Black Ops
W. E. B. Griffin
FOR THE LATE
WILLIAM E. COLBY
An OSS Jedburgh First Lieutenant
who became director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
AARON BANK
An OSS Jedburgh First Lieutenant
who became a colonel and the father of Special Forces.
WILLIAM R. CORSON
A legendary Marine intelligence officer
whom the KGB hated more than any other U.S. intelligence officer—
and not only because he wrote the definitive work on them.
FOR THE LIVING
BILLY WAUGH
A legendary Special Forces Command Sergeant Major
who retired and then went on to hunt down the infamous Carlos the Jackal.
Billy could have terminated Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s
but could not get permission to do so. After fifty years in
the business, Billy is still going after the bad guys.
RENE J. DEFOURNEAUX
A U.S. Army OSS Second Lieutenant attached to the British SOE
who jumped into Occupied France alone and later
became a legendary U.S. Army counterintelligence officer.
JOHNNY REITZEL
An Army Special Operations officer
who could have terminated the head terrorist of the seized cruise ship
RALPH PETERS
An Army intelligence officer
who has written the best analysis of our war against terrorists
and of our enemy that I have ever seen.
AND FOR THE NEW BREED
MARC L
A senior intelligence officer, despite his youth,
who reminds me of Bill Colby more and more each day.
FRANK L
A legendary Defense Intelligence Agency officer
who retired and now follows in Billy Waugh’s footsteps.
OUR NATION OWES ALL OF THESE PATRIOTS
A DEBT BEYOND REPAYMENT.
I
[ONE]
Marburg an der Lahn
Hesse, Germany
1905 24 December 2005
It was a picture-postcard Christmas Eve.