The [[October Surprise]] refers to a conspiracy theory alleging that [[Ronald Reagan]]'s presidential campaign secretly negotiated with [[Iran]] to delay the release of American hostages held in [[Iran]] until after the 1980 [[USA|U.S.]] presidential election. This alleged delay was intended to prevent President [[Jimmy Carter]] from gaining an "October Surprise" boost in popularity that could have secured his re-election.[^1] [[Gary Sick]], a former [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration adviser on [[Iran]], published his book *October Surprise*, which systematically sifts through the evidence that convinced him the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] camp and [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]] did actually make a secret deal.[^2] ### Connections to PROMIS Software Scandal [[Michael Riconosciuto]] claimed that he and [[Earl Brian]] traveled to [[Iran]] in 1980 and paid $40 million to Iranian officials to persuade them not to release the hostages before [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration. This allegation directly linked the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] to the [[October Surprise]] affair, creating a "domino effect" in [[Washington D.C.]] and leading to numerous investigations and media attention.[^1] [[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating the [[October Surprise]] as part of his broader "[[The Octopus]]" probe, believing it was connected to the alleged theft of the [[INSLAW]] computer program, [[PROMIS]]. [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-proclaimed [[Israel|Israeli]] military intelligence officer, claimed that two [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents from [[Lexington]], [[Kentucky]], were disaffected because their superiors had refused to indict high [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] officials for their role in the [[October Surprise]].[^1] [[Barbara Honegger]], a former [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] [[White House]] aide, authored a book titled *October Surprise*, in which she alleged that [[Monzer Al-Kassar|Al-Kassar's]] heroin smuggling network in [[Italy]] was used to launder [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] arms stocks for diversion to [[Iran]], with the help of corrupt [[Italy|Italian]] intelligence officials linked to the secretive fascist Masonic lodge, P2.[^1] ### Investigations Both the [[USA|U.S.]] [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[USA|U.S.]] [[United States Senate|Senate]] began looking into the [[October Surprise]]. The full [[United States Senate|Senate]] voted down a formal investigation, but the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] decided to hold limited hearings on the arms-for-hostages deal. The [[United States House of Representatives|House]], however, funded a full-scale [[October Surprise Task Force]], whose chief counsel was [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.]], to investigate [[Gary Sick|Sick's]] and [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] allegations, among others.[^2] An interim report issued by the [[October Surprise Task Force]] chairman, [[Lee Hamilton]], on June 30, 1992, concluded that [[George Bush]] was in the [[USA|United States]] continuously during the October 18-22 time period and did not travel to [[Paris]], [[France]], to participate in the alleged secret meeting. This conclusion was drawn despite the report's assertions that it had interviewed only about 50 out of some 150 potential witnesses and had obtained only a small fraction of the documents it was seeking. [[Lee Hamilton|Hamilton]] stated that "all credible evidence" led to the conclusion that [[George Bush]] was not in [[Paris]].[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010. [^2]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")