Richard Welch

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For the U.S. Representative from California, see Richard J. Welch.

Richard Skeffington Welch (1929—December 23, 1975), a Harvard educated classicist, was a CIA Station Chief killed by the radical Marxist organization Revolutionary Organization 17 November. He had been stationed in Athens only a few months before he was killed outside his home. He had previously been outed as a CIA agent by a magazine called CounterSpy, edited by Timothy Butz, although a communiqué issued by the group detailed Welch's movements prior to the publication.

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[edit] Aftermath of Death

Welch's murder led to the passage of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, making it illegal to reveal the name of an agent who has a covert relationship with an American intelligence organization.

By Presidential Order of U.S. President Gerald Ford, Welch was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Pavlos Serifis confessed to participation in the assassination of the C.I.A. station chief. He and Nikos Papanastasiou, as well as the group's alleged mastermind, Alexandros Yiotopoulos were convicted in 2003 for a string of assassinations, car bombings and rocket attacks that stretched over nearly three decades.[1]. Charges for the Welch murder were not brought because the statute of limitations had expired.

[edit] Conspiracy Theories

In December 2005, Kleanthis Grivas published an article in To Proto Thema, a major Greek investigative Sunday newspaper, in which he accused "Sheepskin", the Greek branch of Gladio, NATO's stay-behind paramilitary organization during the Cold War, of the assassination of Richard Welch, as well as of the assassination of British military attaché Stephen Saunders in 2000. This prompted a press statement from the US State Department, whom denied both, declaring that "the Greek terrorist organization 17 November was responsible for both assassinations". The State Department did not provide any counter-proof, but did highlight the fact that, in the case of Richard Welch, "Grivas bizarrely accuses the CIA of playing a role in the assassination of one of its own senior officials." while "Sheepskin" couldn't have assassinate Stephen Saunders for the simple reason, according to the US government, that "the Greek government stated it dismantled the “stay behind” network in 1988." Press statement. According to Webster Griffin Tarpley 17 November was conducted by CIA double agents and Welch' assassination occurred to the advantage of incoming CIA-director George H. W. Bush and the Ford administration.

[edit] See also

  • Metapolitefsi, the period of Greek History when Welch was murdered.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Greek Court Convicts 15 in 27-Year-Old Terror Group, NY Times December 9, 2003

[edit] Sources