This email archive has been distilled into the article on Agent pay. It is left here for posterity.
From: Christian Conkle
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 09:14:28 -0700
One of the agents in T-Cell brought up an interesting question the other day and I was wondering how other Keepers have handled it.
She asked her cell-leader if there was any renumeration for agents of Delta Green. Not that she was greedy, but because her position as a Marine 2nd Lt., the only female in 2nd Force Recon, gives her little opportunity for advancement. Upon graduating from USMC Sniper School, she was farmed out as an FBI markmanship instructor at Quantico. Filed away by commanding officers who'd like to see nothing more than her failure. She explained her predicament to her cell leader one hot August afternoon in D.C. at a local restaurant.
Agent Todd, her cell leader, felt uncomfortable for a moment, adjusting himself in his chair and clearing his throat. "Well, you see, that's part of the nature of the job. Delta Green agents are all volunteer. You do this work for the defense of your nation. There isn't any recognition or renumeration, only the feeling of accomplishment when you blah blah blah blah blah patriotic bullshit blah blah blah.."
"In addition," he continued, "The nature of our work precludes any kind of formal distribution of traceable renumeration. In order to maintain the integrity of the secrecy of our organization, we must blah blah blah blah legal-techno-babble blah blah blah…"
2nd Lt. Brisk thanked her cell leader for hearing her out, and walked away form the neutral restaurant meeting location thinking, "Well shit, that didn't go well."
Agent Todd then sent an encrypted message to Agent Andrea informing her of a possible security risk and to alert the cleaning crew in the event Agent Thorn (Brisk) sells out.
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 11:43:44 +0900
From: Jay and Mikiko Noyes
Maybe agents get paid from accounts filled from the seizure of cult assets?
From: "M-Zodiac"
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 17:18:34 -1000
Hey, with the adjacent thread on fake IDs, what about payments to accounts under the names of fake identities as a form of payment?
One or two friendlies in the IRS wouldn't hurt either. A Current op in my simulation has an IRS-affiliated friendly. Agent Crazer (aka MiB) can give details, if he feels like it.
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 07:49:53 -0700
From: Alan L. Krause
As I understand it, DG is not the agent's primary job. Instead, a DG agent (or friendly) has a 'normal' job that takes up a majority of thier time and provides the agent with a salary for personal needs. If (more likely a case of 'When') cell A decides that the operative is needed for a DG assignment, either they find some way to divert the agent from his normal duties to a 'special investigative task force' or the agent has to take a brief vacation (cell A has been known to arrange fake family deaths on occassion) while he or she takes care of 'the situation'.
Once the DG agent / friendly is on a DG assignment, I assume they are working on a Delta Green expense account. Any expenses accrued during the course of the assignment will be taken care of by the DG agent in charge. Each agent / friendly that is still alive at the end of the investigation should file an expense report with the agent in charge, to be forwarded to Cell A. Keep in mind that no incriminating evidence should be present on these expense reports. Nothing would ruin DG's day quicker then a stack of epense reports with items such as '$1,500 - Occult Tome purchased for banishment of space/time entity' or '$50 - box of glaser rounds for assassination attempt of infected prime minister on flight 1265'.
As a final note, I don't see any DG agents accepting the call to DG for a monetary benefit. The people who make up DG are people who know SOMETHING DAMN BAD is going down, and they're going to try and throw a monkey wrench in the gears, or get chewed up in the process.
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 16:28:47 +0100
From: Phil Ward
Alan L. Krause wrote:
vacation (cell A has been known to arrange fake family deaths on occassion)
while he or she takes care of 'the situation'.
Heh, I expect that MJ-12 have been known to arrange the real thing and provide evidence pointing towards it's enemies… can you say 'going postal' ?
Once the DG agent / friendly is on a DG assignment, I assume they are
working on a Delta Green expense account. Any expenses accrued during the
course of the assignment will be taken care of by the DG agent in charge.
I would personally expect the agents/friendlies within my own cell to be providing their own gear, and taking care of their own expenses. The remuneration from their parent agency should take care of any expenses they incur.
We shouldn't be in this for the money people, we do this because it matters.
OTOH, As senior agent within [portion redacted] I have access to a _small_ black-ops fund to provide large/expensive/rare equipment, well before it is needed…
Many things should be provided in this manner, flights, fake ID, stolen weaponry, etc. Providing this gear makes it more difficult for agents/friendlies to refuse ops.
If I receive and 'expense' form from my agents/friendlies, I'll be visiting them personally, and taking them out of the loop.
From: Allan Goodall
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 22:58:24 GMT
My agents brought up an interesting point in our game today.
We have one agent who understands the truth behind Delta Green, and three who do not (that Delta Green isn't the official agency it is supposed to be). In fact, this has resulted in some humorous difficulties for the group.
A question came up today about funding. The players who believe that Delta Green has the same deep pockets as the NSA/CIA/etc. wanted a private flight to get from New York to Boston, then on to Arkham. They couldn't tap into their cover agency's budget, so they wanted Delta Green to foot the bill.
The question is: does DG have any money of its own? If so, where does it come from? Is anyone skimming money from the government to put in DG's coffers?
