These Soviet Variants were observed entering and leaving several nondescript buildings scattered throughout Moscow. None of the buildings carried signage consistent with Soviet government or Communist Party facilities, though two addresses are consistent with intelligence obtained by MAJ Lodge via his Enhancement regarding MGB safe houses in Moscow. It appears at least some unmarked MGB facilities have begun to overlap with Beria’s Variant program.
It is also worth noting that the MGB appears to have successfully replicated the null generator devices first perfected by the MJ-12 program. Since they have encountered them before, it is possible they have simply developed the technology on their own. Recommend, however, that all null devices be accounted for, and also conduct additional security screening for those with access to any part of the development process.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
None of the new Variant targets are known MGB or Red Army personnel in Moscow, and we are working with Station Leningrad to perhaps identify them there, as Leningrad remains a center of Variant program activity through the Bekhterev Institute. We are also cross-referencing other stations to further help identify these new individuals.
We believe Beria, as part of his ascension to the Deputy Premiership, has brought several Variants to Moscow as part of an effort to centralize his authority over MGB and, possibly, over the rest of the Soviet governmental apparatus. We believe the other Deputy Premiers and high-level officials within the Soviet government remain unaware of the Variant program and Beria’s own Enhancement, given Stalin’s penchant for secrecy and compartmentalization. (Whether Stalin himself was aware of Beria’s Enhancement or the program is, at this point, moot.)
Given Beria’s secretive nature and the power of the MGB in both government and in Soviet life, it is entirely possible that Beria could move to consolidate power while keeping his Enhancement and the Variant program a secret, placing his Variant allies into positions of authority as he works against the other elements within government. This would, of course, not only give him the upper hand in most political confrontations, but could lead to a situation in which the Soviet Union itself is led by a Variant-one who has demonstrated a callous disregard for normal people in his quest for power.
We firmly believe that a Variant-led USSR is an existential danger to the United States, to the people of the Soviet Union, and to Variants around the world. Beria’s ascension to unquestioned leadership within the Soviet Union-on a par with Stalin or Lenin-would lead to worsening relations with the United States, greater crimes against the Soviet people, and the possibility that Variants themselves could be made public knowledge as “Champions of the Proletariat.”
While we recognize that interfering with the internal politics of the Soviet Union is unlike any other operation heretofore attempted by CIA or MJ-12, we believe the lessons learned from operations in Syria, Eastern Europe, Iran, and South America could be useful here, and that a limited operation may prove beneficial in securing American interests.
We propose to undermine Beria by taking covert action against the MGB and Soviet Variants within the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states. This operation would serve to discredit and undermine Beria’s leadership, authority and resources, prompting other competing elements within the USSR to remove him from power as the struggle to replace Stalin continues.
We furthermore propose that this operation should not seek to back, in any way, any other candidate for power within the Soviet Union. For one, none of the other candidates present the same threat as Beria, and can be dealt with through normal diplomatic and covert means as necessary. We also believe that such a move would be far too dangerous for both MJ-12 agents as well as any Soviet official we would choose to back.
The limited scope of this operation-discredit and remove Beria from power-ensures a greater degree of plausible deniability for the United States Government and more opportunity for reformist elements within the Soviet Union to achieve victories without seeming to be unduly influenced by outside activity.
— END-
MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Dear Director Dulles:
As per our conversation yesterday on this matter, you are hereby directed to initiate Operation TALISMAN as suggested in the Majestic Twelve Field Report dated 12 March 53. With all due haste and consideration, you are to deploy your assets as discussed.
Any changes to plans or procedures around Operation TALISMAN must be approved by the Office of the President after consultation with yourself and General Vandenberg.
I must reiterate the sensitive nature of both Operation TALISMAN and the Majestic Twelve program. If either are compromised in any way, this office will disavow both programs entirely. This will be the only written record of either operation from this office, only one copy of which will be preserved. Destroy this memorandum upon receipt.
4
“Calvin Hooks, what do you mean, you aren’t coming to church?”
Cal slipped on a white dress shirt from the closet and began buttoning it, praying that he could find a reasonable excuse for not going with his wife, Sally, to services. It was, of course, bad enough that they had to drive fifty miles into Boise to find a decent Baptist church with a preacher who could truly make the Word sing. And in winter, of course, when the roads were bad, they’d have to make do with the chaplain’s services right there at Mountain Home Air Force Base — and that chaplain, a bespectacled white boy who looked outright scared whenever proper black people were in the congregation, did not so much sing the Word as stutter through it.
But not going at all was worse. And that was what Cal had to do.
“I’m sorry, Sally. Truly I am. But this is how it goes. I don’t know when I get called up. Just do,” Cal said as he slipped on a pair of gray pants. “You just gonna have to pray extra hard for me today.”
Finally, Sally came around into the bedroom, her hat and veil already on and looking perfect. She was in her late fifties and, truth be told, ever so slightly starting to look her age — a little gray in her hair, a few more wrinkles around the eyes. Cal knew many Negro women were blessed with the ability to defy age for the longest time — they had to have some blessings for all the Lord put ’em through — but nobody could truly outrun time.
Except for Cal, of course. But Cal and Sally didn’t talk about that. They had, once, about three years ago, when Cal had offered to bring back some of Sally’s youth if she liked. He’d ended up spending the healing energy on the welt on his head instead. Sally was deft with a fry pan. The topic hadn’t been broached since, and Cal worked to slough off as much of the youth he gathered during assignments before he got home, preferring to stay at a healthy, robust midfifties when he was around Sally or their boy, Winston, who was now off in his first year of law school.