The average civilian and the majority of military personnel, even up to those holding the rank of field grade officer (Major through Colonel) have no concept of how and why covert operations are conducted in a compartmentalized atmosphere. Nor are they familiar with the mechanics of pre-developed cover-up mechanisms, the use of intimidation, subterfuge, and the most heinous of preconceived cover-up programs, the elimination of “troubling” testimony through purposed assassination of character, and that failing, physical “termination” of the person. Any who would dare to bring the truth to light regarding an illegal government contrived or controlled covert operation, particularly if it had proved deadly to innocents, becomes a target of those whom they would expose. This would more than likely precipitate action by those who would be called to account for those actions or activities to preclude the possibility of that testimony being heard.

The purpose of this part in The Unconventional Warrior Series is to acquaint those not familiar with the breadth, depth and nature of covert operations by way of relating the predominantly personal experiences of this writer. When one becomes acquainted with the methods involved in keeping the covert record secret from the public he or she is better equipped to understand why few come forward to tell the truth about illegal, immoral or destructive, even deadly, covert operations. The reader should feel free to respond in our disscussion forum with any similar personal experience or relevant questions.

After reading the above, one might well ask: “Why then, with all that is out there for him to fear when coming forward, does Dan Marvin feel he can go against the tide of the very evil apparatus in government of which he was once a part?” My answer is simple. On the 29th day of January 1984 my youngest daughter led me to the Lord Jesus Christ. That very day I was led by Him whom I then feared and trusted as my personal Savior to report what I knew by personal involvement of illegal or immoral government sponsored or directed activities here and abroad that took place beginning in the early 1960’s. I can honestly tell you, as other active Christian witnesses and crusaders will agree, that once a person is truly saved and has taken the Lord Jesus Christ into his or her heart as their personal Saviour and trust Him and fear Him, they will fear no other person or thing as they once did. It is as simple as that.

I ask that those of you who would like to know for a certainty why it is that otherwise good, honest people who lead a life you and others may admire and who appear to be outwardly courageous and honorable human beings now hide horrendous secrets in their hearts because of the fear of government reprisal, then read on. It is certainly and regretfully true that, should they come forward and threaten that evil part of our otherwise democratic republic, they will suffer the consequences. Who of you wonders why so much of what happened to President John F. Kennedy, his brother, Robert, Martin Luther King, Jr. and those 42 persons named in that 1993 TV special on the Kennedy assassination as having died mysterious deaths has been kept secret? Just with regard to the latter, when the name William Bruce Pitzer rolled down my TV screen I was taken aback and began an immediate inquiry with the help of friends to learn how, when and where he had died. It suddenly became an all important issue to me as I had been asked to kill Pitzer by a CIA agent when stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a Special Forces officer, an assignment I refused to partake in (see Part Four).

You would be well served to read or re-read parts one through fourteen (see archives) of this series and begin to take notes and ask questions. I will cite a few examples for you to cogitate on: Part Three: Orders to Kill. You will note that both former Green Beret Captain John J. McCarthy Jr. and myself, John indirectly through a Miami undercover police officer and myself directly in conversation with a Mafia Don (detailed in Part Seven: An Offer from the Don), confirmed what I had believed true, that the CIA used Mafia organizations as a potential source of experienced assassins when needed here within the continental United States.

You may have read in Part Fourteen: General Westmoreland – A Strange Hero, that my best friend’s son, after retiring from the US Army, went to work for the CIA. Needless to say, the “company” has since its inception devised procedures and documentation that provide an efficient system to assure that no secrets, derogatory information about the agency, or worse, criminal activities, discovered or learned in the performance of their duties, social interaction or any other possible source are attested to by their employees.

I did not see what Albert signed, but I do know that he could not and would not follow through on his promise to document the fact that a number of high ranking military officials, acting in concert with the “company,” did withhold intelligence from Special Forces. I had brought an electric portable typewriter with me, thinking I would be able to record every word of Albert’s disclosure of what it was that caused or was a major factor in his father’s being killed in action that 17th Day of May in 1967. The day I asked him to do so in Providence, Rhode Island, shortly after his Mother’s funeral, I was stunned to learn he couldn’t even discuss it with me. Perhaps the fear of what the CIA could do to him if he were to tell the truth about that terribly tragic day his father died and more recent matters involving the CIA’s clandestine activities, overpowered his personal sense of guilt, resulting in his not coming forward and “telling it like it was.”

Next week’s continuation of Part Fifteen will include, among other matters, specifics about the FBI’s involvement in mail screening by their agents, certain US Congressman’s refusal to involve their office in investigations relating to political assassinations, and one instance of the Special Forces Association quelling attacks on illegal operations involving Green Berets. Such was the case when I reported the illegal shipment of off-the-record weapons by Special Forces personnel (including M1D Sniper Rifles) from Vietnam through Thailand and on to Detroit, Michigan, possibly for use in the infiltration of militant Black organizations by government spies. Though I stopped future gun-running by Green Berets out of the 46th Special Forces in Thailand during my tenure as Office in Charge of the Logistical Support Center in Lop-Buri, the investigation by military officials came to naught as those who had previously agreed to be a witness to the fact, changed their story, some even telling of the intimidation that caused them to do so. This investigation will be detailed in Part Sixteen of this series, Gun-Running Green Berets.

Part Twenty: A Need for Courage in the Citizenry will, when coupled with what you discover in this and other parts of the series, provide each reader with the foundation he or she needs to help flush out, publish, investigate, and bring justice to bear on each and every instance covered.

[Edited by Jeanne Calabretta]