Researcher Jeremy Bigwood working in the Library of Congress European Reading Room.
Curriculum Vitae: Jeremy BigwoodInvestigative, historical & scientific research, publication, and photojournalism: 1984-present
2012-2021 Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET – as a contract worker) project regarding the influence of money on the US political system. Created database of all the recorded campaign contributions to all the US political parties from 1912 to 1972 for posting on the Internet for academic analysis and public use. These legislative records were copied, text-recognized and made into a database.
2016-2021 Studied the Russian language at the Russian Cultural Centre in Washington, DC, at Moscow State University (МГУ), the Pushkin Institute and at Russia Lab. Lived off and on in Moscow (half a year in Moscow and half a year in Washington) for three years (2017-2019). Historical research at various Russian archives, including the Russian Gov’t Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI).
2014-2018: Honduran Truth Commission. FOIA and in country research regarding the June 28, 2009 coup in Honduras in which president Mel Zelaya was removed. FOIA research resulted in a FOIA lawsuit in which Bigwood was represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
2013 – 2015: BIGWOOD v. DoD US District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 11-cv-0602. (Center for Constitutional Rights – Attorneys). Much material released – but little relevant. https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/honduras-true-commission-and-ccr-freedom-information-act-foia-requests
1995-2013: Freedom of Information Act and Mandatory Declassification Review research for Bigwood’s own articles for publication as well as with collaborations with academics and news media, both inside the United States and worldwide. Bigwood also does on-site research at the US National Archives, and the Library of Congress among other repositories. Almost all investigatory research has been done in response to queries by academics, journalists and authors regarding historical or current events as well as to further Bigwood’s own research, which has been published in In These Times, Huffington Post, NACLA, American Journalism Review, The Village Voice, Mother Jones, Popular Communications, UpsideDownWorld, Inter Press Service, SubmergingMarkets, Alternet, New Scientist, Peru’s Caretas, Germany’s FreeLens magazine, among other publications.
Several responses to Bigwood’s Freedom of Information Act requests had varying impacts on the domestic and foreign policies of several nations, including Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Japan, and Cyprus.
2012: Photojournalist fieldwork on mineral extraction in and around Pará in Brazil for the Sao Paolo website “aPública.” https://apublica.org/2012/11/por-que-a-vale-foi-eleita-a-pior-empresa-do-mundo/
2009 – 2011: BIGWOOD v. DIA US District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 08-1431 (RMU). (Atty. Paul Wolf, pro bono) Much material released on the subject of Carlos Castaño and Colombian paramilitaries – but of little import.
2006-2007: International Policy Analyst at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a Washington, D.C. think tank. Bigwood liaisoned with other Washington NGOs and think tanks to request a National Academy of Sciences study of mycoherbicides, which effectively terminated that U.S. government program.
2005-2007: BIGWOOD v. USAID US District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 06-0635. (Bigwood represented himself). Some irrelevant material released but lost case.
2002-2005: Worked as an accredited Freelance photojournalist in the United States Congress, Washington, DC.
2004: TIDES Foundation grant to study and defeat resurgence of mycoherbicide proposal by officials of the UNODC, the U.S. Department of State and members of the Uribe administration of Colombia.
2003-2004: Research for the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper through the Freedom of Information Act and the National Archives. link
2001-2002: Worked as a scientific-technical assistant for the Ecuadorian Ministerio del Ambiente, writing briefs about the use of herbicides by the U.S. government in Colombia and its possible effects on the Ecuadorian ecosystem. This work was partially funded by the Drug Policy Alliance and involved participating in a meeting in Bogotá between the Ecuadoran, Colombian and United States governments.
2000-2001: Recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Research & Writing grant to study toxic fungal mycoherbicides designed to eradicate drug crops but that would easily mutate and attack other crops and produced highly carcinogenic toxins. Bigwood created and maintained the website www.mycoherbicide.info which was consulted by members of the US National Security Council (NSC), which was a factor in influencing the decision by the NSC not to use mycoherbicides in Colombia in 2000 as originally mandated by the US Congress. The site was also consulted by the Latin American governments when they banned the use of mycoherbicides throughout the Andes. The US mycoherbicide project was completely shut down. Bigwood’s most successful work.
1998–2000: Webmaster for www.naruc.org, the quasi-governmental website of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose member agencies regulate the activities of telecommunications, railways, roads and the electric and water utilities throughout the United States and its territories.
1996-1998: Amnesty International: Research through the FOIA on Electric Stun Guns and especially their use in torture.
