Allied Clandestine Committee
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The Allied Clandestine Committee was the body within NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe charged with co-ordinating secret 'Gladio' stay-behind networks across Europe. It was also sometimes known as the 'Allied Co-ordination Committee', the 'Clandestine Planning Committee', and the 'Coordination and Planning Committee'.[1]
According the US State Department, the stay-behind networks were "designed to form the nucleus of resistance movements if the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Western Europe.":
- During World War II, anti-Nazi resistance movements had sprung up throughout Europe, but supplying them by airdrops and other risky measures had been difficult and uncertain. The “stay behind” networks sought to avoid such problems by stockpiling weapons in secret caches ahead of time, and recruiting volunteers who would form the core of resistance movements, if needed. The program remained one of the Cold War’s best-kept secrets until it was revealed in late 1990, first in Italy and then in other West European countries.[2]
The Committee's last confirmed meeting took place on 24 October 1990 in Brussels.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Daniele Ganser, NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, Frank Cass, 2005, p.1.
- ↑ Misinformation about "Gladio/Stay Behind" Networks Resurfaces, America.Gov, 20 January 2006.
- ↑ Daniele Ganser, NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, Frank Cass, 2005, p.1.
