Operation Mount Rushmore, the Plot to Kill Clinton

by David H. Stern, M.D.

ONI, CIA, MOSSAD IN ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST BILL CLINTON?

Bok Pon is alive and well, and very active in Republican Politics in California. This fact casts doubt on the Assassination plot story relayed here. However, the documents provided by the alleged participants / whistleblowers indicates that whether true or not, the story may reflect a domestic intelligence operation.

(COPI) San Francisco - An alleged assassination plot against Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton, scheduled to take place during his visit here in the summer of 1992, was foiled at the last minute by a leak, according to sources quoted in the second edition of Defrauding America, by Rodney Stich.

Code-named "Operation Mount Rushmore," the alleged plot involved agents and officials within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the Republican Party, and the Mossad, Israel's Intelligence Service. Also alleged to be involved in financing and planning were associates of the Heller, Ehrman, White, and McCauluiffe law firm, a prestigious firm that sources have claimed houses a number of Mossad agents. Financing is alleged to have come from EIC in nearby Redwood City, and its owner, Chan Wang.

The information in Mr. Stich's book came primarily from two sources, both from intelligence agencies, who independently reported essentially the same details.

The primary source for the story is referred to in the book as "Agent X," but the context of his story identifies "Agent X" as Lt. Cmdr. Robert Hunt, ONI. Mr. Hunt's credentials are rigorously documented in the book, and include a letter from President Bill Clinton, dated November 22, 1993, ironically the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of JFK. The letter addresses Lt. Cmdr. Hunt by name and agency, and appears to be intended as a letter of support and sympathy for his predicament. Mr. Hunt had been imprisoned for nearly a year, allegedly for refusing to testify about a joint CIA-ONI operation designed to test the security of submarine operations.

According to Hunt, an assassination team used for "cleanup" in other controversial intelligence operations was assembled at the Presidio. Hunt described the operation this way:

"I was ordered last summer [July, 1992] to go to San Francisco by Graham Fuller, CIA; Dick Pealer, ONI; and John Kaplin, CIA. These people were my handlers. I was told to go to the Bay Area. I flew from NAS [Naval Air Station] Norfolk to NAS Alameda, where I was to meet another Agent He was the C1A station chief for SF [San Francisco]. His name is Robert Larson. He made arrangements for me at the Presidio. The next day the team arrived, and I wondered why this hit team was in town. I got a call from a woman who said she was Mossad and we needed to meet. So we did; we had lunch. I asked her, her name, and she said it was Anna Colburn. I later found out her real name was Yossi Jameir. We talked about why I was in town, and I asked for what reason. She said they wanted to hit Clinton."

When he asked for the technical details, Mr. Hunt says he was told that, "they would be operating out of Republican Headquarters on Van Ness Avenue, where they could monitor all political moves by Clinton. The lady who would oversee this was Joann Stanhope for the Republican Party. She is also CIA."

When asked who would fund the operation, he said, "A man by the name of Chan Wang. He belongs to an organization called The Eagles. He also owns a real estate company called EIC in Redwood City. The man who would be his in-between was also CIA. His name was Bok Pon. Gene Ferfethen also sponsored this operation. He owned a winery in Napa. He is one of Wang's friends."

"[Pok] told me that Yosi worked for a major law firm called Heller Ehrman [Heller, Erman, White, and McCauliffe], and that this firm would handle everything we may need, such as safe-houses, equipment, money, travel, etc. I later found out a major Mossad team was working from the law firm."

Describing the operation, itself, Hunt said, "Knowing Clinton was coming to town in the next few weeks, we set up shop. Weapons, escape routs, rendezvous, etc. Clinton was expected to come and stay at the Ritz Carlton. That's when we were going to do it. My men and I took up a position across the street from the Carlton before Clinton's arrival. We photographed the whole area for best possible results. Anyway, three weeks before he was due to arrive, word had it there was a leak. Where, was unknown. So my team and I pulled out in fear of being caught. That night we were told to eliminate all factions involved, including the Mossad agents. This order was given by Bob Larson, [CIA] station chief; San Francisco." (Larson was later transferred to a position in the Caribbean, and known as "Pogo.")

