Decency

by Rex Fuller

  “Three months after she went back, she was dead. She was found in her bed. The death certificate said she had died of ‘natural causes’ ‘possibly occasioned by allergic reaction to prescribed medication.’ Something is wrong in all of this. And the only place anything was wrong at all was at NSA. It had to be someone there.

  “We have talked to three lawyers, one in Lincoln, one in Omaha, and even one in Washington. They all said we have no case. They said even if we find the evidence proving she was railroaded, the government isn’t liable for security clearance decisions and that would be so much a part of the case it’s not worth pursuing. But they did not even talk to witnesses.

  “Now we are about out of time because the statute of limitations runs out in about two weeks. We desperately need help soon.”

  …I wish I could tell you I know how you feel from personal experience…

  “Kathy, it’s doubtful I could do better than the lawyers you talked to before.”

  “They didn’t even talk to any witnesses. It seems like all the lawyers we talk to just don’t want to try or don’t think our sweet girl is even worth trying for. Let me tell you, Samantha is worth trying for! ”

  “Yes, but a lawyer…”

  “All we want is the truth. We really don’t care if it goes to court. The other lawyers wrote up complete legal memos that will help you start immediately. I have them right here with the letters she wrote…we thought it was so sweet when she didn’t email and wrote real…”

  Her voice broke. Tears ran down the cheeks of both Harlan and Kathy Pierce.

  …oh, God, the look in their eyes…I know what that feeling is…

  “A lawyer only has so many ways to work…”

  …this isn’t getting anywhere…

  “…and they all require some evidence…”

  …why…why…why…

  Kelly sat and watched them both for a long while before she knew she could not just tell them no.

  “All right…tell you what, I’ll talk to the witnesses.”

  “Ms. Hawkins, that is all we can expect.”

  Harlan Pierce seemed resigned to the inevitable.

  “I understand Ms. Hawkins. We’ll appreciate whatever you feel you can do. But we have to find out the truth.”

  Back in the car, which way to turn was uncertain, west again, to continue and have someone back in the office check out the witnesses, or east, to go home.

  …the woman was so…compelling…

  The story was both incredible and impossible not to believe. If it was true, as she understood it, the anger it was already sparking would probably never quite let go and could affect any lawyer involved in such a case for life.

  Tom, I don’t know what to do.

  A loud shout reverberated in the car.

  “Damn! Damn! Damn!”

  The car turned east, back toward the Omaha airport.

  12

  This is crazy. The Pierce family’s terrible loss is one thing. Doing anything about it is…probably next to impossible.

  If there was one thing that was true about fighting this kind of case, it was that a lawyer cannot make it right. A lawyer could spend a life trying to make this kind of case and end up doing nothing but spinning wheels.

  A whistleblower case was the most that was here, it was not even clear yet the daughter blew the whistle on anyone, and whistleblowers never get justice. For all of the media hype about such cases, and the occasional successful outcome of one of them, the brutal reality was they took too much time, effort, and money to get them off the ground.

  Worse, in this case, an intelligence agency was involved. Suits against them went nowhere for their own sets of reasons. So, here, there was even less likelihood of getting near a court with it. Beyond that, the likelihood of NSA - any government agency being implicated here - paled in comparison to that of a jilted boyfriend, a jealous co-worker, or any number of other garden variety evils. Even suicide was more likely.

  … might not have been a crime scene investigation…even if there was, a ‘natural causes’ finding meant there probably wasn’t much physical evidence…at best, you’re going to be stuck with witnesses…people, frail humans, whose fears and ambitions will warp their testimony…and that assumes they will even be willing to get involved at all.

  This is crazy…this is crazy…this is crazy.

  So, why are you heading to Omaha for a plane home?

  The only intelligent thing to do would be to pick up the cell phone, call the Pierces and bow out as gracefully as possible. They are salt-of-the-earth people but you aren’t going to stop the tide running against them even if you get lucky enough to find out something about their daughter’s death. Instead, here you are dialing your office, knowing the call forwarding will…

  “Jannie? Sorry to call you at home.”

  Janine Marlton, remarried and a young mother all over again at 42, burned the candle at both ends, one for Kelly at the office, the other freshly starting a second career at home.

  “No big deal, Kelly. You just couldn’t go a couple of days without checking on me, right?”

  “I wish I could laugh. Listen, I think I’m going to take a case that might make you all hate me.”

  “I could say, ‘What do you mean ‘make?’”

  “Okay, okay, just bear with me a minute. Do you have something to write with?”

  “Ye-e-sss…”

  “Thanks, you’re priceless, as always. I will be in the office tomorrow…”

  “Kelly, no, you can’t be serious.”

  “That’s what I’ve been telling myself too. Anyway, I’ll be there by noon, probably. I need you to call Harlan and Kathy Pierce in Weeping Water, Nebraska, I don’t have their number, but she’s a part time deputy sheriff and if you have to, you can get the number from the Sheriff in whatever county this is. Let me know when you’re caught up and I’ll go on.”

