Elevated Threat

by William Robson

  Professional History: Widely regarded as a child prodigy in Computer Science in Yemen. At sixteen was recruited to attend advanced training in Cambridge, England. Last known position was with British Intelligence working to create anti-hacker software for British banks. All contact was lost after a recent visit to Yemen.

  Family history: Father (Ofra) Ambassador to Yemen, Mother (Najla).

  Current whereabouts: Unknown

  Current watch-list status: Red

  June 28, 2015

  Washington, DC

  The administration’s response Sunday evening to the manifesto by Jonathan Cain Masters took everyone by surprise. Most Americans anticipated to hear nothing short of a Gettysburg-like rally from the President. Many Americans would have been relieved if he at least gave a fire-and-brimstone rebuke of the manifesto. Surely the President would deny the manifesto’s claims, as well as, present proof that the words of the man who was now the most wanted man in the world were nothing but deceit and lies. Reflecting back on what he did say, after letting the emotion of the moment calm down, the President’s choice of words did have some sound logic behind them.

  After all, the stock market was still in the danger zone. The entire intelligence community of the western world was fully engaged trying to evaluate and counter the biological threats unfolding at several water treatment plants. US counterterrorism teams were still immersed in rapidly evolving negotiations with other countries on our oceanic merchant shipping security. It could be well argued that having the President say less right now would be preferable to having him say too much. Since some of the manifesto’s claims, particularly the part about the US not being forthright and truthful about the recent terrorist events, could not be repudiated, the President needed to walk a very fine line. We had stepped in it, they pointed it out, and now we had to deal with the smell.

  Much of what the President did said in his address was regrettably very predictable. Yes, we have been challenged, but we will persevere. Yes, we have been faced with a new type of terrorist, but they will never defeat our resolve. Repeat ad nauseum. Those who turned off his speech early, disgusted with the usual rhetoric, missed the first unique declaration in a Presidential speech in many years.

  At the end of the speech, the President faced the cameras and grimly declared a time-out for the country. Well not in so many words. He declared that he was exercising a presidential special order. He ordered Monday June 29th to be a national holiday, and declared that this one-time event was to be used for reflection and healing. Citizens were asked to go to the beach, climb a mountain, or just sit in their backyard and have a barbeque. He asked every American to take some time during that day and reflect on life in America and what it meant. He wanted everyone to get the sense, that despite the evil that was now engaged with us, it was not going to change who we were.

  Then he assured us that the nation’s political and security teams would be working around the clock to come up with answers for this new challenge, and that on July 1st he would return to the airwaves with some answers. It was a long weekend.

  July 1, 2015

  Seattle, Washington

  Clyde rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. He couldn’t remember a Wednesday morning where he wasn’t sitting in his office this late in the day listening to the truckers honking horns. Yet there he was, still snuggled deep under his covers. After all the hysteria surrounding the water system attack and the continued uncertainty of it all still palpable in the air, hiding deep in his warm covers seemed comforting.

  To Clyde, it seemed like the President’s response to the manifesto just added to all the craziness when he declared Monday as a national day of reflection. The President decided that we needed time to allow all Americans to collect themselves together and to prepare for the new realities facing us. All Clyde had seen yesterday was people sitting around wondering if the water in the sink was going to make them sick. The only day that came close to giving him the feelings he now had was the ones he had experienced on September 12, 2001.

  Anne Kowanger had already been up for hours. With the President’s speech coming up at noon she had much to prepare. With the world turning inside out around her and the new responsibilities as the Northwest lead event reporter weighing down on her shoulders, she was literally working night and day. She knew she would have to prove herself capable of handling the strain every day, and so she worked at a feverish pace. When Clyde finally crawled out from under his blankets and called Anne, it was a nice respite from her anxiety. She quickly agreed when he offered to watch the President’s speech with her from her office overlooking Elliot Bay. Anne realized he could bring some welcome relief from the tension.

  Clyde’s bus ride down to her office was quite surreal. Traffic was close to nonexistent. The office buildings up and down First Street were devoid of office workers, and even the famous Seattle outdoor cafes, that would normally be bustling with tourists enjoying the summer breeze while munching on a scone, were mostly closed. The few people Clyde ran into, looked like they had just heard about a death in the family. Despite the gloom on individual faces, every American family felt like part of your family that day.

  As twelve o’clock approached, every television around the globe was turned on. Statistics would later show that eight out of every ten people alive on earth were staring at the Presidential podium on the front steps of the White House when the speech started. Expectations of what he would say were at a fever pitch. No one knew what would happen, but everyone knew that this speech was going to change history, for better or worse.

  Anne had her recorders on and her laptop ready to go to work. Anne and Clyde watched her TV quietly and waited for their future to unfold before their eyes. The President approached the podium at 12:00 p.m. and 15 seconds. Surprisingly, the Speaker of the House was standing behind his left shoulder and the Vice President was behind his right shoulder.

