5th July
Robin, Charlotte Goldman and President Redman once more sat together in the Oval Office.
The previous subterfuge involving Paul had been explained to the president and Charlotte. There was, however, no need for more than one member of Theta to be at this meeting, so both Robert and Paul had remained at the hotel.
The Chief of IT Security for the White House, Elliot Parker, had just completed an electronic bug sweep of the room to ensure the total secrecy of subsequent conversations. Elliot had returned to his office, confident that there were no surveillance devices present – other than the one that he had installed.
Elliot went to his laptop, put on headphones and began to monitor the discussion.
Robin explained about the surveillance operation on Rodriguez and its current progress. ‘Do you have anyone called Dean working in the White House?’ Robin asked.
‘There are about seventeen-hundred people working in the White House,’ Charlotte explained. ‘I wouldn’t recognise them all, and there are likely to be several people called Dean.’
Robin passed a photograph to Charlotte. ‘This is the best shot we got of him when he met with Rodriguez,’ said Robin.
Charlotte looked at the picture. ‘That’s Dean Hemmingway,’ she said in surprise. ‘You say he’s working for WAR!’
‘That’s right,’ said Robin.
‘That explains the presidential orders for the attacks on Waterford and Gobekli Tepe – and the recovery of the CMW,’ said Charlotte. ‘He’s responsible for generating presidential passwords. He would certainly be in a position to issue covert orders on behalf of the president.’
‘I know that Joan wanted to monitor known members of WAR, without alerting them, in the hope of gaining more intelligence,’ said John Redman, ‘but Hemmingway’s position is far too sensitive for an infiltrator to hold.’
‘We could give him a fortnight’s notice of a change of role – one that didn’t include knowledge of the presidential password,’ suggested Charlotte. ‘It’s normal practice to reassign staff from time to time. The two week lead-in would give the impression that there wasn’t a panic, and we’d still have two weeks to monitor his behaviour.’
‘Does Hemmingway currently construct the presidential passwords for the use of nuclear weapons in addition to the passwords for other presidential orders?’ Robin asked.
‘Not exactly,’ said Charlotte. ‘He generates the passwords, but that’s achieved via a complex computer program. He’s no control over what the password actually is, and the nuclear passwords are automatically sent to the launch computers.
‘He knows the passwords, however, and informs the president.
‘He couldn’t independently launch a nuclear strike, mind you, because the PAL, the Permissive Action Link code, goes to the launch computers via a different route.’
‘Where does that come from?’ asked Robin.
‘The Pentagon,’ John Redman replied. ‘The PAL is changed every five months and sent directly to the Air Force Nuclear Missile Corps, who man the silos. The presidential password is changed daily and sent by computer to the missiles, which are in a permanent state of readiness. A copy of that password is with me at all times.
‘Confirming that presidential password, via an encrypted link, allows launches to take place – after the Pentagon has rechecked the threat and confirmed the PAL with the computers that are on board the missiles to be launched.’
‘In order to bypass you,’ Robin clarified, ‘there would need to be one person in the White House who knew your password and one person in the Pentagon who could access the Permissive Action Link code and send confirmation of it to the missiles via the correct route.’
‘That’s right,’ said the president.
‘Hemmingway could sabotage a launch simply by giving you the wrong password,’ Robin suggested.
‘Yes,’ said the president, ‘and the same would be true if there was someone in the Pentagon who provided an inaccurate version of the PAL.’
‘Could those two people change the PAL and the password at the last moment?’ Robin asked.
‘No,’ Charlotte replied. ‘For security, the PAL can only be changed every five months, and the presidential password is only changed once a day.’
There was a pause.
‘You look puzzled, Robin,’ said Charlotte.
‘Well, it is pretty complicated,’ Robin replied. ‘I was thinking that if A51H is to provide accurate launch data to ARK, so that the Python team can take control of the missiles and prevent WAR from sabotaging a launch against the asteroid, then the information that A51H obtains must come directly from the data sent to the missile launch computers.
‘The plan couldn’t reliably work if there was any opportunity within the process for A51H to simply accept a false password that WAR might pass to the president – or an inaccurate confirmation of the PAL that the WAR operative in the Pentagon might send to the missile computers.’
‘That’s true,’ the president replied.
‘Then the A51H operatives who obtain that information – and we don’t know who they are, as Hunter and White never knew – must have access to the relevant data connections within the White House and within the Pentagon,’ Robin concluded. ‘Who is in that position in the White House – someone for whom that sort of access is a normal part of their job and for whom the collection of that information wouldn’t arouse suspicion?’
‘Elliot Parker would be in a uniquely good position to do that,’ said Charlotte Goldman.
It was no more than two minutes later when a knock came on the door of the Oval Office.
Elliot Parker entered the room.
‘Mr. President, Ms. Goldman, Mr. Marsh,’ said Elliot, ‘I think we need to talk.’