  “Okay, I’ve got that much.”

  “Okay. When you get them on the phone, I might have already talked to them again, so ask that first, and if I haven’t, you’ll need to get their address to get an engagement letter out to them, preferably fax them one. Tell them, either way, they should FedEx the original signature copy back to us. The matter involved is the death of Samantha Pierce. Terms will be their choice of either straight hourly rate plus standard expenses, or $15,000.00, no make it $10,000.00, retainer and minimum fee of $100,000.00, payable over say, two years, plus 25% of any recovery…”

  “Hold it a second…okay, now wait, how did it happen?”

  “Maybe no one knows. The Pierces think the NSA did it. Their daughter worked there.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “We’ll also need a notarized power of attorney from the Pierces to get access to the daughter’s medical and employment records…”

  “Okay.”

  “Then ask one of the associates to get all of the background info on the NSA they can find. Be sure they get a copy of a book, I think it’s called Body of Lies or Body of Secrets or some such, by a guy who writes about NSA.”

  “Okay.”

  “That’s enough for now. I’ll be checking on who has NSA contacts and such before I get back.”

  “Okay…Kelly, thanks for not asking me to do all of this tonight.”

  “What do you mean? Just kidding…just kidding.”

  “See you tomorrow, Kelly.”

  “Thanks, Jannie.”

  “Mornin,’ Kelly. Just couldn’t stay away?”

  “Good morning, Abe. I guess so. You heard?”

  “Jannie told me you took a case against the NSA. But that’s about all I know.”

  “It may not go very far…which I know I don’t have to tell you…but there is something here that just doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “Like what?”

  “It involves the death of a possible whistleblower. From the point of view of her parents, she was a rising superstar who bucked the system, got railroaded into being on her way out, k
ept her wits about her, then, bingo, she’s dead.”

  “Okay. But where’s the legal case?”

  “Admittedly, there may not be one. It’s possible I just got lost in the look in her parents’ eyes. But they are not the kind of people who see conspiracy under every piece of paper. If anything, the opposite is probably true.”

  Abe raised an eyebrow.

  “I know it doesn’t seem like there is a lot to go on here.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “Abe, I’m just being honest. My gut tells me the parents are being levelheaded and they are the type of people you want to help if you possibly can.”

  “Kelly, you’re aware there are good and decent people at NSA, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re also aware that because it operates in secret there are lots of kooks who think they track all of us and do anything they please, regardless of legality?”

  “Yes.”

  “How are you going to keep this firm from looking like we’ve joined the kooks?”

  “Believe me, I know what you’re saying. I’ve been asking myself the same sort of questions all the way back here.”

  “And…?”

  “For right now, the only thing I can say is I don’t intend to go forward publicly without good evidence.”

  Jannie poked her head in. “Got a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  She was half-smiling as she marched in. “Good news first or bad news first?”

  “Oh, the bad, I guess.”

  “Okay. The bad news is the Pierces refused to sign the engagement letter.”

  “Really?”

  “But you’re not off the hook. The good news is they want to wire the entire $100,000.00 fee to you today, plus whatever you want to add against expenses.”

  “That’s odd. I’d better talk to them. Can you get them on the phone?”

  “They’re on hold now.”

  “Thanks, Jannie. Abe, can you stay a moment?”

  “Sure.”

  Jannie beeped in, “You can pick up line three for the Pierces.”

  “This is Kelly Hawkins. Good morning.”

  “Mornin,’ Ms. Hawkins. I told the secretary we’d hire you and pay your fee. We can do it. We’ll cash things out. There’s nothing more important than this. But your hiring letter was too complicated.”

  “Mr. Pierce, I have my partner, Mr. Abe Kramer here, and I’d like to put you on the speaker phone so he can listen in if that would be okay.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Kelly punched the speaker button, and replaced the receiver.

  “How can you hear me, Mr. Pierce?”

  “Just fine.”

  “This is Abe Kramer, Mr. Pierce. Thank you for letting me join your conversation. I also want to extend my sympathies to you and Mrs. Pierce for the loss of your daughter. I have an only daughter too.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Kramer…Kelly, on the hiring letter, I’ve learned a few things about contracts. If they’re too complicated, you probably don’t have the agreement you think you do. I would just like to send you a telegram agreeing to pay your minimum fee, your expenses, and after, say, three months, switching to your hourly rate. Is that fair?”

  “It’s more than fair to me, Harlan, but I don’t want you putting too much money up front if we can’t get very far.”

  “If it goes that way, I’m just going to trust you to send back anything you don’t think you earned.”

  Abe shrugged.

  “Harlan, I guess you do know a few things.”

  “Ms. Hawkins, we want you to earn all of it. If you’ll put me back on the line with the secretary, I’ll give her my banker’s number so he can make the wire.”

  “All right, Harlan, thank you, I’ll call you soon with an update.”

