Pyramid International Security Consultants Inc. was a [[Newport Beach, California|Newport Beach]]-based security consulting company incorporated by [[Ronald Lister]] in 1980, a few weeks before he resigned from the [[Laguna Beach Police Department]].[^1] The company served as the vehicle for Lister's weapons dealing and overseas security consulting operations in [[El Salvador]] during the Contra war, and was described by arms manufacturer [[Tim LaFrance|Timothy LaFrance]] as "a private vendor that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] used to do things [the agency] couldn't do." ### Founding and Early Operations Lister incorporated Pyramid in 1980 while still a police officer. What the company did between 1980 and 1981 is not known, but Lister stated this was around the time he first met [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] "through a Beverly Hills business connection." After pairing with Blandón and [[Norwin Meneses]], the company began doing business overseas. Blandón told Justice Department interviewers that he and Meneses "entered into an informal partnership [with Lister] for the purpose of selling weapons abroad."[^1] Former reserve Laguna Beach police officer [[Chris Moore]] was hired as office manager in 1982. Moore confirmed: "I think I was actually an officer in Pyramid International. Ron put my name down as treasurer or director or something because he needed to have some directors for the incorporation papers." Moore confirmed that Lister had extensive business dealings in [[Central America]], specifically in El Salvador.[^1] ### Security Proposal to El Salvador In October 1982, Pyramid made a security proposal to Salvadoran defense minister General [[Jose Guillermo Garcia|José Guillermo García]], a man linked by human rights organizations to death squad activities and the slaughter of hundreds of peasants at El Mozote in December 1981. The proposal, found by [[Los Angeles]] police in a 1986 drug raid, was written in Spanish and had "Confidential" stamped all over the front. It was entitled "Technical Proposal for an Urgent Project to Implement an Integral Security System for the Defence Ministry and the Major General of the Armed Forces of the Republic of El Salvador." The thick report described Pyramid as a unique consulting firm "dedicated to the maintenance of freedom, independence and free enterprise" that only served clients "with a similar political orientation."[^1] That political orientation was spelled out: Pyramid would "assist the new government in its goal to combat the tyrannical forces of the left side, promoted and assisted by the current governments of [[Nicaragua]], [[Cuba]] and the Soviet Union." The company outlined services for $189,911: bodyguard and armed escort services for Salvadoran public officials; protecting sensitive installations from sabotage and terrorism; and installing sophisticated electronic technology at key military and industrial installations. The proposal also discussed the company's unique ability "to design and manufacture special equipment, at the point, and in any part of the world, in the majority of cases saving their foreign clients important sums in currency."[^1] ### Weapons Manufacturing Operation According to LaFrance, Pyramid's security proposal was actually just a cover for a covert operation directed by the CIA. The company's real mission in El Salvador was to set up a weapons manufacturing facility to supply guns to the [[Contras]] in neighboring [[Honduras]]. The Pyramid team moved into a mass-transit center run by the military in downtown [[San Salvador]], where they manufactured weapons that were then airlifted via helicopter to Contra camps in Honduras.[^1] Among the nameless biographies attached to Pyramid's proposal, one employee is identified as a "specialist in the design and manufacture of unique weapons" - referring to LaFrance. The "technical director" listed was [[Richard Wilker]], described as a former CIA agent. The biography section boasted that the company had "technicians with the Central Intelligence Agency in physical security for 20 years."[^1] When LaFrance applied in Pyramid's name for a State Department permit to take high-powered weapons out of the [[United States]], it "came back approved in two days. Usually it takes three months." Pyramid was eventually expelled from El Salvador at the urging of the [[U.S. Army]], which took over the weapons plant.[^1] ### FBI Investigation In September 1983, Pyramid came under [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] scrutiny for Neutrality Act violations, which allegedly involved "the sale of weapons to El Salvador and the loan of money from [[Saudi Arabia]] to the Salvadoran government. Lister was also alleged to be attempting to sell arms to several other countries." The FBI opened five separate investigations of Lister between 1983 and 1986. "No further information was ever developed" and the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] offered no explanation for why the probe was abandoned.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"