Prichard’s eyes narrowed at my observation. “I'm sure you saw Rob arrive at the beach just after you left. He told me she is — was — married to a containment ventilation system engineer.”
I could sense his discomfort, so I slowed down for a minute, took a deep breath and considered the ramifications of what I was about to tell him. I didn’t know what it all meant yet, but I felt sure the information, and my suspicions, was important to what was going on.
“I need to know who you gave our report to.” While continuing to speak to Prichard, I look at Marti and said, “And I need to know why your senior resident is in this meeting.”
Prichard was quiet for a moment, as if weighing his words and considering the consequences of them. He and I both knew my report was a very detailed analysis of the plant’s defensive systems, protocols and problems. If it had been compromised in any way, he now had a significant problem, and I was leading him to a place he was likely not prepared to go.
Prichard bristled at the comment. “I’m not sure I like your inference.”
“My apologies, but I’m not inferring anything yet. I’m just trying to develop information.”
“As you may remember, I gave the report to Cathy and asked her to give it to Rob,” he said. “As head of Security, it’s his job to evaluate it. I wasn’t happy with his performance in the drill. He and his staff are accountable for making corrections. It’s only natural that I give him the report,” he said a little bit too defensively. “Who he might have given it to after that, I don’t know. I’m sure someone else in his group is working on it, but they know better than to make copies.” Then he added, as an afterthought as if trying to convince himself of something, “As it’s safeguards material, they’d have it locked up when it’s not in their possession. That’s standard operating procedure for handling information of that kind.”
That was a funny thing for him to say. It was as if he was trying to sound convincing that the document was well protected — and yet, didn’t believe it was. He paused for a moment as if to consider how he wanted to answer the second part of my question. He had to know that bringing Marti in on this conversation was going to raise questions from me. So either she was there to hear what I had to say, or to present information that he wanted me to hear.
“Ms. Callahan is here because she has some disturbing news that bears on this conversation. Marti?” he said as he turned the conversation over to her.
I took note of the fact that she was referred to as ‘Ms.’
Marti looked hesitantly at Prichard, seeking confirmation that she should really proceed. Seeing no hesitation from him, she looked at me. “Mr. Connor, before I begin, it’s important that I know what your security clearance level is.”
She looked apprehensive as if she was on shaky ground having to speak candidly in front of me. Her reluctance was obvious, though understandable. She really didn’t know anything about me, and her body language suggested that she clearly wasn’t thrilled about revealing privileged information without at least asking for some verification of my security level, despite what Prichard surely told her.
“For purposes of this conversation, let’s say I’ve got an ‘L’ clearance obtained through, and documented at, the Sequoyah Nuclear Station, in Tennessee. You can check on that if you’d like.”
My clearance status was actually much higher than that, and probably significantly higher than hers; but that wasn’t information she needed to know. So, because I was dressed as a civilian, I told her I had the civilian equivalent to a secret clearance. That should have been more than adequate to the discussions at hand. Given the circumstances, and the fact that Prichard continued to say nothing to stop her, I assumed she was mollified — at least for the moment. Despite the unusual circumstances, I found myself staring at her for other than professional reasons.
“Very well. I assume that will check out,” she said. “Mr. Prichard told me that you were here doing an evaluation of his security readiness. So in addition to your clearance level, I will assume that means you have a ‘need to know.’”
I said nothing in response. I just looked at her — something I was starting to enjoy.
She turned to Prichard now. “I just returned from NRC headquarters in White Flint, Maryland. When I found out your employee was found in the bay, I called the deputy director of Nuclear Security and Incident Response to let him know. As it turns out, he had information — whether as a result of this or not, I don’t know — that he wanted me to share with you right away. NSIR believes there’s going to be a terrorist event out here on the West Coast within the next few days. The FBI has verified the threat and briefed the NRC. The information they have is deemed credible by the FBI threat assessment group.”
The mood in the room changed immediately. “Credible… meaning, we have a timetable?” asked Prichard.
Marti looked him directly in the eye. “Yes. One of the reasons the FBI is taking this so seriously is that the information intercepted refers to two distinct targets. One is the Western Intertie. Taking down the electric transmission line running up and down the western United States would be significant, as you can imagine. But the second part of this threat involves a nuclear power plant on the West Coast, of which there are three.”
Marti paused, looking at the two of us, no doubt trying to gauge our reaction to this information. She had to be nervous and struggled not to show it in front of us. Like it or not, nuclear power is a man’s world and she was apparently moving up fast, in part because of her ability to stay calm — at least on the outside.
Prichard shot me a look like he was considering what he’d just heard, too. Even something happening off the site and away from the plant could have negative repercussions for his plant, even if it didn’t represent a direct threat to The Headlands. Taking down the Western Intertie would disrupt power to millions of people throughout the western states. His power plant would be okay, though, because the generators would automatically shut down when they sensed the voltage and frequency dip that would occur within a millisecond of the grid disturbance. As a matter of fact, this happened a couple of years ago in a freak storm that blew through the Altamont Pass area east of Oakland. It actually blew down some of the transmission towers. The Headlands survived that transient with no problems. However, that was nature and this threat was manmade. And in any transient involving these huge nuclear units, there was always a potential for damage. A reactor and turbine trip from 100 percent power was something they would prefer to avoid.
I knew better than to think Marti was done. My bet was that she had more that she needed to share with us. I watched as she took a deep breath before continuing. “They also believe the terrorists have ties to al-Qaida.”
Prichard’s body language changed as he shifted in his seat. He clearly didn’t like hearing that. From my experience, I knew this changed the level of seriousness — and the number of federal government agencies involved — by an order of magnitude. I was sure I didn’t need to tell him that.
Marti went on, “While the information we have doesn’t specify The Headlands as the target, we nonetheless believe that it is.”
“As you said, there are three nuclear stations in California. What makes you think we’re the target?” asked Prichard.