  “Goodbye, Ms. Hawkins.”

  The click of the disconnect was the only sound.

  “Well, Kelly, he’s serious. We’ll have to be sure to dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the ‘t’s’ with an engagement letter that satisfies the bar requirements.”

  “I don’t plan to draw from the trust account on his money, except for expenses, until I know there is something here.”

  “Kelly, don’t you get your hopes up too high. Even if there’s a case, suing NSA is especially difficult. Having a security clearance is a condition of employment there and clearance decisions are unreviewable.”

  Abe got up to leave, still visibly unpersuaded.

  “Abe, I mentioned there’s something here that at least bothers me. It’s this. The parents say NSA forced their daughter to go into a psychological evaluation that falsely labeled her a depressed paranoid.”

  Abe stopped, just before going out the door.

  “Abe, your parents fled the Nazis.” Kelly paused for emphasis. “Hitler labeled people insane to get rid of them too, Abe. What we may have here is only a difference of degree, not of kind.”

  Abe’s brows knitted as if to parry a painful thought.

  “Well, you know I can’t argue with that. Good luck, Kelly.” And he left..

  …okay, time to get cracking…

  “Jannie! I need whatever background we’ve collected so far on NSA.”

  “Check your e-mail.”

  Clicking over to the e-mail screen, and scrolling to near the bottom, there was one entitled “NSA Background,” from Bonnie Cummings, a new associate.

  “From: bcummings

  To: khawkins

  Subj: NSA Background

  Ms. Hawkins, there is an official website for NSA, http://www.nsa.gov. That is the place to start. Here is selected information from descriptions of NSA in other web pages:

  NSA coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information.

  Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) is a unique discipline with a long and storied past. SIGINT’s modern era dates to World War II, when the U.S. broke the Japanese military code.

  Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) involves protecting all classified and sensitive information that is stored or sent through U.S. Government equipment.

  NSA has a leading research and development program which led to:

  - the first large-scale computer

  - the first solid-state computer

  - predecessors to the modern computer

  - flexible storage capabilities

  - the development of the tape cassette

  - ground-breaking developments in semiconductor technology.

  NSA employs the country’s premier code makers and code breakers and is said to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the United States and perhaps the world.

  Most NSA and Central Security Service employees (intelligence arms of the military services) both civilian and military, are headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland. The workforce contains analysts, engineers, physicists, mathematicians, linguists, computer scientists, researchers, as well as customer relations specialists, security officers, data flow experts, managers, administrative and clerical assistants.

  NSA reportedly has at least 20,000 employees in Maryland, with a $1.317 billion payroll.

  I suggest that you scan through the ‘Press Releases’ page at the NSA website for recent information made available to the public.

  Ms. Hawkins, from various websites here and in Europe, there appears to be an ongoing furor, centered more in Europe, over the NSA’s ‘ECHELON’ system. This system is described as a ‘satellite based global telecommunications intercept system.’ It is alleged to be capable of intercepting each and every telephone call, fax transmission, or other telecommunication transmission made anywhere in the world. The system is said to use a large number of supercomputers to sift through the intercepts for mention of specific words compiled in ‘dictionaries’ and ‘lists’ in order to read the communications of terrorists, governments, organizations, or individuals. Although I have not yet found official confirmation that
‘ECHELON’ is its actual name, the existence of the system and its purpose is taken as a given. I should note that there are also a few fringe websites concerning, or mentioning, NSA that are clearly devoted to advancing beliefs that NSA is at least corrupt and, possibly, thoroughly evil. I have not included any material from them. Unless you alert me that the matter you are working on involves people who hold those beliefs, or some other relevant consideration, I will not develop any material concerning the fringe sites or those beliefs.

  I am also sending, through office mail, photocopies of twelve newspaper articles published over the last five years in local newspapers (Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, and Washington Times). These range from general interest articles describing the NSA, and its mission, to articles describing the impacts of employment changes or construction on the local economy. Jannie may have this package by the time you read this e-mail. I have ordered a copy of Body of Secrets, as you requested, and I believe I can have it on your desk tomorrow.

  There are a few reported appellate opinions in which NSA was a party, or was the primary focus of the issues involved. I did not interpret your request for background information to include court decisions and have not made copies. However, I have the list of citations and can provide the opinions any time you desire.

  Presently, I am checking reports of congressional hearings concerning intelligence matters for discussion of NSA. As, and if, items of significance appear, I will alert you. Unless I hear further from you, I will assume you do not want me to spend time researching beyond the Congressional materials, simply for ‘background’ and will wait for any request from you for more focused effort.

  Let me know,

  Bonnie”

  …better dash off a quick “Good Job” e-mail to Bonnie and check in with her by phone later…

  “Jannie! Thanks. I’ve read it. Bonnie may drop a book off later. If I’m here, ask her to stick her head in.”

  …we have to get a handle on the way the NSA uses psych evals…have to make some calls…

  A light knock on the door frame introduced Bonnie’s voice.