What is Bilderberg?
And Why Does It Matter?
If you've never heard the word "Bilderberg," don't feel as though you are
uninformed. Some of the best-read, most-widely-traveled folks on the planet
have no knowledge of this organization— formally known by its leadership
and members as "The Bilderberg Meetings."
For more than 50 years, acting as a global ruling elite, Bilderberg's very
name and activities remain largely hidden in the shadows, despite its
immense clout in directing world affairs.
Although, in 1992, Larry Pope, the executive editor of the Asheville,
North Carolina Citizen Times newspaper told one of his readers in a letter
that "to my knowledge, such an organization does not exist and a media
conspiracy to keep its existence a secret would be ludicrous," the evidence
shows otherwise.
Now with the release of Bilderberg Diary by veteran journalist James P.
Tucker Jr., those who've never known of Bilderberg will get a first-hand
account of its history (and its misdeeds) from the one journalist who has
doggedly tailed the Bilderbergers all over the United States and Europe for
the last quarter century.
Although the mass media in the United States—both print and broad-
cast—has determinedly suppressed news and information about—and the
very existence of—Bilderberg, Tucker has estab-
lished himself as the world's foremost authority on
Bilderberg, reporting on their intrigues in the pages
of D.C.-based American Free Press.
In Bilderberg Diary Jim Tucker lays out—for the
first time—his entire remarkable history of covering
Bilderberg, his infiltration of Bilderberg meetings,
the procurement of their private documents, and the
shining of the spotlight of public scrutiny on
Bilderberg's shadowy affairs.
Tucker's colorful prose will introduce you to the
little-known arena of the Bilderberg elite, a
memorable and panoramic journey that lays bare the
realities behind modern-day international power
politics in a way never seen before.
Tucker outside the secret
Bilderberg meeting in
Versailles, 2003
Jim Tucker's
Bilderberg
Diary
One Reporter's 25-Year Battle to
Shine the Light on the World
Shadow Government
Table of Contents
Foreword by Christopher Bollyn................................................ i
Preface: What Is Bilderberg ...................................................... 1
Chapter 1: The Early Years ..................................................... 13
Chapter 2: Quebec, 1983......................................................... 21
Chapter 3: Saltsjobaden, 1984 ................................................. 27
Chapter 4: White Plains, 1985................................................. 31
Chapter 5: Gleneagles, 1986.................................................... 41
Chapter 6: Cernobbio, 1987 ................................................... 47
Chapter 7: Innsbruck, 1988...................................................... 51
Chapter 8: La Toja, 1989 ........................................................ 57
Chapter 9: Glen Cove, 1990..................................................... 63
Chapter 10: Baden-Baden, 1991 .............................................. 71
Chapter 11: Evian, 1992 .......................................................... 83
Chapter 12: Vouliagmeni, 1993 ............................................... 91
Chapter 13: Helsinki, 1994 ..................................................... 97
Chapter 14: Burgenstock, 1995 ..............................................103
Chapter 15: King City, 1996....................................................119
Chapter 16: Lake Lanier, 1997 ...............................................127
Chapter 17: Turnberry, 1998 ................................................. 141
Chapter 18: Sintra, 1999 ........................................................ 149
Chapter 19: Brussels, 2000 .................................................... 161
Chapter 20: Gothenburg, 2001 ...............................................171
Chapter 21: Chantilly, 2002 .................................................... 179
Chapter 22: Versailles, 2003 ..................................................193
Chapter 23: Stresa, 2004 ........................................................203
Chapter 24: Rottach-Egern, 2005 ............................................211
Afterword: Masters of the Universe by Willis A. Carto ..........218
Appendix 1: Attendee Lists ....................................................221
Appendix 2: The Bilderberg Blackout ....................................230
Appendix 3: Bilderberg Strikes Back......................................242
Appendix 4: Bilderberg Meeting Sites ...................................248
Index: .....................................................................................250
Powerbrokers Meet...
2000—Brussels, Belgium: Christopher Bollyn
photographed slash-and-burn speculator George Soros
talking with Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of
Sweden and the UN special envoy to the Balkans.
Following the U.S. bombing of the former Yugoslavia in
1999, Soros was looking to invest heavily in the Balkans
in 2000. Most likely Soros and Bildt were not dis-
cussing the latest baseball scores.
F O R E W O R D
BY C H R I S T O P H E R B O L L Y N
2005
Life in the Shadows
With a Bilderberg Hound
When I began working with the populist newspaper, called The
Spotlight, in June 2000, my very first assignment was to accompany
Jim Tucker, the paper's senior reporter, to the annual meeting of the
secretive group known as Bilderberg, which was taking place in a
five-star resort near Brussels, Belgium. Although I had heard about
Bilderberg, I knew very little about this secret gathering. I had read
Jim's earlier reports, but I wondered how such high-profile figures
could meet with no mention in the mainstream press.
And that's how I found myself, for the next four years, attending the
annual gathering of Bilderberg, photographing those elite politicians,
power brokers and bankers, who gathered every year to talk candidly
about the most important issues—matters that affect all of our
lives—behind locked and heavily guarded doors. Upon arriving in
Switzerland on May 31, 2000, I took Jim's advice and followed his
usual routine. The day before the group was scheduled to arrive, I
traveled to Genval, near Brussels, Belgium, and checked into the site
of that year's meeting at the Chateau du Lac. However, I was told I
could only stay for one night as this multi-million-dollar resort had
been completely booked for the weekend by a group of important
people.
ii Bilderberg Diary
I poked around the grounds and hallways to see if there was
anything that might confirm Tucker's information that this was actually
the place that Bilderberg would convene. Though hotel staff claimed
not to know anything about the group, which would be taking over the
hotel for the next four days, I could see that conference rooms were
busily being prepared and I sensed that the employees had been
lectured to keep their mouths shut about the caliber of individuals who
would be attending that coming weekend.
