Broadly, I’m interested in learning what we actually know about Gladio (meant broadly here and not just about Italy) operations across Europe, especially beyond the simple existence of stay-behind groups.

Obviously, there are some serious issues with Daniele Ganser’s book on the topic which we don’t really seem able to answer, given the lack of access to the files of Western (and especially American) secret service files. The fact that the broader point he’s making, namely the existence of a strategy of tension in all of Europe coordinated by NATO and Western intelligence services carried out by fascists and their ilk, relies on accepting a fake document, seems damning. And there is no question that the far left (sometimes with the help of e.g. the Stasi) was carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe at the same time, which makes the Gladio narrative look like a conspiracy theory aimed at making both sides equal.

But the broader context doesn’t make it seem ridiculous. The USA was clearly willing to meddle in internal European politics, having dumped millions into the 1948 Italian elections to oppose the PCI. Operation Condor in South America, which had direct links to P2 in Italy, was extremely similar to the allegations made by Ganser about what was happening in Europe. Multiple people involved claimed that Ganser’s basic assumption about the strategy of tension was correct, like Vincenzo Vinciguerra. The Ziverbey Villa tortures also seems like a confirmation that Gladio operations were directed at undesirable political groups and not just creating stay-behind cells in case of a Soviet invasion. The CIA is confirmed to have done at least one false flag it blamed on communists during the 1953 Iranian Coup. Operation Northwoods proposed something similar, though not identical, to the strategy of tension in the US, and was approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (if not the president). The stay-behind units were confirmed as real in a number of countries, even in neutral Switzerland and Austria.

I don’t really find it plausible that the much more conspiratorial things—like a fascist international funded by the heroin trade and run out of NATO headquarters for multiple decades—is real. But it doesn’t seem too farfetched that arming former nazis, fascists, and other people in the radical right with weapons could have resulted in terrorism, and that intelligence organizations who armed them were willing to turn a blind eye.

So what do historians, aside from Ganser, think about Gladio? Is it just unclear, and we are stuck waiting for something akin to the Stasi archives being opened for proof either way? Is it all a fantastic story ripped straight from a Bond movie, with no meaningful proof? Are there some actual instances that we know are real, which don’t require a wink and a nod to believe in? Should I put down my cup of kool-aid?!

Thanks in advance for any and all answers!