MORE ON AFME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000100740010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 4, 2014
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: March 7, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT 7c7.r ort
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
@ 50-Yr 2014/06/04: CIA-RDP73-00475R000100740010-5
base became Britain's prin-
cipal military outpost in the Near East,
a bustling Westernized port of 250,000
people, with powerful trade unions, a
multi-national middle class and an in-
ten igentsia educated in Cairo, London
and Beirut.
By contrast, the protectorates are
backward, both economically and politi-
cally. Much of the current strife is due
to staunch opposition in Aden to asso-
ciation with the poor and uncouth
hinterland.
Nasser's Drivo
Aden may prove to be the vulnerable
sort underbelly of the Arabian Penin-
sula. Once in power there, Nasser
could pose a deadly threat to his chief
rival, King Faisal. Terrorists and agents
could then easily penetrate Faisal's
domain. Saboteurs are already in Saudi
Arabia and, although there are con-
flicting reports on their effectiveness,
they might very well become a force to
reckon with. Their obvious targets are
the oil pipelines.
Nasser's political agents could sub-
vert oil workers. They could also
make use of tribal feuds and disrupt the
fragile system of truces imposed by the
Saudi dynasty. Egypt is already trying
to exploit lingering loyalties to ex-King
Saud, who is now in Cairo.
But Nasser's drive may not be lim-
ited to a campaign against Faisal. A
foothold in South Arabia is important
as a staging area for penetration farther
cast, in the oil-rich Persian Gulf states,
where Britain is preparing to make her
last stand in the Near East.
In his latest speech, Nasser referred
to the British military transfer to the
Persian Gulf and declared: "We will go
in right behind them, following step- by
step, until we have swept the entire area
free of them."
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neither arc required to file returns.
In 1960, according to IRS records,
the Jones-O'Donnell Foundation in
Dallas, an admitted CIA conduit, gave
AFME $10,000.
In 1961, the J. Frederick Brown
Foundation in Boston and the Marshall
Foundation in Houston joined the list,
? the former with a contribution of
$10,000 and the latter with $20,000.
? Jones-O'Donnell gave AFME $10,000
in 1961.
I
More on AX)AE
At least 10 foundations cited as CIA
conduits have supported the American
Friends of the Middle East (AFME)
since its 'establishment in 1951.
A study of Internal Revenue returns,
AFME's annual reports and other
sources, just completed by the Near
East Report, reveals that AFME re-
ceived almost $2 million between 1952
and 1957 from the Dearborn Founda-i%
tion in Chicago and the San Jacinto
Fund in Houston, and that eight addi-
tional foundations gave AFME at least
one-half million dollars from 1960
through 1965.
Dearborn was the principal support
of AFME during the first six years of
the organization's existence. It started
AFME's financing with a grant of at
least $50,000 in 1952. In 1953, it con-
tributed $130,000. This figure jumped
to about $400,000 the following year
and then ranged from $300,000 to
$350,000 from 1955 through 1957. The
records show that Dearborn contributed
some $1.5 million to AFME between
1952 and 1957.
The San Jacinto Fund was organized
as a charitable trust in Houston on
Mar. 4, 1954, by John W. Mecom.
Mecom is president of a Texas oil firm
with .many interests in the Near East.
The company has been prospecting for
oil in Jordan and in the spring of 1964,
Mecom was host to King Hussein dur-
ing the latter's visit to the United States.
San Jacinto was named by members
of the National Student Association as
a CIA front. In 1955, AFME stated
it had "succeeded in enlisting the
interest" of San Jacinto from which it
had already received "substantial gifts."
For the following two years AFME ad-
mits that the bulk of its support came
from Dearborn and San Jacinto. It is
estimated that in those three years San
Jacinto contributed about $250,000.
Thus, San Jacinto and Dearborn to-
gether contributed almost all of
AFME's total income of $2,385,510
from 1952 to 1957.
From 1958. on, AFME reports omit
any mention of the foundations and 1962 M
, ar sh a11 raised its
con-
tribution to $25,000, and Jones-O'Don-
nell to $15,000.
The following year another three '
foundations listed AFME as one of
their beneficiaries: :be Hobby Founda-
tion in Houston ($50,000); the David,
. Josephine and Winfield Baird Founda-
tion in New York ($50,000); and the,
W. Alton Jones Foundation in New.
York ($25,000). Marshall's contribu-
tion that year was $20,000.
In 1964, Hobby's donation jumped
to $75,000, and Baird's to $100,000.
? Brown, which had not recorded any
'? gifts to AFME in 1962 or 1963, grant-
ed the organization $35,000; Jones gave
,
?
?
$25,000.
The 1965 records are the most in-
complete. However, it is known that .
Hobby gave AFME $50,000; the ?
Granary Fund in Boston, $75,000.
The following figures are available:
Baird
$150,000
Brown
45,000
Dearborn
1,500,000
Granary
75,000
Hobby
175,000
Jones
50,000
Jones-O'Donnell
35,000
Marshall
65,000
San Jacinto
250,000
Total
$2,345,000
But the full story of AFME's funds ,
, is still not known. Since 1958, the
organization's annual reports have '
avoided any reference to specific foun-
dations and have lumped all income
under one broad heading called "con-
tributions, membership dues, counsel- ?
ing fees, etc."
Attempting to trace AFME's funds
through their sources is difficult. Some
foundations have never filed returns.
The reports of others are often incom-
plete. And all reports prior to 1962 are
buried deep in the files of IRS district
offices.
PLO Report
' Thr, Palestine Liberation Organiza-
?? tion in New York has changed the'
?
designation of its "principal office" from . ,
Jerusalem to Cairo.
(Turn the page) ?
19
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/06/04: CIA-RDP73-00475R000100740010-5