PROMIS SOFTWARE: A Tale of Government Corruption, Part 3

Using some information provided by the Israelis, CIA computer wizard Michael Riconciuto improved the PROMIS program at Ido, Silver Springs, Maryland, and Miami, Florida. He was research director for the joint ventures of Wackenhut Corporation and the Cabazon Indians. At age 16, he built his own argon laser at Stanford, and his family had close ties to Richard Nixon .He also had close NSA ties and was sometimes seen at NSA contractor facilities in the Silicon Valley. Riconcuito=s operation included weapons development and testing. The Indians manufactured night vision glasses , laser-sighted assault weapons, 9 mm machine pistols, and biological weapons for the Contras. These joint projects were also tied to the government=s efforts to assist the Contras in Nicaragua, and it has been suggested that some of the profits from the sale of PROMIS were used to finance the Nicaraguan Contras.


One Indian, Fred Alvarez, who raised questions about tribal profits going into foreign banks was executed along with two companions in 1981. Ten years later, Anson Ng, a stronger for the Financial Times.was murdered in Guatemala City. He was there to interview the former CIA men who paid the murderers of the three Indians. He was also looking into the corrupt bank BCCI as well as corruption in Guatemala. He was killed with one bullet to the head and his head was propped up with twop pillows to reduce external bleeding and delay the discover of the crime. Officials said he was a victim or ordinary crime, but Senator Alan Cranston told the Senate it looked like a professional hit.

They also objected to use of the reservation to manufacture biological weapons. A security guard admitted to being the bag man who paid three former Green Berets who came in from Chicago for the hit. After making a taped interview, he disappeared. Barbara Walters reported the incident on 20/20 and raised the possibility that this was a CIA action. were slain. These joint projects were also tied to the government=s efforts to assist the Contras in Nicaragua, and it has been suggested that some of the profits from the sale of PROMIS were used to finance the Contras.

The most important modifications of PROMIS were made in 1983-1984. Riconcuito added telecommunications access to the program. .Barry R. Kumnick was one of the people involved in making later modifications to the program. Kumnick wrote his sister in Idaho that the new version was so powerful that enormous harm could be done if the wrong people got control of it. He later disappeared. His business partner now says he never heard of him. It will never be ascertained what he was referring to, but it is known that Federal Emergency Management Administration acquired PROMIS and modified it into MAINCORE, a system for keeping track of dissidents in the US so that they can be rounded up in a period of emergency. MAINCORE is housed in Cupleper, Virginia.