“The videotape you just saw was taken inside the command center of a U.S. Border Security Force platform in the ocean between the Bahamas and Florida, when it was attacked and destroyed by exiled Cuban military comman- der-tumed-drug-smuggler Agusto Salazar a few years ago,” Phil Donahue said to the camera by way of introduction. “My guest is no stranger to danger, or to controversy. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Admiral Ian Hardcastle, former Coast Guard admiral, former commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami, and former commander of the U.S. Border Security Force.” The andience applauded politely, perhaps cautiously. Ian Hardcastle’s reputation had definitely preceded him, and few persons could really say they had a firm fix on his views or motivations.
“He’s retired from twenty-seven years of government service, but now he’s waging a one-man crusade to, as he said in the Op-Ed page of the Times, ‘stop the hemorrhaging of America’s self-defense capability,’ ” Donahue continued. “You’ve seen him on the cover of everything from Newsweek to People, shouting it from the rooftops: America is in danger because we’ve led ourselves to believe we’re safe. The enemy is the shadowy, faceless world of terrorists, something of which America has not had any real experience. Are we really in danger or is this the sour- grapes tirade of a frustrated drug-interdiction guru who found his frontier-justice programs slip out of control? Your calls and comments for our special guest, the champion of America’s pro-military hawks, Ian Hardcastle. Stay with us — we’ll be right back.”
The audience followed the prompts from the stage director and the overhead lights and dutifully applauded.
Donahue raced away to get his makeup touched up, and Hardcastle was left alone on stage, so he stood up to stretch.
Hardcastle was tall and lean, with gray hair, a bit longer than he wore it in his Coast Guard days, swept gracefully back from his forehead. “Character lines” were deeply etched around his narrow blue eyes, giving him a hawklike visage to match his politics. He wore lightly tinted glasses now, a concession to the hard years of a former Marine Corps and Coast Guard officer finally catching up with him. He wore a dark suit that looked a size or two large for his thin, wiry frame, which only served to accentuate his rather fanatical Captain Ahab-like presence. He looked fearsome, but was a riveting personality.
Hardcastle, age sixty, was a retired Coast Guard rear admiral. He was a Marine Corps officer during Vietnam in a bomb-disposal unit, and ultimately the stresses of the job and war turned him to drug dependency. Upon finishing detox, his commission was transferred to the Coast Guard, where he began a long and distinguished career, rising to become district commander of the busiest Coast Guard district in the U.S.
In 1990, because of his efforts, Hardcastle was placed in operational co-command of a joint Coast Guard-Customs Service border security/drug-interdiction unit called the U.S. Border Security Force, colloquially known as the Hammerheads (after a 1920s-era Coast Guard alcoholsmuggling interdiction unit). The then-Vice President of the United States, Kevin Martindale, was one of its biggest supporters. Although it was responsible for many successful operations, the unit was under constant criticism for not adequately doing anything to stop the flow or the market for illegal drugs, and for its military-style weapons, aircraft, and tactics used against civilians. The Hammerheads were under intense pressure during the Presidential campaign to curtail their offense-oriented tactics, and were disbanded in 1993 under the new administration.
Hardcastle retired in 1993, but became very active on the lecture and political-pundit circuit as a conservative political activist. He associated himself with a large conservative political action committee called the Project 2000 Task Force, which sought control of both the White House and Congress by the year 2000. Although his expertise was widely sought by many in Washington and nationwide, and although he was considered an effective, believable, and popular get-tough speaker, Hardcastle’s views were often considered too reactionary and extreme for political office or for a major government appointment.
His personal life was also considered too politically distasteful. He successfully overcame a severe period of posttraumatic shock and depression from his tours in Vietnam, but that episode in his life, although far in the past, was always dredged up by critics, especially when Hardcastle was on one of his broadcast tirades about an issue that he felt strongly about. Others worried about his on-again off-again affair with alcohol. He was divorced and had repeatedly lost regular visitation rights to his minor children. More interestingly, he had a few rather liberal ideas, including legalization of some drugs and stricter gun control, that made him unpopular with far-right conservatives.
A few moments later, Donahue came trotting out, gave Hardcastle a thumbs-up, took his microphone, and stepped briskly into the audience, which had just been commanded to start applauding as they rolled the intro. “We’re back with Admiral Ian Hardcastle, former commander of the drug-interdiction unit called the Hammerheads,” Donahue said when he got his cue.
Some videotape started rolling on the monitors as Donahue did a voice-over — it showed a large orange tilt-rotor aircraft with the words U.S. BORDER SECURITY FORCE and FOLLOW ME in large letters on the side, firing missiles from fuselage pods and dropping off heavily armed assault officers onto a beach.
“You all remember the Hammerheads, with their high- tech aircraft and robot helicopters fluttering over the beaches chasing smugglers — and I’m sure you remember the 1992 incident that sparked the controversy over the need for a unit like the Hammerheads.” Donahue all but smiled.
Videotape was rolling on the monitors.
A shot from a low-flying helicopter circling overhead, showing a woman lying on the beach, surrounded by two small children and by armed men in orange flight suits. One of the large V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft was landed nearby, stirring up great clouds of sand as the huge double rotors on the plane’s wingtips turned at idle speed.
“This pregnant Mexican woman was killed during her arrest, in full view of horrified spectators and TV viewers. In their short history, the Hammerheads are gone, disbanded, certainly discredited. Admiral Hardcastle says the danger is still with us — but not just from smugglers, but from terrorists. What do you think?"
Donahue's staff had already picked out a prescreened audience member who was liberal, highly opinionated, well- spoken, not afraid to speak her mind, rather pretty — she would be perfect to use coming out of commercial. “You’ll stand, please," he said as he plucked her out of her seat and handed over the microphone to her.
“Mr. Hardcastle, it looked to me like you were out there fighting a war,” the woman from the audience said. “You got fighters all over the sky, guys with radar and guns and all—”
“What’s your question, ma’am?” Donahue briskly interrupted.
“My question is, I don't see much security here — just a lot of killin', like a bunch of neo-Nazis in ugly orange suits ready to bomb innocent people if they don’t play by your rules.”
“Ma’am, the Cuban drug smugglers under Colonel Agusto Salazar used civilian planes faking distress to distract us, then bombed us with Cuban military aircraft,” Hardcastle responded. “We didn’t start this fight—they did.”
“But you were supposed to be on guard for this type of attack, weren’t you, Admiral?” Donahue needled. “With all due respect to your troops, it seems like the attackers got you pretty easily.”
“We’re sworn to play by the rules, Phil.” Hardcastle shrugged. “Our rules of engagement at the time said we could fire only if fired upon. We knew there was a threat of attack — retaliation for being so effective — but Congress and the courts left us virtually defenseless.