“Gentlemen, last night was the ninth domestic terrorist attack in three weeks. This last attack was against a Republican Party rally, nearly killing the Presidential candidate. By the way — do we have a final death toll yet?” asked the President.
“Ninety-seven people killed and 232 wounded. On a good note, none of the attackers survived the attack,” said Director Smart from the FBI.
“Senator Landrew is calling for the White House to make peace with the Muslims in order to end these terrorist attacks; she’s already using last night’s attack in a new campaign ad,” said AG James Roberts.
“I do not want to focus on politics; I want to discuss what we are going to do about this situation and how we are going to make this stop,” said the President, clearly irritated.
“Mr. President, the three terrorists we have managed to capture are starting to provide some good intelligence,” said Mike Williams, the National Security Director. “One of the individuals captured was just a foot soldier; he was recruited locally here in the US, so he does not know any information about future attacks or other cells. The other terrorist that is talking said he originally worked for the Quds Force as an intelligence agent and when Iran became part of the Islamic Republic, his mission changed from gathering and reporting intelligence to recruiting and building direct action units to be used to conduct terrorist attacks.”
“Really? I had not heard this before,” said AG Roberts. “When did the National Security Council (NSC) learn of this?”
“We opted to use an interrogation team from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC); they were very persuasive in getting him to talk. He originally spilled the beans about four days ago, but we did not want to say anything until his information could be verified. All of the information he gave us about his Quds Force contacts, dates and then his information about the Islamic Republic proved to be accurate, so we had no reason to believe he was lying,” Mike explained, putting down the dossier of the individual in question.
“I’m always skeptical about information obtained through the use of torture,” said Director Smart.
“He was not tortured; he was just given some pharmaceuticals to help relax him. Eventually, he said if we were willing to pay him money and place him into our witness protection system (along with his family) he would tell us about additional future attacks that he knew about.”
“I hope you are asking me for permission to do this before you went ahead and agreed to this,” replied the President, looking at Mike with a stern look.
“Of course, Mr. President. As I said, we only just broke him the other day. As a test, we asked him to give us the location and names of one of the cells that was going to conduct another attack. He gave us the names of the individuals who conducted the movie theater massacre; JSOC should be apprehending them sometime in the next few hours. They have had the safe house under surveillance for the past eight hours; they are waiting for another member to return back to the house before they execute the raid.”
“Mike, if you are going to use your JSOC guys for something like this, then please keep my office and the FBI informed,” said AG Roberts.
“I agree Mike. I have no problem with you being proactive, but please stay within the rules we set when I gave you permission to use JSOC on US soil,” said the President. He was clearly irritated that Mike was not keeping the other agencies well-informed.
“Yes, Mr. President. It was not my intention to leave anyone out of the loop on this operation; I just wanted to make sure it was real before I got everyone’s hopes up,” said Mike, who was clearly annoyed at being dressed down by the AG and the President during the meeting.
“All right everyone, let’s get back on track and continue with the rest of the brief. What is done is done. Can you please continue, Mike?” asked the President.
“Yes, Sir. As I was saying, we told the Iranian that if his information about this cell was accurate, then we would agree to his demands and have a letter personally signed by you for his review. If at any time he provides us with false information or warns the IR, his deal will be voided, and we would deport his family and the rest of his entire extended family. We would also make sure the IR knew he had been a double agent for us.”
“Well this leaves us with some interesting questions and options for what to do next,” said Monty.
“Mike, are you 100 % confident that these terrorist attacks we’ve been experiencing have been directed, supported and orchestrated by the Islamic Republic?” asked Jim Wise, the Secretary of State.
“I am, Secretary Wise. What we are trying to ascertain is how many more direct action units the Islamic Republic has in the US and what their other missions are,” Mike replied.
“If this is the case, Mr. President, then this is an open act of war against the United States by the Islamic Republic,” said Eric Clarke, the Secretary of Defense.
“The question is — how do we want to respond, and when? Mike, I want full confirmation that this is, in fact, being directed and supported by the Islamic Republic. I want as much factual evidence as possible: money traces, people, signals intelligence…everything. We are going to respond, but I want to make sure we lay out a solid case against the Islamic Republic to both the American people and the world. I also want the other agencies to see if they can confirm or validate your findings. We will not go to war on sole source reporting,” emphasized the President.
“Yes, Mr. President. I’ll start working with the AG,” said Mike, nodding towards AG Roberts. “We will prepare to present the facts; we will need to present as much information as possible at the unclassified level.”
“Actually, I want to de-classify the intelligence in this case. Everyone knows our capabilities and how we gather intelligence. Do not reveal any sources or information that could damage a source or means of intelligence collection, but make sure the nitty gritty details and information is there. I want there to be no doubt as to their culpability in this.”
“General Branson, you’ve been awfully quiet. What are your thoughts?”
“I’ve been kept informed by JSOC on the progress of the interrogations, so most of this information is something I have already heard. Right now, I am trying to look at the bigger picture and figure out what is going on globally.”
“Care to elaborate on that, General?” asked the President.
“Let’s look back to the beginning of the year. The Islamic Republic started shipping heavy weapons to the cartels in Mexico. The cartels increased their attacks against the government and generally created a lot of internal chaos and instability. Then, the military conducted their coup and the problems caused by the cartels evaporated. Once the coup happened and we announced our intention to intervene, terrorist attacks start to take place all across the US. We’ve had nine attacks in the last three weeks, but twenty-three since we started operations in Mexico. The American people are becoming afraid to leave their homes or even go to work.”
“That attack against the corporate headquarters at Apple in California and the Amazon warehouse in Tennessee have caused a lot of employees to be afraid that their office may be next,” said Jane Smart, the Director of the FBI.
“Yes, these types of attacks are designed to target and instill fear among the common person. None of their attacks have been against the government or what we would consider ‘hard targets,’” explained Branson.
“But you see a bigger link to this?” Mike asked curiously.
“I do. I believe everything has been orchestrated by the IR to occupy and distract us from their next move so that we will not be in a position to intervene.”
“What do you believe this next move will be, General?” asked Monty, leaning forward in anticipation of the response.