Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)

1.  Someone recently brought JSOC of the CIA's Special Activities Center to your attention.  Had you ever heard of JSOC before?

Answer:  No.  I'm not a military person.  I don't know how these groups work.

2.  But JSOC stands for Joint Special Operations Command, and it is designed to grant additional operational flexibility and responsiveness in the face of imminent threats to security.

Answer:  "Imminent threats to security" as in a law-abiding whistleblower of corruption within the FBI?  "Imminent threats to security" as in that law-abiding whistleblower's honorable husband?  What happens when a threat to the democracy is posed by some within the national security hierarchy itself?  In the face of an "insider threat" consisting of far right elements within the FBI, is JSOC called up to silence a virtuous whistleblower?

3.  Surely, that would represent an egregious abuse of power on the part of the FBI leadership.

Answer:  Surely, it would.

4.  It's possible that JSOC activities are more easily hidden from the Commander in Chief.  This may represent a group that was designed to operate outside of a traditional chain of command.

Answer:  That's not comforting.

I maintain great faith in President Joseph R. Biden as our Commander in Chief.  

I didn't vote for FBI Director Christopher Wray.

5.  JSOC draws from the different branches of the military's Special Forces.  So, Delta Force, DEVGRU (Seal Team Six), 24 STS, ISA, RRC, Marine Raiders -- all of these groups can be involved.

Answer:  Lovely.  Do their mothers know their sons are being asked to assail law-abiding American citizens who are attempting to defend the democracy?

6.  Probably not.

Answer:  That's unfortunate.  Because I'm sure they're good women who would have something to say.

7.  It's possible that the Special Forces personnel are not pleased about the situation either.

Answer:  You mean that you think some of the Special Forces personnel may realize they have been lied to in receiving disinformation about their "targets."

8.  Some of them likely perceive that they have been duped.

Answer:  That's a heartening thought.

9.  How does one expose such a misuse of our military's remarkable power as represented by an inappropriate JSOC deployment?

Answer:  Well, who is in charge of JSOC?

10.  Vice Admiral Frank M. Bradley.

Answer:  Perhaps Vice Admiral Bradley could be respectfully asked to account for the whereabouts of his men, and specifically, whether any of them have visited Portola Valley, California recently.

11.  How could a law-abiding American civilian rise to a "hard target" on the JSOC list?

Answer:  All I can observe is that the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the FBI's affiliated "target of interest" list draw billions of dollars in congressional budget appropriations yearly.  There is a system of falsified reporting which has become highly profitable for some within the intelligence and military community.  Systems of predation of this kind are typically structured around dollar flows.  And yes, there are anti-democratic objectives for the top management implementing these programs.  

But for an ordinary citizen to, by wont of her character and integrity, stand opposed to that system of profit and power -- this means incurring an immense personal risk.

12.  Which you have done.

Answer:  Which I have done.

13.  Why?

Answer:  I say this not to engage in self-praise in any way.  But I think of myself as a brave person.  I live by my ideals, by my principles.  And I can be separated from a lot of things in this life.  But I can't be separated from my courage.

If I don't stand for the truth, who will?

I mean, we all want to be saved from predation, and particularly when that predation is approaching in the form of military might against which one law-abiding civilian truly cannot defend herself.

But if we're waiting for someone braver, we won't find her.

If we're waiting for someone who cares more about the democracy, we won't locate her.

If we're waiting for someone who is more committed to speaking the difficult truth, we'll wait an eternity.

Because I'm that brave person.

I'm that heartfelt voice.

14.  You believe deeply in the goodness of Americans.

Answer:  I do.  Americans, by a vast majority, are generous and kind and engaged and fair-minded and driven and faithful and benevolent.  But they do need access to the truth about the engagement of the far right in falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-demcratic objectives.

15.  Can your one voice bring that truth to light?

Answer:  I can only try.  Sometimes, when one person speaks with enough courage and heart and hope and persistence and fortitude, others will attempt to amplify that voice in the service of the democracy.  Perhaps that will happen this time.  It's possible.

16.  But you won't give up.

Answer:  Giving up is not in my nature.

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