Chapter 17 in the R.M. Dolin novel “The Dangling Conversation“, May 2023.
KYLE: “Not at State, or Food & Drug, and no, we never collaborated or even ever met. I only hear about him after his shit goes down and if I weren’t right next door, doubt I’d have ever even known. What they put him through is so similar to the crap I’m dealing with we can’t help but have a shared simpatico. He worked at Los Alamos, I don’t know if you know anything about the place, but it’s not far from my cabin, in fact, I have to pass through every time I go to Santa Fe because there’s no go-around. It’s a super-secret government facility that once upon a time saves the free world and was, for a while, the most prestigious place for science and engineering on earth. They still promote themselves as the world’s leading research center but the shine’s long since worn off the luster; especially since becoming “for profit.” Try wrapping your mind around how some dumb-ass politician decides having the free world’s foremost nuclear weapons facility be run for profit is a good idea. Imagine what sales meetings must be like following a down quarter or what the marketing department’s brainstorming sessions must sound like.
“Los Alamos enters the world’s lexicon after building the atomic bombs dropped on Japan to end World War II, you know, the whole Manhattan Project thing, which is the code name for their development effort. Now any grand challenge, whether it be in science or anything else, is called a “Manhattan Project.” Look at how they bastardized the term during COVID when corrupt politicians collaborated with big Pharma to develop their placebo vaccine, they force everyone to take hoping it’ll clam the panic they created. They’re up in our face for months touting their vaccine development effort as a modern-day Manhattan Project in the desperate hope that once we get the cure we’ll quit asking about the cause.
“What’s scary, at least to me, is once you understand what the rat bastards do to this guy, you’re left with little doubt about how far they’re willing to go to silence dissent. It’s hard reconciling differences between what happens to him and what’s happening to me, and as our former President said after the nefarious justice department is weaponized by the opposition party for lawfare against him, “if it can happen to someone like me, it can certainly happen to you.”
“It doesn’t much matter to the oligarchs in charge how a way-scary place like Los Alamos goes about their business, or the kind of toxic environment they force employees to endure, so long as it all gets done in secret and profit flows are uninterrupted; at least that’s they’re operating premise because what gets done in secret and couched as “national security,” provides complete impunity. When you add in that their primary mission is the design and manufacture of nuclear weapons and the likely potential for catastrophic calamities to downwind communities and water supplies should something go wrong that no one ever hears about because it would interrupt profits, it’s as disturbing as it is problematic. They get away with the shit they do because they’re part of a trillion-dollar nuclear weapons industrial complex and a governmental beast that big needs to be fed.
“The tragic thing about this guy getting crosswise with the oligarchs is that before his shit goes down, he’s a prominent intellectual with an international reputation in nuclear weapons policy that takes a career to establish but in one decisive act is forever destroyed. He’s at Los Alamos seventeen years when his troubles begin; and it’s not for anything he’s done, they fabricate all the crap you read about him once he becomes problematic. I don’t remember his name for sure, but think it’s Dillon, at least that’s what we’ll call him. So anyway, what you need to know about Dillon is he’s a sinner who’s sin is applying vast years of experience and sophisticated intellect to draw a logical conclusion regarding the production and deployment of nuclear weapons, not just by us, but by all nuclear capable countries, which sadly for him, is in diametric opposition to the necessary narrative needed not only by his Los Alamos managers, but the significantly more powerful nuclear weapons industrial complex.
“The irony of Dillon’s dichotomy is that our president at that time has a nuclear proliferation strategy in complete alignment with the position Dillon puts forth in a paper he publishes; the document ultimately leading to his demise. Of course, for the fine folks at Los Alamos, as is the case in all government agencies, the goals and opinions of the President don’t much matter, at least not when they run afoul of the only thing that does; keeping the cash flow spigot wide open at any cost with any requisite collateral damage caused to those caught standing in the way.
“This tragic tale unfolds while I’m on sabbatical from State and lecturing at the University of New Mexico, which would make it about ten years ago, long before my troubles take root. Since my cabin’s close to Los Alamos, I frequently interact with people who work there; some while sharing a chair ride up the town’s ski slope, others fishing in nearby streams, some playing poker, an occasionally, a random someone you talk to at the grocery story; and of course, there are the lectures, which is a pretty popular form of entertainment for a town populated by PhDs.
