Double Eagle
Headquarters
M Street Georgetown
Washington, DC
November 12, 2017
It was 09:05 a.m. Spence sat down at a large oak library table and began his daily routine: first, a glass of ice water while he reviewed his daily calendar. Then hot, black, very strong coffee as he scanned Eyes Only reports, many with US Government markings that he often saw before the intended recipient, an industrial intelligence report prepared by one of the other people having access to the garage, then the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and the Pentagon “Early Bird.” By 09:45 a.m., he’d absorbed all the news, and had created a list of calls, emails, and meetings that would be added to his calendar. None of the news, not even the recent events that had occurred on Veterans Day, surprised him.
Double Eagle Industries was a privately held firm that operated its vast network from offices in Berlin, Washington, and Tokyo. Branded as a global supply chain provider, Double Eagle Industries had a broad customer base and world-wide shipping agreements that guaranteed delivery at rates that rivaled the better known competitors in the market. Its specialty niche was the shipment of goods that would be bonded or would require expedited customs clearance or avoidance of the customs process altogether. The company’s telephone system was entirely automated and every employee, invoice, shipping label and declaration used the same number in Berlin that routed calls in seconds to the right office or specific employee.
Few connected the company’s name, Double Eagle Industries, or its logo that featured two eagles joined together with anything historic or geographic. Though the flag of Albania had undergone a number of changes over the years, it always featured two stylized black eagles with their bodies centrally joined watching left and right, on a field of bright red. To those knowing the country’s history, the Double Eagles had over-watched countless attempts to gain independence from outside oppressors and occupiers. Many clung to the legend that the flag had been used by the 15th-century Albanian hero Skanderbeg, who led a successful uprising against the Ottomans that resulted in a fleeting independence for parts of the country for a few years. On a grander scale, some Albanians believed the mythology that they had somehow descended from the eagle, referring to themselves as "Shkypetars," or the "sons of the eagle." Only a handful of Double Eagle employees even knew that any tie to Albania existed.
Spence’s name did not appear on the company’s list of officers nor was his picture on any Double Eagle Industries organization chart. He worked behind the scenes and managed the enterprise through compartments, limiting access to specific projects to a need to know criterion that he himself set. No one had ever heard of a violation of these project boundaries in the company. Spence frequently enjoined his subordinates to “make the market,” a broad brush appeal that could involve almost any approach to shift the competitive advantage in favor of the company.
The “Fresno Massacre” as it was labeled by all the networks’ news teams dominated the coverage, and there were on-scene live reports from the veteran newscasters before sunset. The talk shows had hastily juggled their guest schedules, and the terrorism experts were in demand everywhere. The President had called a news conference the previous night to inform the nation what they already knew and to pledge that those responsible would be found and brought to justice. The President’s anger and commitment visibly showed through. He was determined to find out who and why and was prepared to use whatever resources he had to hunt down those behind this attacks on the homeland.
The Philadelphia Inquirer labeled the Veterans Day events a national “Wake-up call” in the largest front page font anyone had ever seen. Most of the day’s reporting of yesterday’s explosion at the TSA recruiting center in Philadelphia stuck to the facts and did not speculate as to the cause. TSA investigators had begun the task of sorting through the rubble and removing the red spatter that covered virtually everything in the room. The FBI was called in to assist.
In a clinical monotone, one local newscaster had confirmed what everyone already knew: “There were several eye witnesses that provided information to the police. The FBI and DHS have been all over the site. However, the TSA spokesman had no further comments because of the ongoing investigation. Early indications point to a suicide vest worn by a single individual. There have been no answers to whether the attacks were connected in any way.”
The Virginian-Pilot headlines compared the tunnel flooding to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The first four pages contained the front page format covering the events in Fresno and Philadelphia. The Atlantic Fleet enforced a broad perimeter where boats were intercepted and escorted away from the ships that were tied to piers at the naval base. A no-fly zone was imposed with flight corridors for reduced commercial flights out of Norfolk International Airport. The cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach were locked down.
At 10:00 a.m., Robert “Jack” Lang and Paul McGovern entered Spence’s office. He smiled and motioned to the two black leather arm chairs in front of the table.
Spence looked at each man intently, carefully mapping their facial expressions and body positions before asking, “What do you make about yesterday’s news? A suicide bomber in Philadelphia and an apparent tunnel failure down in Virginia Beach? And the parade disaster in California? What’s going on?” Spence rarely engaged them in a current events discussion but seemed interested in the near simultaneous timing of these events and curious about their thoughts.
McGovern spun in his chair towards Jack and then replied, “All on Veterans Day. Seems like they might be connected, but I haven’t heard anyone make that call, and no one knows what caused the tunnel flooding. God, I can’t even imagine being trapped underwater in a tunnel. I’m not aware of any survivors. I talked to some people over at DHS earlier this morning, and there are already calls for the Director’s head.” A studious man with a round face and a balding head, Paul McGovern’s closely clipped blonde mustache seemed to flatten his voice into an emotionless monotone. His unremarkable personality was offset by other skills that Spence valued.
