The eve of destruction. The untold story of the yam kiper war in 2003. American lightning terror of mystery and the birth of hollywood and the crime of the centuryo 2008. A floor of heaven, a true tale of the last frontier and the uconn gold rush in 2011. I should also mention that Warner Brothers is preparing ax film of dark invasion starring Bradley Cooper as tom, the hero of the book. Please welcome, howard blum. [ applause ]. Pick up a newspaper and just glance at the headline. Check out the internet and read almost any post. Theres news about terrorism anywhere and its all very frightening. It will keep you up at night. One day theyre saying new york city is a target. The next day is chicago. Then las vegas, even the air force academy. The president tells us that we dont have to worry. Isis is not going to attack the homeland yet. Then a republican president ial candidate comes out and says, well, maybe we do have to worry. Our borders are very pourus, but theres no doubt about it, my children are growing up in a world of terrorism. Terrorism has become part of the dna of the times in which we live. So consider this very harrowing scenario. A terrorist cell well;p finance covertly enters america. They set up their headkwauters and they become bombing munition factories and depots. A bomb rocks the u. S. Capitol building. The nations richest man is targeted in a bold assassination attempt. From a covert bio warfare lab just six miles from the white house, a bio warfare attack is launched on three american cities. The president is told by his chief adviser this is a time of fear. We have to worry that bridges and subways and buildings all around the country are going to be attacked. And the government in response puts forms a task force to look for these terrorists. Its headed by a new York City Policemen and he goes off. With just 12 men, he tries to bring these terrorists to justice. Now, this scenario that ive outlined sounds like its a movie and it would makeb a prety good movie or it would be a game, play at the pentagon as they try to figure out whats the next terrorist attack going to be made against the homeland. But in reality, all this happened. This happened in 1915. And its a story i tell in dark invasion and a story i want to share a little about tonight. The story begins really its a time when the u. S. Is still neutral while europe is at war. In germany, theyve decided to target the United States. They decide that the only way to keep the United States out of the war is to bring terror to our shores. They decide that they need to stop the United States from sending arms and material to the allies who are fighting against germany. So they begin to target the United States. Its a time when the United States realizes that this is a nation full of targets. The cia has looked back on this period and they point to this homeland and the man who is made in charge of this defense of the homeland, captain tom tony and ill speak about him, really is the first head of Homeland Security. He and his little 12man squad are really the precursers of a Homeland Security network which now has 240,0p÷ people and an annual budget of 98. 8 billion. Its also a time where we learn to live with fear. Now, to understand where this story begins, i think we have to go back to two months before the war, before the war has broken out in europe. And we have to go to germany, berlin where walter nick lie, a major in the german army is head of the german secret service. Walter served on the russian front. He sent agents deep into russia. He sent up the german spies academies and theyve sent agents into france, into england and as i said, into russia. But suddenly occurs to him, as war is about to begin, he knows in a couple of months, the germans have taken their battle plans out of the safe and dusted them off, he suddenly realized weve forgotten about the United States. In the United States, as 1914, the summer of 1914 approaches, germany only has one agent in the entire country, a 70yearold man who works in a munitions factory in new jersey and hesab supposed to monitor e entire munitions industry of the United States. So walter realizes that something has to be done. If germany is going to win this war, which is about to break out, we have to keep the u. S. Out of the war. We have to keep the u. S. Military machine if its ever built up from working against the germans, and we have to prevent the United States from sending the supplying the ally. So, hezppj decides that the only we can do this, only way thatcf germany can do this, is to set up a clan desen network. He summens germanys ambassadors to the United States, count yohan bernstof. He gets this mysterious summens to report back immediately to berlin for meetings. He is upset about this because he has his whole summer planned. He has a rich american wife with an estate on the north shore and has a girlfriend with her house in new port, rhode island. He figures hell spend part of the summer with his wife because she has all the money and high tail it off to new port to spend the rest of the summer with his girlfriend and going to parties up there. Now hes been summoned back to berlin and its a bit of an inconvenience. He hopes to get it over rather quickly. He goes off to berlin and hes brought down to walters Head Quarters really. Its a basement room underneath berlin and hes a little off. Hes a count and ambassador and being lectured to by a major. He listens and hes tof that he is going to head the german spy network in america. Hes upset about this because hes a gentleman and a spy is little beneath him, but he realizes hes told whats at stake and then given a briefcase. In the briefcase are 150 million in