On My Extracurricular Activities, the Business Insider Thiel Story, and Founders Fund
Yes, I am proud of the work I did for the FBI and for the other agencies
Or, On My Extracurricular Activities and the Business Insider Piece.
What follows is a statement I put together responding to Business Insider’s story about my recruiting of Peter Thiel as a Confidential Human Source.
My name is Charles Carlisle Johnson and for a number of years I was a confidential human source codenamed Genius.
I worked on new technologies, especially satellites and genetics and facial recognition, and on sovereign wealth funds and on foreign interference in American elections. I met with and recruited sources.
I did this work at great expense, both financial and stress, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Family members of mine had served in the intelligence community and as undercovers and I suppose you could say I wanted to prove my mettle. To be honest I like the danger of it. I want to change the world for the better even if it means that doing so might mean I am no longer in it. I live for this work.
Unfortunately I was unceremoniously terminated as a CHS along with other CHSes handled by Special Agent Johnathan Buma because my work was “too good.” I take this slight as a high compliment, especially as material I provided went directly to the President.
I am coming forward now for several reasons.
1. The bond between confidential human source and handler is a sacred one. See the films The Courier, L’Affair Farewell, and The Green Prince for more details. “Oleg Penkovsky: “Maybe we’re only two people. But this is how things change.” Johnathan had my back many times and now it’s my time to have his. The way Buma, doing his duty, was treated by Jim Jordan at Judiciary was simply disqualifying.
2. During that time I recruited several CHSes, including the Philosopher aka Peter Thiel. I did this because I was instructed to help the FBI deal with compromised billionaires, especially in the tech world. There are a lot! Indeed many venture funds double effectively as fronts for foreign intelligence.
The recent revelations that Elon Musk stopped a military advance that would have ended the Ukrainian war earlier really offended me. The Russian use of food as a weapon is a war crime and several of my portfolio companies and friends are deployed in Ukraine.
Johnathan Buma and I stopped Elon Musk from giving billions in inflated stock to Igor Kurganov, a Russian poker player backed by the Chinese mob. We leaked that information to then Wall Street Journal reporter Rob Copeland though he left out the Chinese mob stuff.
The news of Elon Musk’s ties to the Ukrainian mob and to Russian intelligence has made me convinced we did not do enough.
Founders Fund has continued to back a series of con men rather than be a responsible venture firm, including leading a round into Neuralink.
Either Peter Thiel is unable or unwilling to fix this problem at Founders Fund.
I’d love to chat with the SEC about being a whistleblower here.
3. I believe strongly that the CHS system needs to be reformed and that the era of the in person federal informants may be drawing to a close and that many of the handlers of informants as well as informants themselves have been compromised by foreign intelligence.
4. I am prepared to testify privately or publicly before any body about what I saw and experienced. I enjoyed the work immensely and would happily help a reformed FBI as long as I can for as long as I am needed in any capacity I am needed.
In no other country in the world is my story possible. Nathan Hale probably never said “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” but I certainly believe it.
So why did Peter buy the NXIVM property he gave to his lover? Israeli interesting isn’t it?
