I love reading and writing mysteries. I also love reading espionage novels. Fellow aficionados can attest to one overriding theme that all espionage writers seem to share. It is a full out war between the acronyms. CIA, FBI, DOD, NSA, Homeland Security, and whatever letters none of us know about.

The storyline in the novel often goes something like this… The hero has been lied to by his own acronym and is out their alone in the cold as the acronym tries to destroy him. Out of necessity and love-of-country, he and his new love-interest try to avoid capture/execution and still save us from the foreign despots who are trying to destroy the United States.

You might understandably say, that’s fiction! Why wouldn’t the acronyms share information and focus on the real villains? A very reasonable assumption, but if you read my last post “Fiction is the Ultimate Truth”, you can see where I’m going with this. The novel is an opportunity for writers with a deep knowledge of a subject to have his/her character tell us what really goes on in the clandestine services. It may even be more accurate than “factual” papers written by people who are afraid to be politically incorrect and fired or reprimanded by the chief of service or even the president (Now that Trump will be in charge).

Okay, be skeptical, but let’s examine the facts.

The CIA got it entirely wrong that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Based on that erroneous information, we invaded Iraq and destabilized the Middle East. HOW? Was there pressure exerted by the White House?

George W. Bush was known to follow the advice of Dick Cheney, who was the chief executive of Halliburton before running for vice president. While Cheney was VP, Halliburton rose to become the seventh-largest military contractor. During the time that Cheney was in office, he actually received 2 million dollars in deferred compensation from Halliburton. Was there even more?

James Comey, formerly a REPUBLICAN, the Director of the FBI, released information about the democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, that probably helped Trump get elected –just weeks before the election!

Donald Trump attacked the entire intelligence community for releasing an unverified report containing salacious allegations about him, that Russia allegedly hacked, to the media.

All the acronyms agree that Russia has been hacking the US data systems, especially the DNC, and that the United States is extremely vulnerable. BUT, Donald Trump has publicly stated that he doesn’t believe it. THE PRESIDENT ELECT DENIES ANY FACTS OFFERED BY ALL OUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES.

Donald Trump still won’t release his tax reports, and in essence has not divested himself of his vast holdings. No one in congress is really doing anything about this. How can the leader of the free world not financially benefit from the day-to-day decisions that the chief executive has to make?

Donald Trump has called most of his republican competitors devaluing names, yet they now support him.

Donald Trump attacked John McCain’s years of being a POW. “I like winners, not losers.” Yet dozens of high level military personnel support him.

We call China one country, yet deal with mainland China and Taiwan all the time and pretend that Taiwan is not also China.

When the Iran nuclear deal was consummated, no one made it part of the contract that Iran openly state that our very important ally Israel has the right to exist. We just ignored the fact that Iran continues to support Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria, all of which are committed to the destruction of Israel.

This is crazy! Right?

But, maybe there are ulterior motives — financial or political.

The motives certainly don’t seem altruistic.

Are they criminal?

We all need to be involved and educated about what’s happening in our country and our world. Ignoring the facts is dangerous. Pretending our leaders are doing a good job is craziness on our part.

If you enjoyed reading, Inside the Mind of a Psychiatrist, you might also enjoy Dr. Smukler’s novels, Chasing Backwards, a psychological murder mystery, Skin Dance, a mystery, and The Man with a Microphone in his Ear. All are available as paperbacks and eBooks.