US-led stay behind networks in Austria

Lorenzo Cottica
2017 unpublished
After dealing with a handful of editorial notes in chapter one, in chapter two, the thesis moves on to a description of the technical and methodological elements of the research itself, such as the terminology used, a critique of the main sources and an overview of the current state of research in this particular field. The third chapter constitutes a summary of the context and the establishment, development, and uproar caused by the revelation of the Italian Gladio network in the early
more » ... . In chapter four, the narrative shifts to Austria in early 1996, when the vast majority of the CIA's underground arms and explosives caches came to light, as well as the relevant statements which were made at the time. Chapters five, six and seven constitute the core of this research. Chapter five provides a thick description of the rather complex context in which the Austrian stay behind networks were established, by referencing some of the massive scholarly literature, the narrative splits it into four interconnected layers: geostrategic, political, socioeconomic, and intelligence-related. Chapter six deals with the late Forties and two primary examples of networks led by former Nazis which allegedly had the potential to develop into fully-fledged paramilitary units. Chapter seven presents the evaluated sources on the CIA-led units of the Fifties: besides the Escape and Evasion (henceforth E&E) line and the dedicated radio transmissions unit ICEBERG, these also included both of the paramilitary stay behind units, code-named GRLAUNCH and GRDAGGER. The eighth chapter focuses on the interconnection which has been documented between South Tirol's rich history of terrorism on the one hand, and multiple elements of both the Austrian and Italian stay behind networks on the other. Finally, the ninth chapter presents a summary of the conclusions reached, thereby providing an overview of both the results yielded by this research and the questions that remain unanswered.
doi:10.25365/thesis.50091 fatcat:flgfrsupvnfttgmvuvqcpq3dwa