Greg Lynche is an Interesting Character
Unlike the other characters in the Duncan Hunter books, the Greg Lynche character came from a single source, a single person. The only real alteration to his character is the Greg Lynche character is a liberal. At best, he might be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. The real guy isn't really like that. Mostly. He is an amazing man who I consider one of my very best friends. In real life, we go back to my days in the Border Patrol. The scene where Hunter and Lynche meet in Special Access is a reasonable representation of what happened that day in Del Rio, Texas. Hunter's introduction to the world of quiet airplanes. In Greg Lynche's world, or former his life before he retired, he ran a number of airplanes in counterdrug and counterterrorism roles. The Lynche character spent 30+ years in the CIA. He had some of the most interesting jobs in the agency. He was Chief of Station--at multiple locations. He was a troubleshooter. A fixer. When an embassy was having a problem with their spooks, the Director of Central Intelligence would ask him to go and settle them down, fix the problem. Get back to the business of intelligence. He was a senior intelligence service member--probably a three star general equivalent. In other words, he held some of the highest positions in the Agency and then he was retired, like Hunter. Working for someone else. In a lesser exciting job. Away from the most exciting things that had ever happened to him, he missed the fun and excitement of being "in the game."
Lynche and a retired special operations buddy from the Army had an idea. They knew there was a huge capability gap at the Agency. The CIA, the US Air Force and Army tried valiantly to bridge "the gap" but failed. The technology just "wasn't mature enough," a necessary capability that just "wasn't there, yet." One unsurmountable problem was that CIA Directors vowed to "never again" put a man in an airplane over hostile territory. The DCIs' prohibition stemmed from the 1960 shoot down of Gary Powers flying solo in an Agency U-2 over the Soviet Union. The race to develop unmanned systems began. Drones. However, unmanned aerial systems were not mature enough for a large part of intelligence gathering work. And the sad part, it would be years before it ever got there. So the Agency had these tremendous needs but didn't have the equipment or expertise with which to do them. The retired Greg Lynche proposed to the DCI a temporary manned system, using an unusually capable manned airplane. He would assume all the risk and the Agency would have their plausible deniability if anything ever happened to "a contractor." Faced with countless important missions going unfilled, the Director of Central Intelligence agreed and awarded Lynche a very lucrative contract. All Lynche had to do next was find the right pilot. He had someone in mind. Someone he wanted to recruit into the Agency from the moment his name popped up on a list, but that gentleman resisted without even knowing he was resisting. When Duncan Hunter of the Border Patrol called the CEO of the manufacturer of quiet airplanes, that CEO forwarded the call to his business development vice president, Greg Lynche.
You can only imagine how Lynche responded when he realized the man he had so vigorously pursued while he was on active duty in the CIA had just called him. Lynche brought a quiet airplane to the quiet little town of Del Rio, Texas to not only demonstrate the capability of the quiet aircraft in a nighttime environment but to meet the quiet man who called him, Duncan Hunter. Would he be able to recruit him this time?
Maverick out!
Unlike the other characters in the Duncan Hunter books, the Greg Lynche character came from a single source, a single person. The only real alteration to his character is the Greg Lynche character is a liberal. At best, he might be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. The real guy isn't really like that. Mostly. He is an amazing man who I consider one of my very best friends. In real life, we go back to my days in the Border Patrol. The scene where Hunter and Lynche meet in Special Access is a reasonable representation of what happened that day in Del Rio, Texas. Hunter's introduction to the world of quiet airplanes. In Greg Lynche's world, or former his life before he retired, he ran a number of airplanes in counterdrug and counterterrorism roles. The Lynche character spent 30+ years in the CIA. He had some of the most interesting jobs in the agency. He was Chief of Station--at multiple locations. He was a troubleshooter. A fixer. When an embassy was having a problem with their spooks, the Director of Central Intelligence would ask him to go and settle them down, fix the problem. Get back to the business of intelligence. He was a senior intelligence service member--probably a three star general equivalent. In other words, he held some of the highest positions in the Agency and then he was retired, like Hunter. Working for someone else. In a lesser exciting job. Away from the most exciting things that had ever happened to him, he missed the fun and excitement of being "in the game."
Lynche and a retired special operations buddy from the Army had an idea. They knew there was a huge capability gap at the Agency. The CIA, the US Air Force and Army tried valiantly to bridge "the gap" but failed. The technology just "wasn't mature enough," a necessary capability that just "wasn't there, yet." One unsurmountable problem was that CIA Directors vowed to "never again" put a man in an airplane over hostile territory. The DCIs' prohibition stemmed from the 1960 shoot down of Gary Powers flying solo in an Agency U-2 over the Soviet Union. The race to develop unmanned systems began. Drones. However, unmanned aerial systems were not mature enough for a large part of intelligence gathering work. And the sad part, it would be years before it ever got there. So the Agency had these tremendous needs but didn't have the equipment or expertise with which to do them. The retired Greg Lynche proposed to the DCI a temporary manned system, using an unusually capable manned airplane. He would assume all the risk and the Agency would have their plausible deniability if anything ever happened to "a contractor." Faced with countless important missions going unfilled, the Director of Central Intelligence agreed and awarded Lynche a very lucrative contract. All Lynche had to do next was find the right pilot. He had someone in mind. Someone he wanted to recruit into the Agency from the moment his name popped up on a list, but that gentleman resisted without even knowing he was resisting. When Duncan Hunter of the Border Patrol called the CEO of the manufacturer of quiet airplanes, that CEO forwarded the call to his business development vice president, Greg Lynche.
You can only imagine how Lynche responded when he realized the man he had so vigorously pursued while he was on active duty in the CIA had just called him. Lynche brought a quiet airplane to the quiet little town of Del Rio, Texas to not only demonstrate the capability of the quiet aircraft in a nighttime environment but to meet the quiet man who called him, Duncan Hunter. Would he be able to recruit him this time?
Maverick out!
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