ADVENT: Dossier
Chief Overseer Keith Watkins
"I would not necessarily consider intimidation a negative attribute. No one should ever feel immune from consequences."
- Chief Overseer Keith Watkins
To: Saudia Vyandar
From: Nicole Treduant
Subject: Chief Overseer Candidates
Chancellor,
Since you are still looking for someone who can run the proposed Oversight Division, I think I would be an idiot not to put forward Keith Watkins, who you probably know as the current Director of the FBI. As the FBI is being encompassed by ADVENT Intelligence, I had anticipated that he might be absorbed as well, and while he would be an asset to Elizabeth, I believe this would be a far better fit for him.
You need someone who is an expert at not only conducting investigations, but doing so at a high level. You also need someone who is incorruptible and has a rabid wish for justice. Director Watkins is such a person, and his ability to act decisively and without fear of making powerful enemies is one which would serve ADVENT well in such a position.
Consider it, at least.
- Treduant
-X-
To: Elizabeth Falka
From: Saudia Vyandar
Subject: Keith Watkins
Elizabeth,
Treduant suggested her FBI Director for the position of Chief Overseer, and from what I've found, I think he'd fit the position well. That being said, his track record in some places is…spotty, and I need you to figure out if there is any reason he should be avoided.
- Saudia
To: Saudia Vyandar
From: Elizabeth Falka
Re: Subject: Keith Watkins
I'm actually aware of him by just his reputation. Not quite as effective as his CIA counterpart, but then again, Watkins was more known for his domestic touch. Treduant is right in that he's the kind of person we want managing our internal affairs. This is both a good and bad thing, because Watkins really, really, likes his job.
I mean that he will focus everything on the big fish, and potentially ignore smaller issues in favor of bringing down the head. To give a better example, he once broke a Human trafficking ring by letting it operate for several years, knowing fully what was going on, and not interfering. While he did occasionally tip off the police, most of it he left alone until he identified the leader. The moment he did, he arrested or killed every single member of the ring from the intelligence he'd meticulously collected over the past few years.
He became something of a hero because of that, but there were hundreds of people, mostly women and children, who were never recovered or seen again. I'm of the opinion that giving him some clear guidelines and a much greater reach will allow for quicker results. I am confident that he will be an excellent Chief Overseer. But something similar to that operation is something he will willingly sanction if needed.
But with literally every branch of ADVENT at his beck and call, I don't think he'll need to tiptoe around like he's used to. Interview him at least. If not, I'm taking him for ADVENT Intelligence.
- Elizabeth
Analysis Record: Keith Watkins
Current Role: Chief Overseer of the ADVENT Oversight Division
Current Interference Level: Low
Threat Level: Medium – Low
Usage Level: Medium – High
Brief Assessment: The Oversight Division is something of an oddity in ADVENT, as is the Chief Overseer himself, in that he poses a much larger threat to ADVENT itself than us directly. That is indeed their role, to enforce and uphold the standards of ADVENT, but how ADVENT does not see the obvious vulnerabilities this creates is…odd.
The Oversight Division itself has been covered in other documents, and this one will focus on the leader behind it all. In ADVENT's quest to pursue the ones who are the most intelligent, tenacious, loyal, and methodical, that may ironically work against them due to the very nature of the Oversight Division, which only fulfills its purpose when actively working against ADVENT.
Keith Watkins is one of the more known and liked figures in ADVENT. Appointed by President Nicole Treduant as Director of the FBI by unanimous vote, he served a distinguished four years, and would have likely served longer even if Treduant had no longer been President. His past is not typical for such a high ranking official either, he was a United States district attorney for Washington DC, then joined the FBI after nearly a decade of service, and quickly rose through the ranks in the next five years that followed.
His legal history, while extensive, reveals little other than that he was good at his job, and dealt in largely white-collar crime and rarely anything major. However, during this time he certainly interacted with Treduant, which is likely how she first knew of him. Rumors say that she convinced him to join the FBI, but this was never proven, and it is unlikely that even a few conversations would convince such a man to leave a highly competitive position for a radically different field.
Nevertheless, he did, whatever his reasons, and during his time as Director, achieved several major and public achievements. There were no fewer than six domestic Human and sex trafficking rings smashed completely, and any inroads the cartels had made in the drug trade were halted, and extremely high-value members were put on very public trials.
During this time, he no doubt prevented much smaller incidents be they terrorists or petty crime. One thing that I found personally interesting is that Watkins has a fixation on complete and total victory. While many in his place tend to…take what they can get, so to speak, by focusing on short term victories, he instead focuses on the long game; the ultim
ate objective, and is eerily successful at it.
There is likely something I am not seeing here, and without the classified data in the CIA and FBI headquarters, I am unlikely to draw additional extrapolations. But it seems likely that this mentality is what ADVENT is after. In our extensive work chronicling and reading about the failures within militaries, law enforcement, and government, corruption is something that is very rarely isolated.