1994-1996: Washington State and Alaska. Working in coffee business near Seattle and in the fishing industry in the Bering Sea before moving to Washington, D.C.
1984-1994: Latin America. Photojournalist accredited with photo agency Gamma Liaison of New York and Paris. Fluent in Spanish. Covered political, social, and military conflict in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Peru. Photos appeared in hundreds of publications including Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Der Spiegel, and Der Stern. Worked closely with writers and editors covering stories.
Languages: Russian language studies - B1-B2 level
2021: Tutor in Chelyabinsk, Russia on Zoom. 3 hrs per week.
2019-2021: Russian Lab – in person and online from Moscow. 3 hrs per week
2018: August-September, 2018 studied at Russian Lab in Moscow, Russia.
2018: February–March, 2018 studied at the A. C. Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language (Государственный институт русского языка им. А.С. Пушкина), Moscow, Russia.
2017: July–September, Moscow State University (МГУ), Moscow, Russia.
2014-2017: Russian Cultural Centre, Washington, D.C.
Spanish language Studies - fluent
1985: Poyecto Lingüistico Francisco Marroquín, Antigua, Guatemala.
1984: Casa Nicaragüense de Español, Managua, Nicaragua
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Litigation:
2013 - 2015 BIGWOOD v. U.S. DEPT. OF DEFENSE (September 25, 2015)
United States District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 11-cv-0602 (KBJ). (Center for Constitutional Rights – Attorneys). Much material released – but little relevant. link
2009 - 2011 BIGWOOD v. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (March 22, 2011)
United States District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 08-1431 (RMU). (Atty. Paul Wolf, pro bono) Much material released – but little relevant. link
2005 - 2007 BIGWOOD v. U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID) (April 10, 2007) United States District Court, District of Columbia. Civil Action No. 06-0635 (PLF). (Bigwood represented himself). Some marginally relevant material released but lost case. link
Awards & Grants:
- TIDES Foundation grant, 2004 to study resurgence of the idea of using mycoherbicides in drug crop control.
- John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Research & Writing grant, 2000. Year-long investigation of the use of mycoherbicides against drug crops.
- Fund for Investigative Journalism grant, 1999-2002 - funding for a long-term investigation concerning the relationship between the U.S. government intelligence entities and U.S. photo agencies.
Published articles:
1988 “Infancia y Guerra” UNICEF, UN & Guatemala link
1996-03-00 “War Time Radio: Salvadoran Stations Play Out Real Life For Journalists” Popular Communications, USA link
1997-01-09 “Volver a la Selva” Caretas, Peru link
1997-01-21 “With Peru’s Tupac Rebels” Village Voice, USA link
1997-05-00 “Guerrilla U” Covert Action Quarterly, USA link
1997-05-08 “Borrón y Manchas Nuevas” Caretas, Peru link
2000-05-03 “Drug Control or Biowarfare” Mother Jones, USA – coauthor: Sharon Stevenson link
2001-03-00 “Coca Eradication” Foreign Policy In Focus, USA – coauthor: Phillip Coffin link
2001-04-23 “DynCorp in Colombia” CorpWatch, USA link
2001-06-21 “Toxic Drift: Monsanto and the Drug War in Colombia” CorpWatch, USA link
2001-07-00 “The Accidental Spy” American Journalism Review, USA link
2001-08-21 “Monsanto y la ‘guerra de las drogas’ en Colombia” Semana, Colombia link
2001-09-00 “Der Unfreiwillige Spitzel” Freelens, Germany linkbetter_link
2001-11-00 “Monsanto and the Drug War” Earth Island Journal, USA link
2002-04-18 “Haciendo el trabajo sucio de los EE.UU: Israel y los paramilitares colombianos” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2003-04-08 “Doing the US’ Dirty Work: The Colombian Paramilitaries and Israel” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2003-04-18 “Latin American Expansion Cloaked in Shadow of Iraq” Inter Press Service News Agency, UN link
2003-05-16 “Population: Salvadorans worry over end to Temporary U.S. Status” Inter Press Service News Agency, UN link
2003-06-04 “Kolombiya ve Latin Amerika'da paramiliter güçler, ABD'nin kirli iþleri ve Ýsrail eðitim kamplarý” Sosyalist Barikat, Turkey link
2003-06-05 “Israel's Latin American Trail of Terror” AlJazeera.net, Qatar link
2003-06-05 “Faire le sale travail des Etats-Unis: Israël et les paramilitaires colombiens” RISAL, France link
