him within the organisation, and connected to an operation, 'But I've no idea of the.
'Details? No, of course you haven't. Just as in your old Service people work on a need-to-know basis, so we must be exceptionally careful, particularly with this current work. No one person is in possession of the full picture, with the exception of Colonel Rahani and myself, of course.' He made a slight movement of the fingers and head, which was meant to convey modesty. It was a curiously oriental gesture, as though he wished Bond to realise that he was really unworthy to be granted the honour of knowing such plans. Bond also noted that it was now Colonel Rahani, and he wondered where that title came from.
especially careful concerning you, I fear,' St. John-Finnes was saying. 'Our principals were very much against giving you a situation of trust, but - since Erewhon - we have made them think twice.'
'This job? The one you've recruited me for. . . Bond started. 'Has been in the making for a considerable time. A large amount of money was needed, and our principals were, shall we say, short of funds. This suited us. We're packagers, Bond. So we packaged some moneymaking projects to finance the main thrust.'
'Hence the Kruxator Collection and other high-tech robberies.' Jay Autem Holy, alias St. John-Finnes, remained icy cold. Only in his eyes could Bond detect a tiny wariness.
'You come to interesting deductions, my dear Bond. For one who knows nothing.
'Stab in the dark.' Bond's face betrayed nothing. 'After all, there have been several imaginative robberies lately all with the same handwriting. A case of putting two and two together, and maybe coming in with the correct answer.
Holy made a noncommittal grunt. 'I'll accept that you're clean, Bond. But still my orders are to segregate you. You possess knowledge and skill which we require you to use now.
'Well?'
'Well, as a former field officer of the Secret Intelligence Service, you must have a working knowledge of the diplomatic and military communications network.'
'Yes.'
'Tell me, then, do you know what an EPOC frequency is?'
'Yes.' He remained as bland as before, though the turn of the conversation was beginning to worry him.
The last time Bond had heard of EPOC frequencies was when he had had to guard against aggressive signal monitoring during a visit to europe by the President of the United States.
EPoc for Emergency Presidential Orders Command EPOC frequency was the cleared radio which emergency messages could be sent during an official tour outside the md of signal is sent over an EPOC 'S though giving the matter some thought. 'Only vital military instructions.
Sometimes a response to a military problem demanding the President's decision alone. Sometimes action inaugurated by him.'
'And how are these orders transmitted?'
'Usual high-speed traffic, but on a line kept permanently clear, via one of the communications satellites.'
'No, I mean the nature of the transmissions. The form they take.'
'Oh.
A simple group of digits. Data, I suppose. The orders that can be given through the EPOC frequency are very limited. It's rarely used you know.'
'Quite.' Holy gave what could only be described as a knowing smile. 'Rarely used, and very limited - but with the most far-reaching consequences?' Bond agreed. 'The President would use the EPOC frequency only on strong recommendation from his military advisers.
The messages are usually concerned with rapid deployment of conventional troops and weapons..
'The alteration in the Readiness State of nuclear strike capacity?'
'That's a priority, yes.'
'And tell me, would the instructions be obeyed? Immediately, I mean. Suppose the President were, for the sake of argument, in Venice and wished both to put NATO forces on the alert and prepare his nuclear strike forces for action.
Would it be done? Without consultation?'
'Quite possibly. The code for that kind of action is, in effect, a computer program. Once it's fed into the system it works. In the scenario you're suggesting, the British Prime Minister and the Commander-in-Chief NATO would consult back. But the Readiness State would continue.
'And if the British Prime Minister and the C-in-C NATO forces were known to be with the President at the moment of transmission?' It was very dangerous ground. Bond frit his stomach turn over. Then he remembered Rahani's words - 'No blackmail . . . no plots to kidnap the President, or hold the world to ransom 'In those circumstances the instructions would go to all local commanders automatically. They would be fed into the mainframe computers, the program would begin to run, globally, straight away. No question.' This was something more devious, more ingenious than some harebrained revolutionary plan to override the system and transmit presidential orders to raise the level of tension between the superpowers. 'But surely you know all of this.'
'Indeed I do.' There was an almost insane tranquillity in the way in which Holy answered. 'Oh, I know the minutiae. Just as I know who has access to the daily ciphers for use through the EPOC frequency, and who also has access to that frequency.
'Tell me.' Bond gave the impression of not knowing the small print.
'Come, Mr. Bond. You know as well as I do.
'I'd rather hear it from you, sir.'
'There are only eleven ciphers that are capable of being sent via EPOC. These are seldom altered, for, as you say, they are programs, designed to be automatically set in motion while the President is out of the country. The eleventh is, incidentally, a countermand program to stop an order, returning things to the status quo. But that can be used only on a limited time scale.
The frequency itself is altered at midnight every two days. Right?'
'I believe so.
'The ciphers are carried by that omnipresent, and somewhat frightening official known as the Bag Man.
Correct?'
'The system has been found reliable,' Bond agreed.
'There was a Bag Man present in J.F.K. 's entourage in Dallas.
It's never been changed. He's always around - in the United States as well as when the President travels abroad. It's the penalty for having your head of state as C-in-C Armed Forces.'
'The Bag Man can part with the ciphers and EPOC frequency only to the President, or the Vice-President, should anything happen,' Holy went on. 'Should the President meet with a fatal accident overseas, the ciphers would be immediately null and void, unless the Vice-President were with him.'
'Yes.'
'So, if someone - anyone - were in possession of the EPOC frequency, and the eleven ciphers, it would be possible to relay a command which would automatically begin to run?' For the first time since they had started talking, Bond smiled, slowly shaking his head.
'No. There is a fail safe.
The EPOC frequency is a beamed satellite signal. It goes directly through one of the Defense Communications Satellite Systems, and they are very tricky little beggars.
The program will run only if the satellite confirms that the signal has come directly from the area where it knows - because it has been told - the President is. You would have to be very close to him before you could beat the system.
'Good.' To Bond's surprise, Jay Autem Holy looked quite happy.
'Would you be surprised to learn that we already have the eleven ciphers, the programs?'
'Nothing surprises me any more. But if you're playing games with an Emergency Presidential Order you still have to get hold of the frequency for the forty-eight hours when you plan to operate. Then you have to get close to the President, and be able to use the frequency. I'd say the last two were the hardest parts getting near the President with the equipment needed to transmit, and obtaining the necessary frequency.
'So who else knows the EPOC frequency - always? I'll tell you, Mr. Bond. The Duty Intelligence Officer at the NATO C-in-C's Headquarters, the Duty Communications Officer at the C.I.A. HQ Langley, the Duty Communications Officer at N.S.A the corresponding senior communications officers of the U.S. armed forces - and, Mr. Bond, the