There is a kind of hierarchy. There are leaders. Very often, these leaders are shrewd, dangerous, and very good at keeping their hands clean and sacrificing their underlings to maintain their power. Very often they have vast influence, and the so-called 'victories' against them rarely hurt in the long run, which is why high-value officers and confidants are sought. A 'major victory' for internal investigating is getting someone to testify against the actual leader.
It is very rare.
But this is what Watkins specializes at. Not getting key witnesses, not arresting thugs, but gathering incriminating evidence against the leaders themselves. He appears to be willing to wait years, and until a case is airtight. And in every single case, he always has enough to ensure that the maximum penalty is applied. It is impressive, in a way, and in an organization like ADVENT, you should expect any corrupt officers and officials to be highly competent, making Watkins the obvious foil to their plans.
It actually might work to our best interests to ensure that Watkins is not only kept alive, but actively assisted in…finding the more corrupt elements within ADVENT. Success matters to him, and even if ultimately he discovers any ruse, any time the Oversight Division is involved, the less effective ADVENT is, and it acts as a guaranteed way to slow down any part of ADVENT, in whatever location we want.
Watkins is intelligent, but he is easily manipulated to our needs. We can use him and the Oversight Division to sow chaos within ADVENT, and maybe even take down some of their most dangerous people. Although we must be careful. Too many false flags, and ADVENT might remove him, or worse, figure out what we're doing.
It is worth investing some resources to see how true this holds.
- Zar'Chon'ravarian'vitiary
XCOM Profile 909
Authorization Level: Internal Council
Subject: Keith Watkins, Chief Overseer of the ADVENT Oversight Division
Threat Level: Low
Assessment Author: Haley Yates, XCOM Psychologist
Approved by: The Commander of XCOM
SECTION 1: Physical Characteristics
Hair color: Black
Eye colors: Bicolored – Left one green, right one white
Skin color: White
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Age: 49
Scars or Markings: None
Physical Condition: Watkins keeps in shape, although his duties have mainly involved administrative work. He is above average health-wise to a regular civilian, but far below the standard of agents or soldiers. However, he has likely been genetically modified and may possess unexpected strength or stamina.
Nation of Birth: United States of America
SECTION 2: Assessment
Watkins. Yes, I know a bit about him. A very disturbing and questionable man. I cannot fault Saudia for putting him in charge of the Oversight Division, but they clearly did not consult anyone on the mental health or status of the man. I will get into this in a little while, suffice to say that Watkins is indeed a…competent individual.
I suppose it depends on what you define as 'competent'. Watkins has a similar outlook to yours, Commander; he wants results at the expense of all else. Nothing is sacred in the quest for vengeance, and I use that word very specifically. Watkins has extremely high rates of success, and very high body counts. It is not uncommon for his targets to suffer accidents, especially ones that don't have much inherent value in bringing down larger targets.
His law career is notably ruthless, but something that has gone largely unreported is that he had an extremely high rate of failure to convict. This was because of, instead of offering plea deals and working to get convictions in exchange for lesser sentences, he rejected that and preemptively decided the likelihood of guilt, and more importantly, the maximum penalty to be applied, and he pursued this rabidly.
His no-compromise mentality and pursuit of this goal made him many friends, especially within the law enforcement community, FBI, and CIA, and he was completely hated by most left-wingers, prisoner advocates, and defense attorneys; not to mention prisoners themselves. I suspect this kind of reputation he acquired was how he attracted the attention of Treduant, and perhaps how he was able to advance so quickly.
His time in the FBI can largely be summed up as 'ruthless'. From what documents were provided to me, he clashed with many of his colleagues many times, and was just as polarizing within the FBI as he was as the DA. I suspect the more time he spent with the FBI, and what ultimately led to him joining, was losing his faith in the justice system.
Especially towards the end, he was growing more and more disillusioned, believing justice was decided not by law, but by politics and special interests, which is partially true, although doubtful to the extent he believed. So he spent his time in the FBI helping them ensure that 'justice' as he believed it, was served.
Curious things happened. The FBI began killing more people in 'unfortunate shootouts'. Cases that had public figures or had high chances of getting attention ended violently, sometimes with the death of an FBI agent, but always in addition to the targets themselves. High-profile cases became completely airtight, where the only possible outcome was the highest possible conviction. And Watkins kept going further up the chain.
Internal FBI documents are fascinating to read during this time, since the leadership was heavily leveraging Watkins's law expertise to tailor their legal responses, and exploit whatever loopholes they could (Ironically subverting the law itself, in a way). There were quite a few agents that thought they were being turned into death squads and assassins instead of investigators and their purpose was no longer justice and protection, but vengeance.
