Building the Bionic Man: A Look at OSI
Spycraft is of course a dangerous profession. Agents of communism and world domination have prowled the globe, and the United States rose to the threat by investing resources into some pretty cutting edge technology to defend her interests. From cellular phones hidden in shoes decades before the first such phones ever hit the commercial market, to cones of silence, to nuclear-powered cyborgs, America’s spies have been equipped with the best the nation has to offer.
The origins of the
Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) are murky, but the organization started
sometime prior to 1973 as the Office of Strategic Operations (OSO). Keep in
mind that at the time there were three other key spy agencies, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and CONTROL (the
counterspy agency organized in the early 20th Century to counter the
international organization of evil, KAOS). While the need for a new spy agency
isn’t clear, it seems likely that OSO/OSI’s focus was on advanced technology.
The Director in the early 1970s, Oliver Spencer, is believed to have championed
the “cyborg” program, securing a veritable blank check for the clandestine
development and deployment of a part man, part machine agent. Quite
Machiavellian in nature, driven by a realpolitik worldview that divorced morals
from military policy, Spencer would eventually be “retired” as the OSO
reorganized into the OSI.*
As is often the case
with intelligence agencies, the OSO and OSI walked a fine moral line helping
defend American interests. For instance, despite having access to highly
advanced technology, the OSI still allowed Steve Austin to temporarily sport a
swarthy “porn-stache” at one point. Oh, and also Director Spencer set up Austin
on a suicide mission just to see if he’d die or not.Clearly, rules were meant
for other agencies, and not for this secretive organization.
Once Oliver was
“retired,” the OSO evidently reorganized into the OSI and was placed under the
leadership of Oscar Goldman. Goldman demonstrated the same kind of
“realpolitik” zeal as his predecessor, wielding his “bionic man” as an
instrument for national security in the midst of the Cold War, except he did it
with far groovier sideburns. Although Goldman would soften in his relationship
with his bionic asset, under his leadership the cyborg program grew to include
an as yet unknown number of agents (Damper Three is continuing this portion of
the investigation).
The organization was
full of talent, from the chief science and medical officer, Doctor Rudy Wells
(who was able to set aside any moral issues with fusing man to machine in the
service of legally questionable espionage), to Peggy Callahan, who helped Oscar
Goldman manage the day-to-day operations of the OSI. Together these people
worked directly with military assets to preserve national security. But we here
at Damper Three ask, “at what cost?”
Did you say “six million dollars?” Seriously?
Did you not read the first article? Go back and do that. Apology accepted.
Next week: of death probes and bionic
dogs.
*Following his ouster from government
operations, Spencer all but vanished, as D3 was unable to verify his
post-intelligence operations life. However, there are outlandish rumors of him
working as a reporter investigating the supernatural, as well as an even more
unlikely retirement into the suburbs of small town Indiana.
The Six Million Dollar Man Investigation:
Part 1: The Bionic Man Exposed!
Comments
Post a Comment