Howard Blum writes history books that read like thrillers. I didn’t think it was possible to write a thriller in the space of an Op-Ed, but this week he pulled it off. |
Howard tells the story of Garrison Courtney, a burly smooth talker who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June after tricking investors out of at least $4.4 million. According to the federal government’s statement of facts in the case, he pretended to be a C.I.A. operative and persuaded companies that he could hook them up with lucrative government contracts if they joined a top secret task force he called Alpha214. He was a con man of the conference room who promised to make Beltway boardroom dreams come true, a secret agent who was more secret than agent. |
One big question is how he was able to keep the scam going for more than a year. For an answer, Howard quotes the famous K.G.B. agent Victor Cherkashin: “Intelligence officers might think they’re chiefly responsible for recruiting agents, but most of the work really consists of finding people who want to be recruited.” |
Washington, it turns out, has plenty of those people. But the bigger problem is the shadowy world of no-bid government contracts for classified intelligence programs. This “Black Budget” demands secrecy; that made it the perfect target. |
Yes, this is also an Op-Ed about how government agencies allocate I.T. contracts. But I told you it was thrilling, and I’m sticking to that. Howard did a ton of reporting — and we did a ton of fact-checking — for this story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. |
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