John K. Singlaub

John Kirk Singlaub (born July 10, 1921) is a highly decorated former OSS officer, a founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a retired Major General in the United States Army. In 1977 Singlaub was relieved from his position as Chief of Staff of U.S. forces in South Korea after criticizing President Jimmy Carter's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula in an interview with the Washington Post. Less than a year later Singlaub was forced to retire after publicly questioning President Carter's national security policies. In 1979 Singlaub founded the Western Goals Foundation, a private intelligence network that was implicated for supplying weapons to the contras during the Iran-Contra affair. Singlaub is a contributing author to several books and is the author of his autobiography as well as numerous articles.

Singlaub was born in Independence, California on July 10, 1921. After graduating from Van Nuys High School in 1939 he attended the University of California at Los Angeles and received after graduation his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry on January 14, 1943. As a member of Operation Jedburgh (Singlaub was part of the three man team code name JAMES), Singlaub parachuted behind German lines in August 1944 to work with the French Resistance fighters or Maquis groups that had swelled the resistance ranks after the D-Day invasion during World War II. He headed CIA operations in postwar Manchuria during the Chinese Communist revolution, led troops in the Korean War, managed the secret war along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Kingdom of Laos and Vietnam, worked with the Contras in Nicaragua, and Afghan resistance during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

During times of crisis, and a host of modern wars, Singlaub served as a leading figure in U.S. national security and defense matters under Democratic and Republican U.S. Presidents, from Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

In 1977, while Singlaub was chief of staff of U.S. forces in South Korea, he publicly criticized President Jimmy Carter's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula. On March 21, 1977, Carter relieved him of duty for overstepping his bounds and failing to respect the President's authority as Commander-in-Chief. Less than a year later, Singlaub again publicly questioned President Carter's national security policies, this time during a lecture at Georgia Tech, and was forced to retire. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command presented its first John Singlaub Award in 2013 for "courageous actions ... off the battlefield."

After retiring from the army, Singlaub, with John Rees and Democratic Congressman from Georgia, Larry McDonald founded the Western Goals Foundation. According to The Spokesman-Review, it was intended to "blunt subversion, terrorism, and communism" by filling the gap "created by the disbanding of the House Un-American Activities Committee". Prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union in 1991, Singlaub was founder in 1981 of the United States Council for World Freedom, the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). The chapter became involved with the Iran–Contra affair, with Associated Press reporting that, "Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House operation". The WACL was described by former member Geoffrey Stewart-Smith as allegedly a "largely a collection of Nazis, Fascists, anti-Semites, sellers of forgeries, vicious racialists, and corrupt self-seekers." Singlaub is credited with purging the organization of these types and making it respectable.

U.S. Army General William Westmoreland described Singlaub as a "true military professional" and "a man of honest, patriotic conviction and courage." Congressman Henry J. Hyde (Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence Committees), described Singlaub as "a brave man, a thorough patriot, and a keen observer"; someone who had been "in the center of almost every controversial military action since World War II." Active for 40 years in overt and covert operations, he had private and secret interviews with many military and government leaders worldwide. He personally knew William Casey, Director of Central Intelligence during the Reagan Administration, as well as Oliver North, and was involved in the Iran–Contra affair. Singlaub was President Reagan's administrative chief liaison in the so-called 'private' Contra supply effort to oppose Moscow's and Fidel Castro's advances in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the Cold War and their support for armed Marxist revolutionary guerrilla movements. Through his chairmanship of the world Anti-Communist League (WACL) and its U.S. chapter, the U.S. Council for World Freedom (USCWF), he enlisted Members of the US Congress from both political parties, Washington, D.C. policymakers, retired U.S. military officials, paramilitary groups, foreign governments, and American think tanks and conservatives in the Contra cause. He often met on Capitol Hill with members of the U.S. Congress, including Congressman Charlie Wilson (Texas politician) (D-TX) about U.S. support and funding for the Contras and anti-communist resistance forces in Afghanistan opposed to the Red Army invasion of Kabul in 1979.

As of 2014, he lives in Franklin, Tennessee. He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Singlaub is the honorary vice president of London's Special Forces Club.

The Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, which was founded by Roger Chapin, named Singlaub to its Board of Directors in 2008.Singlaub was paid $180,000 by the charity from 2009-2011.The New York Times critiqued the organization as a money-maker for its founders rather than for veterans, described it as an "intolerable fraud" and said the coalition was "among a dozen military-related charities given a grade of F in a study last December by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit watchdog group. These and other charities have collected hundreds of millions of dollars from kind-hearted Americans and squandered an unconscionable amount of it on overhead and expenses — 70 percent or 80 percent, or more."The Attorney General of California sued the charity in August 2012 for "more than $4.3 million regarding allegations of fraudulent fundraising, self-dealing and excessive executive compensation." The lawsuit also sought removal of its officer and directors. According to the charity's 2013 federal tax return, Singlaub resigned from its board of directors in January 2013.The attorney general of California announced a settlement of the lawsuit in September 2013.Singlaub continues to solicit money for the charity as chairman of its "ambassadors."

Singlaub is president of America's Future, Inc., a nonprofit organization. Phyllis Schafly was its secretary. In September 2016, a WAVY article ("Election officials warn of letter questioning registration of cats, dogs, the deceased") reported that Virginia "election officials are warning voters about a letter circulating around Hampton Roads that calls into question their registration status ... Janice Lebron, a York County elections official, says she became suspicious earlier this month, after her husband received a letter from Virginia Vote 2016 and America’s Future, Inc. 'It didn’t look right. Looking at the envelope, it just doesn’t look professional,' said Lebron, who also questioned the sender, retired Army Major General John K. Singlaub. 'That struck a nerve, because I’m retired Air Force. I felt like that name was utilized to instill that blind trust.'"The Virginia Department of Election issued a press release on September 21, 2016, describing the letters sent by American's Future, Inc. and the Voter Participation Center as "misleading ... letters sent by these organizations have reportedly been addressed to individuals who were already properly registered, are not qualified to register at the mailing address used, or are deceased. Although these letters include our street address and contact information, these letters did not come from the Department and are not official election mail."WUSA reported that "more than half a million of these letters have gone out." It also reported that Cameron Sasnett, the Fairfax County Registrar, said America's Future Inc. was illegally using the Virginia Department of Elections for the return address."Singlaub signed the letter sent by America's Future, Inc.

Singlaub is chairman and a founding member of The Jedburgh Group. On March 15, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission "announced the filing of a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan charging defendants Alan James Watson and Cash Flow Financial LLC (CFF), both of Clinton Township, Mich., and Michael S. Potts of Mountville, Pa., with fraudulently soliciting and accepting at least $45 million from more than 600 individuals and entities to participate in a commodity pool to trade commodity futures contracts and securities." The complaint also named "The Jedburgh Group, also known as Jedburgh Group International, Inc., of Longwood, Fla., as a relief defendant. The Jedburgh Group allegedly received funds as a result of the defendants’ fraudulent conduct to which it has no legitimate interest or entitlement. Watson and CFF retained The Jedburgh Group to act as a private investigator to assist CFF in locating and recovering participants’ funds diverted by Watson in a variety of schemes, according to the complaint. The Jedburgh Group allegedly currently holds at least $3 million of recovered pool participant funds in an escrow account. The complaint requests that these funds be disgorged." On July 10, 2014, defendants Kenneth Freeman and Dale Toler from The Jedburgh Group approved and signed a settlement agreement to pay $1.5 million. Toler said he would personally deliver a certified check for this amount on July 30, 2014. He did not deliver the check and committed suicide on July 31, 2014.

A judgment for $1.5 million was awarded on September 30, 2015. The case has been appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

During his military service, Singlaub was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf clusters, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf cluster, the Air Medal with Oak Leaf cluster, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart. His foreign decorations include the French Croix de Guerre with Palm and Bronze Star devices, British Mention in Despatches oak leaf, as well as decorations from China, the Netherlands, and South Vietnam.

•   Army Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
•   Silver Star
•   Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters
•   Soldier's Medal
•   Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster
•   Air Medal with oak leaf cluster
•   Army Commendation Medal
•   Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster
•   American Campaign Medal
•   European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with arrowhead and campaign star
•   Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two campaign stars
•   World War II Victory Medal
•   National Defense Service Medal with star
•   Korean Service Medal with four campaign stars
•   Vietnam Service Medal
•   Croix de Guerre with palm and bronze star (France)
•   Order of the Cloud and Banner (Republic of China)
•   Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands)
•   National Order of Vietnam
•   Vietnam Cross of Gallantry
•   United Nations Korea Medal
•   Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
•   Korean War Service Medal (Republic of Korea)

• Hazardous Duty. Summit Books, 1991. ISBN 0-671-70516-4 (Autobiography with Malcolm McConnell).