Full Black - Brad Thor [14]
It was the biggest open secret in the intelligence world and it was both humiliating and beneath America’s dignity.
Once the secret was out that the CIA was no longer truly in the spy business, Carlton knew he had to do something. It was then that he began recruiting former Central Intelligence Agency and Special Operations personnel and stood up his own venture—the Carlton Group. It was modeled upon the World War II intelligence agency known as the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. It was composed of patriots who wanted one thing and one thing only—to keep Americans safe no matter what the cost.
Frustrated with the CIA’s reluctance to do its job, the Department of Defense eventually turned to Carlton to provide private intelligence services in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group’s operatives had performed dramatically, developing extensive human networks across both countries. They penetrated multiple terrorist cells and delivered exceptional, A1 intelligence that resulted in huge successes for American forces, not to mention the saving of countless American and coalition lives.
Based upon this success, a key group of DoD insiders decided to bring the Carlton Group all the way inside. They were paid from black budgets and hidden from D.C.’s grandstanding, self-serving politicians. The fact that not one single Central Intelligence Agency employee had lost his or her job after 9/11 told the Pentagon all they needed to know about the broken culture at Langley.
The Carlton Group’s mission statement was a testament to their singular focus and consisted of only three simple yet powerful words: find, fix, and finish.
An exceptional judge of talent, Reed Carlton had studied Harvath for some time before making his first approach. Harvath’s background and abilities were a perfect fit for the private intelligence service Carlton had begun to build.
Originally a member of SEAL Team 2, Harvath’s language proficiency and desire for more challenging assignments had gotten him recruited to the storied SEAL Team 6. While with Team 6, he caught the eye of the Secret Service and was asked to come help bolster counterterrorism operations at the White House.
Having been trained to take the fight to the enemy, Harvath didn’t do well in a defensive role with the Secret Service. Waiting for bad guys to strike was just not his thing. What’s more, he lacked diplomacy—a prerequisite when working around politicians. As a result, Harvath pissed a lot of people off, some of them very powerful.
The one person he had managed to keep in his corner was the then-president of the United States, Jack Rutledge. Recognizing that America was faced with a fanatical enemy who refused to play by any rules, Rutledge had taken a significant step toward tilting the playing field back to America’s advantage. In short, he had set Harvath loose.
The clandestine program the president had established worked exceedingly well. Harvath did overwhelming damage to the enemies of the United States and continued to do so right up until the end of Rutledge’s second term, whereupon a new president entered the Oval Office with a different approach to dealing with America’s enemies.
Direct action, political speak for wet work, was replaced with engagement, diplomatic speak for capitulation, and Harvath found himself out of a job. As many men of his background do, he moved into the private sector. It wasn’t the same, and though Harvath told himself he was still doing good for his country, he was disappointed with the job opportunities. It was then that Reed Carlton had come into his life and had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Within twelve months, the “Old Man,” as Harvath affectionately referred to Carlton, had drilled thirty years of tradecraft and hard-won espionage experience into him. He had also smoothed out many of his rough edges.
Combined with the deadly skills Harvath had acquired as a SEAL and the exceptional things he had learned in the Secret Service, Harvath’s training at the hands of Carlton vaulted him to the top of a very exclusive food