Code Word: Paternity, A Presidential Thriller

by Norton, Doug

  “Ray, glad I ran into you!” Fred Stanton called out to him from across the way. Ray knew him slightly from the Armed Services Committee, knew at least that he represented a district in Massachusetts. Fred came striding toward him with an expectant look.

  “Hello, Fred. What’s up?”

  “I was wondering . . . you know . . . since you’re a military man, what do you think of this situation?

  Ray thought, what the hell does that mean? I think it sucks—who wouldn’t?

  “What I think of it is I’d rather we weren’t in it! But we are, and now the issues are how we protect ourselves and how we recover.”

  “There are those who say that we brought this on ourselves.”

  Morales sucked from his water bottle, swirled the liquid noisily before swallowing. Well, Fred, if that’s what ‘those’ say, what do you say? Let’s cut to the chase—I want my shower.

  Morales said, “Does that matter much now? Isn’t the point that it happened and we have to deal with it? Isn’t the point that some group killed at least sixty thousand Americans living their daily lives in one of our cities and that we can presume from what’s been said by al-Qaeda and the president of Iran that there’s more to come, unless we prevent it?”

  Squaring his shoulders, Stanton looked eager as a terrier waiting for his ball to be thrown. “It matters because if we know why they did it, we can reconsider our policies; amend them in some way to address their grievances. We can prevent more attacks by eliminating the anger, hopelessness, and alienation that caused this one.”

  Eyebrows raised, Morales said, “OK, but wouldn’t you agree that while we’re doing all that we need to protect ourselves?”

  “Of course, but not by nuking some country, or bombing people with cruise missiles!” Stanton’s prominent Adam’s apple worked vigorously. “We protect ourselves by demonstrating we are ready to engage fully to find a negotiated solution, and by finding better leadership for the intelligence community that failed again. I’m not against using force in self-defense, but I do insist that it be used discriminately, against the right targets.”

  Flicking his towel as he spoke, Morales said, “Well, Fred, let’s leave aside that I think that some of their grievances, like the existence of Israel, aren’t things we should yield on. How about this: if a nuclear attack leads us to change course to suit the perpetrators, and they suffer no harm, how do we deter other groups from doing the same thing?”

  “By getting out ahead of the curve for once! By adopting a forward-looking foreign policy. By engaging in a dialogue with all who have legitimate grievances.

  “Getting a nuclear weapon isn’t easy. At the least it’s expensive. I think, given the choice, the others will prefer constructive dialogue over bombing again.”

  Morales draped the towel around his muscular neck, grasping the ends in his hands, making fists. Anyone who didn’t notice the towel would think he was about to punch Stanton.

  “Fred, do you know anyone who lost someone close to them in Las Vegas?”

  “No.”

  “How about in Nine-eleven?”

  “No, but—”

  “Would you risk the lives of the people who live in your district?”

  “Of course not!” Stanton’s face puckered with displeasure.

  “Then isn’t our difference really about perception of risk? You don’t perceive high risk to people you know or feel responsible for. I do. I hope the president does. Where you sit on risk and responsibility probably determines where you stand on these issues.”

  Forcing a smile, Ray clapped Stanton on the shoulder. “Please excuse me, but I’ve got to get showered and out to a breakfast meeting. Have a good workout!”

  “OK, Ray, good to talk with you.”

  ***

  As NSA Director Pete Hsu continued to describe his Argus eavesdropping system, three stars glinting from his shoulders as he gestured, Attorney General Ed McDonnell looked at others around the table and wondered who else felt uncomfortable with the relentless slide toward Big Brother that chilled him.

  Wearing her usual, no-nonsense pantsuit—this one in charcoal—Homeland Defense Secretary Sara Zimmer was intense, McDonnell thought. She still has the mission focus the army taught her and her mission is prevention. She’s all for prosecuting the perps, but not at the cost of letting them do their deed. If Sara is concerned about the destruction of civil liberties occurring in this room, it doesn’t show.

