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This month in 1799, George Washington died of illness at his Mount Vernon home. His death might have come decades earlier -- greatly changing America’s history -- if not for the actions of John Jay, the founding father of U.S. counterintelligence. https://www.intel.gov/index.php/wall-of-spies/john-jay
Patriot, statesman & diplomat, John Jay’s foray into counterintelligence began in 1776, when he headed a NY State executive body called the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies -- the nation’s first dedicated counterintelligence agency.
In 1776, the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies under John Jay was investigating a loyalist plan for a surprise attack on the Continental Army in New York City, when it uncovered a plot against General George Washington.
A number of George Washington’s elite bodyguards, the “Life Guards,” had allied themselves with the British and plotted to capture or kill Washington. John Jay and his Committee unraveled the plot and one of the guards was executed for his involvement.
Last December, @NCSCgov and @inteldotgov unveiled a digital addition to the “Wall of Spies” focusing on John Jay – a framer of the Constitution, the first Chief Justice of the U.S., and America’s counterintelligence pioneer.
