# Anne Nelson **Anne Nelson** is an American journalist, author, and Columbia University lecturer whose 2019 book *Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right* (Bloomsbury) is the definitive account of the [[Council for National Policy]] (CNP). In [[Dave Troy]]'s "[[The Big History Behind January 6th]]" Part 6, Nelson is the principal source for the claim that the CNP orchestrated the machinery behind the January 6 coup attempt. ## Shadow Network and the CNP *Shadow Network* traces the CNP from its 1981 founding — when roughly fifty Republican operatives, evangelicals, oil barons, and gun-lobby figures convened to coordinate a long-term strategy — into a "strategic nerve center" for channeling money and mobilizing votes behind the scenes. Nelson's signature argument is that the collapse of American local journalism created the vacuum that the CNP's hardline broadcasting and information networks filled. ## The January 6 documentation Troy leans heavily on Nelson's February 2021 *Washington Spectator* reporting, which laid out the CNP's pandemic-and-election playbook. Per Nelson, as early as February 2020 the CNP settled on three strategies: expand data operations to "juice" Republican turnout and suppress Democratic votes; ignite Tea Party-style protests against COVID lockdowns; and deploy dubiously credentialed physicians to downplay the virus. She further documented CNP figures' extensive involvement in the events of January 6 — from [[Cleta Mitchell]] to [[Ginni Thomas]] to the rally organizers — making her account a backbone of Troy's synthesis. Nelson is also cited for a striking first-hand detail: she was reportedly in the room in 1988 when [[John Singlaub]] delivered funds to Manila's Malacañang Palace in connection with his hunt for [[Yamashita's Gold]]. ## See also - [[Council for National Policy]] · [[The Octopus]] · [[Yamashita's Gold]] · [[John Singlaub]]