'Treadstone': What exactly is Operation Treadstone? Here's what Robert Ludlum's books have to say
The USA Network’s ‘Treadstone’ is one of the most intense and intriguing spy thrillers. The series is a spinoff from the ‘Bourne’ series written by Robert Ludlum. The show has two timelines: one in the present day, where new assets of the CIA's abandoned black ops program Operation Treadstone are suddenly reawakened and sent on a new mission while the second is a prequel set in 1973 that explores the origins of Treadstone.
But what exactly is Treadstone? With two episodes out, one has a general idea. Lethal men and women with superhuman strength and agility, experts in many languages and skilled in spy tradecraft are attributes we see in Bentley, SoYun or McKenna. And we also learn in the two episodes that these skills are hidden deep inside their heads, triggered only by a particular song. We also know that hypnosis definitely plays a part in the big picture.
But what did Robert Ludlum write about it in the original books?
Treadstone71 or Treadstone Seventy-One, per the novels, is a top-secret black ops program of the Central Intelligence Agency that recruited US Service members to turn them into nearly superhuman assassins. The program was formed in direct response to a Congressional Act that banned the US from partaking in assassinations. Treadstone71 used a behavior-modification program to break down the subjects’ morality to make them effective weapons. In the novels, it was formed after the Vietnam War.
The program was so top-secret that several Deputy Directors of the CIA had and continue to have no idea of its existence. The Treadstone headquarters is located in New York City in a seemingly dilapidated house. Treadstone operatives were highly trained in various killing techniques and the use of improvised weapons. They possessed proficiency in sharpshooting, explosives, vehicular operations, and hand-to-hand combat. The operatives, such as Jason Bourne, the eponymous character from the books, also possessed a heightened awareness of their surroundings, lightning-fast reflexes, and other physical attributes.
Bourne, whose real name is David Webb, was a former US Army Delta Force captain-turned-covert operative. Around 1999, Webb volunteered for Operation Treadstone. Operation Blackbriar, the successor to Operation Treadstone was initially conceived at the end of 2001. In ‘Bourne Ultimatum’, Bourne manages to expose that program as well; something that has been referenced vaguely in the show as well.
The original trilogy, however, does not go into any kind of KGB-related roots of the program from the Cold War era. Then again, the show has to do something new, doesn’t it?
