Operation Treadstone (Often known as Treadstone; In novels, it is known as Treadstone71 or Treadstone Seventy-One) was a top-secret black ops program of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Jason Bourne series of novels and movies. It recruited only United States Service members to turn them into nearly superhuman assassins^[1] and was formed in direct response to the Congressional Act which banned the U.S. from partaking in any assassinations, as sometimes assassination is considered necessary to keep the United States safe. It used a behavior-modification program to break down the assassins' morality and make them effective nearly unstoppable living weapons. After the morality break down, presumably, the assassins received advanced training in all kinds of spy tradecraft. The last surviving member of Treadstone is Jason Bourne^[2]. It had a successor, which was Operation Blackbriar^[3]. In the novels, it was formed after the Vietnam War. Treadstone71 was the successor to the pre-Vietnam Operation Silverlake.

Overview

Treadstone is a highly covert, clandestine assassination program within the CIA, operating from an office in the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It is so secretive that nobody is aware of the existence of the program outside the very people running it, with the knowledge of Treadstone only known by the CIA Director itself. The assassination program targets individuals who represent an immediate threat to the U.S government or the CIA itself; usually individuals with the knowledge of CIA's shadowy interests or people who need to be silenced to prevent exposure of highly clandestine information.

Treadstone is unique in a regard that it only operates a small network of highly trained operatives with limited oversight. While other programs usually detail and plan the assassinations themselves, Treadstone has an opposite approach, only providing the target to the operative, who then plan and organize assassinations on their own. Ostensibly, while this may be intended to leverage the exceptional level of training and intelligence of Treadstone operatives, in reality, it serves to prevent any unnecessary risks of exposure. By placing the burden of planning and executing operations solely on the field operatives, it allows the program to run with a minimum amount of personnel, without the need of extensive field network of field, headquarters, case, and logistics operatives (such as transportation, provisioning, surveillance, recon, and assault teams). Instead, by combining all these roles into a single individual with augmented capabilities working covertly, each operative capable of fulfilling the requirements of all these operational roles, the surface area for exposure/compromise is reduced to an absolute minimum before, during, and after the operation.

Staff

Richard Webb - Creator and Founder, Stationed in Beirut, Lebanon.
Ward Abbott - Head of Operations.
Alexander Conklin - Field Director. Stationed in Langley, Virginia.
Albert Hirsch - Director of the Treadstone training program.
Neil Daniels - Supervising Training Officer.
Nicky Parsons - Field logistics coordinator and agent handler. Stationed in Paris, France.
Daniel Zorn - Assistant to Conklin, and later to Abbott.

Operatives

Treadstone operatives are very capable assassins. They leave no trace of their existence. Conklin states that while anyone can carry out an assassination, Treadstone agents are meant to be "invisible".

"They don't make mistakes. They don't do random. There's always an objective, always a target."

―Nicky Parsons^[src]

Treadstone operatives are highly trained in numerous combat techniques, and the use of a wide range of conventional and improvised weapons. They possess nearly superhuman levels of proficiency with firearms and other weapons. Their skills include sharpshooting, explosives, vehicle operation, and advanced hand-to-hand combat techniques . All Treadstone agents have excellent observational skills, heightened target awareness, lightning reflexes, peak-human physical condition, escape-evasion abilities, and mental process which also gives them the ability to think quickly and calmly in stressful situations.

The following is a list of known members (current and former) of Treadstone:

Known assets

• Jason Bourne/John Michael Kane - Based out of Paris, France.
• Professor - Based out of Barcelona, Spain.
• Castel - Based out of Rome, Italy.
• Manheim - Based out of Hamburg, Germany.
• Jarda - Based out of Munich, Germany.
• Bootlace - Based out of Calshot, UK
• Secret 01- Based out of (location Classified, SCI Lev.6).

Physical / Psychological effects

Due to the stringent and experimental training program, Treadstone operatives were recorded to have experienced a number of physical problems as side effects of the physical and mental enhancement process. These include suffering from chronic headaches, recurring fatigue due to the stresses of their job, and sensitivity to bright lights.

The most dramatic effect is amnesia. This was experienced only once, by Jason Bourne. Bourne's amnesia was the result of conversion hysteria resulting from circumstantial stress in addition to latent, preexisting stress imposed by the conditioning process. Bourne lost his entire biographical memory, including his name, origin and profession. He retained basic functions, such as addition, subtraction, making coffee, knot tying, and shuffling cards. He also retains his operational training in the form of an almost instinctive ability to perform well in combat situations. As of The Bourne Supremacy, he has regained parts of his memory, mostly those related to the most emotionally charged moments of his past (i.e. his assassination missions).

Status

The Treadstone series (2019), inspired by the adventures of Jason Bourne, created by Tim Kring, follows the story of CIA agents who "awaken" to resume deadly missions.

Treadstone is currently, as of the Jason Bourne film, inactive. It was shut down two years before Supremacy, at the end of The Bourne Identity film. In Legacy, Treadstone has been shown to be a Beta program along with Operation Blackbriar, for creating highly effective spies and assassins through genetic engineering.

Why was the 'Treadstone' series canceled?

The production had good ratings in its first season, but even so, it was not renewed.

Treadstone was a tremendous idea that faced many difficulties from the start. In production since 2010, it was slowed down by producers because they didn't want it to compete with the Bourne franchise in theaters. In 2019, with the end of the trilogy, the production was finally completed and seemed to have found its way. And there were victories.

With over half a million viewers in its first season, Treadstone showed signs of a good "latecomer" audience. That is, although it wasn't seen at the premiere, it had an audience that grew throughout the season. However, at the time, USA Network, the cable TV channel responsible for the production, began canceling several ongoing series due to the crisis in the cable TV sector, preferring simpler productions in terms of cost and production. The series was ultimately affected, even with good ratings and having been shown on Amazon Prime Video, despite dividing opinions, both positive and negative, far from a consensus. The same happened with another series of the time: The Purge.

Both Treadstone and the Jason Bourne films are based on the books by author Robert Ludlum. The series is divided into two periods: a plot set in 1973 focused on CIA agent John Randolph Bentley (Jeremy Irvine), captured by the KGB and brainwashed and reprogrammed to carry out assassinations for the Soviets. The other plot deals with "sleeper" CIA agents trained by the same program as in the films, who suddenly begin to awaken.

You can still subscribe to Amazon Prime Video and watch the first and only season of Treadstone.

And what would the second season of Treadstone have been like?

Every time a production is canceled sooner than its producers expect, there are always ideas for a sequel that get left behind. It happened with Alf and it happened in this case as well. The idea for the second season was to close the 70s storyline that explains the origins of the Treadstone Program as a response to the KGB's Project Cicada. Unfortunately, the season finale was more concerned with introducing these plots than answering questions. So fans will have to make do with Ludlum's books or their own imagination.

Trivia

• Treadstone agents have hardly any or no speaking lines, to give the illusion that these figures are ominous.
• The Bourne Legacy 2012 film reveals that LARX-3 has Operation Treadstone capabilities but without the inconsistency.
• It is probable that Treadstone and its successor Operation Blackbriar were clandestine programs within, or associated with, the C.I.A.'s Special Activities Division (SAD).

See also

• Operation Blackbriar
• Operation Iron Hand
• Treadstone 71 (U.S. Corporation)

---

*These Treadstone agents aren't featured in the films or the game -- Their names are possibly codenames resembling animals.

References