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March 1, 2002 (EIRNS)—Thomas Watson was a leading figure in organizing public/private intelligence networks tasked to conduct Gestapo-style dirty tricks against the political enemies of the Anglo-American establishment. A pro-Mussolini ideologue, Watson was brought into IBM in 1911, becoming its President in 1924 with the backing of the Morgan financial interests. In 1937, as head of the International Chamber of Commerce, Watson traveled to Europe for meetings with Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, where he received the German Eagle from Nazi Finance Minister Hjalmer Schacht. At the same time, Watson's IBM was being built up through U.S. government contracts for typewriters and business machines. During World War II, IBM played a major role in the espionage efforts run by Sir William Stephenson, director of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the United States during WWII.

In a 1944 speech to the graduating class of the FBI academy, Watson called for the creation of an international police force to hunt down war criminals. Formation of such an agency began in 1946, when Watson and a former official of the OSS began to organize a private international intelligence agency based around IBM. This later became integrated with official government intelligence agencies, through direct contracts, and a revolving door through which IBM security and R&D executives switched places with officials from such agencies as Naval Intelligence, the National Security Agency and the Department of Justice.

"Pop" Watson's intelligence apparatus was deployed against LaRouche no later than 1974. In June of that year, the head of IBM security, Joe Rossetti, conducted a series of seminars and joint operations against LaRouche, in coordination with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. These became highly publicized after internal documents from the operation were leaked to various news organizations, including the New York Times and Associated Press. This joint IBM/IACP operation, against LaRouche, coincided with the now infamous efforts by the FBI's New York City office to assist the Communist Party U.S.A. attempts to target LaRouche for assassination.