1. The U.S. military is reportedly upset with you over your disclosures concerning its perpetration of the Phoenix Program.
Answer: I do realize that.
2. Have you been told that, as of this morning, a contract concerning you has been extended to mercenaries who are only tangentially related to the three-letter agencies?
Answer: I have, yes.
3. How seriously do you view those allegations?
Answer: The allegations are likely to be credible.
4. Who is setting you out to a public "bid" in this context? Which budget is this coming from?
Answer: I am informed that black budgets conceal this sort of contract. Members of organized crime are hired, typically, as is alleged to be the case here, following very recent disclosures on the DoD side.
5. Is Christopher Wray aware of such a contract? Is Williams Burns?
Answer: Contracts such as this need to be approved by agency leadership. A signature is required. So, yes.
6. So, if you or your family members contract SARS, cholera, H5N1, vibrio vulnificus -- if there is a sudden car or plane accident -- a sudden fire -- a bombing -- a drone assault -- if your family members are forced form their jobs -- if someone dies of an overdose -- if there is a violent crime incident or a kidnapping?
Answer: Christopher Wray, and William Burns, who is said to be a good man, would have directly approved of this, yes.
7. How can a good man approve of a crime of first-degree murder against a law-abiding member of the American public?
Answer: How did good men approve of similar crimes in Germany, Italy, Argentina, Spain, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina and countless other places around the globe?
Good men can and do become confused about what constitutes a just exertion of official power against innocents.
It is our job to illuminate the difference between just initiatives and unjust ones.
8. Don't you believe that individuals who are violating fundamental human rights know they are committing grievous wrongs?
Answer: On an individual basis, yes. They do know. But mankind demonstrates troubling behavior as "the prerogative of the tribe" at times. People often behave contrary to their personal principles in group settings in which conformity to unjust demands is viewed as compulsory.
This is the problem that psychologist Stanley Milgram was attempting to address.
9. What is the answer to this problem?
Answer: It's likely that we would all benefit from ethical practice, beginning in early childhood. Role-playing for the conscience. Exercises in empathy. Lessons in how one individual can stand for what is right, even against tremendous pressure.
The individual is capable of great courage in circumstances of injustice. Great fortitude.
Civilization requires that principled stance on the part of the public.
So, we should teach it.
10. What is your view toward those who have perpetrated the Phoenix Program against the law-abiding American public?
Answer: The United States requires a strong defense. Our intelligence and military capabilities have far surpassed general public knowledge of technologies in deployment, and will only become stronger with time.
The Phoenix Program, however, stands in clear violation of the civil liberties and human rights that render self-governance by a participatory electorate possible.
As a result, we stand at a crossroads in the life of our democracy.
If we can't publicly address Phoenix, we can no longer be free.
11. But may I ask once again about your view of the perpetrators of Phoenix?
Answer: We are going to need to fully characterize the acts perpetrated through Phoenix, so a degree of mercy needs to be mixed with our pursuit of justice.
12. You are speaking about amnesty programs?
Answer: Justice and temperance must be present together in thee face of human atrocities. The perpetrators of Phoenix must become empowered to speak about the system in which these wrongs have been committed.
Yet, there must be a priority on identifying victims and survivors of this program, so that we can help them recover to the greatest extent possible.
Survivors need all the compassion, engagement, connection, healing, dignity, honor and support we can extend to them.
I am reminded of the manner in which the Hotel Lutetia welcomed Holocaust victims after World War II.
Paris extended such grace and humanity in making this choice.
We, too, can extend ourselves with grace and humanity to survivors.
13. What would be the first things you would say to survivors of the Phoenix Program?
Answer: The first things?
I'm glad you're alive.
Your survival brings me joy.
Take my hand.
I'm going to help you.
Together, we will reclaim what you have lost.
Your human dignity is undiminished.
14. Is there any more to say after that?
Answer: There is. There are thanks to extend to those who have helped me survive with my hope of helping others intact -- both domestically and internationally.
15. And whom would you like to thank for the fact that you have survived to this beautiful Tuesday, September 26, 2023?
Answer: President Biden, whose leadership as our Commander in Chief remains, in my opinion, unsurpassed.
The Honorable Avril Haines, whose support for our democracy has never wavered.
And the Office of the Inspector General Hotline, whose courage and integrity have been heroic.
Abiding gratitude, profound respect, common cause.
Lane MacWilliams
