Back around March 4th, 1995, Mr. Sherman Skolnick of the Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts came out with a story about a company called Systematics and alleged high-tech spying being done on foreign banks. (This was covered in Conspiracy Nation Vol. 4, issue 22 and, so far as I can tell, Skolnick's phone message, Hotline News at 312-731-1100, was first to break the story.)
Here is how Skolnick's story appeared in Conspiracy Nation:
A telephone company in Arkansas is called ALLTEL. They have a subsidiary called Systematics which is a proprietary espionage operation of the National Security Agency [NSA]. Developed was a highly refined version of the Inslaw software called PROMIS. Originally designed to keep track of the caseloads of federal prosecutors, it was adapted to be used by spy agencies to track people worldwide, by satellite. The software has a "trapdoor" built into it. So, the NSA arranged to sell it or give it to supposedly friendly or other spy agencies: France, Sweden, Israel, and others. The "trapdoor" was a sort of "Trojan Horse", enabling U.S. espionage to spy on other spy shops. Systematics [allegedly] adapted it to be used through low- orbit satellites, to spy on the computers of central banks...
Perhaps a better word than "trapdoor" would be "backdoor". The software sold or given to the unsuspecting banks is said to have had a hidden "door" through which prying eyes could enter unannounced. This is worth emphasizing, because some have said it would be impossible for a hacker or group of hackers to get into, for example, a Swiss bank. What these critics are neglecting to factor in is this "backdoor" through which electronic burglars possessing the "key" could easily enter. This last has not, to my knowledge, been refuted.
The late White House aide Vince Foster is said to have had about $2.73 million stashed away in a Swiss bank account. CIA hackers, perhaps taking advantage of a "backdoor" in the bank's software, are said to have stumbled across not only Foster's hidden account but also hidden accounts belonging to members of Congress and other high government officials. This, it seems, is where these "public servants" were hiding bribe money they had illegally received.
But apparently it was feared that breaking such a huge scandal publicly would cause Grandpa and Grandma USA to fall out of their rocking chairs. Yet something had to be done. These congresspersons and others could not be allowed to get away with their crookedness. While the CIA hackers, known as the "Fifth Column", are said to have cleaned out the accounts of the offenders, still it was obvious that some punishment was in order. Then too, you can't just leave these bribe-takers in office -- what's to stop them from accepting more bribes?
So it is reported by several independent sources that these bribe-takers are being told to leave their jobs, or else have their alleged rotteness revealed. As former Forbes senior editor James R. Norman put it in the December 1995 issue of Media Bypass magazine (1-800-4-Bypass):
There has been an unusually large number of veteran congressmen and senators announcing their resignations, retirements or switching parties... The official explanation: It's no fun now that the Republicans control Congress.
But sources claim the real reason is that some of these departees have been quietly confronted with evidence that they took bribes or payoffs through Swiss or other offshore bank accounts. Rumor has it that about 30 current members of the House and Senate have been identified as having such foreign slush-fund accounts...
Richard L. Franklin, writing in his monthly newsletter, Franklin's Focus (Focus Press, 1820 Palisades Drive, Appleton, WI 54915), confirms the charges. He reports that he has checked with several of his sources and that, "as they say in the trade, the story now has legs." According to Franklin, a so-called "Angel of Death" is visiting the various congressional representatives and informing them that they have just 24 hours to announce their retirement.
It is beyond dispute that a record number of Senators and Representatives are suddenly announcing their respective retirements from public office. What is more, the Norman article which appeared in the December 1995 Media Bypass is on record as predicting many of these retirements before they actually occurred. If Jim Norman's name was Jean Dixon or Irene Hughes, he would be everywhere on the talk shows by now, hailed for his amazing "psychic" abilities. Yet we hear nary a word of this remarkable story in our "free" press. To me, the very fact that this story is not being allowed into the public dialogue -- that, in itself, says something. Aren't the networks at least hungry for ratings? Why won't they draw in viewers with these intriguing and widely-believed allegations? Why too aren't members of Congress furiously demanding the opportunity to defend their impugned "honor"? The silence is deafening.
Reporting on the phenomena of the disappearing Congress critters, the Washington Times, National Weekly Edition (Jan. 8-14, 1996) declares that "Congress is going through a shakeout." There have been, says the Times, 49 announced retirements or resignations since the November 1994 elections. And, it adds, a dozen of them have bowed out just recently, since Thanksgiving. Well, Times, here are two more names to add to your "trickle that has grown into a stream" of retirements: Associated Press reports ("Clinger to Retire", Jan. 15, 1996) that Rep. William Clinger "said Monday he will leave Congress after serving 18 years." The AP story adds, as if it is an afterthought, that Rep. Pat Williams, Montana Democrat, announced retirement plans on Saturday, Jan. 13th. Clinger says, "It's probably time for me to move on." Says Williams, "he's homesick." The AP article also notes that the high number of congressional retirements is the "most in a century."