“Locals have a term for what happens to Dillon, they call it getting “Oppenhiemered,” which is derived from the way the government viscously destroys, discredits, and disgraces the renowned physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the 1950’s when he’s no longer useful to their long-term ambitions. Oppenheimer’s a brilliant intellectual in the nineteen-twenties and thirties, and at the start of World War II, he’s a physics professor at Berkeley with considerable baggage being he’s an avowed communist. Mind you it’s not illegal to join such political parties so much as it’s frowned upon in certain circles. This is of course before the McCarthy Un-American Activities Committee demonizes and actively persecutes citizens for political affiliations in a modern-day witch hunt akin to the Spanish Inquisition and sadly, not much different than our current era of political polarization and lawfare against opponents.
“Once the allies realize the Nazis are racing toward a nuclear weapons capability our government grasps the dire need to achieve the weaponization of the atom first; imagine how different life is if those sick demented German bastards get their hands on nuclear weapons, not to mention the even deeper dystopian darkness that would encase the world if their far more despotic Japanese compadres has access to such a weapon. Oppenheimer’s tasked with leading the super-secret Manhattan Project, located along the eastern edge of the Jemez Mountains, that like my cabin, sits on the side of the world’s largest land-based super volcano, which is pretty damn oxymoronic if you think about it. Oppie assembles a team of the free world’s most brilliant scientists and engineers who work tirelessly for two years designing and manufacturing two different types of atomic bombs, one dropped on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki. We can spend months arguing over the morality of Truman’s decision to deploy the bombs, but what’s indisputable is they bring an immediate end to Japanese brutality and save millions of American and Asian lives.
“Post war it’s obvious to Oppenheimer that the Pandora’s Box he and his team opens can’t be closed, there’s simply no appetite among oligarchs or defense contractors to slow down the plethora of profit potential in a global nuclear arms race. His culpability in creating the world’s new reality weighs on his conscience more than others and when asked about it, he famously says, “now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds,” which is a quote he takes from the Hindu Bhagavadgita, or “Song of God.” From Oppenheimer’s perspective, his invention makes the world’s far less stable and he starts speaking out against nuclear proliferation attempting to inform the public of the cataclysmic dangers that seem inevitable; the only problem is media influencers at that time, including Maccarthy and his many minions, have thoroughly convinced everyone that not only are the communists coming, they’re already here and when they finish taking what they want, they’ll be nothing left.
“As you might imagine, politicians and defense contractors don’t much appreciate someone of Oppenheimer’s stature running around talking about the dire need to cut off their cash flow. They try pressuring him back “on-topic,” but once a powerful mind reaches its logical conclusion, little can be done to sway, shift, or pressure outcomes. Eventually they realize his commitment to disarmament can’t be realigned, which leaves only one available alternative, to destroy him. Imagine for a moment that the man who does more to end World War II than anyone, who saves millions of lives by forcing Japan to surrender before Russia enters the theater and the U.S. launches its mainland invasion, is himself treated to a traitor’s farewell.
“When you look at what happens to Oppenheimer and how Dillon is subsequently treated for his transgressions, you conclude Los Alamos has institutionalized the practice of destroying anyone and everyone who threatens their existence; they get away with it by exploiting their super-secret mission and the consequences of something going wrong; only it’s their lack of adequate oversight that’s exactly what will precipitate something going wrong. Dillon’s not a one-off anomaly either, just another in a long list of persecuted intellectuals who’ve been Oppenheimered into obscurity; when trillions get funneled annually into the vast nuclear weapons industry, descent simply can’t be tolerated regardless of its intellectual validity. There’s a brief moment in history not long ago when the world is woke to the belief science is the pursuit of truth practiced by following facts to logically consistent conclusions. After climate hysteria and the recent pandemic, however, it’s apparent there’s no room for truth in science, at least not when political narratives hunger to be fed. That’s why what happens to Dillon matters and why all of us should take notice and be concerned.
“To fully understand my troubles and the shitstorm raining down on me, we don’t have to venture any further than the abuses dumped on Dillon and how his life’s forever ruined so the sadistic rat bastards can continue collecting seven figure bonuses. Sadly, it’s not just limited to Los Alamos and the nuclear weapons complex, it’s the same smear across all government agencies, whether we’re talking about State, the DOJ, or in my case the FDA; you stray from approved narratives, and thou shall be smitten in the most unholiest of ways.”