Full of energy and with insight beyond his years, Jack Lang added, “It’s too early to know what happened down on the Chesapeake, but some reporter claimed that an aircraft carrier was underway in the middle of the channel when it happened. I haven’t heard any other plausible theories, but you can bet that the conspiracy truth seekers will be out in force tonight hitting all the evening talk shows. Philadelphia sounds like someone going postal using a bomb instead of a gun. At the other extreme, Fresno seems to me to be a well-planned technology demonstration carried out by a well-organized and well-financed group that wanted to maximize the media impact. This is distinctly different than be-heading a small group of Christians along the Mediterranean or throwing women and children off a mountain cliff. It has the look and feel of a military operation. My bet is that Al-Qaeda or ISIL is involved.”
“Well,” Spence summarized, “It’s a dangerous and unpredictable world out there. Let’s be careful.” Spence detected no sign from either man which is what he expected. When the trio was together, the temperature in the room dropped. What the three had in common was the absence of any emotional attachment to anything. They were cold as ice. Spence nodded in Paul’s direction and sat back in his chair with his hands woven behind his balding pate.
McGovern began with a geo-political summary of the hot spots around the globe, the overnight market reports and then briefly recapped Double Eagle’s international activities. He provided an Executive-level overview of the current status of programs for US Government agencies and ended by announcing a new opportunity coming out of the Department of Homeland Security called HS2.
McGovern concluded, “So it looks as if they will wrap multiple efforts into this large, winner takes all contract for everything from border security to cyber protection.”
“What’s the estimated contract value?”
“It’s not clear how all the smaller efforts will be swept up into this, but during the question and answer session at the program’s Industry Day, the Contracting Officer called this the biggest contract since DOD awarded the Joint Strike Fighter. HS2 will have a ten year period of performance and three five year options. Total value will have a T instead of a B. I think that Team Double Eagle is well-positioned on this one. We’ll have some stiff competition for sure but no one can touch our past performance.”
“What’s the timeline from here, Paul?”
“The government plans to get a draft request for proposal out early next year and anticipates releasing the final in the spring. The award is projected before the end of 2018. Of course, the Contracting Officer made the usual speech about the plan being dependent on the out years’ funding profile and the uncertainty of the budget given the current emphasis on balancing the budget and slowing the increase to the national debt. In any case, we need to start planning now. I don’t see another opportunity like this one for years to come. By the way, the government refers to the HS2 program as Fortify.”
“Team Double Eagle” was used frequently to describe the network of companies that had been acquired and were managed as wholly owned subsidiaries, retaining not only their own corporate identities and business structure but keeping secret their affiliation with the parent. Double Eagle and its subsidiaries had grown a very large and impressive portfolio of multi-year contracts with all the US Government agencies that looked after internal security for the country and had loyal people in positions of great trust within those organizations. Because of the compartmentation, no one knew who might be working for Double Eagle. With this extensive network, Spence gained both access to the United States’ most sensitive security secrets and could also influence approaches, methods and techniques. Put another way, he had an invisible hand in every major security decision made and understood its impact better than anyone. He had more insight into the US Government’s Homeland Security posture than anyone in the government at any level.
“OK, good. Do any of our companies have any exposure as a result of these recent incidents?”
“None reported so far,” replied McGovern evenly.
Spence leaned forward, “Thank you, Paul. We clearly need to go after HS2 and add it to our portfolio. Please start working that with the team. Can you please give Jack and me a couple of minutes?” The big man shook McGovern’s hand and walked him across the marble floor to the entry door.
“Son,” said the beefy man. Spence always called him son when they were here alone. He began pacing the floor. The leather heels of his capped-toe dress shoes broke the silence of the room and measured his pace for several minutes before he began talking.
“You recall that we lost that Strategic Border Initiative re-compete a year ago. Since then, the program is really foundering. The prime contractor, ABACUS, is losing boatloads of money. The supply chain is broken and many of the small businesses have not been paid for months. Director Lewis is being routinely raked over the coals by the subcommittees in both chambers. It’s a mess. I’m told the program office will likely find a way to terminate the contract for the convenience of the government and then re-compete it. The incumbent had the inside track, and the government didn’t have the courage to pick the devil that they didn’t know.”
Lang interrupted, “I thought that we’d had a hand in their current success.”
Spence enjoyed Jack’s less than subtle sarcasm. He smiled and continued, “Yes, that’s true. We had some of our team sell them some defective coax, planted some very ugly viruses in their computer code and sabotaged the workforce. We are in the final phase of turning that loss into a win.”
“So, what’s up now?”
“OK, let me fill in the squares for you.” The big man paced across the floor twice before starting the explanation. “First, I want to compromise ABACUS’ standing with DHS and then undo the Congressional support that they are able to muster. I’m still working on the details, but I’m thinking that one way to get the ball rolling is to have the Programs Vice President from ABACUS suffer a personal and potentially damaging security lapse.”
“Doug Smith? Forget about it. The guy has a sterling reputation…decorated war hero and a god over at DHS. The agency still loves ABACUS, and Doug is one of the reasons why. He’s a choir boy. It seems a little far-fetched to me. ”
“Your analysis is right on target. But that’s precisely why this initiative will work,” Spence replied gently. Spence often spoke of initiatives to refer to those efforts aimed at undercutting a competitor. Jack didn’t know much about the special operators that Spence employed but had watched him topple giants before with no Double Eagle fingerprints left on the causes.