Book 2: Episode 41

United States Northern Command

Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, CO

Russia applied these… technologies and methodologies to its influence campaign during the 2016 election and, in doing so, conducted foreign influence operations against the United States with a speed, precision, and scale not previously seen. The commoditization of these influence capabilities by for-profit firms working in the political and particularly electoral space, coupled with deeply concerning foreign government and intelligence service ties to some organizations, were troubling enough to warrant additional Committee scrutiny.

Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election

“Excuse me sir, do you have a moment?”

General Wilkes looked up to see a very tentative-looking Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) captain standing in his doorway, holding a briefcase.  “Captain…  Eckers is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s a little crazy around here at the moment, is it urgent?”

“Yes, sir, I think so.”

Wilkes gestured for the captain to come in.  “Take a seat.”

After closing the door behind himself, Captain Eckers sat down on the edge of the indicated seat.  Looking around nervously at the spartan office he set his case down beside him.  There was normally only a skeleton staff at Cheyenne Mountain so none of the offices had actual occupants.  Wilkes had selected one almost at random when Northern Command shifted to him.  “Sir, we have not worked together yet, but you may know that I have recently come from a rotation at CFINTCOM.”

Wilkes nodded.  Canadian Forces Intelligence Command (CFINTCOM) was basically the Defense Intelligence Agency of Canada.  In effect a joint command, it rolled up all the intelligence functions of the various armed services of Canada.  “Yes, Captain, I’ve read your jacket.”

“Thank you, sir.”  Eckers paused again.  He fidgeted with a pen, adjusted his uniform slightly, moved his case an inch to the left and looked down again before he spoke.  “You may not know but I was FVEY cleared also.”

Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing agreement between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.  It is one of the cornerstones of western security, similar to NATO, but much more secretive for obvious reasons.  “Yes, does this have something to do with FVEY intelligence?”

“In a way, sir.”  He paused again.  Wilkes seriously considered reaching across the desk and slapping him for a second.  “This matter SHOULD have been classified as FVEY but it was decided not to share it with the US.”

That rocked Wilkes back in his seat.  Generally speaking, the partnership between the USA and the other Five Eyes partners was excellent.  This would be the first indication that critical intelligence had been withheld to Wilkes’ knowledge.  He carefully held his face neutral.  Something told him he wouldn’t like what he was about to learn.  “And what is it you would like to tell me, captain?”

The captain paused again, reached into his case and handed Wilkes a document.  It was obviously an official Canadian government document and was stamped “Top Secret (TS) – Canadian Eyes Only (CEO)” which was the highest Canadian level of classification.  Wilkes sucked in his breath and his eyes grew round.  “Captain, are you sure you want to give me this?” Wilkes knew that Eckers was Permanently Bound to Secrecy (PPBS) which meant a mandatory jail term if he was convicted of unauthorized disclosure.

“No sir, I’m not sure.”  He looked down again.  “But I’m going to.”  He nodded once, then got up and left the small barren office.

Wilkes was left alone with the illegal document.  He knew he should not have it and certainly shouldn’t read it.  Opening the document to the first page, he read the title, “CFINTCOM summary report on Russian intelligence operations within the Executive Branch of the United States Federal Government. “He closed the document again, whistling through his teeth.  Like most other members of the service, he had read the Select Committee on Intelligence report about Russian interference in the US elections with both anger and disbelief.  He also knew that classified documents had gone missing within the executive branch.  That little circus had hit most of the commands within the US military as the audit showed which secrets may have been compromised.  As head of Northern Command J5 (plans) he had changed several wartime contingency plans because of that data breech.  However, it had never occurred to him that the Kremlin was actively running intelligence operations WITHIN the executive branch.  It was a scary prospect. 

Dammit.  I need the Red Team on this.

He thought about the document for a full five minutes, just staring at the document on his desk.  Not moving.  Then he decided.  He picked up a phone and dialed his intel chief.  “Jameson, get in here.”

It took almost two hours, but both Wilkes and Jamison read the entire 200-page document, cover to cover.

“Sir, we have a problem here.”

“I think that’s the understatement of the decade.”

“Yes, but it’s a very immediate problem.”

“What is that?”

