Lawrence Wilkerson
One-line summary: Retired U.S. Army colonel and former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell who has stated, on camera and in print, that he watched Mossad "take over the Pentagon" in 2002 — naming Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, and quoting Donald Rumsfeld himself acknowledging the infiltration.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Lawrence B. "Larry" Wilkerson |
| Role | Retired U.S. Army Colonel; former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell (2002–2005); former Director of the Marine Corps War College |
| Platform | The Real News Network, Judging Freedom (Andrew Napolitano), Dialogue Works, Responsible Statecraft, Consortium News, university lectures |
| Status | ACTIVE — publicly critical of neoconservative foreign policy and U.S.–Israel relationship |
| Notable Works | Decades of interviews and lectures on neoconservative capture of U.S. foreign policy; whistleblower account of Powell's UN Iraq WMD speech as a fabrication; classroom and media commentary at the College of William & Mary |
Background & Biography
Lawrence Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel. He served as Special Assistant to General Colin Powell when Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), then as Powell's Chief of Staff at the State Department from 2002 through Powell's tenure as Secretary of State. He directed the Marine Corps War College and now teaches government and public policy at the College of William & Mary.
Wilkerson is best known publicly for repudiating Powell's February 5, 2003 United Nations speech on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction — a speech Wilkerson helped prepare and which he later called "a hoax on the American people, the international community, and the United Nations Security Council." That experience led him to a long public second career as a critic of the neoconservative foreign-policy apparatus he served, the Iraq War he helped sell, and what he describes as foreign-intelligence and lobby influence over the U.S. national-security state.
His direct testimony about Mossad's freedom of movement inside the Pentagon during the Rumsfeld-era buildup to the Iraq War is among the most concrete first-person accounts on the public record of foreign-intelligence penetration of a U.S. defense headquarters by a serving senior officer.
Their Deep State Definition
Wilkerson's framework is institutional and operational rather than abstract. He describes a U.S. national-security state that has been progressively captured by:
- The military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned about, now grown to fuse defense contractors, intelligence agencies, and a permanent congressional war caucus.
- Neoconservative ideologues who, in his telling, drove the Iraq War and reshaped U.S. Middle East policy to serve a vision that aligned more with Israeli strategic interests than with U.S. national interests.
- Foreign intelligence services — Mossad in particular — that Wilkerson states had effectively unescorted access to senior Pentagon offices in the run-up to Iraq.
- A pliant intelligence community and Congress that ratified what the neoconservatives wanted instead of pushing back.
His critique of AIPAC and the Israel lobby, of the neoconservative / PNAC network, and of the broader national security state overlaps closely with the analyses of Philip Giraldi, Ray McGovern, and Scott Ritter — all of whom are former government insiders.
Video Testimony
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson — former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell — on Mossad's access to the Pentagon in 2002, naming Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, and quoting Donald Rumsfeld. Source: @ky_statesman on X (quote-tweet of @54BRITT54), May 23, 2026.
Transcript Summary
From the 54-second interview clip:
"And it's unquestionable that the Epstein business was heavily influenced — let me put it that way — by Mossad. And so that's somehow emblematic on these huge geopolitical issues. Yes, I watched Mossad take over the Pentagon in 2002. The Pentagon was infiltrated by Mossad. They did not need any identification to get through the river entrance to the building. They went upstairs to Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the third most powerful man in the Defense Department. Occasionally they went to the second most powerful man, Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense. And they had run of the Pentagon. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said to my boss one time, 'Hell, I don't run my building. Mossad does.'"
Key Quotes
"I watched Mossad take over the Pentagon in 2002. The Pentagon was infiltrated by Mossad. They did not need any identification to get through the river entrance to the building. They went upstairs to Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the third most powerful man in the Defense Department. Occasionally they went to the second most powerful man, Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense. And they had run of the Pentagon. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said to my boss one time, 'Hell, I don't run my building. Mossad does.'" — Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, video circulated on X, May 2026 (clip from a longer interview)
"And it's unquestionable that the Epstein business was heavily influenced — let me put it that way — by Mossad. And so that's somehow emblematic on these huge geopolitical issues." — Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, same interview clip
"[Powell's UN speech] was a hoax on the American people, the international community, and the United Nations Security Council." — Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, 60 Minutes (CBS), August 2005
"What I saw was a cabal between the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made." — Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, New America Foundation address, October 19, 2005
Key Arguments & Evidence They Cite
- Personal eyewitness testimony as Powell's Chief of Staff to the buildup of the Iraq War, the framing of intelligence, and the bureaucratic exclusion of dissenting analysis.
