them.” Klugman shook his head. “No, look for this to be the worst of both worlds. They know what they want, and they’ll know if it works.”
“It’s a catch twenty-two.” Everyone looked at Boyd.
Katherine had to get a dig in. “No it isn’t.”
Klugman decided to help her. “Boyd, have you ever actually read Catch-22?”
“Aw, c’mon. Give me a break. It’s a catch twenty-two if ever I saw one.”
Stanley stood up and walked towards the door. “I’ve got work to do.”
The others nodded in silent agreement and went to attack the new timetable.
***
Charles Mason looked expectantly at the faces around the conference room. “I hope we’ve all come up with some creative ideas for altering the profile.” He had his own notion of what needed to be done, but was open to input. “Don’t everyone speak at once.” Mason nodded his approval as Tom Snelling raised his hand. “Very good, a volunteer.” He indicated for Snelling to proceed.
“If it doesn’t really matter what the new profile indicates, my feeling was that it should be something non-invasive, perhaps along the lines of a splashy headline.”
“A headline. You mean like a newspaper story?”
“Well, yes,” said Snelling. “But something of national interest. Possibly a sex scandal.”
“Would it be true? I mean, the headline. Or would you simply ruin an innocent person’s life to change the profile?”
“The story would have to be provable, but where events might lead is unpredictable. Look at some of the past scandals at the presidential level. Who could have guessed how all that would play out.”
“Don’t confuse real world spontaneity with what we’re doing,” said Mason. “We’re talking about using agency resources to cause something to occur that normally wouldn’t.”
“It might.”
“That’s different.”
“So you don’t like the idea?” asked Snelling.
“It’s not that. In fact, I think you’re spot on in terms of how we might go about effecting an alteration. I just think we need to be more creative. We need something with greater impact.”
“I’ve got one.” Everyone turned to look at George Pampas, sitting by himself near one end of the table.
“Let’s hear it,” said Mason.
Pampas placed his beefy arms on the table and leaned forward. “Terrorist strike. First a small one, maybe take out an unoccupied building, early in the morning.”
“Probably not enough. The impact would be too small.”
“You follow it with a series of small bombings, in public places. Maybe you have some injuries.”
Mason nodded. “That would definitely get people talking.”
“Finally, an ultimatum is issued to the government–maybe demanding a change in policy towards Israel, or some other country, or the bombings continue. Make it very high profile, with a threat for more serious actions to follow.”
“Nice,” said Mason. “So the population would fear the next bombing, and there would be debate over the policy item, whatever it was.”
“Exactly, as long as it’s a new topic that hits close to home. It involves terrorism, the government, and a controversial decision to be made. People would be thinking about it. They’d be talking about it.” Pampas leaned back, his presentation complete.
“I like that better than the scandal idea. It would be tough to implement, though, and there could be casualties.”
Pampas waved his hand nonchalantly. “I think we could control the situation.”
“We’re making progress here,” said Mason. “Other ideas?”
Norbert sneezed into a handkerchief before speaking. “Mess with the airlines. Take down the reservation systems and watch the airports get bogged down with passengers on overbooked flights. Or better yet, ground the entire fleet, bring air travel to a standstill. Blame it on a computer virus. You want to hear some people raising a fuss, clog the airports.”
Mason slowly turned to Norbert. “Is that possible?”
Norbert blew
“It’s a catch twenty-two.” Everyone looked at Boyd.
Katherine had to get a dig in. “No it isn’t.”
Klugman decided to help her. “Boyd, have you ever actually read Catch-22?”
“Aw, c’mon. Give me a break. It’s a catch twenty-two if ever I saw one.”
Stanley stood up and walked towards the door. “I’ve got work to do.”
The others nodded in silent agreement and went to attack the new timetable.
***
Charles Mason looked expectantly at the faces around the conference room. “I hope we’ve all come up with some creative ideas for altering the profile.” He had his own notion of what needed to be done, but was open to input. “Don’t everyone speak at once.” Mason nodded his approval as Tom Snelling raised his hand. “Very good, a volunteer.” He indicated for Snelling to proceed.
“If it doesn’t really matter what the new profile indicates, my feeling was that it should be something non-invasive, perhaps along the lines of a splashy headline.”
“A headline. You mean like a newspaper story?”
“Well, yes,” said Snelling. “But something of national interest. Possibly a sex scandal.”
“Would it be true? I mean, the headline. Or would you simply ruin an innocent person’s life to change the profile?”
“The story would have to be provable, but where events might lead is unpredictable. Look at some of the past scandals at the presidential level. Who could have guessed how all that would play out.”
“Don’t confuse real world spontaneity with what we’re doing,” said Mason. “We’re talking about using agency resources to cause something to occur that normally wouldn’t.”
“It might.”
“That’s different.”
“So you don’t like the idea?” asked Snelling.
“It’s not that. In fact, I think you’re spot on in terms of how we might go about effecting an alteration. I just think we need to be more creative. We need something with greater impact.”
“I’ve got one.” Everyone turned to look at George Pampas, sitting by himself near one end of the table.
“Let’s hear it,” said Mason.
Pampas placed his beefy arms on the table and leaned forward. “Terrorist strike. First a small one, maybe take out an unoccupied building, early in the morning.”
“Probably not enough. The impact would be too small.”
“You follow it with a series of small bombings, in public places. Maybe you have some injuries.”
Mason nodded. “That would definitely get people talking.”
“Finally, an ultimatum is issued to the government–maybe demanding a change in policy towards Israel, or some other country, or the bombings continue. Make it very high profile, with a threat for more serious actions to follow.”
“Nice,” said Mason. “So the population would fear the next bombing, and there would be debate over the policy item, whatever it was.”
“Exactly, as long as it’s a new topic that hits close to home. It involves terrorism, the government, and a controversial decision to be made. People would be thinking about it. They’d be talking about it.” Pampas leaned back, his presentation complete.
“I like that better than the scandal idea. It would be tough to implement, though, and there could be casualties.”
Pampas waved his hand nonchalantly. “I think we could control the situation.”
“We’re making progress here,” said Mason. “Other ideas?”
Norbert sneezed into a handkerchief before speaking. “Mess with the airlines. Take down the reservation systems and watch the airports get bogged down with passengers on overbooked flights. Or better yet, ground the entire fleet, bring air travel to a standstill. Blame it on a computer virus. You want to hear some people raising a fuss, clog the airports.”
Mason slowly turned to Norbert. “Is that possible?”
Norbert blew
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