Covert Comic: The Intelligence Underground

The following article has been quoted and/or written about in news publications around the world. Now, for the first time, here's the complete, unedited version.

Remember James Jesus Angleton, the paranoid CIA counterintelligence officer who, when he wasn’t single-handedly terrorizing the Agency’s Directorate of Operations during the 1950’s and 60’s, was writing and publishing eccentric poetry? And how about that military intelligence officer at Pentagon who, prior to being discreetly retired a few years back, was producing and selling his own pornographic 'paramilitary themed' videos on the side? More to the point, what about the founding ‘father’ of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, who allegedly spent many an evening (presumably during non-work hours) secretly parading around various Washington DC hotel rooms in drag?

Scattered throughout the US Intelligence Community in Washington DC today are numerous intelligence officials, possessing the highest security clearances and enjoying access to the most sensitive US Government secrets, who are notorious for their highly unorthodox behavior and/or viewpoints. These Intelligence Community oddballs constitute what is nowadays referred to by Washingtonians in the know as the Intelligence Underground. As such, these unique men and women are maintaining a tradition as old as America’s Intelligence Community itself.

For example, there’s the famed ‘ufologist,’ Ron P. who, in addition to his official duties as a CIA economic analyst, is known throughout the Intelligence Community for his obsession with UFO’s. This obsession sometimes lands him in trouble. Witness an incident several years ago in which a civilian UFO researcher telephoned Ron P. at CIA Headquarters and asked him what he knew about an alleged – and no doubt mythical – classified project concerning purported US Government contact with extraterrestrial life. Ron P. replied "Who cleared you for that project?" and hung up, a prank that garnered the considerable ire of CIA management when it was subsequently reported in ufology journals around the globe (our globe, that is).

I once dropped by Ron’s office at CIA Headquarters to meet the legend. Although Ron wasn’t in at the time I did notice much interesting UFO paraphernalia in his office (including a battery-operated toy flying saucer).

Another notorious Intelligence Underground weirdo (or should I say weirdette) cannot be referred to in this article even by her initials, so controversial is her particular idiosyncrasy. This woman (who, like Ron P., by sheer chance just happens to work at CIA) is a regular in the shadowy world of Washington’s BDSM (Bondage and Discipline/Sado-Masochism) scene. According to reliable sources her orientation is that of ‘femdom’ (i.e., a keeper of male sex slaves – presumably the males are consenting).

I once crept stealthily up to her cubicle at the CIA building where she works and, so as not to be caught (and possibly disciplined) by the dominatrix, carefully and silently peered over the wall. There she was, busily typing away at her computer, defending our National Security with precisely the sort of rigorous zeal one would expect from a woman who delights in the erotic torture of male genitalia. And incidentally fellows, she’s attractive!

Given that most of the above (and other) eccentric practices are apparently known, to one degree or another, by the security offices of the various agencies for which their perpetrators work, the obvious question arises: Why haven’t these kooks been fired for their bizarre activities? Perhaps, in the end, they will be. For the moment though, these and other crazies continue in their official duties as custodians of some of America’s most sensitive information … and thereby constitute full-fledged members of America’s Intelligence Underground.

But hold on, there’s more. In addition to the interesting characters described above, there’s another denizen of the Intelligence Underground who clearly warrants mention. Indeed, it’s probably no exaggeration to state that the following person constitutes one of the Intelligence Underground’s most prominent members. The person in question is a CIA officer, one John Alejandro King, otherwise known as 'The Covert Comic.'

Who is The Covert Comic, you ask?

I suppose the simplest way to answer this question is to furnish the URL of the Covert Comic’s very own web site, which has been published to the great consternation of CIA Security and which is filled with fascinating and (some would say) hilarious disclosures about the US Intelligence Community:

www.covertcomic.com

On King's web site readers can find information on such fascinating topics as secrets of 9/11, why the War on Drugs is more consciousness raising (and fun) than the War on Terror, and last but definitely not least, hundreds and hundreds of original and (according to King) highly classified jokes about the CIA, the US Intelligence Community, and life and the cosmos.

By way of a sample, consider the following plainly spooky utterances which Intelligence Underground enthusiasts from NSA to DIA to the Department of Homeland Security regularly cite as being among their personal favorites:

"The mightiest of weapons is truth. And everyone knows you're not permitted to bring a weapon into a Government building."

"As an Agency employee, whenever I hear that the CIA is programming people’s minds, I have to laugh. I don’t want to laugh when I hear this, but ..."

"The Super Bowl has become so commercialized, its religious meaning is in danger of being lost completely."

"The two criticisms we at CIA hear most frequently are, first, that CIA intelligence is inaccurate, and second, that CIA officers are selling CIA intelligence to foreign spy agencies.

... So what’s the problem?"

"They say Washington DC is filled with beautiful, intelligent young women looking for husbands.

... Hey, I’m a husband."

"There's nothing funny about waterboarding. Especially if you wipe out."

"If it’s really a supercomputer, how come the bullets don’t bounce off when I shoot it?"

Other entries in The Covert Comic’s web site include a log of his recent tour of duty in Iraq (and his subsequent forced trip through Israel on a bus filled with newly freed Palestinian prisoners), a selection of haiku poems on intelligence topics (called 'Spaiku'), an appeal on behalf of PETA (no, not that PETA - the group to which King refers is 'People for the Ethical Treatment of Americans'), and much more. If you don’t believe me, visit www.covertcomic.com and see for yourself.

The upshot of all this strangeness? Clearly the Intelligence Underground lives on, and is in fact thriving. Just how long this latest generation of weirdos like John Alejandro King will be able to remain employed in the most sensitive jobs in the US Government is a matter of debate. But that these current members of the Intelligence Underground are maintaining the hallowed tradition of eccentric US intelligence officers is beyond doubt. Here’s hoping that in the Land of the Free it’ll never quite be impossible for an out-and-out nut case to get and keep a top-secret security clearance.

The author has worked for the CIA since at least the 1980’s (and maybe even earlier, if those stories about CIA mind control are accurate).

The Covert Comic.

Read him while you still can!