- Naming specific senior officials reportedly hosting Mossad visitors inside the Pentagon — Douglas Feith (Undersecretary of Defense for Policy) and Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Secretary of Defense).
- Quoting then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as having admitted, in his presence (via his boss Powell), "Hell, I don't run my building. Mossad does."
- The 2005 60 Minutes and New America Foundation disclosures of a "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal" that bypassed the normal interagency process.
- Connection between intelligence services and the Epstein blackmail operation — consistent with the broader thesis documented by Whitney Webb and others that the Epstein network functioned as an intelligence asset.
Where They've Said It
- X clip from a longer interview, May 23, 2026 — quoted in @ky_statesman post and originally reshared by @54BRITT54
- 60 Minutes (CBS), August 2005 — Powell UN speech disclosure
- New America Foundation, October 19, 2005 — "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal" address
- The Real News Network — dozens of interview segments on foreign policy, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Iran
- Judge Andrew Napolitano's Judging Freedom podcast — regular guest
- Dialogue Works (Nima Alkhorshid) — recurring interviews on the U.S. Middle East policy
- Responsible Statecraft, Consortium News — published commentary
- Lectures at the College of William & Mary, where he teaches government
Counterargument
- Critics — including former colleagues from the Bush administration — argue Wilkerson's "Mossad ran the Pentagon" testimony is anecdotal, secondhand in part (the Rumsfeld quote is reported through Powell), and unverifiable in its specific factual claims about access controls at the river entrance.
- Defenders of Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz reject the implication that meetings with Israeli officials amounted to foreign-intelligence "control" of the Pentagon; Feith in particular has publicly disputed characterizations of his role in the Office of Special Plans.
- Some analysts read Wilkerson's broader narrative as a personal rehabilitation project after the UN-speech debacle rather than disinterested analysis. Wilkerson has acknowledged his own role and culpability.
- The factual core of his Iraq War testimony — that intelligence was shaped to fit a predetermined policy — has been substantially corroborated by the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2008 report and by other insiders.
Related Perspectives
- Philip Giraldi — Former CIA counter-terrorism officer with overlapping analysis of foreign-intelligence and AIPAC influence
- Ray McGovern — Fellow former intelligence insider critic of Iraq War intelligence fabrication
- Scott Ritter — Former UNSCOM weapons inspector who publicly contradicted the Iraq WMD case
- Cynthia McKinney — Politician whose analysis names Israel as a "pervasive" player
- Israel Lobby / AIPAC — The lobby mechanism Wilkerson identifies
- Neoconservative / PNAC Network — The ideological network he served and now critiques
- National Security State — The hybrid structure he describes
- Seymour Hersh — Investigative journalist who has reported on the same Cheney-Rumsfeld nexus
Impact & Influence
- Provides one of the most direct on-the-record insider testimonies of foreign-intelligence access to the Pentagon by a senior officer who served at the Secretary-of-State level.
- His repudiation of the Powell UN speech became a central reference point for retrospective analyses of the Iraq War's intelligence failures.
- Cited regularly by independent foreign-policy outlets and by Responsible Statecraft, the Quincy Institute, and Consortium News as a credible insider voice on neoconservative capture.
Other Coverage Worth Reading
- Philip Giraldi: Former CIA officer who openly states that AIPAC functions as an unregistered foreign agent.
- Mike Lofgren: 28-year congressional staffer who coined the U.S. usage of "deep state."
- Whitney Webb: Documents Epstein as intelligence-organized crime fusion — corroborating Wilkerson's Mossad/Epstein claim.
- Cynthia McKinney: Six-term congresswoman who paid the price for naming Israel's role in U.S. politics.
X.com posts:
Sources
- Wilkerson, Lawrence. Interview clip circulated May 23, 2026 — original via @54BRITT54; quote-tweet by @ky_statesman.
- CBS News, 60 Minutes. "The Man Who Knew." August 2005.
- Wilkerson, Lawrence. Address at the New America Foundation, Washington D.C., October 19, 2005.
- The Real News Network. Multiple Wilkerson interviews, 2010–2024. therealnews.com.
- Judge Andrew Napolitano. Judging Freedom. Multiple Wilkerson appearances, 2022–2026.
- Responsible Statecraft / Quincy Institute. Wilkerson commentary. responsiblestatecraft.org.
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information. June 2008.
Status: Alive
This information was compiled by Claude AI research.