UPDATED AGAIN!: CIA Mission to Stop French Missiles for Taiwan
Bizarre Operation to Stop Taiwan's Mirage Fighters from Fighting
China In Arms BOOKSTORE and GIFT SHOP!
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31 August 2023 (Thursday) - Updated 1 September, Updated 3 September.
CIA Mission to Stop French Missiles for Taiwan
Bizarre Operation to Stop Taiwan's Mirage Fighters from Fighting
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - Folks, after China In Arms reached out to you, our readership, for the five names of expelled CIA agents referred to in the below article from the China Post in 1995 as U.S. diplomats.
One special reader amongst my subscribers helped!
Four CIA officers, including the Chief of Station (COS), Dick Holm, an unnamed Deputy COS, William Lee (Chinese-American), one other unnamed CIA officer, and one CIA contractor (5) were expelled from France over economic espionage operations in France.
The contract CIA operative, Mary Ann Baumgartner, represented herself as the director of the Dallas Market Centre, a foundation claiming to clarify misunderstandings between Europe and the U.S.
For more information about Holm, see his books: The American Agent: My Life in the CIA (2004) and The Craft We Chose: My Life in the CIA (2011).
In the French media, Baumgartner is described as a NOC (non-official cover) asset used for talent spotting, recruitment, infiltration, etc.
It is unclear if the French media portrayal of her as a femme fatale is accurate. However, some of the French media stories indicate she worked in Asia during unknown periods of time.
Perhaps unrelated, but Holm worked in Hong Kong as an operations officer from 1970 to 1973 and 1978 to 1981.
When the French intelligence service identified Baumgartner as a CIA contractor, they trailed her to four CIA officers operating under diplomatic cover out of the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
The CIA operation was designed to map out how French defense companies were bribing foreign countries to procure their arms. Taiwan was just one of the countries of interest, along with Brazil and unidentified other nations.
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