title: Hurricane Andrew

text: After hitting Florida, Andrew moved across the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall about west-southwest of Morgan City in south-central Louisiana; at landfall, the maximum sustained winds were . The highest sustained wind speed observed was , while a wind gust as strong as was recorded; both measurements were taken at the fire station in Berwick. As it moved ashore, the hurricane produced storm tides of at least above normal, causing flooding along the coast from Vermilion Bay to Lake Borgne. Offshore, a group of six fishermen from Alabama drowned. Heavy rains accompanied the storm's passage through the state, peaking at in Robert. River flooding was also reported, with the Tangipahoa River in Robert cresting at above flood stage. Before making landfall, Andrew spawned an F3 tornado in LaPlace, which killed two people and injured 32. The tornado was on the ground for about 10 minutes, during which it damaged or destroyed 163 structures, leaving 60 families homeless. Collectively, 14 tornadoes were reported in the parishes of Ascension, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, and Avoyelles, as well as in Baton Rouge.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Along the Louisiana coastline, damages largely resembled those of a Category 2 hurricane. Damage was heaviest in St. Mary Parish, about east of where Andrew made landfall. Twenty-six schools were affected, with damage totaling $2.6 million. Berwick High School, sheltering about 2,000 people, was deroofed during the storm. Generally, single-family homes fared well, with most losing only roofing shingles, though others suffered severe damage after large trees fell on them. In Cypremort Point State Park, several mobile homes were destroyed. Houses in Berwick, Morgan City, and Patterson suffered major damage. Throughout the parish, 1,367 dwellings were destroyed, 2,028 were severely damaged, and 4,770 others were impacted to a minor degree. Property damage alone in St. Mary Parish reached approximately $150 million. Iberia Parish was also among the most severely impacted parishes. Two schools collectively sheltering about 3,600 people in Jeanerette and New Iberia lost their roofs. One death occurred in the parish due to electrocution. A total of 407 residences were demolished, 2,528 others were extensively damaged, and 3,526 others were inflicted with minor damage. Overall, the parish suffered $125 million in property damage, while an additional $200 million in damage was inflicted on sugar crops.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Across the state, the hurricane damaged 23,000 homes and destroyed 985 homes and 1,951 mobile homes; private property damage was estimated at $1 billion. The high winds destroyed large areas of sugar and soybean crops, estimated at $289 million in damage. Strong winds also left at least 230,000 people without electricity. During the storm's passage, upwelling occurred in the Atchafalaya Basin and Bayou Lafourche, killing 187 million freshwater fish. Damage to the fishing industry was estimated at $266 million. Overall, losses in the state of Louisiana reached approximately $1.56 billion. A total of 17 deaths occurred in Louisiana, 8 directly and 9 from indirect causes. At least 75 injuries were reported.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: While Andrew was entering the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies evacuated hundreds of employees from offshore drilling platforms. The storm damaged 241 oil and gas facilities and toppled 33 platforms off the coast of Louisiana, causing significant disruptions in production. Additionally, 83 pipeline segments suffered damage to some degree. The oil industry lost about $12 million per day in the days following Andrew and $4 million daily by three weeks later. Initially, a production loss of 240,000 to 270,000 barrels per day occurred – approximately one-third of production throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Overall, Hurricane Andrew caused about $500 million in damage to oil facilities.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: As Andrew moved ashore in Louisiana, its outer fringes produced a storm tide of about in Sabine Pass, Texas. Winds were generally light in the state, reaching in Port Arthur. As Andrew crossed into Mississippi, 3 severe thunderstorm warnings, 21 tornado warnings, and 16 flood warnings were issued. Funnel clouds were observed near the path of the storm, along with 26 tornadoes. Structural damage was generally minimal, occurring from the tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. One tornado in Kemper County destroyed a mobile home, while another twister in Lauderdale County demolished a mobile home, damaged five other dwellings, and injured four people. Additionally, a possible tornado damaged a home and two trailers in Lawrence County. Strong winds knocked down trees in the southwestern portion of the state. Much of Mississippi received of rain, while areas near the southwest corner of the state observed over of precipitation, with a peak of at Sumrall. Flooding was mostly limited to the inundation of minor roads and low-lying areas in several counties.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: In Alabama, precipitation amounts in the state peaked at in Aliceville. The rainfall caused flooding in low-lying areas and creeks, covering a few county roads but not entering many houses or businesses. Along the coast, the storm produced flooding and high tides. Along Dauphin Island, high tides left severe beach erosion, with portions of the island losing up to of sand. Three damaging tornadoes occurred in the state. The most damaging tornado was spawned in Elmore County and moved from an area northeast of Montgomery to the south of Wetumpka and briefly lifted during its track. The tornado destroyed 2 homes and damaged 18 homes, 1 mobile home, 2 barns, and 1 vehicle. One person was injured by the twister. Sustained winds in the state were below tropical storm force, though a wind gust of 41 mph (67 km/h) was observed in Huntsville. Although 48 counties in Alabama reported wind damage, impact across the state was generally minor.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Tropical storm force wind gusts and damaging tornadoes extended eastward into Georgia. Several counties in the northwest and west-central portions of the state reported downed trees and tree limbs and fallen power lines, causing scattered power outages, but structural damage was generally minor. In Carroll County, several dwellings and barns were damaged, with one mobile home destroyed. At the Columbus Metropolitan Airport, buildings, billboards, and signs were damaged. Additionally, a tornado in Floyd County near Rome snapped and uprooted several trees, damaged several fences and homes, and flipped over a trailer, tossing it on top of four cars. Monetary losses in the state reached about $100,000. In Tennessee, thunderstorm winds and tornadoes associated with Andrew downed trees and power lines, but caused little overall impact to homes and buildings. Similarly, in North Carolina, thunderstorm winds toppled trees and power lines at a number of locations in the mountainous areas of the state, especially in Avery County. Rainfall from Andrew spread across the southeastern United States along the Appalachian Mountains corridor; totals of over 5 in (125 mm) were reported where Georgia and South Carolina meet North Carolina. In West Virginia, the remnants of Andrew combined with a cold front to produce of rain over portions of the state, causing flooding in areas of Morgantown with poor drainage. The remnants of Andrew also spawned several tornadoes in Maryland. A tornado in Howard County damaged several homes, some extensively. The twister also tossed and wrecked a recreational vehicle and its trailer, downed trees, and flattened cornfields. Precipitation continued along the path of Andrew's remnants through the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley, with precipitation measured as far north as Upstate New York.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: After the season had ended, the World Meteorological Organization's RA IV Hurricane Committee retired the name "Andrew" from the list of future names for Atlantic tropical cyclones due to its impact and damage and replaced it with "Alex." The name "Andrew" will never again be used for another Atlantic hurricane.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Initially, the Bahamas National Disaster Coordinator believed that foreign aid was not required, but shortly after the storm, the Government of the United Kingdom began distributing blankets, food, ice, and water. , a Royal Navy Type 42 destroyer, was the operational guard ship at the time and assisted in relief operations in and around the Gregorytown area. In addition, assistance came from Canada, Japan, and the United States, as well as the United Nations. The American Red Cross delivered 100 tents, 100 rolls of plastic sheeting, and 1,000 cots. Rebuilding began quickly on the hardest hit islands. However, trees and vegetation were expected to take years to recover. Despite reconstruction efforts and the small number of resort lodgings affected (around 2%), officials expected a 10–20% decline in tourism. The Bahamian Government, observing that their response mechanisms were not sufficient, reformed the National Emergency and Management Agency.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: After assessing the devastation in Florida and Louisiana, U.S. President George H. W. Bush initially proposed a $7.1 billion aid package to provide disaster benefits, small-business loans, agricultural recovery, food stamps, and public housing for victims of Hurricane Andrew. After the House of Representatives appropriated aid to victims of Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii and Typhoon Omar in Guam, the cost was later increased to $11.1 billion. The bill, which was the most costly disaster aid package at the time, was passed by Congress as House Resolution 5620 on September 18, and signed into law by President Bush on September 23. The state of Florida alone received $9 billion through the disaster relief bill.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was criticized for its slow response in both Florida and Louisiana. Even a month prior to Andrew, the House Committee on Appropriations – which oversees the budget for FEMA – released a report calling the agency a "political dumping ground" and a "turkey farm" due to its "weak, inexperienced leaders". Congressman S. William Green of New York, a member of the Appropriations Committee, stated that he believed the agency learned little from its botched response to Hurricane Hugo in 1989. However, Green also criticized local officials for expecting "them [FEMA] to come and run the whole show". Some FEMA officials responded that it was impossible to respond as they had been requested while also continuing to provide aid for the Los Angeles riots. FEMA spokesman Grant Peterson stated, "24 hours is not reasonable to expect to have all the resources of the federal government landing in the middle of a disaster." Some responsibility for the slow response must rest with Florida Governor Lawton Chiles, who waited five days to submit the formal request for Federal assistance that FEMA officials believed was required before they were empowered to act.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: In Florida, President Bush assessed damage in areas south of Miami with Florida Governor Lawton Chiles. The president quickly declared the region a disaster area, which provided public assistance to victims of the storm in Broward, Collier, Dade, and Monroe Counties. Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay flew over the impact area and described the scene as looking "like a war zone". Governor Chiles considered asking the Florida State Legislature to raise taxes, stating that "No matter how much Congress appropriates to repair damage from Hurricane Andrew, the state will face a substantial cleanup bill". Instead of raising taxes, Chiles signed a bill into law on December 17 that created a three-year reserve fund for losses to uninsured businesses and homes, as well as government and school buildings and functions. Additionally, the bill allowed South Floridians to keep an estimated $500 million in sales tax generated by rebuilding efforts.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Crime, especially looting and theft, rose sharply in the areas south of Miami immediately after Andrew. Reports indicate that merchandise was stolen at damaged or destroyed shopping centers in southern Dade County. Additionally, looting occurred in neighborhoods severely affected by the storm, even in homes where few possessions remained. Initially, the slow response of federal aid prompted Dade County Emergency Management Director Kate Hale to famously exclaim at a nationally televised news conference, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? They keep saying we're going to get supplies. For God's sake, where are they?" Almost immediately, President Bush promised, "Help is on the way," and mobile kitchens, food, and tents, along with over 20,000 units from the Florida Army National Guard (124th Infantry Regiment from Florida); the 24th Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, the 82nd Airborne Division and logistical support soldiers from the 1st Corps Support Command's 189th Maintenance Battalion from Fort Bragg, and the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum. In order to provide temporary housing for the homeless, military personnel initially set up a total of five tent cities in Florida City and Homestead, while a sixth tent city was opened at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation shortly after Labor Day weekend. The Government of Canada dispatched a team 90 military engineers to repair community centers, hospitals, and schools. Additionally, a crew of 300 military personnel were sent to Miami via HMCS "Protecteur" to assist American relief teams.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: The storm struck Florida in the midst of 1992 presidential election campaign. A poll conducted by CBS News in September showed that 65% of Dade County residents approved of Bush's handling of the disaster, while 61% of residents approved statewide. Despite the support of Bush's response and his proposal to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base, he benefited little politically and trailed 48–42% against Bill Clinton in another poll taken in September. Additionally, 75% of voters in Dade County and 82% of Floridians overall stated that the president's actions in response to Andrew would not impact their vote in November. Bush went on to carry the state of Florida, but by a margin of only 1.89%. The hurricane also impacted Governor Chiles politically. The state's response to the storm was perceived as poor, sinking Chiles' approval rating to 22%, while his disapproval rating rose to 76%. However, Chiles was able to recover prior to the 1994 gubernatorial election.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: In the aftermath of the storm, extensive psychological effects were documented. Difficulty during clean-up and recovery led to increased divorce rates and a spike in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The cases of PTSD primarily impacted children. A sampling of 378 adolescents by the University of South Carolina's Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics indicated that 3% of males and 9% of females met the criteria for PTSD. Dozens of children in the area attempted suicide, while counselors reported that between 50 and 60 children discussed killing themselves between December 1992 and January 1993. A panel of psychiatrists and psychologists at the University of Miami agreed that as many as 90% of residents in the worst impacted areas would experience at least a few symptoms of PTSD. Within six months, the circumstances related to the aftermath of Andrew led to at least five suicides and four homicides.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: Although proposals to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base were initially rejected, the United States Department of Defense eventually expended over $100 million to begin repairs. Unsalvageable buildings were demolished. Reconstruction then began on a Florida Air National Guard tower, air traffic control tower, and maintenance hangars. Next, the rebuilding of communications, medical, security facility, vehicle maintenance, and wing headquarters buildings began. On March 5, 1994, the base reopened as Homestead Air Reserve Base. Prior to Andrew, the base employed approximately 6,500 military personnel and 1,000 civilians and annually added about $450 million to the local economy. After its reopening, Major Bobby D'Angelo expected the base to annually contribute less than half of that – between $180 million and $200 million. The city of Homestead spent about $6 million on rebuilding the Homestead Sports Complex. Despite this, the Cleveland Indians, fearing the relocation of their more affluent fans, moved their spring training location to Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven. As homes were being rebuilt, FEMA provided free temporary mobile homes for 3,501 families and financial assistance to more than 40,000 other families for staying in hotel rooms, paying rent, and repairing homes. Nearly two years after Andrew, about 70% of homes in Homestead that were damaged or destroyed were repaired or rebuilt. Additionally, of the homes destroyed or severely damaged throughout Dade County, 36,000 had been restored by July 1994.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: More than 930,000 policyholders in South Florida lost coverage after 11 insurance companies went bankrupt, caused by more than 600,000 insurance claims filed. This led the Florida Legislature to create new entities, such as the Joint Underwriting Association, the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association, and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, in an effort to restore adequate insurance capacity. Stricter building codes were created in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. A survey by Tim Marshall and Richard Herzog of the Haag Engineer Company in Carrollton, Texas, highlighted several construction issues. On the roof of some homes, the concrete tiles were glued to felt paper, which could easily be ripped by straight line winds. At houses with shingled roofs, it was found that some of the shingles were stapled perpendicular to the long axis, also allowing them to be torn away. After the tiles or shingles were peeled off, the plywood and prefabricated trusses were exposed to the weather. Eventually, the plywood and the trusses suffered structural failure, leading to roof collapses.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: In July 1996, Governor Chiles established the Florida Building Codes Study Commission, with the purpose of assessing the building codes at the time, as well as enacting improvements and reform to the system. The commission study indicated that building codes and regulations were developed, amended, and administered by over 400 local jurisdictions and state agencies. The Florida Building Code was established in 1998 and put into effect by 2002. It phased out local laws and regulations and replaced them with universal statewide building codes. After hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne in 2004, a study conducted by the University of Florida in the following year noted that "Homes built under the new Florida Building Code that became effective in 2002 sustained less damage on average than those built between 1994 and 2001." A report by the Florida Legislature in 2006 after hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, and Wilma in 2005 came to a similar conclusion, indicating that "they added further evidence that the Florida Building Code is working."


