Strategist (Operation Snake Eater)

A strategist, in collaboration with the CIA, was alleged to have manipulated events in the Virtuous Mission, in order to bring about the execution of Operation Snake Eater in 1964. This account was relayed by renegade FOX commander Gene to Naked Snake, during the San Hieronymo Takeover in 1970, contradicting previous accounts that Operation Snake Eater had only been planned in response to the Virtuous Mission's perceived failure.

According to Gene, the "deviously cunning" strategist had deliberately planned for the event that Colonel Volgin of GRU would use a U.S. nuclear weapon to attack the OKB-754 research facility in Tselinoyarsk, USSR. On August 24, 1964, renowned U.S. soldier The Boss was ordered to "defect" to the Soviets in order to locate the Philosophers' Legacy, providing Colonel Volgin with two Davy Crocketts as proof of her supposed sincerity. Volgin subsequently launched one of the miniature nuclear shells at OKB-754, sparking an international incident. The U.S. then had to prove its "innocence" in the affair to the Soviet Union, by assassinating The Boss during Operation Snake Eater, which was planned by CIA official Hot Coldman.

Behind the scenes
The alleged strategist behind Colonel Volgin's nuclear attack and the subsequent necessity for The Boss's death in Operation Snake Eater, was first mentioned in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. The identity of this individual has never been officially confirmed, although the strategist is often speculated to be Coldman, the man who planned Operation Snake Eater itself. Fans had previously believed the strategist to have been either Ocelot, Zero ("the man with the same codename as Null"), or the CIA Director from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (both because Ocelot implied this during his empassioned speech before murdering him, and due to the fact that prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, he was one who had originally planned Operation Snake Eater). The sole image of the strategist in Portable Ops is an modified artwork of Ocelot. EVA also briefly alluded to Gene's claim in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where she cited that the CIA had orchestrated The Boss's death during Operation Snake Eater because they feared her charisma.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (first mention)


 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (indirect mention)