Why My Headline Story Was Killed

Over National Security Concerns

Starstream Research has pulled my on-going investigative news article from publication at the request of an official of the U.S. government, and his associate in the private sector.

BY GARY S BEKKUM

The request to remove sensitive material came in response to a Starstream Research inquiry about leaked background information that had made its way into a widely distributed email list, resulting in exposure of the confidential identity of a government official who reports directly to John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence. Following the redaction of the sensitive information the revised story was briefly posted on July 5th, 2006, and shortly after removed from the Starstream Research website.

The story was dropped prior to release through "The American Chronicle."

I normally provide early draft copies of my work to those sources named or otherwise identified with a request for feedback and clarification of ambiguous details. Often this results in new information helping to move the story further. This was not the first time I have been approached by a government consultant or official with a request to conceal their identity. It will certainly not be the last. The main focus of my research does occasionally cross the boundary beyond the comfort zone where the public right for information confronts the need for confidentiality. That border line is not written in stone, and much of the information that can be gleaned comes from the flexibility of persons living on the forefront of secrecy. In this situation my story had triggered a reflex response and a quick withdrawal behind the shadowy veil provided for the intelligence community.

The original source for the story included a series of allegations that were passed through various parties on the internet, and shortly thereafter appeared in a series of emails distributed to an extensive list of contacts, including numerous scientists with government email addresses, a Nobel prize winner, various journalists, a former Director of the CIA, and other former and present government employees and consultants. Several of the recipients are high ranking intelligence officials and consultants to the U.S. government in the area of national security.

One of the allegations contained in the original series of email messages implied that I might be working as part of a counter-intelligence operation. A source wrote that I was "a de-facto member of the Aquarium," and regarding the dissemination of sensitive information that "we would expect you to play this on the wild side, relatively speaking."

Reporting semi-confidential background coming from anonymous sources may open a pathway for a clever source to use the media for propaganda purposes. This is a risk that must be weighed against the importance and apparent veracity of the information being provided. It is always possible in this kind of situation that the intention of my sources was to send a message as part of a behind-the-scenes counter-intelligence effort. If this is the situation, I deny any intentional involvement in any intelligence operation, except to the extent that I maintain contacts with various individuals that sometimes provide interesting leads for our stories at the Starstream Research web site.

About Starstream Research:

In the past year Starstream Research has focused on the CIA STAR GATE files, a collection of over eighty-thousand pages of previously classified documents about the efforts to use psychics to spy on targets that could not be accessed using conventional means. In 2005 Starstream Research uncovered a series of documents in the STAR GATE collection featuring imagery that strongly resembled the 9/11 events, suggesting that some of the psychic spies may have foreseen 9/11 in the 1980's. Many of the CIA released documents may be viewed at the Starstream Research web site at:

www.starstreamresearch.com

Copyright (c) 2006 Gary S. Bekkum. All rights reserved.