Spymaster

CHAPTER 53

It was Sunday and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations was quiet. The offices were located in a building at First Avenue and Forty-fifth Street right across from the main UN building, which ran along the East River.

Ambassador Rebecca Strum received the three Baltic States Ambassadors in her private conference room. Her staff had catered a light brunch. Arrayed along the credenza was an assortment of pastries, meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, and quiche. There were also two large carafes of coffee — one regular, one decaf.

As the Ambassadors prepared their plates, they made small talk. Normally, this kind of talk was about the weather, what plays or exhibits they might have taken in over the weekend, or what new restaurants they had visited. This weekend, though, hadn’t been normal.

The Ambassadors had been in their respective offices working, practically around the clock. On Friday, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia had come under a variety of cyberattacks — more than the normal probes they were all used to. As the weekend had progressed, the efforts against their governments had escalated. The situation was so concerning that by Sunday morning they had requested an urgent meeting with the U.S. Ambassador.

Strum had her assistant usher all the aides out of the conference room and then closed the heavy wooden doors behind them. She wanted this conversation to be absolutely private.

An hour earlier a countersurveillance team had completed its sweep of the office and had deemed it clean. Picking up a special remote, she pressed a button that closed the heavy draperies, followed by another button, which activated the room’s countermeasures. Cell phones had been left outside the room as well. They were now secure and could chat at will.

Pouring coffee, they chose seats at the conference table and sat down. The Estonian Ambassador started things off. “Starting Friday, we saw a surge in attacks against our banking and health-care industries. We have several hospitals that have been locked out of their electronic medical records systems and an entire portion of southern Estonia where ATMs went offline.”

“The situation in Lithuania is similar,” said its Ambassador. “Though the focus has been on our energy resources. Rolling blackouts have been occurring in our major cities and multiple natural gas plants have been taken offline.”

The Latvian Ambassador spoke last. “While our cybersecurity experts have seen probes in all of these areas — especially in regard to newspapers and the websites of our political parties — our issue is less cyberwarfare and more information warfare. Friday afternoon, embarrassing information — I believe the Russians call it kompromat—was released about our President and an alleged affair from two years ago, with a member of Parliament. There was video, obviously shot in some hotel room, as well as still photos. The leakers are promising to release more tonight.

“Needless to say, this has been very damaging to their respective political parties, but it has also raised questions about the legitimacy of his election, as the woman resigned after it was learned her brother-in-law had been involved in vote tampering. That stain has now spread to our President.”

“I see,” mused Strum. “Is there any indication, other than the affair, that your President has done anything untoward?”

The Latvian Ambassador shook his head. “Not that I know of, but ever since the story broke, Riga has been in damage-control mode. They are very nervous, and the suggestion that there’s more to come is only fueling the scandal. If our election is seen as illegitimate, there will be a true crisis of confidence. The government is worried about the real possibility of street protests, maybe even violence.”

“In addition to a potential health crisis, with doctors and nurses locked out of medical records, we’re also concerned about a bank run,” the Estonian Ambassador said. “After Russia’s massive cyberattack in 2007 we promised our citizens that we would do everything we could to make sure it never happened again. If Russia keeps this up, we will also have a crisis of confidence.”

Strum remembered the 2007 attack on Estonia. It had lasted for three weeks and had been absolutely unprecedented.

It had centered on one of her favorite towns in Europe, Tallinn. Situated on the Gulf of Finland, fifty miles south of Helsinki, it was Estonia’s capital and largest city.

In Tallinn’s center had stood a bronze war memorial commemorating the Soviet war dead who had helped liberate the city from the Nazis.

Tired of a Soviet military monument in downtown Tallinn, and feeling it would be more appropriate in a cemetery, Estonia relocated the bronze statue, as well as the human remains underneath, to the Tallinn Military Cemetery.

The Russians had gone apoplectic. It made no difference to them that Estonia was a free and sovereign nation, and could choose what it wanted to do. Relocating the statue had been considered an incredible insult to Russia, and so they had decided to make Estonia pay.

The attacks came in waves, targeting anything and everything Estonia had connected to the Internet.

Though Estonia was careful not to make the situation worse by directly accusing Russia, quietly NATO had flown in highly specialized cyberteams to pinpoint the identity and location of the hackers, as well as to help Estonia beef up its cyberdefenses.

The fact that such an attack was possible, and on such a major scale, had been a terrifying wake-up call to the West in general and NATO in particular.

Now it was happening again, but on a much more precisely targeted basis. The Russians knew where to strike to cause maximum damage, and that’s exactly what they were doing.

“Is it the opinion of the United States,” asked the Latvian Ambassador, “that the time has come for us to mobilize our armed forces? Is this the precursor to the attack that we were warned about?”

“Lithuania asks the same question,” said its Ambassador.

“And Estonia,” added its Ambassador.

Strum knew that it was important to project calm and confidence. “While we share your concern, we think any change in your military posture would be premature at this time — and might even be seen as antagonistic. You don’t want to give the Russians an excuse to match your moves by massing troops and material on your respective borders.”

“Isn’t that what they’re already doing?” asked the Lithuanian Ambassador. “Their claim of an unscheduled military training exercise is nothing more than a fig leaf.”

“We do share that concern as well,” said Strum. “And again, I need to stress that we are asking you not to change your postures. Let’s not give the Russians any more help than we have to.”

“Then in the meantime, what do you propose we do?” asked the Estonian.

“Keep the lines of communication open,” she replied. “We are working on something we think may be helpful in this area.”

“A solution?” asked the Latvian.

Strum tilted her head from side to side, weighing the correct wording. “Something more akin to leverage.”

“When will we have this leverage?”

“We are working on it now. I hope to have something for you very soon.”

“On behalf not just of our nations, but of the entire NATO alliance,” said the Lithuanian Ambassador, “I must ask you to please hurry. I fear we are rapidly running out of time.”