American Strategic Deception Bureau

　——Firi, the former Pentagon's top salesman, had used this extraordinary cheating method many times to improve his performance, and by the way, he also made the deceived customers curse after they came to their senses afterwards: "Damn it, what a stupid thing did I just do?"

　Although Deputy Director Bissell is considered to be a cunning man, Firi does not think he can withstand such unprecedented cheating methods.

　As expected, Deputy Director Bissell failed the Charm Confrontation Test. As soon as Ferry's "Charm Person" spell was cast, his expression became dazed and confused for a moment, and the corners of his mouth smacked unconsciously a few times, and a trace of turbid saliva flowed down.

　When Deputy Director Bissell regained consciousness from his trance, his attitude towards Firi became more sincere and enthusiastic.

　When talking about how to advance the "Pluto Project" and launch the Cuban attack, he was even more excited and talked incessantly.

　"Captain, the way to defeat Castro and reclaim Cuba is simple. As long as we act with full energy and get the mercenaries onto the Cuban beach, all subsequent military problems will be a piece of cake. The Pentagon will solve all the problems on the island of Cuba for us!"

　Deputy Chief Bissell confided the truth without taking it seriously, "The young men in the Marine Corps have been longing for medals for a long time!"

　After hearing what the CIA deputy director said, Firi blinked, lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally understood the other party's ideas and logic.

　— It seems that Mr. Deputy Director, you have no intention of relying solely on this mercenary army to defeat Castro and win the victory. Instead, you only want the 2506th Brigade to light the fuse and start the Cuban War. Then, you want to use this to pressure the White House and force the new president to directly dispatch US troops for a full-scale invasion of Cuba!

　In this way, the fourth-class cavalry of the US Marine Corps became a powerful backup for the 2506th Brigade and could even take over the war completely.

　Naturally, the CIA no longer needs to continue spending huge amounts of money and racking its brains to recruit four more brigades of Cuban mercenaries!

　In short, it is to use mercenaries to stir up trouble, create a fait accompli, and then force the US military to follow suit and expand the war!

　Oh my God! Isn't this the same thinking behind the old Japanese Imperial Army's frequent unilateral actions on the East Asian continent, stirring up incidents and escalating wars?

　Deputy Director Bissell, are you possessed by a ghost, General Ishihara Kanji, who caused the "September 18th" Incident?

　More importantly, if the CIA wants to act alone, then it can act alone; if it wants to cause trouble, then it can cause trouble!

　But the problem is that the United States, where money and power are supreme, is not the old Japanese Empire where the military is rampant!

　Deputy Director Bissell, you are calling the Japanese Empire's middle-level officers "rebellious"

　Is it really okay to copy the same tricks to the United States?

　No matter how you look at it, it seems like he's having trouble adapting to the local climate!

　Captain Ferry King thought to himself.

　Chapter 18: If you win, you get the credit; if you lose, you get the bad debt.

　As we all know, every country has a different political ecology, and the exercise of power follows different rules and bottom lines.

　Therefore, the tactics of allowing the frontline armed forces to act alone and stir up rebellion, cooperating with the pro-war factions in the government to coordinate internally and externally, forcing the national forces to follow suit, and expanding the war, may work in militaristic Japan, but it does not mean that it will work in the United States, where "civilian rule" is practiced.

　Ten years ago, General MacArthur, the "Five-Star Emperor" who won the Pacific War and was stationed in Japan as the emperor, was so arrogant and domineering that he even forced President Truman to condescend and cross the Pacific to meet with him on Wake Island in the early stages of the Korean War.

　But in the end, General MacArthur could only mutter "Old soldiers never die" and retired in disgrace, staying away from power and becoming just like everyone else.

　Generally speaking, from the very beginning of the United States, Congress has been extremely wary of the military, deliberately keeping it extremely small and preferring to rely on militias to meet defense needs. This was done partly to save military spending, but also to prevent the rise of military leaders who could overthrow the republican system.

　Simply put, because they were afraid that the army would stage a mutiny to seize power, they simply cut the army to a level that was better than nothing!

　——The United States of America has always compared itself to the "Rome of the New World". Its political system and institutional names are modeled after the Roman Republic. In fact, the term "senator" in the United States is the same as the term "senator" in Rome (the Chinese translation is deliberately different to indicate the difference).

　The gentlemen on Capitol Hill in the capital were naturally impressed by how the Roman Republic was overthrown and turned into the Roman Empire.

　Therefore, Capitol Hill in Washington has always been wary of military leaders like Caesar and Napoleon emerging from the army and becoming emperors in the republic.