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: The hurricane also transformed the demographics of Dade County. A migration of mostly White families northward to Broward and Palm Beach County was ongoing, but accelerated after Andrew. Many of these families had used the money they received from insurance claims to relocate. The population growth was especially noticeable in southwestern Broward County, where land development was pushed "years ahead of schedule". Similar migration occurred within the Jewish community. Although there are areas of Dade County that still have significant Jewish populations, many Jews resettled to Coral Springs, west Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Plantation, and Tamarac in Broward County and Boca Raton and West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County. The county had a net loss of about 36,000 people in 1992, while Broward and Palm Beach counties gained about 17,000 and 2,300 Dade County residents, respectively. By 2001, 230,710 people had moved from Dade County to Broward County, while 29,125 Dade County residents had moved to Palm Beach County. However, as Broward County became more crowded, 100,871 people relocated from Broward County to Palm Beach County. Consequently, the Hispanic population in south Dade County climbed rapidly. In Homestead, for example, the Latino population increased from 30% to 45% between 1990 and 2000.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: During the storm, a facility housing Burmese pythons was destroyed, allowing many of them to escape into the Everglades. Although Burmese pythons – native to Southeast Asia – had been sighted in Everglades National Park since the 1980s, the destruction of this facility contributed significantly to the establishment of breeding populations in Florida. Due to rapid reproduction and ability to prey on many species, the population of Burmese pythons exploded, with possibly as many as 300,000 in the Everglades alone. Efforts have been made to curb the thriving population of these invasive snakes, including a ban on importation of the species to the United States since January 2012 and increased regulations on ownership of a boa constrictor or python.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: On August 26, George H. W. Bush toured devastated areas of Louisiana with Governor Edwin Edwards. President Bush remarked, "The destruction from this storm goes beyond anything we have known in recent years," but noted that damage was less severe than in Florida. After his visit to Louisiana, President Bush declared only Terrebonne Parish as a disaster area, but later included 34 other parishes under this declaration. FEMA initially opened five field offices throughout Louisiana. These centers allowed residents to submit applications for aid. After Franklin mayor Sam Jones and Congressman Billy Tauzin criticized FEMA for failing to open a field office in Franklin, FEMA promised to do so. In the first few days following the storm, Louisiana National Guard members and local residents worked to remove debris such as downed trees, roofing shingles, and torn aluminum siding. The state National Guard also dispatched water purification units and tanks with filled potable water. About 1,300 National Guardsmen were deployed to southern Louisiana.


title: Hurricane Andrew

text: In early September, officials announced that 1,400 mobile homes, homes, and apartments would become available to residents whose dwellings became uninhabitable. House Resolution 5620 also included disaster aid to the state of Louisiana. In early December, the Small Business Administration (SBA) approved $33.2 million worth of low-interest loans for repairs to homes and businesses. By then, FEMA had received about 43,600 applications for aid, while approving $35.9 million in grants to over 18,000 households that were ineligible for loans from the SBA or were uninsured. In addition to the mobile homes already provided, FEMA spent $22.6 million on disaster housing.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the "and", while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the "Scottish"), commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite (or, in England and Australia, as the Rose Croix although this is only one of its degrees), is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. A Rite is a progressive series of degrees conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. It is also concordant, in that some of its degrees relate to the degrees of Symbolic (Craft) Freemasonry. In England and some other countries, while the Scottish Rite is not accorded official recognition by the Grand Lodge, only a recognized Freemason may join and there is no prohibition against his doing so. The Scottish Rite builds upon the ethical teachings and philosophy offered in the Craft (or Blue) Lodge, through dramatic presentation of the individual degrees.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The seed or the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence on the higher degrees may have been a careless and unsubstantiated remark made by John Noorthouk in the 1784 Book of Constitutions of the Premier Grand Lodge of London. It was stated, without support, that King Charles II (older brother and predecessor to James II) was made a Freemason in the Netherlands during the years of his exile (1649–60). However, there were no documented lodges of Freemasons on the continent during those years. The statement may have been made to flatter the fraternity by claiming membership for a previous monarch. This folly was then embellished by John Robison (1739–1805), a professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, in an anti-Masonic work published in 1797. The lack of scholarship exhibited by Robison in that work caused the "Encyclopædia Britannica" to denounce it.


