“I work for the National Security Agency.”
“What does the NSA have to do with this case?”
“The NSA is involved in the safeguarding and dissemination of any information pertaining to the national security of the United States.”
“So Mr. Nance sent you to keep an eye on things?”
Delapena looked at the general but did not respond to McMahon’s question. After several moments of awkward silence the general clapped his hands together and said, “All right, let’s get started.” The general patted his hands on two of the three stacks he had sitting in front of him. “These are the personnel files of all black, retired Special
Forces commandos between the age of twenty-four and thirty-four. They are arranged in stacks according to which organization they served under.
The stack on my left consists of former Green Berets, the stack in the middle is made up of Delta Force commandos, and the one on the end is Navy SEALS. There are one hundred and twenty-one African-Americans between the age of twenty-four and thirty-four that are retired Green Berets, thirty-four Delta Force commandos, and two Navy
SEALS. “Before we go any further, I would ask that if you decide to contact any of these individuals you would allow us to accompany you?” The general looked to McMahon for the answer. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
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The general nodded and then handed three files across the table.
McMahon opened the file and looked up and down the single sheet of paper. It contained a photograph stapled to the upper-right corner and a list of basic information including birth date, Social Security number, educational background, date of enlistment, and date of discharge.
McMahon flipped the page over and it was blank. Moving only his eyes, McMahon looked up at the general. “Where are the psychological profiles and performance reviews?” The general looked to Delapena and then McMahon. “At the direction of the
Joint Chiefs and the NSA, they were pulled.” McMahon tossed the file back across the table and said, “This does me absolutely no good. I need to establish a motive, and I can’t do it with a photograph, a date of birth, and an educational summary. The President promised me that I would be given full cooperation.” McMahon looked away from the general to Delapena. “Does the President know about this?”
“Mike Nance has briefed him thoroughly.”
“I’ll bet he has ….
Okay, if you guys want to do this the hard way, that’s fine with me, because I’m done screwing around. We’ve got two dead Congressman, two dead Senators, and an attempt has been made on the President’s life.”
McMahon gritted his teeth and pointed across the table at Delapena.
“The biggest threat to national security right now is the people responsible for those murders. I could care less about some operation you guys ran in some jerkwater, third-world country ten years ago.”
McMahon stood up and said to Kennedy and Jennings, “Come on, let’s go.”
Looking at Delapena he said, “If this is the way you want to do this, I’ll be back tomorrow with a stack of subpoenas and fifty agents.”
Kennedy and Jennings stood and started for the door. The general looked at
Delapena, silently urging him to say something. As they reached the door, Delapena said, “No, you won’t.”
“What did you say?” McMahon asked as he turned around. “I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”
“Listen here, Mr. Delapena, let’s get something straight. I work for the FBI, and you work for the NSA. This is a domestic investigation, and we have the jurisdiction, not you.
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The law is very clear on this, and considering the high profile of this case, I will have no problem finding a judge that will grant me a broad and sweeping subpoena.”
“And I will have no problem finding a judge to block it. You see, Mr. McMahon, the laws regarding issues of national security are also very broad and sweeping.”
McMahon walked back, leaned over, and placed both hands on the table.
He brought his face to within a foot of Delapena’s and said, “You tell Mike Nance that if he tries to block my subpoena, I’ll file an obstruction of justice charge against the
NSA and hold the biggest press conference this town has ever seen. I’m sure the media would love to find out that the FBI believes these murders were committed by United
States-trained military commandos. And I’m sure they’ll find it even more interesting that
NSA is trying to block our investigation.”
McMahon backed up.
“Those cynical bastards will eat you alive.”
“Mr. McMahon, if you breathe a word of this to the media, you’ll be out of a job.”
McMahon felt his temper stirring and strained to keep it in check. “Come on, Delapena, you’ve got to do better than that.
