The passing of General Paolo Inzerilli, announced in recent hours by the Italian volunteer association 'Stay Behind', marks the end of a central figure in the history of the Italian secret services. Inzerilli, who served as Chief of Staff of SISMI and commanded the Gladio structure in Italy, has left us at the age of 90. His legacy, although complex, was marked by a constant commitment to national security and the defence of democratic principles.
Born in Milan on 15 November 1933, Inzerilli had a distinguished career in the Italian armed forces, becoming a member of the Alpini and assuming key roles in both SISMI and Gladio. From 1974 to 1986, he commanded Gladio, a secret paramilitary organisation set up to prepare Italy to resist potential invasions or insurrections by countries linked to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Subsequently, from 1989 to 1991, he was Chief of Staff of the Military Intelligence Service (SISMI).
What was the Gladio organisation
Gladio was a paramilitary organisation born out of an agreement between the CIA and the Italian secret services, part of the operation of the same name aimed at preventing a possible Soviet or Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. The group was distinguished by its sabotage, guerrilla warfare and psychological warfare operations behind enemy lines, acting in close synergy with the secret services and other entities.
Beyond the threat of the Soviet Union, Italy and the Western bloc saw the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito and politically independent of the USSR, as a greater danger. Yugoslavia, in fact, had been aiming to expand its territory at the expense of Italy since 1943, targeting in particular the region of Venezia Giulia and the city of Trieste.
Although the term Gladio refers specifically to the Italian initiative within the broader 'Stay-behind' programme, the press has sometimes extended the use of this designation to other similar operations in Europe. The network of stay-behind groups, designed to act behind enemy lines in case of invasion, was widespread in almost all Western European countries during the Cold War period.
Structure of Gladio
October 1, 1956 marked the birth of the 5th Section within the SIFAR 'R' Office, renamed S.A.D. (Special Studies and Personnel Training), with the specific mission of coordinating Operation Gladio. This section remained operative also with the subsequent evolution of the SID, transforming itself in 1980 into the VII Division of the SISMI, headed by General Giuseppe Santovito.
Under the aegis of the S.A.D., the Guastatori Training Centre (C.A.G.) and the secret Stay-behind structure Gladio were set up. The latter was organised into various units and nuclei, including the Command Unit, information, propaganda, evasion and escape, and guerrilla units, distributed over several Italian geographical areas, such as Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trieste, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and the Lombardy Lakes, as well as five Guerrilla Ready Units located in strategically important regions.
A distinctive element was Gladio's equipping of a Dakota C47 aircraft, known as the Argo 16, to transport members to the C.A.G. at Capo Marrargiu for training. The plane crashed in 1973 in Porto Marghera under mysterious circumstances, which some attributed to sabotage, although it was officially considered an accident.
Between 1985 and 1987, new Special Training Centres (C.A.S.) were created, including the Libra Centre in Brescia, the Pleiadi Centre in Asti, and the Scorpione Centre in Trapani. Originally conceived for the training of Gladio members, these centres were later recognised as suitable for intelligence activities related to terrorism and organised crime, on the directive of Admiral Fulvio Martini, then director of SISMI.
In 1986, on the initiative of Paolo Inzerilli, then colonel and director of the 7th Division of the SISMI, the Special Operations Group (G.O.S.), also known as 'Nucleo K' or 'Operatori Speciali del Servizio Italiano' (O.S.I.), was established. This group selected guerrilla and counter-guerrilla warfare specialists from the Armed Forces to train Gladio's civilian members, but was also mobilised for escort missions to prominent figures and during critical events, demonstrating Gladio's wide-ranging and diverse operational capabilities in the context of the Cold War and beyond.
A complex legacy
The death of General Paolo Inzerilli closes a significant chapter in the history of Italian intelligence and defence. While his connection to Gladio remains a distinctive element of his biography, it is important to consider Inzerilli's entire career in the broader context of the security challenges Italy faced in the 20th century. His legacy, like that of Gladio, is an integral part of the complex web of events that characterised the Cold War in Italy.
