Editing Western Goals Foundation (section)

== History ==
After the [[Watergate]] and [[COINTELPRO]] scandals of the early 1970s, several laws were passed to restrict police intelligence gathering within political organizations and tried to make it necessary to demonstrate that a criminal act was likely to be uncovered by any intelligence gathering proposed. Many files on radicals, collected for decades, were ordered destroyed. The unintended effect of the laws was to privatize the files in the hands of 'retired' intelligence officers and their operatives.<ref name=MM/>

As a private foundation, Western Goals collected information about alleged subversives and passed the information to law enforcement officials, akin to a "mini-[[deep state]]".<ref name=":0" /> According to former employees, agencies receiving information from Western Goals included the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]], the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]], [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and police departments.<ref name=":0" />

John Rees and Larry McDonald joined with Major General Singlaub to form Western Goals in 1979. Each founder was also a member of the [[World Anti-Communist League]], the [[John Birch Society]], and similar organizations. One of its principal sponsors was the Texan billionaire [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]].<ref>Jasper, William F. (Dec. 1, 2014). [https://archive.org/download/nelson-bunker-hunt-and-the-scheme-to-corner-the-silver-market-by-william-f.-jasp/Nelson%20Bunker%20Hunt%20and%20the%20Scheme%20%E2%80%98to%20Corner%20the%20Silver%20Market%E2%80%99%2C%20by%20William%20F.%20Jasper%20%28New%20American%2C%20Vol.%2030%2C%20No.%2023%2C%201%20December%202014%29.pdf "Nelson Bunker Hunt and the Scheme 'to Corner The Silver Market'."] ''[[The New American]]'', vol. 30, no. 23.</ref>

The organization was based in a townhouse in [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]], [[Virginia]]. It also said it had offices in [[West Germany]] and [[Austria]].<ref name=":0" /> A former employee told ''Politico'' in 2018 that more of its funding came from West Germany than the United States.<ref name=":0" />

Rees set up a computer database to track suspected radicals, and wrote many of Western Goals' published reports about domestic subversives, terrorism and communist threats.<ref name=":0" /> People in law enforcement sometimes leaked derogatory intelligence to Western Goals, which Rees then published in newsletters, which in turn were entered into the [[Congressional Record]] by McDonald''',''' which shielded him from [[libel]]. Western Goals would then cite McDonald's statements in its own public reports.<ref name=":0" /> Unverified reports by Western Goals accusing American [[Pacifism|pacifist]] groups of ties to [[communism]] and the [[Soviet Union]] were also publicized in ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' and by the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rosenfeld |first=Seth |date=August 16, 1983 |title=Rees, Reagan, and the Digest Smear: The Spy Who Came Down on the Freeze |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/08/11/the-spy-who-came-down-on-the-freeze/ |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=The Village Voice}}</ref>

Western Goals was sued by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) after a police officer was caught adding information from the disbanded [[Los Angeles Police Department]] "Red Squad" to a related computer [[bulletin board system]].<ref>[[Chip Berlet|Berlet, Chip]] (Sep. 8, 2000). [https://archive.today/20160526104613/http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/Rees/Rees.html "The Maldon Institute."] ''[[Political Research Associates]]''. Archived from [http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/Rees/Rees.html the original.]</ref><ref>Bayse, William A., and Dorothy Denning (Mar. 27, 1991). [https://web.archive.org/web/20081118033813/http://cpsr.org/prevsite/conferences/cfp91/bayse.html/view "Security Capabilities, Privacy & Integrity."] ''IEEE Computer Society Press''. Reprinted from ''The First Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy'', Mar. 26-28, 1991, in Burlingame, California. Archived from [https://www.cpsr.org/prevsite/conferences/cfp91/bayse.html/view the original.]</ref>

Western Goals raised funds for the Nicaraguan [[Contras]] starting in 1983, after Congress banned the Reagan administration from providing U.S. support.<ref name=":0" /> A Contra brigade of 2,000 was named the Larry McDonald Task Force to honor the Western Goals co-founder, who had been killed in the Soviet downing of [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]].<ref name=":0" /> Singlaub was an intermediary in [[Oliver North]]’s illegal weapons network for the Contras.<ref name=":0" /> Officials of the foundation were questioned in the [[Iran–Contra affair|Iran-Contra hearings]] of 1986.<ref name=":0" />

The organization founded an offshoot, [[Western Goals (UK)]], later the Western Goals Institute, which was briefly influential in British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politics.<ref name=MM/>