It would seem to me that money skimming, etc. would put DG in a really precarious position. Good forensic accounting might dig the group up before Majestic 12. On the other hand, there should be some sort of emergency slush fund for financing certain out-of-agency efforts.
I'm interested in what people might think about this…
From: "Duran Goodyear"
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 19:41:52 -0400
Two ideas.
One… They do skim something from somewhere….
or.
in DG's many exploits… they have been able to sell artefacts that aren't dangerous to museams or something along those lines.
If the agency has the network of really high tech encrypted computer systems for communication, well… they have to pay for that some how..
Though maybe just having an emergency fund somewhere is a good idea too.
One of the difficulties that I like about being a DG agent, is having to improvise your way around…
"yes… I'm from the FBI.. Uh… We have a new policy to investigate earthquakes.. yeah…"
Along with that is not being able to show up in a chartered Lear…
One, that says you have power/resourses, which DG doesn't have, and wouldn't want to be as flagrant about…
and two.. it makes it all to easy for your PC's…
From: Olly
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 00:48:48 +0100 (BST)
The question is: does DG have any money of its own? If so, where does it come from?
Well…I always assume that due to the very nature of their work, DG agents are going to have to associate with various less-than-savoury elements…like organised crime for example. One of my players' characters' has a contact in the Mafia, who on occasion supplies him with illegal weaponry, unregistered vehicles and inside information (in return for the privilege of not getting snitchjacketed, arrested or beaten the hell out of). Maybe I'll fix it so the thug's syndicate is running errands for the Fate in New York…
…so who knows? Maybe at the end of the day DG is being funded by Stephen Alzis…oh, sweet irony!
From: Michael Layne
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 00:55:57 EDT
Well, actually, that might not be the best way to handle that situation. DG personnel (agents and friendlies) work as a team. In such a situation, that team would hopefully include some specialists, who would not only give the team the proper credibility, but would have valuable expertise.
So, in the above case, for example, one of your team members (not necessarily the cell leader) would talk to the authorities in Jamestown, PA, while the FBI man stays in the background. It might go something like:
"Good morning, sir! I'm Dr. Stone, of the US Geological Survey…" (Show appropriate (real) ID — see, it _was_ worthwhile for Delta Green to recruit some folks from the Dept. of the Interior! :)) "My colleauge, Mr. Murry…." (Actually _Special Agent Murry of the FBI_, but no need to say so at this point — you're not actually lying, and, if the locals want to assume he's USGS like Stone, that's their problem!:)) "And the lady here is Major Sheppard, of the US Army Corps of Engineers…" (In civilian clothes — we're keeping a low profile here) "We were asked to survey the effects of the recent Richter 5 quake centered in this area, in accordance with the National Seismic Hazards Mapping Project…" (Which actually exists — check http://www.usgs.gov)
"Why is the Army involved? The Corps of Engineers has an ongoing project to evaluate the resistance of structures to seismic damage… Yes, sir, we'll be checking out the dam! Just routine, sir…"
No, but your contacts might be able to allow a suitably "connected" team to borrow a Learjet (probably a Lear 24 (the USAF C-21) — not one of the modern Lear 45 or 55 Longhorns), or — somewhat more likely — a turboprop such as a Beech King Air (better for those short fields, anyway!) from the GSA or the AF Reserve… Sometimes, with the right connections, you can travel space-available on an Air Mobility Command transport headed the right direction, or even requisition a helicopter (no, not a black helicopter!)….
In a recent mission, two of our personnel were able to use a UH-1F Huey (not exactly ultramodern, but rugged and serviceable — and an aircraft for which we had the Flight Manual!) from Offutt AFB. Offutt may be a little wary of this again, as the Huey was later blown up on the ground by "unknown saboteurs" (actually some Fun Guys, but try putting _that_ in an Air Force OSI report!).
On a later mission, the pilot from the previous op, and the civilian parapsychologist, got to use an OH-58D Kiowa from the 3rd Armored Cav. Regiment. (Its Hydra-70 rockets did not bother the Mythos creature, which quite handily destroyed an accompanying OH-58D with both crewmembers, but said creature was eventually persuaded to leave, by creative use of the parapsychologist's Elder Sign!):)
From: moc.loa|rJrekaorC#moc.loa|rJrekaorC
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 19:27:18 EDT
In a message dated 98-09-27 19:03:13 EDT, you write:
« It would seem to me that money skimming, etc. would put DG in a really precarious position. Good forensic accounting might dig the group up before Majestic 12. On the other hand, there should be some sort of emergency slush fund for financing certain out-of-agency efforts. »
The short version of my answer is that the CIA and NSA, among others, have very large "black operations" funds which are almost tailor-made for Delta Green use. Basically, I'm free with the resources, but I keep track of what they players get, and, more importantly, what they DO with it. Exposure ought to be a constant threat to the players, particularly if you are running a Majestic storylne—and considering the fact that elements of the Majestic group want a piece of DG, you can work a Majestic storyline into just about anything. Also, the Keeper needs to be aware of the things that clever players can do with the most modern technology: a big challenge of running a good DG game is not hinging a particularly vital piece of horror on a circumstance which can be nullified by night-vision goggles or a gunship.