Over this period, Watkins defined the doctrine of the modern FBI, which was also adopted and modified by the CIA and NSA, although not nearly to the extent it was in the FBI. The moment he became a member of the senior leadership, and once Treduant won the Presidency, everyone knew he was going to be the new Director, and sure enough, he was selected in a rare unanimous vote, with only his results presented and no one asked questions about just how he had accomplished such.
Perhaps they knew he hated politicians and didn't want to make him their enemy?
Not important.
His time as Director was punctuated by long-running operations with the goal of crushing entire cartels and rings, and greatly expanding the role, budget, and scale of the FBI. I suspect his vision was for it to be some American version of the KGB, although not quite as extreme, and targeted towards the criminal element, not spies or dissidents.
I suppose we need to discuss his thought process in greater detail.
SECTION 3: Psychological Profile
Keith Watkins does not care about people.
He does not care about justice, not like you, Stein, or the average citizen. Watkins enjoys the power rush that comes from victory; he loves seeing plans come together, and then crushing his enemies underfoot. He hates outside opinions. He hates being told he is wrong. And he gives the illusion of being extremely reasonable because he knows how to read people, and further manipulate them.
I'm extremely sure of this because you and Chancellor Vyandar were kind enough to let me speak to him, and he's quite the interesting person. He will tell people he is devoted to justice, but ultimately, he is a selfish individual only in it for himself. The thing is despite that, he is still very, very much mentally sound and sharp.
The key to managing Watkins is giving him a target, giving him constraints, and setting him loose. He is more rabid than Stein in some cases, and will not only punish a target regardless of status or money, but actively look for it. This does admittedly make him useful for the Oversight Division, since corruption is difficult to completely stamp out without making enemies, but this may lead to him pursuing leads that aren't there, or worse, finding completely innocent targets.
Watkins has patience if needed, but if he deems a judgement necessary, he wants to carry it out immediately. Trials and courtrooms are things he actively despises now, and the extrajudicial nature of ADVENT at times is something that appeals to him greatly. He no longer needs to hide what he does, and if he marks someone for investigation, they have nowhere to go.
With that said, Watkins isn't an idiot and knows that both Stein and Saudia are watching, and particularly Stein is an excellent check on keeping him from running amok completely. He has quite a bit of respect for her personally, while she is…conflicted on him to say the least. She admires his apparent devotion to justice, but doesn't like how he will escalate things unnecessarily, or pursue the harshest punishments.
The question is what does motivate him beyond a simple rush of power. While justice is not something he necessarily cares about, vengeance on the other hand motivates him to action, and is another reason for why he's worked so well on the right side of the law and not simply running a gang somewhere.
Violent crime, especially on women or children, infuriates him and explains his focus on trafficking and sex rings during his tenure, while violent crime was something reported on every day. There were two very different approaches, depending on his level of need for vengeance. He develops some level of hate towards all his targets, and those that oppose him, and this determines how hard, likely, and fast he will pursue them.
The more he hates a target, the more methodical, patient, and ruthless he will be to them. He will not only ruin their lives and likely bring the death penalty upon them, but take down their associates, friends, organizations, ruin their finances, put their families on the streets, or worse. The less he cares, the higher the chance that just the target will be affected.
Speaking of families, those of his victims are curiously not mentioned. That is because they are either killed, or blacklisted from every government program regardless of affiliation. He doesn't care if they are actually innocent or not, just that they are associated is enough for him. Remember that vengeance is more important that straight 'justice' for him.
Naturally, this leads to the larger, more heinous crimes resulting in more thorough investigations, more detailed cases, more meticulous planning, and it ultimately comes together and completes the illusion that Watkins is someone who organizes himself based on need, priority, and simple logic.
He doesn't. I'm not even sure he knows how deeply his methodology is tied to his mindset.
Looking to his childhood provides few answers. He wasn't bullied as a child, nor had any violent experiences. His family was stable with another brother, a working father (Another lawyer), and stay-at-home mother, all of whom he has close relationships with. The only thing somewhat atypical is that he did befriend a rape victim in high school, but I'm not sure if that's an adequate explanation.
He does not have any current romantic relationships, and is seemingly asexual in that he appears to not even have tried to start or pursue relationships for entire decades. Perhaps he views it as a waste of time, or simply doesn't care. It does not appear to have hindered him, though I don't know if such an influence would affect him positively, if at all. He works well and professionally with both genders, and is apparently immune to seduction and flattery.
The point is that Watkins is perhaps one of the best people to manage the Oversight Division…if he can be controlled. He's what I would consider a borderline sociopath, and not someone I would trust in a position of power, but then again, I am not the one making these decisions. Just understand you are not dealing with a watered down Stein, but someone quite possibly more vengeful, and not anchored in something concrete like the law.
He is now one of the most powerful people in ADVENT. For the sake of the people I hope Stein and Elizabeth keep a close eye on him. Please send this to them, since if they didn't bother to do the research themselves, they should at least know what they've unleashed.