by Mark Spivak
TARGET ASSESSMENT
SUBJECT: Bassen, Curtis R.
OCCUPATION: Vice President of the United States
AGE: 68
GENERAL HEALTH: Good
PREEXISTING CONDITIONS: Subject takes prescription medication for cholesterol and blood pressure, both of which are under control. He engages in a moderate exercise regimen consisting of cardio (power-walking, treadmill and swimming) and occasional workouts on Nautilus machines. All these exercises take place in his home gym or on the grounds of his residence, except when traveling.
Subject suffered from heart problems during middle age, specifically from ages 43-49. He had a mild heart attack at 46, which was ascribed to stress and overwork. His condition was closely watched and has improved in the years that followed, and he has not taken heart medication for over a decade. He has experienced slight weight gain in recent years, but not out of proportion to his stage of life.
The subject’s health is monitored by a team of people that includes the Surgeon General of the Navy and his personal physician, who is on call 24/7. He receives at least two complete physicals each year. While the detailed results of those exams are not made public, it is generally believed that his overall condition is exceptional for a man of his age and level of responsibility.
PERSONAL HABITS: Subject is not known to smoke, drink, gamble or womanize. He has no visible personality traits that could be used for leverage against him. He is described as a mild workaholic, but he makes an effort to spend time with his family. Most observers feel that his exceptionally close family connections are related to the death of his first wife, who contracted leukemia early in the subject’s Senate career and subsequently died in 1985. He is particularly attached to his three adult children (Curtis Jr., 43; Barclay, 40; Janet, 38), and speaks with them almost daily by phone.
LIVING SITUATION: Subject lives at the Vice President’s official residence at One Observatory Circle in Northwest Washington, D.C. The house is heavily guarded at all times by an extensive Secret Service detail and is impenetrable. His residence is rumored to be equipped with an underground bunker constructed by his predecessor, Robert Barton Hornsby, after the attacks of May 1, 2001. These reports have never been confirmed.
The household’s domestic staff consists of ten people, most of whom are permanent government employees (housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance crew). The Bassens employ a personal maid, Lydia Karnovich, and a cook, Maria Rodriguez. Both women have worked for them for nearly two decades, and they are believed to be incorruptible. The cook prepares meals for the Bassens when they dine privately, and she is assisted by outside chefs for ceremonial functions. In almost all cases the provisions are ordered from approved purveyors and inspected carefully on delivery by the Secret Service.
VULNERABILITIES: When he leaves his residence, the subject is guarded at all times by a Secret Service detail that may consist of as many as one dozen agents, depending on how and where he is traveling. He is generally transported in a secure, bullet-proof vehicle that is not susceptible to attack. Although his public appearances are not advanced as thoroughly as the President’s, any attempt to endanger his safety would be met with a swift and overwhelming response.
Because of the subject’s high level of moral character, many standard techniques could not be used to compromise him politically. Hiring a straw man (such as a female who would “swear” to misconduct and/or security breaches on his part) would be prohibitively expensive in this case; any such allegations would not be believed and would inevitably be proven false. Throughout his career the Vice President has shown disinterest in accumulating money for personal gain, so an ABSCAM-type bribery sting would not work either.
During brainstorming sessions, one avenue that seemed to hold promise concerned the subject’s political future. He has twice run unsuccessfully for President, and many pundits feel that he would like to try again. If he were to run a third time, his ambitions and lack of high-level funding would raise the prospect of a campaign finance scandal. On the negative side of the ledger, this scenario has many drawbacks: such a run has not been announced; given his age, another campaign is unlikely; many observers feel that Bethany Hampton is the inevitable Democratic candidate for the next election cycle. Moreover, the long-range plans of our employers are based on the subject’s removal from office before the Democratic primary commences.
There are only two possible areas of vulnerability:
The subject’s oldest son, Curtis Jr., works as a Federal prosecutor in the Vice President’s native state of Ohio. He has consistently refused Secret Service protection despite objections from his father. Three years ago, at the Vice President’s request, the U.S. Attorney for Ohio’s Southern District assigned a full-time bodyguard to his son. The story broke in the media and caused public consternation, after which the expense of the bodyguard was funded by an anonymous donation to a Democratic PAC.
Even though the bodyguard is armed, he could be easily overcome by a well-trained group of operatives. The most likely strategy would be a kidnapping, which would place the Vice President under considerable stress, and possibly lead to a recurrence of his heart problems. There are inherent weaknesses to this scenario. First, any damaging effect on the Vice President’s health are pure conjecture. In addition, the kidnappers would be the focus of an intense manhunt and would most likely not survive.
