Unanswered Questions: Thinking For Ourselves
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The $64 Question: What's Up With the Black Budget?
The Real Deal with Catherine Austin Fitts
"Engrave this upon my heart: ~ There isn't anyone you couldn't love once you've heard their story."
--- Mary Lou Kownacki
"What is relevant is what solves the problem. If we had thought through real relevancies, we would be on Sirius by now."
---- Peter Medewar
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It is time to deal with the 64 dollar question --- the biggest crazy aunt in the living room.
The questions that need to be raised in any effort to find the truth about a significant event related to power and
money in the US --- and answered if we are to ever find the truth of how our world works --- are:
1. WHAT HAS BEEN THE SIZE OF THE U. S. BLACK BUDGET OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS?
2. WHAT ARE THE SOURCES AND USES OF FUNDS IN THE BLACK BUDGET?
3. WHO GOVERNS AND MANAGES THE BLACK BUDGET AND OPERATIONS?
4. WHY HAVE SO MANY DECENT PEOPLE SUPPORTED AN ILLEGAL BLACK BUDGET OPERATION OF SUCH MAGNITUDE FOR SO LONG?
5. IS THE WAR ON TERRORISM MOVING THE BLACK BUDGET ON BUDGET?
I do not know the answer to these questions. What I do know is that asking these questions brings up a whole pile of
challenging uncertainty. (For background on my experience dealing with black budget/slush fund operations at FHA and
Ginnie Mae at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Justice, Treasury and the New York Federal Reserve
Bank, see my article, "The Myth of the Rule of Law," http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0208/S00055.htm)
When dealing with challenging uncertainty, I find that many researchers simply delete the existence of such uncertainty
from their reality. That is a big mistake --- again pretending that we do not have a very big crazy aunt sitting in the
living room. George Orwell once said that "Omission is the greatest lie." Hence, our crazy aunt has to be dealt with.
If you listen to the Ferdinand video/audio depositions in the Carone/Tyree lawsuit ( http://www.blackopradio.com/inc_archives2002.html), what you will hear is something I have heard many times. Carone gives his family the sense of all of the organized
crime operations by CIA, Army and Mafia through the 1970's as legitimate for national security purposes that then got
out of hand and turned bad in the 1980's. That is, what started out as justifiable got out of hand. This begs the question ---- Why Were Such Activities Considered Justifiable?
The way to deal with uncertainty is with scenario design and probability -- ie to create a framework of the possible
explanations with your best estimate of the plausible scenarios and the probability (all adding up to 100%) of each one
being true based on intuition. Maintaining such a framework allows data collection on key variables and assumptions and
an evolution to occur that can enlighten --- even determine --- concrete questions and answers over time.
So, let me tell a story, give you my framework that I use to handle the fact that I do not have the answers and invite
your framework. I am not looking to hear only what is wrong with my framework. I am looking to improve mine or find a
better one. Or better inform my estimate of the probabilities that this one or that one is true. Hence, I invite you to
put forward your framework for managing this uncertainty. If we had the truth of the issue I am going to introduce, I
dare say we could get to the bottom of 9-11 faster.
In 1998, I was approached by John Peterson, head of the Arlington Institute, a small high quality military think tank in
Washington, DC. I had gotten to know John through Global Business Network and had been impressed by his intelligence,
effectiveness and compassion. John asked me to help him with a high level strategic plan Arlington was planning to
undertake for the Undersecretary of the Navy.
At the time I was the target of an intense smear campaign that would lead the normal person to assume that I would be in
jail shortly or worse. John explained that the Navy understood that it was all politics ---- they did not care.
I met with a group of high level people in the military in the process --- including the Undersecretary. According to
John, the purpose of the plan --- discussed in front of several military or retired military officers and former
government officials--- was to help the Navy adjust their operations for a world in which it was commonly known that
aliens exist and live among us.
When John explained this purpose to me, I explained that I did not know that aliens existed and lived among us. John
asked me if I would like to meet some aliens. For the only time in my life, I declined an opportunity to learn about
something important. I was concerned that my efforts with Arlington could boomerang and be connected with the smear
campaign and the effects that I was managing. I regret that decision. At John's suggestion I started to read books on
the topic and read about 25 books over the next year on the alien question, the black budget, and alien technology.
