# Western Goals Western Goals Foundation was a private, domestic anti-communist "intelligence" and database operation founded in 1979 and tightly linked to the [[John Birch Society]]. It compiled dossiers on Americans deemed subversive, then -- after the death of its driving force, Rep. [[Larry McDonald]] -- was repurposed into a Contra-funding conduit, directly entangling it in [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. It is the cleanest illustration of [[The Octopus]] thesis: a private ideological intelligence apparatus that begins as domestic surveillance and ends as an off-the-books money pipeline. ## History Most sources credit [[Larry McDonald]] -- a Birch Society leader -- along with publisher John Rees and [[John Singlaub]] as founders, all tied to the [[World Anti-Communist League]]. The foundation built a computerized file of "subversives" and was sued by the ACLU for trying to computerize "Red Squad" intelligence files improperly obtained from the disbanded LAPD intelligence division. In September 1983 McDonald died aboard [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]], shot down by Soviet fighters, and the operation declined. Its hollowed-out shell was then taken over by conservative fundraiser Carl "Spitz" Channell, who turned it into a conduit for Contra fundraising tied to [[Oliver North]]'s network; it was effectively wound up around 1986 as the Tower Commission's revelations exposed that role. ## Epistemic status The ACLU suit, McDonald's death, and the Channell/Contra repurposing are documented. The founding attribution is genuinely inconsistent across sources (McDonald, Rees, and Singlaub jointly, with McDonald most consistently named as principal); avoid flatly crediting Singlaub alone. Detailed claims about the database's scope come largely from watchdog sources rather than court findings. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[John Birch Society]] - [[Iran-Contra Affair]] - [[Larry McDonald]] - [[John Singlaub]]