In the end, the team agreed the hacker was trying to be a bit too witty, imagining himself an enemy in a Batman episode. Ultimately, they concluded it carried no real significance. With no additional leads to pursue, the hacker’s activities quieted down and eventually he vanished.
It was the weirdest case, the director reflected, but in the end, there were more notorious criminals looming about to merit his attention. So he wrote the case off as an unsolved theft, and Director Scott’s team moved on to more imminent threats.
While all the director’s assignments had led to successful conclusions, his first case at the CIA haunted him. For a time, after he officially closed the case, he continued to investigate but always on his own time. For the director, it became a personal challenge. “I wasn’t about to let some clever thief tarnish my perfect record, even if it was only a concern to me,” he often brooded.
He continued to review his copious notes over the years, and finally his patience reaped its overdue reward. After examining one of the case files, he noticed that out of thousands of account numbers the hacker had invaded, one account traced to a regional bank in Boston. The hacker had stolen the eleven dollars of monthly interest from the same bank. However, next to the ending balance in that account, there was no symbol next to the dollar amount. In fact, the bank had credited the money, not debited it from the account.
Following up on this lead, Director Scott was able to establish an address for the account, which was the same address to which the bank had mailed statements. The address was an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a short distance from the Harvard campus. However, when he sent agents to check out the apartment, it was unoccupied and had been for some time. The only furniture remaining was a round table, six chairs, and two telephones sitting on the floor. Nevertheless, he ordered a forensic team to scour the place. Aside from a few partial prints, the evidence led nowhere.
The only other information Director Scott was able to obtain was the name of the renter. Fortunately, the landlord had remembered. That name, still written on the manila file folder containing the only evidence that a crime had even been committed, was Hal Simmons.
But that was then.
—
I have cases that are more pressing, and certainly, after 9/11, my task first and foremost is the concern that terror cells are infiltrating the U.S., he would remind himself.
The world had just witnessed nineteen men of foreign descent who had entered the U.S. illegally, infiltrated cities, befriended neighbors, and carried out a plot to kill thousands of U.S. citizens. Therefore, with the director’s newly appointed power, he decided to establish a secret vetting department and needed an extraordinary analyst to be its “director of one.”
He had the ideal candidate.
Noble Bishop was a recognized research analyst at the CIA who had an excellent reputation and was considered extremely intelligent by his superiors. He is inordinately talented, with a charming, quiet demeanor. He is unquestionably a top-notch analyst, the director recollected.
Noble was tall and lean, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Without question, women found him handsome. His affability, along with many other qualities, would have made him the perfect mate, but evidently, it was not in the cards. Research was the only companion he needed or wanted for the time being.
Noble and the director worked in different divisions at the CIA, so other than having met him briefly on a few occasions and knowing his reputation, the director had no inside information. He obtained his profile on record and discovered that he graduated from Harvard with a master’s degree in computer science. After Harvard, Noble earned a PhD in technology from MIT. Since then, many of his assignments at the CIA were spent developing computer tracking systems to facilitate the various intelligence requests from the agency.
One system allowed cooperating agencies, such as the CIA and Interpol, to download all information they had on various terror cells, as well as data on suspected leaders of those cells. This included surveillance tapes: both audio and visual, fingerprints, and other pertinent information on file.
Noble’s system processed, crosschecked, and verified the information to produce a profile that was more accurate than any single agency could supply. A precise profile gave the agents an enormous advantage in selecting their targets. This system was not only a tremendous tool for agents in the field; more important, it also helped to keep them safe and out of the crossfire. Noble’s ability to develop these systems helped him gather the intelligence, and use his talents to uncover the “undiscoverable,” rivaling other analysts.
The Department of Defense also utilized the models he created to enhance identity recognition and computer network intelligence. These improved techniques for collecting data would address the cross-community challenges facing the country in the future.
Noble is truly a genius, and I need him for this special assignment, thought the director.
Oddly enough, as the director perused Noble’s bio, he noticed that he had attended Harvard during the same time as Hal Simmons, the renter of the Cambridge apartment.
The director placed a call to the young analyst and asked if he would meet with him, to discuss an unusual project he might find of particular interest.
Noble agreed.
—
The following day, at CIA headquarters in Langley, Noble Bishop left his cubicle on the third level below ground and met with the director at the White House to discuss a possible transfer to SIA.
After the usual opening cordiality, the director asked Noble to be seated.
“For some time now, I have been observing the vetting process conducted for elected officials, and I believe it is superficial at best, leaving the country possibly vulnerable,” the director alleged.
“It is true the responsibility of vetting newly elected officials to the Congress seems to be limited to the constituents, the candidates, and sadly, the biased media,” Noble mentioned. “I understand the only careful vetting process performed is for diplomats and cabinet appointees.
