Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (57 page)

Satellite images
were displayed
on the six flat panel displays, at the opposite end of the
President’s chair. POTUS sat at the head of the 13 seat conference
table. The pictures showed Persian and Iraqi forces massing along
the Persian Gulf, across from Saudi Arabia.

A Persian fast boat had
boarded a Norwegian tanker that was steaming through the Strait of
Hormuz. And, the President was pressing the DCIA and General
Shields, as to how Rahmati could have possibly known
about
the CIA’s
fiber tapping operation.

“
Mr. President,” said
General Shields, “I don’t know. But our leading theories haven’t
changed. There’s
either a very
high-level mole, or
Rahmati has cracked
our encryption—possibly with a quantum computer. If indeed he’s
hacked Saudi documents; that may tell us more. They use different
root certificates for their public keys.
This would
be indicative of a more
widespread problem with encryption—worldwide.”

Each of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff detailed how the armed forces were going about
mobilization to protect Saudi Arabia from descending into chaos.
“The key here is to protect Saudi oil fields from falling into Iraq
or Persia’s hands,” said the President.
“This has
been the strategic
linchpin of our Middle East policy since FDR.”

The Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff—CJCS—highlighted the
significant
naval assets in the
area
. “Mr.
President, the 5
^th
Fleet has our newest carrier, the
Gerald R. Ford
, already
deployed in the Red Sea.

“
We can move her to the
Persian Gulf, and send the 6
^th
Fleet’s,
Abraham Lincoln
through
the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea. Right now, she’s in the
Mediterranean. Then we can steam the
George Washington
as her
replacement. She can be in the Mediterranean in seven days. She’s
disembarking from her home port
in
Norfolk, right now. Three carrier
groups is a boatload of firepower.”

POTUS didn’t appreciate the
pun.

The Secretary of
Defense—SECDEF—
proceede
d to brief recommended troop
levels. He advised the President deploy 100,000 to 125,000 soldiers
to protect the kingdom and defend the Saudi oil fields. The troops
could all be in place in 60 to 90 days.

The NSC Advisor briefed
the situation in Turkey. “It appears that Kurdish activity along
the border of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria has dramatically increased.
I’d venture to guess, part of Rahmati’s oil deal with the
Kurds
is to
su
pport
the Kurds as his proxy in a war against Turkey. That’s what
the Quds Force would do. And
of
course
Turkey’s stability was
questionable
to
begin with.”

General Shields shook his
head in disbelief. “How is one man operating with such speed and
clarity, while we can’t even collect a single
rogue
packet of his SIGINT?
As you know, Mr. President, TAO has just implemented a new TOP
SECRET operation to hack Iraqi and Persian cyber
assets. They’ll
leverage some of our
best
stockpiled
zero-days. I’ll have CYBERCOM
detail all of our offensive
cyberwar
options. I’ll get that report
to you later this evening.”

The DCIA added, “And
Langley will speed up the
investigation of
the quantum computer
thread.”

1:35 p.m. (EDT), Monday, May 31, 2021
– Columbia, MD

SWARM Op Center,
Sixth-Floor SCIF, Defense Innovations
Accelerator

General Shields and Lin
Liu watched ElectricMind’s presentation on the video wall in the
SWARM Op Center. Three and one-half months had passed since
Rahmati
commandeered
the Swarmbots in Jerusalem. The SWARM program
had
been grounded
since
then.

But the General kept the
center staffed. Everybody liked the energy and entrepreneurial
environment of the room. Shields’ most trusted digital hackers
filled the op
center
. TAO provided skilled
intelligence gatherers. Offensive cyber-warriors came from
CYBERCOM.

May 2021 had been
the
most
difficult month in General Shields’ professional
career.

Rahmati’s
.
ISLAM social media properties, backed by
a powerful Islamic search engine, released a steady barrage
of
incredibly
embarrassing information. Rahmati also established a
satellite TV station, called Crescent TV. It spread
favorable media
coverage. He patterned the station after Al Jazeera and RT,
formerly known as Russia Today. Crescent TV maintained studios in
Babylon, Tehran, and Washington DC.

Rahmati’s A-Tube-like
website, CrescenTube, released footage of the CIA’s clandestine
operation to tap Iraqi-Persian fiber.
This was followed
by the video
interrogations
of
the incarcerated CIA agents.

The attack and
confessions
especially struck a chord in Persia. Iranians had a long
history of antipathy for the CIA. In 1953, the CIA led a coup—known
as Operation AJAX—to overthrow Iran’s legitimately elected
representative, Mohammad Mosaddig.
The US reinstalled the Shah to replace Prime Minister
Mosaddig.

Rahmati also launched
a
WikiLeaks-type
site. He released secret political
communiques
that
vividly portrayed the US playing a balance of power strategy in the
Middle East, pitting Sunnis against Shias. While
diplomatic
insiders always knew of the
policy
; it was troubling for the
general populace to see the emails and hand-written
documents.

The biggest bombshells
came from disclosures related to Saudi Arabia. The extent of Saudi
corruption stunned the world. Most
galling
were the transfers of state oil
money directly
into
the personal accounts of Saudi government
officials.

