Oliver North, Bob Hamer
Counterfeit Lies
For Betsy, “The wife of my youth…”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is a story about those of us who have had to confront the ultimate moral quandary: doing what’s right when everything around us seems wrong. For some that’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. For others it’s an everyday occurrence.
In this ancient capital the prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is a very real existential threat. Here the phrase “Never again!” isn’t a political slogan. It’s a way of life. That’s why the scenario at the heart of this story is so frightening — and why those who shared it with me must remain nameless. For their trust, I am grateful.
There are others who helped make this book possible who can be thanked and named. Foremost among them, my mate and muse — to whom this work is dedicated. Thank you, Betsy, for being my most fervent advocate and best friend.
My gratitude to FOX News chairman Roger Ailes, senior vice president Bill Shine, and general counsel Dianne Brandi for making it possible for me to travel the globe in the company of real heroes akin to those in this work of fiction.
Bob Hamer — true friend, fellow Marine, and real “UC”—has “been there, done that.” He and his lovely wife, Debbie, are the reason this story resonates with authenticity. Thankfully, Gary and Kim Terashita reminded us that they are Peter Newman’s best friends.
Robert Barnett and Michael O’Connor — the Williams & Connolly QRF (quick reaction force) — somehow managed to elicit the agreement of “all concerned parties” so we could tell this story without endangering other relationships or ourselves any more than usual. But it really took the help of Marsha Fishbaugh — my loyal assistant for more than a quarter of a century — and her husband, Dave, a fellow Vietnam War vet — to help us meet our deadline for this work.
Thankfully, Louise Burke, Mitchell Ivers, and their team at Simon & Schuster were ready, willing, and able to ensure we could “get it done.” Natasha Simons, Mary McCue, Kevin Smith, Al Madocs, George Turianski, and Aline Pace became “secret agents” to help get this book into your hands.
Duane Ward and his team at Premiere Centre and Sheena Tahilramani have once again stepped into the breach to introduce this story to the widest possible audience at just the right time — without interfering with Josh & Emily’s wedding plans.
And perhaps best of all, every person who buys this book helps support the work of Freedom Alliance, an organization devoted to serving real American Heroes and their family members. A brief description of how Freedom Alliance helps and honors those who have sacrificed so much for all of us is on pages 325–26.
Oliver North
Jerusalem, Israel
4 February 2014
PROLOGUE
INTERNAL USE ONLY
THIS IS CERTIFIED AS THE TRANSCRIBED ORAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVIEW WITH FBI SPECIAL AGENT JAMES JACOB “JAKE” KRUSE AND IS HEREBY SUBMITTED UNDER SEAL IN ACCORD WITH FBI DIR. 32014.12 AND HIPAA REG. 7319.
PREPARED BY MICHAEL R. TWILLIGER, PHD, UNDERCOVER EMPLOYEE SAFEGUARD UNIT, NATIONAL COVERT OPERATIONS SECTION, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION, FBI
Q. Special Agent Kruse, I understand you do not want to be here.
A. That’s right.
Q. And that you’ve objected to this evaluation.
A. It doesn’t really do me any good to object. Look, I’m tired and was looking forward to a few days off before I picked up another assignment. I spent all day yesterday with OPR and I was ordered back here today. I took a red-eye and I’m here. Let’s get this over with so I can catch an afternoon flight back to L.A.
Q. I see by your file you were benched from undercover work seven years ago for a three-month period because of an adverse psychological evaluation.
A. That’s correct. I was fairly new to the undercover program, and the psychologist and I didn’t hit it off. She decided I needed a few months of desk duty. I objected and she won. I’ve learned since then. I know your evaluation will determine whether I can go back on the street, so all I’m asking you to do is check off the “approved” box and send me on my way.
Q. But you understand given what happened in Los Angeles, this is mandatory?
A. It’s mandatory every six months or when ordered by an administrator due to special circumstances. This one’s necessary because lots of bad people got killed.
Q. Would you please give me a brief description about how all this got started?
A. Sure. Every undercover case is different, but this one started out as a straightforward UC operation. Our target was an Asian organized-crime ring — of which there are dozens in L.A. Every ethnic group on the West Coast has one or two; different players, same sheet music. To the extent any undercover operation — the kind of thing the press calls a “sting”—is routine, this one should have been. It wasn’t quite the simple example you find in an FBI Academy textbook—“a one-off”—you know, nab a criminal violating a single federal law. But we didn’t expect it to take us in the directions it did. Typically, the UC meets a target dealing contraband, negotiates for the product, and when the delivery is made, the cuffs come out. Connect the dots — A to B to jail for the bad guy. In this one, the UC was targeting an organization rather than an individual.
Q. When you say “the UC” you mean…
A. The undercover agent. How long have you been at this?
Q. I’m new to the unit. You’re only my second evaluation.
A. That’s not very comforting.
Q. So you were the “UC” in this operation. Do you often refer to yourself in the third person?
A. Yeah. I was the UC. I really hadn’t thought about this “third person” stuff. Does it bother you?
Q. Not really. Just wondering. People who refer to themselves in the third person — using terms like “he” or “they”—sometimes have disconnected from reality. Tell me what you think went right and what went wrong on this operation.
A. Every operation is a crapshoot. There are no guarantees of success. An experienced undercover agent can often negotiate the crooked trail and take the investigation in directions never dreamed of in the initial planning stages. But those journeys aren’t always easy to navigate and are seldom welcomed by management. Each detour requires a new level in the approval process.
Q. Do you feel frustrated by what you call the “detours” in the “approval process”?
A. Look, I’m a big boy. I’ve been doing UC work for the past eight years and before I joined the Bureau I was a Marine. I understand the chain of command. And I know in Washington, Congress demands that whenever an operation diverts from its original approved path more administrators are going to get involved. That’s what happened here.
Q. Why did you leave the Marine Corps and join the FBI?
A. I had the privilege of serving under a really great leader during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. After I was wounded he came to see me in the field hospital.…
Q. What was your job in Iraq?
A. I was a rifle company commander in the Third Marine Regiment. My regimental commander, a guy everybody admired, visited me in the hospital. He wanted me to stay in the Marines but he understood. I had lost a lot of men over there and the Bureau seemed like a better fit.