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John Rees (journalist)

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John Herbert Rees
Born
Vladas Hrikavicias[1]

c.1926
Lithuania
NationalityAmerican
Other namesJohn Seeley, John O’Connor
Occupation(s)journalist, publisher, private intelligence operative
SpouseSheila Louise O’Connor/Rees[2]

John Herbert Rees is a British right wing journalist and government informant resident in the United States.[3] Based in Baltimore, Maryland, he was active during the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life

In the course of his speaking career with American Opinion Speaking Bureau (AOSM), a John Birch Society organization, Rees claimed to have been born in Lithuania circa 1964, then going by the name of Vladas Hrikavicias.[1] He toured the country with the speaking bureau relating his experience living under Soviet Communism and denouncing the “communist hordes who forced him to flee Lithuania by Ox-cart.”[1]

Intelligence work

Rees allegedly benefited from information collected through a loose network of private informants on college campuses in the United States, that Political Research Associates referred to as often having better placed infiltrators among campus groups than the FBI's own agents.[4] The network would pass information along to Rees, who would in turn forward it to the director of intelligence at FBI headquarters, especially when there was a credible risk to students. From there it would be forwarded to field offices. These activities were part of a network of private right wing groups that the FBI used to gather intelligence on cults active on campus, government critics and activists violently opposed to the Reagan Administration's foreign policy stance in Central America.[5]

In 1979, Rees worked with John Birch Society's late Congressman Larry McDonald and John K. Singlaub to create the Western Goals Foundation.[4]

On April 1, 1981, Rees was living at 2828 North Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.[6]

Rees also criticized Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRouche movement saying the organization had "taken on the characteristics more of a political cult than a political party," and a cult-like "blind obedience."[7] Among the publications he was associated with were Review of the News and American Opinion, published by the John Birch Society, with which Rees was an active collaborator.[8] His own Information Digest reported on extremist movements on both the left and right ends of the political spectrum.

One of Rees' lovers, author Grace Metalious, signed a will just before her death leaving her entire estate to him, with the understanding that he would take care of her children, because she did not trust her estranged husband, George. John Rees did not accept the will, asking that it be turned over to her children. George was able to invalidate the will, but to little result as her estate proved to be insolvent from years of lavish living, overgenerosity towards "friends", and embezzlement by an agent. At the time of her death she had bank accounts totaling $41,174 and debts of more than $200,000.[9]

Rees appeared as himself in the 1982 Western Goals Foundation documentary, No Place to Hide: The Strategy and Tactics of Terrorism, written, produced, and hosted by G. Edward Griffin. Rees is described as being the publisher of Information Digest.[10] He additionally appeared in the Western Goals Foundation documentary, The Subversion Factor: A History of Treason in Modern America, part 2: Open Gates of Troy.

Information Digest was taken over by S. Louise and John Rees, and they used their understanding of international affairs and geopolitics to launch and manage International Reports: Early Warning, a newsletter aimed at providing perspective on world events.

Bibliography

Articles

  • "Former Soviet Official Urges U.S. to Arm." Review of the News.[11]
  • "Ralph Nadar, Rip-off Artist." Review of the News, August 29, 1979.

Interviews

Filmography

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c "Congressional Aide Spies on Left." CounterSpy, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1976, p. 22. Full issue available.
  2. ^ "Congressional Aide Spies on Left." CounterSpy, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1976, p. 18. Full issue available.
  3. ^ Levin, Hillel. "Spies as Newsmen: The Information Digest Ploy". The Nation, October 7, 1978, pp. 342-348.
  4. ^ a b Berlet, Chip. "The Hunt for Red Menace." Political Research Associates, February 2, 1993. Archived from the original.
  5. ^ Gelbspan, Ross. "Groups Give FBI Data on Foes of US Latin Policies." Boston Globe, March 15, 1988.
  6. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office. 1981 Official Congressional Directory, 97th Congress. April 1, 1981, p. 915.
  7. ^ Mints, John. "Ideological Odyssey: From Old Left to Far Right." Washington Post, January 14, 1985. Archived from the original.
  8. ^ Interhemispheric Resource Center / International Relations Center. "Western Goals Foundation." Militarist Monitor, March 1989. Archived from the original.
  9. ^ Callahan, Michael. "Peyton Place’s Real Victim." Vanity Fair, January 22, 2007. Archived from the original.
  10. ^ Griffin, G. Edward. No Place to Hide: The Strategies & Tactics of Terrorism (Documentary). Western Goals Foundation, 1982. OCLC 10744020
  11. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office. Congressional Record Index: Proceedings and Debates of the 95th Congress, Vol. 124, Part 29, January 19, 1978 to October 15, 1978, p. 953.
  12. ^ Scott, Robert Travis. "Arms Control in Print." Arms Control Today, Vol. 11, No. 11, December 1981, pp. 10-12. JSTOR 23622995
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