And, American’s were
shocked at the staggering dollar figures the flowed from Saudi
Arabia into the coffers of US politicians, influential Americans,
and prominent US institutions. Many Americans asked what exactly
was
being
sold
for all this
money.

Rahmati also released documents
detailing the extent to which Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf
states supported the Caliphate, Al Qaeda, and the Muslim
Brotherhood. The revelations galvanized the people of Iraq, Syria,
and Persia. Americans were equally stunned. The extent of the Saudi
revelations led eM to increase the likelihood that Rahmati was
leveraging a quantum computer to 39%.

In response to the leaks,
once again, massive protests spread
across
the Middle East. Now, the
biggest demonstrations occurred in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s client
state, the tiny island of Bahrain, also participated in the
dissident movement. Given the US base there, the situation was
extremely worrisome to the US.

The House of Saud cracked
down
hard. However, they
came
under increasing international
condemnation, especially from the UN Secretary General. The
authoritarian regime in Egypt was also under fire from students and
members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Palestinians even marched
against their government.

“
I want
to
make sure we
watch the Rahmati address at two o’clock,” said General
Shields.

“
No problem,” replied
Josh. “We’ll be done by then.”

Josh continued the
briefing. “eM’s been ingesting the Persian
geospatial
information on JWICS.
She guesses that the quantum computer
is located
in one of the many
buildings owned by the Rahmati Technology Conglomerate. Obviously,
that’s not too surprising.”

“
I’ve hacked into the
Persian property records database in Tehran,” said Becca. “With the
help of your Farsi speaking analysts, we’ve found 12 sites that are
owned by the conglomerate. Based
on
all the parameters we think a
quantum computer would need to operate, eM predicts that these four
structures are the most likely spot for a quantum computer—if it
exists.” Becca displayed a map of Tehran, with the
four
probable sites
highlighted.

“
That’s good work,” said
General Shields. “Can’t we just hack those building’s computers in
and look for signs of the quantum computer? Once we find it, we can
just take it out.”

“
We’ve penetrated some of
them,” replied Becca, “but,
it’s
not been
very helpful. So far, there’s
been nothing that even hints at the existence of a quantum
computer, let alone its location.”

Shields carefully studied
Becca’s map of Tehran. “Well, CYBERCOM has
certainly
prepared the battlefield
in Persia. If POTUS doesn’t want
to kinetically bomb those structures
,
there are other options to take those locations down. We’ve got
backdoors into their power grid.”

It was now 2:00. All eyes turned to
the Crescent TV feed in the middle of the video wall. Muhammad
Rahmati stepped to a marble podium in Babylon. After a typical
Muslim greeting, Rahmati began.

“
Our holy writings talk
about a time in which everything
hidden
will be revealed. The
revelations I’ve posted regarding the deceitful actions of the
governments of Saudi Arabia and the United States are one
fulfillment of this prophecy.

“
Once again, I call upon
Saudi Arabia to return the holy lands of Mecca and Medina. And, I
promise that Iraq, along with our great ally Persia,
stand
ready to
protect any Muslim in harm’s way.
This includes
citizens
of
the Kingdom
of Saudi
Arabia
or any other Gulf State—including
Bahrain.

“
As I stated in my speech
on the evening of May 14, cyber-intrusions into the state of Iraq
will not be tolerated. I will be releasing information in the next
10 minutes to the CrescentLeaks.ISLAM site. These documents, and
accompanying
analytics,
will detail the number and extent to which the US
continues
to actively
engage
in spying and cyber-aggression
against the nation of Iraq.

“
In
addition
, I will be releasing details from
a TOP SECRET project, recently started by the NSA and CIA, to step
up
cyber
-monitoring and foreign spy infiltration of our country. This
espionage program
began
after
we thwarted the
CIA’s illegal incursion into our nation. The Americans have crossed
my red line. Consequences are
forthcoming
.”

The once buzzing SWARM Op Center was
now deadly silent. Rahmati’s words hung in the air like a thick
fog.

“
Dammit!” yelled the
General. “We can’t keep one single secret. Do we have to return to
typewriters? Think of this guy’s bravado—he’s threatening the
world’s only
superpower
and Saudi Arabia—at the same time.

“
There’s a significant
Shia population in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In Saudi
Arabia,
they’re
concentrated near the major Saudi oil fields. Although Bahrain is
an independent country, it’s
really
just an extension of Saudi
Arabia. It’s
critical
to the
US,
because we use our base there to
project power in the Middle East. He’s declaring war on Saudi
Arabia,
and
telling them he’s coming for their oil. And we’re going to be
stuck in the middle of a Saudi civil war, defending an unpopular
m
onarchy
.”

“
What do you think he
intends to do about our hacking?” asked Becca.

The General replied, “I don’t’ know. I
don’t expect him to be over-aggressive. It would be suicide to
fight the US and Saudi Arabia at the same time.”

“
Why do you think he’s not
announced anything about the Ark?” whispered Josh.

“
I don’t know. I
imagine
he
’ll
reveal
it at some future date, when it better
suits
him
. He’s shown himself to be a brilliant warrior, promoter, and
now; a very adept statesman.”