treasury notes. And hes told to bring this money into the United States. Hes to travel back under an assumed name. If the ship is boarded by inspectors dont let them get this money. Better to throw it into the sea than to let the british get their hands on it. And so, he comes back to the United States. He brings the money with him. And he begins to set up his organization. During the day, he lives as cover, as they say in this spy business, very well. Hes still going out to parties all around washington. He is still on the social circuit. Po he is also has sent his agent, his military and naval partners to run this spy network. And theyre based in Lower Manhattan around wall street and theyve also been able to recruit many assets to work with them. Not only is there a large german population in new york, for example, in yorkville who were sympathetic to the fatherland, but also ships had been interred in new york harbor and hoboken and these are filled with german sailors that cant get back to germany because of the war and they have nothing to do and theyre looking to help the father fla fatherland in any way. This is an army that is really based in new york thats at Germanys Beck and call. They have 150 million to spend. So they start beginning sabotage. They set up a safe house in new york, not too far from here on west 15th street. Its funded by funds from the German Government run by martha held, a former opera singer. They meet there late at night and its a great cover to planetary ris activities because anyone who is watching it is nob surprised to see men coming and going at all hours of the night. So they begin to do this and suddenly ships are blowing up at sea, munitions factories are going up in smoke and the american authorities really dont know whats going on. Is this an industrial plague of industrial accidents . Is there a labor protest . They really dont suspect that germany could be behind this. Then the british share some information with us. The british since the start of the war have been intercepting germanys cable. And they have broken the code. They do it in the old building. They get a whole bunch of oxford dons and cambridge dons and they are able, very ingeniously, brilliantly, in fact, to break the german code and theyre reading germanys messages and they read them and they say, oh my gosh, theyve declared war, even though there isnt a real declaration of war against the United States. So they pass this on to the sfral government. The man in charge of intelligence activities at that time is james poke. He has to do something about this. President wilson says, well, look into it. He really doesnt take it too seriously. Polk has to figure out what to do. The fbi is at this point a very feeble organization. The men arent even allowed to carry guns. Military intelligence, Naval Intelligence of all due respect to any members who might be here wasnt functioning very well in 1914. So he decides,2y5h because we w to groten prep school up in new england and the new York City Police chief went to groten and his chief deputy went to groten, theyre all groten and harvard men, to go to the oldboy network. And he goes to them and he says, maybe you can help me with this. He trusts them when he doesnt trust people in the federal government. So arthur woods, the new York City Police chief who taught at groten for a while after his graduation from harvard, he and his deputy guy skull decide that theyve got just the man. Hes an irish street god, tom. At this point hes heading the bomb squad. The bomb squad in those days is really not concerned with with the people who make them. And they tell him he has just run a very successful cover operation, one of the first undercover operation ever in the history of the new York City Police department. A Anarchist Group is going to put a bomb in st. Patricks cathedral. He had one of his men infiltrate his group. They were able to grab the bomb that was left out in front and stop it from being stop it from exploding. From exploding. And this has given him a great5 deal of credibility with the department, so hes called to a secret meeting at the new York City PoliceHead Quarters on center street, the big dome building is now luxury condominiums that go for several Million Dollars a piece. And in the commissioners private office, theres a backway in the back of the building, you go up a prooit elevator into a wood panel room with the fire going and there is the commissioner and his deputy guy skull and theyre telling him we have this mission for you. We want you to, in effect, be head of Homeland Security. They say were going to give you a special office right across the way above a bar. You answer only to us. Take the men you need. Set up this group and figure out what is going b on. So tuny is looks at the problem and he really doesnt quite know where to begin. The first thing hes learned he doesnt want married men in the unit. Hes afraid that this will be too dangerous. And hes learning as he goes along. Hes never done this before. Hes never been a spy catcher. He then recruits people who speak german, but then he decides, well, i wont have any people who werent born in this country. I dont want any german immigrants on my team because i cant trust them. He looks for a shooting range, which is in the basement of this building. Its now an 8 million coop. The Police Shooting range runs for 8 million and he recruits a guy who had very good scores there, another guy he describes as being as big as the biggest building at the time. He gets guys who were good at surveillance. Men who were good at tapping phones an he makes this 12man team and theyre given this ou going on. Bring these terrorists, bring these