Terminal Compromise, Winn Schwartau [sight word books txt] 📗

and then

won’t fund them. Result? I get stuck in the middle of third tier

rival agency technocrats fighting over their turf or shirking

responsibility, and well , you get the idea. So I’ve got ECCO to

talk to CERT to talk to NIST to talk to . . .and it goes on ad

nauseum.”

“Sorry I asked,” joked Scott.

“In other words,” Ty admitted, “I don’t have the first foggy idea

what we’ll do. They all seem hell bent on power instead of

fixing the problem. And the scary part?”

“What’s that?”

“It looks like it can only get worse.”

* Tuesday, November 11 White House Press Room

“Mr. President,” asked the White House correspondent for Time

magazine. “A recent article in the City Times said that the

military has been hiding a super weapon for years that is capable

of disabling enemy computers and electronics from a great dis-

tance without any physical destruction. Is that true, sir, and

has the use of those weapons contributed to the military’s suc-

cesses over the last few years?”

“Ah, well,” the President hesitated briefly. “The Stealth pro-

gram was certainly a boon to our air superiority. There is no

question about that, and it was kept secret for a decade.” He

stared to his left, and the press pool saw him take a visual cue

from his National Security Director. “Isn’t that right Henry?”

Henry Kennedy nodded aggressively. “We have the best armed

forces in the world, with all the advantages we can bring to

bear, and I will not compromise them in any way. But, if there

is such a classified program that I was aware of, I couldn’t

speak of it even if I didn’t know it existed.” The President

picked another newsman. “Next, yes, Jim?”

During the next question Henry Kennedy slipped off to the ante-

room and called the Director of the National Security Agency.

“Marv, how far have you gotten on this EMP-T thing?” He waited

for a response. “The President is feeling embarrassed.” Another

pause. “So the Exchange is cooperating?” Pause. Wait. “How

many pieces are missing?” Pause. “That’s not what Mason’s

article said.” Longer pause. “Deal with it.”

Immediately after the press conference, the President, Phil

Musgrave, his Chief of Staff, Henry Kennedy and Quinton Chambers

his old time ally and Secretary of State had an impromptu meeting

in the Oval Office.

They sat in the formal Queen Anne furniture as an elegant silver

coffee and tea service was brought in for the five men. Minus

Treasury Secreatry Martin Royce, this was the President’ inner

circle, his personal advisory clique who assisted in making grand

national policy. Anything goes in one of these sessions, the

President had made clear in the first days of his Administration.

Anything.

We do not take things personally here, he would say. We have to

explore all options. All options. Even if they are distasteful.

And in these meeting, treat me like one of the guys. “Yes, sir,

Mr. President.” The only formality of their caucuses was the

President’s fundamental need to mediate the sometimes heated

dialogues between his most trusted aids. They were real

free-for-alls.

“Henry,” the President said. “Before we start, who was that

reporter? Where the hell did that question come up about the

weapon stuff?”

“Forget him. The story started at the City Times. Scott Mason,

sir.” Musgrave replied quickly. His huge football center sized

body overwhelmed the couch on which he sat. “He’s been giving

extensive coverage to computer crime.”

“Well, do we have such a bomb?” he asked with real curiosity.

“Ah, yessir,” Henry Kennedy responded. “It’s highly classified.

But the object is simple. Lob in a few of the EMP-T bombs as

they’re called, shut down their communications and control, and

move in during the confusion. Very effective, sir.”

“Well, let’s see what we can do about keeping secrets a little

better. O.K., boys?” The President’s charismatic hold over even

his dear friends and long time associates made him one of the

most effective leaders in years. If he was given the right

information.

The President scanned a few notes he had made on a legal pad.

“Can I forget about it?” the President closely scrutinized Henry

for any body language.

“Yessir.”

The President gave Henry one more glance and made an obvious

point of highlighting the item. The subject would come up again.

Chapter 12 Thursday, November 14 NASA Control Center, Johnson Space Center

The voice of Mission Control spoke over the loudspeakers and into

hundreds of headsets.