I had to drop from the project due to the need to attend to litigation and the physical harassment and surveillance of
me and some of the people helping me. This process ---which turned out to be incredibly time consuming --- I now believe
was connected with the black budget/slush fund activities connected with FHA and Ginnie Mae at HUD. (See, "The Myth of
the Rule of Law") John then asked me if I would join the board of the Arlington Institute.
When I attended one of my first meetings, I joined in discussion with about 10 people which included James Woolsey,
former head of the CIA in the Clinton Administration, Napier Collyns, founder of Global Business Network and former
senior Shell executive, Joe Firmage, John, and other members of the Arlington board. The main topic of discussion was
whether or not the major project for the coming year should be a white paper on how to help the American people adjust
to aliens existing and living among us. I said nothing -- just listened. Not that long after, I dropped from the board
due to the continued demands related to litigation with the Department of Justice and their informant.
To cut a series of additional long stories short, when I talk with my few sources from the military and intelligence
community, I hear the same themes:
1. Aliens exist and live among us;
2. In part for this reason as well the accumulated investment over the last 50 years, the technology we have access to
through the black budget is far more advanced than is commonly understood;
3. The black budget/slush fund construct was created to deal with this issue, which is why reasonable people thought
selling drugs to the children who were US citizens was the better of several options --- including the option of telling
the American public the truth and funding the expenses on budget.
As a result of these experiences, here is my framework for dealing with this very large pile of uncertainty.
ONE OF THE THREE FOLLOWING POSSIBLE SCENARIOS MUST BE TRUE
SCENARIO #1. ENTRE NOUS: The alien question is the single largest and most expensive disinformation campaign in the
history of our race. A portion of the human race has advanced technologically so far beyond the rest of us --- and is
attributing various things to aliens as a way of managing their resulting risk---that we have become as aliens to each
other. To fully understand this scenario, we need to try to understand the use of individual mind control such as
criminal hypnosis to effect financial and government fraud and corruption and the truth, whatever it is, of wider
subliminal programming and brainwashing. These are slippery subjects for most people to deal with unless they have the
training and ability to do so.
% PROBABILITY SCENARIO #1 IS TRUE ______ (You fill in)
SCENARIO #2 --- HOLY COW!: Aliens exist and live among us. Planet earth is subject to the politics, economics and laws
and/or lawlessness of a larger system or systems. The transfer of advanced technology into a society that has not
evolved governance and legal systems to manage a world with the presence of such technology and the influence of such
other system(s) helps to explain current events. To fully understand this scenario, we must also try to understand the
use of individual mind control such as criminal hypnosis to effect financial and government fraud and corruption and the
truth, whatever it is, of wide subliminal programming and brainwashing. Again, these are slippery subjects for most
people to deal with unless they have the training and ability to do so.
% PROBABILITY SCENARIO #2 IS TRUE ______ (You fill in)
3. SCENARIO #3 --- MUDDLED: Some combination of (1) and (2) above.
% PROBABILITY SCENARIO #3 IS TRUE ______ (You fill in)
TOTAL % PROBABILITY OF SCENARIOS #1,2 & 3 BEING TRUE 100%
Could my experiences with Arlington and the Navy or any subsequent contacts fit with a disinformation scenario?
Absolutely. I have no evidence to support any scenario. The only evidence I believe I have is my experience dealing with
tremendous amounts of money siphoned off over the years, whether through Iran-Contra S, HUD and BCCI fraud, or the latest round of money missing from the federal government in the last five years. This is
all documented in the articles below. This cash flow and the operations and syndicates it appears to fund are important
to what drives the governance and allocation of resources in this country and around the globe. There is a reason that
power and money are centralizing and the rich are getting richer. I want to know what it is.
Whichever scenario is true ---and I do not know which one is ---- if we had the truth it will help us grapple with 9-11
and the War on Terrorism. It would also help us better understand all the efforts to press for centralization of
economic and political power that have grown as the black budget has grown since WWII. The reality is the possibilities
of why 9-11 occurred and how it was operationalized are impacted by the facts of the US black budget and the advanced
technology it has developed. Why would sane and even decent people think it was the best option for the good of the
whole?
