The Land of the Free Read Free Page B

routine reports with
you should you want to review them, but today I want to highlight this one in
particular.”
    Kurdi sat deferentially in the
chair across from Torres, the same chair Morgensen had aggressively made her
own.  He handed Torres a memo while holding his own copy.  “I’ll summarize it. 
Chinese naval maneuvers around southern Japanese islands are intensifying, and
the details we have picked up from their communications seem to indicate a high
level of interest in Japan.  It’s important to qualify those statements with
the limitations of our listening capabilities.  Their important communications
are scrambled, and we’re nowhere near being able to break those codes.  What we
can read amounts to low level chatter, and we monitor trends in that chatter. 
In all likelihood, they know that we listen, so I don’t put it past them to
send us backdoor messages.”
    “They’re threatening to invade
Japan?” asked Torres as he folded his hands behind his head and leaned back,
deliberately provoking Kurdi with an overstatement of what he had heard.
    “Sir, in my opinion, they are
merely trying to remind you that they can project their power if forced to do
so.  It may be that they decided now was the perfect time to do so, ahead of
your meeting with their envoy.  An actual invasion is not a realistic danger,
again in my opinion.”
    “Have they made any threats against
Taiwan?” asked Torres.
    “No Sir, at least not by way of
naval maneuvers or low level chatter that we can monitor.”
    “That’s strange by its absence,”
noted Torres.  “Of course, if they were considering anything there, their
communications would be encrypted.  It wouldn’t be part of any posturing on
their part, right?”
    “Yes Sir, that’s likely.  Would you
like me to raise it at our staff meetings, to get all the opinions on the
table?”
    “Please do.  Thanks for your
briefing Kurdi, and get back to me with your consensus as soon as you meet.”
    Kurdi was about to take that as his
cue to leave, but hesitated as he began to move to the door.  “What else is
there, Kurdi?” asked Torres.
    “Sir, we’ve conducted an assessment
of an earlier issue that had come up.  Do you remember when we found computer
viruses in the control systems for our drone fleet?”
    “I remember.  What was your
conclusion?”
    “First, I have to say that there
was a lot of pressure on us to find that Iran was responsible.  Since the
Persian Gulf is a major arena where the drones are used, it seemed plausible at
first.”
    “So you don’t think it’s Iran?”
asked Torres.
    Kurdi looked defensive, with his
head low.  “Iran is utterly lacking in the programming sophistication that we
found in the viruses.  China and Israel are the only countries that have that
level of military computing horsepower.  Aside from us, of course.”
    “What was so sophisticated about
it?”
    “Our drones have one area of
vulnerability.  They are piloted remotely.  So in theory, their control
mechanisms could be overtaken by an enemy who overrides our signal.  Our
encryption should make that impossible, but not if certain codes are collected
and transmitted from inside our system.  That’s what these viruses were
designed to do.”
    “So our drones are compromised?”
asked Torres.
    “Possibly, and not only our
drones.  All civilian aircraft have had the same control systems in place,
since the mid 1990s, allowing the ground to take over the plane, and lock out
the pilots.  It’s a way of foiling hijackers, but now we’re talking about a
hostile party being able to take over the plane.”
    “Thanks Kurdi.  Please send a memo
to all senior military planners, and include a note that I approve of your
conclusion.”  Kurdi nodded and left Torres’ office.
    Torres’ political rise was almost
inevitable, as he had a natural skill at engaging people’s attention, and an
insider’s pedigree.  His father was a member of the