# John Singlaub Major General John Kirk Singlaub (1921-2022) was a U.S. Army officer, OSS veteran, and founding member of the CIA who, after a public clash with President Carter forced his 1978 retirement, became one of the most prominent organizers of the private anti-communist network of the 1980s. His career -- bridging official covert action and privatized, deniable operations -- makes him a central node in [[The Octopus]] and the "Secret Team" framing of [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. ## Career Singlaub parachuted into occupied France in 1944 with the OSS, later ran CIA operations in postwar Manchuria, and commanded MACV-SOG's secret war in Laos and Vietnam. In 1977, as chief of staff of U.S. forces in South Korea, he publicly criticized Carter's plan to withdraw troops and was relieved; he was forced into retirement in June 1978 after again attacking Carter's national-security policy. ## The private network In 1981 he founded the [[US Council for World Freedom]], the U.S. chapter of the [[World Anti-Communist League]], which he chaired from 1983 to 1986. Under his leadership the League worked to purge the racists and antisemites who had flourished under his predecessor. He became a leading private fundraiser and arms-procurer for the Nicaraguan Contras during the Iran-Contra period, working alongside [[Oliver North]]'s network. ## Epistemic status Singlaub's military record, his Carter clash, and his Contra fundraising are documented. He was a named defendant in the [[Christic Institute]]'s "Secret Team" lawsuit (*Avirgan v. Hull*), which was dismissed in 1988 with attorneys' fees awarded against the plaintiffs -- a court defeat for the broad conspiracy theory that he ran a coordinated criminal network engaged in assassinations and drug-running. Claims that he "founded" [[Western Goals]] are contested; that operation is more reliably credited to Larry McDonald with Singlaub among associated figures. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[Iran-Contra Affair]] - [[World Anti-Communist League]] - [[Western Goals]] - [[Oliver North]]