Chapter 33: Unraveling the Mystery

EVENTS SEVEN MONTHS EARLIER

Secretary of Defense George Zently had a concern that high technology inventions having military applications were being stolen from Capitallian inventors and patented by USR scientists and engineers. His preliminary information suggested that the USR was intercepting Capitallian communications and tapping into the private data bases of Capitallian firms, learning the details of Capitallian inventions as the Capitallian corporations and individual Capitallian citizens poured their blood, sweat, tears and treasure into new technologies and, at the opportune time, filing the patents just before the Capitallian inventor could file for patent protection. Secretary Zently heard credible rumors that a special team of USR operators were stealing these inventions and using the USR diplomatic communications channels to relay this information to sites in the USR. A preliminary investigation supported these rumors. A meeting between the Secretary of Defense and and then-Director of the Office of Military Intelligence Milton Morgan, President Proctor and Attorney General Brice Benson was swiftly arranged.

At that meeting it was agreed that, if the rumors and preliminary indications proved true, that this was a national security threat of the highest order. But hard data would be needed to prove the truth of the matter, and to determine if any counter-espionage activity would be appropriate. Agreement was reached that some sort of 'listening post' would need to be setup at a USR embassy to intercept diplomatic communications. The USR's Florida embassy seemed best suited for this project. In effect the plan involved spying on the spies. It was decided that the project would be top secret and code named 'Operation Goldfish Bowl'.

A consensus was also reached that a very streamlined chain of reporting would be needed in order to support a fast and flexible response to any intelligence unearthed by the project. The Director of OMI proposed that operational control of the mission be in the capable hands of his Operations Chief, Robin Tyson, and that she report day to day developments directly to the President. The President, hearing no objection from the Secretary, ordered this be done.

Because the intercept would be setup on Capitallian soil, and might well capture conversations of Capitallian citizens, a Fourth Amendment search warrant would be needed. There was also, of course, the risk of severe disruption of normal diplomatic relations between the two countries once the eavesdropping eventually became known to USR. The President was willing to run that risk and left it to Secretary Zently and Milton Morgan to work out the details of a plan and, in consultation with the Attorney General, proceed to implement the plan.

The Secretary of Defense, had to cultivate a cordial relationship with the then senior Capitallian senator, Benton Harold. He had gone to Senator Harold's office in the Capitol building late one Friday afternoon a few days after the foregoing meeting and about a week before the Senator was murdered. Secretary George Zently's purpose for this visit was to lobby for approval of funding for an important new anti-missile system. However the Senator, serving on the National Security subcommittee, was one of the few in Congress privileged to know about the top secret Project Goldfish.

It was just after 5 PM when the Senator welcomed the Secretary into his office. All the staff people had left for the weekend.

"Benton," the Secretary began, "just thought I would drop by and pay you a social call since we haven't talked in about a month now!"

"You are always welcome here George. Make yourself comfortable. Will you have a drink with me?"

"I'd like that," the Secretary replied.

The Senator knew the Secretary had not come on purely a social basis. No doubt he wanted to strong arm him for approval of some pet military project. He would play along with the pretense this was a social call however. Perhaps he could use this opportunity to promote a pet idea of his own. His office was a secure environment where they might speak freely about top secret projects without concern for being overheard.

Once the drinks were poured and some social pleasantries were exchanged the Senator decided to lead with what had been on his mind.

"George, I appreciate your having had Milt Morgan brief me on that Goldfish Bowl project last week. As I understand it the purpose of the project is to find out who might be involved in stealing the patent rights to high tech inventions with military potential. You want to setup a covert listening post in Florida to spy on those who are spying on us. Have I got it right?"

"I'd say you have summarized it quite accurately," the Secretary replied.

"Ever since I heard about the project," the Senator continued, "one name kept popping into my thoughts as the person I think might be just the ticket for implementing your project."

"I'm interested. Please continue," Zently responded.

"I can't imagine anyone better qualified to run a clandestine electronic listening post than Gunny Dalton, the best damned Marine I ever served with!

"Gunny Dalton is unconventional," the Senator continued. "He claims that he thinks outside the box because he never got inside the box. If he wasn't so damned effective he would have been shot. You remember that Snakefly missile incident down in Mexico don't you?"

"I am afraid that was before my time. But I have read the briefs on it, yes."

"I was part of that when I commanded a Marine unit," the Senator continued. "Hank Dalton is why I'm still alive, and why Aztlan was stopped before they could use more than four Snakefly nuclear warheads. Two all but destroyed Mexico City. We managed to disrupt the launch enough so that one missile missed and hit Hoover Dam instead of Las Vegas and the other was wide of the mark, too, but it wasn't good enough. My Marines were outnumbered more than 20 to 1 until Gunny Dalton got reinforcements from the Mexican Army.

"Or I could tell you," the Senator continued, "of another instance, where Dalton talked Admiral Shields into terminating a relief operation and conducting operations in California that broke the back of the Aztlan invasion. Saved most of California, Utah, Nevada, and other states that were part of the original Mexican Empire inherited from Spain.

"Hank was always reading and he was a historian on irregular operations during the 20th Century. Hank used small squads of regular Marines who had been given a crash course in how to organize and train guerrilla forces. These newly trained guerrilla vigilantes were given instructions in communications and when they'd find an Aztlan raiding party, they would destroy these or call for the Marines to deal with anything bigger than a squad. Gunny Dalton won the hearts and minds in Sacramento and San Francisco because he empowered the Hispanic communities to protect themselves."

"That is interesting to be sure," George Zently responded. "But I don't see what it has to do with the real world today. What can an over the hill Marine do for us now?"

"OMI has demonstrated an ability to conduct complex long term electronic surveillance operations," Senator Harold said. "But their ability to setup an operation quickly and deal with a fast changing situation leaves something to be desired. Hank Dalton has a team of eight slaves that he contracts out to the Office of Military Intelligence (OMI) to keep tabs on Aztlan infiltration across our border. His team shows up with a mobile listening post, runs about a week, sends in their reports and then go on to do something else afterwards. Hank is unconventional, but he gets results. Hank does in days what most of our bureaucracies need months to do."