Huck, Dr. Susan. Legal Terrorism: The Truth About the Christic Institute. New World Publishing, 1989. 171 pages.

Susan Huck is a conservative ex-Capitol Hill aide who produced this book with assistance from Theodore Shackley and other fans of U.S. covert activities. It suffers from red-baiting and too many gratuitous slurs.

Yet Huck has some valid points, and she did some homework. There were problems with the Christic Institute -- most particularly with Daniel Sheehan (Harvard Law 1970 and also Harvard Divinity), who frequently seemed to be long on style and short on substantive research. He founded Christic with his wife Sara Nelson and Jesuit William J. Davis in 1981. Nelson is connected to Hollywood entertainers with deep pockets. After working the Karen Silkwood case, Christic took on plaintiffs Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey. Avirgan's injuries from a bomb in Nicaragua offered a hook for a RICO-conspiracy civil suit against an array of ex-CIA types. Ideological glue was provided by Christic's theory that the same "secret team" had been running things for forty years. Nelson's advance work for Sheehan's slick speeches, along with the Jesuit connection to churches, brought in up to $50,000 per week for the Christic road show. Meanwhile, the ex-spooks were deposed through discovery proceedings that Sheehan, who was enjoying himself, tried to drag out. In the end it was thrown out of court, and Christic was assessed $1 million for the defendants' legal expenses.
ISBN 0-9624273-3-0

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