The Vice President regularly dines out in a variety of restaurants ranging from greasy spoons and chains to upscale establishments. On the lower end of the scale, he seems to favor spicy or aggressively seasoned cuisine such as Mexican, Thai or Ethiopian. Food tampering might be a possibility in some of these situations, since there are untraceable toxins or poisons that could be planted in a dish without being easily detected by the diner’s taste buds.
However, such a situation would be difficult to arrange. Many casual restaurants in the Washington area have long-term staffs, most of whom would not be susceptible to corruption: regardless of their politics, these employees would be likely to view an appearance by a high public official as an honor. The most likely scenario would be placement of a temporary worker in the kitchen. In order to make this situation happen, a number of complex factors would have to come together. Perpetrators would need advance warning of the Vice President’s schedule, and operatives would need to be in place at the appropriate temp agencies. This scenario depends more on luck that anything else, and it would require a significant investment of resources with no guarantee of return.
CONCLUSION: An attempt on this subject would be difficult to arrange and expensive to execute. The probability of capture for participants is very high, and the likelihood of exposure for planners is even higher. The only possible scenarios are the ones described above, with the risks noted.
Chapter 21
Linda Buckmeister poked her head into her boss’s inner office.
“What’s up?” asked Chet Wallko. “You have that look on your face.”
“George Bindleman is on line two for you.”
“Isn’t he Paul Gilliam’s primary clerk?”
“That’s him.”
“Mr. Bindleman,” he said, picking up the phone. “Good afternoon.”
“Thank you for taking my call, sir.”
“Well, it’s not every day I get to speak with the Chief’s clerk. Is he aware you’re calling me?”
“Yes, we’ve discussed it. But we’d really appreciate it if we could keep this conversation confidential—just one concerned citizen to another.”
“No problem. You have my word on that.”
“As you may or may not be aware, Senator, the Chief has great admiration for you.”
“Let me go get my boots, before the tide rises in here.”
“I mean it. He really likes your grasp of the issues, not to mention your honesty.”
“I like him too, on a personal level. But I
have to tell you, I haven’t been a fan of some of his recent votes.”
“I assume you’re referring to Democracy Unchained.”
“That’s correct. And since you say he admires my honesty, I can tell you that I think it was a fucking disaster.”
“You may be surprised, sir, to hear that he agrees with you. And between you and me, I’ll reveal that we’ve been searching for a case that would give us an opportunity to reverse that decision.”
“How’s that going?”
“Frankly, not very well. We haven’t been able to find a case in the appellate pipeline that’s on point, and strong enough to hold up on review.”
“Well, it’s not Little League. You don’t get too many do-overs on your level.”
“I’m afraid that’s true. And that’s why we think we may have come up with a way to reverse Democracy Unchained without judicial review.”
“This is something I want to hear.”
“Sir, we’re all familiar with the First Amendment. I’m sure you are. But it occurred to me recently that it doesn’t mention the judiciary.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Go ahead, take a look.”
Wallko pulled up the U.S. Constitution on his computer and read the text:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
“So”?” asked Wallko.
“It specifically says that Congress has jurisdiction in this matter. The courts aren’t mentioned at all.”
“Okay, you’re right. But it talks about abridging freedom of speech. Democracy Unchained was supposedly about expanding and guaranteeing speech, as the Court defined it.”
“From a legal point of view, sir, it really doesn’t matter—Democracy Unchained was unconstitutional. According to the text, the Court had no right to rule on it at all.”
“Jesus.”
“And I’m sure you’re aware that our conservative Justices believe that the Constitution should be interpreted literally, word for word, as it was written.”
“Damn, you’re good. You came up with this on your own?”
“It doesn’t matter where I got it. This is like one of those pictures—you know, the ones that have something in them that don’t belong there? And people stare and stare at the picture, but they never seem to see it.”
“You really think this would fly?”
“We’ve been soliciting opinions, and some of the top legal experts in the country seem to think so. As far as we can see, Congress could pass legislation that would reverse the main provisions of Democracy Unchained.”
“Okay, do me a favor.”
“Sir?”
“Get me some of those opinions, and I’ll thrash the situation out with my team here.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and Mr. Bindleman?”
“Yes?”
“If you ever decide to leave the law and pursue an honorable profession, I’d love to hire you.”
“Evening, bubbala,” said Kenneth Jablonski. “How are things in the heartland?”
“Very strange,” replied Peter Schoenfeld, ignoring the static on the line. “It’s another world down here.”
“What a sharp insight. No wonder you’re an award-winning reporter.”
“In place of the sarcasm, you can send me an English-Spanish phrase book. That’s what I really need to communicate with half these people.”
“So what have you got so far?”
“Not much. The area directly north of Tijuana is a proverbial beehive of activity: there are dozens of Angels of Democracy guys riding around in ATVs and Humvees. There’s definitely a sense that something’s about to happen, but no one seems to know exactly what. Or if they know, they’re not talking.”
