George Carrick Walker

By Russ Linton on March 13, 2014 • ( 3 )

An excerpt from Crimson Son

George Carrick Walker (June 23, 1948 – ?) was a cryptanalyst for the National Security Agency during the Cold War. Much debate surrounds this clandestine Augment and his role in a number of what became high profile incidents of divulged Soviet secrets. Walker presumably masterminded the communications crack behind the к северу звезда (North Star) initiative. The break led to the exposure of a series of bunkers inside the Northern Hemisphere designed to rapidly deploy Augment strike teams into the continental United States.

Walker was reportedly one of the first Augments to manifest increased mental ability from the secret Augmentation process. Early Air Force military records describe an above average intelligence and physical ability, but gave no indication of the future level of genius into which Walker would finally evolve. Even among the Augment program, the results were reportedly astonishing.

As an Augment, Walker took on the code name “Polybius” – an ancient Greek who created an early form of cryptography using a matrix of letters which were assigned numerical substitutes. His work with the NSA was highly classified, however, it is speculated that he was involved in the following:

British Spymaster Anthony Tobias’ exposure as a Soviet double agent.
Annihilation of the Soviet Augment team, Iron Hammer, in a skirmish over Northern Afghanistan.
Successful compromise of Syrian communications and the evacuation of the Iraqi Embassy during the 1996 Israeli Offensive.

Only known photo of POLYBIUS

Most controversial was perhaps the hacking of a series of privately owned email accounts after an online service provider failed to comply with a United States government request for access. The break led to the deaths of a number of foreign nationals reported to be part of an Islamic Terrorist cell with links to the rogue Augment, Djinn. A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court secretly convened to give the green-light to the Augment strike force which killed the presumed terrorists.

While most of America supported the outcome, the controversy surrounded the ease at which Walker reportedly hacked the account system. Several sources quoted that within three hours of refusal of co-operation, the system had been compromised. At the time, company officials confirmed they were using the latest encryption routines, which, by private industry standards, should not have been susceptible to such a rapid attack.

This led to an enormous outcry for more transparency in government operations. Privacy organizations feared that ordinary citizens’ data would be compromised in sweeping mass surveillance programs. The U.S. Augment program, already under increasing fire, Walker’s exploits and involvement were continually downplayed until he appeared to have left active service.

An anonymous leak to a website in 2008 indicated that Walker had slowly been becoming mentally unstable. The identity of the leak was never confirmed, nor the veracity of the claim. However, Fredrick Paulson, well-known author and expert on worldwide espionage asserts that the claim was from a legitimate source. This has led to speculation that while many Augments’ abilities center on physical strength and power which reportedly leads to early retirement from service, Walker’s mental abilities may have placed unusual stress on his cognitive processes.

Walker’s current status and whereabouts are unknown.

Want more superhero fantasy with a dose of reality? Check out Crimson Son!