Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c987IR // #c987Synthesis

Maheu and Associates: “a private detective firm staffed by former CIA and FBI employees that the intelligence agency used as a ‘cut-out’ to do dirty jobs on U.S. soil, where the CIA was forbidden by law to operate.” How to break your own charter: hire your old employees through a front and call them contractors.

— In our words · Source: The Devil's Chessboard (David Talbot)

[Use when]

An institution swears it cannot act somewhere, but its alumni keep showing up there on private letterhead.

[Why it matters]

The cut-out preserves the letter of the restriction while destroying its purpose. Oversight sees a private firm; the operation sees its own people.

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