilisation.
The British Defence Staff in the United States comprises some 750 military and civilian MOD personnel based in over 30 states across the US. Their mission is to protect and advance the UK and its interests by reinforcing the transatlantic defence and security relationship.
Priorities
Preserving global peace & security — The UK and the US co-operate to address the world’s most pressing security challenges.
Supporting trade and investment — Driving forward industry, the UK works with the US on facilitating defence trade and investment.
Co-operating in science, innovation, energy and higher education — The UK and the US collaborate in science and innovation; including advanced defence technologies.
Departments at post
- Ministry of Defence civil servants
- Royal Navy personnel
- British Army personnel
- Royal Air Force personnel
- Joint Forces Command
Follow us
Our people
- Air Vice-Marshal Mick SmeathDefence Attaché, USA
- Edward FergusonMinister Counsellor Defence, USA
- The UK is threatening to tear up its defense alliance with the US after President Donald Trump’s Iran crisis triggered a rupture between the two countries.
- UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told The Sunday Times that the UK was looking to forge stronger alliances with other international partners that shared its priorities.
- He said the US under Trump risked withdrawing from its global leadership role.
- Wallace also said Trump threatened to tear up the US’s intelligence-sharing relationship with the UK.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
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President Donald Trump’s order to assassinate Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has triggered a major rupture between the US and its historically closest ally, the UK.
In remarkably outspoken comments, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in an interview published Sunday that Trump’s isolationist foreign-policy stance had prompted the UK to look for alternative allies.
“I worry if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world,” he told The Sunday Times.
He added: “The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be.”
The comments came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government distanced itself from the attack that killed Soleimani, with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab labeling it a “dangerous escalation” that risked a conflict in which “terrorists would be the only winners.”
A spokesman for Johnson was also quick to condemn Trump’s threats to target Iranian cultural sites, if carried out, as a breach of international law and possibly a war crime.
The UK is now openly threatening to tear up its long-standing defense partnership with the US.
The US ‘withdraws from its leadership’ of the world under Trump
Wallace told The Sunday Times that the UK was increasingly looking for alternative international allies.
“Over the last year we’ve had the US pullout from Syria, the statement by Donald Trump on Iraq where he said NATO should take over and do more in the Middle East,” Wallace said.
“The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be.”
Wallace said the UK would need to reduce its dependence on US military assets.
“We are very dependent on American air cover and American intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets,” he said. “We need to diversify our assets.”
Wallace told the paper that the UK would increasingly need to turn to other allies that more closely shared the UK’s interests.
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“Regardless of what the US does … we are going to have to make decisions that allow us to stand with a range of allies, the Five Eyes [intelligence partnership with the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand] and our European allies where our interests converge,” he said.
Trump is threatening to cut intelligence ties with the UK
Wallace also said the Trump administration had threatened to cut off its intelligence-sharing partnership with the UK if Johnson’s government pursued its plan to allow the Chinese technology company Huawei a role in building Britain’s 5G network.
“They have repeatedly said that. They have been clear about that,” he told the paper.
“President Trump, the national security adviser. The defense secretary said it personally to me directly when we met at NATO. It’s not a secret. They have been consistent. Those things will be taken into account when the government collectively decides to make a decision on it.”
He added: “Friends and enemies that are independent make you choose.”
Our Brexit Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and analysis about Britain’s departure from the EU, direct from Business Insider’s political reporters. Join here.\
The British Ambassador
Posted on July 9, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
Douglas Fairbanks was made a member of the Order of Saint John. The range war I have been having with Rena Easton is pure prophecy. I see into the future with the help of my muses, reluctant or not.
John
British Ambassador
“At the outset of Trump’s presidency, there was some concern about how America’s international relationships would fare during his administration. Trump’s declared willingness to shake up the United States’ position in the international order was a feature of his 2016 campaign and one that, as president, he hasn’t shied away from.
There’s no suggestion at this point that the relationship between the United States and Britain will suffer over the long term from Darroch’s comments, particularly now that Trump has apparently excised him from America’s diplomatic sphere. These sorts of indelicacies, originating from an individual, aren’t generally the stuff that foment international crises.”
