Home/ Resources / Projects / CIA Cryptonyms / bigram: PB / cryptonym: PBGREGALE

Cryptonym: PBGREGALE

Definition:

Operation using Clare Booth Luce and other socialites and personalities as contributors in a Latin American publication during 1958.

Status:

Probable

Discussion:

A "gregale" is described as a strong northeast wind of the central Mediterranean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregale - also see http://ggweather.com/winds.html It may have been a reference to these powerful Northeast figures blowing into Mexico.

Sources:

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32399810.pdf

9/17/58 memo stating that Clare Boothe Luce was used in the context of a covert security approval - she may have been witting or unwitting - in this operation between July-September 1958.

104-10120-10419: MEMO RE PROJECT REQUEST

Same article as above (with minor redaction), located among other Luce documents in HSCA Segregated Collection, Box 43.

104-10120-10420: FORM - REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION AND (OR) NAME CHECK

7/8/58, Chief of CI/Operational Approval and Support Division to Deputy Director of Security: The area of Luce's assignment for Project PBGREGALE was FI/OPS/CCB/NOC.

1993.08.13.18:07:26:900059: SECURITY FILE ON CLARE BOOTH LUCE

5/26/58: Her security file was opened when there was a desire to use her and other notables as contributors to a Latin American publication whose name is redacted. (at p. 87, 8/15/58: Her file was inevitably blended with an entertainer/actress/left-wing activist named Claire Boothe Luce - note difference in spelling. At p. 100 - DDS told J.C. King on 6/17/58 it had no objection to using her and other "socialites" in this manner - Using these regal personalities is the probable basis for this operation. (At p. 90 - Clare Booth Luce was a playwright and the ex-Ambassador to Italy.) (At p. 92 - reference was made about "Luce the actress" being identical with Luce - not true). (at p. 96 - this 6/27/58 note untangled the confusion between the two Luces) (at p. 63 - 20 years later and probably unrelated - Luce is asked to serve on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board - one of the most important positions in the intelligence community!)

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/180-10143-10362.pdf

HSCA analyst Betsy Palmer reviewed certain files on 8/28/78: She wrote that as of 7/1/58 Luce was "unaware of US government and CIA interest and pending investigation". On 9/16/58, decision was made that "her services as a donor for REDACTED will not be needed." Palmer then notes that five years later, Bill Harvey made a request for "operational approvals" for both Clare Boothe Luce and James David Zellerbach, both ex-ambassadors to Italy on 7/1/63. Zellerbach died on 8/3/63 of a brain tumor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_David_Zellerbach

104-10120-10418 FORM - REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OR INVESTIGATIVE ACTION FOR CLARE BOOTH LUCE

No indication that this is related to the above cryptonym: July 1963: Bill Harvey requests permission for Clare Boothe Luce to be given covert security approval so the two of them can meet together. See this Aug. 63 memo - it reveals Harvey wanted to talk to Luce about background and personalities on the Italian scene: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=51803#relPageId=2&tab=page

Contributors:

Bill Simpich