We must sit in the shoes of the person or people who gave the order ---whoever they may be and wherever they may be
---- and understand how their power and money worked. Why would a group with the operational and financial capacity to
effect a 9-11 operation give the green light to plan 9-11, finance 9-11, do 9-11, stand down so 9-11 could happen, take
advantage of 9-11 or to make sure the truth was not illuminated?
My experience in Washington and Wall Street would indicate that there is a reasonable chance that all these various
people and many in the food chain Are Not Bad Or Irrational People. That is, we have a better chance of finding the truth if for purposes of our explorations we assume that the people
involved in all these roles were people like you and me --- just with a different map of certain parts of the world and
dealing with a variety of stress and pressures trying to build cooperation or achieve goals that we do not understand.
Watching the federal government contract announcements and without benefit of seeing the full budget and assuming The
Disclosure Project allegations regarding the estimates of the black budget size, if I had to guess today my guess would
be that 9-11 has been highly successful in permitting the black budget to be moved on budget, partly in the normal
budget and partly in the budget that is only disclosed to the Congressional intelligence committees.
The solution to continued growth and funding of the black budget may have been to steal as much money and assets as
possible from the federal budget and then to move the black budget on budget when control of media, Congress, Justice
and Securities & Exchange Commission ensured that the legal budget was non-transparent, controlled by private government contractors and
could not be harmed or fiddled with by Congress. (See various stories on the disappearance of over $3.3 trillion from
the federal government from fiscal 1998-2001 http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00031.htm#a ) Grossly oversimplified, by the end of the 2004 fiscal year, covert operations and the black budget may be fully
legal, run and controlled by corporations and banks without interference from knowledgable career civil service,
taxpayer funded, and non-transparent.
Why do I say all of this? We do not have time to pay attention to people who use smears like "conspiracy theorist" to
waste our time. Money, budgets, finance...these are all facts. If something does not work, and it continues to not work,
there is a reason. Systems have a logic. They have a rationale. Money helps explain and illuminate that rationale.
Anyone who would smear a serious researcher or writer for trying to understand where a great deal of money is
disappearing to as a "conspiracy theorist" is someone who would never be taken seriously or associated with in the
circles in which I travel. The exception is if the person doing the smearing is a professional being paid to smear those
who have the scent of "the real deal" --- Cointelpro or related public relations. The number of people paid to do such
things are many and growing.
9-11 was an operation that was implemented by a conspiracy. To get to the bottom of what happened and why one must
develop and use conspiracy theories to research in what can only be described as a conspiracy reality. We know in
regards to 9-11 one of two scenarios must be true ---- some portion of the US military and intelligence are (i)
complicit and/or (ii) guilty of criminal gross negligence. We also know that the official story is not truthful. Either
scenario and the reality of the official story beg the question, "why?" This course always leads us to consider the fact
that US military and intelligence have enjoyed significant expansion of their budgets and powers as a result of 9-11. We
are rewarding failure. 9-11 was great for business. Lockheed Martin's stock is up over 50% in a falling stock market.
The oil companies have their pipeline.
When a system does not work and continues to not work, there is something that prevents its learning. Ultimately what we
must understand that the problem is not that the system does not work and that it is not learning. The problem is that
the system is controlled and operated by the most powerful forces in that system and that the system is indeed working
and learning in the general direction they want it to go. This happens in a manner that is highly organic and requires
lots of planning, trial and error and factionalism that involves competition and cooperation over time in the pursuit of
the system's real goals. Hence, the system is working and is learning. It is our construct that is wrong. We do not
understand the system and the goals of the system. Once we are clear that the system is working and is learning, once we
stop falling back on scapegoating as a technique to explain events, we can start to understand the real system that we
are a part of. This is how power and money work in reality.
The amount of money and power spent to keep the general population from understanding this --- and focused on things
like scapegoating which keep us from building a good map of "the real deal" or gaining the power to impact events by
using our money and time as a vote in the marketplace in which the banks and corporations must thrive ----is immense.
That is why I strongly encourage reading Jon Rappoport's back interviews on his Infomonster and becoming a subscriber
for his ongoing interviews.
