Bag Serials: the Ineviable Treason of Thomas Arnold Haggard #2

After all, (as posted by Mr. Haggard onto a patriot hacker message board
3 days after the event of September 11, 2001) if the protection of our country requires the sacrifices of the physically able on the battlefields abroad, how much more so do the technologically able need to contribute right here at home? True, our fingers may be too cramped to man machineguns, our retinas too weak to spot an incoming insurgents, our legs too awkward to clear even the smallest sand dunes, but our minds, my friends, our minds could prove to be the greatest asset one could give to our country. Surely in this new age of new war, a new focus on newer, smarter ways of intelligence gathering must be brought into a new state of newness. I’m sure all kinds of exciting opportunities are opening up for streamlining old CIA computer systems to make sure all the info we get is the right info. I, for one, can’t to see how to contribute to the making the America the most advanced intelligence-gathering machine ever!

And so while all his friends futsted away their lives on websites that showcase videos of people getting hit in the crotch, Mr. Haggard tapped contacts with an old government Y2K readiness outfit and ended up in the CIA information technology division.

And sure, fair enough, it has not been perfect. No man swims through life having all his expectations met without question. Certainly not Tom. That’s for sure. True, given the sacrifice of moving into the bitterly cold, socially hostile Washington D.C. area after a lifetime of the comfortable living in San Francisco did give him a second of pause before taking the position. And true, he did console himself with the assured faith that his job would result in the height of technological challenge when in fact all he does is make sure email services are running, and that the proper emails are removed when needed, and that all emails with the words “Arab” and “evildoer” have a checkmark next to them and looking up names on goggle sometimes.

Not that Thomas Haggard would ever complain about something like that. I mean, there are no small parts in the fight for democracy. It does, after all, get him in contact with various special agents the world over, and the supreme privilege of personally darkening what are clearly bias statements as to the nature of the interrogation, funding and the supposed failings of what will remain unspecified American efforts within Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistani, Singapore, Malaysia, southern India, north Korea, France, Kenya, Russia and Uzbekistan. And after all, if not for the unselfish, often tedious, to weaker heart assonates of his perhaps even seriously morally questionable behavior over the course of these 4…no…I believe it is 5, years that after all this time and effort and constant, mindless placating to these people that clearly have no real experience doing anything more technical then working an atm machine, that after all this, umm, this stupid, uhhh….

I’m sorry, I’ve lost my train of thought.