　Therefore, the U.S. Congress and the White House have always been vigilant against the military, trying to cut military spending whenever they have the chance. They are especially intolerant of the military getting out of control, even at the expense of the military's combat effectiveness. In the Pentagon, "the enemy is on Capitol Hill" has always been the catchphrase of American generals.

　To this day, although the U.S. military-industrial complex is growing, it is not equivalent to a warlord. Instead, it is more like a chaebol.

　This made the United States during the Cold War look quite twisted. On the one hand, it was preparing for nuclear war, while on the other hand, it was extremely wary of and suppressed its military.

　Now if it is the CIA's "temporary workers" who act alone, will Capitol Hill just approve it and then start a war to clean up the mess?

　No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem optimistic!

　Even in the old Empire of Japan, I don't think there's ever been a report of a Special High Police spy acting alone and successfully provoking an incident, right?

　Although Captain Ferry King was deeply concerned about the CIA's outrageous "going it alone" approach, since Director Dulles and Deputy Director Bissell had already made up their minds, a small-time captain like him had no power to interfere. Furthermore, he couldn't think of a better solution at the moment.

　So, Firi just took advantage of the fact that the effect of the "Charm Person" spell had not yet worn off and continued to ask a few more questions:

　First of all, even if the CIA used both coaxing and deception to force the half-strength 2506th Brigade to go out alone, before this half brigade landed in Cuba, where would they find the feint force that should have set out in advance to harass Cuba's northeast coast and attract Castro's attention?

　Secondly, how could such a reckless and risky Cuban invasion plan pass the White House review and obtain President Kennedy's approval?

　Or does the CIA really intend to act alone and secretly send mercenaries to launch a sneak attack on Cuba without the knowledge of the president and the White House?

　Well... uh, Deputy Director Bissell said that a surprise attack without the White House's knowledge was impossible. Because the CIA couldn't single-handedly take over a country of over 100,000 square kilometers. Even in the early stages of deployment, the US Navy would need to deploy an aircraft carrier battle group as support and provide air cover.

　It is impossible for the CIA to mobilize the navy without authorization - the only one who can mobilize the navy is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces in the White House.

　Therefore, Director Dulles and Deputy Director Bissell seemed to be preparing to use some rhetoric to trick President Kennedy into approving the offensive plan.

　As for how to fool Kennedy... well, the CIA's top brass don't seem to have figured out what to do yet, but there will definitely be a way in the future.

　Although this idea sounds childish, a bit like stepping on a watermelon peel and sliding wherever it takes you.

　But on the Cuban issue, one major premise is very clear:

　Neither the White House nor Capitol Hill could tolerate the appearance of an anti-American and pro-Soviet Cuba in the Caribbean.

　The entire US is currently worried about what direction the Castro government will take Cuba. If it completely leans towards the Soviet Union, it would be like the polar bear's claws grabbing the bald eagle's testicles, which the US cannot tolerate.

　So, no matter who the president is, the United States must take action against Cuba, and the CIA is very confident about this.

　Based on this strategic judgment, the CIA felt that it occupied the moral high ground and was not afraid that the White House would dare to disobey even if its deception was exposed.

　Next, before the 2506th Brigade set sail, a harassment force was needed to coordinate with it, crossing the sea from Florida first and feinting to attack the northeastern coast of Cuba.

　Castro's troops were drawn in, leaving the 2506th Brigade's landing point defenses empty.

　However, the CIA has now stopped recruiting mercenaries, and the US Marine Corps will not be ordered into battle and land in Cuba until the 2506th Brigade captures a city in Cuba, establishes a "Free Cuba" government, and requests aid from the United States on Cuba's behalf.

　So, where would this harassment force, which must be dispatched first on the eve of the battle to launch a surprise attack on Cuba, come from?

　We can't cancel this deception operation and let the 2506th Brigade directly confront Castro's 30,000 troops, right?

　In response, Deputy Director Bissell said that although there were no other Cuban mercenaries in Florida, there were still more than 100 Cuban security guards and pimps in the "Wave" training camp, which had been converted into a luxury brothel and pleasure street, and all of them were from the mafia.

　In the absence of available troops, the CIA planned to make do with the hundred or so Cuban thugs, find a few Hispanic agents to take them on a speedboat, armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, and take them for a stroll along the northeastern coast of Cuba, burning, killing and looting, thus completing the feint attack.

　Hearing this, Firi was completely speechless - is this acceptable?

　Deputy Director Bissell, have you completely lost your middle school mentality and turned the CIA into the Japanese military headquarters during World War II?

　The same self-talk, the same deception, the same fighting based on imagination...

　- Let more than a hundred gangsters who work as pimps in brothels cross a 200-kilometer ocean and land in the enemy country to fight an amphibious landing?

