Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Operation Dark Heart

Does any of this sound familiar?

I am reading a book called Operation Dark Heart. I found it on the bargain table at Walmart, marked down to $5.97. It was full of redactions like a censored letter from WW2. It takes the reader into Anthony Shaffer’s world as intelligence operative from 911 to the War in Afghanistan.

Most books of this type spend the first third of the pages showing the operative in training. To me that is boring as I have some idea for the nature of the training that special operations candidates go through. I was more interested in the HUMINT to get a sense for what is going on in this generation of Intel and special operations.

While the techniques were still classified and the author tried to steer clear of classified matters, the book was full of redacted words, sentences and paragraphs. Still the reader could get a good sense for the character of the author and the context in which he worked. There was even some insight into an affair he had with a female sergeant in Afghanistan.

Shaffer did not exactly fit the profile of what one would expect from someone gathering intelligence and integrating it into combat operations. The DIA CIA, and Army G2 have different assets and stove-piped systems and are not always inclined to sharing information. To his credit LTC Shaffer was in a position and able to use these diverse assets and integrate them in a way that provided timely and useful intelligence in support of tactical combat operations. Most in the Army loved him but everyone else seemed to have a bone to pick and the book showed his constant struggle to make the system work among players who did not always share his agenda and approach to applying intelligence gathering to the needs of forces on the ground. His detractors considered him a “loose cannon” and tolerated his outside the box thinking because he was successful. As the book progressed it was easy to see that he was on a collision course with his superiors.

He portrays many as bureaucratic, career aspiring and incompetent, others as quailing process followers, and still others as hoarders of information. Some of those in the Army he admires and when this is the case he is loyal and supportive and to the rest he shows an ambivalence and willingness to work around to achieve the goals he sees as necessary to win the war in Afghanistan.

The straw that gets him in serious hot water is when he gives testimony to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States and reveals a top secret project called Able Danger where DIA, SOCOM and LIWA identified Mohamed Atta prior to 911. DIA did not want it known that Atta was on their radar prior to the attack.

Does this sound like the FBI knowing about Tamerian Tsarnaev before the Boston Marathon Bombing? The FBI ‘fessed up early but DIA had tried to cover their tracks and hide it under the rug. By agreeing to give testimony (Shaffer was not compelled to provide), that would do nothing to change 911, except create embarrassment, he became a liability to the top leadership who used the IG and some trivial charges to revoke his security clearance and eventually have him fired. His experience is not a testimonial to the career prospects of a whistle-blower.