Both women said that the unit was even less tolerant of gays and lesbians, who were not represented even in support roles. At work, Licea heard homophobic Delta Force Boosting slurs uttered “all the time.” There was one longtime contractor rumored to be gay, said Williams, but “he sure as hell wasn’t talking about it.”
Williams’ experience on the job provides a unique window into how the military carries out some of America’s most classified national security operations, involving plainclothes troops in civilian guises living undercover in foreign countries, where they abduct or assassinate high-value targets on orders from the White House, or conduct espionage and bugging missions against hostile governments.
The State Department, Social Security Administration, postmaster general, credit card companies and motor vehicle departments of most American states have memorandums of understanding with the military to provide Delta Force with “fully backstopped personas,” said Licea, including real passports and Social Security numbers issued to nonexistent people. These enable operators to travel internationally, disguised as civilians and blending in with the populace, without leaving a digital trail traceable back to an actual person.
“The things you see on TV and think they don’t exist, they really do exist,” said Williams. At first it was “shocking,” she said, to see how the government counterfeited its own instruments for the purposes of international espionage and assassinations. But over time, “it becomes day-to-day life,” she said. “I’ve got to get this guy a driver’s license. Got to get him a Social. New name, new identity, new backstory, new passport. Sitting at your desk doing paperwork.”
G Squadron’s missions are truly covert. They are the blackest of black ops, the dirty deeds that official representatives of the White House, Pentagon and State Department will stand behind a lectern and falsely disavow with buy Delta Force Boost the utmost apparent sincerity. “High-level, specialized ‘read ins’ with no ties to the U.S. government,” said Williams, describing a process by which participants are granted access to “sensitive compartmented information,” which involves taking a polygraph, undergoing a background check, signing a nondisclosure agreement and being “read in” or indoctrinated about the specifics of an above-top-secret program.