US Army Field Manual 30-31B

The US Army Field Manual 30-31B is a forgery presented as a classified appendix to a US Army Field Manual purporting to describe top-secret counter insurgency tactics. In particular, it identifies a strategy of tension involving violent attacks blamed on radical left-wing groups in order to convince allied governments of the need for counter-action. It has been called the Westmoreland Field Manual because it had a forged signature from General William Westmoreland. It was labeled as supplement B (hence "30-31B"), however, the actual FM 30-31 only had one appendix, Supplement A, during the 1970s.cite web | url = http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Jan/20-127177.html | title = Misinformation about "Gladio/Stay Behind" Networks Resurfaces | publisher = United States Department of State | date = 2006-01-20 | accessdate = 2007-06-24] cite news | title = The West Wakes Up to the Dangers of Misinformation | author = Elizabeth Pond | publisher = Christian Science Monitor | date = 1985-02-28] cite news | title = House Intelligence Committee Begins Inquiry Into Allegations of Forgeries | publisher = Washington Post | date = 1979-01-17] U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "Soviet Active Measures". 97th Congress, 2nd session. July 13, 14, 1982.] U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "Soviet Covert Action (The Forgery Offense)". 96th Congress, 2nd session. February 6, 19, 1980.] cite journal | title = A Review of: "Falling Flat on the Stay-Behinds" | author = Peer Henrik Hansen | journal = International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence | year = 2005| volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 182–186 | doi = 10.1080/08850600500332656]

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee determined it to be a forgery in 1979. Testimony of a KGB defector before the U.S. Congress later confirmed the Soviet origin of the forgery. The Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) concluded in 1976 that the forgery was part of a disinformation campaign waged by the KGB. In 2006, the US State Department again had to deny its authenticity after the document was cited by researchers who disputed its status as a forgery.

The reported forgery first appeared in Turkey in the 1970s, before being circulated to other countries. It was also used at the end of the 1970s to implicate the CIA in the Red Brigades' murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro.

Early circulation history

A supposed appendix to FM 30-31 was first mentioned in the Turkish newspaper, "Barish", in 1975.cite news | title = Top Secret, Documentos secretos del Pentágono (FM 30-31 B) | author = Fernando Gonzalez | publisher = Triunfo | pages = 28-32 | date = 1978-09-23cite web | url = http://www.triunfodigital.com/mostradorn.php?a%F1o=XXXII&num=817&imagen=28&fecha=1978-09-23 | title = Top Secret, Documentos secretos del Pentágono (FM 30-31 B) | publisher = Triunfo Digital | accessdate = 2008-05-02] A facsimile copy of the forgery first appeared in Bangkok, Thailand, a year later, and in various capitals of Northern Africa. In 1978, it appeared in various European magazines, including the Spanish "Triunfo" and "El Pais". The January 1979 issue of CIA critic Philip Agee's "CovertAction Quarterly" produced a copy as well. [cite news | title = The Mysterious Supplement B; Sticking it to the "Host Country" | author = Philip Agee | publisher = CovertAction | pages = 9-18 | issue = January 1979] The Italian press picked up the "Triunfo" publication, and a copy was published in the October 1978 issue of "L'Europeo".

Discussion

The discovery in the early 1990s of the NATO stay-behind networks in Europe led to renewed debate as to whether or not the manual was fraudulent. [cite video | people = Allan Francovich | year = 1992 | title = Timewatch : Gladio - The Foot Soldiers | publisher = British Broadcasting Corporation] [cite book | title = NATO Secret Armies - Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe | author = Daniele Ganser | year = 2005 | publisher = Franck Cass | location = London] However, the U.S Department of State, concluded in 2006 that:

A thirty year-old Soviet forgery has been cited as one of the central pieces of “evidence” for the false notion that West European “stay-behind” networks engaged in terrorism, allegedly at U.S. instigation. This is not true, and those researching the “stay behind” networks need to be more discriminating in evaluating the trustworthiness of their source material.

References

*cite journal | title = The Italian 'Stay-Behind' network - The origins of operation 'Gladio' | author = Leopoldo Nuti | journal = Journal of Strategic Studies | year = 2007 | volume = 30 | issue = 6 | pages = 955–980 | doi = 10.1080/01402390701676501

Further reading

* [http://www.senate.be/lexdocs/S0523/S05231297.pdf Belgian parliamentary report concering the stay-behind network] , partial copy of FM 30-31B on pp.80-82.
* [http://cryptome.org/fm30-31b/FM30-31B.htm Cryptome] poor-quality copy of manual

See also

*Operation Gladio
*U.S. Army Field Manuals