For those would like to know more, I would refer you to articles on all the money missing from the US Treasury and the
manipulation of the gold markets as well as the Disclosure Project video of their event at the National Press Club. You
can find them on the web. As for me, I do not have the answers. I wish I did. That is why I am so appreciative of
efforts like UnAnswered Questions (http://www.unansweredquestions.org) and the effort of researchers networking and
collaborating globally to illuminate, research and answer the right questions.
Let me close with the unanswered questions with which I began and which I believe are critical to our ongoing
collaboration:
1. WHAT HAS BEEN THE SIZE OF THE U. S. BLACK BUDGET OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS?
2. WHAT ARE THE SOURCES AND USES OF FUNDS IN THE BLACK BUDGET?
3. WHO GOVERNS AND MANAGES THE BLACK BUDGET BUDGET AND OPERATIONS?
4. WHY HAVE SO MANY DECENT PEOPLE SUPPORTED AN ILLEGAL BLACK BUDGET OPERATION OF SUCH MAGNITUDE FOR SO LONG?
5. IS THE WAR ON TERRORISM MOVING THE BLACK BUDGET ON BUDGET?
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Anti©opyright 2002, Catherine Austin Fitts Solari PO Box 157 Hickory Valley, TN 38042 www.solari.com catherine@solari.com
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Catherine Austin Fitts is the President of Solari, Inc., a former Assistant Secretary of Housing – Federal Housing
Commissioner in the first Bush Administration and a former partner and member of the board of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc and President of Hamilton Securities. She is a member of the advisory board of Sanders Research Associates http://www.sandersresearch.com/ in London and publishes a column in Scoop Media in New Zealand http://www.scoop.co.nz/ called The Real Deal. Links to all her articles can be found at: http://www.solari.com/gideon/articles%20by%20caf.htm
STANDARD DISCLAIMER FROM UQ.ORG: UnansweredQuestions.org does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the above
article. We present this in the interests of research - for the relevant information we believe it contains. We hope
that the reader finds in it inspiration to work with us further, in helping to build bridges between our various
investigative communities, towards a greater, common understanding of the unanswered questions which now lie before us.
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ARTICLES AND LINKS
Selected Articles on Money Missing from the Federal Government:
The War on Waste, CBS News, (January 29, 2002)
Black Programs - Pentagon Defied Laws, Misused Funds, by Tim Weiner, New York Times, (July 1999)
The Myth of the Rule of Law: The Destruction of Hamilton Securities by Catherine Austin Fitts (November 2001)
Real Deal: Saving Tennessee by Catherine Austin Fitts (June 2002)
Real Deal: Saving Tennessee - The Cartoon Series
Software That Steals: Mortgage Market Unanswered Questions - Hitting On HUD (August 2002) http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/17/3a/200208121132.47a0a862.html
The Kelly O'Meara "Missing Money" Series:
Why is $59 Billion Missing from HUD? by Kelly O'Meara (November 2000):
Cuomo leaves HUD in Shambles, by Kelly O'Meara (March 2001)
Inside HUD's Financial Fiasco, by Kelly O'Meara (June 2001)
A Financial Fiasco is in the Making, by Kelly O'Meara (July 2001)
Rumsfeld Inherits Financial Mess, by Kelly O'Meara (September 2001)
Total Lack of Trust, by Kelly O'Meara (September 2001)
Wasted Riches, by Kelly O'Meara (October 2001)
DynCorp Disgrace, by Kelly O'Meara (February 2002)
All That Glitters Is Not Gold, by Kelly O'Meara (March 2002)
What Does It Take to Lose a Contract?, by Kelly O'Meara (March 2002) http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/189894.html
The Last Word: DynCorp Still Taking the Moral Low Ground, by Kelly O’Meara (August 2002)
Looting Russia's Free Market, by Kelly Patricia O'Meara (August 2002)
Manipulation of the Gold Market:
The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee http://www.gata.org
Le Metropole Cafe http://lemetropolecafe.com
Additional Websites Mentioned:
UnAnswered Questions http://www.unansweredquestions.org
From the Wilderness http://www.fromthewilderness.com
NoMoreFakeNews (Jon Rappoport) http://www.nomorefakenews.com
The Disclosure Project http://www.disclosureproject.org
Sanders Research Associates http://www.sandersresearch.org
Scoop Media http://www.scoop.co.nz/
Solari http://www.solari.com