Federal Bureau of Investigation

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 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's help to investigate a Soviet Embassy official using a fishing pole suspiciously. 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 supporters and cocaine trafficking. In 1982, the FBI identified Fernando Sánchez and Horacio Pereira as cocaine suppliers to the Contra drug operation in San Francisco. In 1987, Contra supporter Dennis Ainsworth told the FBI that 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 for trafficking in illegal weapons. In September 1983, Pyramid International Security Consultants came under FBI scrutiny for Neutrality Act violations involving weapons sales to 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 was assigned to "Operation Front Door," the FBI's Iran-Contra probe. He investigated connections between Lister and 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's drug ring under "Operation Perico" without informing the FBI agents investigating the case. San Francisco FBI agents presented U.S. Attorney 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