The Detachment (44 page)

Most of all, my wife Laura, a very patient woman and an awesome editor, too. Thanks, babe, for everything.

Much of the backstory and the technology, and many of the incidents, described in this book are real. Here’s a partial bibliography.

The media-lobbying complex.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100301/jones/print

The president’s assassination list, including American citizens.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/27/yemen/index.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html

The president’s claimed power to indefinitely imprison American citizens without charge, trial, or conviction.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/05/22/preventive_detention

Coup plots in Turkey.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/wikileaks-cables-turkey-military-arrests

A BBC documentary on Operation Gladio.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=16921

And a book on Gladio.

http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119640.pdf

Behind TV Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

News Corp press properties as the extortion arm of a global conglomerate.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151713/the_big_lie_at_the_heart_of_rupert_murdoch%27s_media_empire/

Corporatism as the American Way: Booz Allen, the NSA, the Pentagon.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/08/mcconnell

The metastasis of Top Secret America.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

Golden parachutes for top military brass becoming defense contractors.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/12/26/defense_firms_lure_retired_generals

Anti-Islamic Center fervor produces a radical Islam PR bonanza.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/world/21muslim.html

How many secret wars is America really fighting?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/151904/our_commando_war_in_120_countries:_uncovering_the_military’s_secret_operations_in_the_ obama_era/

Russian False Flag Attacks and Aftermath.

http://trueslant.com/barrettbrown/2010/03/23/vladimir-putin/

Excellent run-down of Israel’s botched Dubai hit.

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201101/the-dubai-jobmossad-assassination-hamas

Domestic use of drones equipped with night vision, infrared, and thermal imaging.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/are_unmanned_drones_coming_to_a_police_dept_near_y.php

Drone aircraft used for domestic surveillance.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2011-01-13-drones_N.htm

The August 6, 2001 President’s Daily Brief warning “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.”

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/80601pdb.html

The growing /files/22/09/85/f220985/public/private domestic surveillance partnership.

http://www.privacylives.com/washington-examiner-d-c-expanding-public-surveillance-camera-net/2011/01/24/

A huge proportion of government Internet censorship is devoted to blogs.

http://yuxiyou.net/open/

JSOC, The Knights of Malta, and crusader challenge coins.

http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/02/23/pulitzer-prize-winner-seymourhersh-and-the-men-who-want-him-committed/

Attempted coup against Franklin Roosevelt, and Congressional Committee to investigate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

TSA doing searches at trains, buses, etc. Even cars.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/06/tsa-swarms-8000-bus-stations-public-transit-systems-yearly

The New York Times spikes stories when the government asks it to.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/01/the-war-on-wikileaks-andthe-radical-theory-of-breaking-conspiracies/

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/1/exclusivebushs_law_eric_lichtblau_on_exposing

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/06/30/the-nyts-favor-and-fear/

Precedent for a commission composed of officials who have demonstrated their integrity—here, by resisting calls to torture.

http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/6067/prmID/172

The Salt Pit.

http://harpers.org/archive/2010/03/hbc-90006791

Camp No.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368

The Beslan school hostage crisis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis

The government’s astonishingly weak and shoddy case against the anthrax suspects.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/19/anthrax/index.html

How easy it is in Washington to corrupt a wannabe player—this one, Harold Koh.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/06/29/ko

George Carlin’s more-relevant-than-ever take on who owns America and what they want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

Two videos of the brachial stun in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00je-NmU4Tg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcaOr1TBA1w

Why is John Rain so paranoid about mobile phone tracking?

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/global-phone-tracking/all/1

Horton’s speech in the Rose Garden draws on certain rhetorical techniques described in more detail in
The Ass Is A Poor Receptacle For The Head.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050O7VLW

And for a real life equivalent in Norway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/head-of-norways-delta-force-says-finding-boat-to-island-retreat-caused-no-realdelays/2011/07/27/gIQAqtkOcI_story.html

Novel Air Capability, the inspiration for the drone in the book.

http://www.technewsdaily.com/7-next-generation-uavs-0855/1

A real world example of the way narrative is used to shape public perceptions of terrorism.

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/benjamin-doherty/how-clueless-terrorism-expert-set-media-suspicion-muslims-after-oslo-horror

Dox’s Knight’s Armament SR-25 sniper rifle in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yv1uC3qZkk

AFTERSHOCKS

If you’re fond of Japan, as I am, I hope you’ll consider buying a copy of
2:46: Aftershocks: Stories From The Japan Earthquake
, with a foreword I was humbled to be asked to contribute. One hundred percent of the purchase price goes to relief efforts in Japan.

Or download the Kindle edition for free and consider a donation to the Japanese Red Cross through
QuakeBook.org
. Thanks.

STIRRED
by Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath

In her twenty-five-year career with the Chicago police department, Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels has seen the worst of humanity. She’s lost loved ones and narrowly escaped death on countless occasions—and she has the nightmares to prove it. Jack is the best the Chicago PD has to offer, and she has brought some of the city’s most notorious criminals to their knees. All, that is, but one…