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[[File:Wayne-Simmons-Fox-News-screenshot.png|250px|thumb|right|[[Fox News]] host Neil Cavuto (left) and Wayne Simmons. (Image source: [http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/15/wayne_simmons_indicted_fox_news_terrorism_expert_had_bold_opinions_on_isis.html Fox News and Slate].)]]'''Wayne Simmons''' is , who falsely claimed to have had a participant 27 year career in the CIA,<ref name="faked cia"/> was presented on [[Pentagon military analyst programFox News]]as a "former CIA operative" and expert on terrorism from 2002 until his arrest in 2015, over his fraudulent claims of government service. <ref name="analyst">David Barstow, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand]," ''New York Times'', April 20, 2008.</ref> He worked for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and is a contributor to the conservative publication [[Human Events]] and has been a "Terrorism Analyst for the [[Fox News]] Channel since 2002."<ref name="Bio">[http://www.intelligencesummit.org/speakers/WayneSimmons.php "Wayne Simmons"], The Intelligence Summit 2007, accessed April 2008.</ref>
Simmons was indicted by a federal grand jury "on charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud, and making false statements to the government" and was arrested on October 15, 2015.<ref name="doj indictment">U.S. Department of Justice, "[https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-cable-news-commentator-arrested-and-charged-fraud Former Cable News Commentator Arrested and Charged with Fraud]," press release, October 15, 2015.</ref> On April 29, 2016, Simmons pleaded guilty to "major fraud against the United States, wire fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm," as described by ''The Washington Post'', and was subsequently sentenced to 33 months in prison.<ref name=Military service=="faked cia"/>
==Fox Commentator Simmons Pleads Guilty to Fraud==
Simmons was indicted by a federal grand jury "on charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud, and making false statements to the government" and was arrested on October 15, 2015.<ref name="doj indictment"/> He pleaded guilty on April 29, 2016.<ref>U.S. Department of Justice, "[https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-fox-news-commentator-pleads-guilty-fraud Former Fox News Commentator Pleads Guilty to Fraud]," press release, April 29, 2016.</ref> In the plea, Simmons "admitted to making false statements about his financial and criminal history. He also acknowledged that there were no records or evidence that he was ever employed by the CIA." He also admitted to defrauding a former girlfriend out of $125,000 through a real estate scam.<ref>Dylan Byers, "[http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/29/media/wayne-shelby-simmons-fox-news-cia/ Wayne Simmons, recurring Fox News guest, pleads guilty to defrauding the government]," ''CNN'', April 29, 2016.</ref><ref name="the plot"/>
In a press release, the U.S. Department of Justice described the charges:
:According to the indictment, Simmons falsely claimed he worked as an “Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer” for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 2000, and used that false claim in an attempt to obtain government security clearances and work as a defense contractor, including at one point successfully getting deployed overseas as an intelligence advisor to senior military personnel. According to the indictment, Simmons also falsely claimed on national security forms that his prior arrests and criminal convictions were directly related to his supposed intelligence work for the CIA, and that he had previously held a top secret security clearance. The indictment also alleges that Simmons defrauded an individual victim out of approximately $125,000 in connection with a bogus real estate investment.<ref name="doj indictment"/>
As reported by ''The Washington Post'',<ref name="faked cia">Rachel Weiner, "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/fox-news-analyst-still-wont-admit-he-was-not-in-cia/2016/07/14/eb61b5e4-478e-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html Fox News commentator who feds say faked a CIA career sentenced to 33 months in prison]," ''The Washington Post'', July 14, 2016.</ref>
:"Wayne Simmons is a fraud," Dana J. Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. "Simmons has no military or intelligence background, or any skills relevant to the positions he attained through his frauds."
==Simmons Conned His Way into a Career as a Fox News Terrorism Expert==
Beginning in 2002 until his indictment in 2015, Simmons appeared regularly on [[Fox News]] as a "former CIA operative" and expert on terrorism. Simmons recounted meeting a [[Republican National Committee]] PR executive on a train in 2001. After hearing Simmons' invented CIA career history, the RNC staffer reportedly connected him to paid media training and put him in touch with Fox.<ref name="the plot">Alex French, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/magazine/the-plot-to-take-down-a-fox-news-analyst.html The Plot to Take Down a Fox News Analyst]," ''The New York Times'', March 6, 2016.</ref>
As ''The New York Times'' described,
:By the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Simmons was a regular on the network, talking primarily about terrorism... His opinions were cartoonishly belligerent. He defended the enhanced-interrogation techniques employed by the Bush-era C.I.A. In 2005, after Al Jazeera broadcast footage of Ayman al-Zawahri calling for jihad on the West, Simmons suggested one way to contain the terrorist’s message was to "locate Al Jazeera and blow them off the map." He urged lawmakers to consider a moratorium on the construction of mosques in the United States. After The Times exposed the Bush administration’s covert terrorist-finance-tracking program in 2006, he suggested the paper’s sources ought to be imprisoned and maybe even face a firing squad.