Jamison pointed to a section of the report showing intercepted Russian FSB communications. FSB is Russian intelligence agency, the successor to the Soviet era KGB.  “I don’t know how the hell the Brits got access to this FSB traffic, but if this is correct, they knew that targeting option Sigma would be chosen BEFORE we got the order from NSC.”  Considering the fact that Sigma was a top secret nuclear war plan, it was shocking that they knew about Sigma at all, let alone correctly predicted that this option would be the option chosen from the dozens of choices available.

“What?”

“Check the time stamp.”

“Wait, is that GMT?”

“Yes, that’s what the time stamp says.” 

“But that is four hours BEFORE the order was given.”

“Exactly.”

“How is that possible?”  Wilkes leaned back in his chair.  If the Russians knew exactly which nuclear attack order was to be given by the National Command Authority (the President or named successor), then they had direct access to that office.  There were no two ways about it.  His mind began to work on the impact of that level of leak.  This meant that ALL US war plans were compromised.  Everything he was doing would be known by the Russians.  If they assumed the Russians were cooperating with the Chinese, that meant that his entire strategy and tactical situation was known by the enemy.

“Sir, this aligns with the Red Team report.”

“What?”

“I’m sure you have been busy, but SacPac forwarded you a detailed analysis on the Chinese and Russian collaboration shortly before Pearl got taken out.  I was on CC.”

Wilkes shifted over to the computer on his desk and quickly opened the message from the former SacPac.  The last sentence stood out immediately:  Strongly urge you to abandon any existing war plans and assume that enemy forces are aware of current operational plans and unit dispositions.  “Oh my God.”  He suddenly realized what this meant.  If the Russians had shared this information with the Chinese, then they knew that Ardent Resolve would be the war plan.  They knew about the nuclear plan, which was the highest level of classification for the US miliary. Wilkes had to assume they knew about Ardent Resolve also.  That meant they were able to aim their space-based ballistic missiles at the places they knew American forces would gather.  Only a small number of people knew that Ardent Resolve would be the plan selected, but it was more than those who knew about Sigma.

A sergeant Wilkes didn’t know opened the door without knocking.  Before Wilkes could reprimand him, he spoke: “Sir!  We have confirmed PLA regulars across the border.  Current estimate is at least brigade strength.  We have eyes on and air units are taking fire from them.  We also have reports of enemy fighters in Southern California air space.”

“What units do we have to intercept?”

“Not enough.  We have blocking forces in place to guard the LA basin on the 5, the 10 and the 15, as per earlier orders.”  The staff at Crystal Mountain had been reaching out to Guard and other units directly.  There were some forces in place, but not nearly enough to defend Southern California against what they knew was coming north from Mexico.

“Where is I Corps?”

“Still forming up.  One week, minimum.”

Jamison touched Wilkes’ arm to get his attention.  “Sir, we are not going to defend San Diego with what we have in place.  An all-out air assault destroys the city.”

“Options?”

“Let them progress into the kill zones between LA and San Diego.”  As they walked into the ops center, he raised his voice.  “Get me a map of Southern California on that screen.”  After a few seconds, a detailed map of Southern California came up.  Jamison pointed.  “There are really only three ways up to Los Angeles from San Diego.  I-5 goes along the coast here and right through Pendleton. I-15 goes through this narrow pass between Temecula and San Diego here.  The valley I-10 passes through north of Palm Springs necks down to less than twenty clicks here.  If they want to move north, they have to pick one of these three spots.”

“And if they stay in San Diego?”

“If they stay in San Diego, I Corps hammers them in a week.”

Wilkes liked the logic but didn’t like the optics.  Any US military commander who knowingly let foreign troops remain on US soil for one second longer than absolutely necessary was bound to be called into question.  The name Kermit Tyler came briefly into his head.  Lieutenant Tyler was the unfortunate officer in command of the RADAR side on Pearl Harbor that fateful morning in December, and he gave the order to ignore the incoming planes, thinking they were USAAF bombers coming in from the West Coast.  Wilkes sighed.  Some days he really missed being in his fighter jet and only worrying about dying from a bullet with his name on it.  “Very well, give the order.  Any units remaining south of those three locations is to pull back.  Defend those passes at all costs.  Give the go order to the Immediate Response Force.”

“Yes, sir.”