title: Scottish Rite

text: A German bookseller and Freemason, living in Paris, working under the assumed name of C. Lenning, embellished the story further in a manuscript titled "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" probably written between 1822 and 1828 at Leipzig. This manuscript was later revised and published by another German Freemason named Friedrich Mossdorf (1757–1830). Lenning stated that King James II of England, after his flight to France in 1688, resided at the Jesuit College of Clermont, where his followers fabricated certain degrees for the purpose of carrying out their political ends.


title: Scottish Rite

text: By the mid-19th century, the story had gained currency. The well-known English Masonic writer, Dr. George Oliver (1782–1867), in his "Historical Landmarks", 1846, carried the story forward and even claimed that King Charles II was active in his attendance at meetings—an obvious invention, for if it had been true, it would not have escaped the notice of the historians of the time. The story was then repeated by the French writers Jean-Baptiste Ragon (1771–1862) and Emmanuel Rebold, in their Masonic histories. Rebold's claim that the high degrees were created and practiced in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning at Edinburgh are entirely false.


title: Scottish Rite

text: James II died in 1701 at the Palace of St. Germain en Laye, and was succeeded in his claims to the English, Irish and Scottish thrones by his son, James Francis Edward Stuart (1699–1766), the Chevalier St. George, better known as "the Old Pretender", but recognized as James III & VIII by the French King Louis XIV. He was succeeded in his claim by Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charles"), also known as "the Young Pretender", whose ultimate defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 effectively put an end to any serious hopes of the Stuarts regaining the British crowns.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The natural confusion between the names of the Jesuit College of Clermont, and the short-lived Masonic Chapter of Clermont, a Masonic body that controlled a few high degrees during its brief existence, only served to add fuel to the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence in Freemasonry's high degrees. However, the College and the Chapter had nothing to do with each other. The Jesuit College was located at Clermont, whereas the Masonic Chapter was not. Rather, it was named "Clermont" in honor of the French Grand Master, the Comte de Clermont (Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Clermont) (1709–1771), and not because of any connection with the Jesuit College of Clermont.


title: Scottish Rite

text: A French trader, by the name of Estienne Morin, had been involved in high-degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an ""Écossais"" lodge (Scottish Lodge) in the city of Le Cap Français, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Over the next decade, high-degree Freemasonry was carried by French men to other cities in the Western hemisphere. The high-degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Écossais lodges there.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In Paris in the year 1761, a patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World". This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Écossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high-degree lodges in the West Indies.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue. Based on his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766, when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, (the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret", and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite), had been formed in Paris by a high-degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West". The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786", the authority for which is now known to be faulty.


title: Scottish Rite

text: It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is more properly called "The Rite of the Royal Secret", or "Morin's Rite".


title: Scottish Rite

text: However, it was known as "The Order of Prince of the Royal Secret" by the founders of the Scottish Rite, who mentioned it in their "Circular throughout the two Hemispheres" or "Manifesto", issued on December 4, 1802.


title: Scottish Rite

text: "Hendrick Andriese Franken" of Dutch origin, was most important in assisting Morin in spreading the degrees in the New World. Morin appointed him Deputy Grand Inspector General (DGIG) as one of his first acts after returning to the West Indies. Francken worked closely with Morin and, in 1771, produced a manuscript book giving the rituals for the 15th through the 25th degrees. Francken produced at least four such manuscripts. In addition to the 1771 manuscript, there is a second which can be dated to 1783; a third manuscript, of uncertain date, written in Francken's handwriting, with the rituals 4–25°, which was found in the archives of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lancashire in Liverpool in approximately 1984; and a fourth, again of uncertain date, with rituals 4–24°, which was known to have been given by H. J. Whymper to the District Grand Lodge of the Punjab and rediscovered about 2010. Additionally, there is a French manuscript dating from 1790 to 1800 which contains the 25 degrees of the Order of the Royal Secret with additional detail, as well as three other "Hauts Grades" rituals; its literary structure suggests it is derived from a common source as the Francken Manuscripts.


title: Scottish Rite

text: A Loge de Parfaits d' Écosse was formed on 12 April 1764 at New Orleans, becoming the first high-degree lodge on the North American continent. Its life, however, was short, as the Treaty of Paris (1763) ceded New Orleans to Spain, and the Catholic Spanish crown had been historically hostile to Freemasonry. Documented Masonic activity ceased for a time. It did not return to New Orleans until the late 1790s, when French refugees from the revolution in Saint-Domingue settled in the city.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Francken traveled to New York in 1767 where he granted a Patent, dated 26 December 1767, for the formation of a Lodge of Perfection at Albany, which was called "Ineffable Lodge of Perfection". This marked the first time the Degrees of Perfection (the 4th through the 14th) were conferred in one of the Thirteen British colonies in North America. This Patent, and the early minutes of the Lodge, are still extant and are in the archives of Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction. (The minutes of Ineffable Lodge of Perfection reveal that it ceased activity on December 5, 1774. It was revived by Giles Fonda Yates about 1820 or 1821, and came under authority of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction until 1827. That year it was transferred to the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction.)


title: Scottish Rite

text: While in New York City, Francken also communicated the degrees to Moses Michael Hays, a Jewish businessman, and appointed him as a Deputy Inspector General. In 1781, Hays made eight Deputy Inspectors General, four of whom were later important in the establishment of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in South Carolina:


title: Scottish Rite

text: Da Costa returned to Charleston, South Carolina, where he established the "Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection" in February 1783. After Da Costa's death in November 1783, Hays appointed Myers as Da Costa's successor. Joined by Forst and Spitzer, Myers created additional high-degree bodies in Charleston.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Physician Hyman Isaac Long from the island of Jamaica, who settled in New York City, went to Charleston in 1796 to appoint eight French men; he had received his authority through Spitzer. These men had arrived as refugees from Saint-Domingue, where the slave revolution was underway that would establish Haiti as an independent republic in 1804. They organized a Consistory of the 25th Degree, or "Princes of the Royal Secret," which Masonic historian Brigadier ACF Jackson says became the first Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. According to Fox, by 1801, the Charleston bodies were the only extant bodies of the Rite in North America.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Although most of the thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite existed in parts of previous degree systems, the Scottish Rite did not come into being until the formation of the Mother Supreme Council at Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1801 at Shepheard's Tavern at the corner of Broad and Church Streets (the tavern had been the location of the founding of Freemasonry in South Carolina in 1754). The Founding Fathers of the Scottish Rite who attended became known as "The Eleven Gentlemen of Charleston".


title: Scottish Rite

text: Subsequently, other Supreme Councils were formed in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in 1802, in France in 1804, in Italy in 1805, and in Spain in 1811.


title: Scottish Rite

text: On May 1, 1813, an officer from the Supreme Council at Charleston initiated several New York Masons into the Thirty-third Degree and organized a Supreme Council for the "Northern Masonic District and Jurisdiction". On May 21, 1814 this Supreme Council reopened and proceeded to "nominate, elect, appoint, install and proclaim in due, legal and ample form" the elected officers "as forming the "second" Grand and Supreme Council...". Finally, the charter of this organization (written January 7, 1815) added, “We think the "Ratification" ought to be dated 21st day May 5815."


title: Scottish Rite

text: Officially, the Supreme Council, 33°, N.M.J. dates itself from May 15, 1867. This was the date of the "Union of 1867", when it merged with the competing Cerneau "Supreme Council" in New York. The current Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, was thus formed.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1809, Albert Pike is asserted within the Southern Jurisdiction as the man most responsible for the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-19th century to the international fraternity that it became. Pike received the 4th through the 32nd Degrees in March 1853 from Albert Mackey, in Charleston, South Carolina, and was appointed Deputy Inspector for Arkansas that same year.


title: Scottish Rite

text: At this point, the degrees were in a rudimentary form, and often included only a brief history and legend of each degree, as well as other brief details which usually lacked a workable ritual for their conferral. In 1855, the Supreme Council appointed a committee to prepare and compile rituals for the 4th through the 32nd Degrees. That committee was composed of Albert G. Mackey, John H. Honour, William S. Rockwell, Claude P. Samory, and Albert Pike. Of these five committee members, Pike did all the work of the committee.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In 1857 Pike completed his first revision of the 4°-32° ritual, and printed 100 copies. This revision, which Mackey dubbed the "Magnum Opus", was never adopted by the Supreme Council. According to Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, the Scottish Rite's Grand Historian, the Magnum Opus became the basis for future ritual revisions.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In March 1858, Pike was elected a member of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and in January 1859 he became its Grand Commander. The American Civil War interrupted his work on the Scottish Rite rituals. About 1870 he, and the Supreme Council, moved to Washington, DC. In 1884 his revision of the rituals was complete.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Scottish Rite Grand Archivist and Grand Historian de Hoyos created the following chart of Pike's ritual revisions:


title: Scottish Rite

text: Pike also wrote lectures about all the degrees, which were published in 1871 under the title "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry".


