In a scenario that seems straight from the pages of a Hollywood screenplay; the events that played out during seven days in December, 1971 revealed that the Pentagon had poised itself against the White House. The Pentagon's Chief Investigator W. Donald Stewart remarked: When we broke Radford [Yeoman Charles E.] that night, that's where I got the Seven Days in May idea. I said "Jesus Christ, here's the military actually spying on the President of the United States . . . this is a hanging offense."

Even Nixon himself declared that the Joint Chiefs had committed "a federal offense of the highest order." Oval Office meeting 12/21/71

On December 14, America will celebrate an anniversary that is unfamiliar to most citizens. Seven pivotal days in our history, which plays out like a scenario straight from the pages of a Hollywood screenplay, reveal that the Pentagon had poised itself against the White House. Bordering on treason, Nixon and his aids were ignorant of these events until they read Jack Anderson's syndicated column in the Washington Post titled "US Tilts to Pakistan." In this article, Anderson explained that America was backing Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War; while this may not seem significant, the reason for the "tilt" was because Pakistan had relationship with Red China -- a country that Richard Nixon was attempting to court. While newsworthy, only the highest levels of the White House and Pentagon staff had access to such top-secret information.

During the next seven days, White House and Pentagon investigation teams sprang into action, and soon found the immediate culprit, Charles E. Radford. Radford was a career US Navy Yeoman who worked in the National Security Council offices and frequently copied classified documents and even admitted to rifling through Kissinger's briefcase. His confession and that of his superior, Admiral Robert O. Welander, began to unravel the trail of espionage that stretched back thirteen months to November 1970. According to this historical perspective, it began when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer became suspicious of the foreign policy decisions of Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. These policies included how Nixon was running the war in Vietnam, his pursuit of détente with the Soviets and his plans to open up trade with China. In short, the military feared that Nixon was selling out the United States to our greatest enemies: the Communists. For this reason, a spy ring was organized inside the White House's National Security Council office for the purpose of stealing the President's most important secrets and to undermine his policies. This led to the dramatic events of December 21, 1971 -- the seventh day.

On that day, Nixon learned of the spy operations in all its minute details, and made a fateful decision, one that would deeply affect the curse of his administration and be a factor in its demise in 1974. When told of the spy operation, Nixon initially declared it a "federal offense of the highest order." But he did not demand that anyone be prosecuted. Rather, he covered up what he learned that day, and would later re-appoint Moorer as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The spy ring and his lack of reaction and retaliation would remain the deepest and most closely guarded secret of his Administration. The President even managed to conceal the presence of the spy ring during the Watergate scandal, when revealing it might well have saved his presidency. In later years he refused to acknowledge the truth about it even when confronted with the strongest available evidence -- taking the secret to his grave.

"Silent Coup" is the "seminal" work on the "spy ring". I started my research on this topic with "Silent Coup" and have drawn extensively from it."

Woodward’s Ties to Spy Ring: How He Covered Them Up!

“Woodward's lack of disclosure calls into question every story he has ever pitched, edited or written.”

- By Ray Locker and Len Colodny

Bob Woodward (U.S. Naval Institute)On January 12, 1974, the nation's hottest young reporting duo had a story on the front page of the Washington Post that had tremendous national security and political ramifications: the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was receiving secrets stolen from the White House 1

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had the story, based on Woodward’s sources. It came at a difficult time for the White House, as President Nixon was spiraling toward resignation.

But despite the story's potential impact, Post readers only knew part of the story. They did not know, because Woodward did not tell them, that he was writing about his former boss and a longtime associate and patron during the time he served in the Navy. (He began working at the Post just one year after leaving the Navy.) The story did not reveal the true scope of what became known as the Moorer-Radford spy ring.