“I know from my personal experience at the DSS,” the director explained, “that diplomats go through an FBI check, interviews with the White House counsel, and finally through a confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations committee. In contrast, cabinet appointees go through a slightly more rigorous process, beginning with completing a grueling sixty-three-item questionnaire.”
“I’ve seen the questions, most of which should be limited to confessionals,” Noble quipped.
Smiling in agreement, the director continued, “Following the questionnaire, the FBI conducts a full background check and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics looks for financial conflicts.” He explained how several committees then put the appointee through probing interviews relating to the appointment, and finally the appointee goes through the Senate confirmation process, where the legislators from both sides of the aisle interview the appointee.
“While the process would appear to be comprehensive, I always believed the White House did a miserable job, primarily because it was in the president’s best interest, as well as his party’s, to push these appointments through,” opined the director, “at times conveniently overlooking vital information.”
“I recall,” Nobel interjected, “mostly the media, repeatedly followed the trail to uncover essential items such as unpaid income taxes and unpaid withholding taxes for nannies and house cleaners.”
“Clearly, the tax avoidance issues are not as trivial as they may seem on the surface,” the director volunteered. “In the past, the media have revealed several appointees to cabinet posts owing back taxes in sizable amounts. This oversight, intentional or not, caused many of them to step down, which became a major embarrassment to the president. Back on point, my main concern is the fact that more and more elected officials entering the U.S. Congress may not be native-born U.S. citizens. As I am sure you are aware, the president and the vice president must be natural-born U.S. citizens
. However, members of the Congress must be or become U.S. citizens.”
“What you’d like to know is how many are not native-born?”
“Precisely.”
“If my memory serves me correctly,” Noble said, “in the U.S. Constitution, Article One, Section Two, Clause Two, it states that a representative in the House must be twenty-five years or older and must have been a U.S. citizen for seven years. Similarly, in Article One, Section Three, Clause Three, it states that a senator must be thirty years or older and have been a U.S. citizen for nine years before qualifying to run for office.”
“Now you understand my concern,” the director injected, pleased at Noble’s grasp of the facts.
“Congress is truly becoming a house of cultural diversity, and I can understand why the vetting process is becoming more and more difficult to manage,” Noble acknowledged.
“I firmly believe that if the country is concerned with the possible infiltration of terror cells,” the director stressed, “then we need to take extra steps to ensure these terrorists are not working in our government, and first and foremost, that they are not elected officials. That is why I’ve asked you to consider transferring to the SIA. I need you to design and program a computer system to aid in the vetting process.”
“I’ve always been impressed by the tasks assigned to the SIA, and I do believe it could be another intriguing project,” Noble offered.
“Please take some time to think about the position, but in the meantime, I ask that you discuss it with no one.”
During the interview—or rather, recruiting session—the director asked one last question.
“I noted that you attended Harvard from 1995 to 1997. Perhaps you knew a man by the name of Hal Simmons?”
After careful thought, Noble replied, “No, I’m sorry, the name doesn’t sound familiar.”
—
Noble took a week to mull over the job offer, and although he was professionally satisfied and very much at home at headquarters, he concluded it was time for a career change. Fortunately, for the director, Noble accepted his new assignment, one that would be more deeply undercover than any he’d held before.
In December 2004, Noble moved from his “home away from home” at Langley to his new office just a few blocks from the White House. The office was located in the same “undisclosed” building as the other SIA research analysts, where covert starts at the front door.
Noble had enjoyed many years at Langley, and even though it was the headquarters of the CIA, he was not part of the political sphere he was now entering. Although he was reticent about moving into the lion’s den, so close to the seat of power, intellectually he looked forward to a new and exciting venture.
Noble’s new position was not publicized, and only those in the know would regard him as merely a research analyst, working on special projects for the director. In fact, there would be only two people who would be aware of this ultra-top-secret assignment.
—
It wasn’t until his first official meeting with the director, that Noble fully recognized the scope of his role and the vast power it encompassed.
“First, it is imperative that only you and I know about the existence of SAVIOR,” began the director. During the interview, the director held off giving the specifics of SAVIOR, but now he explained, “SAVIOR is the SIA Appointee Vetting Internal Official Records system I want you to design and program. You must program the system to link the CIA, FBI, and IRS databases, among others.”
“Regrettably,” the director explained, “it will need to be done without the knowledge of these agencies, whose political ties impede them from operating efficiently. Forgive the cliché, but it was one of those ‘easier to get forgiveness than permission’ situations and most certainly we don’t have permission.”
Noble quickly absorbed the gravity of the situation. “I assume there would be no forgiveness, but certainly the administration would tolerate our activities if we ever uncovered a terror cell infiltrating our government?”
“Should that happen, I will take full responsibility,” the director stated, “although I understand should you have second thoughts.”
“I’ve always shared many of the same concerns, and from my time at the CIA, I’ve been privy to the facts of the extent to which these terrorists are penetrating our country.” Noble assured the director he was onboard and the director was more than pleased.