  “My fellow Americans. In the last few months, events have taken place which have been unprecedented in the history of our country. A previously unknown terrorist association has declared war on us and on our way of life. This association has brought to our shores a scourge that has never before been thrust upon us. This challenge requires a response that is immediate, thorough, and far stronger than any previous threat directed against us. I stand before you tonight to tell you that is exactly what we plan to do.”

  Clyde and Anne sat forward in their chairs. Anne had her fingers on her keyboard in expectation of capturing a story of a lifetime.

  “It is no secret that the political machine in Washington has been broken for several years now. We have been divided on every issue. We have faced intransigence at every turn and we have spent more time trying to win our internal battles than we have on creating solutions. However, for us to face down this new challenge, which has been brought to our shores and that has the potential to alter our very way of life, we need to put aside our differences and be of one mind. I want to reassure every single person watching me now that whatever differences we in Washington have had in the past, are now recognized as trivial in the face of this new enemy. I have been assured of nothing less than full cooperation by the leaders of the House and the Senate, and from our allies around the world. We all have a singular goal. That goal is to defeat those who are bringing us this challenge.”

  Anne and Clyde were literally grinning from ear to ear. Clyde blurted out:

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

  The President continued:

  “This is my country, this is your country, and there are those in the world that are determined to take our lives, our money, and most of all, our freedom from us. They are going to fail in that attempt. They have seriously underestimated our resolve, our people, and our love for this great land. They have also greatly misunderstood our capabilities, both politically and militarily. They are soon going to understand just how gravely they have underestimated us.

  We are soon going to announce
some of the most sweeping changes ever undertaken by the leaders of this country. These changes that we will soon announce will alter the very landscape by which we do business. It will alter equally the way we work with countries that are our partners and for the way we secure our freedoms from those that do not wish to share in our security.

  Let me be perfectly clear, we will catch Mr. Jonathan Cain Masters and all of his associates and we will forever put them out of the terror business. But we must do more than just deal with this current threat. We need to completely reevaluate how we work with other countries and evaluate how to best use our extensive resources so that we can thoroughly prepare ourselves for the time when others when other like-minded groups rise up. By changing now, they will find it much more difficult to threaten us in the future.

  To ensure that we are singularly focused on the changes we need to make and to keep our efforts focused, I am announcing that over the next three days, the leaders of the political, military, and security organizations of America will be sequestering ourselves. We will be conducting strategy and planning meetings on how to enact these new policies. As these plans are solidified, we will be sharing these new strategies with our key allies around the world. Together, with our allies, we will then be coordinating a comprehensive response to the threat that now confronts us all. To guarantee that we are laser focused on the subject at hand, and not distracted by any political maneuvering, I’m imposing a freeze of all communications to the press by anyone involved in these discussions. Anyone from the leadership teams breaking this communication moratorium will be dealt with severely under the national security statutes.

  During this planning sequester, rest assured that your local and national security teams will be continuing to work around the clock to discover and neutralize any threat that may arise, and will continue unabated to uncover the perpetrators of these acts and to keep us all safe.

  I realize full well that this action of sequestration will be going against our current cultural paradigm of providing minute by minute awareness of what we are doing. But I also believe that this is an imperative precaution to keep our minds focused on the job at hand and to protect us from the impulse of slipping back into the grip of sound-bite leadership. For now, I can only ask all of you to have faith in our resolve to regain the security of our country, our ability to restore order, and in our might to punish those who would do us harm.

  At 5:00 p.m. EST on July 4th, I will come before you again and, will at that time, share with the American people, and the world, our plans to restore public safety and trust in the American way of life. Until that time, I want to remind everyone of the words of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto when reflecting on the 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the forces of Imperial Japan.”

  “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

  “Admiral Yamamoto was proven right to fear us then, and the forces that have brought this new threat to our doorstep should fear us now.

  Until we have detailed our plans to the world on July 4th, I want to remind everyone that we are all one people in this country. No matter where you worship, no matter where you originated from, no matter what you do or believe, we are all one people: Americans. This fight brought against us does not discriminate if your skin is black, white, or brown. We should not allow their hatred of us to change that view. As your leaders are now coming together for strength and clarity, I ask all Americans to do the same. The people that have threatened us, are not just down the street, they are now running and hiding in far off places from our great reach. Do not allow your anger and anxiety to be directed at those that do not warrant it.

  My fellow Americans, your patience for these few days will be rewarded. God has blessed this great country and He will give us strength in the days ahead to eliminate this challenge to us.

  Thank you, and God bless America”

  Clyde and Anne slumped back in their chairs and just looked at each other. Anne closed her laptop. The story of a lifetime was not yet ready to be told. She knew the Seattle liberals would now be lighting up their blogs with stories about the constitutionality of an imposed news blackout and about everyone’s right to know what was going on. But Anne knew that wasn’t the story she needed to tell. She was starting to think the real story was how America and the Western World had been punched in the face once again and our response to the affront was again nothing but flaccid words and misguided military action.