ISABELLE: “I don’t know much about Oppenheimer and never heard of Dillon, we studied the Manhattan Project in school but only up to the bomb’s dropping. It’s not only curious they don’t tell us how the story ends it’s uncomfortably challenging to listen to you talk about what you call, “the approved narrative.” I get that we’re brainwashed as kids into all the patriotic nonsense, like Washington cutting down a cherry tree or Lincoln walking miles to return a penny; it’s presented so well no one ever thinks to question it. The Mccarthy era, followed by the Viet Nam era, followed but the Watergate era are pretty dark times in our history, and it makes sense they’d want to control narratives, which I guess is why they never mention what happens to the Manhattan Project team after the war. Clearly the government wouldn’t want us knowing how the shameful saga ends any more then they’d want us listening with a willingness to be persuaded to what Oppenheimer has to say. I watch a public television show about him once while stuck in a Minneapolis snowstorm; they play up his communist connections at Berkeley, along with his many affairs. The government doesn’t like it, but they need his brilliance so much, they’re willing to pretend his transgressions can be overlooked.
“Like most PBS shows, this one’s painfully slow and I fall asleep before they get to his post-war life so don’t know what happens. I never give it much thought but once, while reading something about how Einstein helps the Navy solve a problem with their torpedoes in the early days of World War II, the author openly wonders why Oppenheimer isn’t exalted to the level of Einstein given his far greater contributions; that though, is about as far as my curiosity goes. It’s interesting to hear your take, if nothing else it explains why he not only gets canceled but erased from history. I see your point about the, what did you call it, “the nuclear weapons industrial complex,” most of what happens in history comes down to politics, greed, and corruption, or probably more appropriate, human’s inherent inability to ever have enough power and money.
“I told you about dad’s troubles, its defense contractors exploiting his tool & die company that ultimately break him. They ride him and his expertise until he has nothing more to give, once that’s that, they kicked him to the side of the road like a retread tire; not so much as an attaboy or thank you for your service. Henry and I get into a huge argument about dad’s troubles once; he naively believes if workers do what they’re told management takes care of them because managers need good workers to be successful; Henry say’s it’s the basis behind why capitalism works. It’s amazing he can be so stupid about stuff. Workers are nothing more than company consumables and sincerely wonder what it would take to get Henry to understand that. His drive to rise through the ranks blinds him so badly I don’t know if it’s possible for him to see anything and I already feel sad for him when the day eventually comes when it all comes crashing down, which is only a matter of time. So, what’s up with this Dillon dude, does he fight back or just get canceled?”
KYLE: “He tries fighting back, but like Oppenheimer, and even me for that matter, once you find yourself clinched in the overbearing jaws of a government protecting narratives, you don’t so much fight as struggle to survive. I have a theory about the story within the story regarding Dillon, it’s conspiratorial and a touch avant-garde, but if I’m right, the implications are consequentially catastrophic. Based on what I’ve gleaned from news coverage and inferred from Los Alamos folks who ought to know, the saga begins when Dillon’s invited to prepare a policy paper based on his research by a prestigious journal, which is common for Los Alamos PhDs. Before submitting it for publication, he gives his draft to the Laboratory’s classification office for review, which is exactly the proper protocol for any publication leaving the Lab for outside consumption. Upon review, his paper’s initially deemed classified due to one reference he makes regarding military strategy for deploying weapons in a conflict zone. After a few minor alterations to eliminate the reference, his paper’s approved for publication. This is typically how it goes whenever a paper is submitted for review; minor issues are flagged, corrections made, and the manuscript’s approved for release into the public domain.
“From a legal sense, prior to his manuscript being released, Dillon asks for guidance, is given guidance, and he follows that guidance, which means he does nothing wrong. He then confirms with management his permission to publish and is given the green light, which further means he does nothing wrong. So, only two logical possibilities explain what happens next; either the Laboratory’s classification office is negligent in the conduct of their operations, or they intentionally provide negligent guidance as a mechanism for insuring they can later retaliate should higher-ups decide a paper’s content runs astray from approved narratives. In other words, and here’s the conspiratorial component, they nefariously weaponize the Los Alamos classification office for political purposes; something that should never be done within the context of nuclear weapons. Equally important, greedy executives running a nuclear weapons facility, should never have absolute control over someone’s first amendment rights or have the power to destroy a person’s life to protect profits.
