Operation Leo Operation Leo Operation Leo was a plan to kidnap the Swedish Minister for Immigration, Anna-Greta Leijon, in 1977. The plan was devised by the second generation of the German Red Army Faction. The first generation of the group was also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, after two of its founding members. Leijon was chosen because she held the highest political responsibility for the new Swedish anti-terrorist law, and the goal was to exchange Leijon for 8 'comrades' held in West German prisons. The group intended to put the minister in a wooden box so as to prevent her from hearing
Red Army Faction politicians (like Richard Nixon and Helmut Schmidt) as well as some former U.S. agents (who were willing to testify) to be called as witnesses. Later when their requests were rejected, U.S. agents Barton Osbourne (ex-CIA, ex-member of the Phoenix Program), G. Peck (NSA), and Gary Thomas gave extensive interviews (organized by defense lawyers) on 23 June 1976 where they explained how FRG support was crucial for U.S. operations in Vietnam. Peck concluded that the RAF "was the response to criminal aggression of the U.S. government in Indochina and the assistance of the German government. The real terrorist was my government."