title: Scottish Rite

text: In 2000 the Southern Jurisdiction revised its ritual. The current ritual is based upon Pike's, but with some differences.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite are conferred by several controlling bodies. The first of these is the Craft Lodge, which confers the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason degrees. Craft lodges operate under the authority of national (or in the US, state) Grand Lodges, not the Scottish Rite. Attainment of the third Masonic degree, that of a Master Mason, represents the attainment of the highest rank in all of Masonry. Additional degrees such as those of the AASR are sometimes referred to as "appendant degrees", even where the degree numbering might imply a hierarchy. They represent a lateral movement in Masonic education rather than an upward movement, and are degrees of instruction rather than rank.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In 2000, the Southern Jurisdiction in the United States completed a revision of its ritual scripts. In 2004, the Northern Jurisdiction in the United States rewrote and reorganized its degrees. Further changes have occurred in 2006. The current titles of the degrees and their arrangement in the Southern Jurisdiction remains substantially unchanged from the beginning.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The list of degrees for the Supreme Councils of Australia, England and Wales, and most other jurisdictions largely agrees with that of the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S. However, the list of degrees for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States is now somewhat different and is given in the table below. The list of degrees of the Supreme Council of Canada reflects a mixture of the two, with some unique titles as well:


title: Scottish Rite

text: The AASR does have its own distinctive versions of the Craft rituals (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason), but most lodges throughout the English-speaking world do not work in them. However, there are 10 lodges in New Orleans and 16 in New York City that work in the Scottish Rite Craft degrees.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The AASR craft degrees are more common in Europe and Latin-American jurisdictions. All lodges in the International Order of Freemasonry for Men & Women, LE DROIT HUMAIN work "seamlessly from the first to the thirty-third degree and practises only one rite, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (A&ASR). These two characteristics define it as an Order and not as an Obedience". Most lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grande Loge de France use these degrees, as do a few of the lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grande Loge Nationale Française. It is a dominant ritual, out of the other rituals in use, in the Grand Lodge of Spain. There are two Lodges in Australia that practise the AASR Craft degrees, The Zetland Lodge of Australia No. 9 and Lodge France 1021, both of which are under the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.


title: Scottish Rite

text: According to Masonic historian Alain Bernheim, Belgian Masonic scholar Pierre Noël demonstrated in a 2002 paper that the AASR Craft degrees derived from the French translation of the Masonic exposé "Three Distinct Knocks", issued in London in 1760.


title: Scottish Rite

text: There are records of lodges conferring the degree of "Scots Master" or "Scotch Master" as early as 1733. A lodge at Temple Bar in London is the earliest such lodge on record. Other lodges include a lodge at Bath in 1735, and the French lodge, St. George de l'Observance No. 49 at Covent Garden in 1736. The references to these few occasions indicate that these were special meetings held for the purpose of performing unusual ceremonies, probably by visiting Freemasons. The Copiale cipher, dating from the 1740s says, "The rank of a Scottish master is an entirely new invention..."


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in each country is governed by a Supreme Council. There is no international governing body aside for Le Droit Humain, which is an international order; all other Supreme Councils in each country is sovereign unto itself in its own jurisdiction.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In Canada, whose Supreme Council was warranted in 1874 by that of England and Wales, the Rite is known as Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The council is called "Supreme Council 33° Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada". Canada's Supreme Council office is located at 4 Queen Street South in Hamilton, Ontario. There are 45 local units or "Valleys" across Canada.


title: Scottish Rite

text: When Comte de Grasse-Tilly returned to France in 1804, he worked to establish the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite there. He founded the first Supreme Council in France that same year.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Grand Orient of France signed a treaty of union in December 1804 with the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree in France; the treaty declared that "the Grand Orient united to itself" the Supreme Council in France. This accord was applied until 1814. Thanks to this treaty, the Grand Orient of France took ownership, as it were, of the Scottish Rite.


title: Scottish Rite

text: From 1805 to 1814, the Grand Orient of France administered the first 18 degrees of the Rite, leaving the Supreme Council of France to administer the last 15. In 1815, five of the leaders of the Supreme Council founded the "Suprême Conseil des Rites" within the Grand Orient of France. The original Supreme Council of France fell dormant from 1815 to 1821.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The "Suprême Conseil des Isles d'Amérique" (founded in 1802 by Grasse-Tilly and revived around 1810 by his father-in-law Delahogue, who had also returned from the United States) breathed new life into the Supreme Council for the 33rd Degree in France. They merged into a single organization: the Supreme Council of France. This developed as an independent and sovereign Masonic power. It created symbolic lodges (those composed of the first three degrees, which otherwise would be federated around a Grand Lodge or a Grand Orient).


title: Scottish Rite

text: The (emerging from the Supreme Council of 1804 and restored in 1821 by the Supreme Council of the "Isles d'Amérique" founded in 1802 in Saint-Domingue, the modern Haiti)


title: Scottish Rite

text: In 1894, the Supreme Council of France created the Grand Lodge of France. It became fully independent in 1904, when the Supreme Council of France ceased chartering new lodges. The Supreme Council of France still considers itself the overseer of all 33 degrees of the Rite. Relations between the two structures remain close, as shown by their organizing two joint meetings a year.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established in Romania in 1881, a year after the National Grand Lodge of Romania was founded. On 27 December 1922, the Supreme Council of Scottish Rite of Romania, received the recognition of the Supreme Council of France in 1922, and recognition from the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States in 1925.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Between 1948 and 1989 all of Romanian Freemasonry, including the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Romania, was banned by the Communist regime.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In England and Wales, whose Supreme Council was warranted by that of the Northern Jurisdiction of the USA (in 1845), the Rite is known colloquially as the "Rose Croix" or more formally as "The Ancient and Accepted Rite for England and Wales and its Districts and Chapters Overseas" (continental European jurisdictions retain the "Écossais"). England and Wales are divided into Districts, which administer the Rose Croix Chapters within their District; many degrees are conferred in name only, and degrees beyond the 18° are conferred only by the Supreme Council itself.


title: Scottish Rite

text: All candidates for membership must profess the Trinitarian Christian faith and have been Master masons for at least one year.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In England and Wales, the candidate is perfected in the 18th degree with the preceding degrees awarded in name only. Continuing to the 30th degree is restricted to those who have served in the chair of the Chapter. Elevation beyond the 30th degree is as in Scotland.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In Scotland, candidates are perfected in the 18th degree, with the preceding degrees awarded in name only. A minimum of a two-year interval is required before continuing to the 30th degree, again with the intervening degrees awarded by name only. Elevation beyond that is by invitation only, and numbers are severely restricted.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the United States of America there are three Supreme Councils: one in Washington, D.C. (which controls the Southern Jurisdiction), one in Lexington, Massachusetts (which controls the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction) as well as the Supreme Council of Louisiana. They each have particular characteristics that make them different.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the United States, members of the Scottish Rite can be elected to receive the 33° by the Supreme Council. It is conferred on members who have made major contributions to society or to Masonry in general.


title: Scottish Rite

text: Based in Washington, D.C., the Southern Jurisdiction (often referred to as the "Mother Supreme Council of the World") was founded in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801. It oversees the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in 35 states, which are referred to as "Orients", which are divided into regions called "Valleys", each containing individual bodies.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 33 members and is presided over by a Sovereign Grand Commander. The current Sovereign Grand Commander is Illustrious Brother James D. Cole, 33°. Other members of the Supreme Council are called "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General" (S.G.I.G.), and each is the head of the AASR bodies in his respective Orient (or state). Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of the Supreme Council are called "Deputies of the Supreme Council". The Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction meets every odd year during the month of August at the House of the Temple, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters, in Washington, D.C. During this conference, closed meetings between the Grand Commander and the S.G.I.G.'s are held, and many members of the fraternity from all over the world attend the open ceremony on the 5th of 6 council meeting days.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the Southern Jurisdiction, a member who has been a 32° Scottish Rite Mason for 46 months or more is eligible to be elected to receive the "rank and decoration" of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour (K.C.C.H.) in recognition of outstanding service. After 46 months as a K.C.C.H. he is then eligible to be elected to the 33rd degree, upon approval of the Supreme Council and Sovereign Grand Commander.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Lexington, Massachusetts-based Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, formed in 1813, oversees the bodies in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont. The Northern Jurisdiction is only divided into "Valleys", not Orients. Each Valley has up to four Scottish Rite bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the Northern Jurisdiction, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 66 members. Those who are elected to membership on the Supreme Council are then designated "Active." In the Northern Jurisdiction


title: Scottish Rite

text: all recipients of the 33rd Degree are honorary members of the Supreme Council, and all members are referred to as a "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General." The head of the Rite in each State of the Northern Jurisdiction is called a "Deputy of the Supreme Council." Thus the highest ranking Scottish Rite officer in Ohio, is titled, "Deputy for Ohio", and so forth for each state. Additionally, each Deputy has one or more "Actives" to assist him in the administration of the state. Active members of the Supreme Council who have served faithfully for ten years, or reach the age of 75, may be designated "Active, Emeritus". The Northern Jurisdiction Supreme Council meets yearly, in the even years by an executive session, and in the odd years, with the full membership invited. The 33rd Degree is conferred on the odd years at the Annual Meeting. The head of the NMJ is titled the Sovereign Grand Commander, currently Bro. Peter John Samiec, 33°.


