Chapter 4: The warnings of September

Saturday, September 1

Again, a troubling sleep brought memories to me, which I shared with Lois. She did cheer me with her intriguing looks, starting in the morning. Today, though, she called to me from her bedroom, telling me to sit down and sip coffee until she got there.

She got to the dining room, but in fatigues, complete with Fidel-style cap, a beard, and a giant cigar. There are times in life when things that are seen cannot be unseen, and this was one of them. Shrieking with laughter, she ran into the kitchen.

She returned in a sheer white guyabera dress, spaghetti strapped, and extending only to the middle of her thigh. I was learning that while she often wore black, white did a magnificent job of showing off her tawny complexion.

In one hand, she still had the cigar. I prayed that she wouldn’t light it. “If you light that, it will be evidence of Cuban chemical warfare capability.” She stuck out her tongue.

Becoming serious, I began to share information. “Sometime in late 1961, the Office of Naval Intelligence received a report from human sources to the commanding officer of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Rear Admiral Edward O’Donnell. This was less a spy report, and more information gained from skilled intelligence officers who socialized with Cuban workers on the base, and gathered their observations. There was little activity on it, but in early December, when Robert McMillan, counsel to Senator Kenneth Keating, took what might have been meant as a junket to Guantanamo, a delightful place in the winter. O’Donnell briefed McMillan, who came back to Washington and warned Keating, of O’Donnell’s observation, ‘In my opinion, there is conclusive evidence from intelligence sources that missiles [sic) bases are being constructed in Cuba,” although it was unclear if the admiral was referring to ballistic missiles or surface-to-air missiles.’

“‘I doubt very much that Mr. McMillan had many sessions with me,” recalled O’Donnell. “I generally gave an overall briefing for everybody there.” He did, however, remember the information to which McMillan referred. “The first evidence that I had about the possibility of missile construction occurred about then. It was brought in by one of our Cuban workers and it indicated some special construction going on ... twenty-five miles northeast of Santiago.”

Keating became the Senate expert on offensive weapons buildup in Cuba. When he tried to get more information from the Navy, they had nothing to say. He then established personal contacts in the Intelligence Community, who started feeding him information that was stuck in the system.

“Lois, Keating is clearly one of our targets -- a knowledgeable person who apparently will accept highly out-of-channels information. By the summer of this year, Keating became convinced that the Soviets were moving missiles and other forces into Cuba. He may have even had a better idea of the situation with the President, who was still emotionally involved with Castro, emigre groups, and a little-boy fascination with spy games.”

With a lovely laugh, Lois inquired, “Are you asking me to play Mata Hari to Keating?”

“No, first because you’re smarter and better looking than the historical Mata Hari, second because you don’t have Mata Hari’s visibility as a dancer that the Senator might watch in a theater and meet afterwards, and third, because we’re probably going to be more effective using our own people to get talking to his staff.”

“Oh hell. Well, maybe I can be Mata Hari in here. Give me a couple of minutes.” She went to her own bedroom and came back in what probably was improvised, but with a couple of negligees over a little nightie, and dark gartered hose. She turned on some music and began a stripping dance, which we vaguely remembered from a movie of Mata Hari. After she started flaring the second negligee, she scolded, “Why the fuck isn’t you playing with yourself? This time, let it spray and I’m going to lick it off. Think of that as practice for when the Others say it’s oral time.”

With another urk, or several of them, her dance encouraged my explosion. I slept well.

Sunday, September 2

Today, I woke first with memories of immediate activity, and then, as I meditated, I channeled CIA information an overview. Lois, who wasn’t in the bed but soon showed up with a light breakfast to be shared in bed, soon would be in my arms, absorbing the information.

“I learned that that Soviet technicians and Cuban workers had started construction at an IRBM base at Guanajoy. Apparently, the IRBM bases took a longer lead time and were started before the facilities for the SS-4 MRBMs. At the same time, they started three SAM bases, either for close protection of this facility, or for bringing into the integrated air defense network.

“How did this come about? Khrushchev, in April, was meeting with Defense Minister Malinovsky, and complained how the Crimea, where they met, was threatened by American Jupiter IRBMs based in Turkey. It occurred to him that they could work around the delay in Soviet ICBM development if they could secretly put shorter-range missiles into Cuba. The Soviets would reveal them only when operational. A small group of very senior officials agree. Khrushchev said, “In addition to protecting Cuba,” he pointed out, “our missiles would have equalized what the West likes to call the “balance of power”.

“He minimized the American reaction, believing that the Americans would learn to live with a threat, much as the Soviets lived with that of the Jupiters. His First Deputy, Anastas Mikoyan, known for caution, warned of both a strong American reaction and the slim chance of doing this undetected. He also was concerned that Castro might not agree.

“Foreign Minister Gromyko was of the opinion that the American reaction would be a ‘political explosion’”.

Rather like Kennedy with MONGOOSE, Khrushchev had fallen in love with his own idea. He dispatched a team to inform Castro. He promised Mikoyan that he’d fall back if Castro opposed it, but Castro loved the idea. In hindsight, he had no idea how eager Castro would be to use Russian weapons against the Americans. Much later, Khrushchev would complain “how can I negotiate with a man young enough to be my son?” Kennedy and Khrushchev, however, were to become allies of convenience, holding back their own hawks.

In May, he told the full Presidium (i.e., Cabinet) about the plan, fully expecting a Cold War victory.

Monday, September 3

It was Labor Day, but not a holiday for conflict. When I looked at the calendar, I had another flashback.

Lois walked in. “I have to start getting back in teacher mode. Let me give you a pop quiz.”

“OK.”

“Do obstetricians observe a holiday on Labor Day?”

“Um. Yes. Can we get back to world peace, which is more understandable than some of your jokes?

“Today, I know, the Air Force was confirming that Soviet SA-2 antiaircraft missiles, the world’s most advanced of the time, had just gone active in Cuba. We had become aware of that when NSA electronics intelligence (ELINT) detected their radar. The tension in secret circles, that the Soviets were doing something that needed maximum protection, however, didn’t leak into public awareness.