been historical, and the DNI was still going through the repository—a mountain of documents, all in Russian—to see what else could be gleaned. Warren hoped it would be something they could leverage in their quest to negotiate with the egotistical whack-job running the Russian Federation.
President Warren checked his calendar on an iPad, seeing his next meeting was with the principals of the Taskforce Oversight Council and the Taskforce commander, Colonel Kurt Hale.
Shouldn’t be too contentious
.
Apparently, Kurt had deployed another team in place of the one that had lost its team leader a few days ago. The sticking point was he’d done it without proper oversight. At least that’s what was going to be discussed. Well, that and the fact that the team he’d deployed was Pike Logan’s. Someone who gave the Council fits because Pike routinely ignored the word
oversight
in its title. Pike listened when he wanted, and pretended not to hear when he didn’t. But at the end of the day, he’d earned the right to get more rope than other teams since he had a nearly flawless track record. It was just a question of whether he’d ever hang himself with the slack. So far, he’d proven adept at dancing through the raindrops.
President Warren sat down and saw that the DNI, Tupper, was still in the room. Which was going to cause an issue with the Taskforce meeting.
Outside of the president, the director of national intelligence was the highest position within the Intelligence Community. The one person who was read on to
everything
, be it CIA covert action, NSA signal intercepts, or simply mundane Army intelligence about the intentions of the Taliban. The one person whose “need to know” automatically applied to every bit of intelligence collected in the name of the United States.
And yet Bruce Tupper wasn’t read on to the Taskforce. He had no idea that an illegal intelligence organization was operating under his nose. In fact, if he were aware, he would immediately demand its closure. He would never have authorized the Taskforce to purchase a single pistol, much less rampantly conduct illegal operations throughout the world.
Unfortunately for him, he’d been appointed DNI after the Taskforce and Oversight Council had been created, and President Warren had decided to keep him in the dark. It wasn’t an insult, as only thirteen persons sat on the Oversight Council, a mix of civilian and government personnel all handpicked for their temperament and expertise. Hell, President Warren had even kept his vice president in the dark for close to two years, only allowing the VP to be read on when he—as the president—had become bedridden with the flu, necessitating the action in case the worst occurred.
At any rate, the Taskforce was a temporary thing. Something created after 9/11 because the traditional Cold War intelligence and military establishments weren’t up to the task of combatting twenty-first-century terrorist threats. It had come about for the same reasons as the creation of Tupper’s position of director of national intelligence in 2004.
Recently, there had been some discussion among the Oversight Council about disbanding the unit, given that the heady days of 9/11 were long gone and the US population had begun to think government counterterrorism efforts were worse than terrorism itself, but every time that bubbled up the Taskforce had managed to avert a catastrophe and validate its worth.
No, in President Warren’s mind, there was no reason to mess with success. The Taskforce was clicking just fine. In fact, he wanted to expand its mandate. Broaden its portfolio beyond terrorism. The intelligence and military bureaucracy had grown unwieldy, with it practically a foregone conclusion that any mission conducted would not remain secret. Not so with the Taskforce. They were very small and very nimble. Maybe his successor would see it differently, but in his mind, living with the risk of exposure was worth
President Warren checked his calendar on an iPad, seeing his next meeting was with the principals of the Taskforce Oversight Council and the Taskforce commander, Colonel Kurt Hale.
Shouldn’t be too contentious
.
Apparently, Kurt had deployed another team in place of the one that had lost its team leader a few days ago. The sticking point was he’d done it without proper oversight. At least that’s what was going to be discussed. Well, that and the fact that the team he’d deployed was Pike Logan’s. Someone who gave the Council fits because Pike routinely ignored the word
oversight
in its title. Pike listened when he wanted, and pretended not to hear when he didn’t. But at the end of the day, he’d earned the right to get more rope than other teams since he had a nearly flawless track record. It was just a question of whether he’d ever hang himself with the slack. So far, he’d proven adept at dancing through the raindrops.
President Warren sat down and saw that the DNI, Tupper, was still in the room. Which was going to cause an issue with the Taskforce meeting.
Outside of the president, the director of national intelligence was the highest position within the Intelligence Community. The one person who was read on to
everything
, be it CIA covert action, NSA signal intercepts, or simply mundane Army intelligence about the intentions of the Taliban. The one person whose “need to know” automatically applied to every bit of intelligence collected in the name of the United States.
And yet Bruce Tupper wasn’t read on to the Taskforce. He had no idea that an illegal intelligence organization was operating under his nose. In fact, if he were aware, he would immediately demand its closure. He would never have authorized the Taskforce to purchase a single pistol, much less rampantly conduct illegal operations throughout the world.
Unfortunately for him, he’d been appointed DNI after the Taskforce and Oversight Council had been created, and President Warren had decided to keep him in the dark. It wasn’t an insult, as only thirteen persons sat on the Oversight Council, a mix of civilian and government personnel all handpicked for their temperament and expertise. Hell, President Warren had even kept his vice president in the dark for close to two years, only allowing the VP to be read on when he—as the president—had become bedridden with the flu, necessitating the action in case the worst occurred.
At any rate, the Taskforce was a temporary thing. Something created after 9/11 because the traditional Cold War intelligence and military establishments weren’t up to the task of combatting twenty-first-century terrorist threats. It had come about for the same reasons as the creation of Tupper’s position of director of national intelligence in 2004.
Recently, there had been some discussion among the Oversight Council about disbanding the unit, given that the heady days of 9/11 were long gone and the US population had begun to think government counterterrorism efforts were worse than terrorism itself, but every time that bubbled up the Taskforce had managed to avert a catastrophe and validate its worth.
No, in President Warren’s mind, there was no reason to mess with success. The Taskforce was clicking just fine. In fact, he wanted to expand its mandate. Broaden its portfolio beyond terrorism. The intelligence and military bureaucracy had grown unwieldy, with it practically a foregone conclusion that any mission conducted would not remain secret. Not so with the Taskforce. They were very small and very nimble. Maybe his successor would see it differently, but in his mind, living with the risk of exposure was worth
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