File 022 · 1946–1990 · Stay-behind networks

Operation Gladio

After the war the West built secret 'stay-behind' armies in several European countries, to fight on if the Soviet Union invaded. Italy's network, Gladio, was revealed in 1990.

Background

In the early Cold War, Western European governments, working with US and British intelligence and with NATO planners, created secret networks of armed volunteers who were meant to organize resistance behind the lines if the Soviets overran their country. Such networks existed in Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and other states. Their weapons were hidden in caches in forests and cellars.

The Italian network, named Gladio ('sword'), came to public attention in 1990. A judge investigating a 1972 bombing, Felice Casson, found documents pointing to a secret structure. In October 1990 Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti confirmed its existence to parliament. Other countries soon admitted they had had similar networks.

What the record shows

• The existence of the Italian network was confirmed by the head of government.
• Arms caches belonging to the network were found in Italy in 1972 and again in 1990.
• Belgium, Switzerland and other countries held their own parliamentary inquiries and confirmed that stay-behind networks existed.
• The European Parliament passed a resolution in November 1990 calling for full disclosure.

Timeline

• 1946–56 Stay-behind networks are set up in several Western European countries.
• 1972 A car bomb at Peteano in Italy kills three police officers; its later investigation uncovers weapons linked to the network.
• Oct 1990 Andreotti publicly confirms the existence of Gladio.
• Nov 1990 The European Parliament adopts a resolution condemning the networks' secrecy.
• 1990 Switzerland reveals its own network, called P-26, after a parliamentary inquiry.
• 2000 An Italian parliamentary commission publishes a report on Gladio and the 'strategy of tension'.

Checking the claims

The claim: Western governments built secret armies. This is confirmed. The more serious claim is that the networks carried out or helped terror attacks in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, the so-called 'strategy of tension', to push the country away from the left. Some investigators and a parliamentary commission argued that parts of the state tolerated or helped far-right violence.

Courts, however, have not established that Gladio as an organization carried out bombings such as the 1980 Bologna station attack. The convicted bombers were members of neo-fascist groups, and what links existed with state officials is still disputed. The accepted part of the record is the secret network. The most explosive claims about what it did are not proven in court.

Claimed, but not shown

The claim that Gladio planned and carried out the major Italian terror attacks has not been proven in court.

Verdict

Sources

• European Parliament, Resolution on the Gladio affair (22 November 1990)
• Italian Parliament, Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo e sulle stragi (2000)
• Swiss Parliament inquiry report on P-26 (1990)
• Daniele Ganser, NATO's Secret Armies (2005), as a secondary account

Connected files (red threads)

• Operation Ajax: the 1953 Iran coup — Another Cold War covert operation later acknowledged
• Operation Paperclip — Cold War intelligence choices made in secret
• The Church Committee and the 'Family Jewels' — Parallel disclosures about secret Cold War activities

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