I spoke with James Penton in the early 1980s during the purge that started with Ray Franz and moved down to the rank and file. We were part of a phone tree network that spanned the entire United States and Canada (This was before the Internet).
He called me once and asked if I could go to Mexico as a spy to gather information on the military card issue. I had to say no because my Spanish was heavily accented in English and I felt that they would have become suspicious and blown my cover. I wish I could have.
I've got a very old phone number of his that probably is no longer his but if anyone wants it they can PM me.