===Fox News Claims Simmons "Never a Contributor"===
After Simmons was arrested on fraud charges in October 2015, a Fox News spokesperson disclaimed ties to him, telling CNN that Simmons "'was never a contributor for Fox News,' and that he appeared on the network only as a non-paid guest. She therefore declined to comment further."<ref>Dylan Byers, "[http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/15/media/wayne-simmons-tv-commentator-arrested/index.html Wayne Simmons, recurring Fox News guest, charged with lying about CIA ties]," ''CNN'', October 15, 2015.</ref>
==Claims of Military and Intelligence Agency Service==
Simmons did enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1973, according to prosecutors. But he was discharged for medical reasons after a few weeks.<ref name="faked cia"/>
A biographical note asserted that Simmons "was recruited by the CIA in 1973 while in the U.S. Navy. He became part of an Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Group where he spent 8 of his 27 year career working against Narco Terrorists. Simmons spearheaded Deep Cover Intel Ops against some of the world's most dangerous Drug Cartels from Central and South America and the Middle East. In addition to working against Narco terrorists he ran Special Operations against Arms Smugglers, Counterfeiters, Cyber-terrorists and Industrial and Economic Espionage. His Deep Cover Intelligence Operations helped lead to the seizures of marijuana, cocaine and heroin with a combined value of over $1 Billion Dollars."<ref name="Bio"/>
But as ''The Washington Post'' reported,
:Four former senior CIA officials interviewed by prosecutors said the dramatic undercover operations Simmons described were imaginary.<ref name="faked cia"/>
Simmons' bio further claimed,
"In 2004, under Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, he became a part of the Pentagon Outreach Program for Military and Intelligence Analysts. Simmons was one of the first outside Intelligence officers to visit GITMO (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) in July, 2005 and again in July, 2006. Also in July, 2006 Simmons was given the distinguished honor and pleasure to serve as a consultant to the White House as they constructed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006," it states.<ref name="Bio"/>
Simmons was not an intelligence officer. It appears to be true that he traveled to the Guantanamo Bay base with Rumsfeld as a result of his [[Fox News]] spot. However, the trip was a PR effort requiring no security clearance.:After starting at Fox, Simmons became part of a group of military veterans cultivated by the Defense Department under Donald H. Rumsfeld. He traveled to Guantanamo Bay with the group. Former Pentagon officials, including Rumsfeld, told prosecutors that there was no vetting done to be in the program, because it required no security clearance.<ref name="faked cia"/> ===Pentagon Military Analyst Program=== In April 2008 documents obtained by ''The New York Times'' revealed that Simmons had been recruited as one of over 75 retired military officers involved in the [[Pentagon military analyst program]]. Participants appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The program was launched in early 2002 by then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs [[Victoria Clarke]]. The idea was to recruit "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on "a possible [[Iraq]] invasion."<ref name="analyst"/> In fact, Simmons' role was the result of "a chance meeting with a public-relations professional" that "helped Simmons parlay his supposed CIA career into the commentator’s spot on Fox News, according to court filings."<ref name="faked cia"/> Simmons caught the attention of the Pentagon program due to his Fox News performances.
Simmons was a member of the "Citizens Committee On Benghazi" organized by the right-wing [[Accuracy in Media]] that promoted conspiracy theories about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. On Fox News and elsewhere, Simmons promoted false theories about the attack, such as claiming that the Obama administration ordered military personnel to "stand down" during the attack.<ref>Oliver Willis, "[http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/30/at-fringe-press-conference-fox-news-figures-cal/195139 At Fringe Press Conference, Fox News Figures Call For New Benghazi Investigation]," ''Media Matters for America'', July 30, 2013.</ref> (A U.S. House committee led by Republicans confirmed that there was no such order.)<ref>"[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/21/no-stand-down-order-or-military-missteps-in-benghazi-attack-gop-controlled.html No stand down order or military missteps in Benghazi attack, GOP-controlled intel panel finds]," ''Associated Press''/''Fox News'', November 21, 2014.</ref> Simmons was identified as a "former CIA officer" in AIM's original committee list,<ref>Accuracy in Media, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20150618062837/http://www.aim.org/benghazi/members-of-the-ccb/ Members of the CCB]," organization website, June 18, 2015. Archived by Internet Wayback Machine, accessed August 2016.</ref> but his name was removed from the site shortly after his indictment on fraud charges.<ref>Accuracy in Media, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20151018154144/http://www.aim.org/benghazi/members-of-the-ccb Members of the CCB]," organization website, October 18, 2015. Archived by Internet Wayback Machine, accessed August 2016.</ref> ==SourceWatch resourcesResources==
*[[Covert propaganda]]
*[[Donald H. Rumsfeld]]
*[[Victoria Clarke]]
==External links=====References=Links==* Alex French, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/magazine/the-plot-to-take-down-a-fox-news-analyst.html The Plot to Take Down a Fox News Analyst]," ''The New York Times Magazine'', March 6, 2016.<references/ref>
===By Simmons===
*[http://www.humanevents.com/search.php?author_name=Wayne%20Simmons Human Events archive]
===References===
<references/>
[[category:Propaganda]] [[category:Propaganda techniques]] [[category:War in Iraq]] [[category:War/peace]] [[category:Politics (U.S.)]] [[category:George W. Bush administration]] [[category:Secrecy]] [[category:United States]][[category:Pentagon military analyst program]]