“What can we expect next?”
Bloom said, “I would be stunned if Wall Street’s systems operated normally tomorrow morning. Banking and telecom are ripe targets for an attack of this magnitude. So far the electrical grid has not been attacked like it easily could be. I suspect large power outages across the country sooner rather than later.”
“And we can’t stop it?”
“We can fight back with whatever electronic resources they don’t rob from us. Something this large and well coordinated will take some time to combat. And there is something else you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“The networks that are not down, and I’m speaking of Intelink-TS, the CIA network, for example, are suspect.”
“Suspect?”
“Yes, Mr. President. I see their capability by what they have accomplished this evening. Anything left standing is only left standing because they are using it to spy on us.”
“So they are inside the CIA’s digital brain?”
Bloom nodded. “We have to operate under the assumption that they have deep persistent access to all our secrets.”
Ryan looked to CIA Director Canfield and DNI Foley. “I would take General Bloom’s comments seriously.”
Both Foley and Canfield nodded.
Ryan then asked, “Why the hell are we so far behind the Chinese on cybersecurity? Is this more of the aftermath of Ed Kealty’s gutting of defense and intelligence?”
General Bloom shook his head. “We can’t blame Ed Kealty for this, sir. The simple fact is that China has millions of very smart people, many of whom were trained here in the U.S. and then went home to essentially do the modern equivalent of taking up arms against us.”
“Why don’t those smart people work for us?”
“A key reason is, the average hacker we need on our side in order to even the playing field is a twenty-something born in Russia or China or India. He’s gone to the right schools, has the language and the math background.”
Ryan understood the problem before Bloom said it. “But there is no way in hell the foreign kid can obtain a Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information full-scope polygraph clearance.”
Bloom said, “No way in hell, sir.
“And another reason is that America’s strong suit has never been dealing with things that have not happened yet. Cyberwar has been a distant vague concept, a fantasy… until this morning.”
Ryan said, “When the power goes out, the water turns to sludge, and when the fuel stops flowing… America is going to expect us to fix this.”
Ryan continued. “We have been focusing on low-impact, high-probability events. China taking the South China Sea and Taiwan is seen as a high-impact, low-probability event. Cyberwar against America is seen as a high-impact, low-probability event. We have not had our eyes on these areas as we should have in the past few years. Now both of these things are happening at once.
“General Bloom, what would be the quickest, best way we can help you right now?”
The Air Force general thought it over for a second. He said, “A kinetic response to the command-and-control centers in China that are effecting this cyberattack.”
“A kinetic response?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Combat their cyberwar with a shooting war?”
General Bloom did not blink. “War is war, Mr. President. People will die from this here in America. Plane crashes, traffic accidents, little old ladies freezing to death in a home without electricity. You can, and I believe you should, look at what happened in Russellville, Arkansas, as a nuclear attack on the United States of America. Just because they did not use an ICBM and just because the warhead did not detonate this time, it doesn’t mean they did not try, they will not try again, and they won’t succeed the next time. The Chinese have changed the method of attack, but they did not change the type of ordnance.”
Ryan thought for a moment. “Scott?”
Secretary of State Adler responded, “Yes, Mr. President.”
“Bloom is right, we are a hair’s breadth away from a full-on shooting war with the Chinese. I want you to help me come up with every last diplomatic card we can use to avoid this.”
“Yes, sir.” Adler knew the stakes; there existed no greater use of diplomacy than preventing war. “We start with the United Nations. Without positive attribution of the Chinese in the cyberattack, I think we pull out all the stops in going after their encroachment into the SCS and their attacks on the ROC.”
“Agreed. It’s not much, but it has to be done.”
“Yes, sir. Then I go to Beijing, meet with the foreign minister, give him a direct message from you.”
“All right.”
“I can deliver your ‘stick’ with no problem, but I’d like to have a carrot to offer as well.”
“Sure. I’m not wavering on Taiwan or open access to the SCS, but we can be flexible with some of our military movements in the region. Maybe we promise we won’t renew a base over there somewhere that they don’t like. I don’t want to do that, but I sure as shit don’t want this to blow up. We’ll work this out with Bob before you go.”
Burgess did not look pleased, but he nodded at Adler.
Scott said, “Thank you, sir. I’ll put together a list of other diplomatic moves we can make to pressure or cajole the Chinese. They seem intractable, but we have to try.”
“That’s right,” agreed Ryan. Then he looked to SecDef Bob Burgess. “Bob, we can’t depend on the Chinese being reasonable to our threats of the stick or our offers of the carrot. I want you back in here in seventy-two hours with your plan to combat the cyberattack with attacks in China. Get with all the war fighters, General Bloom at Cyber Command, and the NSA, and make it happen.”
“Yes, Mr. President.” Ryan knew Burgess could not even communicate effectively with his staff at the moment, but there wasn’t much Ryan could do to help him.
Ryan added, “With no surface ships in the area, submarines will be crucial.”
Burgess said, “Still, we are going to need pilots flying over the Chinese mainland.”
“That is going to be suicide,” Ryan said, rubbing his temples under his bifocals. “Shit.” After a long hesitation he added, “I’m not going to approve a target list. You don’t need civilian leadership micromanaging your campaign. But Bob, I am personally putting this on your shoulders. Only the most critical targets for our flyboys, things that subs can’t hit. I do not want one American life risked for any target that is not absolutely required to fulfill the overall mission objective.”
“I understand completely, sir.”
“Thanks. I don’t wish your job on anybody right now.”
“I feel the same about you, sir.”
Ryan waved his hand. “Okay, enough of our pity party. We might be sending people to fight and die, but we aren’t the ones who are on the knife’s edge.”
“That’s a fair point.”
Jack thought about how powerless he had become, the president of a country under threat of being demolished by its dependence on computer networks.
Suddenly he had another idea. “Scott?”
Secretary of State Scott Adler looked up from his notepad. “Sir?”
“What does your communication situation look like? Can you talk with your embassy in Beijing?”
“Not via secure comms, sir. But I can pick up a phone and make a long-distance call. Who knows? At this point, it might have to be collect.”
There were a few stressed chuckles in the room.
Mary Pat Foley said, “Scott, I can guarantee it will be a party line.”