FBI Records Continue to Raise Questions About NICAP Organizer

Over 200 pages of FBI records responsive to Nicolas de Rochefort were recently obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration. The mysterious de Rochefort (1902-1964) was a psychological warfare specialist, almost certain CIA asset, and organizer of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena after it incorporated in 1956.

The records release was a result of a FOIA request first submitted to the FBI in 2020. The latest material obtained was added to a master folder on de Rochefort that also contains 28 pages of responsive records initially provided by FBI in 2020. At that time, the Bureau advised of the existence of FBI file number 140-HQ-13181, in the custody of NARA. The file was subsequently requested, confirmed by NARA to have been compiled as the result of security investigations conducted on de Rochefort during the 1950s and early 1960s, and now obtained after some six years.

Nicolas de Rochefort was made a subject of a FOIA request to the FBI by your author while writing Wayward Sons: NICAP and the IC, a nonfiction book exploring the overlap of NICAP and the U.S. intelligence community. View meetings of the Wayward Sons Book Group, which meets via Zoom on Wednesday nights (EDT). The meetings are recorded and uploaded to the Expanding Frontiers Research YouTube channel for public access. Researchers and interested parties may receive a free pdf of the book and are encouraged to request invitations to join the weekly Zoom discussions by emailing jackbrewerblog at yahoo dot com.

De Rochefort delivering a speech at 1954 Freedom Day

Intelligence Community Investigations

The most recently obtained FBI records include documentation of a variety of investigations on Nicolas de Rochefort, covering his employment, personal life and security clearance assessments. A Civil Service Commission employment application includes the following note:

A 1955 investigation conducted by the U.S. Information Agency noted de Rochefort's apparent abilities to effectively implement propaganda campaigns through mass agitation and word of mouth (p28). He was repeatedly described as a persuasive promoter.

An August 1956 FBI memo and report, subject Nicolas de Rochefort aka Nicolas Hardstone and Armand Duplessis, contains an example of repeated references to de Rochefort offering to assist the FBI during interactions in 1950. He is also documented as having provided information during a 1951 investigation, as shown below, but details of the circumstances are not apparent in FBI files obtained to date:

The same 1956 FBI report contains the following item, documenting a letter written by Congressman Walter Judd in which he asserts he personally introduced de Rochefort to the Secretary of State and DCI Allen Dulles:

The lines following the statement are redacted, per Exemption (b)(3), intelligence sources and means. NARA reported 206 pages were reviewed, of which 174 were released in full and 32 were released in part. Exemption (b)(7)(d) was also cited. An appeal of the use of exemptions has been submitted.

From a 1958 Civil Service Commission security investigation form in which de Rochefort reported his previous employment:

De Rochefort's reported employment history contains a number of potentially interesting items. His affiliation with NICAP in late 1956 is noticeably absent from any reference in both security investigations and his self-reported activities.

Who Was Nicolas de Rochefort?

The man who became a NICAP organizer in 1956 was born to a Russian mother and French father in 1902 St. Petersburg. There is relatively wide agreement his father was in Russia on business, and by at least one account the man was a French diplomat, with the family fleeing Russia during the revolution of 1917.

Nicolas de Rochefort went on to reportedly hold rigid anti-Communist political views, though his commitment to democracy would be questioned and become the subject of FBI inquiries in later years. Records indicate de Rochefort's loyalties were repeatedly resolved to the satisfaction of U.S. agencies.

De Rochefort fought for the French in World War II and became a prisoner of war. He was released for reasons that fall somewhere between concocting an impressive deception about being ill or having well-placed Nazi connections that did him a favor. Thus are the rumors that add to the ambiguity of Nicolas de Rochefort. As character references tapped by the FBI later suggested, hostile occupation by foreign forces may result in difficulty verifying allegiances, as people tend to do what is required to survive, and the best judge of political loyalties may sometimes be more recent actions.

The FBI picked up the trail of de Rochefort after he came to the United States for speaking engagements in 1949 and then sought citizenship in 1954. A series of investigations ensued, ranging from the Foreign Agents Registration Act to a Special Government Employee, or SGE, investigation to clear de Rochefort for ongoing work with the Department of Commerce and State Department.

Psychological Warfare

De Rochefort may have been most recognized among journalists and historians for his 1953 work on the Committee of One Million, a lobbying group consisting of Washington movers and shakers and opposing the acceptance of Red China into the United Nations. He was credited as a group organizer and conceiving of a campaign to collect signatures on a petition. Some million signatures were reportedly obtained and the initiative was considered highly successful in bringing the issue before the American public.

