Silence of conspirators, how it is achieved

Over the weekend I thought a bit about a central argument that arises in the discussion and debate regarding the validity of Conspiracy Theories. The argument involves the necessity of co-conspirators who are able to maintain silence. Time and time again we hear how a massive conspiracy could not be pulled off because it would be impossible to maintain secrecy, that someone would sooner or later spill the beans and the secret would be out. I believe a major conspiracy can indeed be pulled off where a large number of people are able to maintain silence and we actually have real world examples of big secrets being kept for quite a while.

The Manhattan Project is one such example. Before a single person in Congress knew of the existence of the project, two years of funding and research had gone into the work of creating the first atomic bomb. Before the American public knew of its existence almost than $2 billion dollars had been spent over 5 years. Adjusted for inflation this would equal $23 billion dollars in 2007. More than 130,000 people were employed by and involved in this project and yet John Q. Public was completely in the dark with regards to its existence.

The creation of, and work performed at, Oak Ridge alone is worthy of mention. Anyone who has seen this massive set of facilities can attest to the incredible level of security that was maintained to keep this location and it's role, a secret. Some civic leaders as close as Chattanooga and Knoxville may have known small and general details of what was going on at Oak Ridge but very few who did not need to know actually knew what was going on there.

I believe it’s easier to gain and maintain silence from co-conspirators than credit is being given on this subject. The use of threats and the stroking of patriotic emotions can of course go a long way in gaining silence but there is one other aspect of how these secrets are kept that I believe have been downplayed by many debunkers and CT enthusiasts.

One way of maintaining silence is blackmail. With the recent sex scandals erupting from Washington since last year’s outing of Florida Representative Mark Foley, the possible use of blackmail from sexual adventures is very much in my mind these days. The recent DC Madame case has exposed several high value DC politicos and there are hints that VP Cheney is among the clients. Ultra-conservative minister Ted Haggard was also exposed in his own sex and drugs scandal. This is an old trick, one that the CIA also perfected and expanded on with Operation MIDNIGHT CLIMAX and I believe the descendants of that program are being used this very day.

What type of sexual blackmail would be sufficient to earn the silence of a co-conspirator? The Franklin sex scandal is a good indicator of what could be used in a most extreme fashion. In the Franklin case we have seen much evidence that an underground pedophilia ring once (still?) existed in which a number of politicians and power brokers were involved in a child sex ring that found its victims via kidnapping. The old saying in politics was that the only way a sex scandal could harm a politician would be if he were found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy comes to mind. I can’t help but think that there is a bit of background truth, and a cautionary tale, to this old joke.

The exact nature of how sexual blackmail is used would be a case-by-case scenario. For some people, the simple use of a prostitute and a heterosexual relationship would be sufficient. In the case of Ted Haggard we had an anti-gay minister caught in a homosexual scandal, illicit drugs were also involved. To the Intelligence Community a person’s weakness is their greatest point of blackmail.

Of course, sexual blackmail is just one form of behavior modification that can be used to gain the silence of a number of people. Bribery with money and promises of advancement to more powerful positions in government and business is another. Possibly even the promise to turn a blind eye, or an open invitation to join in even more exotic sexual behavior is yet another bribery angle that could be used. Stanley Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut directly referred to this notion in regard to the participants of the orgies depicted in the film.

There are a number of methods at the disposal of conspirators to ensure the silence of its participants, all of them valid, all of them easily attained. Dismissing conspiracy theories out of hand based on the argument that people just can’t keep their mouths shut does not hold water when you consider the varieties of methods that can be used to ensure silence.