Code Name: Spirit

As I was saying in my first report, CODE NAME: WILLIAM TELL, I was researching material for a new book and began probing into areas I didn’t comprehend and making people in high places uncomfortable. To understate the alarming fact I had struck a nerve at the top. Please excuse me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lieutenant Colonel Donald “Scoop” Coward, U.S. Army, Retired, and since my retirement author of several military history books. Although I had a TOP SECRET security clearance, it didn’t mean I had a need to know. Nevertheless, as a writer with a lead to follow, a need to know was gnawing at my gut. On the thinnest of clues a curiosity became an obsession stronger with each new exposure in my research. Had I known early-on that the information I unearthed was classified Top Secret I would have dropped the subject, but in time it became too late; I had learned enough to be intrigued beyond my ability to back off. The trail narrowed to one mysterious and shadowy figure whose veiled activities were highly successful in spite of being hampered by precious little intelligence and only rudimentary information about the situation into which he would be placed. He would have to assess the situation on the ground and concoct a scheme to succeed in his mission using his highly developed imagination and sheer audacity as circumstances developed before him. A super-hero, not yet, just a man faced with difficult situations requiring quick on-the-spot decisions and fast action to create a situation into which his enemy would fall believing their misfortune was entirely accidental. I thought, nice trick if you can do it. My search for this man’s service record took me to my friend and colleague, the Chief of Army Military History, who had assisted me many times in my work writing military history for public consumption. It was here that I collided with the solid wall of secrecy I hoped to penetrate in the person of Brigadier General Albert J. Betancourt whose friendship allowed me to call “Court.” He had held that post longer than any of his predecessors. I wondered why he would stay so long in a position most officers considered a backwater of army assignments. Soon I would learn why. When I asked to see the service record of Hunter William Bowman, Court took a serious and almost unfriendly attitude and told me not to meddle in something that was none of my business and to find another obsession. This only confirmed my suspicion that Bowman was the man I sought and there was a cover-up in place. I continued to press Court for answers knowing he’d understand what happens to a writer with a hot lead he couldn’t drop. Finally, Court told me to wait a few days; that he had to talk to some people. “Some people” turned out to be the top of the chain of command, beginning with the Commander-in-Chief himself who had inherited from a previous president an organization as secret as the Manhattan Project of WWII; a foreign affairs tool with an impressive succession of cold war victories. My work has resulted in a good reputation as “The Soldier’s Historian” which became my niche as a writer. I wrote from the point of view of the average soldier, rather than strategic considerations. I hoped it would cause the powers-that-be to carefully consider the human aspects of sending the cream of our young generation into harm’s way. I once heard an Historian say, “As good men become killed in action it increases the percentage of bad guys at home.” To put it as simply as I can, in sending our youth into the meat grinder of war we must have an affirmative answer to the all-important question, “Are we on God’s side in this?” If we, as our national motto states, truly trust in God, we must be careful to be sure we are doing His will. We can be certain of His blessing if we determine to fight what is evil in God’s sight and not our own. It was this personal approach that caused me to stumble unto Bowman, which started some discussion at the highest level on what to do about me. The president’s decision was not only to bring me into the tiny inner circle of secrecy, but also to assign me duty as the historian of this secret organization, with the warning that what I wrote was not for publication, but locked away, hopefully for all of my lifetime. But, if the world situation changed for the better and the information could be declassified, I would have first rights to publish. I soon learned that one day shortly after the Korean War, near the end of a lack-luster term in office, a president in the solitude of the oval office found time to think of some way to make amends for his failures. He gave his imagination free rein. Soon an idea began to grow into a solution to a serious problem. It would be the closest-held secret since the atomic bomb. From this secret would come a remarkable man, code named WILLIAM TELL. I said the circle of secrecy was tiny and indeed it was. The smaller the circle the more secure the secret. To better understand the environment in which this body of remarkable men worked it is vital that we understand the mission and organization of MOPS: TOP SECRET MILITARY OPERATIVES TO PREVENT SUBVERSION THE MOPS MISSION: At the discretion and direction of the President of the United States, conduct covert anti-terrorist and anti-subversion operations in support of U.S. foreign policy worldwide. Such missions will be accomplished in a manner as to hold secret the existence of MOPS from the enemy and friendly governments alike. THE CHAIN OF COMMAND PRESIDENT CHRM, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF MOPS CHIEF OF STAFF TASK TEAM COMMANDERS (4) Four teams to be tailored to the mission in terms of expertise, number of personnel and equipment required.