Agent Provocateur? - J. Michael Cole
Does the DPP Use Foreigners as Scapegoats for Influence Operations?
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29 November 2023 (Wednesday)
Agent Provocateur? - J. Michael Cole
Does the DPP Use Foreigners as Scapegoats for Influence Operations?
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - J. Michael Cole, formerly a desk officer on the Hezbollah for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and now an “expert” on all-things political in Taiwan, announced on LinkedIn on 29 November that there is a limit on his time via the coming election on the island:
Sorry people, but if you're among the hundreds of people who will be
"passing through" Taiwan between now and the general elections in
January: No, I do not have time to "have coffee" or "a drink" for "a
chat about Taiwan politics." If I said yes to every such request, I
wouldn't have time to do my work...and I couldn't sleep from all that
caffeine (and I don't drink anymore, so there goes that "pint or two").
Also, I really don't feel like talking shop all the time - life's too
short. Thank you.
Ross Feingold has heartedly announced his willingness to take up the torch of debate and discussion on all things Taiwan political. He, unlike Cole, will welcome free coffee and booze. Feingold is a lawyer that can read, write, speak, and fart in Chinese, unlike our anti-hero Cole. His Twitter @rossfeingold for contact information (unless you are Hezbollah).
Cole had become disgruntled by CSIS after the CIA requested that potential Hezbollah terrorists and their families migrating to Canada be expelled back to their homeland of Lebanon.
He saw the expulsions of entire families based on the evidence that only one individual in the family was a potential terrorist as inhumane.
With only six months as an active officer in CSIS, he drew upon his courage and wisdom, along with his Taiwanese girlfriend, to resign in protest in 2005.
The plan was to go to Taiwan for a fresh start. A form of self-imposed exile that would help create the archetype of his new anti-hero status.
The only problem with the plan was Cole’s decision to take his girlfriend on an adventure to Cuba before flying to Taiwan.
In his book, Smokescreen: Canadian Security Intelligence after September 11, 2001 (2008), there is no mention of his Cuba visit, but during a conversation over drinks at Bobwundaye in Taipei, Cole boasted of the trip.
Cole stated that he wanted to give the U.S. the middle finger with a “fuck you” from Cuba’s beach.
From a counterintelligence perspective, there is one natural question: did Cole visit the Iranian and Syrian Embassies in Havana?
That would amount to a different kind of beach visit.
We became pals after his arrival in Taipei. I introduced him to both U.S. and Taiwan military and intelligence folks. We visited Taiwan military bases and attended exercises:
It would be fair and transparent to inform the reader we had a following-out over an article written accusing a local Taiwan academic of being a “traitor” for attending an academic conference on maritime sea law held in China.
This was during the Presidency of Ma Ying-jeou, KMT, and academic exchanges were common, even with China’s military colleges and think tanks.
Accusing the academic of being a “traitor” was a mistake, particularly since Cole was Canadian.
The problem was I had been his roommate in university and shared the same mentor. I dedicated my first book to our mentor: Spies and Provocateurs: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Persons Conducting Espionage and Covert Action, 1946-1991 (McFarland).
Maritime Law is not a hotbed of espionage, but has more to do with fishing rights and, maybe on a very good day, high-seas piracy. I, on occasion, proofread many of his academic papers and can honestly say that these were just about as boring as humanly possible.
So when Cole’s article came out, on top of the Cuba revelation, and his participation as an volunteer advisor to students in the Sunflower Student Movement, I enacted my three strikes rule and terminated our friendship.
My baseball-themed Three Strikes Rule is a stop-loss rule that prevents any further waste of my time, money, sanity, etc.
The rule can be tricky. You have to use a ratio between 2.5 and 3 for it to be effective. Stop-loss is normally a trade-off. If you set the stop-loss level too far, you run the risk of losing a friend if the former friend’s guanxi goes against you later. With friends it is largely subjective, which makes it difficult.
Since I do not write about political issues and focus entirely on military and intelligence subjects, I already live in a dangerous world. But to mix politics and military would be like mixing grapes and grain. My number one rule in life: "Grape or grain, but never the twain” (don’t mix wine and whiskey).
The second strike was his tactical advice and support for students of the Sunflower Student Movement that made the one-day January 6 crisis in Washington seem puny in comparison. The Sunflower students occupied the nation’s Legislature (aka Congress) in March 2014.
As a journalist, the problem with participating in an action rather than covering an action is to know your place. The journalist is the observer that documents an event. If you pick up a gun, it better be in the context of the Alamo or Mesada.
Journalists do not pick up a rifle and start shooting. Or lend comfort and aide to one side or the other in the form of advocacy journalism, particularly providing tactical advice to the Sunflower protestors when your background includes military and intelligence training.
Cole has a master’s degree in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. You can make fun of Canada all you want, but never ignore a “War College” on their LinkedIn account.
That and his two-years of intelligence school prior to CSIS makes him a potential problem, should Cole ever decide to involve himself in another Sunflower Movement escapade.
Unfortunately, Cole could find himself going from an agent provocateur to scapegoat if things go sideways.
Perhaps I am hard hearted. That I should be like Christ and turn the cheek, but I do not think that is my nature.