As I've learned, this is always the case.
It was not until early the next morning, however, that I began to
notice the extent to which this enigmatic group goes to lock down the
site.
I looked out the window and saw a team of special security agents
walking around the front of the hotel. It certainly looked like
something very important was about to take place.
After breakfast, I checked out of the hotel. Taking my camera bag, I
went for a stroll along the lake. There was a road that passed directly
in front of the hotel and beyond the road was a small park and lake.
There were several benches conveniently located in front of the hotel.
In the beginning I was by myself, but as the morning progressed more
and more people began to stroll past the hotel. It was Thursday, June 1,
2000, and because it was a bank holiday in Belgium many local people
had the day off. As I was perched with my cameras in front of the hotel,
passers by would ask me if I knew what was going on. A Belgian
journalist thought that a famous football team was staying at the hotel. I
had some copies of Spotlight material about the Bilderberg group with
me and explained that it was a very different kind of team that was
expected at the hotel. I told him that this team included people like
Queen Beatrix of Holland, Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, and
perhaps even President Bill Clinton. He came back later and actually
wrote a story about Bilderberg. The local people became quite
interested in the possibility of seeing celebrities and would
2004—Stresa, Italy: Henry Kissinger, a perennial Bilderberger, walks along Lake
Maggiore, the scenic venue for the 2004 meeting. That year, Kissinger joined Bill Gates
and other luminaries in this northern Italian town.
return to ask who had arrived. Some American women who had
memberships at the hotel's fitness club looked at the Bilderberg
material and recognized Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the famous lawyer,
political advisor and confidant to Clinton. They had seen Jordan in the
spa talking on a phone wearing only a towel and had noticed the
scars he bears from having been shot outside a Fort Wayne, Ind.,
motel in 1980.
Foreword iii
iv Bilderberg Diary
When word spread among the locals that the high and mighty of the
world were really coming to the Chateau du Lac, a crowd began to
form along the road in front of the hotel. Whenever a car would drive
up, I would try to position myself for a photo with my telephoto lens.
People would come to me and ask, "Who was that?" Often, they
would tell me who they thought they had seen.
While the local people enjoyed the party atmosphere, I could see
that Bilderberg security was becoming very uneasy with the scene in
front of the hotel. The unexpected crowd had completely ruined their
plans for the Bilderberg guests to slip into the hotel unnoticed. With
dozens of people crowded around the front of the hotel there was very
little Bilderberg security could do without drawing even more
attention to the secretive group. A few Bilderberg hounds, like Tony
Gosling from England, were on hand and a young boy with a camera was
even waiting by the front door trying to take photos of the rich and
famous guests.
The next day, things were different. I arrived at the hotel early to
find that two tents had been set up by the front door of the hotel.
When a car arrived it would drive into one tent so that the passengers
could pass into the hotel without being seen. With President Clinton
scheduled to receive the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, on the Belgian-
German border, there was anticipation he would suddenly show up to
meet with the Bilderberg group.
At midday, the Bilderberg attendees began to come out for a break
in the fresh air. John M. Deutch, the Belgian-born former Director of the
Central Intelligence Agency, came out with two Americans and walked
right into range of my camera. I was busy running around trying to get
photos of the individuals and groups as they walked near the lake. As
long as I didn't get in anybody's way, there was very little Bilderberg
security could do; the roadway was public property. Then two
individuals came out from the tented doorway. There were security
men all around these two. They walked quickly toward the side of the
hotel. I immediately recognized these two Bilderberg men: the
infamous currency
Foreword v
speculator George Soros and Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of
Sweden and the UN Special Envoy to the Balkans. I spoke politely to
Bildt as the two made their way to the side yard of the hotel. Not
wanting to offend, I didn't ask Bildt the question that I should have:
"Mr. Bildt, what do you know about the smuggling of Soviet
weapons on the Estonia ferry?"
That question would have certainly shocked Bildt, who was
Sweden's prime minister when the ferry sank with the loss of 852
lives on Sept. 28, 1994.
Soros was visibly uneasy about being photographed with Bildt,
who was serving as special envoy for the UN secretary general in the
former Yugoslavia. Bildt was serving UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan, who is married to Nane, a Wallenberg and niece of the
disappeared Raoul Wallenberg.
The photographs 1 took of Bildt and Soros are my favorite photos
from four years of covering Bilderberg conferences. They were also
the last photos I was able to take that year. The conference had just
begun, but Bilderberg security decided that I had to go.
In front of the hotel—on public property—the security chief came
up to me and stood directly in front of me with two of his thugs on
each side of me. "If you don't stop running behind people and taking
pictures," he said, "I'm going to jump all over you."
I took my camera bag and went to the nearby restaurant, which I
knew was not owned by the man who owned the hotel. I called Jim
from the restaurant and told him what had happened and he advised
me to leave. On the street, two Belgian security thugs were watching
me. I called a taxi and waited for what seemed like ages.
Finally the taxi arrived and took me to the Brussels train station. I
remember having to run across the tracks in front of the locomotive
and jumping on a train at the very last minute. The conductor quickly
came to see if I was alright. I breathed a sigh of