title: Scottish Rite

text: In the Northern Jurisdiction, there is a 46-month requirement for eligibility to receive the 33rd degree, and while there is a Meritorious Service Award (as well as a Distinguished Service Award), they are not required intermediate steps towards the 33°.


title: Scottish Rite

text: The Supreme Council of Louisiana was founded in New Orleans in 1839 during the Morgan Affair. It was one of several groups which claimed its Scottish Rite authority via "Cerneauism" – a type of Masonry without ties to the Scottish Rite. In the 1840s and 1850s, Judge James Foulhouze served as Grand Commander. As relations improved with the Southern Jurisdiction, Foulhouze resigned “both as Grand Commander and member of this Supreme Council” on July 30, 1853. He would later be expelled by the Grand Orient of France in 1859. The Supreme Council of Louisiana determined to close its works and pass out of existence. They created "articles of Concordat & agreement" with the Southern Jurisdiction, and issued a "Preamble & Resolution," prepared during their meeting of November 18, 1854, which stated that it was "Resolved that a Committee of Three be appointed with full power & authority to adopt and accept, in the name of this Consistory, the articles of the agreement or Concordat" by which it would pass under the jurisdiction of Charleston. The committee of three consisted of Laffon de Ladébat, Samory, and Morel. Extracts from the minutes of the same meeting relate the instances of the Concordat and agreement. Similarly, the Grand Consistory of New Orleans under Charleston’s jurisdiction resolved, at their sitting of November 25, 1854, to sign and execute the agreement and Concordat. The Concordat was sent to Charleston on January 31, 1855, and signed on February 6, 1855, by Grand Commander John H. Honour, Lieutenant Grand Commander Charles M. Furman, and Grand Secretary General Albert G. Mackey. It was then taken back to New Orleans, likely by Mackey, and signed there on February 16–17, 1855, by Grand Commander Charles Claiborne, Lieutenant Grand Commander Claude Samory, and Grand Secretary General Charles Laffon de Ladébat. On the same day the Supreme Council at Charleston issued a warrant to “our well-beloved, Princes and Knights” Charles Claiborne, Claude P. Samory, Charles Laffon de Ladébat, John H. Holland, and others, creating a Grand Consistory of Louisiana, and installing them as officers with all the powers relative thereto.


title: Scottish Rite

text: However, on October 7, 1856, a year after the Supreme Council of Louisiana had formed its concordat with Charleston, Foulhouze (who resigned in 1853), Thomas Wharton Collens (resigned December 19, 1853) and J.J.E. Massicott (resigned December 3, 1853), “declared the Sup. Coun. to be still in existence and continued its works.”


title: Scottish Rite

text: This organization still exists, and is named the Supreme Council of Louisiana. New Orleans educator and Civil Rights activist George Longe was the head of this council. His papers are held at the Amistad Research Center of Tulane University. The current Most Powerful Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Louisiana is Ill. Bro. Eddie L. Gabriel, Sr. 33°.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of "The Washington Post".


title: Valerie Plame

text: In the aftermath of the scandal, Richard Armitage in the U.S. Department of State was identified as one source of the information, and Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators. After a failed appeal, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence and in 2018, President Donald Trump pardoned him. No one was formally charged with leaking the information.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In collaboration with a ghostwriter, Plame wrote a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA. She has subsequently written and published at least two spy novels. A 2010 biographical feature film, "Fair Game", was produced based on memoirs by her and her husband.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Plame was an unsuccessful candidate for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in 2020, placing second behind Teresa Leger Fernandez in the June 2, 2020 primary.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Valerie Elise Plame was born on August 13, 1963, on Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Diane (née McClintock) and Samuel Plame III. Plame says that her paternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of a rabbi who emigrated from Ukraine; the original family surname was "Plamevotski". The rest of Plame's family was Protestant (the religion in which Plame was raised); she was unaware, until she was an adult, that her grandfather was Jewish.


title: Valerie Plame

text: She graduated in 1981 from Lower Moreland High School, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, and in 1985 from Pennsylvania State University, with a B.A. in advertising. While attending Penn State, she joined Pi Beta Phi sorority and worked for the business division of the "Daily Collegian" student newspaper.


title: Valerie Plame

text: After graduating from college and moving to Washington, D.C., Plame worked at a clothing store while awaiting results of her application to the CIA. She was accepted into the 1985–86 CIA officer training class. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald affirmed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1, 2002, forward" and that "her association with the CIA was classified at that time through July 2003." Details about Plame's professional career are still classified, but it is documented that she worked for the CIA in a non-official cover capacity relating to counter-proliferation.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Plame served the CIA at times as a non-official cover (or NOC), operating in Athens and Brussels. While using her own name, "Valerie Plame", her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively. Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens and then later as an energy analyst for the private company (founded in 1994) "Brewster Jennings & Associates," which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company for certain investigations.


title: Valerie Plame

text: A former senior diplomat in Athens remembered Plame in her dual role and also recalled that she served as one of the "control officers" coordinating the visit of President George H. W. Bush to Greece and Turkey in July 1991. The matter of whether she actually had covert status is disputed. After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the CIA sent her first to the London School of Economics and then the College of Europe, in Bruges, for Master's degrees. After earning the second degree, she stayed on in Brussels, where she began her next assignment under cover as an "energy consultant" for Brewster-Jennings. Beginning in 1997, Plame's primary assignment was shifted to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.


title: Valerie Plame

text: During this time, part of her work concerned the determination of the use of aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq. CIA analysts prior to the Iraq invasion were quoted by the White House as believing that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons and that these aluminum tubes could be used in a centrifuge for nuclear enrichment. David Corn and Michael Isikoff argued that the undercover work being done by Plame and her CIA colleagues in the Directorate of Central Intelligence Nonproliferation Center strongly contradicted such a claim.


title: Valerie Plame

text: On July 14, 2003, Robert Novak, a journalist for "The Washington Post", used information obtained from Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby, to reveal Plame's identity as a CIA operative in his column. Legal documents published in the course of the CIA leak grand jury investigation, "United States v. Libby", and Congressional investigations, established her classified employment as a covert officer for the CIA at the time when Novak's column was published in July 2003.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In his press conference of October 28, 2005, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald explained the necessity of secrecy about his grand jury investigation that began in the fall of 2003—"when it was clear that Valerie Wilson's cover had been blown"—and the background and consequences of the indictment of then high-ranking Bush Administration official Scooter Libby as it pertained to her.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Fitzgerald's subsequent replies to reporters' questions shed further light on the parameters of the leak investigation and what, as its lead prosecutor, bound by the rules of grand jury secrecy, he could and could not reveal legally at the time. Official court documents released later, on April 5, 2006, reveal that Libby testified that "he was specifically authorized in advance" of his meeting with Judith Miller, reporter for "The New York Times", to disclose the "key judgments" of the October 2002 classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). According to Libby's testimony, "the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE [to Judith Miller]." According to his testimony, the information that Libby was authorized to disclose to Miller "was intended to rebut the allegations of an administration critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson." A couple of days after Libby's meeting with Miller, then–National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters, "We don't want to try to get into kind of selective declassification" of the NIE, adding, "We're looking at what can be made available." A "sanitized version" of the NIE in question was officially declassified on July 18, 2003, ten days after Libby's contact with Miller, and was presented at a White House background briefing on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The NIE contains no references to Valerie Plame or her CIA status, but the Special Counsel has suggested that White House actions were part of "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson." President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever had outed Plame.


title: Valerie Plame

text: A court filing by Libby's defense team argued that Plame was not foremost in the minds of administration officials as they sought to rebut charges—made by her husband—that the White House manipulated intelligence to make a case for invasion. The filing indicated that Libby's lawyers did not intend to say that he was told to reveal Plame's identity. The court filing also stated that "Mr. Libby plans to demonstrate that the indictment is wrong when it suggests that he and other government officials viewed Ms. Wilson's role in sending her husband to Africa as important," indicating that Libby's lawyers planned to call Karl Rove to the stand. Fitzgerald ultimately decided against pressing charges against Rove.


title: Valerie Plame

text: The five-count indictment of Libby included perjury (two counts), obstruction of justice (one count), and making false statements to federal investigators (two counts). There was, however, no count for disclosing classified information, i.e., Plame's status as a CIA operative.


title: Valerie Plame

text: On March 6, 2007, Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one count of making false statements. He was not charged for revealing Plame's CIA status. His sentence included a $250,000 fine, 30 months in prison and two years of probation. On July 2, 2007, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence, removing the jail term but leaving in place the fine and probation, calling the sentence "excessive." In a subsequent press conference, on July 12, 2007, Bush noted, "...the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision." The Wilsons responded to the commutation in statements posted by their legal counsel, Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and on their own legal support website. President Donald Trump pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018.


