Assassin: The True Story of One of America's Most Successful Assassins. Robert J. Firth
specialist. He designed and maintained sophisticated websites and social media outlets constructed so as to sway the muddled minds of western kids to join the cause. The sites were in English and Arabic. He had been on our scope for months. So far, over 700 UK citizens and 200 Americans had signed up, several had already carried out suicide attacks and five had been killed in combat. The fear was that many would be coming home with their western passports - fully trained, completely radicalized and prepared to carry out attacks in Europe and America.
The webmaster was carefully hidden, using many worldwide proxies via Wytopia, a public program, allowing him to skip from one country to the next. The program provides an Open VPN, PPTP, Cisco IPsec, L2TP/IPsec, along with a proprietary 4D Stealth protocol obscuring the fact that he was even using a VPN). He had a VPN service arsenal at his disposal, including alternate ports and 256-bit encryption options. The program also allows him unlimited, real-time instantaneous switching between a bunch of cities and countries with un-throttled, unlimited bandwidth. This package assured him of unparalleled flexibility and what he thought was real security across a wide range of devices and geographies. He thought he had the ultimate in speed, un-blockability and security. He was wrong!
Our guy was switching servers, cities and countries as often as he liked. All this is perfectly legal and useful for some but what he didn't know is that it's not as secure as he thought. It took our IT guys about 90 seconds to pin point his server location and, in another few minutes, we knew his name, where he lived, who worked for him, who he worked for and, by the end of the day, had a thick dossier down to who his parents and grandparents are and were and the names and addresses of everyone in his extended family (over 100 by the way). Our marching orders came in a few days and we were 'green lighted' to take him and his network down. Who gave that order I have no idea. As smart as we thought we were- none of us could or ever did find out. We just called them "the directors."
In 2003 John, Max and I booked space on a small British freighter from Madagascar to take three of us north through the Suez Canal. At midnight, as the ship passed a few miles west of Jeddah off the east coast of in Saudi Arabia, we dumped a black MIL GRADE inflatable over the side and dove after it. The ship never slowed from its 8 knot speed. Surfacing in the dark salt water after the dive, we found each other and the inflatable - jerking the lanyard, it inflated and we climbed aboard.
John was and, in a way, still is a Navy Seal. He graduated at the very top of his class in electrical engineering at Princeton in 1982 where he played football and had several offers after graduation to join a professional team. He joined NROTC in his freshmen year and graduated as an Ensign. He, as I did, sailed on mandatorily summer cruises where he met several former SEALS and set out to become one. Of course, he excelled at this just as he does in everything he sets out to do. John is deeply patriotic and despises the current feckless and Islamic ass-kissing administration as almost all of us do.
John takes very seriously and can recite the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights- the Bill of Rights, reflects the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution. John has made it a point of honor to "visit" a few of the scoundrel politicians and Government bureaucrats whose actions and words violated these sacred documents. Of course, I don't know about any of these little escapades- what he does on his time is his business. I can tell you that, over the years, a few really dangerous anti -American politicians have miraculously gone missing.
John is 5-10" and about 180 lbs of bone and muscle. He watches what he eats and doesn't drink except water and tea. In our world, this makes him a bit of an anomaly of course but --no one laughs. John can literally run up a 12' wall and scale any building silently. In his civilian life he rock climbs and is recognized as one of the world's best. He speaks near perfect Arabic and doesn't like guns- he prefers the knife. Killing by knife can be done in absolute silence and is always done by surprising the target. Challenge him to a shooting match though is a mistake. I know, it cost me a few bucks and dinner. John can toss a can into the air and hit it 9 out of ten times with a pistol using either hand. I didn't say he didn't know how to use a gun, he just prefers the knife.
John's knife is a 7" hand-made fighting knife he straps to a harness behind his head. The Model 14 Attack knife designed by Bo Randall has been custom made for specialists like John since WWII. It's is primarily designed for combat and survival purposes. It will sever a head from the neck in a New York minute. It can be sharpened to hold an edge like a scalpel just as the Japanese Samurai sword. The knife has a finger grooved handle with a brass double guard. Its blade is O-1 high carbon tool steel.
Let me tell you a bit about the United States Navy's Sea, Air, Land Teams, commonly known as SEALS. SEALS are the U.S. Navy's SOG (special operations group) and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command and United States Special Operations Command. The SEALS duty is to conduct small-unit maritime military operations which originate from, and return to a river, ocean, swamp, delta or coastline. SEALS can negotiate shallow water areas such as the Persian Gulf coastline, where large ships and submarines are limited due to the water's depth.
"SEAL" is always capitalized in reference to members of the Naval Special Warfare community. Navy SEALS like John are trained to operate in all environments (Sea, Air, and Land) for which they are named. SEALS are also prepared to operate in climate extremes of scorching desert, freezing Arctic, and humid jungle. The SEALS current pursuit of elusive, dangerous and high-priority terrorist targets has them operating in remote, mountainous regions of Afghanistan, and in cities torn by factional violence. Historically, the SEALS have always had "one foot in the water." The reality, however, today is that they initiate lethal direct action strikes equally well from air and land which is why he was with us.
All SEALS are (or were) male members of the United States Navy. There are no female SEALS at least not that I'm aware of. Given the penchant of this present dark administration for PC, that can change anytime- after all, as he says, "I have a phone and a pen." The CIA's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits operators from the SEAL Teams.
Joint Navy SEALS and CIA operations go back to the famed MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists and appears in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Due to their reputation as one of the world's premier special operations forces, SEAL operators routinely serve in allied SOF's including the British Special Air Service, Special Boat Service and Polish GROM SEALS excel at killing- that is their primary job. They do not go out to win 'hearts and minds'- they are sent to kill!
For example, Christopher Scott "Chris" Kyle was a United States Navy SEAL and the most lethal sniper in American military history with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 claimed kills. Kyle's claims are based on individual shooter logs. U.S. Special Operations Command treats sniper kill counts as "unofficial, but the 225 number is closer to his real BC.
SEAL mottos "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday" "It Pays to be a Winner" Some of the engagements the SEALs have participated in are;
•Vietnam War
•War in North-West Pakistan
•Multinational Force in Lebanon
•Operation Urgent Fury
•Achille Lauro hijacking
•Operation Earnest Will
•Operation Prime Chance
•Operation Just Cause
•Operation Nifty Package
•Operation Desert Storm
•Operation Restore Hope
•Operation Gothic Serpent
•Battle of Mogadishu
•Operation Uphold Democracy
•Operation Enduring Freedom
•Operation Red Wings
•Operation Iraqi Freedom
•Maersk Alabama hijacking
•Operation Neptune Spear
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