A tractor is parked toward the end of seeding between Choteau and Dutton. (Photo: COURTESY PHOTO/SCOTT INBODY)
‘We feel abused’
SUNBURST, Mont. — As Lyle Benjamin fires up his tractor for seeding this spring, he’s doing it staring down what he anticipates will be a tough year for Montana farmers.
A mile and a half away from his farm, Canadian farmers are benefiting from access to overseas markets through deals that Americans have lost as “collateral damage” in the recent trade wars.
“What we’ve been asking for, what we’re trying to safeguard is what we already had,” Benjamin said. “We feel abused as other industries are asking for major concessions, and we’re collateral damage.”
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and James Bond
Posted on September 2, 2018by Royal Rosamond Press
Highly-decorated Commander Fairbanks Jr., KBE, DSC, etc, after the war – and wife, Mary Lee
It is my conclusion, that Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the model Ian Fleming used for James Bond. I discovered this by looking at the cast of ‘The American Venus’. Douglas plays Trident, the son of Nenptune. Consider the opening of ‘On Her Majesties Secret Service’ where beautiful nude women are carrying tridents.
I suspect Ian Fleming saw the movie ‘State Secret’ and knew of Fairbank’s secret operations. Then there are those images of beautiful actresses hanging on him, the man who was considered the most handsome man in the world. A million women wanted him – at least. Fairbanks was at that bathing beauty contest starring Fey Lanphier.
Fairbanks kept his Naval history in the background. Did he know Fleming was authoring books? Did they converse? Why did no one, until now, compare James Bond to Fairbanks? I think there were agents in South America that might me compromised. Did Elizabeth Taylor know about her fellow thespian’s secret life? How about Ian Easton who headed the College of Defence Studies?
Douglas came up with the Beach Jumpers and trained as a Commando. I suspect he looked down on Hollywood after being – the real deal! He had friends in high places, and was done with Slumming For Roles.
Above is the cote of arm of Douglas Fairbanks. It depicts Britain and the U.S. being united, tied by a ribbon across the Atlantic Ocean. Above is the American Eagle carrying the Olive Branch of Peace. This is the most profound discovery in all the billions of words that have been written about James Bond. Note the symbol for Anarchy on the wall under the image of the Arch Villain. I am ordained to take over Ian Fleming and Fairbank’s work. I think a remake of ‘State Secret’ would make a great Bond movie – that never mentions the name Bond. But, with the news of my discovery, everyone will flock to behold – the real deal! No more Hollywood phonies!
Chas Cunningham is now taking down my posts on his facebook for his band. He will have no part of my discovery. He is banned – for life!
John Presco 007
Copyright 2018
After that he was made Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy) in 1969, Flag Officer for the Admiralty Interview Board in 1971 and Head of British Defence Staff and Senior Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. in 1973.[1] He last posting was as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1976: he commissioned armourial bearings for the College which were presented during a visit by the Queen in November 1977.[3] He retired in 1978.[1]
Douglas Fairbanks: A Brash Officer with Brash Ideas
Reassigned to the United States in late 1942, Fairbanks – as brash a junior naval officer as he was a brash onscreen hero – pitched his idea for a U.S. Navy unit specializing in tactical cover, diversion, and deception operations to Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, commander of all U.S. amphibious forces and all American naval forces in North African and Mediterranean waters.
Hewitt loved the idea and took it to the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Ernest King. In March 1943, King issued a secret order to establish a force of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for “prolonged, hazardous, distant duty for a secret project.”
Within weeks, Beach Jumper Unit 1 was stood up. The origins of the name Beach Jumper is unclear. One story maintains the moniker came from the unit’s mission to “scare the be-jesus out of the enemy,” and BJ led to the name Beach Jumpers. In a 1993 interview with the U.S. Naval Institute’s journal Proceedings, Fairbanks provided a much more mundane answer.
“It was a codename given by Mountbatten,” he said. “The idea was for it to be a cover name – partly descriptive – and a code name at the same time.”
The College of Arms in London granted Fairbanks a coat of arms symbolizing the U.S. and Britain united across the blue Atlantic Ocean by a silken knot of friendship
Any heraldry experts care to comment on this? On the shield there is a “Red Hand”. Is that the “Red Hand of Ulster”? Or does it signify something else?