title: Valerie Plame

text: On July 13, 2006, Joseph and Valerie Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Rove, Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other unnamed senior White House officials (to whom they later added Richard Armitage) for their alleged role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status. Judge John D. Bates dismissed the Wilsons' lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 2007; the Wilsons appealed. On August 12, 2008, in a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the dismissal. Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which represents the Wilsons, "said the group will request the full D.C. Circuit to review the case and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court." Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argued the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. On the current justice department position, Sloan stated: "We are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has failed to recognize the grievous harm that Bush White House officials inflicted on Joe and Valerie Wilson. The government's position cannot be reconciled with President Obama's oft-stated commitment to once again make government officials accountable for their actions."


title: Valerie Plame

text: On March 8, 2007, two days after the verdict in the Libby trial, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced that his committee would ask Plame to testify on March 16, in an effort by his committee to look into "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding Plame's identity."


title: Valerie Plame

text: On March 16, 2007, at these hearings about the disclosure, Waxman read a statement about Plame's CIA career that had been cleared by CIA director Gen. Michael V. Hayden and the CIA, stating that she was undercover and that her employment status with the CIA was classified information prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Plame's husband Joseph Wilson announced on March 6, 2007, that the couple had "signed a deal with Warner Bros of Hollywood to offer their consulting services—or maybe more—in the making of the forthcoming movie about the Libby trial," their lives and the CIA leak scandal. The feature film, a co-production between Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Jerry and Janet Zucker of Zucker Productions with a screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth to be based in part on Valerie Wilson's memoir "Fair Game" (contingent on CIA clearances) originally scheduled for release in August 2007, but ultimately published on October 22, 2007.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In May 2006, "The New York Times" reported that Valerie Wilson agreed to a $2.5 million book deal with Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. Steve Ross, senior vice president and publisher of Crown, told the Times that the book would be her "first airing of her actual role in the American intelligence community, as well as the prominence of her role in the lead-up to the war." Subsequently, the "New York Times" reported that the book deal fell through and that Plame was in exclusive negotiations with Simon & Schuster. Ultimately, Simon and Schuster publicly confirmed the book deal, though not the financial terms and, at first, no set publication date.


title: Valerie Plame

text: On May 31, 2007, various news media reported that Simon and Schuster and Valerie Wilson were suing J. Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, and Michael V. Hayden, Director of the CIA, arguing that the CIA "is unconstitutionally interfering with the publication of her memoir, "", ... set to be published in October [2007], by not allowing Plame to mention the dates that she served in the CIA." Judge Barbara S. Jones, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, interpreted the issue in favor of the CIA. Therefore, the ruling stated that Plame would not be able to describe in her memoir the precise dates she had worked for the CIA. In 2009, the federal court of appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Jones's ruling.


title: Valerie Plame

text: On October 31, 2007, in an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast on "The Charlie Rose Show", Valerie Wilson discussed many aspects relating to her memoir: the CIA leak grand jury investigation; "United States v. Libby," the civil suit which she and her husband were at the time still pursuing against Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Armitage; and other matters presented in her memoir relating to her covert work with the CIA.


title: Valerie Plame

text: The film, "Fair Game", was released November 5, 2010, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on two books, one written by Plame, and the other by her husband. The "Washington Post" editorial page, led by editor Fred Hiatt, a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, who blamed Wilson for Plame's identity being leaked, described the movie as being "full of distortions—not to mention outright inventions", while news reporters Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby at "The Washington Post" disagreed, saying "The movie holds up as a thoroughly researched and essentially accurate account—albeit with caveats".


title: Valerie Plame

text: In May 2011, it was announced that Plame would write a series of spy novels with mystery writer Sarah Lovett. The first book in the series, titled "Blowback", was released on October 1, 2013, by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of the Penguin Group.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In August 2017, Plame set up a GoFundMe fundraising page in an attempt to buy a majority interest in Twitter and kick U.S. President Donald Trump off the network. She launched her campaign because she believes that Donald Trump 'emboldens white supremacists' and encourages 'violence against journalists'.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Titled "Let's #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump", she set the campaign's goal to $1 billion; her campaign raised $88,000.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In September 2017, Plame tweeted a link to an article from "The Unz Review" website posted by Philip Giraldi, titled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars", repeating the title of the article in her tweet. The article said that certain "American Jews who lack any shred of integrity" should be given a special label when appearing on television: "kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison." Amid criticism, Plame first defended her posts, replying on Twitter that "Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish." She also said that people should “read the entire article” without “biases”, writing in defense of herself after the initial backlash: “read the entire article, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly."


title: Valerie Plame

text: Within two hours, she deleted her initial post and apologized, tweeting "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest. I missed gross undercurrents to this article & didn't do my homework on the platform this piece came from. Now that I see it, it's obvious. Apologies all. There is so much there that's problematic AF and I should have recognized it sooner. Thank you for pushing me to look again. I'm not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time, Ugh." Ramesh Ponnuru and Caleb Ecarma have argued that the incident followed a pattern of her posting antisemitic content, and of Plame making jokes about "rich Jews". She had tweeted at least eight articles from the same website before, in which she previously retweeted links to conspiracy theories of 'dancing Israelis' being behind the 9/11 attacks.


title: Valerie Plame

text: In May 2019, Plame announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for in the 2020 elections. The seat, in northern New Mexico, was being vacated by Democratic Representative Ben Ray Luján, who ran for Senate instead. She outspent her rivals with funding from outside her district. On June 2, 2020, she was defeated in the seven-way Democratic primary election by Teresa Leger Fernandez. Fernandez received 44,480 votes, Plame 25,775 votes, and Joseph L. Sanchez 12,292 votes.


title: Valerie Plame

text: After graduating from Penn State in 1985, Plame married Todd Sesler; the marriage ended in divorce in 1989. In 1997, while working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Plame met former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson. They were married on April 3, 1998. At the time they met, Wilson related in his memoir, he was separated from his second wife Jacqueline. They divorced after 12 years of marriage so that he could marry Plame. Wilson and Plame divorced in 2017. Wilson died in 2019. Plame married Dr. Joseph Shepard, President of Western New Mexico University, in 2020.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Prior to the disclosure of her CIA job, the family lived in The Palisades, Washington, D.C. After she resigned from the CIA following the disclosure of her CIA position, in January 2006, the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Plame served as a consultant to the Santa Fe Institute until 2016. In a 2011 interview, Plame said she and Wilson had received threats while living in the D.C. metro area, and that the New Mexico location was calm.


title: Valerie Plame

text: Plame endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.


title: The Equalizer

text: The Equalizer is an American spy thriller franchise initially co-created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim, and originating with a CBS television series from 1985 to 1989, starring Edward Woodward. The concept was thereafter rebooted twice, first with a pair of movies ("The Equalizer" in 2014 and "The Equalizer 2" in 2018) starring Denzel Washington, slated to be followed up by a third film in 2023, and secondly with a re-imagined 2021 television series, also on CBS, starring Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall. A series of novels featuring Robert McCall has been written by original co-creator Michael Sloan, with the first volume published in 2014.


title: The Equalizer

text: The franchise centers on a retired intelligence agent with a mysterious past, who uses the skills from his former career to exact justice on behalf of innocent people who find themselves in dangerous circumstances, while sometimes also dealing with people from his past in covert operations who want to pull him back in or settle old scores. The show's theme music was created by composer/performer Stewart Copeland. The track is called ‘Busy Equalizing’. An extended version appears on his album "The Equalizer and Other Cliff Hangers".


title: The Equalizer

text: The original show ran for four seasons of 22 episodes each. It was initially renewed for a fifth season (causing Keith Szarabajka to turn down a role on "Midnight Caller"). However, the show was later canceled due to a row between CBS and Universal Studios over the renewal of "Murder, She Wrote". In "The Story of The Equalizer", created for the DVD box set, executive producer Coleman Luck also stated that Universal requested a script for a crossover episode with "Magnum, P.I." despite the objections of the crew due to the vastly different tones of the two shows. Ultimately, the crossover did not happen and the episode was re-written as "Beyond Control".


title: The Equalizer

text: The show's theme music was created by composer/performer Stewart Copeland. The track is called ‘Busy Equalizing’. An extended version appears on his album "The Equalizer and Other Cliff Hangers."


title: The Equalizer

text: In June 2010, it was announced that Russell Crowe was looking to bring "The Equalizer" to the big screen and to be directed by Paul Haggis, with Crowe attached to play Robert McCall.


title: The Equalizer

text: In December 2011, it was reported that Denzel Washington would star in the title role of the film version, to be financed by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Escape Artists. Director Antoine Fuqua came on board to direct on March 21, 2013, reuniting him with Washington after their successful collaboration on the 2001 Oscar-winning film "Training Day". Chloë Grace Moretz was announced as a co-star on May 10, 2013; Anna Kendrick, Kelly Macdonald and Nina Dobrev were also considered. On May 31, 2013, Melissa Leo was cast in the film. Leo previously worked with Washington in the 2012 film "Flight", and with Fuqua in "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013). Coincidentally, Leo actually guest starred in a season one episode of the original Equalizer television series titled "The Defector", in which she portrayed the daughter of a former Soviet agent, who enlists McCall's help to defect to the United States. Marton Csokas was cast to play the villain on May 17.


