Podcast Episode #78 - The Spy Who Divided the CIA with Howard Blum

Podcast Episode #78 - The Spy Who Divided the CIA with Howard Blum

An unrecognizable corpse recovered from the Chesapeake Bay on October 1st, 1978 was identified as John Paisley, a senior CIA official who had disappeared the week before.

Paisley joined the CIA in the early 1950s and rose steadily as an analyst focusing on Soviet affairs. By the mid-1970s he was assigned to work on the National Intelligence Estimate regarding Soviet military capabilities.

Paisley’s sloop, the Brillig, had ran aground on September 25th, with no one onboard. When a park ranger investigated the seemingly abandoned boat, he discovered unfired 9mm cartridges rolling around on the deck. Below decks in the main cabin he found classified documents related to Soviet ballistic missiles scattered about, and a highly sophisticated burst transmitter radio mounted on a shelf.

Days later, the body recovered by the Coast Guard after a report from local fishermen was eventually identified as Paisley, and the cause of death was listed as suicide. But there were enormous gaps and holes in the official story, which would not be answered satisfactorily for decades to come.

The corpse had been found wrapped in two dive belts weighing 19lbs. There was a bullet hole behind the left ear, but Paisley had been right-handed. Fingerprint and blood-type identification were inconclusive because of the deteriorated condition of the body. The corpse was described as five feet seven inches tall, 144lbs, and with a 32-inch waist. But Paisley had been five feet ten inches tall, 170lbs, and wore 36-inch briefs.

These questions, and many others regarding Paisley’s work with the CIA eventually led a legendary but disgraced retired case officer named Tennant “Pete” Bagley to spend years on his own trying to put together the story of what happened to Paisley that night on the Chesapeake, and whether anyone else was involved. These questions finally took him to a fateful meeting at a Moscow cemetery more than twenty-five years after the Brillig ran aground.

For episode 78 of the Spycraft 101 podcast I spoke with Howard Blum, author of The Spy Who Knew Too Much, a new book documenting Pete Bagley’s quest to uncover the truth about John Paisley.

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Extremely interesting at how difficult it was to find information on this topic. The jfk murder is very unusual and it's odd thar the papers have yet to be released. Idk I might be a nut though