Investigative journalists later reported the China lobby was the most powerful and influential Beltway lobby and that the Committee of One Million was the wealthiest and most powerful part of it. Some journalists suspected the group was a CIA product and that de Rochefort was acting on behalf of the Agency. “[T]he China lobby infected our foreign policy with such fear of 'Red hordes' as to contribute to our panicky commitment in Vietnam,” wrote Robert Sherrill in the New York Times.

A 1970s lawsuit sought CIA records responsive to Nicolas de Rochefort, but a judge ruled an effective intelligence service could be greatly impaired by irresponsible disclosure (p61). CIA records on de Rochefort, should they exist - which they almost certainly do, as a court docket referenced arguments about the judge conducting an in camera viewing - have yet to see the light of day.

Another reason it could be considered really likely the Committee of One Million was a CIA operation involves a 1949 New York attorney named Desmond FitzGerald. He was destined to become the CIA Deputy Director of Plans in the 1950s but, back before he left the law firm, he chaired a political reform group which sought to defeat the incumbent mayor. The name of the group the future Deputy Director of Plans chaired was the Committee of Five Million. What are the odds, huh?

By 1954, de Rochefort was hitting his stride as a recognized expert in psychological warfare and continued the pace at Freedom Day, a celebration in Berlin, NH, honoring East German resistance to Communism. The speech delivered by the World War II POW was broadcast in three languages by Voice of America and had accolades entered into the Congressional Record.

FBI investigations of de Rochefort repeatedly reference his competent and extensive work on propaganda campaigns, as does his self-reported employment history. The image below is from his 1956 application to the Civil Service Commission, in which de Rochefort makes one of several references to conducting government research from 1952-1954 and propaganda activities from 1950 to present:

A State Department document composed as part of clearing de Rochefort for continuing work:

The Complex Timeline

While the FBI and State Department were investigating Nicolas de Rochefort in 1956 to ensure he remained a low security risk, NICAP was incorporated by what were, in all reasonable likelihood, CIA and State Department assets. In order to better understand the circumstances, let's briefly back up to 1949, when Director of Central Intelligence – and future NICAP chairman of the board – Roscoe Hillenkoetter sent a letter to the Economic Cooperation Administration. The letter informed the ECA that, while it was already furnishing CIA with economic intelligence, its assistance was requested in increasing the classification of information provided from secret to top secret. The letter:

This is significant because a Baltimore public relations firm, Counsel Services, operated by Mary Vaughan King and partners, soon began conducting international projects under the auspices of the ECA. From the May 18, 1949, edition of The (Baltimore) Evening Sun:

Mary Vaughan King and the public relations firm, Counsel Services, assisted T. Townsend Brown with incorporating NICAP in 1956. Brown, King, and Thomas D. O'Keefe, a man who described himself in records provided to NICAP as a former State Department employee whose responsibilities included serving on the selection board for foreign service officers (see p41 of NICAP records), incorporated NICAP (see p4):

A contract was immediately drawn up, stipulating additional consultants could be retained to work under the supervision of O'Keefe and King (p7):

Interestingly, the most recently obtained FBI records include reference to de Rochefort's familiarity with ECA personnel, as well as personnel of the International Economic Administration, a successor of the ECA. The agencies eventually became USAID, the United States Agency for International Development.

NICAP and Nicolas de Rochefort

It is indeed curious how de Rochefort, an apparent CIA asset with experience in the China lobby and speaking for Voice of America, came to be milling around the NICAP offices. One might reasonably surmise he was brought on by Counsel Services. A sample of documentation of de Rochefort's involvement as contained in a December 1956 progress report for the board, per NICAP records (p88):

An intriguing part of the initial NICAP turmoil involved the dismissal of T. Townsend Brown. In the same December 1956 progress report, circumstances were described in which de Rochefort was selected to replace Brown (p89):

Fascinatingly, it was none other than Nicolas de Rochefort who nixed the replacement (pp93-94):

This might be interpreted a number of ways, including de Rochefort preferred Brown remain as long as possible, or that de Rochefort had no desire to be the executive vice chairman. It might also be interpreted that de Rochefort had greater understandings of the NICAP procedures than most, possibly implying he was involved in their writing. That, or he had a support team pointing out details for him. However we might choose to look at it, the longtime narrative that Donald Keyhoe took the reins of NICAP and cleared out the CIA, which was attracted to the org, seems extremely questionable. It appears quite possible the CIA and Nicolas de Rochefort were, in fact, instrumental in launching NICAP if not forging a path for Keyhoe.