title: The Equalizer

text: "The Equalizer" grossed $101.5 million in North America and $90.8 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $192.3 million, against a net production budget of $55 million.


title: The Equalizer

text: On February 24, 2014, seven months before the release of "The Equalizer", it was announced that Sony Pictures and Escape Artists were planning a sequel, with Richard Wenk penning the script again. In early October 2014, Antoine Fuqua stated that there would be a sequel to the film only if audiences and Denzel Washington wanted it. He said it was an interesting character, and that the sequel could have more of an international flavor.


title: The Equalizer

text: On April 22, 2015, Sony officially announced a sequel, with Washington returning to his role as vigilante Robert McCall. Fuqua's returning was not yet confirmed. In September 2016, producer Todd Black revealed that the script of the film was complete, and that Fuqua would return to direct, with shooting set to begin in September 2017.


title: The Equalizer

text: "The Equalizer 2" grossed $102.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $88.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $190.4 million, against a production budget of $62 million.


title: The Equalizer

text: A third film is in the works with Washington and director Antoine Fuqua returning and filming expected to start in late 2022.


title: The Equalizer

text: In November 2019, CBS announced that a reboot is in development with Queen Latifah in the lead role as Robyn McCall. Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller will serve as showrunners with Latifah herself as an executive producer. On January 27, 2020, CBS issued a pilot order for the new version.


title: The Equalizer

text: The series was among the 14 pilots ordered by CBS in February 2020 and was fast tracked to series the following March, as they are unable to film their pilots where Universal Television was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: The Equalizer

text: On May 8, 2020, CBS picked up the series and they added Chris Noth as William Bishop, a quirky ex-CIA director who is the opposite of Latifah. It premiered on February 7, 2021, after Super Bowl LV.


title: The Equalizer

text: In March 2021, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on October 10, 2021. In May 2022, the series was renewed for its third and fourth seasons. The third season is set to premiere on October 2, 2022.


title: The Equalizer

text: A series of novels featuring Robert McCall has been written by the original co-creator Michael Sloan. The first is simply entitled "The Equalizer" published in 2014, followed by "Killed in Action: An Equalizer Novel", which was released in 2018. The novels are a modern reimagining of the original series and focus on McCall leaving The Company and eventually becoming a private investigator in New York. It also features a number of original recurring characters from the television series such as Mickey Kostmayer, Control, and Scott McCall. A third novel, "Equalizer: Requiem" was released in 2020.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The Rheinmetall Rh-120 is a 120 mm smoothbore tank gun designed and produced in former West Germany by the Rheinmetal-DeTec AG company, it was developed in response to Soviet advances in armour technology and development of new armoured threats. Production began in 1974, with the first version of the gun, known as the "L/44" as it was 44 calibres long, used on the German Leopard 2 tank and soon produced under license for the American M1A1 Abrams and other tanks. The gun has a length of , and the gun system weighs approximately .


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: By 1990, the L/44 was not considered powerful enough to defeat future Soviet armour, which stimulated an effort by Rheinmetall to develop a better main armament. This first involved a tank gun named "Neue Panzerkanone 140" ('new tank gun 140'), but later turned into a compromise which led to the development of an advanced 120 mm gun, the L/55, based on the same internal geometry as the L/44 and installed in the same breech and mount. The L/55 is longer, generating increased muzzle velocity for rounds fired through it. As the L/55 retains the same barrel geometry, it can fire the same ammunition as the L/44.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: This gun was retrofitted into German and Dutch Leopard 2s, and chosen as the main gun of the Spanish Leopard 2E and the Greek Leopard 2HEL. It was tested on the British Challenger 2 as a potential replacement for its rifled L30 120 mm cannon.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: A variety of ammunition has been developed for use by tanks with guns based on Rheinmetall's original L/44 design. This includes a series of kinetic energy penetrators, such as the American M829 series, and high-explosive anti-tank warheads. Recent ammunition includes a range of anti-personnel rounds and demolition munitions. The LAHAT, developed in Israel, is a gun-launched anti-tank guided missile which has received interest from Germany and other Leopard 2 users. It is designed to defeat both land armour and combat helicopters. The Israelis also introduced a new anti-personnel munition which limits collateral damage by controlling the fragmentation of the projectile.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The development of the 120 mm L/44 gun started in 1965, as the Bundeswehr felt a more powerful gun was needed for its new tanks. The first instance of a larger Soviet tank gun was witnessed on the chassis of a modified T-55 in 1961. In 1965, the Soviet Union's T-62 made its first public appearance, armed with a smoothbore tank gun. The Soviet decision to increase the power of its tank's main armament had come when, in the early 1960s, an Iranian tank commander defected over the Soviet border in a brand-new M60 Patton tank, which was armed with the M68 gun, the US version of the British Royal Ordnance L7. Despite the introduction of the T-62, in 1969 their T-64 tank was rearmed with a new tank gun, while in 1972 Nizhny Tagil began production of the T-72 tank, also armed with the gun. At the fighting at Sultan Yakoub, during the 1982 Lebanon War, the Israeli government claimed to have destroyed nine Syrian T-72s with the Merkava main battle tank, armed with an Israeli version of the American M68 tank gun. Whether true or not, the Soviets test-fired a number of Israeli M111 "Hetz" armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds at Kubinka, finding the round was able to perforate the sloped front section plate but not the turret armour of the T-72 tank. In response, the Soviets developed the T-72M1. This led Israel to opt for a 120 mm tank gun during the development process of the Merkava III main battle tank. This case is similar to the American decision to replace the M68 tank gun with Rheinmetall's 120 mm gun in 1976; the introduction of the T-64A had raised the question within the armour community of whether the new ammunition for the existing gun caliber could effectively defeat the new Soviet tank.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: In 1963, Germany and the United States had already embarked on a joint tank program, known as the MBT-70. The new tank carried a crew of three, with the driver in the turret, an automatic loader for the main gun, a autocannon as secondary armament, an active hydropneumatic suspension and spaced armour on the glacis plate and front turret. The new tank concept also had improved armament, a missile-launching main gun, designed to fire the MGM-51 Shillelagh anti-tank missile. However, the German Army was interested in a tank gun which could fire conventional ammunition. Although there were attempts to modify the tank gun to do so, the process proved extremely difficult, and the Germans began development of the future Rheinmetall 120 mm gun instead.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: In 1967, the German ministry of defense decided to re-open a Leopard 1 improvement program, known as the "Vergoldeter Leopard" ('Gilded Leopard'), later renamed the "Keiler" ('Wild Boar'). Krauss-Maffei was chosen as the contractor, and two prototypes were developed in 1969 and 1970. This program grew into the Leopard 2; the first prototype of the new tank was delivered in 1972, equipped with a smoothbore main gun. Between 1972 and 1975, a total of 17 prototypes were developed. The new 120 mm gun's ten-year development effort ended in 1974. Ten of the seventeen turrets built were equipped with 105 mm smoothbore guns, and the other seven were equipped with larger, 120 mm, guns. Another program aimed to mount the missile-gun was also begun in an attempt to save components from the MBT-70, but in 1971 the program was ended for economic reasons. Instead, the Germans opted for Rheinmetall's 120 mm L/44 smoothbore tank gun.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Rheinmetall's L/44 tank gun has a calibre of 120 mm, and a length of 44 calibres (). The gun's barrel weighs , and on the M1 Abrams the gun mount weighs , while the new barrel (L/55) is 55 calibres long, longer.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The bore evacuator and the gun's thermal sleeve, designed to regulate the temperature of the barrel, are made of glass-reinforced plastic, while the barrel has a chrome lining to increase barrel life. Originally the gun had an EFC barrel life of ~1,500 rounds, but with recent advances in propellant technology, the average life has increased even further. The gun's recoil mechanism is composed of two hydraulic retarders and a hydropneumatic assembly.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Production of the German Leopard 2 and the new 120 mm tank gun began in 1979, fulfilling an order for the German Army. Although the American M1 Abrams was originally armed with the M68A1 105 mm gun (a version of the L7), the United States Army had planned to fit the tank with a larger main gun at a later date, and the tank's turret had been designed to accommodate a larger 120 mm gun. The larger gun was integrated into the M1A1 Abrams, with the first vehicle coming off the production line in 1985 The gun, known as the "M256", was based on the L/44 tank gun, although manufactured at Watervliet Arsenal. Tanks armed with versions of Rheinmetall's gun produced under licence include Japan's Type 90 and South Korea's K1A1.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The appearance of new Soviet tanks such as the T-80B during the late 1970s and early 1980s led to the development of new technologies and weapons to counter the threat posed to Western armour. The T-80B had increased firepower and new composite ceramic armour. The T-72 also went through a modernization program in an attempt to bring it up to the standards of the T-80B. In 1985 the new T-72B version entered production, with a new laminate armour protection system; its turret armour, designed mainly to defeat anti-tank missiles, surpassed the T-80B's in protection.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The German government began developing the Leopard 3, although this was canceled after the fall of the Soviet Union. On 29 October 1991, the governments of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany agreed to cooperate in the development of a modernization program for the Leopard 2. Part of this program included the introduction of a longer 120 mm tank gun, a cheaper alternative to a new tank gun, increasing the maximum range of the gun by an estimated . Although the gun is longer, allowing for a higher peak pressure from the propellant, the geometry remains the same, allowing the gun to fire the same ammunition as that fired from the shorter version. The longer barrel allows ammunition to attain higher velocities; for example, with new kinetic energy penetrator's ammunition can reach velocities of around . The new barrel weighs .


