"The Janus Directive" is a crossover storyline that involves an inter-agency war between Checkmate, the Suicide Squad, and Project Atom, who are manipulated by Kobra in order to distract the United States intelligence community from his activities. Checkmate loses at least 38 Knight agents[8][9] (tallying to more than two thirds of Checkmate's Knight force[9][10]) and its headquarters (as well as its cover, Konig Industries) in Shelby, Virginia, in the incident. In the aftermath, Sarge Steel takes Waller's place as head of Checkmate, and Checkmate relocates to a new NORAD base in Colorado.