Bearing in mind US - and UK for that matter - in treated with Sodium Flouride, a suppressant used by the SS in the concentration camps, he could well have a point.
Of course the CIA is going to be looking at Germany as the prime suspect as opposed to Russia, and I wouldn't be shocked if the CIA's mission in Germany became one solely dedicated to driving a wedge between the public and the Order (to start with). Wouldn't even need spies to do it, just back channel funds to sources critical of the Order or start digging through their trash to find things that would make good gossip items.
Nancy is good, and that's why I think the Order would survive, but as a much changed beast.
Whelp, hope you all enjoyed that last mission to the United States, because from here on in there because now basically exists a state of war.
Foreign military action, even if the details are restricted to only the intelligence community, has just been carried out on American soil. There is no way the US can not retaliate, as regardless of what the FBI did, by taking Asia back in the way they did, the situation has been escalated.
Of course the CIA is going to be looking at Germany as the prime suspect as opposed to Russia, and I wouldn't be shocked if the CIA's mission in Germany became one solely dedicated to driving a wedge between the public and the Order (to start with). Wouldn't even need spies to do it, just back channel funds to sources critical of the Order or start digging through their trash to find things that would make good gossip items.
Nancy is good, and that's why I think the Order would survive, but as a much changed beast.
If the CIA (and the US in general) should focus on the Order then they are really too stupid to live. The order might be somewhat public but they are basically nothing more than an unofficial intelligence agency working for the Empress and thus the Emperor. They are the go-to gals if you need some information or a secret courier. Any resources spent on the Order besides the usual observation duties are resources not spent watching the BND (you know, the real, state funded secret service, the one with massive resources at their disposal) and other German (military) intelligence and secret agencies. A focus on the order would be the best thing to ever happen to the German intelligence community. And the US can cry all they want about a state of war (which they won't, since the president doesn't seem to be a moron) nobody would take that whining (and it's only whining, nothing more) seriously. And how do they want to retaliate? Start a war? What is possibly doing and what is sensible anyway is to step up their counterintelligence work and cleans up it's agencies.
Once again people are calling "war" way to early. In OTL the US and the Soviet Union shot down spy planes, passenger airlines, kidnapped people and spied like there is no tomorrow and nobody once talked seriously about war. It's not worth it, especially if nobody is publicly loosing face.
But generally speaking, the biggest problem the US has ITTL that it has no clue how to play Great Power politics. And this is understandable since the US hasn't be involved in a real war since the end of WW1, there is no red scare and I highly doubt that the US public cares much about international politics. Unless someone starts bombing Pearl Harbor (literally or figuratively) the US will spend about as much resources on foreign affairs (including CIA & Co) as it must but not one bit more. And considering this from an ITTL US perspective this is completely reasonable. Nobody can seriously threaten the US militarily (well, nuking and gasing is always possible but I expect the US to field a credible nuclear deterrent within another decade ITTL and then that's that), there is no "war of systems" like OTL's communism vs. capitalism and none of the other powers is looking for a war right now.
You mean you have a ex President saying this person was actually a go between the Kaiser and the president and was not a spy at all, so rogue elements in the FBI decide to put her in a state mental hospital under an assumed name, and perform medical procedures that are not even in that field considered acceptable treatment, would not be considered an offensive act against Germany? There were so many US laws broken before anything happened on the Russian end, that you could have charges brought that would be considered as trying to foment war between the powers.
The CIA is going to be using its time to try and distance themselves between everything done by the FBI, they do not want to end up being treated in the same manner.
THis is not some kind of movie, we so good we screw up and still make us look good type. The US intelligence services have been so horrible up to now, that it would not surprise me that someone in Germany picks an agent up off of the street, takes them to the Embassy and drops them off with a note for the ambassador telling them to be more careful next time.
Heinrich Krekeler, the German Ambassador had said that as a Chemist by profession he was having the water tested in Washington D.C. to see if there was anything in it that might cause mental retardation.
The only one who had emerged from all of this within screaming distance of having their reputation intact was the Head of FBI Counter Intelligence Division, John Aleshire. He had tried to get the Boston Field Office to rethink this and had also tried to go up the chain of command to get this sorted but had been over taken by events. Currently he was in Danvers leading the investigation and trying to figure out who had kidnapped Asia Lawniczak.
Now that Ness had a chance to think about it, perhaps Aleshire was due a promotion. The FBI needed people who could see through the petty bullshit and just do their job properly. Clearing out the dead wood was overdue, and he was the perfect man for that job. Personally, Ness was getting extremely tired of the Krauts, it was their turn to get a black eye.
Somewhere in Germany Johanes Schultz is laughing his ass off as one his prime recruits from years ago is on track to be the Director of the FBI in a few years.
And unlike the late and unlamented J. Edger Hoover, Alshire will be more reliable and will not jeopardize himself.
Paging Ilse von Mischner; Ilse von Mischner, please pick up any white paging telephone.
Actually, there is: Tetraethyl Lead AFAIK before it was banned in auto fuel the entire planet was contaminated with it.
The worst part had been when the Germans had stated that Asia Lawniczak wasn’t even a spy, she was a courier and facilitator of backchannel communication between Office of the President and the German Kaiser and Kaiserin. With some reluctance, Harry Truman had confirmed that little detail to news reporters.
Now that Ness had a chance to think about it, perhaps Aleshire was due a promotion. The FBI needed people who could see through the petty bullshit and just do their job properly. Clearing out the dead wood was overdue, and he was the perfect man for that job. Personally, Ness was getting extremely tired of the Krauts, it was their turn to get a black eye.
Bearing in mind US - and UK for that matter - in treated with Sodium Flouride, a suppressant used by the SS in the concentration camps, he could well have a point.
Gia shot him in the head cutting him off mid-sentence. The Nurse screamed and fell to the floor whimpering and Doctor Ambrose pissed himself.
“About time someone shut him up” One of the Spetsnaz muttered, “Before you got here, he was talking on and on about how great what he did is. A real fathead.”
By some miracle he had survived but ironically the .380 bullet that had blown through his brain had taken with it a substantial amount of grey matter and it had roughly the same effect of him as the surgery that he loved to promote.
Oh, I can see how the Germans and Russians could create a scenario in how they got Asia back:
A not further named humanitarian group has raided the "Clinic" and liberated the poor woman, including the paperwork on what has / was to be done to her. But that was only luck for her, as the real target were the "medical" staff.
And as the good humanitarians that the group were, they rescued her and for a little funding gave her back to Germany.
Cue some real groups popping up and proclaiming that it was them. And Germany showing that they realy, truly, cross my heart paid several tens/hundreds of thousands of Marks to get the her back.
Too tame. After what the Americans did, they crossed several unwritten rules of the Intelligency Community. Even the RUSSIANS were sickened when they exfiltrated Asia, and that tells you LEAGUES of that there are certain things just NOT done.Another option: Pick up a CIA agent. Take him to a castle that's still owned by the German government. Treat him with courtesey, including a polite "Historical tour" of the castle he's taken to, including the dungeon and its special equipment, before sending him home.
Either leave the equipment as is, or make sure it's shiny and well polished. For added horror, even put a dummy in the historical exhibit.