Beginning in May or June of 1980, Donald Trump began using the alias of John Barron when he wanted to feed information to the press while pretending to be somewhat detached from the Trump Organization and family. (He also named his youngest son Barron.) Although Trump had other aliases, I had always wondered why he favored this name.
In the mid-sixties, the Czechoslovak and East German intelligence services published a book, Who’s Who in the CIA, containing the names of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and American diplomates. The purpose was to interfere with the ability of both the agents and diplomates to do their jobs successfully. In 1970 this book was directly linked to the death of a U.S. Agency for International Development advisor to the Uruguayan police, Daniel A. Mitrione. The CIA retaliated by feeding information and technical advice to an investigative journalist, John Barron. Barron turned the help from the CIA into a 1974 best-selling book, IGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents. An appendix contained the names of about 1500 Russian citizens engaged in covert operations. The book caused considerable consternation throughout the KGB.
Trump may have heard the name of this best-selling writer from any number of people. He might have listened to the alias from his Czech American wife at the time, Ivana. In due course, I will have more to say about this and some of Trump’s colleagues.
In the mid-sixties, the Czechoslovak and East German intelligence services published a book, Who’s Who in the CIA, containing the names of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and American diplomates. The purpose was to interfere with the ability of both the agents and diplomates to do their jobs successfully. In 1970 this book was directly linked to the death of a U.S. Agency for International Development advisor to the Uruguayan police, Daniel A. Mitrione. The CIA retaliated by feeding information and technical advice to an investigative journalist, John Barron. Barron turned the help from the CIA into a 1974 best-selling book, IGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents. An appendix contained the names of about 1500 Russian citizens engaged in covert operations. The book caused considerable consternation throughout the KGB.
Trump may have heard the name of this best-selling writer from any number of people. He might have listened to the alias from his Czech American wife at the time, Ivana. In due course, I will have more to say about this and some of Trump’s colleagues.