“Have you been to their headquarters?”
“Indeed I have. And I also got thrown out.”
“Really?”
“Not exactly thrown out, but pointedly asked to leave. These people are very wary of the press. I assume they must have marching orders not to talk.”
“What about the idea of sending a mole down there to volunteer?”
“It’s too late. The recruitment phase appears to be over. And it wouldn’t do any good anyway. These guys are true believers, and I’m sure they could sniff out an imposter miles away.”
“Any progress on making contact with the principals?”
“No luck with Jasper Marshall as of yet, but I did connect with a guy by the name of Joe Guthrie, who appears to be his second in command. He says they’re not doing interviews at the moment, but they’ll be talking to the media shortly, whatever that means. He promised me that we’d be at the top of the list.”
“What about the camps?”
“I’ve been out to see the one here. It’s still very loosely guarded, so you can get fairly close. They don’t even seem to mind if you take pictures.”
“So what’s there?”
“It just appears to be a makeshift tent city, but an upscale one. The buildings are made of corrugated aluminum. It’s huge—probably covers a few square acres. It looks like a self-contained living space for a very large number of people.”
“And it’s empty?”
“Completely.”
“And no one knows what it’s for?”
“If they know, they’re not talking.”
“Hmm. What do you think about shifting to one of the other sites, maybe one in Texas? Just so you can compare and contrast?”
“I think I should stay here. This is Marshall’s home base, and I get the sense that something will happen sooner rather than later.”
“Well,” said Jablonski, “Stay in touch. And don’t eat too many refried beans.”
Chapter 22
“This is CNN breaking news,” said the anchor. “As we reported just a few minutes ago, there has been a security breach at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C. where Vice President Bassen was scheduled to have lunch. It now appears that we have some further detail, so let’s go directly to the scene.”
The screen dissolved to a shot of Manuel’s Tacos, a casual eatery in Southeast Washington. The neighborhood was rundown, and several buildings on the block appeared to be boarded up. An attractive blond reporter stood outside the restaurant, microphone in hand.
“Kristin, can you hear us?”
“Absolutely, Kurt.”
“What can you tell us about this security breach? What do we know thus far about what occurred there today?”
“Well, Kurt, as you can see I’m standing in front of Manuel’s Tacos, an informal local restaurant popular with the Hispanic community. This neighborhood used to be primarily African American, but in recent years there’s been an influx of immigrants from a number of countries in Central and South America—El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, to name just a few, but of course Mexico as well. This restaurant serves a range of dishes from different Latino cultures, and despite its current appearance, the place tends to be packed. The usual pattern is that it fills up by 11:00 a.m. and stays busy until eight or nine at night.”
“So what can you tell us about what happened there today?”
“Vice President Bassen was scheduled to have lunch here as part of the administration’s ramped-up approach to the Hispanic immigrant community. As you know, President Atalas has been focusing more and more on the Path Bill in recent weeks, a piece of legislation that would pave the way for illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship. The President has been increasing pressure on Congress by personally calling lawmakers and lobbying for a vote on the bill, which has been stalled in committee for nearly a year. So it was widely assume
d that the Vice President’s visit was part of a wider program of Hispanic outreach.”
“Was the Vice President actually in the restaurant when the breach occurred?”
“He was, Kurt. He arrived about forty minutes ago with his Secret Service detail and greeted everyone inside in his broken Spanish—which, as he admits, needs work, but it was a gesture that seemed to be appreciated by the crowd.”
“Do we know exactly what happened?”
“The details are still sketchy, but it appears that the Vice President had placed his order and was waiting for lunch to arrive when the kitchen crew noticed some suspicious behavior. Apparently one of the cooks had called in sick yesterday and had also failed to appear for work today, so the management engaged two temporary workers.”
“Why two, Kristin?”
“They anticipated an even larger crowd than usual because of the Vice President’s visit and wanted to make sure that everything ran smoothly. From what we’ve been able to piece together, a kitchen worker noticed some strange activity on the part of one of the temporary employees. That person notified the management, who in turn alerted the Secret Service.”
“What details have they released about the incident?”
“There’s been no official statement thus far, but from what we’ve heard from various sources, the kitchen received the Vice President’s order and was beginning to prepare it. At that point, one of the temporary workers was seen reaching into his pocket for an envelope, which he then unfolded. One of the witnesses says that he saw a powdery substance inside the paper and sounded the alarm.”
“Do we have any idea what the substance was?”
“No one has any idea, Kurt. When the temp realized that he had been spotted, he scattered the contents of the envelope into a nearby trash can, then dumped a plate of food on top of it. Witnesses who were on the scene tell us that it would be very difficult to sift through that trash can and analyze everything in it, although the authorities plan on doing exactly that, of course.”