First, let me say that yes, liberties were necessarily taken in the missile launch scenes. With the myriad of different systems deployed, many in the middle of upgrades, I felt artistically, it was best to go with the concept most of us have in our heads of a two man crew (women are now allowed), with keys that had to be turned simultaneously. Depending on what source you read, this can be two, four, or even five people, spread over multiple locations. It is always, however, more than one, to comply with the “two-man rule.” Understandably, the United States military isn’t exactly forthcoming in providing all the details, so as I said, liberties were taken for dramatic purposes.
That being said, the hard lines used provide for no possibility of an outside entity gaining access. Even the cables are pressurized so that any splicing or tampering is immediately detectable. If a signal is received over these hard lines, the crews inside the Launch Control Facilities will absolutely believe they are legitimate. By having our villains actually tap into the source of those lines, they were able to circumvent the entire authentication process beyond the actual biscuit with authentication codes the crews need to validate with their own.
And a corrupt Vice President took care of that.
In the real world, one would hope our government wouldn’t resort to kneejerk reactions that would allow a scenario as described in this novel to occur. I rest easy at night knowing that governments around the world never do anything stupid.
As usual, there are people to thank. My father for all the research, Brent Richards for some weapons info, Ian Kennedy for some explosives info, Fred Newton for some nautical info, Susan “Miss Boss” Turnbull for another last minute grammatical save, those who entered the Character Naming Contests on Facebook, my proofing team, and of course, my wife, daughter, mother, family, and friends.
Finally, I’d like to give a special thanks to my good friends Rick Messina and Chris Holder, for an awesome brainstorming session where we came up with ways to mess with the Internet of Things. Everyone should be grateful we’re on your side, because if we devoted ourselves to a life of crime…
To those who have not already done so, please visit my website at www.jrobertkennedy.com then sign up for the Insider’s Club to be notified of new book releases. Your email address will never be shared or sold, and you’ll only receive the occasional email from me, as I don’t have time to spam you!
Thank you once again for reading.