[This is Oracle - Batman (O.G. Batman, Batman Prime?) has asked me to fill you in the current state of Checkmate. I won't like to you - the situation isn't great, but the Great Takeover isn't exactly running smoothly for Gyrich and his goons]
[Thank you Oracle, I will be adding commentary when necessary - B]
As of the beginning of the month, Checkmate has subsumed all of the operations formerly held by the Office of National Emergency. This includes the Triskelion and all Field Offices across the United States. They are still in the process of vetting thousands of agents and support personnel. Most of the staunchest loyalists were held in security lockup and were liberated by the Avengers to Outland. It looks like a small number are being retained, with the rest being transferred to other agencies or having their employment outright terminated.
[We have the personnel we needed out of there. Luckily, Gyrich doesn't seem to hold grudges with the rank and file O.N.E. personnel so I expect no harsh treatment - B]
Checkmate was empowered to subsume the O.N.E. by President Ellis through an executive order. While well within the President's right to deal with executive-level organizations, this was highly irregular. Most agencies, particularly intelligence and security agencies, are created through legislation not through what amounts to a presidential decree. This has not gone unchallenged, as civil liberty groups have launched court challenges in order to determine the constitutionality of Ellis' actions. This is expected to slowly pass through the legal system until it reaches a definitive end at the Supreme Court.
[Ellis stacked the Supreme Court with those aligned with his ideology, but that is not a guarantee that the SCOTUS will rule in his favor. This is very much a Constitution grey-area -B]
The White House is, of course, rushing to make this court case a moot point by passing legislation. The Security Agency Reorganization Act of 2019 officially recognizes Checkmate as the intelligence and law enforcement dealing with extraordinary (read Metahuman) threats to the American public. Despite the Presidents party controlling both the House and the Senate, it is unclear whether the bill has enough votes in either body to pass. All polls, both public and internal show the public deeply mistrustful of Checkmate, causing many politicians to ask serious questions about the agency. 2020 is an election year and many representatives and senators fear a backlash from the electorate if they push through legislation without the appearance of due diligence.
[Politicians and the public are not stupid. Despite what the President's loyal base think, the average citizen sees this for what it really is - a grab for power by Checkmate - B]
It doesn't help that Gyrich totally blew his closed-door appearance at the Senate Intelligence Committee meeting yesterday. I managed to get a raw feed from sources that AW gave me and I can tell you it got very heated in that room. The members of the committee were not impressed by Gyrich's attempt to keep Checkmate's organization obfuscated under the blanket of "national security". They rightfully had tough questions about when and how this agency was formed, where it received its funding and its organizational structure. Gyrich.s non-answers were not appreciated by the committee and it is expected that they will subpoena the acting Director for all relevant documentation in the next day or so.
[While I don't expect the subpoenas to get anywhere, the fact that Checkmate can be subpoenaed exposes a weakness. In order to gain power, Gyrich has sacrificed his agency's greatest asset - anonymity - B]
Did I say Acting Director? Because though he has been appointed Director by President Ellis, Gyrich has not gone through the Senate confirmation process and therefore is not truly the head of Checkmate (at least on paper). Henry has spent his life as a civil servant aggravating those in the halls of power and making a lot of enemies. That is going to come back to haunt him in the Confirmation Hearings, where he will have to answer more tough questions, this time with already-skeptical audience analyzing his every word.
[There is no way Gyrich is going to win confirmation under normal conditions. However, with Weapons Plus and Task Force X at this command, he could certainly engineer circumstances at would require a hasty confirmation. -B]
Well, that is all I have at the moment; Summing up, Checkmate has a lot of power but none of it is certain and reliable.
No comments:
Post a Comment