In the new HBO series It: Welcome to Derry, the United States military has a secret mission that is more frightening than any foreign enemy. The show introduces Operation Precept, a top-secret government program that aims to weaponize the very thing that makes Derry, Maine, a cursed town: the ancient entity known as Pennywise.
Set in 1962 during the height of the Cold War, the series shows that the American military, led by General Shaw, is aware of a supernatural force buried beneath Derry. This force is a creature capable of projecting pure fear, an emotion so powerful it can kill a person where they stand. General Shaw believes that if this power can be controlled, it could be used as the ultimate psychological weapon to win the Cold War and stop the threat of nuclear missiles from Soviet Russia.
What is Operation Precept?
Operation Precept is a classified project run by the Department of Defense. Its main goal is not to build a weapon, but to find one that has been buried under Derry for a very long time. General Shaw describes this weapon as something that can “scare a man badly enough to kill him where he stands.” The military hopes to find this entity and use it to make America’s enemies so terrified that they would surrender without a fight, effectively ending the nuclear tensions of the Cold War.
To find this fear-based weapon, the military is searching for “beacons.” These beacons are objects or locations scattered around Derry that are connected to the entity’s power. They act like a trail of breadcrumbs, leading to the main source. In one instance, the military uncovers a buried car from the 1930s containing the skeletons of the Bradley Gang, a group of criminals that Pennywise is linked to in Derry’s violent history. These beacons are believed to be remnants of Pennywise’s past cycles of terror, each one holding a residue of the fear it created.
The Key People in the Operation
The mission relies on two unique individuals: Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann.
Leroy Hanlon is a military major and the grandfather of Mike Hanlon from the original It story. He is essential to Operation Precept because of a brain injury he suffered during the Korean War. The injury damaged his amygdala, the part of the brain that controls the fear response. As a result, Hanlon cannot feel fear. General Shaw believes this makes him the only person who can safely get close to and handle the fear-eating entity without being overcome by terror.
General Shaw admitted the attack was a test, telling Hanlon, “I needed to know if word of your brain injury in South Korea was true.”
Dick Hallorann, a character fans will recognize from Stephen King’s The Shining, is involved because of his psychic abilities. He possesses “the shine,” which gives him powers like telepathy, seeing visions, and being sensitive to supernatural forces. In the show, Hallorann uses his shine to sense the location of the beacons. He acts as a paranormal compass for the military, guiding their dig sites to the spots with the strongest psychic residue from Pennywise’s past horrors.
How Operation Precept Connects to Pennywise
Operation Precept is an original creation for the Welcome to Derry series and is not a plot point taken directly from Stephen King’s novel. However, it fits perfectly with the themes of the book, which explores fear-mongering and the weaponization of fear.
The military’s beacons are directly tied to Pennywise’s history in Derry. Each beacon is a relic from one of the entity’s past feeding cycles, a moment in history where it caused mass fear and violence. The discovered car containing the Bradley Gang is a prime example. By following these beacons, the military is unknowingly following a path of destruction left by Pennywise over centuries. Their goal to harness the “weapon” will inevitably lead them directly to the clown-like entity itself.
A Doomed Mission from the Start
While the military’s plan is ambitious, the show strongly suggests that Operation Precept is doomed to fail. General Shaw and his team do not fully understand what they are dealing with. They see Pennywise as a tool to be controlled, not as an ancient, cosmic evil that feeds on human fear. Their arrogance and desire for a superweapon blind them to the true danger, setting the stage for a potentially catastrophic confrontation.
The series uses this military subplot to explore the broader Stephen King universe, connecting the world of It to The Shining through Dick Hallorann. It also echoes themes from other King stories, like The Mist, where military experiments with otherworldly forces lead to disaster.
Also Read: It: Welcome to Derry Finally Fixes a Major Stephen King Movie Oversight