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The longer tank gun has been retrofitted into the Leopard 2, creating a model known as the "Leopard 2A6". The Spanish Leopard 2E, the Greek Leopard 2HEL, the Singapore Leopard 2SG, and derivatives of the Leopard 2A6, use 55 calibre-long tank guns.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Rheinmetall introduced a larger Rh-130 130 mm L/51 tank gun at Eurosatory 2016 in June 2016. Development commenced in 2015, financed entirely using internal funding, as a response to the Russian introduction of new-generation armoured vehicles like the T-14 Armata tank, and the first technical demonstrator (TD) was completed in May 2016. The new 130 mm gun has an L/51 chrome-lined smoothbore barrel with a vertical sliding breech mechanism, increased chamber volume, no muzzle brake, a thermal sleeve, and a muzzle reference system (MRS) enabling it to be boresighted on a more regular basis without the crew needing to leave the platform. Compared to the 120 mm gun, the 130 mm has a barrel and an all-up weight of including the recoil system. Rheinmetall is developing a new generation armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) round featuring a semi-combustible cartridge case, new propellant, and new advanced long rod tungsten penetrator, and a high-explosive air-bursting munition (HE ABM) based on the 120 mm DM11 HE ABM in parallel with the gun; the cartridges are and long with, according to the company, the increase of 8% in calibre resulting in 50% more kinetic energy over the 120 mm gun.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Engineers believe the weapon can only be used with an automatic loader and new turret design. The gun commenced static firing trials at Rheinmetall's proving ground following Eurosatory, while engineers hoped to receive a new NATO standard by the end of 2016, although development of the gun and ammunition will likely take 8–10 years. The 130 mm is designed to equip the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), a joint effort between Germany and France to produce a successor to the Leopard 2 and Leclerc, possibly to be launched between 2025–2030. In July 2020, Rheinmetall unveilled a testbed tank for the gun in a new turret, mounted on a Challenger 2 hull. In June 2022, Rheinmetal unveiled the Panther KF51 concept tank based on Leopard 2 chassis and a redesigned turret hosting the new gun.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: A variety of rounds have been developed for Rheinmetall's tank gun. For example, a long line of armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) rounds was developed by Rheinmetall. Originally, the Leopard 2 was outfitted with the DM23 kinetic energy penetrator, based on the Israeli 105 mm M111 "Hetz" which itself was a licensed copy of the American M735 round. The DM23 was eventually replaced by the DM33, which was also adopted by Japan, Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland. The DM33 has a three-part aluminium sabot and a two-part tungsten penetrator, and is said to be able to penetrate of steel armour at a range of . The DM43 is a further development of this round, codeveloped between Germany and France. The introduction of the longer barrel came together with the introduction of a new kinetic energy penetrator, the DM53. With the projectile including sabot weighing 8.35 kilograms with a 38:1 length to diameter ratio and with a muzzle velocity of , the DM53 has an effective engagement range of up to . A further development, called the "DM63", improved upon the round by introducing a new temperature-independent propellant, which allows the propellant to have a constant pattern of expansion between ambient temperatures inside the gun barrel from to . The new propellant powders, known as surface-coated double-base (SCDB) propellants, allow the DM63 to be used in many climates with consistent results. The new ammunition has been accepted into service with the Dutch and Swiss, as well as German, armies.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: In 1993, South Korea invented self-sharpening process on the tungsten heavy alloy, which the process was only achievable from depleted uranium penetrators, by applying microstructure control and multi-stage heat treatment. Most penetrators in the world receive a single heat treatment, while Korean penetrators are treated 20 times using the new technology, which increases impact toughness by 300%. The self-sharpening effect increases penetration by 8–16% compared to regular penetrators, and compensates 6–10% less penetration from material disadvantage against DU, providing firepower of that of DU ammunition in a DU particle-free environment. South Korea holds related patents on Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and 3 other unspecified nations. The public appearance of the K276 armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), the first 120 mm ammunition with self-sharpening penetrator, was during the release ceremony of K1A1 prototype in 1996.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The United States developed its own kinetic energy penetrator (KEP) tank round in the form of an armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) round, using a depleted uranium (DU) alloy long-rod penetrator (LRP), designated the "M829", followed by improved versions. An immediate improvement, known as the "M829A1", was called the "Silver Bullet" after its good combat performance during the Gulf War against Iraqi T-55, T-62 and T-72 tanks. The M829 series centres around the depleted uranium penetrator, designed to penetrate enemy armour through kinetic energy and to shatter inside the turret, doing much damage within the tank. In 1998, the United States military introduced the M829A2, which has an improved depleted uranium penetrator and composite sabot petals. In 2002, production began of the ($10,000 per round) M829A3, using a more efficient propellant (RPD-380 stick), a lighter injection-molded sabot, and a longer (800 mm) and heavier (10 kg / 22 lb) DU penetrator, which is said to be able to defeat the latest versions of Russian Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour (ERA). This variant is unofficially referred to by Abrams tank crews as the "super sabot". In response to the M829A3, the Russian Army designed the Relikt, the most modern Russian ERA, which is claimed to be twice as effective as the Kontakt-5. A further improved M829E4 round with a segmented penetrator to defeat Relikt has been under development since 2011 and was to be fielded as the "M829A4" in 2015.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Both Germany and the United States have developed several other rounds. These include the German DM12 multi-purpose anti-tank projectile (MPAT), based on the technology in a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead. However, it has been found that the DM12's armour-killing abilities are limited by the lack of blast and fragmentation effects, and that the round is less valuable against lightly armoured targets. The United States also has an MPAT-type projectile, named "M830". This was later developed into the M830A1, which allows the M1 Abrams to use the round against helicopters. The M1 Abrams can use the M1028 canister round, which is an anti-personnel-anti-helicopter munition, packed with over 1,000 10 mm tungsten balls. The United States Armed Forces accepted a new demolition round, called the "M908 obstacle defeating round", based on the M830A1 MPAT, but with the proximity fuse replaced by a hardened nose cap. The cap allows the round to impact and embed itself in concrete, then exploding inside the target and causing more damage.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The Israeli Army introduced a new round known as the "laser homing anti-tank" (LAHAT) projectile. Using a semi-active laser homing guidance method, the LAHAT can be guided by the tank's crew or by teams on the ground, while the missile's trajectory can be selected to either attack from the top (to defeat enemy armour) or direct attack (to engage enemy helicopters). Furthermore, the missile can be fired by both and tank guns. The LAHAT has been offered as an option for the Leopard 2, and has been marketed by both Israel Military Industries and Rheinmetall to Leopard 2 users. Israeli Merkavas make use of a round known as the "APAM", which is an anti-personnel munition designed to release fragmentation at controlled intervals to limit the extent of damage. Fragments are shaped to have enough kinetic energy to penetrate body armour. Poland has introduced a series of projectiles for Rheinmetall's tank gun, including an armour-piercing penetrator target practice round (APFSDS-T-TP), a high-explosive round, and a high-explosive target practice (HE-TP) projectile. The ammunition is manufactured by Zakłady Produkcji Specjalnej Sp. z o.o.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: In early 2013 Rheinmetall announced two new rounds suitable for the L44 and the L55 guns, the DM11 HE round, designed for lightly armoured targets, field fortifications and targets behind cover and a lower cost alternative to the DM11, the HE SQ Rh31.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: Due to tank sales, Rheinmetall's L/44 tank gun has been manufactured for other nations. For example, the Leopard 2 armed with the 44 calibre long gun, has been sold to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Finland, and other countries. Egypt had manufactured 700–800 M1A1 Abrams by 2005, and in 2008 requested permission to build another 125 tanks; their M256 main guns (the US version of the L/44) were manufactured by the Watervliet Arsenal. The M1A1 has also been exported to Australia, while the M1A2 Abrams has been exported to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The American license-built M256 has also been offered by General Dynamics Land Systems as part of the M60-2000 main battle tank which would upgrade older M60 Patton tanks to have capabilities of their M1A1 Abrams at a reduced cost, though the company has not yet found a buyer.


title: Rheinmetall Rh-120

text: The Leopard 2A6 and its longer L/55 main gun have been exported for use by the Canadian Army, and the Netherlands upgraded part of its original fleet of Leopard 2s with the more powerful armament. The British Army has tested Rheinmetall's longer gun, possibly looking to replace the current L30A1 120 mm L/55 rifled main gun on the Challenger 2. Two Challenger 2s were modified to undergo firing trials. Although the South Korean K2 Black Panther is equipped with a CN08 120 mm L/55 main gun and shows similar characteristics as its German counterpart, it is indigenously developed by Agency for Defense Development and Hyundai Wia, a Korea-based powertrain company affiliated with Hyundai Kia Motors Group.


title: Stendhal syndrome

text: Stendhal syndrome, Stendhal's syndrome or Florence syndrome is a psychosomatic condition involving rapid heartbeat, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations, allegedly occurring when individuals become exposed to objects, artworks, or phenomena of great beauty and antiquity.