THE GROUND LAUNCH SEQUENCER HAS BEEN INITIATED. WE’RE AT T-MINUS

120 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

The Space Shuttle Columbia was on Launch Pad 3, in its final

preparation for another secret mission. As was expected, the

Department of Defense issued a terse non-statement on its pur-

pose: “The Columbia is carrying a classified payload will be used

for a series of experiments. The flight is scheduled to last

three days.”

In reality, and most everyone knew it, the Columbia was going to

release another KH-5 spy satellite. The KH-5 series was able,

from an altitude of 110 miles, to discern and transmit to Earth

photos so crisp, it could resolve the numbers on an automobile

license plate. The photographic resolution of KH-5’s was the

envy of every government on the planet, and was one of the most

closely guarded secrets that everyone knew about.

T-MINUS 110 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

Mission control specialists at the Cape and in Houston monitored

every conceivable instrument on the Shuttle itself and on the

ground equipment that made space flight possible.

A cavernous room full of technicians checked and double checked

and triple checked fuel, temperature, guidance, computers sys-

tems, backup systems, relays, switches, communications links,

telemetry, gyros, the astronauts’ physiology, life support

systems, power supplies . . .everything had a remote control

monitor.

“The liquid hydrogen replenish has been terminated, LSU pressuri-

zation to flight level now under way. Vehicle is now isolated

from ground loading equipment.”

@COMPUTER T-MINUS 100 SECONDS AND COUNTING

“SRB and external tank safety devices have been armed. Inhibit

remains in place until T-Minus 10 seconds when the range safety

destruct system is activated.”

The Mission Control Room had an immense map of the world spread

across its 140 feet breadth. It showed the actual and projected

trajectories of the Shuttle. Along both sides of the map were

several large rear projection video screens. They displayed the

various camera angles of the launch pad, the interior of the

Shuttle’s cargo hold, the cockpit itself and an assortment of

other shots that the scientists deemed important to the success

of each flight.

T-MINUS 90 SECONDS AND COUNTING

“At the T-Minus one minute mark, the ground launch sequencer will

verify that the main shuttle engines are ready to start.”

T-MINUS 80 SECONDS AND COUNTING

“Liquid hydrogen tanks now reported at flight pressure.”

The data monitors scrolled charts and numbers. The computers

spewed out their data, updating it every few seconds as the

screens flickered with the changing information.

T-MINUS 70 SECONDS AND COUNTING

The Voice of Mission Control continued its monotone countdown.

Every airline passenger is familiar with the neo-Texas twang that

conveys sublime confidence, even in the tensest of situations.

The Count-down monitor above the global map decremented its

numbers by the hundredths of seconds, impossible for a human to

read but terribly inaccurate by computer standards.

“Coming up on T-Minus one minute and counting.”

T-MINUS 60 SECONDS.

“Pressure systems now armed, lift off order will be released at

T-Minus 16 seconds.”

The voice traffic became chaotic. Hundreds of voices give their

consent that their particular areas of responsibility are ship-

shape. The word nominal sounds to laymen watching the world over

as a classic understatement. If things are great, then say ‘Fuel

is Great!’ NASA prefers the word Nominal to indicate that sys-

tems are performing as the design engineers predicted in their

simulation models.

T-MINUS 50 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

The hoses that connect the Shuttle to the Launch Pad began to

fall away. Whirls of steam and smoke appeared around portions of

the boosters. The tension was high. 45 seconds to go.

“SRB flight instrumentation recorders now going to record.”

Eyes riveted to computer screens. It takes hundreds of computers

to make a successful launch. Only the mission generalists watch

over the big picture; the screens across the front of the behe-

moth 80 foot high room.

T-MINUS 40 SECONDS AND COUNTING

“External tank heaters now turned off in preparation for launch.”

Screens danced while minds focused on their jobs. It wasn’t until

there were only 34 seconds left on the count down clock that anyone

noticed.

The main systems display monitor, the one that contained the sum of

all other systems information displayed a message never seen before

by anyone