The author includes a propaganda piece ostensibly written by a former FBI agent and published in Newsweek, a prime media source for the US Empire, which reads:
As an FBI operative working a mission against Russian military intelligence, I often struggled with this incomplete picture. Even though I spent hours in front of Oleg Kulikov, a Russian intelligence officer posing as a United Nations diplomat, his importance in the intelligence wars was unknown to me. Working with a small three-person team, I was constantly reminded that my job was to work Oleg, not to think about the larger questions of who he was and why he mattered.Notice that he "trusts" the authorities which under our hierarchical system are our masters in the capitalist ruling class, and the piece suggests that readers do likewise. Our masters have lied to us about the assassinations of Jack and Bobbie Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, many community leaders like the Black Panthers, the student protestors at Kent State and Jackson State, about the wars they have engaged in like the Vietnam War, Iraq War, the Syrian conflict, etc. (the list is endless), and the false-flag attack of 9/11. They wouldn't be able to tell the truth if their lives depended on it. Unfortunately, this well-paid dupe is highly representative of the American people in general. He trusts his masters, narrowly views the task at hand ordered by his "superiors", and performs his duties for which he is well rewarded. Then, no doubt, he returns home to his family and watches entertaining TV shows. This is the sad story of most Americans.
I was to focus on the objectives at hand. I was ok with this for one simple reason: trust. I trusted that the endpoint of our mission was truth, and whether or not I was in on every decision being made, I trusted we were all moving toward that shared goal using a common set of rules and ethics. I also trusted the people I worked with. I trusted them to keep my secret work secret, which meant I trusted them with nothing short of my life.
