Weber was clearly agitated. His rapid-fire questions revealed a lot about him. He was prepared for Ghost’s presentation, and these were preplanned attacks on his team’s report. All of them were meant to destroy his credibility in the eyes of the attendees.
Rather than respond to his question, Ghost intentionally paused. For one, he wanted to see if the overbearing chief of staff was finished with his interrogation. Second, Ghost wanted the man’s open hostilities toward him to permeate the room. His own calm demeanor would stand in stark contrast to Weber’s outburst.
“All of the issues you raised are valid and under further investigation. We are dispatching a team to follow up on all leads, including actionable intelligence of a possible South American connection, including Argentina.”
Weber shook his head but didn’t respond.
The president took an opportunity to ask a question. “Mr. Smith, based upon what you know so far, do you think this group, whoever they are, plan to strike again in the near future? If so, where?”
Ghost was glad to be speaking directly with President Taylor again. “Mr. President, I am suggesting the Secretary of State issue an ALDAC to increase security and to carefully screen all outside personnel entering their embassy compounds.” An ALDAC, short for the distribution list to All Diplomatic and Consular posts, was an urgent cable sent over the Secretary of State’s signature, issuing enhanced security measures to be implemented, among other classified matters.
The president shrugged and looked to his chief of staff for affirmation. “I don’t see anything wrong with that under the circumstances, do you?”
“No, Mr. President. I’ll let State know.”
Ghost continued. “In addition, Mr. President, we suggest you raise the current FPCON level from Bravo to at least Charlie.” Signs posted on U.S. military installations around the world state the Force Protection Condition, or FPCON, at which that particular location was operating. For example, green, or normal, indicated there was no known enemy or threat. The current level, as Ghost stated, was yellow, or designation Bravo. This meant there was an increased and predictable threat of terrorism. A move to orange, or Charlie, would warn everyone within the military facility of an imminent threat of terrorism.
“Whadya think, Remy?” asked the president, who rarely made any decision without Weber’s approval.
“I would have to defer to the Joint Chiefs, sir. Making the move from Bravo to Charlie has a sizable impact on base operations. The installation will strictly enforce control and entry. All vehicles will be searched. Purses and bags will be searched. Normally accessible parking areas will be closed based upon their location. HESCO barriers and such will need to be deployed. It’s a tremendous undertaking considering, I might add, that we have no evidence of an imminent threat other than a presumption there’s more sarin out there.”
The president turned back to Ghost. “Anything else?”
Ghost had saved the next suggestion for last. Based upon the interaction with Weber, he engaged in a brief inner debate as to whether he should continue. In the end, he did his duty regardless of the anticipated tongue-lashing.
“Mr. President, at present, the NTAS indicates no current advisories. We suggest an advisory be issued to at least elevated if not intermediate.” The National Terrorism Advisory System had replaced the previous color-coded terrorism threat levels used by the Department of Homeland Security. The NTAS used three primary terrorism threat levels—elevated, intermediate, or imminent.
Weber exploded. “Good grief. Absolutely not. Mr. Smith, we were attacked in Azerbaijan, of all places. It’s half a world away and just happens to be in the backyard of Iran. I cannot advocate scaring Americans with absolutely no credible threat of an attack. There’s nothing in the PDB that indicates one is imminent, much less in the planning stages.”
Ghost tried to respond, but Weber continued.
“We don’t take these things lightly, and when an advisory is issued, it can’t be based upon conjecture. Details have to be provided, like geographic region, mode of transportation, critical infrastructure threatened, and what protective actions are being taken to ease the minds of the public. People will demand to know what their government is doing to stop the threat and what they should do to protect themselves. A blanket advisory, even at the elevated level, garners media attention, who will demand details. I can’t sign off on this at all, Mr. President.”
The president looked at Ghost, who remained stoic throughout Weber’s beratement. “Mr. Smith, we’ll take your suggestions under advisement. Our thanks go out to you and your team for this report. Please keep my chief of staff abreast of any new findings.”
Ghost had been dismissed. He stood, thanked the president for allowing him to present their findings, and made his way out the door. Once in the hallway, he was given back his cell phone, and one of the watch officers escorted him to a waiting vehicle that drove him to his own car. As he rode alone in the back seat, he replayed the entire briefing over and over again in his head.
He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and sent a brief text to Jackal.
Ghost: Do some digging on Remy Weber. Eyes only.
Jackal: Yes, sir.
Chief of Staff Remy Weber concluded the briefing thirty minutes later after a roundtable discussion of Ghost’s suggestions. He successfully convinced the president to follow his course of action,