2003-08-20 “Scientists Link GM Crop Weed Killer to Powerful Fungus” Inter Press Service News Agency, ONU link
2003-08-23 “The Toxic War on Drugs: GM Crop Weed Killer Linked to Powerful Fungus” Counterpunch, USA link
2003-08-28 “Herbicida GM asociado con poderoso hongo” Mama coca, Colombia link
2004-01-20 “La historia de cómo el gobierno de EEUU espió las fotografías de un periodista: El espía involuntario” Rebelión, Spain link
2004-02-10 “The CIA Finally Gets One Right: September 2000 Intelligence Analysis: “‘PLAN COLOMBIA May Fail to Work’” Submerging Markets, USA coauthor: James S. Henry link
2005-02-02 “WOLA Drops the Ball with New Book, Shifts to the Right on Drug War: The Book, Drugs and Democracy in Latin America, Is an Expensive Disappointment” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2005-02-02 “WOLA suelta el balón con su nuevo libro, gira a la derecha en la Guerra de las Drogas: El libro, Drugs and Democracy in Latin America, es una gran
Decepción” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2005-06-04 “Confronting Venezuela” Submerging Markets, USA coauthor: James S. Henry link
2005-06-23 “Moth Madness! The Latest Crazy Scheme in the Hapless ‘War on
Drugs’" Submerging Markets, USA coauthor: James S. Henry link
2005-07-15 “Mycoherbicide Redux: U.S. Congressmen Declare Biological War on South America in New Antidrug Proposal” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2005-07-25 “El micoherbicida está de vuelta: El congreso de Estados Unidos declaró la guerra biológica a Sur América en una nueva propuesta.” The Narco News Bulletin, México & USA link
2006-03-15 “U.S. Meddling In Peruvian Presidential Race?” UpsideDownWorld, USA link
2006-06-06 “Drug Warriors Push Eye-Eating Fungus” In These Times, USA link
2006-06-14 “The Empire’s Workshop: An Interview with Greg Grandin”
UpsideDownWorld, USA link
2008-06-01 “No Strings Attached? How U.S. funding of the world press corps may be buying influence” In These Times, USA link
2008-06-02 “¿Sin compromiso alguno? Cómo EEUU financia órganos de prensa de todo mundo para comprar influencia mediática” TLAXCALA, Spain & Voltaire.net link
2009-05-13 “Reinventing Demons: The Obama administration plans a new round of “public safety’ programs in Latin America” In These Times, USA link
2010-06-11 “Truth in Honduras: One year after the coup, the battle over who gets to expose-or avoid recent history begins.” In These Times, USA link
2010-07-19 “Full Disclosure: Buying Venezuela’s press with U.S. Tax Dollars” NACLA & Huffington Post, USA link
2011-04-16 “ Washington, Peru and Ollanta Humala: You Can’t Always Believe What You Read in WikiLeaks” UpsideDownWorld, USA link
2011-05-20 “After Cablegate, Enforced Ignorance: Why is the Obama administration barring U.S. diplomats from learning what the world already knows?” In These Times, USA link
2012-09-20 “Freedom House: The Language of Hubris” NACLA, USA linkPeer-reviewed scientific articles:
1980-11-11 Quantitative Analysis of Psilocybin and Psilocin in Psilocybe baeocystis (Singer and Smith) by High Performance Liquid Chromatography and by Thin Layer Chromatography. Beug, Michael and Bigwood, Jeremy; The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 98505 (USA) Journal of Chromatography, 207, (1981) 379-385 link
1981-06-18 “Psilocybin and Psilocin levels in Twenty Species from seven genera of wild mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.” Michael W. Beug and Jeremy Bigwood, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 98505 (USA) Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 5 (1982) 271-285 link
1981-06-18 “Variation of Psilocybin and Psilocin Levels with repeated flushes (harvests) of mature sporocarps of Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer,“ Jeremy Bigwood and Michael W. Beug, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 98505 (USA) Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 5 (1982) 287-291 link
1980-07-00 "A New Species and a New Variety of Psilocybe from North America" Paul Е. Stamets, Michael W. Beug, Jeremy Е. Bigwood, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, 98505 (USA) & Gastón Guzmán, Mycotaxon, July-September, 1980 Vol. XI, No. 2, pp. 476-484 link
Not peer-reviewed:
1979-01-00 "Entheogens" Carl A.P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Jonathan Ott & R. Gordon Wasson, Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11 (1-2) Jan-Jun, 1979 link
Archive-research.com 