“Investigating journalist conclude it’s not until after his paper’s released into the public domain with Los Alamos approval, that politicians and beltway bandits in Washington raise concerns. I believe it isn’t belly aching politicians per say, as the overlords controlling them and their mighty nuclear weapons complex; you know, the people behind the curtain that President Eisenhower warned us about.
“I’ve never read Dillon’s paper because the journal where it’s published gets pulled, even on-line versions. Copies do exist from the initial circulation and apparently it does support the president’s nuclear disarmament agenda, which as you might imagine coming from a liberal administration, runs contrary to the goals and aspirations of the nuclear oligarchs. The sticky wicket is that once the paper’s in the public domain it can’t be fully retracted, which means they must discount the paper’s legitimacy, but by extension, the president’s nuclear disarmament position, and only way to accomplish this is to destroy, discredit, and disgrace Dillon himself. First, the rat bastards strip him of his government clearance by fabricating claims he irresponsibly handled classified information. Once that’s done, they fire his ass after multiple decades of dedicated service; in other words, they “Oppenheimer” him. It’s similar to what the military calls running a “code red,” on a solider they no longer find useful.
“The sleaze-ball way oligarchs discredit Dillon, his paper’s assertions, and the president’s nuclear disarmament agenda, is for senior managers at Los Alamos to overrule the assessments of four separate classification officials who each independently determine the released version of his paper is unclassified. In other words, to posthumously declare an unclassified document classified, which is illegal. This maneuver provides a platform they then use to falsely accuse Dillon of violating national security, which is also illegal. Los Alamos executives do as directed by their overlords and the paper’s declared classified without supporting evidence and in a manner that circumvents Dillon’s ability to defend himself; the poor bastard’s fate is sealed as soon as he has the audacity to support the president’s disarmament vision and thereby run afoul of their lucrative multi-trillion-dollar agenda; from there it’s off to the guillotine with his poor head.
“Los Alamos likes to promote their high-minded commitment to the country’s national security mission, and it’s probably true back in the day when the University of California runs things as a not-for-profit enterprise; and is no-doubt still fundamentally true at the researcher level. One has to ask themselves though, why after sixty successful years’ operating as an academic institute does Los Alamos suddenly become a for-profit enterprise managed by beltway bandits making billions for doing nothing more than providing a pretense of being busy. Imagine for moment, what it means to set up an independent enterprise that makes nuclear weapons for profit and how that ultimately plays out on the world stage. Once you have the answer firmly embedded in your psyche, you begin to see why they view Dillon as an existential threat, and in this context, why it’s necessary to render him expendable.
“What’s equally alarming to journalist reporting on this odd string of events is that they’re suddenly being censored. If they post a story regarding their investigation online, it’s immediately taken down. If a newspaper attempts to publish a story about the incident, something odd seems to happen at either the printing or distribution center. It’s no coincidence that the big warehouse fire in Chicago a few years back was at a Sun Times distribution center when the paper’s featuring a lengthy exposé on Dillon. The story does find its way online, but only to obscure places on the dark web that don’t garner much attention. The article concludes, based on Los Alamos’s own classification assessments and the judgment of multiple respected independent experts who are outside the control of the nuclear weapons complex, that Dillon’s paper was never classified. This is a scandal of epic proportions when you consider not only the context, but the consequences. Here though, is where the saga takes a bizarre turn that proves my conspiratorial hypothesis; given Dillon asks for and receives approval to publish his paper means he’s done nothing wrong, so why, one asks, is it necessary to Oppenheimer him when his only sin is supporting the president’s nuclear disarmament agenda? Why is he fired after seventeen years of loyal service and his security clearance revoked so he can never find meaningful work again? The obvious answer speaks for itself, Dillon’s a sinner who fails to repent; fails to recognize that feeding the beast matters more than serving his country, his conscious, or his president.”
ISABELLE: “Slow down a minute cowboy; as fascinating as this yarn your spinning is with all your conspiratorial theories and diabolical plot twists, I must be missing something; what does anything you’re saying about Los Alamos and this Dillon dude got to do with you and the FDA? How do we go from the government nefariously destroying Dillon by obfuscating the classification process to them crapping all over you for a report they pressure you to publish based on faulty data?”