Noble said confidently, “It will require six months to develop SAVIOR, at which time I will be ready to start vetting all new junior senators and representatives joining the Congress, during the 2006 off-year elections.”
“There are two rules I insist on,” the director demanded. “One, no vetting the president. Two, only information that threatens our national security will be divulged—surreptitiously, of course—and upon my approval. The first rule is mostly out of respect for the office of the presidency and not the man himself, for whom I personally hold no sway either way,” the director admitted. “One of my major concerns is the threat of terrorists making their way into the U.S. Congress. SAVIOR will investigate all members running for office, both in the House and the Senate. The non-U.S. citizens who became U.S. citizens and then ran for Congress merit scrutiny. I specifically want to add them to our Watch List.”
“I understand. You can count on me to follow your directives, Director Scott.”
“One more rule, call me Hamilton.”
16
OH, LORDY
The April showers disappeared and the May flowers, along with the June brides, had come and gone. Six months had passed and Noble was in the final stage of beta testing SAVIOR. Pleasantly satisfied with the overall outcome, he scheduled an appointment to meet with Hamilton to review the results.
On that day, as he strolled down Pennsylvania Avenue enjoying the warmth of the sun on his back and the moderately cooler breeze on his face, he suddenly heard someone shout, “Ciao, Lordy!”
Noble had not heard that name since his college days.
As he turned toward the voice, he saw his classmate from Harvard, Paolo Salvatore. He crossed the avenue and quickly received Paolo’s Italian embrace and a kiss on each cheek. The affectionate greeting instantly reminded Noble of the generosity of his college mates, all those years ago.
“My friend, it is so good to see you, what a pleasant surprise!” Paolo beamed. “We must go someplace now where we can catch up. It has been much too long.”
“Paolo, it is wonderful to see you as well, and while I’d love to, right now I am late for an appointment. Can we get together later this evening?”
“Perfetto! Where shall we meet?”
Noble arranged to meet Paolo at the Blackfinn American Saloon, a popular hangout among politicos, both those who worked on the Hill and the political analysts who critiqued them. It was a strange mixture of patrons, but after hours, ideological views were secondary to friends sharing a few drinks.
During happy hour at the Blackfinn, Noble and Paolo, sitting on the two end stools at the bar, reacquainted themselves. Over several hours, a few beers, and some appetizers, they reminisced about their time at Jake’s, followed by the usual twenty questions posed by Paolo, the extrovert.
“What have you been doing since you left Harvard?” he quizzed, adding a wink. “Is there a special woman in your life?”
“Starting with your last question first, I am still single, by choice,” Noble answered with a remarkably convincing smile. “After leaving Harvard, I attended MIT and earned a PhD in technology, and then I was hired as a research analyst at the CIA.” Noticing Paolo’s raised eyebrows, Noble quickly added, “Nothing covert, just basic routine intelligence gathering.”
Anxious to hear more, Paolo simply returned a smile and urged him to continue.
“Then last December I transferred to the SIA. It’s a fairly similar job, just the focus is more directed toward illegal immigration. I imagine it is pretty boring stuff to most people, but I like the fact that I can
work alone.”
“You are still such a loner, Noble,” teased Paolo.
“It suits me. Now it’s my turn to interrogate you,” he offered, returning the raised eyebrow. “I recently became aware that you were working for Senator Baari.” Embarrassed at his admission, Noble assured him, “I had every intention of getting in touch with you, but I’ve been involved with a project that has monopolized my time.”
“Apology accepted.”
“I’d be fascinated to hear about the inner workings of a senatorial race. It must have been very exciting.”
Paolo took the opportunity to touch on what it was like to work for the senator, and at the same time filled him in on Hank, Seymour, and Chase, and the contributions they had made to the campaign.
“What about Simon?”
“I have no idea where Simon is or how to locate him,” Paolo alleged, diverting his eyes in an attempt to hide his deception.
“Ever since leaving Harvard I’ve been trying to locate Simon to repay him the tuition money he loaned me,” Noble explained. “He seems to have vanished.”
Paolo, quickly changing the subject, began to talk of the various speeches he had authored. “My words have catapulted many into elected office,” he boasted.
Noble listened to the long list of names attached to those speeches and was reasonably impressed.
Then Paolo turned to the personal aspects of his life, explaining that he lived in Washington, actually just a few blocks from the Capitol, on Tenth Street near the H Street Corridor.
“A few years ago I bought a two-bedroom row house that functioned as my office before I started to work for the senator. And, yes, I too am still single. Although I have a long string of choices to occupy the dating scene, of course,” he bragged. Paolo admitted, however, none thus far had captivated him.
The two of them appeared to be enjoying themselves as they continued for another hour of kibitzing about the usual topics discussed inside the Beltway. They became so absorbed that time got away from them, so they agreed to call it a night and reconnect another time.
Brotherhood Beyond the Yard (The Simon Trilogy) Page 14