Terry Reed
 Terry Reed  (soldier, spook, pilot, businessman, whistleblower, filmmaker) | |
|---|---|
| File:Terry Read.jpg | |
| Children | 3 |
| Spouse | Janis Kerr Read |
| Member of | Task Force Alpha |
Terry Read is/was a former-CIA operative who by his own account was used to train Nicaraguan pilots in Iran Contra, then was involved in production of shipping weapons to them, but claimed originally not to have known about the trafficking of cocaine back to USA.
Contents
Career
He fought for eight years in the Vietnam War,[1] and was chosen as a member of Task Force Alpha, which he described as "the deniable link between authorized military operations and the unauthorized activities of the Central Intelligence Agency". He set up and ran a machine tools front company in USA, then in Mexico for the CIA, connected to production of weapons without serial numbers for distribution to the Contras in Nicaragua.
Iran-Contra
Oliver North, under the alias of recruited him in 1982 - when North was at the White House - to raise money and secure airplanes for the Nicaraguan Contras. Eventually, Reed trained Nicaraguan pilots at a rural airstrip at Nella, Ark.[1]
Drug trafficking
When he discovered that his warehouse was being used for the transshipment of tonnes of cocaine to Mena, Arkansas, he decided to quit.
Life as a fugitive
In The Mena Connection he tells how he and his wife then spent about 6 months on the run after his handlers accused him of drug trafficking and claimed that he and his wife were both armed and dangerous. Later they spent 2.5 years going through the US justice system before both being found innocent.
Whistleblowing
Terry Read co-authored the 1994 Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA with John Cummings, which Mark Gorton references,[2] and in 1995 he created the 2 hour 15 minute film.The Mena Connection[3]
Lawsuit
In 1996 he and his wife, Janis Kerr Read brought a lawsuit against Raymond Young, Tommy L. Baker, Donald Sanders & other unknown parties in connection with the Read's persecution by the US justice system. He withdrew it after U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. of Arkansas ruled that the Reeds could not introduce any evidence in their civil suit relating to Terry Reed's missions with the FBI, the CIA, former Gov. Bill Clinton, the late international drug dealer Barry Seal or Dan Lasater, a Clinton associate convicted on drug charges, since he claimed that their evidence "was based on conjecture, speculation and coincidence" and not on "a factual foundation."