　Are the CIA kidding me?

　Even if it is a harassment operation to tie down the enemy, there is no need to use such an outrageous method, okay?

　Are you really using the mafia as an army?

　Please, more than 90% of the gangsters in this world can only bully the weak and rely on their numbers to bully ordinary people.

　Even those fierce gangsters entrenched in the slums can only rely on the geographical advantage to fight a defensive battle with the police in their own territory.

　If they really had to leave their familiar surroundings and go out into the wild to attack a regular army... let alone the stupid-looking Cuban mafia in Florida... Even Al Capone, the Chicago gang leader, probably wouldn't have the guts to go toe-to-toe with Castro and Che Guevara with a submachine gun!

　If the CIA really forced them to go into battle, these slick gangsters would probably just feint an attack on the air - they would just circle the sea in their speedboats, not even touching the Cuban coastline, and then they would fire a few random shots into the air and then run back in a hurry!

　Fortunately, the CIA's top brass were not completely clueless. They also knew that with just over a hundred Cuban thugs, they would probably not be able to cause any major trouble.

　Therefore, in the face of a severe shortage of mobile forces, the CIA also prepared other plans to lure the enemy.

　In fact, it is an old method used in the Normandy landing in World War II, sending planes to drop a group of rubber dummies in the mountains of eastern Cuba to implement tactical deception. These dummies are strapped with buzzers and firecrackers to simulate gunfire and other noises, making people mistakenly think that a large number of airborne troops have arrived.

　Some of the dummies are equipped with trigger bombs that can blow up any unlucky person who comes to check.

　But dummies are just dummies after all. If there are no real airborne troops to follow up, it would be good if they can deceive the defenders for a few hours.

　In addition, before the 2506th Brigade landed, the CIA would secretly order those anti-Castro armed groups lurking in Cuba to leave their hiding places and cause major disturbances in Cuban cities and transportation hubs! Such actions might include bombing factories, destroying bridges, tearing up sections of railway, and destroying police stations. This would disrupt Castro's judgment and hinder the enemy's ability to mobilize and transport troops.

　But are these anti-Castro groups really so obedient and dedicated, rather than just waiting for the US imperialists to take over? Firi expressed strong doubts about this.

　In Firi's opinion, the above-mentioned strategic deception tactics, although not completely useless, can only be said to be better than nothing at best.

　After all, there is no way to really mobilize a large army to land, and it all depends on this kind of bluffing... It's really makeshift!

　So, Firi felt very puzzled.

　Since the Cuban invasion was now in a predicament and the military strength was so stretched to such a makeshift level, why did the CIA still insist on pushing forward the "Pluto Project" and sticking to the flawed Cuban invasion to the end?

　In order to figure out this problem, Firi not only increased the power of the charm spell, but also used a prophecy spell "Detect Thoughts". By using this two-pronged approach, he finally figured out Deputy Director Bissell's thoughts.

　"Damn it! It turns out the bureau has embezzled all the money and is still in debt. That's why they're thinking of sharing the credit if they win and settling the debt if they lose! Anyway, as long as they fight, they won't lose, right?"

　Chapter 19: The CIA has no surplus food!

　Although it was December 1960, months before Operation Pluto, the invasion of Cuba, officially began, the CIA had already spent nearly all of the nearly $12 million in special funding secured by Vice President Nixon and was even heavily in debt.

　Of course, with the 1,500 Cuban mercenaries currently undergoing combat training in Guatemala, and the lawyers, politicians, and "public servants" of the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front in the luxurious brothels of the "Wave" training camp,

　"Communist intellectuals" and gangsters, etc., cannot spend that much money.

　In fact, the actual military expenditure spent on the 2506th Brigade Mercenaries was no more than 5 million US dollars.

　Because everything needed to build the 2506th Brigade, from planes and tanks to guns and ammunition, even tents, uniforms, daily necessities, fuel and canned biscuits for soldiers, were all purchased on credit from the Pentagon. Apart from the outstanding payments, the CIA did not spend a single cent for the time being.

　Of course, always paying on credit always leads to scorn. For example, in preparation for the 2506th Brigade's sea crossing, the CIA wanted to borrow several landing craft and merchant ships for supply transport from the Navy. However, the Pentagon, which had never seen the CIA pay, was extremely reluctant to do so.

　Finally, after much persuasion, an agreement was reached: the Pentagon provided two old infantry landing craft that had served in World War II on credit, but did not provide any sailors. The CIA then bought five of the cheapest, dilapidated cargo ships on credit, including a Mississippi River boat.

　Well, what should I say? If I really want to use this shabby boat to sail in the Caribbean, I can only pray to God that the Caribbean Sea is calm.

