Warner Bros. As for the Sanfords, it took a while, but they eventually realized there might be a problem. Gene Hackman stars as a surveillance expert who soon begins to think he's the one being watched. There was no magic in what we built. Gray Work was originally scheduled for publication in spring 2014. SCG had secured three small Navy contracts in 2005, but a seat at the big boys table required the kind of seed money necessary to hire serious people and build new facilities. In 2010, Smiths Pennsylvania victims sued to get their money back. He went on from there, saying hed worked as a CIA instructor, assigned to teach sniping and surveillance to federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies and for the State Department in the Middle East. Red Planet Entertainment teams with Pathbender to option the nonfiction book Gray Work. BIOPHILIC. Tax. Smith, suddenly, was in need of a new source of income. But hes not surprised. Such stunts were the stuff you do in ninth and tenth grade that most people grow out of, says Andy Yelton, who went to high school and college with Smith. I would put my hand on a stack of Bibles and say, Absolutely, I was an officer at the Central Intelligence Agency at age 21, Smith told us during an interview in April. He got his diploma from Regent in 2000 and then went to Boston University to pursue a graduate degree in tax law. Perhaps Smiths book has, as he asserted in our interview, been fact-checked. He's just one of those guys that can't not embellish a story.. When it came time for a buyout, the couple were ready for retirement. [ARCHIVED THREAD] - "Gray Work" by Jamie Smith CIA/Blackwater operative. Sanford recalled him turning away, saying, Oh, I got to take this. The CIA doesnt usually tap untrained, 20-year-old undergrads to become agents. There were basically less than five people who ran any division in the first Gulf War, Murray said. Gray Work represents a first of sorts in the publishing world. JFKs assassination made viewers more suspicious and thats reflected in our films. In December 2011, he reported to company vice president of intelligence Fred Burton that he was getting air cover from Congresswoman Myrick to engage Syrian opposition in Turkey (non-MB and non-Qatari) on a fact finding mission for Congress. Burton relayed the information to a Stratfor colleague in another e-mail, also later leaked. Let's Connect. Jamie Smith says he was recruited into the CIA as an undergraduate at Ole Miss, cofounded Blackwater, and has done clandestine intelligence work all over the world, operating out of a counterterrorism boot camp in the woods of north Mississippi. Promoted to staff accountant in July 2009, began as Accounts Receivable coordinator. But those endorsements dont actually add up to much. During SCGs heyday, between 2008 and 2012, the U.S. government and local law-enforcement agencies paid a lot of money to get people trained so they could function capably in war zones, shoot-outs, and other dicey situations. I got to thinking, Hes smart, hes got a law degree, Smith testified during a hearing before Tituss fraud trial, hes got way more experience at those types of things than I have, and I had some, you know, just some basic things that I needed done.. He was dismissed for 127 in the first innings, setting a . Smith had hired him in 2009 to manage the business, but not long after his tenure SCG was already starting to have trouble meeting payroll, and it fell behind on payments to contractors fixing up the Holly Springs training center. Michael Fechter, who lives in Tampa, Florida, is a former investigative reporter for the Tampa Tribune. Join Outside+ to get Outside magazine, access to exclusive content, 1,000s of training plans, and more. Also Read: Gawker Removes Controversial Post About Conde Nast CFO. Jamie Smith, a self-described CIA operative and co-founder of private military company Blackwater, has optioned his just-published memoir "Gray Work: Confessions of an American Paramilitary. Jamies always lived his life in a comic book, he says. Smith said he returned fire and killed both his attackers. Jamie Smith says he was recruited into the CIA as an undergraduate at Ole Miss, cofounded Blackwater, and has done clandestine intelligence work all over the world, operating out of a counterterrorism boot camp in the woods of north Mississippi. Erik Prince, one of Blackwaters founders and its CEO, wasnt as kind. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. In Johnsons view, Smiths records indicate that he probably did work with the CIA in some capacity, just nothing like the version he tells in Gray Work. The story about getting shot appears to be true. Former SCG trainers like Cusanno and Watts says Smith loved action and loved the game-playing aspects of SCG most of all: the paintball fights, the secret meetings, the rescue missions in the shoot house. As of February 2009, Smiths accounts still held $2.6 million of the Sanfords original $12.5 million. James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. During the Persian Gulf War, I received three awardsDistinguished Service, Outstanding Performance and Valor.. Jamie Smith says he was recruited into the CIA as an undergraduate at Ole Miss, cofounded Blackwater, and has done clandestine intelligence work all over the world, operating out of a counterterrorism boot camp in