General Schwartz said, “It’s still killing my IRA. Stock market’s down lower than in 2009.”
“Yes, sir. The psychological impact, and the economic impact of the disruption, are very real.”
“Thank you, Mr. Diaz,” Susan said.
The man nodded and returned to his seat.
The director looked at his watch, then back up at Susan. “Tell me more about Jinshan.”
“Cheng Jinshan has multiple roles — he’s a Chinese national, the billionaire head of multiple Chinese Internet- and media-related companies. His companies make up a large portion of the cybersecurity and censorship wings of the Chinese technology industry. We also have strong evidence that he started off as, and continues to be, a covert agent within the Chinese Ministry of State Security. The confluence of these two positions has made him a major power player in the Chinese government. To put it another way, he has his hands in everything. Jinshan has a personal relationship with the Chinese president, who recently appointed him head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. This is the Chinese agency intended to root out corruption in the government. But the CIA’s Chinese bureau thinks that Jinshan may have been using the CCDI to insert loyalists across the government.”
“Sounds like a busy guy,” said General Schwartz.
“Yes, sir. Our sources tell us that Jinshan has been trying to prepare China for what he sees as a coming collapse of their economy. Our own analysts agree that a Chinese economic downturn is inevitable.”
The general said, “I thought the Chinese economy was booming. They make everything over there.”
“Sir, while Chinese manufacturing is robust, their manufacturing boom occurred between ten and twenty years ago,” Susan said. “Now, the money from that economic boom has made many Chinese citizens wealthier. People have moved from the poor rural areas to the wealthier and more congested cities. While it is still a communist nation, the Communist party has been propped up by the furious pace of economic growth. But that rate of growth is now slowing. The low-hanging fruit has been plucked from the tree, so to speak. China has effectively put off the bubble bursting by using artificial currency manipulation. But even that can only do so much to keep reality from taking hold.”
The director said, “So is that what all that Dubai Bitcoin stuff was about? Currency manipulation so that China could keep its economic advantage?”
Susan nodded. “We believe that’s part of it, sir. Cheng Jinshan had a team of hackers that was trying to manipulate the value of Bitcoin. He then helped to influence the Chinese government to partially adopt backing its own currency with Bitcoin. But the hacking and criminal manipulation of the Dubai Bitcoin Exchange became public thanks to the work of our CIA team in Dubai. Now, proper safeguards are in place, and that artificial manipulation cannot take place. However, the Chinese economic situation is looking more dire by the day.”
“So the bubble is about to pop, and the owner of the largest army in the world, a communist nation, will have hell to pay if it can’t make its citizens happy.” The director looked at General Schwartz. “You have any questions?”
“What else do we know about Jinshan’s background?” Schwartz asked.
Susan looked down at her notes. “He is highly intelligent. He was a competitive chess player in college. He’s charismatic — a gifted orator, when out in public. But he prefers his privacy. We’ve only recently been made aware of how deep his influence goes. He has no family — never married. No vices that we know of.”
The director looked skeptical. “Everyone’s got something. Keep looking.”
“Sir, there is one thing, although it’s not a vice. It’s his health. Our investigation in Dubai uncovered that he may have visited a cancer specialist while he was there.”
“Really? That’s interesting. Any chance this situation is going to resolve itself in the near future?”
A few laughs from the group.
“We aren’t sure, sir. That’s all we’ve managed to find out thus far.”
The director looked at his watch again and then stood up. “Alright. The general and I need to run. I want updates twice a day, and any time there is any urgent news. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
The president sat at the end of the long conference table. “Please proceed, Admiral.”
“Mr. President, at twenty-two thirty local in Tehran today, electronic surveillance aircraft picked up a conversation between the Iranian Supreme Leader and his head of the Iranian naval forces. In that conversation, he told the Iranian Navy head to prepare two Iranian Kilo-class submarines to deploy under what we in the US military would term as a weapons-free ROE.”
“Mr. President, under the weapons-free rules of engagement, a military asset would fire at anything not identified as friendly,” the chief of staff said.
The admiral continued, “Sir, for a submarine — especially an Iranian submarine that doesn’t have the sonar capabilities and training that our subs do — this would mean that they would start sinking just about everything they see. This order is in addition to movement we have witnessed indicating that the Iranians are preparing to lay mines, sir.”
The president shook his head. “Now what in the Sam Hill is that madman thinking?”
Finishing the thought, the chief of staff said, “He likely intends to shut down the Straits of Hormuz, sir.”
The president waved for him to keep going.
“Sir, we have a location of all of their subs right now. One is at sea. The other will take twenty-four hours to get underway. The mini-subs are all on alert. We recommend a preemptive strike on all Iranian submarines and mini-submarines within the next twelve hours. We also recommend striking all SAM sites, surface-to-surface missile sites with ranges greater than ten miles, and a cluster bomb strike on their go-fast gunboats. This will neutralize their medium-range and submarine threat.”
“What about their aircraft?” the national security advisor asked.
The admiral said, “We feel confident that our combat air patrol would be able to neutralize any Iranian air threat on short notice if they take off and show any indication of hostile behavior. The ROE we agreed to last week gives our CAP aircraft that leeway. In short, we don’t feel the need to attack their air force — yet. And we’d rather minimize our strikes, per the president’s instructions.”
The president looked at the CIA director. “Do you still think China may have been behind the attacks in Dubai?”
The CIA director chose his words carefully. “Mr. President, I believe that there are people working for the Chinese government and/or military who were at least partially responsible for the attacks over the past few weeks. Both the attacks in Dubai and the cyberattacks in the US.”
The president said, “And what do you base this opinion on?”
The CIA director spoke up, “Sir, multiple sources, including information from the two gentlemen who escaped captivity in the South China Sea—”
“Yes, I’m quite familiar with those two,” said the president.
There was audible laughter from the others at the table, particularly from the national security advisor, Charlie Sheppard. The director tried to ignore it.
The story of the Red Cell was controversial. Half the media thought it was just a miscommunication. An understandable cross-wiring of information during the confusion of the past few weeks. The other half of the media thought that it was a crazy conspiracy theory.