DEAD SEA DISCOVERIES

In terms of key and integral world events, 1947 was a year of profoundly deep and significant proportions. United States President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which paved the way for the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The first, priceless collection of what have famously become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls was found in caves at Qumran, an ancient and historic site on the West Bank. At the White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, a collection of fruit flies made history when they became the first living creatures to reach the fringes of space, after being blasted into the skies above aboard a captured German World War II–era V-2 rocket. The age of the flying saucer was famously ushered in, after American pilot Kenneth Arnold witnessednine strange-looking aircraft flying close to Mount Rainier, Washington State. And, many UFO researchers believe an alien spacecraft crashed on harsh, remote desert land outside Roswell, New Mexico. Singular, unconnected events in a world constantly in a state of change, development, and wonder? Or integral parts of a greater, and very old, puzzle guided by the mysterious hands of destiny, fate, and grand design? Most people would probably say the former. But, sometimes, the majority are wrong — devastatingly so, even.

Secrets of the Caves

Close to 1,000 in number, the Dead Sea Scrolls represent a veritable treasure-trove of early written material from almost every book of the Old Testament, chiefly dating from around 150 BC to 70 BC. Their amazing discovery dates back to February 1947, when, along with his young cousin, Muhammad edh-Dhib, then only a teenager, stumbled across a series of caves at Qumran on the northwest side of the Dead Sea, which borders Jordan to the east, and Israel to the west. Upon exploring one particular cave, edh-Dhib was amazed to find a number of ancient texts, carefully and faithfully recorded on aged parchment. edh-Dhib excitedly scooped up the items and, with his cousin in tow, raced back home to his family's Bedouin camp to show them his discovery. It didn't take long before word got around that something unusual had been unearthed. In fact, matters began to spiral with extraordinary speed when talk of the scrolls began to heat up in and around Bethlehem, particularly when more scrolls were found in 11 other caves, and throughout a period of time that extended up until 1956.

Those immediate times after edh-Dhib's discovery were distinctly wild and turbulent ones. The Syrian Orthodox Church expressed its firm interest in seeing the scrolls, as did representatives of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Interested parties in the Vatican secretly negotiated to buy some of the scrolls; others in the field of biblical archaeology scrambled to see them and examine them; and some scholars called for the scrolls to be placed under official control and oversight, lest they be spread far and wide, possibly even becoming catastrophically lost or destroyed.

Due to circumstances provoked by the turbulent Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the scrolls were hastily transported to Lebanon for safe-keeping. Six years later, they were up for sale and were ultimately sold for $250,000 and transferred to the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. Then, after the Six-Day War of 1967, the scrolls ended up at the Shrine of the Brook, an arm of the Jerusalem-based Israel Museum, where they continue to reside to this very day. There is, however, yet another story of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is one filled with, and fueled by, dark conspiracy and involves none other than the CIA.

An Encounter at the Embassy

While extraordinary findings were being made at Qumran, historic events were unfolding in the United States. Back in late 1944, William J. Donovan, who was the founder of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), arguably the earliest incarnation of what eventually became the CIA, mused upon the idea of establishing the ultimate intelligence-gathering agency. It was designed to act as the nation's focal point for securing and analyzing data relevant and vital to U.S. national security and the defense of the nation. The ambitious idea was of great interest to the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. With the battle still on to defeat Germany, Italy, and Japan, however, survival was the primary name of the game. It was not until July 26, 1947, two years after world peace had been restored, that this ultimate secret agency finally came into being, when Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, passed the National Security Act. The Central Intelligence Agency was duly born.

The very idea that the newly created CIA might have played an integral, albeit deeply clandestine, role in the saga of the Dead Sea Scrolls sounds manifestly bizarre in the extreme. But, in this particular case, the old adage about truth being far stranger than fiction really does apply. As an example of the speed with which the CIA became a major player on the world stage, within weeks of its establishment, its coiling tentacles had spread far and wide. A sizeable number of its newly recruited staff had previously been employed as deep-cover, overseas operatives and assets in the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Central Intelligence Group (CIG). Many of them, therefore, were already in place to ensure the successful growth of the CIA's new presence and influence at a global level.

One of those who went on to play an intriguing and significant role in the formative years of the CIA — and who had previously served with the Strategic Services Unit (the remnants of the OSS) and the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) — was Miles Axe Copeland, Jr. Back in 1947, Copeland was working to both develop and further expand U.S. interests in the ancient city of Damascus, the capital of Syria. In fact, Copeland was nothing less than the CIA's station officer there — a prestigious position, indeed. Agency personnel are trained to deal with unpredictability, with do-or-die decisions, and with breaking, escalating events. But, perhaps, even Copeland was unprepared for what was certainly the most memorably odd experience of his time spent in old Damascus.

On one particular morning in the fall of 1947, a mysterious Egyptian merchant...