the woods of north Mississippi. Later he was told by Todd Smith, who handled SCGs books, that Jamie owed a lot of people money but he couldnt be reached. Paramount When the pastor wanted to recognize those whod served in Operation Desert Storm, both brothers stood. Smith on the go. I have been saying it for some time now. Asked earlier about the books contents, Smith said he couldnt say anything until its published. Craig was at the exhibition with his prized Belgian Malinois, Pike, working with a K-9 instructor named Rocky Boudreau. This fall was supposed to mark Smiths return to glory. Warren Beatty plays a reporter who learns that every event in the world is organized by a single multi-national corporation. Marvel Studios Finances Cost per Session: $150 Combining covert military intelligence with boots-on-the-ground realism, Gray Work claims that Smith has helped to shape modern-day warfare. Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts star. Jamie Smith is a decorated former CIA officer, founding Director of Blackwater Security, Vice President of Blackwater Training and subsequently the CEO of SCG International. When Jamie contacted me, I genuinely wanted to say if Id made a mistake. Establishing that would be easy, he said. I mean, whos the guy or the girl behind you guys digging into me like Im, you know, Oliver Stone?, Asked about the Sanfords, Smith stuck to his story that he never met Craig Sanford before he received their money. In it, he claims the Outside article was a hit piece, whose authors coached and cajoled their dozens of sources in an attempt to humiliate Smith, all to undermine his contract with HarperCollins and interfere with the release of his book. At the SCG compound in Holly Springs, Smith promised "real-world scenarios for real-world warriors.". Had Smith let it stand, he could have returned something to them, likely enough for them to continue with their retirement plans. We were cutting up, eating Dominos pizza, watching the coverage. Smith owned one of them, a sprawling mansion called Crump Place. Smiths name heads the first page, and below that, it reads: Welcome to the Central Intelligence Agency.. As Smith tells it in Gray Work, after his stint as a CIA agent, he built a career in the world of private security contracting that bloomed after 9/11, allegedly becoming a founding member of Blackwater before starting his own security company and deluxe training facility in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He acted so sure of himself., He made it a point to inject personal stories into his training, says Art Watts, a north Mississippi sheriffs deputy who was hired as a trainer by SCG. Smith handed over a promissory note that said the money would be returned in 18 months, with interest. I blew past it [the lawsuit], Smith said in an interview with The Daily Beast. Blow-Up (1966) Jamie Smith founded SCG in 2002 after working at Blackwater as, what he CLAIMS as, Vice President Blackwater Security Consulting, [3] ultimately he was fired from the company in 2010. Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier starred. Its not entirely clear what Boudreaus role in all this was, and we were unable to reach him for comment. Tales of espionage, rescue missions, and assassinations bleed with bravado. But he was happy to stop in and say hello to his old friend Boudreau and perhaps talk to local police about their training. [5] Fisher couldnt help but laugh that Jamie would lie about something so important. Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman create a fake war to cover up a presidential scandal in an election year in this dramedy. After a NASA trip to Mars runs into a mechanical failure that could cost the astronauts their lives, an unmanned capsule is launched and faked mission footage is shot in a studio. Next Slide Blow-Up (1966) He said they were en route to New York City, where there was an American Girl megastore that his daughters wanted to see. According to credit card statements released during the Sanford case, Smith was spending a lot of his time and money in Hawaii during this period. Ultimately, the Sanfords didnt have to pay anything, but in November 2007, they were worried that all their hard work, their retirement fund, and the money for their children could be ransacked by their opponents in the case. Tom Cruise plays a secret agent that goes on the run to uncover a rogue spy ring responsible for a series of disasters and assassinations. On July 3, 2009, he rappelled into the sanctuary of a Virginia megachurch as flags unfurled and The Stars and Stripes Forever played. Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier starred. Cusanno was angry. The Air Force intended to debarbanSmith and SCG from any new contracts for three years. He could have invested themin some kind of overseas or domestic accountand taken a healthy fee before returning the money with interest, which is how the deal was supposed to work. Smiths initial move was to deposit both checks at Batesvilles First Security Bank. If only the government had listened to him, Smith suggests, the deadly consulate attack in Benghazi would have never happened, and the Syrian civil war would have ended in 2012. Entangled with disbarred attorney and convicted fraud Troy Titus, who is currently serving 30 years in federal prison for operating an $8 million Ponzi scheme? In a new memoir Jamie Smith claims to have worked for the CIA and help found Blackwater. Paramount Sets Season 2 Premiere Get First Look at Chicago Homage. When he stared down Jamie among the flags and the hymnals, Jamie just smiled and put a finger to his lips. Email Jamie Smith. Bob Baer and Larry Johnson, old agency hands with decades of CIA experience between them, say his hiring story sounds impossible. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, Gawker Removes Controversial Post About Conde Nast CFO, Megan Thomason's Sci-Fi Trilogy 'daynight' Optioned by Pathbender (Exclusive). They won, but they havent succeeded in getting him to pay up, partly because he left the country for much of the past two years and has been very hard to find. He didnt even have a personal checking account. We know for sure only that he worked as a Christian karate instructor while at Regent. In 2009, Smith testified that he didnt see anything wrong with hiring Titus at SCG just three weeks after Titus had been indicted on fraud charges. The true mission is how they can help in regime change, Burton wrote. That morning, according to court documents, Smith drove up in a white Suburban loaded with suitcases, his wife, Allison, and three kids, two girls and a boy. The backlash came first. Jamie is a wizard, he wrote. Smith found the seed money he needed for SCG on a chilly morning in November 2007, when he rolled into Falls Township, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, at the behest of a friend who introduced him to Craig Sanford. But nobody wants to be a ninja as an adult. Sanford, he claimed, essentially sent $12.5 million to a total stranger. Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Ed Harris star. DeLaurentis handled a lot of the Air Force training at Fort Dix. On the stand, he insisted that hed never met, called, or written Craig Sanford, though some of his staff may have. She is also a running coach in the school district and a . I will fight for workers and help Washington grow. Ive been beat up for four, five years. Fired from Blackwater after a short tenure? Like Smith, Titus professed to be very religious. What Ive seen, from materials that Jamie gave me, actually ended up raising more questions, Johnson said. Smith also offered to set up a fundraising website for the family, who needed money to underwrite efforts to bring Levinson home. During this period of expansion, Smith never contacted the Sanfords. The Outside piece I thought was devastating, Baer said. A few days later, the Sanfords wrote two checks made out to SCG International, both for $6.25 million. There were pricey dinners, child-support payments for his brother, Todd (who later became SCGs vice president), school tuition for Smiths kids, and gun purchases. Horseshit, says Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and a State Department deputy director in the office on counterterrorism from 1989 to 1993. I do believe that he was at CIA, probably as an intern, Johnson says. They had a special program where people They had about three different programs for undergrads. But for reasons that Smith and his agent declined to explain, storyteller was dropped from the blurb. According to Johnson, when Smith called him personally, he was ready to be proven wrong and withdraw his earlier doubts. Smith lectured at the camp wearing cool, snug-fit Crye combat gear and Wiley X shooter glasses. Some called it G.I. Instead, after many phone calls, they were told by a lawyer of Smiths that the money had been lost in the stock market. In 2011, a federal jury in Virginia handed down an almost $10 million judgment against Smith after finding that he had funded his fledgling company, SCG LLC, by defrauding a retired Pennsylvania couple out of their lifes savings. If you displayed some talent, you might get a nod from one of SCGs professional tough guyslawmen and military veterans who could, if they wanted, find you a job with the company someday. I went over basically to do some digging around for a government organization in the U.S.in Libya and in Syria as well, he said. Just when things looked bleakest, Smiths luck turned. As it turned out, these sayings were an apt description of how Smith often did business, because many things about himincluding his CIA past, his military background, and parts of his education rsumappear to be elaborate fabrications. In fact, CIA veterans dont believe it and are saying so publicly. Jamie Smith, a self-described CIA operative and co-founder of private military company Blackwater, has optioned his just-published memoir " Gray Work: Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy" to Red Planet Entertainment and Pathbender, TheWrap has learned. After a NASA trip to Mars runs into a mechanical failure that could cost the astronauts their lives, an unmanned capsule is launched and faked mission footage is shot in a studio. During the training sessions down south, Smith often talked about SCGs driving philosophy, lecturing students inside an old house trailer that had been turned into a classroom. He liked to tell one about being shot with an AK-47 in the shoulder. Now he was able to put $2.5 million in an SCG account and $10 million in a long-term investment fund. Its not clear whenor even ifGray Work will be released, and this is the second delay since we started