Former CIA Boss: Russians Hoaxed Gullible West Texans to Fear Jade Helm 2015

SAN ANGELO, TX -- A former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency blames Russians for the hysteria over Operation Jade Helm, with much of the military exercise happening in West Texas and the Concho Valley in 2015.  

Michael Hayden was Director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009.  In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe podcast Wednesday, Hayden said, “Russian bots and the American alt-right media convinced many Texans [that Jade Helm] was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents.”

Jade Helm is a multi-state military exercise that was conducted partly in Tom Green County beginning in 2015 and was surrounded with controversy.  Tom Green County Commissioners this week unanimously and enthusiastically approved a letter of support inviting Special Operations Forces from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to conduct exercises within the county for the next three years.  

But back in 2015, controversy swirled around the planned military exercise that would bring active duty Special Forces conducting operations at night on private property away from Goodfellow Air Force Base in Tom Green County for the first time since WWII.  Conspiracy theorists spread rumors that Jade Helm was a covert martial law plan by the Obama administration to round up dissidents and house them in vacant Walmart stores.  Some on the Internet claim that Jade Helm 15 is an exercise for our military to practice initializing martial law in the U.S. "JADE" is initials for "Joint Assistant for Deployment and Execution" and "HELM" means "Homeland Eradication of Local Militants", claims an Internet website called "Investment Watch". Investment Watch's masthead says it is "Alternative News Covering Finance, Economy, Politics, World News, Current Events and More" and is the highly-cited source of Jade Helm 15 detractors.

Alex Jones, out of Austin, took the bull by the horns and released this video, claiming the U.S. Military was using West Texans as test rabbits to try to extract the true political ideas from each person living here using technology. Watch "Jade Helm Decoded" by Jones' InfoWars.com:

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Hayden says many of the internet rumors which Jones' and others grabbed onto were actually Russian bots spreading links to conspiracy theory fake news stories and videos through Twitter and Facebook. The Russian bot campaign even convinced Texas Governor Greg Abbott to order the Texas National Guard to monitor the U.S. military exercises.  Hayden said on the podcast that Abbott’s action led the Russians to get involved in the electoral process.

As LIVE! Reported back in 2015, Noting widespread internet alarm, blog posts and martial law theories that have followed the announcement of operations in seven states, local citizen Amy Brown began her address by stating that Bastrop County and Big Spring have held public forums with Jade Helm Operations Planner Thomas Mead, and expressed interest in doing the same in Tom Green County.

A citizen journalist, Chris Martin, in San Angelo went to Sam's Club on Sherwood Way, which has a Walmart next door, to inspect the supposed materials shipped here for FEMA to use during Jade Helm 2015. Watch:

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“I know that there is a lot of conspiracy theories and a lot of, you know, concern about [a] military presence…I don’t know what it is,” Brown said. “I don’t think we’re going to FEMA camps or anything, but…I thought maybe we’d be able to come and ask questions, alleviate any concerns we have as far as what we’re looking at as far as the military presence being seen or not seen…”

Brown said she felt her concerns were legitimate and wanted to know what to expect, for example, if camping out in Christoval, where some of the operations will be underway.

Those concerns about martial law turned out to be unfounded and the military training operations have now become a routine part of life in the county. In reality, most residents of Tom Green County took the Jade Helm conspiracy theories in stride. There are 8000-9000 military veterans living in the county. Most here had an understanding of the true nature of the military exercise. County Judge Steve Floyd echoed those feelings in 2015 right before the exercises began. “I take my duties very seriously as being a county judge, and I have absolutely no concerns about this,” Floyd said. “If I did, I thought if there was any threat to our public I would certainly ask those questions and make people aware.”