On August 7, 1998, at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, the first truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Minutes later, a second truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I was assigned to the embassy in Nairobi as the Financial Management Center (FMC) Director. I was off-site that morning. Had I been present, there is a high probability I would not be writing this book.

Though I did not ask for any of this, I found myself to be a tiny hub on a “Deep State” wheel, with the spokes—the U.S. Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Military—all connecting to me. For what reason—because of the money. Through years of just doing my job as a federal auditor and then as a Foreign Service Financial Management Specialist, I became aware of and took actions regarding money, unbeknownst to me at the time, having linkages to covert operations. My story has serious political overtones, but it is not a political story. It is my story. It is the story of what can happen when you innocently seek one truth, but discover quite another.