asking questions about Smith. He ended up working as a firearms instructor, post-9/11, at the controversial North Carolinabased paramilitary firm Blackwater. In the piney woods of north Mississippi, professionals and wannabes alike would come to the 60-acre compound of an outfit called SCG International to play war games, fire live weapons, conduct mock interrogations, and run around like kids, zinging paintball rounds across creeks and seeking cover in open fields. The exact nature of many of his foreign escapades remains mysterious. Scandals over fabricated narratives, from James Frey to Somaly Mam, have rocked the publishing industry in recent years, but none of their troubles seem to have significantly changed the way publishers operate when it comes to making sure an author has his facts straight. Bob Baer said the same thing about the process for screening an agency vets bona fides: If you actually worked with the CIA, youd name a building you were in, a supervisor, the name of a group. (In testimony during the Sanfords civil suit against him, Smith told a judge that he needed to darken up a little bit when traveling in the Middle East.) Our campaign is focused on SD because we firmly believe the DC-style politics conducted by our current governor is not what our state is about. Smith claimed that Sanford had threatened him and that he feared for his life. Titus was an old pal of Smiths who had helped him during some tough financial times. The secrecy that shrouds operations doesnt cover personal relationships among the clannish intelligence elite. A man who is obsessed with conspiracy theories finds himself a target when one of his hypotheses turns out to be true. Smith said he was overseas, doing dangerous work for the company. They did so in the belief that he was an ex-CIA officer, a Harvard Law graduate with a degree in accounting, and a man with heavy government ties. The sole job of the CIA review board, as explained in a post by John Hollister Hedley, then-director of the review board, is to assist authors in avoiding inadvertent disclosure of classified information which, if disclosed, would be damaging to national securityjust that and nothing more.. Main News Jamie Smith seeking trophies in 2022 Surrey's Jamie Smith has returned from his first taste of England Lions action with a singular focus; putting in consistent. Joe Fantasy Camp, and for good reason. And from his perspective that was good, because it didnt take him long to decide that a lot of what Smith said didnt add up. Won what? Posted: 5/29/2021 7:45:32 AM EST. As the founder and director of Blackwater Security, Smith's initial vision has undeniably shaped and transformed a decade of war. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fisher says he recalls seeing a letter Smith had got published in the local paper in which he talked about being a decorated spy in the Gulf War. Even so, Rush says that by early 2010, the entire operation was running in the red. Smith appeared on several cable news shows as a counterterrorism and security expert. In a case with only one victim, the Sanfords, it can be difficult to get a grand jury past the point of a he-said-she-said stalemate. Where are the assets?. 9/27/2022 3:25:23 PM. It was on many calls when we talked about shelving it Theyre the publishers of American Sniper, [the book from military celebrity Chris Kyle whose later discredited chronicles included picking off looters from the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, shooting dead two carjackers without consequence, and beating up ex-SEAL and former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura] and now theyre doing Gray Work, Oliver told The Daily Beast. He began a decorated career with the agency while taking correspondence classes. After their initial meeting, Boudreau sent the Sanfords an e-mail endorsing Smith. You dont trust people, she says. Also Read: Megan Thomason's Sci-Fi Trilogy 'daynight' Optioned by Pathbender (Exclusive). That was key, former SCG employees say. No screenwriter or director is attached at this time. As well see, that arrangement also led to nothing but frustration for Smiths clients. At least some of the money was invested, records showsometimes wisely, sometimes not. Three Days of the Condor (1975) This wasnt the first time Fisher had confronted his friend. Usually what happens is you end up publishing it and then it pops up at you., What I would hope happensand it seems to me happens pretty much in every instancewhen the publishers find that [a book] has real flaws, problems, or inaccuracies, most often they end up taking it off the market. As for any lasting fallout from the fakes that make it through, Entrekin calls the backlash just another tiny chip in the wall., After the Outside article appeared, Baerwho is featured on the jacket and within the textassumed that the book would be buried. One more article isnt going to hurt.. Smith declined to discuss this episode with Outside, but Pelton verifies that Smith was wounded in 2004, when he was traveling near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The continuation of "The Godfather" saga, "Part II" featured a scene where antagonist Hyman Roth was assassinated in a nearly identical way to Lee Harvey Oswald. Gray Solutions, which does not seem to have done much before March 2014, is described as a company