 Background
Information
On March 21st 1958 Charles "Chuck" Johnson was born in
LA. His mother, Sandra Johnson, was a homemaker and his father,
Cassius Longhorn Johnson, was military computer scientist who was
one of the key players in setting up the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA) in 1958 as the Department of Defence's response to
the soviet launching of Sputnik. Because of this Chuck didn't see
much of his father leading him to be somewhat of a lonely child
who spent a great deal of time alone playing with the electronic
components that his father kept in his workshop. Chuck's mother
tried to encourage his to leave the house more but his high intelligence
and less than athletic physique made him a natural target for the
local bullies.
School-wise, Chuck enjoyed mathematics but more for the problem
solving aspect than any love of pure maths. Chuck enjoyed nothing
more than being faced with a good puzzle. This started a lifelong
interest in cryptography that would prove very useful later on.
Impressed with his son's growing ability with electronics Chuck's
father encouraged him into the field of computers. Chuck's interest
and knowledge continued to grow but he found that his father's knowledge,
rather than helping him, eventually hindered him.
His father's military background meant that he had a very set way
of thinking and disapproved of Chuck's slightly "out there"
methodologies. It was for this reason that Chuck moved away in 1976
and, at the age of 18, joined the Division of Engineering and Applied
Sciences (DEAS) at Harvard University. Chuck found the access to
the university's new computer systems exhilarating and quickly started
to make contacts in that and other universities.
He was close friends with Larry Landweber at University of Wisconsin
and helped Larry in his creation of THEORYNET in 1977 which provided
electronic mail to over one hundred researchers in computer science
(using a locally developed email system over TELENET). Staying on
at Harvard to do his PhD in 1981, Chuck was a key researcher in
establishing the BITNET (Because It's Time NETwork) which started
as a cooperative network at the City University of New York, with
the first connection to Yale and Chuck introducing it to Harvard.
BITNET provided electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute
information, as well as file transfers. He also helped establish
CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) which was built by a collaboration
of computer scientists and Univ of Delaware, Purdue Univ, Univ of
Wisconsin, RAND Corporation and BBN through seed money granted by
NSF to provide networking services (especially email) to university
scientists with no access to ARPANET, thus surpassing his father
in the field of Computer Science.
This was a double edged sword for Chuck because on the plus side
he had managed to prove that his slightly "out there"
methodologies could work, but on the day CSNET was launched his
father died. Chuck went slightly off the rails at this point and
started using his computer skills to hack into bulletin boards and
other people's e-mail. This was how, one day, he was introduced
to the world of the occult.
He was poking around in a neo-pagan bulletin board, thinking it
was some sort of role-playing group when he was discovered by the
moderator of the board. Rather than reporting Chuck then moderator
recruited him and taught him a great deal about the occult. To this
day Chuck never discovered that person real name but the relationship
lasted for several years and helped Chuck deal with his grief.
In 1984 he read a book that changed his life, it opened his mind
to all sorts of new possibilities he read….. Neuromancer by
William Gibson. For someone like Chuck this proved that the world
of computers wasn't just geeky and could be full of adventure and
he did something that every good, patriotic, American should do
…. he bought a gun. He spent a great deal of time practicing
with the gun, officially it was for protection but in reality because
he thought it made him look cool. For three more years Chuck continued
to work in the universities to help build upon the networks that
he had helped establish and then one fateful day in 1987 he was
summoned to a meeting with the Dean of Harvard University and two
men in very black suits.
This meeting introduced Chuck to the world of the U.S. Intelligence
Community. He had been watched with interest for several years and
was offered a place working for the National Security Agency (NSA).
With images of himself as a "Case" type character from
Neuromancer running though his head he simply couldn't refuse. Once
recruited Chuck was trained further in the use of the pistol and
he had finally a chance to put his electrical, computer and cryptology
skills to play with some serious hardware.
In 1988 Chuck was the one who managed to stop an Internet worm
that had borrowed through the Net, affecting ~6,000 of the 60,000
hosts on the Internet. The carnage could have been a lot worse.
In 1993/4 Chuck became embroiled once again in the world of the
occult. A group of friends, whom he met through various user groups,
created a "secret society" who investigated strange occurrences.
Using his NSA clearance Chuck was involved in several escapades
involving Brain Bugs, Werewolves and Daemon worshipers. It was however
in 1994 that Chuck grew up to the harsh realities of the world.
He was with his friends in a small town investigating a missing
person when all hell broke loose and all his friends with him were
killed, he himself only narrowly escaping with his life. Only one
of the original group remained, a women he knew only as Big Mamma.
He keeps contact with her to this day using his Internet name of
Romeo Studly-Muffin.
Traumatised by these events Chuck threw himself back into the "more
normal" work of Intelligence Work. In 1995 Chuck set up the
first official Internet wiretap which was successful in helping
the Secret Service and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) apprehend three
individuals who were illegally manufacturing and selling cell phone
cloning equipment and electronic devices. Chuck's interest in his
work was once again waning and in 1996 he was caught using the NSA's
supercomputer to simultaneously decipher an ancient Babylonian script
for one of his occult contacts and to recatagorised the entire contents
of the ever popular "Celebrity Skins" website by the percentage
of nipple that was on show.
Chuck's obvious skill could not be wasted by the intelligence community
so he was moved to a new and more interesting job in the computer
support labs in the FBI. Chuck worked in these labs for four long
years helping field agents with tricky computer problems and providing
traces and statistic on internet usage to the government. However
once again boredom struck and this time Chuck was discovered playing
a Quake 2 tournament against an AI that he had created using the
Pentagon supercomputers which was able to control up to 64 computer
controlled players at once although a strange quirk of the program
meant that all the models were naked females with massive guns.
Chuck denies that this was intentional and it must have been a glitch.
Conscious that boredom was a key part of these indiscretions and
that Chuck physique denied him access to regular FBI teams he was
once again moved, this time to …….. Evidence Response.
Recent Events
The following events have been highlighted as having special significance
for Chuck since joining the mid-west evidence response team. Please
see the Timeline to place these incidents in context.
26 December 2000
Transferred to the mid-west evidence response team. Chuck replaces
Nathan Harlow in almost every respect.
1 January 2001
Shot and badly wounded during a shoot out with Apache Joe on the
streets of Temple.
8 January 2001
Released from hospital.
See Also:
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