  Head throbbing, McDonnell shifted his eyes to red-eyed FBI Director Brian Leek, wondering whether his lips were compressed in concentration on Hsu or in holding back exhaustion. He’s been through the first World Trade Center bombing, Nine-eleven and its investigations; Brian knows nothing remains secret and everything will eventually be sliced and diced with the sharp knife of hindsight. He’s a dedicated law enforcement officer, but also a proud man, proud of himself and especially proud of his FBI. He’ll maneuver to protect both of those interests.

  It’s up to me.

  “Thanks, Pete,” said McDonnell. “That’s an amazing system. I don’t mind telling you that what this government has the capability to do frightens me a little.” No one reacted. Disappointed but not surprised, he said, “Now lets get to our recommendations because it’s not long until we conference up with Bart.”

  McDonnell looked at his notes. “These are the working group’s recommendations that I believe we’ve decided to send to the president: We focus our defenses at our borders, where they’ll be less disruptive to essential economic and social activities. Using our strength in technologies, including Argus, we vet every person and every cargo on arrival. This will cause backups, but better there than all across America.”

  Now comes the part that really worries me, he thought. “Some problematic individuals and cargoes will inevitably slip through this screening, so our second line of defense will be nationwide random operations that stop people and transporters—road, rail, airliners, river barges, subways—identifying the individuals and screening the transporters and cargo for nuclear indications.

  “These stop and search operations will require new legislative authorities. We will propose legislation as necessary. The first proposals are a national, biometric identity card and a modification to posse comitatus to permit the routine use of regular military units in domestic law enforcement.”

  The attorney general looked up from his papers, seeing agreement on their faces. With a sigh he pushed his reading glasses up and looked at Zimmer. “Sara, are you sure it’s necessary to use the army? It’s for good reason that for over two hundred years the government has severely limited the use of our military in law enforcement.”

  “Ed, I have no doubt,” she said bluntly, “especially right now. There’s no mechanism to control and coordinate the use of local police forces to do what’s necessary. The state police are more centrally organized, but there aren’t enough of them, and anyway both local and state cops still have their regular functions to perform.” She waved toward Leek. “You know the Bureau can’t stretch any further! And even if there were enough law enforcement to do this job alone, we couldn’t yank them away from their normal duties without creating chaos.

  “Mobility’s another issue. We’ve decided that, to maximize effectiveness while minimizing disruption, these operations must be unpredictable, quick hits. For example, suddenly seal off a section of highway, inspect intensely for an hour or two, and then on to another, unpredictable location. That means lots of helos and people, and only the military has enough right now.”

  Under Zimmer’s flat gaze McDonnell felt like she was centering crosshairs on his head.

  “I share your concerns and so does the army. They do not want to do this.” Zimmer rapped her fingers on the table. “We can sunset the authority after two years, during which we build out the law enforcement capacity.”

  As he looked without result for objections, McDonnell thought, I should go to the mat against this, but . . . right now, prevention is
the name of the game. And it was my guys, the FBI, who failed to prevent “Six-thirteen,” as it’s being called. And we still haven’t found evidence of the actual bomber. These days, I have about as much wallop as a snowball in July.

  Shoulders slumped, McDonnell said, “OK, we’re agreed on the recommendations.”

  Chapter 21

  “OK, let’s get started.”

  “Mr. President,” said Dorn, glancing at the other NSC members, “Secretary Ramanna has information about a suspicious transaction that Treasury uncovered.”

  The president beamed. “That’s great—what do you have for us, Vijay?”

  “Mr. President, I persuaded the director general of SWIFT to resume cooperation with us. You recall that group, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication that handles trillions a day in transfers. It’s in Brussels.

  “They were pretty reluctant, because when the New York Times outed them, describing their cooperation with Bush, they got a lot of heat. Eventually, though, I broke through their resistance.”

  Ramanna paused, preened, and took a sip of water.