that actively supports and assists high net worth individuals and institutional investors seeking to diversify their holdings, secure their investments, and source acquisition opportunities in alternative assets. Smith denied he had anything to do with Gray when we spoke to him in April, although the e-mails he sent Stratfor came through the companys website. That policy protects spies from being outed even after they have retired. The Arab Spring that had made world headlines in early 2011 prompted uprisings in several Middle Eastern and North African countries, and Smith, sensing an opportunity, went to Washington looking for new business. Syriana (2005) He also channeled energy into becoming well-known, hiring Lindsay Lohans publicist and hatching plans for an action-romance novel called Operation Andre. He was cocky and sure-footed, citing the Moscow Rules, a vintage collection of Cold War maxims for doing battle with the KGB. Jamie Smith - CNN - Attack on CIA base - 05 Jan 2010 2,059 views Jan 25, 2010 0 Dislike Share Save silencewatch1 100 subscribers Subscribe Jamie Smith on CNN 05 Jan 2010 discussing the. Jamie Smith Partner. SCG had a right to protest the move, but it never replied, and the ban took effect on October 17, 2012. HarperCollins did not deny Baers assertion that he was never contacted by the publisher despite his blurb appearing on the books back cover. Rush says Smith didnt have the balls to do it. Walter Morgan, a classmate of Smiths in high school and at Ole Miss, recalls spotting Smith on Fox News one morning and nearly falling out of his chair. I was having my first rest in a very nice Bogot hotel and the phone rang and there was a Mr. Smith to see me, Pelton later said in an interview with the Virginian Pilot. Jamie Smith. Before Jamie Smith came along, Craig Sanford, whos now 60, had been looking forward to completing his vacation house out on a lake the Sanfords love called Wallenpaupack. In 2002 Prince, along with former CIA operative Jamie Smith, created Blackwater Security Consulting, which would put former Navy SEALs and other special ops on the market. He even pointed to it as an example of one way the magazine had libeled him in his January lawsuit. The government tries to silence a career thief who witnessed the President commit a crime. Later, the $10 million was transferred to an account that allowed Smith to invest it in new assets, including land and other necessities for SCG. Jamie's Quotes "I don't train to be in a gunfight; I'd much rather be in a shootingthere's a difference. After the book was delayed the second time, we again tried to contact Smith about his overseas work. Chalk it up to bad blood. At the end, he apologized for that, sounding almost resigned. Portfolio Services About Blog Contact INTERIOR DESIGN IS MAGIC. Smiths rsum and his claims were never part of the pitch for government contracts, Rush says. Plenty of people believed him, including the Air Force (which paid him $7 million to train personnel) and William Morrow, which signed him up to write his memoir. He is a subject matter expert in terrorism, security and tactical / firearms training and currently is an advisor / board member to two global private military companies. While you pretended during exercises that the DROKs dangers were real, you had to ignore the fact that Holly Springs was actually a quaint little town known for soul food, a 24/7 Elvis shrine called Graceland Too, and antebellum homes that survived Civil War occupation by Union troops. In his book and in interviews, Smith dismisses questions about his past. An accountant friend from Virginia, who knew he would be a fish out of water among all the tough guys at SCG, wanted to come to Holly Springs for training, and Jamie coached him on how to fit in. Gentlemen, any work by Jamie Smith can only be classified as pure fiction, Prince said in an e-mail. The Sanfords enjoyed their lives in Bucks County, but they had a couple of daunting problems. At this point, in rode Jamie Smith with his government credentials. Smith loved telling friends and potential clients the story of a mission he ran, which supposedly involved rescuing Pelton from a right-wing paramilitary group in Colombia. He hit the ground with a crisp salute, was introduced as a former Navy Seal, and told a Christian Broadcasting Network reporter that a stunt like his really energizes the congregation and emphasizes the risks being taken by servicemen and women around the world., The thing about Jamie is that he was certain about everything, says Charles Cusanno, a retired Pennsylvania state police officer and former SCG trainer. If he got this going, he could parlay that into more projects., In a deposition given nine months later as part of separate real estate litigation, Smith said he had nothing left. A new paramilitary company like SCG, if established, could make a killing. Getting his hands on that cash was crucial: without it, Smith never could have grown SCG, which he had founded in 2002 but had been unable to take to the level he dreamed of. In a dystopian future, Charlton Heston discovers that the new and vital food supply from the government isn't what they claim it to be. If that happened, you were told, exciting work would follow: protecting a cargo shipment in the Middle East, say, or running special missions deep inside a war-torn African nation.