Kennedy's Men - Book 1: Genesis

On 15 April, 1961 an operation known as ‘The Bay of Pigs’ began its final stage. It was on this date that pilots from the CIA took out the Cuban Air Force.   Initially intended to be a covert operation, the backing of the effort by the United States became widely known.  Started by Eisenhower in 1960, and inherited by Kennedy, the original plans called for no US military personnel to be involved.  However, as the next few years progressed, plans changed to include a final ‘invasion’ of Cuba by US commandos.  With the support of a coordinated attack by the US, the Cubans who would lead the overthrow of Castro would begin their march.  

One decision that proved a key factor in the mission, was Kennedy’s cancellation of a planned strike by B26’s taking flight from Nicaragua the day before the planned invasion.  

On 16 April, President Kennedy rescinded the order for the B26’s follow up their strike from the previous day. Word of this cancellation did not reach the 1,500 commandos headed to the Bay of Pigs.  Over the course of the next few days, Americans and Cuban frogman rescued 26 survivors from beaches and reefs in the area.  114 men died and almost 1,200 Americans were captured.

Poor planning and communications, as well as a lack of true ‘Covert’ status were seen as the key contributors to the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Months later, the Soviet influence into the region led to what became known as the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis”.  After a summer of negotiations between Fidel Castro and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and increasing tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, Cuba accepted the Soviet offer to install missile sites on Cuban soil.  Located 90 miles from the United States, the US government became aware of these in October of 1961.  Over the next few weeks, the world came close to a nuclear conflict and the term ‘Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)’ came into the world lexicon.

  1 November 1962

“What a shit storm!  Bobby, we cannot allow something like that to happen again.”

 “I agree. Working through the Agency to get Castro out, and now getting the Russians out of Cuba has been a disaster. It’s one thing to react to situations like we’ve been doing, but the country needs to be more proactive in stopping problems before they occur.”

 “I don’t want us going down the path of becoming the World’s police force. We need to keep America’s interests up front.”

 “None of us want that and  I don’t think we need to give a damn about countries outside our borders, unless they pose a threat to the U.S.”

 “It sounds as though ‘The Ambassador’ has rubbed off on you. You do sound like you’ve been giving this some thought.”

  “Not just me. I’ve been talking with some others in the Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs over the past few months and we have a few ideas to kick around.”

 “The usual crowd I suppose?”

 “Mac, McCone, Taylor, Teddy and yes, ‘The Ambassador’.”

 “So tell me what we have.”

 “McCone has some good insight and intelligence gathering tools, but he doesn’t have the operational reach he needs to put out these fires before they start.  Jack, we’ve started talking about a group, a team that would be able to defuse bad situations before the get out of control.”

 “Where would they operate? Who would they report to?”

 "They would need to operate wherever the threat is located.  Here in the US or outside.  Our personnel needs would be pretty diverse, we actually plan to consider fluency in local languages where we’d have them operate.”

“Too bad CIA didn’t think to have Spanish speaking agents in Cuba, huh?”

“Yes, we do plan on learning from our mistakes.  We’ve also talked about this group using CIA as a source for intelligence, but not within the confines of their Charter.”

 “So you’re thinking about what? A group that operates half-in / half-out of the law?”

 “No, if they are authorized to operate by an EO, you would control them.”

 “Executive Orders give us a lot of latitude, but I won’t have the time to sit on them and manage them. Being President is a full-time job you know Bobby”

 “I hadn’t noticed, thanks for mentioning it”, Bobby continued as his brother gave him the finger, “We would need to work out some details, and finding the right people is key to this idea working. Someone who has a level head and can operate independently, while not stepping outside of bounds.  Honestly, Jack, this is going to be something of an experiment.”

 “Understood, but we cannot have another pissing contest with the next Russia.  Keep talking and let me know when you have something more substantial.  Now get out of here, I have to go make sure the Russians are taking all of their toys out of Cuba.”