---
aliases:
- FBI
category: U.S. Government
created: 2025-07-22
location: Washington, D.C.
start: 1908-07-26
summary: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and
  security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement
  agency.
tags:
- Organization
- Government
- USA
- LawEnforcement
- FBI
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
title: Federal Bureau of Investigation
updated: 2025-07-22
---

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. The FBI was aware of the [Grill Flame](/programs/stargate-project/) program and occasionally sought assistance from its remote viewers for counterintelligence situations.[^1]

### Psi Research Assistance

One notable instance involved an FBI official seeking [Norm Everheart](/people/norm-everheart/)'s help to investigate a Soviet Embassy official using a fishing pole suspiciously. [Joe McMoneagle](/people/joe-mcmoneagle/)'s remote viewing session accurately revealed the pole was being used to retrieve a dead-drop package, helping the FBI break an important case.[^1]

### Dark Alliance Investigation

During the Contra war, the FBI investigated - and in some cases suppressed - connections between [Contra](/organizations/contras/) supporters and [cocaine](/concepts/cocaine/) trafficking. In 1982, the FBI identified [Fernando Sánchez](/people/fernando-sanchez/) and [Horacio Pereira](/people/horacio-pereira/) as cocaine suppliers to the Contra drug operation in [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/). In 1987, Contra supporter [Dennis Ainsworth](/people/dennis-ainsworth/) told the FBI that [Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) "ran one of the major distributions in the U.S. He was national. And he was totally protected." The FBI took no apparent action.[^2]

Between 1983 and 1986, the FBI opened five separate investigations of [Ronald Lister](/people/ronald-lister/) for trafficking in illegal weapons. In September 1983, [Pyramid International Security Consultants](/organizations/pyramid-international-security-consultants/) came under FBI scrutiny for Neutrality Act violations involving weapons sales to [El Salvador](/places/el-salvador/) and Saudi loans. Despite the Saudi government's involvement in financing covert operations, "no further information was ever developed."[^3]

### Operation Front Door and Iran-Contra

In November 1986, FBI agent [Aukland](/people/douglas-aukland/) was assigned to "Operation Front Door," the FBI's Iran-Contra probe. He investigated connections between Lister and [Oliver North](/people/oliver-north/)'s arms ring, but the FBI's Los Angeles office declared there was "no connection." The next month the FBI learned Lister had told a neighbor he "worked for Oliver North and [Richard] Secord, and had sent arms shipments to the Contras." That lead was not pursued.[^4]

### Operation Perico and the Meneses Case

In early 1987, the Costa Rican DEA sent Norwin Meneses into [Blandón](/people/danilo-blandon/)'s drug ring under "Operation Perico" without informing the FBI agents investigating the case. San Francisco FBI agents presented U.S. Attorney [Joseph Russoniello](/people/joseph-russoniello/) with a prosecution memo charging Meneses with running a continuing criminal enterprise. Russoniello's office rejected the proposal within a week, citing a "cooperation agreement" that Justice Department investigators later determined never existed.[^4]

[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter"