Discovery

by Douglas E Roff

  “Typical eye witness humans. Most unreliable way to ID anyone. What about the lawyer?”

  “We broke into his office but got nothing from that. No memos anyway. Just some court filings and some hand-written notes. Everything handled online, by email and phone. The phone was a burner.”

  “Did you talk to his lawyer?”

  “We did. Seems he was physically present in his office when we broke in. Had to dispose of him later. Took him for a short walk in the desert and lit a bonfire.”

  Paulo stopped to think. “Is he in the trade? Intelligence?”

  “I have no idea. But it sure seems that way. I’m betting this was tradecraft. But how that helps us, I really have no idea. For now, his identity is simply unknown. And I’m delivering bad news; we have no new leads of any kind. We’re just plain dead in the water.”

  “OK, then, thanks for that. I assume the assembled multitudes have nothing further to add? Anyone?”

  Silence coupled with downcast eyes.

  Paulo continued, “Then how about an update on the DataLab Project issues and projects. What have you to report there?”

  Enzo took the lead again. “As far as the DL Project, projects go, we have made some progress but not a great deal that is helpful there either. We were tasked with finding out more about the internal operating structure of the DL Main, how it works and how we might access more of the functionality that bis reputed to be available. In addition, we were tasked with determining who is on the Org Chart of the DataLab Project, particularly those at the top.”

  “What did you find?”

  “On task two, the Org Chart, we have made no progress at all whatsoever. When we get to the top layers of the DL Main technical staff and project management, we reached a dead end. Even asking about them landed us on a watch list at the FBI. We were visited at several offices around the country when we began making discrete inquiries about who’s who in the hierarchy of the organization. Apparently, the list of personnel involved at the top is top secret and off limits. We’ve checked with all the private sources too and they don’t know either. A few of our human colleagues acted like they knew something but when we tried to verify any information they gave us, it was also a dead end or produced another visit from yet another Special Agent.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means we need to cool our jets for now, unless you want the FBI poking around our research facilities here in Princeton. Maybe we can hire someone offshore to make some high-level inquiries later but for now I think this is likely to cause more trouble than it’s worth.”

  “We need to have those names. It may be our only way to determine the identity of this ghost, if possible. Did you try to find out if any information about the Library has made its way into the DL Main?”

  “We have. We asked several our University colleagues to do some qualified searches in various accessible portions of the DL Main. Nothing has come up. We used a list of about eighty or so key words we would expect to pop up, but we got nothing. Variations on spelling, symbols and a few key words in several languages. Nada. Nothing. If the Human took the Library, I don’t think he’s uploaded any of the information yet. At least not to the DL Main. Are you absolutely certain that there’s a connection?”

  “No, I’m not,” said Paulo. “But I would bet the farm there is. He was physically present in Tucson and seemed to have some connection to the DataLab Project regional data acquisition and processing center. Plus, he seemed to know all the relevant protocols and the phone number in New York he gave me checks out. He talked about uploading the material, then returning the originals afterward. He’s connected, I can feel it. I just don’t know how. Not yet anyway.”

  “Could just be some random guy and he’s back working in Pittsburgh now.”

  “Could be. What have we found out about the structure of access points to the DL Main? Can we get a better clearance and use the DL Main against them?”

  “Possibly. Certainly, this is our best avenue for success. I have prepared some slides so how we go about this is clear. Can you get the lights?”

  Enzo began.

  Chapter 20

  “Based on interviews with early researchers and other software engineers formerly associated with it, the DataLab Project has evolved over time from a small open source Canadian University research project to a massive US federal government initiative about which little was any longer publicly known. The Project began as a means of centralizing and collating public and private library collections for Canadian academic researchers. It then began morphing into a project that could benefit Canadian industry as well as the educational and University systems by sharing collections as well as raw research data. Our human friends up north thought that an emphasis on data collection and analysis related to agriculture, forestry, oil and gas, mining and high-tech initiatives would be a good spend on behalf of the Canadian taxpayer.

  “In this assessment, they were correct. About fifteen years ago, a US Defense contractor was looking to source certain types of rare earth metals, REMs, and didn’t want to source their supply from China, then the largest producer, for obvious reasons. So, they turned to the DataLab Project, then in its infancy, to determine if Canadian suppliers could mine and supply what they needed. They needed to find potential REM deposits first, then extract. The Canadian government approved the project and the mining activities initially developed in the Hoidas Lake region of northern Canada. This resulted in a lucrative long-term contract for the sale of specific REM’s to the American Defense Department.

  “The Americans being the Americans, they wanted to have control over the research tools, their proprietary methodologies, of course, and the results of their research. The implications for defense and security were often stated as the reason, so secrecy through some sort of control was sought. This they were was granted in part by the Canadian government.

  “A project that should only have taken a week took a full year. The Americans found the source of REM supply they needed and more. They agreed fund the mining and processing costs for a broad spectrum of REMs that were useful in both defense research and commercial applications. The research did take only a week. But they found some other useful capabilities too, which when combined with other technology the Americans had already developed, resulted in further capabilities and functionalities that went well beyond even their own greedy expectations. It was at this point that the US DOD, the CIA and the NSA had a sit down with CSIS, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the PM’s Office to discuss access to their cool new toy.”

  Paulo then asked, interested in this promising line of inquiry, “Seems odd. Why didn’t the Americans just steal the technology and replicate it. Or create their own? Why includes Canada? Seems out of character for the Feds.”

  “Good question and the answer is still ‘who knows’. But we believe that there was something in the basic architecture of the programming that the Americans didn’t have or couldn’t figure out and reverse engineer themselves. Or maybe it was easier just to buy their way into the whole project as is and off the shelf. No matter, a somewhat unbalanced but lucrative deal was worked out with the Canucks and the two countries agreed to share whatever beneficial technology or processes were developed. The Agreement was to last fifty years.”

  “And Ottawa went along with this? They must have known the Americans would never share anything they didn’t want to. And as far as sharing, that only works when Canada is giving, and the Americans are getting.”

  “Word around the water cooler is that Ottawa understood the Americans would never honor their obligations under the agreement, which made it much simpler when it came time for Ottawa not to honor theirs. The Canadian theory was that they would get free massive US funding, be able to extend the application of the Project to its own burgeoning high tech, aerospace and defense industries, and keep an eye on our friends down south, all at the same time. Plus, the benefits to various Canadian res
ource industries would be phenomenal.”

  “How’s that working out?”

  “Well for the Canadians and actually somewhat better than expected. Seems there was something, but no one really knows exactly what, that the Canadian programmers did early on that the Americans only discovered much later. Like about four or five years ago. Too late to start over and too deeply committed on so many levels to trash the deal. So, the Americans took steps, sometimes in little increments, to minimize the potential damage. Whether it worked or not we’ll never know. Let’s just say that while secrecy has been maintained at the highest levels, and the development of the DataLab Project now almost completely ‘made in the USA’, it would be incorrect to think that the Canadians got screwed. Based on what they have been able to accomplish to date, it has paid off in big numbers for the Canadian government and Canadian resource industries. So, it’s all worked out happily, at least so far. More the way they thought it might rather than the way it was agreed to, but certainly the Canadians reached their agreement with eyes wide open.

  “But as the Project grew and became more complex, so did the protocols for entry and access, data storage and user qualification. It also went from ‘free at any public library’ to closed for full public access. There is now a public access program and a non-public access program. New systems were put into operation and the governing bodies were reorganized.”

  “Explain.”

  “Entities allowed to input data are very limited now and heavily regulated under security cleared contracts with the US and Canadian governments. It used to be that virtually any university had that privilege. Not anymore.”

  “And access?”

  “The DataLab Project has also been segregated into various subject matter silos, all of which can be accessed but only by specific individuals or organizations. I’ll explain more about this facet a little later.

  “There are specific portals for public and non-public access, DL-A and DL-B. We want access to DL-B which is now only for qualified industry, educational institutions and government. Individuals and research organizations can apply for access, but they must specify and apply for the access they want. Most won’t get it but can still access the data in the DL Main by hiring someone with clearance access. The project and subject matter must be approved and cleared in advance.

  This means there is public access, for which clearance isn’t needed, as well as ‘clearance access’, which defines the parts of the whole DL Main that are allowed for certain pre-approved users.

  “Then finally, there is a group of ten or so individuals, plus a large staff, who run the Project who have varying degrees of unlimited access. This is reserved mainly for government agencies and the like. Then there is someone at the top who is only one of two or three individuals with access to every part of the DL Main. And the rumor is that he is the one guy with the ability to shut it all down.”

  “We need to find him. He’s our ace in the hole.”

  “You’re correct, of course. But easier said than done. His identity is beyond top secret, whatever that means. So, I’m not expecting to have much luck locating him. Not in the phone book or office directory, if you know what I mean.”

  “Where have we tried?”

  “All government and law enforcement contacts; the FBI and more. We’ve been to the blogs, followed up on rumors and with everyone we can find in Nerdland. The identity of this phantom guy or gal is simply not known even by our top contacts and no one can even hazard a guess. His top advisors, which is a variable cast of anywhere from eight to ten technical and operations advisors, are likewise unknown. Again, only rumor, but they say there’s an outside advisor is the one who is really calling the shots. Probably government, US, and likely with some spy agency tied to the NSA or the CIA or both. Ditto all the top advisors. If we’re going to keep at this, I would say we should be searching for spook types in DC and Virginia.”

  “So, what luck have we had so far with getting credentialed to use the DL Main?”

  “So far, we have been able to get clearance access, Level II: Special Access.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “There are four permanent levels of access:

  Level IV (UA) - Unlimited Access; specific individuals at specified agencies; governments; all general data and all silos

  Level III (RA) - Restricted Access; specific individuals at specific agencies; governments; all general data and most silos; all permitted silos must be specified; no sensitive silos allowed

  Level II (SA) - Special Access; industry, contractors and educational institutions; access limited to use application and approved silos plus all general data; long term projects

  Level I (QSA) - Qualified Special Access; industry, contractors and educational institutions; access limited to use application and approved silos plus all general data; short term projects

  In addition, there are individuals working on certain projects who do so at the request of an agency and are given specialized credentials. We’re not sure what they do or who they do it for, but there are less than one hundred individuals credentialed in that way.”

  Paulo asked, “And we can’t get one of those? Why?”

  “We’re trying through all of our subsidiaries and friendly colleagues but no luck so far. We have Level II access and that has turned up nothing yet.”

  “How is the data organized?”

  “The ‘general data” is layered from different sources and access to some general data might be restricted. Most is not. Silo data allows agencies to utilize the full scope of the DL Main but not data cordoned off by credentialed users, governments or agencies in separate silos. All data not classified as secret or above by users eventually gets tossed into the general data section. It is in this context that we have used our Access Level to see if any information from the Library has yet made it to the DL Main. So far it hasn’t.”

  “Could they have created their own silo for that data?”

  “Absolutely. But that means only one entity has access to the data and that it’s not shared.”

  “But someone with a higher classification might still be able to access it?”

  “Possibly. Just can’t say at this point. It’s also possible that the data has been loaded into a staging computer of DL Main but not released to it yet.”

  “Which means?”

  “The data can be run through the DL Main but hasn’t technically been loaded into the DL Main. More security for the holder of the data. Once it gets loaded in after staging, then it isn’t coming out.”

  “Is there any way we can use any of this information to find some names? A place to start?”

  “We could monitor all applications and uses for the past two years. Gather some suspects.”

  “What criteria?”

  “We’ll have to decide. But examining financial data might be a better, if not more indirect approach. Let’s have a look at who spent money and for what at the DataLab Project processing centers over the past couple of years. Pay special attention to the last twelve months. We should focus strictly on data acquisitions to begin with, then expand out. I’ll see what we can do and report back.”

  “Find him. Find this Tucson Man, the Human, then we can fix this situation. Permanently.”

  Chapter 21

  Adam and Misti made the rounds in Seattle announcing their engagement a few weeks after returning from Las Vegas, making sure everyone in the Eight Families received the face time they desired. They stopped off in Blaine on their way south to see Misti’s father, Carlos Alarcon, to see how he was faring and to discuss the upcoming nuptials. They assured him he need not do more than pretend to be interested in the festivities and show up on the big day to give Misti away. He was very happy for the kids and suggested they save everyone time and trouble and elope to Las Vegas. He didn’t know, but still, he wasn’t kidding.

  Adam loved these family gatherings but Misti was still in a funk over a
ll the wasted time and synthetic joy they were showing their loved ones. Misti loved her extended family too but didn’t always like them. She had been stung many times with casual and cruel references to her depressed mother and her ex-con father, even by close relations who knew better. She made allowances for family but one day she would lose her temper and give them what for. It wouldn’t be this day, or even soon, but some day. Misti had a long memory, like her father, and was practiced at holding a grudge.

  Adam, she thought, needed to stop romanticising all things family; sometimes even family members are complete jerks. Misti had less patience than her husband and it seemed to her that Adam had become as adept as his old man with the ease and facility of deception, especially when it came to family. She was still trying to understand him, and she was sure she would one day figure him out completely. She simply accepted that he loved her without reservation and that was enough for her right now. Maybe for always.

  As for her own relationship with the truth and family, she was a lot less critical. She often dissembled but was otherwise comfortable with the entirety of her strange family dynamics. She dealt with them carefully, as long tutored by both her mother and her father. Growing up she spoke frequently to Edward about her feelings of uneasiness and sometimes outright hostility with certain members of the Eight Families. But he too counseled patience and gave the example of her own father as a model of familial restraint. Carlos, he said, was at best indifferent to family, and, if pushed, could be outright blunt and hostile.