  “Using their data I was able to uncover a suspicious transaction that happened last January. I confronted my Swiss counterpart—also very reluctant—and got him to run it down for me.

  “I uncovered the transfer of a billion Swiss francs from Iran’s central bank to an account in a private client bank in Zurich. At my insistence, the bank revealed the account holder: a member of Kim’s family!”

  Ramanna’s triumph filled his face.

  “Great work, Vijay!” said the vice president, smiling. “Mr. President, now that money corroborates the other evidence, we’ve got an even stronger case!”

  “If I may play devil’s advocate for a moment, tell me what this establishes, besides the fact that the Kim family is stashing money in a Swiss account,” said the attorney general.

  Spots of color appeared on Griffith’s cheeks. “Ed, it shows that Kim did something last January that earned him a billion francs. He sure didn’t get that from the lousy movies he makes! It must have been from selling the bomb—or bombs!”

  “It certainly could have been, Mr. Vice President, but not necessarily, said McDonnell. “We know the DPRK sells missile technology and maybe missiles themselves to Iran, Myanmar, and, probably, Syria. It also hauls in money from counterfeiting and sells uranium ore. They may also be selling enriched uranium or plutonium from Yongbyon. A billion is a big number, but it could have come from those other sources, plus speculation in gold, which we’re pretty sure Kim has been squirreling away for years. With gold at a thousand an ounce and still climbing . . . you see what I mean?”

  Griffith’s face showed he did, and didn’t like it.

  Martin’s tone said he didn’t want to listen to their sparring: “Vijay, this is really an important piece of the puzzle! Keep on working those channels you pried open. That’s all we need for now, thanks.”

  Looking crestfallen, Ramanna left.

  “I’ve reviewed your options from our first meeting,” said Martin. “I’ve asked John to walk us through them, except for nuclear.” He scanned the room, broadcasting his determination, then continued: “I’ll tell you now I’m not even going to consider nuclear unless and until every other option has failed!”

  That was pretty much in Bruce’s face, he thought. That should keep him off the topic!

  Griffith flushed, although his expression remained politely expectant.

  “John, please take us through the other options.”

  “All options are based on our belief that absent a forceful U.S. response to the Las Vegas bombing, Kim—and perhaps others—will continue to supply nuclear weapons and other hardware, perhaps ballistic missiles, to organizations or governments that will use them against us.”

  “Wait a minute!” said Martin, hand raised. “Why would Kim do that? What’s his motivation to run such a risk?” He looked challengingly around the room. “Anne, you and Scott have both served in major positions focusing on the Koreas—do you agree with John?”

  Hitzleberger, a former ambassador to South Korea, wanted to let Battista, who was once State’s senior regional official for East Asia, test the waters.

  At his deferential gesture she began speaking. “Mr. President, we believe Kim’s motivation is to remain absolute ruler of a viable North Korean state. I feel pretty confident of that, but I feel very little confidence in predicting how that motivation will translate into action.”

  Battista’s face became animated. “He and his father did some amazingly provocative and dangerous things, which would seem to fly in the face of his motivation. To begin with, in 1950 the first Kim invaded the south, the Republic of Korea. In 1968 the North Koreans attacked and captured USS Pueblo, an intelligence-gathering ship, in international waters, and they have kept it to this day. They gave back the crew, living and dead, after about a year. In 1969 they shot down an unarmed U.S. Air Force surveillance plane, in international airspace, killing everyone. The Kims have made several blatant attacks on ROK leaders. One killed the wife of South Korea’s President Park. Another killed several of the South Korean cabinet during a state visit to Burma and barely missed their president. Some say this was when the younger Kim made his bones.”