The American Venus is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle, and starring Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Lawrence Gray, Fay Lanphier, Louise Brooks, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The film was based on an original story by Townsend Martin. The scenario was written by Frederick Stowers with intertitles by Robert Benchley.[1]
It was used as a Commando Training Depot during the Second World War and the village retains close ties to British Commandos, the United States Army Rangers and similar units from other allied nations. In 1928, the Achnacarry Agreement was signed, an early attempt to set petroleum production quotas.
Military.comBy Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Dashing, handsome, and connected, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had a well-established movie career in 1939. He could easily have spent the war years starring in light-hearted entertainments. Instead, he combined political activism with active-duty military service in the U.S. Navy, and was instrumental in bringing special tactical deception methods to U.S. naval operations.
Fairbanks came from Hollywood royalty and had friends in high places, including President Franklin Roosevelt, who in 1941 appointed Fairbanks as special envoy to South America, where he gathered intelligence. In the late 1930s, at the height of American isolationism, he helped Adlai Stevenson organize the William Allen White Committee that lobbied for U.S. entry into the war. Six months before Pearl Harbor, he obtained a commission in the Naval Reserve.
Fairbanks’ support of intervention was doubtless strengthened by his lifelong Anglophile sympathies. He was a great favorite of several British royals, and King George VI was to give him an honorary knighthood for “furthering Anglo-American amity.” His ties to England were knotted tight when he was assigned to an officer exchange program under British Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten. Lt. Fairbanks trained with the Royal Navy at the HMS Tormentor Advanced Training and Amphibious Operations Base and at the Commando Training School at Ancharry Castle, Scotland. He learned the art of naval deception and brought its skills and philosophy with him to his next assignment at Virginia Beach.
Under the command of Adm. Kent Hewitt, Fairbanks suggested that a unit of specialists such as those he had trained with might aid in the deployment of U.S. Naval forces in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The suave Fairbanks helped Hewitt sell the idea in Washington, and in 1943 the Beach Jumper program was begun. Although Fairbanks was not senior enough to command the unit, he was assigned to develop, supervise, and coordinate all plans with the British. The Beach Jumpers created and sustained the illusion that a military landing was happening at one beach — when in reality, that landing was taking place at a completely different location. These units had great success at Sicily, Salerno, Southern France, and the Philippines during World War II.
At the war’s end, Fairbanks was working on schemes to support the scheduled British landings at Singapore. He retired from the reserve as a captain in 1954. He wrote an enormously entertaining book about his wartime experience, “A Hell of A War.”
However, his truest feelings about his patriotic service may be best expressed in his words to a journalist in 1990. After forming the White Committee, he and his family received several death threats. “Why did I do it,” said Fairbanks. “I can only describe it with words that are considered rather corny these days: conviction, conscience, doing what I thought was right, the hell with the results.”
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. died on May 7, 2000, at the age of 90.
Although celebrated as an actor, Fairbanks was commissioned as a reserve officer in the United States Navy when the United States entered World War II and was assigned to Lord Mountbatten‘s Commando staff in the United Kingdom.[16]
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him special envoy to South America. Fairbanks served on the cruiser USS Wichita during the disastrous Convoy PQ17 operation.[17]
Having witnessed (and participated in) British training and cross-Channel harassment operations emphasizing the military art of deception, Fairbanks attained a depth of understanding and appreciation of military deception then unheard of in the United States Navy. Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, who was preparing U.S. naval forces for the invasion of North Africa.
Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of a military deception unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewett’s behest to Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations. King thereupon issued a secret letter on March 5, 1943 charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumper program.
The Beach Jumpers’ mission would simulate amphibious landings with a very limited force. Operating dozens of kilometers from the actual landing beaches and utilizing their deception equipment, the Beach Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the principal landing.
United States Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Throughout the remainder of the war, the Beach Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout the Mediterranean.
For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in the amphibious assault on Southern France, Lieutenant Commander Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy’s Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor, the French Légion d’honneur and the Croix de guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross.
Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver Star for valor displayed while serving on PT boats and in 1942 made an Officer the National Order of the Southern Cross, conferred by the Brazilian government.[18][19]
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