“Mr. President,” said Roger, “Admiral Phrang was our senior Navy officer in Europe, and he held two important jobs. He was the commander in chief of United States Naval Forces Europe, the component arm for European Command, and he was the NATO Allied Forces Southern Command, AFSouth.”
“How many killed in the Admiral Phrang bombing?”
the president asked.
Everyone looked to the briefer.
“Next slide, please,” she said. On the screen appeared a grainy photograph of a street with smoke rising from the chassis of three vehicles.
“There were no survivors, Mr. President. Admiral Phrang, accompanied by his wife and his aide from a black tie dinner with fellow NATO flag officers and civilian dignitaries, were killed instantly by the blast. A Navy van, following with a small personal security force of three Marines and an Italian driver, were killed also. A total of six Americans and two Italians died in the attack.”
“I am angry,” said the president, the blood noticeably rising in his face.
“How could this have happened without us knowing?” He looked down the table to where the DCI sat across from the director of the NSA.
“Farbros, how did terrorists mount an operation like this without the intelligence community knowing? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this was a coordinated attack against the top brass of our Navy in Europe. An attack against the United States of America!”
“Mr. President,” the DCI stammered, leaning forward so the wings of the chair didn’t hide his face.
“I can’t answer your question, sir. We had no indications of this. None whatsoever. If we had had anything suggesting a terrorist action we would have alerted everyone.”
“That’s bull, Farbros. I don’t believe it. You go back and scrub everything for the past two months and then come back this afternoon and tell me what you found. Nothing like this happens without someone somewhere knowing something.”
The president turned his focus to General Stanhope.
“General, are you going to tell me NSA didn’t have anything either?”
“Sorry, Mr. President. I have the agency scrubbing everything we’ve seen in the past seventy-two hours for anything that could be related to this attack. If we don’t find anything in that time span we’ll increase the depth of our search. But, as you know, sir, this is complicated by the fact that it took place on Italian soil.” Stanhope mentally patted himself on the back. Intelligence officers learn early in their career never to say “don’t know” or “no.” Always tell them what you’re doing and make it sound good. If you can’t blind them with your brilliance, then baffle them with your bullshit.
President Crawford nodded.
“Keep me informed. General.”
He looked at the secretary of state and the secretary of defense.
“Bob, Roger, did the French or Germans have anything?
They’re usually pretty much on top of the terrorist groups operating in Europe. And how about the British?
MI-5?”
“The British are as much in the dark as we are, sir.”
“We’re having secure communications difficulties with the French and Germans and have had for about week,” Bob Gilfort added.
“It’s on their end and both of them are working the problem. We asked if they had any data that might relate to the Gaeta bombings and both indicated they would review their intelligence sources for anything and get back to us.” The DCI raised his head.
“We’re having the same problems at the action officer level with the French and Germans.”
“That’s odd,” added Roger Maddock.
“Three days ago the French dropped off-line to conduct some upgrades to their communications systems. Said they can receive, but are unable to send anything classified until they finish upgrading their software and complete necessary technical and security checks. The Germans said basically the same thing yesterday.”
“So, we have no action officer level contact with our French and German allies at the State, Defense, and Intelligence levels. Bob, do these communications difficulties have anything to do with the political differences we’re having with them?”
“I hope not, sir. Politics have had little effect in the past on our intelligence and military relationships. But, for two key allies with a well-known history of collusion to drop all contact — which it seems they have — at the level where desk officers routinely communicate and exchange items of interest is odd,” said Gilfort.
“It could be coincidental,” said the DCI.
“Or maybe not,” said the secretary of defense, looking at the president.
“Within ten minutes of Admiral Phrang’s car bombing. General Jacques LeBlanc, the new French deputy to Admiral Phrang, announced the immediate assumption of duties as Commander Allied Forces South. I was surprised on the quickness of his announcement. Almost as if the obituary had been written prior to the bombing.”
“Let’s don’t go too far down this road. I don’t want to turn this into another conspiracy theory, Roger,” the president said.
“We’ve had conspiracy theories for every assassination this century, starting with Kennedy. Let’s not have this august body pointed to as the source of the next one.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. President, but as you know, the appointment of a French officer as deputy AFSouth was done as a conciliatory action for the French, who had demanded that the AFSouth NATO command be a rotating European officer. General LeBlanc was the first appointee and we were surprised at the quickness of his nomination. The French had been recalcitrant on their position to accept a secondary role under an American officer. Then, with no explanation, about two months ago, the French agreed to the proposal and General LeBlanc arrived within a week.”
“What is LeBlanc’s background?”
“Infantry officer. Very parochial. Once commanded the famous Foreign Legion. Golden boy of someone with enough influence to move him rapidly up the promotion ladder. Not much combat or field experience, preferring the politics of Paris to the mud of Bosnia and famine of Africa.
Where other senior French military officers have a sampling of foreign assignments, he had a one-year tour at Djibouti, followed a few years later with a six-month deployment to Chad. Not much military experience in comparison to other French Hag officers, but a heavy background in military intelligence. Though he does have the obligatory tours in Africa, unlike a lot of his peers he did not try to make a career of Africa but actively sought out duty in Paris. Speaks fluent Arabic and English and is well known for his anti-American, pro-European convictions.
Appears to have some strong political backing within the government.”
The president cupped his hands under his chin. He recalled a briefing last month from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that showed if the United States gave up leadership of NATO’s AFSouth Command, the United States Sixth Fleet would come under the control of a French general. It was the issue of Sixth Fleet that generated the rigid American position that the flag officer commanding AFSouth must always be an American.
He looked at his secretary of defense.
“Roger, how long before we can replace Admiral Phrang?”
“Sir, we could do it today, but we have to vet our nominee through NATO and NATO is not known for its swiftness.
By the time we finish the approval process, it’ll be a month at the soonest, three months more likely. On the plus side, the chairman of NATO is British and that will help.”
“Meanwhile, we’re stuck with a French general who has NATO authority over our Sixth Fleet.”
“Technically, when Sixth Fleet is called to service under NATO it is known as Strike Force South. Last night, European Command designated Sixth Fleet as Commander Joint Task Force in response to the worsening situation in Algeria.”