  Relishing their attention, she continued. “The Kims kidnapped citizens of the ROK and Japan to satisfy what most would say were minor, if not frivolous, needs. And they permitted famine that could have destroyed the country and their own positions in order to hold fast to their ideology of self-sufficiency, called Juche. We’re pretty sure they’ve sold missile technology to Pakistan and Iran. In the midst of negotiations about their nuclear program, the current Kim, Kim Jong-il, ignored both carrots and sticks and tested a nuclear weapon. Two years later he did it again. He once ordered the test firing of a ballistic missile right across Japan! There’s a pretty good case that he contracted with Syria to help them build a facility to produce nuclear weapons material. And of course during the Rogers administration, the current Kim’s regime torpedoed an ROK patrol boat and shelled South Korea itself.

  “It’s really a long record of acts that, frankly, I wouldn’t have predicted from the Kims’ motivations.”

  A gleam in his eyes, Martin pounced: “So, Anne, if his actions don’t track with his presumed motive, maybe you really don’t understand what they’ve been after! Did you ever think about that?”

  Battista’s temper flashed through her eyes. “Not often, Mr. President. Over the years I‘ve spent more time thinking about how to deal with the Kims’ actions.”

  Martin gave her a professorial smile and turned to the CIA director.

  “Mr. President, I agree with Secretary Battista, and I, too, have sometimes been surprised by what they’ve done. I’ll add that, in seventy-five or seventy-six, North Korean troops killed two U.S. soldiers at the DMZ. But I don’t think we should focus on North Korea alone. Perhaps, as a former ambassador to the ROK, I can make a few useful points.

  “The Kims have about seventy million enablers: the people who inhabit the two Koreas. The people of the north suffer terrible conditions, but the great majority genuinely revere Kim Jong-il, just as they revered his father, Kim il-Sung. We tend to dismiss their reverence as forced and comical. Some is forced, but most is not, and none of it is comical, believe me! This tiny country has a larger army than we do, plus ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.”

  Hitzleberger twirled his pen between fingers, as if unrolling a scroll.

  “The North Koreans aren’t a restive people. There isn’t, and hasn’t been for about fifty years, any serious popular opposition to the regime. In a twisted way the Kims’ power has come from the people they rule, because they go obediently to work in factories, farms, and in the army; concentrate on keeping themselves and their families alive; and don’t look for opportunities to rebel.”

  The pen became a baton, flicking upward.

  “And here’s something else that’s twist
ed: While ambassador to South Korea I saw and heard every week that people there think they have an American problem rather than a North Korean problem: America periodically upsets the north, and American troops are present in the south. Most South Koreans aren’t worried about Kim. They just want to be left alone to make the economy grow and enjoy its fruits—and believe if we leave, they will be.”

  Martin nodded.

  “So, naturally, politics in the ROK is about riding the voters’ beliefs. Keep the north placated, usually by providing food and fuel, and push back at U.S. policies that upset Kim.”

  He downed the pen with a distinct smack.

  “Oh, and one more thing: unification.” Hitzleberger pointed to a map. “Both governments say they want unification, but nobody who matters in either country means it. They all know it would be too hard and too disruptive to their personal interests. Everyone pays lip service, but it’s the last thing they want.”

  Martin’s eyes sparkled with interest. “So Scott, how do we change the playing field, in the north and south, to something we can work with? What we’ve inherited isn’t good enough!”

  “Right now, I can’t say, sir. We’ve got a lousy hand, but it looks to me like we’re going to have to play it.”

  “Anybody else? Does anyone have ideas?” The president looked slowly around the silent room. “This simply isn’t good enough! I need—the country needs—fresh thinking. We can’t just keep on doing the same old things and hope that somehow they start working. The families of about eighty thousand dead expect—and deserve—more from their government!”

  He rapped the table.

  “OK, John, let’s hear those options, and hope I get some original thinking as we discuss them.”

  Dorn glanced nervously at his papers. “Mr. President, Option A is to force Kim out, using economic, political, and military pressure. We wouldn’t insist on his prosecution for any crimes, either against the U.S. or against the people of North Korea. Behind the scenes we assist in finding a country that will take Kim and his cronies. This is the ‘Regime Change without War’ option.”