His first reaction was to wad it up and throw in the trash. Doesn’t anyone in Washington have a lick of sense? If what they were spending the funds on was ever revealed our national security would be severely damaged. He sat seething for several seconds before he pulled the letter out of the trash and flattened it out on his desk.
He mentally went through his options. He could ignore the letter entirely. He could write or call them and explain why it was impossible to comply. Another option was to go to Washington and sit down with the director of the GAO and explain it in person.
His last option was to go to the President and let him call the dogs off. The problem with that is the President had only been in office for a short time and he doubted that he even knew what they did at Dreamland. Not only that, but what had carried him in to office was the promise of aggressive spending cuts and to balance the budget within the next four years. It was the key issue of the campaign and since taking the Oath of Office he had started to address those issues on a monthly basis.
Devin decided that for now he would do nothing, simply not respond and carry on as normal.
Three weeks later the Government Accounting Office called General Devin. Devin knew when the call came it would probably trigger a knockdown drag out fight with the bureaucrats in Washington. He was right.
“General Devin, my name is Adam Carter. I’m the director of GAO’s investigation department. We sent notification to your office asking for records of expenditures for operations under your command. To date we have not received any information. I was wondering if perhaps something happened and you did not receive our letter.”
“Mr. Carter. I did receive your letter but I seemed to have misplaced it. I was going to put it directly in the trash but somehow managed to retain it. It’s a tad crumpled but I suppose I could still use it to wipe my butt with,” the General growled.
“Sir. This is not a request. The GAO has the authority to investigate every military operation for accountability. You sir, are not exempt from that process.”
“Mr. Carter, maybe you don’t understand the nature of our work here. What we do is Ultra Top Secret. No one without authorization is allowed access to anything that goes on here. Now I would be happy to send you what we have on the Nellis Range but that is as far as it goes,” Devin replied.
“We deal in all areas that are budget items and yours is no different general. Everything we deal with is kept in the strictest confidentiality.”
“I’m sorry but I will not be able to comply with your request. I will have the Nellis materials sent to you this week,” Devin replied.
“That simply will not do. My letter was quite specific. All operations under your command are to be reviewed. You misunderstand if you think this is a request. You are hereby ordered to turn over the proper documentation,” Carter said.
“Ordered? And what are you going to do about it if I tell you to stick your order up your ass? Report me? Just who do you think you would report me to?”
“I will damn sure find out who your superior is and take the necessary steps to ensure compliance.”
“Good luck with that,” Devin said and slammed down the phone. He rubbed his hands across his bald head and leaned back in his chair. He could have just told the guy that he doesn’t have but one superior, the President, but he didn’t feel he had to explain anything to some bureaucrat. He wanted to protect the MJ–12 group’s integrity and make sure that they would be able to maintain the highest level of security.
Truman had ordered that the commander of all programs under development by the MJ group would only answer to him. It was a policy in the original Operations Procedure Manual of MJ–12 and it had not been changed since 1948. Just to be on the safe side, he decided he would make a report on all the projects under development. Well, maybe not all of them would be detailed. Level 10 would certainly not be mentioned. The Black Star project was his baby and no one was going to find out about that, not even the President.
“Strike–1, Fox Oscar. We have the subject in sight. You are go.”
“Fox Oscar, Strike–1, Roger go. Initiating contact now.”
The twelve men who made up this mission were dressed in total black. All had generation five night vision goggles. Two men carried Tango 51 sniper rifles with laser sights. The Tango 51 was a fluted bull barrel rifle, precision built around the Remington M700 action and used standard NATO 7.62 X 51mm rounds.
Two others on the team carried the newest H & K MP5a with Beta C magazines. They looked like two canisters on either side of the weapon and each could hold up to 50 rounds. This allowed the operator to fire 100 rounds before having to reload.
