The God's Eye View

CHAPTER 9

It turned out to be worse than Anders was expecting. The White House chief of staff told him the president was convening the National Security Council to consider “all options,” including a rescue. They needed to know what NSA could deliver based on everything in the video: topography, angle of the sun, quality of light, vegetation. Every electronic communication in the region was to be scoured. If they could identify Hamilton’s location, JSOC wanted to go in. And the president was inclined to let them.

He assured the chief of staff that NSA was collating all available intelligence and would have it ready for the NSC’s consideration later that morning. And then he headed over to his interview.

The original plan was for a general-interest discussion, with the talking head softened up by the sight of Anders in his full fruit-salad army service uniform. The venue would also be seductive: an otherwise useless room called the Information Dominance Center that had been designed to look like the deck of the starship Enterprise, with arrays of giant flat-panel screens, ellipses of LED lighting, and banks of computer monitors. The NSA advance team knew to instruct the camera crew to film only from certain angles, lest the top-secret nature of the room be revealed to America’s enemies, and the crew would naturally comply, grateful for the opportunity to behold one of NSA’s mysteries, with the desired subservience thereby established before even a word of the interview had been conducted.

Anders arrived on schedule, a tablet-toting aide in tow. The aide held the tablet while Anders scanned and signed something on it, and then the aide made a show of scurrying off, as though the fate of the free world rode on the timely delivery of Anders’s signature. Of course the aide could have just transmitted the signature rather than hand-carrying it, but where was the drama, the importance, in that?

“Brian,” Anders said, extending his hand. “Good to see you.”

“A pleasure, General,” the talking head replied, pumping Anders’s hand. “I really appreciate your taking the time. Especially with the new terrorist video this morning. Is it all right if I ask about that? I know the interview parameters have already been agreed upon, but I think the American people would want to hear your thoughts on so important a matter.”

Anders smiled at the man’s attempt at flattery. Was he really so dim he didn’t know Anders would want to discuss that video, that he wouldn’t have to be cajoled into doing it?

“Of course, Brian. I’m happy to discuss what I can. I’m afraid we might have to cut things short, though. Obviously there’s a lot going on just now.”

“Of course, sir, absolutely. If the way we’ve positioned the camera is acceptable, we can get started right away.”

Anders nodded. Sir and General and If that would be acceptable. He would never get over the supposed watchdog press’s instinctive deference to power. Not that he minded, of course.

With the camera rolling, the talking head introduced himself and explained in breathless tones that he was conducting this interview from NSA’s own Information Dominance Center, which they weren’t permitted to film because it was all so secret.

“Good morning, General.”

“Good morning, Brian.”

“Sir, I know your schedule is particularly tight today and I appreciate your taking the time. This morning we all woke to another horrifying video: an American journalist, bound and on his knees, threatened by a masked terrorist.”

They’d be sure to overlay the appropriate image when they aired the interview. That was good.

“Yes,” Anders said in his most sober tone.

“I guess what I and every other member of the civilized world is wondering now, sir, is what response the government is planning.”

“Obviously, Brian, I’m not in a position to discuss what we may or may not be thinking in terms of a response.”

“Fair enough, sir, but what about your capabilities? For better or worse, and many would say worse, we all know a great deal more today about NSA capabilities than we did not so very long ago. And yet here we have another journalist kidnapped. Is there anything the government could have done to prevent this?”

That, Anders knew, would strike viewers as a tough question, which was why the talking head had asked it. Appearances had to be maintained.

“Well, Brian, what I’d say is this: There’s a lot NSA can lawfully do, and within that legal framework, we are as aggressive as we can be. And, of course, there are always additional tools we’d like to have to keep Americans safe. But whether we should have those tools is a question for the legislature, not for NSA.”

“Not even an opinion, sir?”

He badly wanted to float the notion of implanting people with chips, but sensed it would be too much at this point. But wait, what about what the Pakistani government was doing… cutting off cell phone service to anyone who hadn’t agreed to have his or her fingerprints matched to a phone SIM card? If Pakistan could do that, why couldn’t America? And in fact, wouldn’t that be a great sound bite? Why is Pakistan doing more to keep its citizens safe than we are?

But he rejected that temptation, too. This wasn’t the occasion. And certainly there would be other opportunities.

“Not one that would be relevant or appropriate, no,” Anders said, after a moment. “As for our response to the latest outrage, that is of course the president’s purview.”

The talking head seized on that, as Anders had hoped he would. “If — hypothetically — the president were to order a rescue, what would be NSA’s role?”

Anders adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. “Our role is to support the president with all available resources. And while those resources are considerable, Brian, I do want to caution any hotheads among us. We know Ryan Hamilton is in a grave position. Exceptionally grave. And as desirous as all of us are to see him return safely to the Homeland, we also want to make sure we don’t do anything that worsens his situation or the possible outcomes. There are many, many moving parts right now, and they need time to work properly. Anyone demanding immediate action, without a comprehensive understanding of Hamilton’s circumstances, could easily be hastening the worst for the young man. So I would urge everyone to be patient, to give the president space to use all the sources and methods available to us to ensure Hamilton’s ultimate safety.”

The rest of the interview was the usual awestruck network suck job. Not that Anders minded. It was just that this time, burnishing his brand wasn’t a particular priority. He had to clear up this Hamilton situation. It would be very bad if the journalist somehow were to make it home.