germans to justice. At the same time in germany, major dnicoli is not really hay with the progress. He is a professional spy and he needed a professional agent to really run this group. So he recruits members from Naval Intelligence. A man by the name of van ritalin before the war worked in the United States and london. In london he learned how to dress. He discovered a tailer who made up outfits for him. When he worked in new york he added the von to his name. He is given this mission to go to the United States and wage wars, as he puts it, against america, against the 48 states. He describes himself as a dark invader and he comes to the United States under a pseudo name, baring a swiss passport. He has codes so he can communicate back with germany. He establishes himself in the new York Yacht Club onaf 44th street. He gets a suite of rooms there and at night hes out on the town in white ties going to parties, very successful banker, but during the day, from an office down on wall street, hes running a sabotage campaign against the United States and a terror campaign. He is a spider spinning his web and the web hes spinning is a very ingenious one and ultimately tuny and van ritalin are involved in a cat and mouse game as was mentioned when i was introduced Warner Brothers is doing a movie about dark invasion and the crux of the movie, as has been written and sort of taken my story which is true, taken some dramatic liberties, the script does work really well is really a cat and mouse game between von ritalin and tom tuny, between these two very complex personalities. Each one is ruthless and determined in their own way and its a real battle. The plotsyw that von ritalin sps in the United States let me give you an idea of some of them. One is an ingenious invention is to sabotage ships at sea as they leave the new york harbor after theyve been loaded with ammunitions that will go to france or england or russia. One of his men invents whats called a cigar bomb. Its a piece of metal tubing about the size of a cigar. In the middle of it is a bit of copperplating and the other side is acidthat will eat through the plating in the middle in a number of days. They throw this into the bowels. Many of the stevedores are irish and theyre willing because any enemy of england is their friend. Theyre willing to work with these german terrorists and they put them in the ships going off to sea and then two days out at blow up and the evidence doesnt exist anymore because its all been come busted in the explosion and tuny has to figure out how this is done. Another plot he haslw to deal wh is germ warfare. In 1907 in a former stables that was turned into a Veterinary Clinic outside of berlin, the German Government had begun experimenting with an tracks and glander. When mustard gas begins being used in the battlefields of europe, why not bring it here to the United States . Why not use that in america . The real target is war horses. The corrals of horses that have been gathered up and being shipped to the war that are so necessary for fighting in world war i. They decide, well poison these animals. But there are ancillary incidents and people die from germ warfare in the United States. The main agent who is doing this is a doctor. This doctor is this sort of enemy agent that we still worry about today. He was born in the United States then he goes off to germany to study medicine. Hes living in germany when the germans. But he has an american passport. His father, in fact, won the congressional medal of honor in the civil war and now hes also of german decent and hes theyre willing now to help germany. So he comes to the United States. Hes given money by nicoli and he sets up a germ warfare factory, in effect. He sets it up six miles from the white house in a house hes r kur the basement and hes his sister lives upstairs and in the basement he and his brother who used to run a brewery are brewing up vats or test tubes really of an tracksn and glanders. He brought the cultures over ts producing they recruit interns to spread them in the port of new york, in baltimore, and in new orleans. And theres a germ warfare attack on three american cities. People die as these germs are spread. There have been several deaths that only after the war did the u. S. Authorities are being caused by germ warfare. And tom tuny has to try to stop this. An attack on america that he does not quite understand. Then theres another lot, rather interesting. The assassination plot on jp morgan jr. Jp morgan jr. Is now heading a consortium of banks that are lending over 900 million to the allies, to russia, france, and largely england. And Walter Nicoli and van ritalin are going to stop this. And the way to stop these loans, which are funding the allied war is to get rid of jp morgan jr. But that brings them to find the perfect person to do this, which turns out to be a man by the name of eric munter. In 1906 eric munter is a professor at harvard. He is teaching german there and is also expecting his second child. But his wife is having a difficult pregnancy. He leaves his Harvard Office everyday, he goes home to see her and he spoon feeds her every night this special broth that hes made to help her through this difficult pregnancy and÷ hes a very solicitous husband. The neighbors talk about how much he cares about his wife. The nurses report him. Oh, professor munter, he cares so much about her. And despite her illness, she is able to give birth and everything seems okay but then four days afterwards she dies. And munter is filled with grief and he decides that he will bring the baby the newborn baby and his other infant baby with him to his inlaws house in chicago. Theyll bury his wife leona the