"The next morning the team and I went to the law firm looking for Yossi. She was not there. She was the first one we were to hit from the firm. We went to her home where we found her. Three of us: myself John Aldridge, and Phil Burgess, went in and asked what happened. She didn't know. We told her that we were going to kill her if she didn't talk. Well, she didn't talk. Then you can see what happened next." (Hunt had earlier stated that after the operation, he "never saw that Mossad Agent again.")

Asked about Mossad reaction to the killing of one of its agents, Hunt said, "We never had any repercussions on it. I had a list of people. l had a guy by the name of Chan Wang I had to take care of. I had Stanhope to take care of. I had Yossi to take care of. I had the security guard to take care of. And if worse came to worse, we were going to take care of the whole law firm itself. Almost like a condor situation."

Hunt continued to describe the "cleanup": "Next target: Bok Pon. We met him at the office of EIC, hoping to get Wang too. Well, Wang wasn't there, but Bok was. We took him and drove north to talk. We went to the Peppermint in Sarrnmonte just south of Daly City. He said he knew nothing. Then we took Bok over into Mill Valley on the other side of the Golden Gate, where he is now buried in a hill."

"Next target: Joann Stanhope. Just as we were about to get her, I get a call on my pager from Flashboard. When I called, they said, 'stop operations.' When I asked the reason why, they said they found the leak."

"The leak came from a security guard where Heller Erman had their office. One of the Mossad agents was dating this guard. Our job was to, of course, take care of it. So that night when he got off work at midnight, and he went to catch the Bart train at Market to go home, my friend and I grabbed him and threw him in front of a BART train on Market Street. They thought he committed suicide."

Rodney Stich, the author of the book, states, "CIA documents in my possession establish his intelligence agency connections and officer status. Other CIA contacts confirm Agent X was CIA. He had nothing to gain by giving me the information that he did. Reference to covert CIA operatives who Agent X stated were part of the operation were confirmed as actual CIA operatives by (Gunther) Russbacher and other CIA contacts. Russbacher confirmed several times to me that Operation Mount Rushmore did exist, and that several people were killed in the operation."

Russbacher's ONI and CIA credentials are also rigorously documented elsewhere in the book. When he spoke of Operation Mount Rushmore, he said that it was not called off, but only placed on hold. When asked about Russbacher's claim, Hunt said, "Well, it could have been put on hold, (but) my part in it was pulled out."

When contacted, the Secret Service Branch of Los Angeles declined to comment on the story, referring the inquiry to the Public Affairs office in Washington, D.C. An official contacted there, when told about the story, denied any knowledge of it, and stated that if the San Francisco office were contacted, that they too would refer back to the Public Relations Office.

Calls to the San Francisco Transit Authority were referred to their legal department. Repeated calls to the legal department were not returned, though return calls were promised.

Suicides are fairly common on mass transit rails. When Mr. Stich contacted the Transit Authority, he was sent two lists of names of people who comitted suicide on the lines over a several week period. There were more names on the second list, though the time frame was the same. Mr. Stich has been unable to confirm whether or not a security guard was among the victims, due to a lack of resources. He invites activist volunteers to assist him in this matter.

Mr. Ferfethen was not listed with directory assistance in Napa.

Mr. Wang's business apparently closed early for the Christmas holiday weekend, and he could not be reached for comment before this article originally went to press. A message was subsequently left on his company's voice mail system, and Mr. Wang did return the call on December 27, 1994, when the author was away from the phone. At that time, Mr. Wang left a message on the author's end, requesting that he be called back, and that his secretary be informed of what the call was about. I did call the EIC firm again that same day, and left a message with the secretary that I was calling as a journalist seeking information regarding a group called the Eagles. The message was left at 4:16 PM. To date, the call has not been returned.

This story © copyright 1994, David H. Stern, M.D., Rodney Stich, and COPI. All Rights Reserved. A plain text version is available here. You are encouraged to copy and distribute in any means necessary, as long as it remains unaltered, and this message is retained with it.