　Otherwise, if there is a storm at sea, the entire ship will almost certainly sink.

　But the CIA, reluctant to spend money, decided to buy whatever ship was cheapest - after all, they didn't have to bear the risk of the ship sinking and feeding the fish.

　The more than one hundred public intellectuals and "remote revolutionaries" of the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front spent their days eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling in brothels, but the CIA's expenses for supporting these idlers, as well as establishing radio stations and conducting propaganda campaigns in Cuba, totaled only about one million US dollars.

　Add to that the cost of sending eight secret agent teams to infiltrate Cuba and assassinate Castro by various means, the aid supplies airdropped to the Cuban counter-revolutionary guerrillas in Mount Escambray over the past six months, and so on... As of December 1960, excluding the outstanding accounts, the CIA had spent a maximum of seven or eight million US dollars on the "Pluto Project" to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba.

　So, how did the remaining nearly 20 million US dollars in funding disappear without a trace?

　The answer is that it was either used to fill the CIA's previous financial holes, or it was secretly divided and embezzled by the spies, big and small, who were involved.

　As early as when the "Pluto Project" was just launched, Director Dulles, Deputy Director Bissell and Team Leader Estelline each received millions of dollars, and agents at all levels below them also received thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. At least another three million dollars went into the CIA's secret treasury.

　It is said that the CIA also tactfully allocated some funds and secretly gave them to Vice President Nixon's campaign committee through money laundering channels.

　Well, it’s just like when Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing took the $4 million in U.S. aid allocated to him by President Truman and turned around and gave it to Dewey’s campaign committee.

　- Of course, on the CIA's books, this money was all used to support the Cuban "freedom fighters" who opposed Castro.

　However, since ancient times, such US foreign aid projects have always been subject to heavy discounts, and have also been subject to various shipwrecks and losses.

　It is reasonable that after a million dollars in aid is divided among various levels, only one hundred thousand or even fifty thousand dollars is finally received.

　I believe that those who received US aid, from Syngman Rhee in South Korea to Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam, had anticipated this and would not have made a big fuss about it.

　Then, the "Wave" training camp in Florida, originally used to train Cuban mercenaries, was transformed into a pleasure street and luxurious brothel using CIA funds. Then, through a series of cumbersome procedures, it was inexplicably "state-owned" and "privately owned" (for a detailed explanation, see the loss of state-owned assets in my country). The brothel's owner was Team Leader Estelline of the Cuban Special Task Force.

　In addition, CIA Director Dulles and Deputy Director Bissell also acquired shares in the "Wave" brothel after it was privatized.

　The cost of land acquisition, construction and decoration of this luxurious brothel alone is as high as 1300 million US dollars, but now it has all been pocketed by the brothel owner.

　Furthermore, the CIA used public funds to purchase several luxurious villas in Florida under the pretext of "entertaining Cuban exiled politicians." However, these villas were ultimately not given to outsiders, but instead became the private benefits of senior executives and veteran agents.

　Then, to equip the 2506th Brigade's flight squadron, the CIA obtained 32 B-26 bombers on credit from the Pentagon's WAA. However, there weren't enough pilots among the Cuban exiles, and only eight crews could be assembled. The CIA is currently seeking a buyer for the remaining 24 B-26s.

　The CIA even found buyers for the ships that carried mercenaries to Cuba, preparing to resell them after the war.

　Well, no matter how you look at him, he looks like a stingy person who is obsessed with money, and his eating habits are so ugly that it makes people speechless.

　But there is nothing that can be done about it. The CIA is also living a tight life these days, and the spies can't control their hands.

　-

　How to say it, the CIA of the United States in the early 21st century was an invincible existence that was rampant in every corner of the world. It dared to get involved in any illegal business that could make money. It especially liked to make friends with drug lords and act as a protective umbrella for them, thereby obtaining huge financial tributes.

　The war between drug lords in Latin America is essentially a battle between FBI and DEA informants and CIA informants.

　The drug trafficking business in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia is a secret game between the CIA and the US military.

　Even in places where there is no narcotics business, the CIA can still make money by trafficking in people, selling intelligence, acting as a broker, and other means.

　Africa's "blood diamonds", Ukraine's black soil, Argentina's ranches, the Lolita paradise on the Caribbean islands...

　It can be said that the CIA is fanning the flames of evil all over the world, and nine out of ten places are where the gongs are beating!

　Relying on the share of illegal businesses such as prostitution, gambling and drugs that it controls around the world, as well as various mines and plantations that it has seized through trickery, the CIA earns tens of billions of dollars in "gray income" from doing private work every year, which is enough to make the pockets of the regular spy chiefs full.