  Clyde was beside himself. He could not bring himself to even sit down. He just kept talking to Anne about how when he was a boy he would visit his Grandpa in northern Arizona where he was regaled with stories about the good old days. His Grandpa told him about how in those days, men were men and justice was swift and strong. Anyone bent on a life of crime in Grandpa’s day were quickly dissuaded by the uncompromising law extended by local farm hands. Those that continually chose to not go down the proper path, often found themselves looking up at a strong birch branch, with a rope tied securely around it, hanging out over the Verde River.

  In the old days, you were lucky if the police would find you before the people that were wronged did. In Grandpa’s day, if someone poked you in the nose you knocked out his teeth and that was that. But these days, between the lawyers, politicians, and the unending political correctness, no one ever pays for their misdeeds. The terrorists in Guantanamo Bay have more rights than the people they killed.

  No doubt the President’s speech writer had hoped the speech was going to be a show of strength and resolve on behalf of the American people. What it produced instead was more frustration and anger. Everyone watching wanted a speech describing how the assailants were going to be immediately hanging by the figurative birch tree over a river. The viewers wanted nothing short of a vow of fire and brimstone for our new assailants and every country that had been supporting them. What they got was just more political speak, vacillation, and a request for even more patience. Instead of good old 19th century justice, what the public got was just more 21st century political blathering.

  Clyde and Anne decided to head over to Ivar’s to see if they could get an early jump on happy hour. They both decided they needed a drink.

  AMERICA DEVELOPS A BACKBONE

  Name: Colonel James Dugan

  Age: 39

  Nationality: United States

  Education: USC, Air Force Academy. Specializing in Computer Forensics.

  Professional History: Sixteen years in Air Force Intelligence Service.

  Family history: Father (Matt) - Retired from NSA. Mother (Elisabeth) - Professor of Psychological Warfare, Army Intelligence.

  Current whereabouts: Presidential first responder team, Washington D.C.

  Name: Captain Robert Styles Ph.D.

  Age: 34

  Nationality: United States

  Education: Harvard University. Specializing in Political Science.

  Professional History: Lead White House Advisor on Middle East Relations.

  Family history: Father – (Joe) Retired Senior Advisor from Bush and Clinton administrations.

  Current whereabouts: Presidential First Responder Team, Washington D.C.

  Name: Colonel Mike McGuire Ph.D.

  Age: 44

  Nationality: United States

  Education: Stanford, MIT. Specializing in Advanced Munitions.

  Professional History: Designer of Air to Ground Strategic weapons.

  Family history: Classified

  Current whereabouts: Presidential First Responder Team, Washington D.C.

  July 4, 2015

  Seattle, Washington

  1 PM PST

  The biggest concern on this particular Saturday for most people was whether or not it was safe to attend the Fourth of July fireworks planned for tonight. With half the population of Washington State still boiling their water, and the government still mum on how they were going to respond to the crisis, the mood across the country was one of quiet trepid
ation.

  Since the administration had pulled off the miracle of keeping the professional press at bay, the last two days brought forth a steady stream of rampant speculation from the blogosphere. Most of the guesses by the “reporters” of what would soon happen tended toward declaring world-ending scenarios of every type. Since the traditional news teams had no actual information to go on, they at least tried to keep their hypothesizing to more modest levels. Most of the levelheaded journalists were speculating that a multinational task force would be formed to find Jonathan Cain Masters and his followers. A few had gone as far as suggesting the US would generate a retaliatory web-based attack, despite the fact they were not quite sure who should be the recipient of this retaliatory hacking.

  When the word spread that the President’s speech today would be given on the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial, most people immediately thought that they were going to be treated to just another media event like those in the past. Everyone was expecting to see lots of Fourth of July symbolism full of pomp and circumstance to cover up for the lack of substance.

  After the general letdown from the last presidential speech, and the weariness of the whole situation weighing heavily on everyone’s minds, most of the population had already resigned themselves that today’s speech would be just another round of political babble. When Anne asked her cabbie what he thought was going to happen in today’s speech, the driver just shrugged his shoulders and said:

  “Lots of talk today, same fares for tomorrow.”

  Anne chuckled to herself. This little foreigner has it figured out. Today there will be lots of finger wagging and brave talk, and tomorrow, Seattle and the rest of the country will awaken to the same scary world. For the rest of her ride to the Seattle shipping docks Anne just watched the waterfront go by. Since Clyde had a new ship in port needing to be unloaded and couldn’t get the day off, Anne had agreed to drop by his office trailer and watch the speech with him there. When Anne arrived at the dock, the ship was indeed in port but not a single worker was in sight. Despite their low expectations, everyone had stopped working to sit in front of a TV, laptop, or tablet to watch what would happen next. Even the short-haul truckers sat in their trucks and used the dock wi-fior truck radios to listen in. Many of the drivers secretly hoped their old country would be shown to be complicit in the US attacks so there would be a reason to clear out the regime that caused them to head for America.