by Duncan James
***
Miles Bragan and Colin Carlucci walked together down the White House corridor, and stopped outside The Secretary of State’s office. Bragan, with his hand on the doorknob, turned before going inside.
“You know, Colin, I don’t think the President has picked up half the clues from the Prime Minister’s little chat.”
“Neither do I,” agreed Carlucci, “But then I’m not quite sure I’ve worked it all out yet. I need time to think.”
“Don’t we all,” agreed Bragan. “But first we must act. We haven't got long to set all this up, and it’s a diversion I hadn’t bargained on before my trip to the Middle East. I suggest we swap notes again a bit later, before we talk further to the President. I’ll let you know if I’m summoned, if you’ll do the same.”
“Sure.” Carlucci walked on towards his own office.
Bragan took a deep breath as he watched Colin stride off, and turned to go into his own office, frowning.
The Secretary of State's office was always a hive of activity, and large. In terms of staff, his immediate support office was structured much the same as the President’s, with a Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief, a Secretary, an Executive Assistant, two special assistants, a scheduler, or diary secretary, a staff assistant and two personal assistants. All these people looked after Bragan’s immediate day-to-day needs, including running his diary, fixing meetings in Washington and elsewhere, and arranging his travel around the world. In addition to this so-called private office, an Executive Secretariat liaised with other departments and agencies within the White House, particularly in terms of preparing his briefing material and making the arrangements for his official trips at home and abroad, including staffing his mobile office which travelled with him and kept his itinerary on track. The Secretariat also was responsible for his and the Department of State’s Operations Centre, a 24-hour communications and crisis management organisation.
They were all busy, and about to get busier.
Greg Harvey, his Chief of Staff was in the outer office and looked up as Bragan bustled in.
“Come in, will you Greg,” Bragan asked. “What's been going on while I’ve been with the President?”
“Only that Prime Minister Weaver is coming over at the weekend for talks about the Middle East - but I guess you know that.”
Harvey shut the door behind him.
“There’s more to it than that, Greg," said Bragan, “but we aren't sure quite what. First things first,” he reached into his pocket for the tape cassette. “I want this double sealed and put into my safe after I've initialled the seals. Access is denied to everyone except myself for the time being. It’s the tape of this morning’s bilateral with London. I want to know who else might have listened in to that conversation, by name and position, and I want to see their files, complete with security level.”
He told Harvey briefly what was causing the fuss, and how it had all started.
“Until we know more,” he concluded, “we have agreed that only those who must know are told about the private session in New York. Neither you nor I will be there - on present plans, just the President and Colin. We are assuming that officials in Whitehall don’t know what’s behind all this, and that only Sir Robin will be with Weaver, so we are playing it the same way until we are told otherwise by London. That’s why we’re securing the tape, and keeping quiet. There’s to be nothing in writing, either - no memos, no leaks. OK?”
“Got it!”
“Did you take the London call while I was in with the President?” asked Bragan.
“Yes, I did. Robert Burgess was looking for you, but in the end I spoke to Sir Arthur Bailey. I said I would get you to speak to the Foreign Secretary later if you could reach him. Bailey was very apologetic about the short notice, but said that it seemed our two leaders had agreed to meet, so there wasn’t much we could do about it, and was this weekend convenient - as if we really had a choice! There was absolutely no mention of anything except the Middle East, and no hint of either men wanting private time together, so I guess you’re right, and they don’t know.”
“I think they soon will,” said Bragan. “If the President can fix for them to stay at Millie’s brother’s place on Shelter Island, then he’ll ring Weaver and invite him to spend the extra day there for a private visit and a bit of relaxation. We’ll be left to handle the Middle East talks part of it if they haven’t been concluded by then. Otherwise, the President and Prime Minister can take the Press conference before they disappear. I’m sure the President and Colin will get what they can out of Weaver and Algar, but I’d give a million dollars to be a fly on the wall!”
“Well I’m sure we'll be fully debriefed late Sunday or early Monday,” said Harvey, “and it will be interesting to see who else can be brought in on the act at that stage. I just hope we can delegate a bit if there’s a lot of fall out - there’s already the usual mild panic setting in before the start of our shuttle diplomacy in a few days.”
“I know,” said Bragan. “Interesting days ahead.”
“God preserve us from interesting days!” quipped Harvey.
“Now,” said the Secretary of State, “would you mind getting down to the Ops. Centre, and as discreetly as possible, find out if there’s anything new come in recently about Northern Ireland. Talk to whoever’s in charge on duty right now - head man and no one else. I suspect there’s nothing, but I need to know. And I’ll try to get through to Burgess.”
“I’ll get right back to you as soon as I can,” said Greg.