KYLE: “Ah dear one, look no farther than President Eisenhower’s ominous warning to the nation to beware of what he calls the “mighty military industrial complex.” It’s directly related to why I was compelled to quit State and to what’s happening to me at FDA. If Eisenhower were alive today, he’d caveat his warning to include far more powerful sectors of our economy, like big-pharma and nuclear weapons. The way the nuclear weapons complex, which embodies Los Alamos, comes down on Dillon to protect their cash flow is exactly the way the powerful pharmaceutical complex, which embodies the FDA, needs to protect their self-interests. If my report’s allowed to be rightfully analyzed and reviewed, if I’m allowed to publish a final version of my preliminary report using correct data, it’ll force the FDA to confront the fact that decades of drugs were approved based on faulty data. This will send shock waves through the nation like this country’s never seen, destroying our sense of food security and medical safety, the very soul of how we survive, resulting in mass hysteria if not outright anarchy. The government cannot allow that to happen regardless of the collateral consequences.
“It matters little if we’re talking about national security, health security, food security, or whatever, it’s all secondary to the preservation of entrenched institutions that depend, demand, and expect, government money to never stop flowing. Neither Los Alamos nor the FDA can risk being held accountable for their reckless abuse of power; for abusing the classification process in Dillon’s case or the way more scary sequestering of information vital to health safety in my situation. In both instances, the government’s willing to destroy loyal, internationally respected, researchers whose only crime is following established protocols and allowing scientific inquiry to challenge falsetto-truths; whose only sin is inadvertently threating the sanctity of necessary narratives.”
ISABELLE: “Sometimes Diego talks like you, only it’s about the far more pedestrian world of restaurant operations; I admire him for achieving so much but it has come with costs. He’ll get going about brides he makes to pass inspections or get food delivered on time, or about employees he’s forced to hire to satisfy a union boss or influential politician. One night though, he catches completely off guard when he goes off about workers, he’s just been forced to hire who he’s convinced are trafficked. It really weighs on him, but he’s just the cook and the restaurant owner doesn’t allow objection. He knows their trafficked by the way they’re dropped off and picked up after each shift, how they never talk about where they’re from or how they live, and most important, how they never laugh. Diego runs a what he calls a “happy kitchen,” he wants everyone to enjoy making their cuisine, so customers enjoy eating it, so, he creates a low-stress work environment.
“He feels obligated to help these workers who’ve been dumped on him but he’s not sure how. He says it doesn’t really matter because they’re too afraid of what might happen if he tries; they plead with him that as long as he lets them work, they’re alive and that’s all that matters in their short-order world. It’s horrible how they’ve been conditioned, and sadly it seems I’m no different. I mean Diego tells me this story and I feel sad while he’s talking, even passionate that something must be done, but then, even after all my history, I forget about them once the story’s over. As far as I get in deciding something must be done, is going to the UN website to read about the more than twenty-five million slaves in bondage world-wide and about how every year thousands are brought to our country, the supposed land of the free. Does the government do anything about it? No. In fact, Washington has more slaves than any other city in the country. Do protesters so concerned about past grievances ever take up their cause? No. It sometimes seems bad shit is everywhere and the only solution is to keep your head down and focus on the crap in your little orbit of the universe. Which I guess begs the question, why should the government care so much about you or this Dillon dude when nobody else does?”
KYLE: “Putting my little shit-show in context with all the dreadful stuff going on in this world makes me think about this line from Casablanca when Rick says to Ilsa, “I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the troubles of little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” It’s true, all the troubles I’m dealing with don’t amount to squat in a world that tilts toward troubles, but they matter a helluva lot to me just as they did to Dillon and do to Diego; beyond that it’s all just forgettable statistics, which is exactly what evil counts on. I hope you find ways to console Diego because I honestly don’t know how I’d keep from drowning if not for Nadia; when darkness encases my soul and the quietness of despair I’m defenseless against demands to be heard, she’s my solid footing, my one tether against forces wanting to wash me away; she keeps me buoyant as I bounce about the rageful restlessness of water.
“I’ve tried finding out what became of Dillon, but he seems to have just fallen off the face of the earth, vanished; which is uber-scary on all kinds of levels and does not portend well for me. I hope for his sake he’s alive and hasn’t been condemned to live out his days on a dusty park bench in some obscure nether region. But at least here, “mon ami” I have you, and that matters; matters more than words can muster.”
